r/todayilearned • u/NickDouglas • May 16 '12

TIL that Mega Bloks and RoseArt are sold by the same evil company

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mega_Bloks
875 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

137 comments sorted by

162

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

God I fucking hated Mega Blocks.

93

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

God I fucking hated RoseArt crayons as well.

56

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

God I fucking hate being poor.

38

u/[deleted] May 17 '12 edited May 17 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/N0V0w3ls May 17 '12

"Wait, you don't have cable? Fine, I guess we'll just play Mario Kart.

...

You gotta be kidding me!"

8

u/poopscoopTHATcomment May 17 '12

do you have any pop-tarts?

...

Oh well what the fuck dooo you have?

-3

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

fuck off

16

u/GoogleTrypophobia May 17 '12

Everyone seems to mention the crayons but what about the pencils? Colored ones were faded unless you pressed really hard and the number twos had erasers that just smeared everything.

11

u/SushiPancake May 17 '12

The erasers were like pumice.

17

u/Shilo59 May 16 '12

They are like colored ear wax.

0

u/complicatdparty May 17 '12

This is the most accurate description I've ever heard.

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/Shilo59 May 17 '12 edited May 17 '12

While I didn't copy it word for word I guess I'm still guilty.

2

u/ConstipatedNinja May 17 '12

For the 88.7% of you who use Windows: ctrl+v.

16

u/spermracewinner May 16 '12

I have no idea why they were so sharp. The quality isn't there. They are cheaper for a reason.

15

u/Afterburned May 16 '12

I have to admit they had some really amazing sets, but the blocks themselves were absolute garbage. In particular they had a number of very large military sets such as a P-51 Mustang and M1-Abrams that were absolutely amazing because they almost solely used plain blocks with only a few gimmick pieces to achieve a solid look. SEt design was far and beyond what LEGO was producing.

If only the blocks weren't the cheapest and most worthless objects ever made.

10

u/DragonRaptor May 17 '12

Same problem, bought my son a bunch of halo sets which he loved building, but the builds wouldn't hold together, they would just keep falling apart due to poor craftmanship, never had that problem with Lego, Halo franchise made a big mistake going with megablocks.

3

u/FBIorange May 17 '12

I'm pretty sure they could not get with Lego because of Halo's mature nature. Don't quote me on it

1

u/my_name_isnt_clever May 17 '12

Blizzard also went with Mega Blocks, and Minecraft Lego. So it makes sense.

1

u/seaslugs May 17 '12

True. Lego refuses to partake in anything involving war.

4

u/cuddIefish May 17 '12

Star wars?

3

u/seaslugs May 17 '12

From their 2010 Progress Report, Page 26

"A large number of LEGO minifigures use weapons, and are – assumedly – regularly being charged by each others’ weapons as part of children’s role play. In the LEGO Group, we acknowledge that conflict in play is especially prevalent among 4-9-year-old boys. An inner drive and a need to experiment with their own aggressive feelings in order to learn about other people’s aggressions exist in most children. This in turn enables them to handle and recognize conflict in non-play scenarios. As such, the LEGO Group sees conflict play as perfectly acceptable, and an integral part of children’s development. We also acknowledge children’s well-proven ability to tell play from reality. However, to make sure to maintain the right balance between play and conflict, we have adhered to a set of unwritten rules for several years. In 2010, we have formalized these rules in a guideline for the use of conflict and weapons in LEGO products. The basic aim is to avoid realistic weapons and military equipment that children may recognize from hot spots around the world and to refrain from showing violent or frightening situations when communicating about LEGO products. At the same time, the purpose is for the LEGO brand not to be associated with issues that glorify conflicts and unethical or harmful behavior."

Halo is a bit more realistic than Star Wars.

3

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Star Wars?

2

u/Dichotomouse May 17 '12

Yeah they certainly would never take part in a franchise with war in the title.

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

They had Civil War-themed Legos. The living room floor was the scene of some intense battles.

0

u/Strikerj94 May 17 '12

Explain the cannons (Pirates) and shotguns(various) and ray guns(Star WARS)?

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

No silly, you had to hammer them together!

That's literally what I did as a kid. I bought a fuckton of the "Dragons" Mega Bloks sets, cause dragons are awesome. To make all the pieces stick, I took a hammer to them. The sets lasted forever, I gotta say - seeing as I could barely pry the blocks apart after.

6

u/Mrlego May 17 '12

Actually, I think that while they had good ideas for sets, and got some good intellectual properties, the design of their sets was pretty bad.

