UPDATE - As a correction to the video, it has become clear that one of the examples I mentioned, the 2x2 brick with click joint, is NOT being consolidated when it comes to axle hole versus no hole - just the specific molding type of axle hole. However, all other examples mentioned are accurate, and from a database point of view, I still stand by my original sentiments in the video that this change ideally should not be happening.

As a seller, this will be a pain to change the inventory, but will make sorting easier in the future. As a collector, I think most people want the correct vintage of piece to the extent possible.

There’s a solution that would be good for both sides: make it toggleable. Either have an option for sellers to list the variation or leave it undetermined, or you could make the mold variations be listed the way colors are listed, where if you want to take the time to choose which variation it is you can but otherwise you can leave it blank. That way people who want to buy a specific variation can find sellers who have sorted them out, and the people who don’t care which variant they get can just search for the general pieces without being specific

Bricklink already solved this problem years ago with "Undetermined type". It allows sellers to not care and collectors to still care about specific part numbers if that is important to them. Now they unsolving it.

This would make all of our lives more difficult. I hope this change doesn't go through. I regularly use BL as a marketplace and as a research tool, and I would be sad to see the site get worse to use. -Jesse

As someone who likes their LEGO sets to have period accurate parts I hope they don't go through with this, it's really stupid.

I absolutely agree that Bricklink should rethink what they are doing. It is going to be harder to find a specific piece and much more frustrating when you order a piece and have to hope that you got the right iteration.

As a seller, this sucks. People want specific variations and now sellers need to put MORE work in to now add descriptions to parts. Collectors want the right parts and now there gonna be more complaints and confusion. Bricklink doesn’t seem to care about sellers, they haven’t for a while.

Thanks for adding your voice to the matter, Chris! ❤

This will also add work to the sellers as they will now have to answer questions by customers constantly asking if this listing is this part or that part

I think the best sollutions is making groupings, where you put simmular pieces with different molds in the same group, but you can still destinquish the different variants. That way, experienced buyers and sellers can select a specific variant. Unexperienced sellers can choose the group that the piece belongs in and are able to pic a specific mold it belons to, but if they're not sure, they don't have to. Unexperienced builders can just choose the group, but may get a miss match of different pieces, or they can choose a specific mold. I think this is a win win and will lead to less miscatogiorisation of pieces.

To me it sounds like too many sellers don't want to get into learning all the ins-and-outs of the varieties of pieces... Since LEGO doesn't remake old pieces, having a reliable source for vintage/dis-continued pieces is so important from a buyer/collector standpoint... Also, the difference in value can be quite different depending on the specific type. Probably not enough for a seller to make up for the time spent identifying the pieces correctly. But then again, is the page made for the convenience of the sellers or the buyers? If the change isn't rolled back, I suppose a bunch of buyers will look or a new marketplace which actually differentiates between pieces.

kinda ironic that the first set to fall from the ceiling is the bounty

As a bricklink seller myself I can tell you first hand this is a very bad idea. I understand that it will make it easier to determine parts for newer or novice sellers, but I sometimes need the exact specific part from an older set. Hope they change their mind.

I know I got burned picking up the wrong window frame once. I was brick building the Market Street set and the window frames at the base of the building had an optional other part. So I got it. Turns out those newer frames couldn't hold the window frame/shutter that they needed to. Not a great idea.

This is gonna end up be being a huge pain. For example if they were to do this with a 2x2 circular tile where there is the variety with the tube and with an x. Those are completely different pieces that serve different functions.

i can see why they want to simplify the store, but this will be a huge problem for people looking for specific pieces

I feel like the kind of people who are MOCing and making their own designs are the type of people who know exactly which part they want. I think this is going to upset a lot of people and probably cause a lot of returns.

I think this is an instance where a middle ground solution could work quite well. Consolidate all variations of a piece into a single listing, but then have options for each variant, with an extra "don't know/don't care" option that could be used by either the buyer or the seller if they just want to buy/sell any version of the piece. Seems like a win-win to me.

Seems like they are putting the buying burden on the customer. I wonder if Lego wants to reduce the amount of part numbers and keep the two sites aligned. I can't think of a good reason. They will ruin the site if they go through with this bad idea.

Is this cannon to the lore?

As a buyer of used parts, I usually don't want parts that are very old, i.e. the subselection for a part is important! Conversely, it would be very convenient to be able to search for the cheapest variant of a certain piece, regardless of subselection, but that doesn't require destroying the database!

This is really going to affect people who want age appropriate parts for older sets, especially the clear bricks- if you want the correct old part and you get a newer one that’s not going to work for sure.

It was very interesting being the mediator between you and slugger. Sadly I hate the circumstances...

