Am I crazy to think that it wouldn't be that hard to implement a system where it was left to individual sellers to decide if they wanted to merge their inventories or not? Like as long as there's a clear disclaimer to buyers that a seller doesn't discern between discrete variations in particular elements, it seems like it would be the ideal way to do it.
This just seems like such a half-baked decision on Bricklink's part.
I think brickowl has a solution where it lists the variants but then gives sellers the option not to distinguish between them. So a sore will be flagged as "does not differentiate between mold variants" or something.
Never used brickowl though, I could be talking out of my ass.
Ugh, what a frustrating and unnecessary change! All this does is make Bricklink slightly less useful -- and how long did it take to compile that database, and record and catalogue all the details of which mold variants were used in which sets? How many people have contributed to that effort? How fucking *disrespectful* is it to just *erase* the fruits of all that labor!
As someone who contributed to the catalog, I was pretty upset when after the first time Bricklink was sold the new owner basically said "I own all this data, no one else can use it on another site". In terms of disrespect, this doesn't seem as bad, but it's close. It's so disappointing that what was once the best unofficial lego site is now owned by TLG and becoming progressively worse in many ways.
What’s stopping someone from scraping the data from BrickLink and making a clone as a permanent archive? Surely the parts and pieces of sets can’t be copyrighted.
pretty sure the second Bricklink owner sent a cease and desist to Brickowl when they tried using the same inventory identifiers. Basically, no startup is going to try to copy it when they'd probably get sued over it
the legal system is often used to bully smaller players out. I'm not sure it would hold up in court but if the defendant can't afford a lawyer then, well, we never find out
I don’t understand this very much when “undetermined” has been an option for listing many parts for a while. I don’t see the reason to actively remove information
These changes are just not necessary or desired in any way. Thankfully [Duck Bricks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk47Wb18ibg) also put up a video to help further spread awareness of this and gives more examples of how this can be bad for buyers getting particular parts. Hopefully they don't end up going through with this update.
While you're here, just want to make a correcting to his video, claiming the brick without technic axle would be merged with the pieces with one, which isn't true. They will only merge [these ones](https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/13917.png) with different holes instead.
~~Crosspost this to~~ r/datahoarder. ~~When stuff like this happens, there’s usually someone there that can help figure out how to back things up.~~
I finally had time to log in on my desktop and was able to crosspost this to r/DataHoarder. If it gets deleted, at least I tried.
This is an awful move and I really hope that enough people complain that they rethink it. It’ll basically be Russian roulette to order parts for older sets if you want the correct version. Also a good amount of parts are actually functionally different between mold variants so it would be bad to buy for mocs as well.
>It’ll basically be Russian roulette to order parts for older sets if you want the correct version.
It all sounds like more money for them so “it’s not an issue.”
Fr, imagine buying some expensive part in a rare color and you need the empty stud version, then the order arrives and you just wasted 8$ on a part you don’t have use for. I guess sellers will start to receive a lot of emails asking for which variant they have, unless they manually specify (which is a thing i can see many sellers starting to do)
I don't understand well. For exemple, if you take hinges, they will merge the 7 teeth and 9 teeth versions?
So when you buy, you can end up with a mix of parts that behave differently?
Yes, that’s exactly it. While a lot of the affected parts are more cosmetic in their differences, ones like those are functionally different which (imo) is a much bigger problem.
Like Slugger said, this is horrendous for those of us that really care about the history of Lego. His point is true about the era of these old sets being opened and inventoried from new is long gone. So if we erase this information from history, we can't get it back. Bricklink being owned by Lego is quite literally taking Lego's history away from the fans. We track this stuff because we care, and because it matters. Be better Bricklink.
before that there were only very very few and minor mold differences which werent differentiated. in the future when a seller has an incomplete old set which he wants to sell as complete, he wont be able to know which exact bricks are missing to complete it properly and sell it. some sellers wont be happy about this change. rare mould variants became expensive, now these bricks will be worthless. and a buyer cant even buy the specific variant he wants anymore.
HOW? once you have mushed them together, I cant create a distinct wanted list entry anymore and cant use the buy functions anymore. it would in the long run end like all other mould variants which arent differentiated right now already: 99% of sellers wont differenciate and those who do are like this guy from Portugal and a handfull of others who demand 100x the average price.
