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.We profess to be purists
We do? I don’t think I ever actually took that oath.
Ben likes to order third party stuff like mohawks and mushrooms; we’ve allowed this in our displays.
Pfft, more like I’ve allowed your displays to have my awesome third-party stuff.
– Tim (and Ben?) has ordered leaves in colors (say, white) LEGO does not provide; I’m not sure whether we’ve used them in displays though.
False. (That’s my Matt imitation.) http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=2417&colorID=1&in=A
Tim’s Steelers tree uses yellow leaves that must’ve come from altbricks and has been in displays. I used 9 different altbricks leaf colors in the park at Greenberg this past November. I’ve been working on buying other colors for Space Trees.
I think it’s fair to say that third party / custom / aftermarket bricks aren’t as much of an issue as actual competitor’s bricks. If you start using MegaBloks, KREO, or any of that junk, expect endless hazing up to and possibly including excommunication.
This is definitely true. In the case of BrickFair, this is actually explicitly stated. The Lego community loves to mock MegaBloks; I am always more hesitant because I am aware that really Legos are a rich kid’s hobby, and that not everybody can afford them. (They also sometimes make some cool parts that I wish Lego would make.) I gave tons of them to my nephew as a cheap source of basic bricks, and he used them all the time; now that he’s moved on from Lego I recently donated them all to GoodWill. But for our purposes MegaBloks are not adequate, their colors aren’t as bright and their clutch power is terrible. As far as I know Kre-O isn’t any better, and their guys look stupid. I also picked up a Laser Pegs set at Target a year or two ago and it was very disappointing, you’re not likely to ever see them in a display.
I’ve been buying third-party for at least 8 years, so I have stuff from quite a few places: BrickForge, Brick Warriors, Citizen Brick, CrazyBricks, altbricks, customBricks, ME-Models, LifeLites, BrickCircuits, BrickGadgets, Cape Madness, Chrome Bricks, BrickTW, arealight, minifigcat, aaaaaaaaaaand… maybe that’s it. Most of them have already made it into offical SteelCityLUG displays. That stuff tends to be expensive, so I’ve bought pretty small from all of them, except altbricks, which I have a lot of and plan to keep buying from.
I did go in on the ME-Models metal rails kickstarter, including the larger radius (I did not go in for the plastic ones but I might in the future); I know Josh did too but I’m not sure what he ordered.
I got on the ME Rails train too late to join the kick starter and get the first access :/ so i have to wait…
You’d still be waiting, cause they’re not actually made yet. I think I sent my money about a year ago. The predicted ship date was September 2014, and last I heard the plastic rails were close to done (maybe they shipped, I can’t remember since I didn’t order any) but the metal rails were way behind. They have, however, been good about keeping us updated on what’s going on and where they are in the process, I think I’ve gotten about 15 email updates since their Kickstarter campaign closed. And this is in contrast to the previous several years, when I’d see the guy at BrickFair every August and I’d ask what’s been going on with them and he’d say ‘nothing’ (it sounds like they got screwed over by some craptastic manufacturer before they tried going through KickStarter). So I’m not worried yet, plus I’m assuming KickStarter has some way of returning our money if their plans fail, although needless to say it goes without saying that I’d rather have the rails.
I do have some of their rails from way back in 2010, but not many, and eventually they sold out and haven’t had more available since then. Also the new design is improved over the old version, so I’m not sure they’ll be compatible.