I just got into Bricklink last year, even I care about the small differences. This could affect people like me if a slippery slope type of situation forms, and more parts are eventually generalized. People buying for nostalgia for example, won't receive the same parts they fondly remembered

This is frustrating to me because when I'am trying to piece together a vintage set, say from castle, space, trains etc, which are usually valuable sets, I would like to have the era correct pieces. Especially if it is for resale, because if you're putting pieces from the 2010s in a 90s set then it's not completely a vintage set so being less authentic brings the value down. The way you get the correct pieces, is you get the correct variant of the part. While I can see a new brick link seller being confused and even frustrated at determining the sometimes extremely small difference between part variants, like everyone else you just need to take the time and make the effort to learn from asking questions to others more knowledgeable than yourself and learn from your personal experience such as research. That I think is a major part of what makes BL so great compared to others is the time, effort and dedication from both buyers and sellers to the lego collecting and mocing hobby as well as the cooperation with brick link.

3:57 I think its only 30389b and 30389c that are getting considated into 1, and not the regular 30389 without axle hole.

I propose this: Let sellers choose to list item variant separately OR combine them, but every combined listing of multiple variants should have a tag or easy way to see that it is in fact a "combined" listing.

As a bricklink seller I totally think it's worth the time to examine the piece and make sure your listing the correct variant. I also collect, and it will be very frustrating to not be able to specifically buy the exact piece variant that lego included in whatever set I am trying to complete. I think it does a disservice to the buyer but also the seller because some variants can be worth more than others! Also most of these pieces have an undetermined type variant for those who do not care, As stated in the video, bricklink is now a living but also historical database for the lego brand whether or not that was the intent that is one of its best features. As such there should NEVER be an update removing piece variants only updates that add them.

Is there a lore reason bricklink did that? Are they stupid?

Oh dear! This will be a huge headache. I like building vintage sets (60s/70s) and getting the correct windows, shade of blue, 1x1 rounds.....I can see this will be a nightmare.

I can't believe DuckBricks made an Arkham reference. Bricklink is truly jonkling right now.

Thanks for letting us know about this change. I agree with you - the changes they are proposing will make it more difficult for people to find the exact piece that they need.

If Lego found it important enough to evolve parts into variants for their sets as previously covered by your wonderful video, then Bricklink needs to reflect that by keeping them in the catalog. I'm one of those buyers/designers that uses a 100+ of a type of piece and I expect them to be uniform, especially with slopes on boilers for trains or on a giant Schnabel car. And some variants have better range of connections that make them important in greeble like details. That 2x2 connector brick with axle hole can be critical in using axles to reinforce a hybrid frame with brick and Technic techniques. I get that they're trying to make things easier for sellers like the 4070 headlight with or without that injection hole but if they go too far, then people may turn to competing market places for specific parts, like Brick Owl. Sometimes, it may bite being a BL seller, but keeping track of variants is a necessary part of the game.

I wont lie your basement has always given me anxiety. Im always so terrified you’re gonna accidentally bump into something, or something will fall 😂

Leaving a like in a comment on this video as well because the Lego Community needs to know about this and I'm glad that you are making a video on it too.

i think you should continue filming in the basement even despite its state of disarray (as long as you don't step on something). it's nice to see progress on it!

I use to sell on Bricklink and yeah, it was a bit of a pain and I sometimes screwed the listing up and had to offer a refund, but it was RARE and never a big deal for me or the buyer. This change IMO will just lead to more post-sales issues than is worth any potential “simplification” from the inventory or buying side of things. People who buy from Bricklink can be very specific and the ambiguity will lead to a bad experience.

the enshittification of the internet continues unabated

I like the way BrickLink is now. People who are buying bricks know exactly what kind of brick they are looking for. They wouldn't get confused. If they list all the slopes together, sellers should indicate how many of smooth or rough bricks they have.

This will be a problem for me too. I like making vintage and classic MOC and merging new and old molds like 1x1 plates with clips will be an issue.

Itd be fine to have subcategories where if you are good with any of them then you can do the generic list, but if you need the exact one you can dig into it through an option.

1:06 BIONICLES IS COMING BACK, YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST FOLKS

As an avid LEGO designer and builder, this is absolutely catastrophic.

I definitely think printed and stickered peices don't all need an entry in the search window it makes it hard to find what you actually looking for to scroll through multiple full pages of not it.

I only just recently discovered the bricklink site. I've been having a blast sorting through all my loose pieces trying to figure out what sets they might have come from. As a young kid/toddler, you don't care as much about keeping boxes, or manuals, or keeping sets assembled. Hearing this news about the consolidation of minor variants saddens me because there are several sets I figured out I owned that I would have never been able to pinpoint if it were not for those subtle variants. It's a bit daunting to search up a brick and see that it has been used in 837 sets. Those variants can potentially reduce the number of sets to a more reasonable number.