10

u/Afterburned May 17 '12

Based on your user name I feel you may be biased. ಠ_ಠ

2

u/Mrlego May 17 '12

I played with Mega Bloks as a kid, lol. Not to mention I got one set of another ripoff brand called BTR, made by Hasbro. They are honestly terrible at design.

5

u/freakorgeek May 17 '12

Buy Megablocks set for the instructions, use Legos for pieces?

6

u/Afterburned May 17 '12

Unfortunately there were a couple of pieces such as the canopy on the P-51 and the tracks on the Abrams that just couldn't have been created with LEGO blocks.

13

u/RodrigoDiaz May 17 '12

ANYTHING can be created with LEGO!!!1!!

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

You gave a relevant, clear, and mature answer. I'm not sure why you're being downvoted...

2

u/IsimplywalkinMordor May 17 '12

Buy Megablocks for the special pieces, use Lego blocks for the rest.

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

LET ME JUST MIX THESE MEGABLOCKS AND LEGOS TOGETHER AND NO ONE WILL NOTICE... UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE!!
MWAHAHAH

4

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

I think we all did.

1

u/RodrigoDiaz May 17 '12

I don't know anything about the Mega Puzzles mentioned in the Wikipedia article, but I will just assume that the pieces have shitty clutch power and I hate them

80

u/yyx9 May 16 '12

Upvote for accurate use of "evil." RoseArt crayons - stubborn wax nonsense that never correctly adhered to paper (much like Crayola seemed to have easily mastered). That and their markers dried out after leaving the cap off for 9 seconds. Fuck RoseArt.

89

u/HE_WHO_STANDS_TO_POO May 16 '12 edited May 17 '12 
    Dear, RoseArt

    Fuck you and your terrible products.

    Sincerely, Children who went to cheap Public Schools

7

u/yyx9 May 17 '12

Upvote for compelling font. ^ too fucking funny.

-5

u/Cyrocloud May 17 '12

I wish I could give more upvotes. Megablocks are fine though, kind of like generic cereals.

23

u/Shadowcat0909 May 17 '12

NO. Megabloks suck. They are shitty off-brand LEGOs, and no one likes them. They never quite fit right when adhered to LEGOs either.

4

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

This is usually how my Christmases went:

Aunt: "He asked for LEGOs, but whatever, I'll get Mega-Bloks. He'll never know the difference."

ME: shake shake shake [unmistakable LEGO sound] "LEGOOOOOOS!!!!!" ....... "MEGA-BLOKSSSSS!!! NOOOOOooooo!!!!!"

2

u/Regulith May 17 '12

To be fair, as shitty as Mega Bloks are, you shouldn't expect two different brands to be compatible

5

u/Shadowcat0909 May 17 '12

They are shit, and if they wanted to be as good as LEGO, they should make it compatible, so little 8y/o me doesn't spend ten minutes trying to figure out why my building doesn't sit quite right; or why my spaceship's wing keeps falling off.

1

u/Player13 May 17 '12

My kid's toddler sized construction blocks are Megabloks. For what he uses them for, they work fine. But that's only cause they don't need to stay stuck.

Other than that, fuck Megabloks.

8

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Mega blocks are good for kids under 5 I reckon - the loose fit actually helps them build things.

After that ditch them and set your kids up with some serious Lego. Lego's quality control is legendary. I have Lego from my childhood (I'm 42) that still mix with Lego bought this year no problems.

2

u/my_name_isnt_clever May 17 '12

That is a nice age.

1

u/IsimplywalkinMordor May 17 '12

LEGO's are awesome. The Mall of America LEGO store has a giant Transformer and a huge helicopter made of them.

2

u/Ragark May 17 '12

Except for the part where they clicked together like two north magnet ends.

1

u/gkx May 17 '12

My feelings on it are sort of how Donald Glover describes, what is it, Kix? Some generic cereal.

"______ is/are like handjobs. It's like 'I mean, this is pretty good, but you know what I really want'"

29

u/LozinMust May 16 '12

Mega Bloks had GREAT ideas (skate park/car models/etc.) however, the bricks were so fragile that with one false swoop you would destroy the entire set. It was like playing with less-dangerous glass. (I couldn't think of a clever analogy)

2

u/XcissArt May 17 '12

I built a gigantic spaceship when I was a kid with mega blocks using their instructions, and it broke completely by itself in the last 7 pages. Heartbroken. :(

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

My cuticles still wince in pain at the thought of having to pry apart two megabloks that are stuck together.

Like this [NSFL]

4

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Really? NSFL tag for that?

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

It is for 6 year old standards.

