Remember that gorgeous LEGO set that came out last year, with a deliciously retro TV and NES console playing Super Mario Bros.? Yes, the one that cost over £200. Yes, the one that none of us can actually afford. Well, it seems like a few enterprising companies have taken it upon themselves to clone the set for much cheaper, with... varying levels of success.
As Takashi S. Omoto points out in his tweet, the sets are "charming, if janky", and one of the sets even comes with extra "cartridges" that "play" different games, ranging from Duck Hunt to the infamous Bowser fight from Super Mario Bros.
Fair warning, though: these ones probably won't work with the LEGO Super Mario figurine, like the real deal does. Also, Nintendo will probably find you and tell you off. Don't say we didn't warn you.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 42
I'd rather get the official thing, even though it's basically a rip off.
Nintendo is about to play door kickers IRL
They seem to have pretty terrible quality, isn't it?
Just FYI, the official one has been back in stock for a few days.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001337832100.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.26cb3287WbQ1Gg&algo_pvid=a09ddfe8-c75a-421c-a7d2-698138496434&algo_expid=a09ddfe8-c75a-421c-a7d2-698138496434-0&btsid=0b0a555316103926688503286e55ad&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_
Of course it's on aliexpress....also 133 bucks is no chunk change for a knock off.
I think I will wait the release of the “9.999.999 games in 1” set.
That just reminds me that I need the official one.
Well if there is a market and you don't serve it, someone else will.
@AlienigenX : And to think that plebeians pay US$60 for ONE game.
@StevenG I assume you aren't implying that makes it legit in any way.
This is worth the price of admission for the duck hunt dog alone haha.
@doctorhino Not at all. I am just pointing out that Nintendo could have served the market and chose not to. So now these will be sold instead. Legitimate or not matters very little in the grand scheme of things. If there is a demand there will be someone selling that product.
There’s not much that can be done here, they’re (sadly) unbeatable. We still have counterfeit amiibos being sold everywhere.
@Ryu_Niiyama *want
@doctorhino Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness
I find it interesting that, despite Nintendo's vigorous legal efforts, "IP violations" like this seem to occur with increasing frequency.
Perhaps if Nintendo devoted less effort to harassing people for things like posting music on YouTube (with no profit for themselves), and more toward brazen, money-making freeloading like this, they would stem that tide.
I got two sets and left them in their boxes and in storages, I'm hoping my children will be able to send my grandchildren to college with the money they'll make selling them when I die.
LEGO ripoffs are nothing new, if you think these inspired-by sets are bad, you should look into Lepin, the cheap LEGO knockoff that recreates actual LEGO sets verbatim, and it goes beyond solely LEGO owned IPs, but it includes ripoffs of stuff like the Simpsons LEGO sets or Star Wars LEGO sets at that.
@duffmmann lepin is no more on ali...
I've actually seen one of these bootleg Lego NES sets before, but the game used was Adventure Island. Kind of bizarre, but then again Adventure Island is pretty commonly bootlegged, so I guess it makes sense.
@StevenG they could have served the market for cheap knockoffs?
@Al_Godoy hopefully it works out better than the 30 year old sealed action figures, baseball cards, and comics I have rotting in my basement, which are worth at most what I paid for them back then.
@StevenG I’m confused. What “market” is Nintendo not serving? They made an official set and it sold very well. The market you seem to be referring to is for what, budget ripoff versions that suck? And yeah, legitimacy definitely matters to a lot of people lol.
There is a "LEGO Difference" just like the Nintendo Difference of legend, and you can see it so clearly here. The official NES set is beautifully designed. Its little TV is adorable and realistic. These TVs are not terrible, but definitely don't look as good.
The bricks in the knockoff sets are always complete garbage, too. Not even close to LEGO quality. This isn't even Mega Bloks level, I mean total trash plastic.
The premise might be a ripoff, but the tv designs are pretty interesting. Capturing different eras.
The “level” designs though, those need work. I’ve seen other builders make better ones with the official set.
Just got mine last week. Took my son for a locomotive, 500 dlls later we each came out with a big yellow bag. Had to choose between the NES and ECTO-1. Mario won.
@JasmineDragon Exactly. Even just looking at the picture you can tell the quality is really bad.