So glad people are actually talking about this, this cannot happen. We need to fight back against this.

Maybe what BrinkLink should do is add substyles to address this issue. Someone who doesn't care can just order from the master listing, but people who care can go into the substyle and select the specific version they want?

I’m only a buyer on BL and I care very much about having clarity regarding the specific mold types. Those slopes are a great example because roof tiles are often at the e top of a build, and so they catch the light very well, and smooth versus textured makes a very important difference.

Bro looking like he lives in the lego factory

aslume has reached duckbricks

Bricklink should hire more people it doesn’t make sense for Lego a billion dollar company to keep it’s employee size so small for a site with such a large amount of buyers, sellers, and inventory. Lego customer service is definitely better than Bricklink’s so they should focus more on that.

12:08 LOL love the hand gestures xD

I can understand where they're coming from, and some pieces I can somewhat agree with. But there has to be a better way of going about it. Like instead of consolidating the listings, make the interface clearer. Bricklink's interface in general could go for an update/overhaul. Not even in terms of cataloging, I feel like whatever confusion this I'll fix will be far overshadowed by the frustration over wanting a specific type of piece. Especially when the difference is something like having a whole axle. A brick with vs without tubes? Fine, I don't completely agree, but I get it. And honestly, minfig heads are probably one of the few things I'm completely behind. But how is a full other connection point anything more than a different piece. And why consolidate that, but not the new axle 2x4 brick?! I'm really hoping that at the very least they'll reevaluate what they consider the same brick, cause if done right, I could get behind this. But what it is now is far from it.

Where is the cup from Lego Master?

Love your videos duckbricks!

It’s unimaginable that pieces with and without axle holes will be treated the same. That’s a critical difference that means people will be buying stuff they can’t actually use. Sellers will then get complaints. I’ve just started using Bricklink almost daily and this will destroy one of its key benefits.

I wonder if this was brought on by buyer complaints regarding the correct categorization of similar pieces? Regardless, this seems excessive and can absolutely affect Mocs which rely on the quirks certain moulds contained. 😢

Thank you giving credit to RR Slugger! And thank you sharing this info!

The site has always been Marketplace first, database second. This makes so much sense for consumers, so many times I missed parts from a seller because he had it as a slightly different variation that didnt affect the piece at all. Good change, will give a lot to consumers.

I rrally don’t understand why they’re doing this! The argument that it's simpler for sellers doesn’t really hold any water, as there is already the possibility to specify the inventory entry as undetermined type! So sellers can already use that. Why are they now forcing this on everybody? And with regards to minifig heads: at one point a small opening was added in the stud to make sure small children would not choke on them if they’re swallowed, because air can still get through. So the difference might be important for some people.

How do LEGO themselves differentiate the part variants? Do they have the same or different part numbers moulded into them for textured vs smooth slopes, for instance?

Thank you for amplifying this

I agree with other people here, make groups and subgroups or smth like that that betters it without worsening it

i guess i’m confused? how does consolidating similar but slightly different parts change how you shop? can you not specifically buy or sell certain pieces? are they being erased from the database in general?

This is the first time I’ve ever even seen a video from you and your Lego collection is insane, like holy crap you have a lot of Legos!

1:05 "not the good kind of important BIONICLE IS COMING BACK!" I see what you did there :D

i noticed something wrong when i tried to order part 3484 in various colors to replace some 48729b pieces (3484 different in appearance only, function is the same as 48729b) only to find that theres no listing for 3484, its all under 48729b. I previously got a 3484 piece in an order before, turns out that was by random chance so i cant get any 3484. its a gamble.

I can see this as being an issue for people like me that have sets from 60's - early 80's and trying to replace broken/missing pieces. Bricks from that era are very different to pieces from 90's - current. Replacing them won't be original era parts.

I would ask what they were thinking, but clearly they weren’t thinking

This will be a double edge sword. While it may appear to ease the sorting and selling of similar pieces, buyers looking for a particular variation will be frustrated and may even leave negative feedback. It would be wiser to create groupings of these variants such that a seller can choose to distinguish the mold differences or not and the buyer can source parts with the level of precision they require. The groupings would also inform buyers of all available variants thus providing better transparency and overall satisfaction.

I still need to create a Bricklink account to get the pieces that I need for my Mocs that also include pre-applied stickers since I’m not good at placing them on so when I place orders on it I want the right piece with the right color

This will cause a lot of extra communication with the vendors, asking them what exactly they are selling, what exactly it is you need. And hope you can trust them.