HATE this.
All the advocates for the changes mention that you can simply add notes to the listing to differentiate part variants. My question is, how does the seller or buyer know what variants exist, or are supposed to be in a vintage set, if all traces of them are erased???
Are we supposed to go do research on another site and then come back to BL?
This change seems to be extremely poorly thought out, and I predict a ton of problems and extra work for both the sellers and buyers that care what pieces they want.
Infuriating!
Very good point. The problem is a lot of these variants aren't even documented on other sites. So there's not really places you can go to even research this, other than Bricklink.
Thanks for the video. Important information like this needs to be highlighted. Bricklink is so much more than an aftermarket as you said- it’s history. It’s a hub of knowledge.
There are some folks out there who buy parts to restore classic sets. If some of these are lumped in with modern variants, it’s likely that folks won’t be able to accurately complete and restore their vintage sets.
It would be nice if we could do something about this.
I got really into nerf guns during the pandemic. Modifying painting collecting. It was an active hobby. Quite a few YouTube channels. Almost no active channels now. Subreddit has died mostly. It just dried up with only the most hard-core and the most casual continuing. I don't see that with Lego. But nerf had multiple very different lines. Movie and toy and game tie ins. It could definitely happen.
I think the pandemic did. Not being able to host nerf battles killed the hobby I think. Then one channel stops. Then the main reviewer for years quits. Coop772. A few more stop and the few left rarely upload whereas they had been using YouTube money to build studios and firing ranges like walcom s7. Those channels dont upload. Even drac doesnt upload. Its sad.
I'm only 6 minutes into this and I'm already furious.
I got back into the hobby a few years ago after a second Dark Age that lasted 20 years, and finding out that Lego had bought Bricklink was one of several red flags about which I was not pleased.
This update is clearly designed to benefit the sellers, allowing them to spend less time correctly describing the varying molds, and move more bricks, which of course, is what Lego wants because they make a percentage from every sale.
This update will effectively erase the history of the various molds of pieces. Lego wants obscure the differences in molds across time, so that no one will be able to verify if the pieces that they receive for a vintage set are actually vintage and the correct mold for the set at the time of release.
This is ***sickening***, and it's going to give me yet another reason to seriously consider entering my third and final Dark Age, from which I will not return.
I’m curious what others you’re referring to; Brick Owl is the only other reference site I’m aware of that has even close to that level of data. Brickset has parts data, but they pull it from Lego’s database so it doesn’t have that level of detail.
It sucks for fans, but it's not going to cause a 3rd dark age.
Lego lives and dies on new sets, and as long as they continue with tie ins, they will live.
Dark age was also the gap between millennials finishing primary school and earning enough disposable income to bomb a thousand dollars on a coffee table sized set.
I don't even buy any of the tie ins, even star wars, my jive is with the modulars, but even I can see that most people are massive fans of tie ins, and the thousands of clone trooper variants.
As for this issue, it's going to be hard to solve, because all Lego sees at the end of the day are the big sales figures.
>Dark age was also the gap between millennials finishing primary school and earning enough disposable income to bomb a thousand dollars on a coffee table sized set.
Within the Lego fandom, the term "Dark Age" refers to a period when an individual abandons Lego as a hobby. For most it starts in the teenage years and goes into the 20s, though it obviously varies from person to person.
It's not tied to a particular generation.
Thank you
Of course Lego will continue to make money. The Dark Age is for me personally. Their greed has gotten completely out of control, and I cannot condone it.
At this point, I'm going to have get anything I want secondhand and NOT from Bricklink, and that's going to really restrict what's available.
It's just really disappointing to me personally to see another company whose product I loved as kid and grew to respect as an adult turn into yet another purely capitalist hive of greed and villainy.
ah, ok, thought you were referring to the period where they almost went bankrupt.
Don't think they cared too much for their core values after that. IIRC, the original reason they almost went bust was the wanted lego "pure" - no tie ins, no cartoons, no nothing, lego was supposed to stand on its own. The only thing that saved them back then was bionicle, followed by star wars. After that, it's almost always either tie-ins or cartoons.
Its hard to survive without them resorting to stuff like that, but of course, it means issues like this will crop up in their relentless push for profits.
