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Lego's tolerances are pretty good, and so are a couple of other non-counterfeit brands. They might be a bit "stickier". Lego as an overall product is behind. The prices are not just high, rather borderline questionable. Color consistency is notoriously poor with certain colors, due to cost saving measures. They stopped using colored granulated plastics, and instead inject ink.

They charge premium licensing prices and deliver stickers while Cobi is able to print it properly. Cobi is pricey mind you, but they at least deliver. Lego has no proper lighting, which opened the market for Fun Whole. They butchered and killed their robotics line up of Mindstorns. Lego butchered their Technic electronics with compatibility breakage and forced app usage. Lego abuses the that brand to keep selling model cars with few functions. Lego abused the Technic brand to publish a Mars Rover which has a design failing suspension and zero chassis stability.

For cost savings, they fill the invisible insides with random colored blocks, drowning alternate uses.

Their product photos are misleading, with photoshopped headlights which don't exist and other trickery.

Lego has likely a way too big catalogue, sells perhaps not enough of most, and goes quantity over quality.

The truth is, there are very well designed sets, with prints, no random colors, at acceptably high prices and they are adorable. And I would and maybe will purchase them and have done so not long ago. It's the amount of crap which comes out. I often assume the Internet scandalizes Lego's state, and of course they do, but when I walk past my local Lego shops, I see terrible designs, at ridiculous prices.

If Lego would position themselves as a mainstream brand at medium prices, nobody would bat an eye. It's them often surcharging 50% above competition at lower quality which grinds people's gears really badly.

It's that moved away from big sets of random blocks to specialized kits.

Not even counterfeits, there are competing legitimate companies, like BlueBrixx, which are cheaper.

That's my thinking too. The element of creativity is more fun (to me) than following instructions for something someone else designed.

I was into the Lego Star Wars sets in a major way when I was a kid. It's fun building things that you already think are cool. Then, afterward, it allows you to more easily build your own stuff in that style, because you have more specialized parts

HQ Lego Alternatives:

Military, aircraft, small cars: Cobi. Technic: CaDa has licensed premium lines like the AMG GT One . Models with Lighting: Fun Whole, but can near Lego pricing, with higher quality. Kids: Buy used Lego sets, don't bother too much with lost parts, replace them on Bricklink.

And there is a few others. I listed only companies not ripping off duplicates. There is more good ones, and of course a lot of copycat companies.

Are there any good price comparisons for Lego vs alternatives? I didn't look at the piece per piece price, but the non-liscensed sets seem comparable at best (~€10 for a small build).

The only things way out of proportion for Lego are licensed sets (Disney tax keeps going up) and minifigures (collectors blow a lot of money)

Out of interest, are the alternatives compatible with Lego? As in, made to the same sizes?

Sticky

"The children yearn for the mines."

8 years old need constant supervision when handling actual tools, especially sharp ones. Not because they don't understand how to use them conceptually but because they aren't coordinated or experienced enough not to hurt themselves.

Florida enters the chat

Are you for real? They aren't any different from compatible bricks which all "fit with every other piece".

It's 2025, Lego quality is not "insane"

It's run of the mill injection molded plastic that you can get for cents a piece.

It's greed. There are alternative "interlocking toy brick" manufacturers, like BlueBrixx, that are cheaper than Lego.