I'm impressed how many people can tell the actual Quality just from pictures. Additionally, it's legal since 2010 to produce LEGO bricks (without the logo of course) for other companies. They don't have patent protection anymore. Just ripping of the licensed stuff is not legal.
Anyway, I think it can only benefit everyone and especially LEGO to have some competition. Their newest stunt with LEGO City is a complete rip off and they deserve a hard punishment for that!
@BAN The market is for more of these kinds of lego collaborations. Clearly there is demand for duck hunt and contra that nintendo isn't meeting.
@Al_Godoy Good luck with that. These things were designed to be collected, which means you aren't close to the only one doing that. No rarity down the road will mean limited value.
You want to collect something that most users destroy and as such there aren't many left.
I mean it's a given here that people will defend the classic Nintendo tactic of intentional scarcity and mistake it as demand.
They look cool. I'm not going to pretend to care about intellectual property or try to impress a company that doesn't care about me. I'll never understand that.
@SenseiDje looks like they may have finally been shut down.
@StevenG Lol okay. I’m sure that “market” is just super lucrative and Nintendo’s totally missing out on like billions of dollars there.
@BAN How much did they make off the first one? Now multiply by the rest of these.
The LEGO nintendo stuff is super profitable.
@StevenG I don't know how much they made, you tell me. I doubt Nintendo has given those figures.
But it's an expensive novelty item. They probably made out alright but you can be sure that it's a very niche market, and of all the people that bought it, the number of people from that group that would spend that much money over and over again on multiple iterations of the same product is considerably smaller.
@BAN They sold out and will sell out again.
It's not that expensive($200) and people cover their desks at work or at home with the stuff. $200 is a nice dinner out for a couple with professional jobs. Which they aren't doing right now.
Lego is targeting that market like crazy and for good reason.
@StevenG Lol wait are you saying there's people out there that aren't poor?? Amazing concept, I've never heard of this. Thanks for the lesson.
But yeah, it's $230 for a lego set. Most of the people I know have good incomes with plenty of expendable cash (myself included) and I think just about every single one of them would laugh at the idea of spending that much money on some legos that will just sit there collecting dust until the end of time. I also doubt anyone on the planet has that giant thing on their desk, of all places.
But hey go convince Nintendo to make more of these things, I'm sure they're just totally unaware that there's an endless supply of people that are willing to spend thousands of dollars filling their desks up with multiple fake NES's and fake tv's so they can pretend to play different video games on them.
@BAN Adult fans of lego are a huge community.
No need to convince lego, someone else will make it if they don't.
@StevenG Bro, I'm an adult fan of lego.
@BAN Not if you think $200 is too much for LEGO. Not a whole lot of adult LEGO under that. The good TECHNIC kits are all in that range.
Also I doubt you would be saying "legos" since it is LEGO bricks. LEGO is the company name, the little things you click together are bricks.
@StevenG I never said I think it’s too much, I said most of the people I know with money would think it’s too much. I also don’t know anyone in real life who actually pretends to care about the “LEGO/LEGOS” issue. Not even the people who collect and build legos regularly. Not even my friend who literally works in lego’s marketing department. That seems to be the exclusive domain of internet psychos who desperately want to score points in virtual debates with strangers.
@BAN On the other hand I have been to adult lego events and you would get some looks for saying "legos". I suspect you are trying to win internet points with your silly claim about your "uncle working at nintendo".
Sure, most people with money aren't into lego, but people who are into lego and have money sure are. So they bought out all of the first release and will do it again.
@StevenG Lol! I’m 36 years old, I grew up in a community of mostly affluent white/educated people, and I have accumulated a lot of friends over the years. I can promise you that working PR for lego, a giant international corporation, is pretty unremarkable in my circle of friends at this point in our lives. This is a guy that used to be a special agent for the FBI so his current job is arguably much less interesting. But his house is full of legos that he gets for free, so that’s one perk that his kids appreciate.
Anyway, you sure seem to really care a lot about legos, so maybe channel all that energy and take your suggestions to Nintendo and try to convince them that they should go into the lego business full time instead of selfishly making a one-off set and abandoning the concept and focusing on video games like a bunch of selfish mean jerks. Their market research has clearly missed this gaping hole in their business plan which you have identified.
@BAN Since they don't pay me, I would rather see other people do their jobs for them. Nintendo deserves this.
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