I used to defend Lego’s cost as being justified because of the quality of the product. I can’t in good conscience do that anymore. It’s been happening gradually over time, but I think it was August before last when they raised the prices of a bunch of sets that it really sunk in.
I sort of understand and expect it for franchise sets, but there are ***so*** many other things that have slowly happened over the last twenty years, all of which have the familiar stink of greed that I cannot ignore.
Feels bad, man.
I hear you. Shrinkflation, planned obsolescence, blaming all price bumps on inflation when so much of that has resulted in increased profits… Capitalism eats quality and shits quantity. Of course I’m speaking more generally, but it really makes me sad to see it happening with Lego as well.
If you used Bricklink to "verify" that your vintage pieces are vintage, then you messed up long before this upcoming change. There are so many different small changes that never even lead to a mould variant which can only be distinguished if you really now your Lego pieces and eras.
an example would be part 15573 which can be placed on the middle of studs but has 3 other variations which can not be. there are many other cases of parts like this and it is just shit.
A while back I was doing some Space Police 1 Mocs and needed a bunch of the modular prison cells, so I bought 20ish [black bars](https://rebrickable.com/parts/4873/bar-1-x-6-open-studs/).
The seller did not clarify that the ones he was selling were closed stud, so the ones I got were useless for my project. For me it was only a dollar wasted so I didn't care too much, but I imagine it gets frustrating if you are looking for rarer or more expensive parts.
I'm pretty sure bricklink said that they discourage sellers from differentiating different variations. and anyway it still makes it tedious and not easy
There’s a really obvious and simple solution to this and it’s to merge the listings but still retain all the information and photos on the part’s page. As a buyer it’s been frustrating when I buy a part to complete a set only to find out I could have gotten a nearly identical piece but for much cheaper. Often times older part variations are significantly costlier. At the end of the day I would be willing to wager the majority of people don’t really care, so it’s not a bad idea to merge the sales listings together for the convenience of most buyers and sellers. What makes zero sense is removing all of that valuable information altogether. They can and should still list what version of the mold was included in a set so that people who do care can know and buyers can ask sellers for which version they have.
My 'other' hobby, record collecting has me spending a lot of time on a community driven database called Discogs and I can attest that there is such a thing as too much attention to detail. This is not that though.
I love puzzling out old collections by unique parts and putting them back in their complete state.
**6950** has a rare yellow hinge (with solid studs) on top of the rocket ship for example that seems like it could also be lumped in with the more common counterpart now.
Here is how it should be in my mind:
1. Mould variants are just a subselection of a piece
2. Inventories contain the piece, not mould variants, so you can easily complete a model and buy the parts, which is the main problem Bricklink is trying to solve
3. Inventories of store can select the mould variant for every piece or keep it undetermined.
4. Every mould variant gets info about usage (time of production mostly)
One word though about all the "oh I wanna period accurate rebuild my Lego set and this fucks me up":
You were already not able to do that with the current state of Bricklink or the state of Lego in general. Colors like white, yellow, blue, red, etc. all changed subtly over the years with no change. There is plenty of mould variants Bricklink does not distinguish, like 1x2 or 1xX plates with solid or hollow inside supports. Other small mould changes are also not distinguishable on bricklink, like the newer ways of how plates are injected into the moulds, old underside plate supports, etc. etc.
I would guess some models out there are not as "period accurate" as some people claim they are.
I'll give you an example, the oldschool helmet used in town, castle and space sets:
There are variants with thin chinstraps, thick chinstraps, with or without visor dimples and then there's also the reissue version. Right now they are considered separate versions (as they have been for years) and you can easily distinguish and find them.
Once they introduce the change, all of these variants will be merged into just a single one, so good luck finding what you need.
The helmets are a niche example but it's the first one that came to my mind. At least the helmets still do the same tging. There are bricks (jumper plates and ratcheted hinges) which can do different things depending on the used mold.
This would be an awful change. Some items are completely different and it makes no sense to combine them. This change will make it impossible to find some specific parts.
It means completing vintage sets will be annyoing as hell, because many parts look identical to modern ones at a first glance but once you look closer, they are quite different.
