I'm not surprised. Most luxury items in the $1000+ price range (such as laptops, bicycles) have unique serial numbers to discourage theft. Lego sells in the same price range but with no security features at all.
I think the adjacent discussion is much more interesting: What does it say about our society that a touring bicycle with 10 years of warranty has the same price as 400g of plastic with a Star Wars license?
That people are fans of certain creations for which they are willing to dish out a lot for to stimulate their imagination and have fun constructing what they are fans of?
More specifically, peoples purchases are not governed by any economic logic but instead their emotions and companies know and will exploit this. I don’t care what the tolerance is on a Lego piece if I’m going to pay the price of a new computer for some shaped plastic it better be able to do my taxes at least
I'm not a bicycle expert, but I suspect the tolerances on bicycles can't compare to Legos. You can find knockoff "Legos" for much cheaper, but the quality isn't there, and they just don't work as well if they don't match the strict tolerances. Like, are all of the parts on a bicycle within 0.01mm tolerance? I highly doubt it.
> I think the adjacent discussion is much more interesting: What does it say about our society that `s/a touring bicycle with 10 years of warranty/an engine block/` has the same price as 400g of plastic with a Star Wars license?
That's also about the price of a Ford 4-cyl shortblock [1] for $1050 - first large high-precision, mass-manufactured part I could think of. Plus it's solid metal :)
Sure but aren't Legos sort of a mass production nightmare (compared to an auto part) due to the enormous variety of bricks, all the combinations for different sets? and then there's IP licensing for many sets. I'm not buying a Star Wars branded short block for my truck but there's a Rivendell set in my living room, and the IP is why I wanted that set and I'm sure that's true for many of the branded kits
Im not sure if you follow the „knockoff“ legos, but the quality is very close for several brands. I own several 5000+ piece sets and while there is the occasional mold issue, you get plenty of replacement parts, pay a third for it and don’t have to deal with all the random colors that Lego includes in the unseen parts of the builds. They are usually tighter compared to Legos, but since I don’t intend to take these sets apart often that’s not an issue.
Also some of these sets are official as well. Like the Cada AMG One with the license from Mercedes and Michelin, which is miles ahead in feature/price compared to LEGO technic offers.
I mean, you just described a straight downgrade over lego. I understand it suits your specific need, but it's not lego. It was intended to be taken apart
I think the adjacent discussion is much more interesting: What does it say about our society that a touring bicycle with 10 years of warranty has the same price as 400g of plastic with a Star Wars license?