This is going to be incredibly frustrating as a buyer, it's already annoying having to ask for the rounded variant of U clips and stuff like that and now I'm going to have to ask for blocked stud parts instead of vented? Come on BrickLink, this only helps the few sellers that don't care to properly inventory their parts and don't care about what their buyers are receiving. They should be making it easier for sellers to distinguish major variants rather than taking all that away entirely

I use Bricklink almost daily, mainly because it has so much information on every piece and variation. Combining similar pieces is no good, mostly because if I buy a newer used set, I don't want to get the weaker or older variation of pieces. 😢 For example, the headlight bricks with a small gap at the bottom are weaker than the headlight bricks without a gap. It seems crazy that Bricklink is putting so much effort into catalog consolidation, when other features (like wanted list sharing, or color/number agreement with the official LEGO internal catalog) have languished.

Thanks for pointing this out. I fail to understand what purpose this change is supposed to serve. Basically their logic is : It's a hassle for buyers and seller to sort, so let's deport the issue "off bricklinks" => Buyers and sellers will have to handle the issue out of the platform by either re-sending the correct wanted molds, or by buying more and pray to get the expected mold version they need... It also implies that your digital build will most likely become "wrong" (max hinge angle, distance or collision will be wrong) and even unbuildable... As a digital builder, it is a hassle sometime to distinguish between mold versions and their capabilities or limitation, but I rather have that instead of relying on luck. I'd clearly vote for respecting the "1 mold => 1 reference". A real help would be to indicate wither a mold is legacy or superseded by another one or exist within a range of variation (and maybe indicate how it is likely for reach to find or encounter, juste like they do with colors. (you wouldn't decide to gather trans-brown and trans-black just because some buyers or sellers have trouble sorting them out ?)

When we don't understand some decisions it must be money behind...

This is wild, I was literally going to ask if anything has ever fallen from the ceiling down there. Well there's my answer 😂

i certainly have some form of tizm because that basement make me panic just looking at it

They should add an 'expert' setting on the website that would then show all the variations. Also have the option to add the variation when selling, but it still gets listed under the merged item, only changes with the expert setting.

I hope they wont consolidate torso with ribs and no ribs, like this would be so so bad from a seller persoective, i have alot of vintage space figures that are worth alott of money, if they do it the price of the old figures will literraly crash. For the slopes and chages, sellers just have to separate listing saying "Textured" or "non textured"

Glad I was recommended this video, wouldn't of been aware otherwise. Duckbricks W for spreading the word

Never thought I'd see a lego video title reference Batman Arkham subreddit

OHHH MY GOD THE VIDEO TITLE I AM LITERALLY DYING

Interesting video and topic. I don’t buy from bricklink often so I can’t imagine this will impact me but I can see how it would affect others. What a difficult situation…

They are making it to have better chances on law suits! They just had a lawsuit against delta sport. And bricklink Screenshots were not excepted as source. It's a pretty complex topic.

I recently ordered a a specific 2x2 cone and received one that was functionally the same but incorrect to finish my 1990 set. I was not happy. The seller listed it incorrectly btw.

oh no, duck bricks has gotten his hands on r/batmanarkham

I literally have rough and smooth slopes, and some of them were rough. (And although ordered on BrickOwl) now I need to order more because I need them smooth. I agree with DuckBricks.

Please do an in-depth showcase of your updated wall when it’s finished!

I guess the only option now is sending Bricklink a list of text descriptions of the pieces you need and having them hand-curate the bricks for your order

Yeah, this is nuts. If I'm doing a build that needs 1000 identical parts, I need them to be identical for a reason.

I agree with you Some pieces make sense to be listed together However if pieces have different functions, or clear differences that need to be differentiated, they should be listed separately Bricklink should make a poll

Arkham Reddit members when they see the title: "Is there a lore reason why Bricklink would do this?"

Duckbricks: Don't harass Bricklink, communicate nicely. Also Duckbricks: IS BRICKLINK STUPID?

Brick Link has already mediacore accuracy base, the 1st set i watched (as i wanted to check if i didnt lost any parts) is imperial flagship from 1992 - 6271 - it has the rare red admiral figure, and they are putting in there a wrong feather for him (compleatly wrong - specially they have the picture of the ship with the proper feather). Thats why i dont check their site at all for it, but find instructions and then watch what is the part.

I got a Reese's ad voiced by Will Arnett for this video. Fitting.

having a tube in a transparent brick makes a BIG difference in their functionality: building on jumperplates.

The Destiny's bounty falling makes sense, it got destroyed in Ninjago many times 😅

1:06 announcement that was made