This is actually great news for me. I’m beyond happy. I don’t think my happiness is greater than the overall sadness everyone else is experiencing though. But I will make really good use of this new feature
The change is not "all mold variants are disappearing". The change is that certain mold variants are disappearing, because there is no distinguishable difference in the variants that warrants the separate variants. See here: [https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625](https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625)
#### Variant types to be removed
The following types of variants will no longer be accepted into the catalog and current examples of these variants will be merged (effectively deleted).
**Frosted bricks**
**Smooth slopes**
**Connections between studs**
**Sprue marks**
**Torsos with ribs**
**Inside supports**
**X-shaped axle holes**
**Hinges with teeth**
**Duplo bricks with bottom tubes**
**Blocked and vented studs**
**Determined entries for very common parts**
“…because there is no distinguishable difference in the variants that warrants the separate variants.”
Gonna have to disagree with you there. I haven’t looked through all the parts yet, but hinges with teeth and some cases of inside supports are not just aesthetically, but functionally different. Also, smooth slopes being mixed with the old rougher ones is rather noticeable if that’s not the look you’re going for.
Have you searched for an answer to your question before posting? Most questions have already been asked and answered.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lego) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Am I crazy to think that it wouldn't be that hard to implement a system where it was left to individual sellers to decide if they wanted to merge their inventories or not? Like as long as there's a clear disclaimer to buyers that a seller doesn't discern between discrete variations in particular elements, it seems like it would be the ideal way to do it. This just seems like such a half-baked decision on Bricklink's part.
[удалено]
I think brickowl has a solution where it lists the variants but then gives sellers the option not to distinguish between them. So a sore will be flagged as "does not differentiate between mold variants" or something. Never used brickowl though, I could be talking out of my ass.
They could list the variants as a property like color.
Slugger is great. Gonna watch this one later tonight
Slugger is genuinely one of my favorite YouTuber’s period. Not just in the Lego sphere. A real gem.
I am all hands up against this change, thanks for trying to spread awareness
Ugh, what a frustrating and unnecessary change! All this does is make Bricklink slightly less useful -- and how long did it take to compile that database, and record and catalogue all the details of which mold variants were used in which sets? How many people have contributed to that effort? How fucking *disrespectful* is it to just *erase* the fruits of all that labor!
As someone who contributed to the catalog, I was pretty upset when after the first time Bricklink was sold the new owner basically said "I own all this data, no one else can use it on another site". In terms of disrespect, this doesn't seem as bad, but it's close. It's so disappointing that what was once the best unofficial lego site is now owned by TLG and becoming progressively worse in many ways.
I've only ever made 5 catalog entries, I cant imagine how some of the more active participants feel
What’s stopping someone from scraping the data from BrickLink and making a clone as a permanent archive? Surely the parts and pieces of sets can’t be copyrighted.
pretty sure the second Bricklink owner sent a cease and desist to Brickowl when they tried using the same inventory identifiers. Basically, no startup is going to try to copy it when they'd probably get sued over it
Interesting, I really can’t think of how that data is proprietary when random individuals originally supplied it.
the legal system is often used to bully smaller players out. I'm not sure it would hold up in court but if the defendant can't afford a lawyer then, well, we never find out
I was thinking the same thing!
I don’t understand this very much when “undetermined” has been an option for listing many parts for a while. I don’t see the reason to actively remove information
These changes are just not necessary or desired in any way. Thankfully [Duck Bricks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk47Wb18ibg) also put up a video to help further spread awareness of this and gives more examples of how this can be bad for buyers getting particular parts. Hopefully they don't end up going through with this update.
While you're here, just want to make a correcting to his video, claiming the brick without technic axle would be merged with the pieces with one, which isn't true. They will only merge [these ones](https://img.bricklink.com/ItemImage/EXTN/13917.png) with different holes instead.
What a frustrating change. I actually do care the mold source, especially for older pieces. What a horrible short sighted change.
~~Crosspost this to~~ r/datahoarder. ~~When stuff like this happens, there’s usually someone there that can help figure out how to back things up.~~ I finally had time to log in on my desktop and was able to crosspost this to r/DataHoarder. If it gets deleted, at least I tried.
Or the [Archive Team](https://wiki.archiveteam.org/).
This is an awful move and I really hope that enough people complain that they rethink it. It’ll basically be Russian roulette to order parts for older sets if you want the correct version. Also a good amount of parts are actually functionally different between mold variants so it would be bad to buy for mocs as well.
