Subject:
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Re: Chris Gray's site (was Re: MB sites)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands
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Date:
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Tue, 14 Nov 2000 20:51:11 GMT
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Viewed:
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651 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, Alan Findlay writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, James Brown writes:
> (snip)
> > > That's the "religious fervor" part.
> > Gosh. Then brand me a zealot, I guess. :(
>
> Why jump to such a negative connotation to "religious fervour"???? It can also
> mean "enthusiastic devotion" -- which means that the Ritvik factory is quite
> safe, as your time is better spent having fun with Lego than in torching some
> silly old building.
I'm not sure why I took that with such a negative bent. But I'll think
aloud for a bit. (warning, this is going to be rambling, long, and might
turn into a rant)
I think Lego is pretty cool. I grew up with it, and remember when it was
the only game in town. But I turned into a teenager, and forgot how cool it
was, and it moldered in my parents basement. I got hooked on it again, and
brought a bunch home from Europe when we visited my wife's family in the
Netherlands. I started buying stuff in toy stores here(1), and for the most
part *didn't even notice* that there were other brands of building blocks.
I'd wander into a store, look for "the Logo" and browse the stuff there.
I'd never look on the next aisle over, or farther down the wall, becuase I
wasn't shopping for toys, I was shopping for Lego. I first heard
about/became aware of clone brands when I thought to look for Lego on-line,
and found rec.toys.lego.(2)
I had a limited budget, and people who had compared Lego and it's clones
said the clones weren't as good, so I just bought Lego. I will confess that
the MB Probuilder sets tempted me because they looked so much better
designed that the Lego ones(3). But I didn't buy any. Then a friend of
mine who knew about my hobby paid me for helping them move with a bag of
"legos" - which turned out to be Megabloks. Obviously, I played with them.
I found that the common complaint about not holding together was (IMHO)
vastly overstated - the bricks generally held well. (1x2's weren't great,
but the larger blocks were OK. Not as good as Lego, but not nearly the
difference often implied. But they felt waxy, and that bugged me. Plain
and simple.
So there's a certain degree of nostalgia in my buying only Lego, but mostly
it's that I don't like the feel of the main competitor.
So why did getting branded a religious zealot bug me?(4) Because calling
something religious automatically imparts a much stronger connotation than
just personal opinion. And I just don't care that much about it. Saying
"the lesser part of why I do something is because I have fond memories of
being a kid" suddenly becoming a religious fervour was irritating. Maybe I
over-reacted(5). At least a part of that is because lately, I've been
seeing this whole "purist/clone" war drum getting banged more by the clone
folks than the purists lately. I haven't seen a whole lot of "Get thee to
thy dank cell, Megablok's lover!", but I have been seeing "Why oh why are we
poor clone-befriending humble folk being despised for our ways?" Those
aren't actual quotes, BTW, I'm exaggerating for effect.
So I figured if I was going to have my opinion labeled as religious, I might
as well go all the way and be a blind, close-minded zealot like it seemed I
was getting painted. <shrug>
For the record, I'm not even a purist. I've modified bricks, I've scraped
paint, I've even used non-Lego string. <gasp!> I wouldn't even care about
clone stuff on a Lego train layout <heresy!> or MB buildings at a Lego club
get-together <Oh, the horror>. Chris Gray's skyscraper was quite the hit
when NA(LEGO)UG met at his place, and we didn't even burn him at the stake.
Just some good-natured ribbing, which was returned, all in good fun.
So yeah, given all that, having my casual attitude branded as religious
fervour bugged me.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll get off my soapbox and go play.(6)
James
1: And found out that some of the things I bought in Europe weren't exactly
worth the effort of hauling back (LEGO's selection in N.A. has improved a
lot since I was a kid), but that's a different story.
2: The very first Lego site I found on-line was Ed Boxer's Castle. Talk
about a humbling experience for a castle builder, eh?
3: Still do. I think Ritvik has many more Clues about set design than LEGO
has had for the past several years.
4: I warned you that I was going to ramble.
5: I probably did. The coffee this morning was *crap* and that tends to
make me irritable. ;)
6: With my LEGO(R) brand building blocks. <GD&R>
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Chris Gray's site (was Re: MB sites)
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| (...) I think James has hit a key point here. Things that we did as kids stick with us, and are viewed "through rose-tinted glasses". That's likely unavoidable - most of us had lots of fun as kids, and spent lots of time playing. One of the (...) (24 years ago, 15-Nov-00, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Chris Gray's site (was Re: MB sites)
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| In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, James Brown writes: (snip) (...) Why jump to such a negative connotation to "religious fervour"???? It can also mean "enthusiastic devotion" -- which means that the Ritvik factory is quite safe, as your time is (...) (24 years ago, 14-Nov-00, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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