Personally I would like this community to be LEGO-only, as the name implies. As an example, Reddit had alternative communities for non-LEGO bricks like mould king and lepin.
I would sub to an alternative community about other brick types, but I think it’s important to keep them separate.
I don't know if one gets brigaded here as well as on reddit, but if you actually want to have a good building experience, with better quality bricks and don't care about the sets as an investment, go to brick alternatives. Mouldking has a ton of cool star wars sets that are much cheaper per piece.
I stopped buying LEGO™ for years now, the alternatives only get better and LEGO™ only gets worse. The only reason to buy LEGO™ nowadays is to keep the sets closed and hope they get even more expensive in the future... They even stopped B-Models. They know their customers...
I have been collecting LEGO for decades and other than a few instances (brittle brown and reds) I have not noticed LEGO getting worse. More expensive, but not getting worse.
I have definitely noticed it. Clutch power and stability is still great as ever, but ugly mold marks, color mismatches, scratches on larger transparent pieces out of the box, low quality of prints on pieces and misprints in instructions are all things that have noticeably increased for me over the last years.
If you don't want it new, you can get used sets at places like Ebay.
If you don't need the instructions (Lego lets you download PDFs on their website), you can order individual parts from pages like Bricklink or Brickowl. This is quite involved and can be confusing if you haven't done it before. You need to find a seller (or multiple ones) who have all the parts you need at the correct quantities and colors and who will ship it to your region.
You can buy parts from compatible brands. I've used Webrick before, it works just like Brickowl, but can be cheaper for parts that are rare in the Lego world.
You can also look for sets from compatible brands, like this one. Sometimes they are copies of Lego sets (which I find questionable), sometimes they are unique designs. The quality of those can be hit and miss.
Alternatively, do retired sets come back into circulation again?
Usually not, but sometimes it happens, like with the 2017 Saturn V (21309) and the 2021 Saturn V (92176).
I can't tell what the quality is because there is no brand name and they don't make any claims about the source of bricks. It's definitely not Lego, so not coming from a Lego factory.
There’s a set I’ve had my eye on, on Amazon that is a LEGO train station. Part of the set includes a truck with a trailer that has a portable-potty. And one review includes a picture of the inside and claims it has a piece of poop inside the toilet. This is the Amazon listing here https://a.co/d/2QcJbns
Its pretty non representative of prisons where I'm from, and I do not want my kids thinking this is what prisons should be, so hard pass as a concept. Also visually looks a bit naff.
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