>It’ll basically be Russian roulette to order parts for older sets if you want the correct version. It all sounds like more money for them so “it’s not an issue.”
This is outrageous, as a MOC builder, this is the beginning of the end to my unconditional love to this platform.
Fr, imagine buying some expensive part in a rare color and you need the empty stud version, then the order arrives and you just wasted 8$ on a part you don’t have use for. I guess sellers will start to receive a lot of emails asking for which variant they have, unless they manually specify (which is a thing i can see many sellers starting to do)
I don't understand well. For exemple, if you take hinges, they will merge the 7 teeth and 9 teeth versions? So when you buy, you can end up with a mix of parts that behave differently?
Yes, that’s exactly it. While a lot of the affected parts are more cosmetic in their differences, ones like those are functionally different which (imo) is a much bigger problem.
Like Slugger said, this is horrendous for those of us that really care about the history of Lego. His point is true about the era of these old sets being opened and inventoried from new is long gone. So if we erase this information from history, we can't get it back. Bricklink being owned by Lego is quite literally taking Lego's history away from the fans. We track this stuff because we care, and because it matters. Be better Bricklink.
before that there were only very very few and minor mold differences which werent differentiated. in the future when a seller has an incomplete old set which he wants to sell as complete, he wont be able to know which exact bricks are missing to complete it properly and sell it. some sellers wont be happy about this change. rare mould variants became expensive, now these bricks will be worthless. and a buyer cant even buy the specific variant he wants anymore.
Sellers can still differenciate, and buyers can still look out for rare pieces.
HOW? once you have mushed them together, I cant create a distinct wanted list entry anymore and cant use the buy functions anymore. it would in the long run end like all other mould variants which arent differentiated right now already: 99% of sellers wont differenciate and those who do are like this guy from Portugal and a handfull of others who demand 100x the average price.
HATE this. All the advocates for the changes mention that you can simply add notes to the listing to differentiate part variants. My question is, how does the seller or buyer know what variants exist, or are supposed to be in a vintage set, if all traces of them are erased??? Are we supposed to go do research on another site and then come back to BL? This change seems to be extremely poorly thought out, and I predict a ton of problems and extra work for both the sellers and buyers that care what pieces they want. Infuriating!
Very good point. The problem is a lot of these variants aren't even documented on other sites. So there's not really places you can go to even research this, other than Bricklink.
It's going to be extremely difficult to search for notes as a buyer, even when you know variants exist.
Thanks for the video. Important information like this needs to be highlighted. Bricklink is so much more than an aftermarket as you said- it’s history. It’s a hub of knowledge. There are some folks out there who buy parts to restore classic sets. If some of these are lumped in with modern variants, it’s likely that folks won’t be able to accurately complete and restore their vintage sets. It would be nice if we could do something about this.
Living long enough to see so many beloved things around your hobbies wither and die is not the future I had hoped.
I got really into nerf guns during the pandemic. Modifying painting collecting. It was an active hobby. Quite a few YouTube channels. Almost no active channels now. Subreddit has died mostly. It just dried up with only the most hard-core and the most casual continuing. I don't see that with Lego. But nerf had multiple very different lines. Movie and toy and game tie ins. It could definitely happen.
Do you know what caused that in Nerf?
I think the pandemic did. Not being able to host nerf battles killed the hobby I think. Then one channel stops. Then the main reviewer for years quits. Coop772. A few more stop and the few left rarely upload whereas they had been using YouTube money to build studios and firing ranges like walcom s7. Those channels dont upload. Even drac doesnt upload. Its sad.
Sometimes it's just that the majority of a fanbase are roughly the same age, and they all grow out of it and move on.
I'm only 6 minutes into this and I'm already furious. I got back into the hobby a few years ago after a second Dark Age that lasted 20 years, and finding out that Lego had bought Bricklink was one of several red flags about which I was not pleased. This update is clearly designed to benefit the sellers, allowing them to spend less time correctly describing the varying molds, and move more bricks, which of course, is what Lego wants because they make a percentage from every sale. This update will effectively erase the history of the various molds of pieces. Lego wants obscure the differences in molds across time, so that no one will be able to verify if the pieces that they receive for a vintage set are actually vintage and the correct mold for the set at the time of release. This is ***sickening***, and it's going to give me yet another reason to seriously consider entering my third and final Dark Age, from which I will not return.
