ZURU MAX - WHEELS, WINDOWS & DOORS

Our first time buying Zuru Max Blocks, found this set at ToyZone on special; The set marked down from R 399.99 to R 199.99 (R 0.80 per piece)

The plastic container is a little thin and seems a bit flimsy, will however make for some useful storage. All pieces are sealed in four separate poly bags. 

We will give feedback on brick quality, compatibility as soon as we have the new brick room sorted and are in a position to start up some building projects.

LEGO ALTERNATIVES - THE CHINESE BRICK MARKET

Lego® purists will cringe at the idea of incorporating compatible building bricks and will always state the obvious arguments of quality, copyright, IP, etc. There are however many alternate brick manufacturers providing unique and creative sets at competitive pricing. 

Here at Lubo's Creative Brick we are happy to incorporate quality alternatives. It is also important to note that many manufacturers have realised the importance of brand value and are focusing on manufacturing accuracy and precision, while reducing production costs. The Guangdong region of China has already produced tens of thousands of sets of molds for plastic products for various countries around the world. Many factories have accumulated decades of experience in making precision molds, and the industry chain is also very mature with many talents in precision mold manufacturing. 

Alternate building brick options can only get better as time progresses. Yes there are still those producing direct copies of Lego®, then again many are producing their own unique and creative sets; Sluban, Banbao, Cobi, Sembo, Wange, Pantasy, Jaki, DeCool, Mould King, Cada, Xingbao, Enlighten, Loz and Keeppley.  Use the links below to explore the many options that are available: 

https://www.blockbrickworld.com          https://www.yourwobb.com

In our local market many of the above brands are not easy to come by and when available through a retail outlet, they are often priced in-line with genuine Lego. 

 Analysing various Lego sets price per piece tends to range from R 1.01 (+/- $0.05) per piece up to R 3.94 (+/- $0.20). It is also interesting to see that City sets tend to carry the higher price per piece, with Poly Bags carrying the highest price per piece ratio. 

Alternate bricks can be sourced from as little as R 0.36 (+/-$0.02) per piece up to around R2,41 (+/-$0.13). However beware and always check pricing per brick as we have seen retailers offering alternate bricks at over R5.00  (+/-$0.26) per piece.

CAN THE PRICE OF LEGO BE JUSTIFIED?

Is Lego®  really facing cost pressures and can the latest increases be justified? 

The building block giant announced that it is facing cost pressures due to rising energy and logistics and raw material prices.

Lets look at their 2022 financial report;

Revenue grew by 17% to DKK 64.6 billion (US$9.2 billion).

Operating profit is up to DKK 17.9 billion with Net profit growing 4 percent to DKK 13.8 billion (US$1.9 bn) with  Free cash flow of DKK 9.3 billion (US$1.3bn).

There is a belief that Lego's price increases are profit driven - Lego is confident in their brand advantages and does not see the increases affecting sales. Lego has firmly held a monopoly position in the global building block market for many years, making it difficult for other players to enter the market due to many factors and unfortunately many adopt the wrong approach and simply "copy".  (We in no way advocate copyright infringement and the direct copying of Lego®.) 

Lego® has however become more and more out of reach for the average family and hence the need for budget friendly options. There are many compatible building block manufacturers who have ventured into creativity and produce unique sets. In just a few years original players in the building block market have emerged such as Senbao, Brucol, Pin Qi, Qiaohe, Weiji, Zhideler, Zhidele(ZDEL), and Keeppley. 

There are quality alternatives available with many options available to explore on-line. Locally alternatives are often difficult to come by and like many things in the local market, distributors who do stock alternate bricks are offering these at pricing equal to original Lego® sets!

REVIVAL OF LUBO'S CREATIVE BRICKS

Time passes by, there is always tomorrow and before you know, 7 years have passed since the last blog post! 

Our city "Luboville" originally founded in April 2014, would have combined building blocks and other forms of modelling techniques. Luboville remained unfinished and was eventually broken down, boxed and placed in storage.

Embarking on a new adventure of reconstructing our city, exploring alternative brick options and rediscovering the joy of creative construction, we started sorting through our existing brick collection, remnants of earlier creations hoping to reuse and repurpose as much as we could. Unfortunately many pieces were exposed to direct sunlight before being boxed and ended up discolored, with the white pieces ending up worst off.

It is turning out to be a long arduous task to sort through the bricks and isolate all discolored pieces - you live and learn, the new home for our city has been fitted with blinds to limit direct sunlight.

And so dear readers our city is rising from the ashes, with a mix of Lego® and alternative compatible bricks. Join us on this new adventure brick by brick and celebrate the magic of these colorful bricks. A place where imagination has no bounds, lets reconnect, create and inspire together. Welcome back!