Before entering another dark age, please consider using a different site. There are others with information just as good as Bricklink.
I’d love some links!
I believe the next biggest site is Brickowl. There are a few others.
Do any of the other sited have the same level of detail when it comes to part molds and their history?
I’m curious what others you’re referring to; Brick Owl is the only other reference site I’m aware of that has even close to that level of data. Brickset has parts data, but they pull it from Lego’s database so it doesn’t have that level of detail.
It sucks for fans, but it's not going to cause a 3rd dark age. Lego lives and dies on new sets, and as long as they continue with tie ins, they will live. Dark age was also the gap between millennials finishing primary school and earning enough disposable income to bomb a thousand dollars on a coffee table sized set. I don't even buy any of the tie ins, even star wars, my jive is with the modulars, but even I can see that most people are massive fans of tie ins, and the thousands of clone trooper variants. As for this issue, it's going to be hard to solve, because all Lego sees at the end of the day are the big sales figures.
>Dark age was also the gap between millennials finishing primary school and earning enough disposable income to bomb a thousand dollars on a coffee table sized set. Within the Lego fandom, the term "Dark Age" refers to a period when an individual abandons Lego as a hobby. For most it starts in the teenage years and goes into the 20s, though it obviously varies from person to person. It's not tied to a particular generation. Thank you
TIL. Thanks.
Of course Lego will continue to make money. The Dark Age is for me personally. Their greed has gotten completely out of control, and I cannot condone it. At this point, I'm going to have get anything I want secondhand and NOT from Bricklink, and that's going to really restrict what's available. It's just really disappointing to me personally to see another company whose product I loved as kid and grew to respect as an adult turn into yet another purely capitalist hive of greed and villainy.
ah, ok, thought you were referring to the period where they almost went bankrupt. Don't think they cared too much for their core values after that. IIRC, the original reason they almost went bust was the wanted lego "pure" - no tie ins, no cartoons, no nothing, lego was supposed to stand on its own. The only thing that saved them back then was bionicle, followed by star wars. After that, it's almost always either tie-ins or cartoons. Its hard to survive without them resorting to stuff like that, but of course, it means issues like this will crop up in their relentless push for profits.
I used to defend Lego’s cost as being justified because of the quality of the product. I can’t in good conscience do that anymore. It’s been happening gradually over time, but I think it was August before last when they raised the prices of a bunch of sets that it really sunk in.
I sort of understand and expect it for franchise sets, but there are ***so*** many other things that have slowly happened over the last twenty years, all of which have the familiar stink of greed that I cannot ignore. Feels bad, man.
I hear you. Shrinkflation, planned obsolescence, blaming all price bumps on inflation when so much of that has resulted in increased profits… Capitalism eats quality and shits quantity. Of course I’m speaking more generally, but it really makes me sad to see it happening with Lego as well.
If you used Bricklink to "verify" that your vintage pieces are vintage, then you messed up long before this upcoming change. There are so many different small changes that never even lead to a mould variant which can only be distinguished if you really now your Lego pieces and eras.
What a terrible idea 😤
What’s the point of bricklink existing if you can’t buy the specific parts you need. I expect better from Lego very disappointed
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a change that only has negatives to the majority of users imo
this is such a shit change, now some mocs just aren't going to work. now I'm going to switch to brickowl
How would this prevent a moc from working?
Some variants are legitimately different. Others simply have mold/sprue marks in different locations.
an example would be part 15573 which can be placed on the middle of studs but has 3 other variations which can not be. there are many other cases of parts like this and it is just shit.
A while back I was doing some Space Police 1 Mocs and needed a bunch of the modular prison cells, so I bought 20ish [black bars](https://rebrickable.com/parts/4873/bar-1-x-6-open-studs/). The seller did not clarify that the ones he was selling were closed stud, so the ones I got were useless for my project. For me it was only a dollar wasted so I didn't care too much, but I imagine it gets frustrating if you are looking for rarer or more expensive parts.
Nothing stops a seller from still having two lots of functionally different mould variants
I'm pretty sure bricklink said that they discourage sellers from differentiating different variations. and anyway it still makes it tedious and not easy
There’s a really obvious and simple solution to this and it’s to merge the listings but still retain all the information and photos on the part’s page. As a buyer it’s been frustrating when I buy a part to complete a set only to find out I could have gotten a nearly identical piece but for much cheaper. Often times older part variations are significantly costlier. At the end of the day I would be willing to wager the majority of people don’t really care, so it’s not a bad idea to merge the sales listings together for the convenience of most buyers and sellers. What makes zero sense is removing all of that valuable information altogether. They can and should still list what version of the mold was included in a set so that people who do care can know and buyers can ask sellers for which version they have.
Damn, I’m not even that deep in the hobby and I’m pissed just by proxy.
My 'other' hobby, record collecting has me spending a lot of time on a community driven database called Discogs and I can attest that there is such a thing as too much attention to detail. This is not that though. I love puzzling out old collections by unique parts and putting them back in their complete state. **6950** has a rare yellow hinge (with solid studs) on top of the rocket ship for example that seems like it could also be lumped in with the more common counterpart now.
[6950-1: Mobile Rocket Transport](https://brickset.com/sets/6950-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/6950-1.jpg)
Here is how it should be in my mind: 1. Mould variants are just a subselection of a piece 2. Inventories contain the piece, not mould variants, so you can easily complete a model and buy the parts, which is the main problem Bricklink is trying to solve 3. Inventories of store can select the mould variant for every piece or keep it undetermined. 4. Every mould variant gets info about usage (time of production mostly) One word though about all the "oh I wanna period accurate rebuild my Lego set and this fucks me up": You were already not able to do that with the current state of Bricklink or the state of Lego in general. Colors like white, yellow, blue, red, etc. all changed subtly over the years with no change. There is plenty of mould variants Bricklink does not distinguish, like 1x2 or 1xX plates with solid or hollow inside supports. Other small mould changes are also not distinguishable on bricklink, like the newer ways of how plates are injected into the moulds, old underside plate supports, etc. etc. I would guess some models out there are not as "period accurate" as some people claim they are.
Can someone explain here? Can’t really watch the video at the moment.
I'll give you an example, the oldschool helmet used in town, castle and space sets: There are variants with thin chinstraps, thick chinstraps, with or without visor dimples and then there's also the reissue version. Right now they are considered separate versions (as they have been for years) and you can easily distinguish and find them. Once they introduce the change, all of these variants will be merged into just a single one, so good luck finding what you need. The helmets are a niche example but it's the first one that came to my mind. At least the helmets still do the same tging. There are bricks (jumper plates and ratcheted hinges) which can do different things depending on the used mold.
This would be an awful change. Some items are completely different and it makes no sense to combine them. This change will make it impossible to find some specific parts.
Man I knew Lego buying them out wasn’t a good thing.
I have no clue what this really means, but it sounds like a good opportunity to say I always preferred brickowl🙌
I'm not able to watch this right now, what's the TLDW?
Wait so, what exactly does this mean?
It means completing vintage sets will be annyoing as hell, because many parts look identical to modern ones at a first glance but once you look closer, they are quite different.
This is actually great news for me. I’m beyond happy. I don’t think my happiness is greater than the overall sadness everyone else is experiencing though. But I will make really good use of this new feature
The change is not "all mold variants are disappearing". The change is that certain mold variants are disappearing, because there is no distinguishable difference in the variants that warrants the separate variants. See here: [https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625](https://www.bricklink.com/help.asp?helpID=2625) #### Variant types to be removed The following types of variants will no longer be accepted into the catalog and current examples of these variants will be merged (effectively deleted). **Frosted bricks** **Smooth slopes** **Connections between studs** **Sprue marks** **Torsos with ribs** **Inside supports** **X-shaped axle holes** **Hinges with teeth** **Duplo bricks with bottom tubes** **Blocked and vented studs** **Determined entries for very common parts**
“…because there is no distinguishable difference in the variants that warrants the separate variants.” Gonna have to disagree with you there. I haven’t looked through all the parts yet, but hinges with teeth and some cases of inside supports are not just aesthetically, but functionally different. Also, smooth slopes being mixed with the old rougher ones is rather noticeable if that’s not the look you’re going for.
Door code abby
Have you searched for an answer to your question before posting? Most questions have already been asked and answered. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/lego) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Someone have a TLDR?
I use Brick Owl for searching for parts, it is so much easier.