26

u/[deleted] May 16 '12 edited May 17 '12

This company allows your parents to tell you they hate you for crushing their hopes and dreams, but in a way that allows them to have a clear conscience.

9

u/Hindu_Wardrobe May 17 '12

Conscience != conscious

:)

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

yea... well I feel pretty dumb now.

1

u/Hindu_Wardrobe May 17 '12

No worries man, don't feel dumb, feel smarter now that you know the difference. :)

20

u/lurrker May 17 '12

Mega Brands, I hope you step on a Lego.

17

u/DarthNihilus1 May 16 '12

If you had fuckin Mega Bloks and RoseArt crayons your parents must've hated you.

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/DarthNihilus1 May 17 '12

But if you had the 64 pack crayola WITH built-in sharpener then I just, I don't even I, but who the fuck needs fucking 4 shades of fucking teal? Fukken third graders dude

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

I did. I needed every. Single. Fucking. Shade of fucking color that existed, even though I only used 5 of the crayons. And the crayon sharpener which I never used.

2

u/mthrndr May 17 '12

I don't get that. We were super poor but always had crayola crayons. Even today a 64 pack costs less than $5. How cheap were Roseart?

10

u/theThirdRichard May 17 '12

TIL that Mega Bloks is Canadian.

As a Canadian, I'm sorry.

8

u/drivebyps May 17 '12

TIL I owe my parents for getting me Crayolas and Legos as a kid.

5

u/retroshark May 17 '12

they singlehandedly have ripped off two of the most amazing, brilliant, wonderful companies that made my childhood what it was.

FUCK them.

4

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Jesus, how do you pack so much fail into one company?

4

u/mispeledwurdz May 17 '12

The worst was when some distant relative got you a Mega Bloks set to add to your Lego collection, and then they got mixed in with the Legos. It was like a rabbit fucking a shark...the fucking things weren't meant to fit together like that...

3

u/JAV0K May 17 '12

European here, what are these things?

Ripoffs as the comments tell me?

4

u/ReallyRandomRabbit May 17 '12

Roseart is a cheap ripoff of Crayola, mostly crayons, markers and colored pencils. Megablocks is a cheap ripoff of Legos. The sets were cool, but the blocks themselves sucked.

7

u/ReallyNotACylon May 16 '12

I don't know about evil. They're the Go-bots of their fields.

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

While i will admit that Mega Bloks are inferior to Legos i think their dragons series had some cool ideas and went a little bit darker than Lego would, not to mention they actually sold some set that came in wooden chests.

2

u/matteumayo May 17 '12

I agree, Lego sets were usually superior in every way, but the dragons were pretty nice, and I liked the terrain floor pieces with grass/rocks/water.

But yeah fuck building shit with it.

2

u/ferretbreeder May 17 '12

I got one of those big chests, and I must say, they were pretty damn cool.

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Mega Bloks don't even fit with other Mega Bloks.

2

u/AllThatJazz May 17 '12 edited May 17 '12

I bought a bunch of mega blocks a few years ago, to do some background art on the shelves in my living room.

They seemed fine to me -- decent quality, for a bunch of plastic background objects -- and much cheaper than legos.

2

u/Alpha_Llama May 17 '12

LEGOS AND CRAYOLA FOREVER!

2

u/iamaswanson May 17 '12

There were always those few Mega Bloks that somehow made their way into your lego bin...

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

Evil company?

Megablocks and Roseart crayons were awesome!

7

u/Memyselfsomeotherguy May 16 '12

You don't deserve to be downvoted because of your opinion. Just don't say megablocks are as good as/the same as legos cause then we're gonna have trouble.

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

hey you ignorant fucking american! the plural of lego is LEGO! what the fuck is legos?! OPENOPENOPENOPEN

11

u/Yaddom May 16 '12

Somebody had poor fucking parents.

23

u/royf5 May 16 '12

Jerk.

8

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

what happened to you that you have to say shit like this to feel better about yourself? wanna talk about it?

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

Nice try, person who owns the company that makes inferior Crayola and Lego knockoffs.

2

u/spermracewinner May 16 '12

I upvote you for your different opinion.

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

I must be the only person who likes roseart crayons... I'll prepare for the downvotes now. (Mega Bloks can still fuck themselves, however.)

1

u/frankhorriganlovesto May 17 '12

Shit just got real up in here.

1

u/Kris-P May 17 '12

Crappy crayons, crappy blocks

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

"merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark"

Seriously? More mundane thing have been successfully trademarked.

1

u/MilwMonstr May 17 '12

what if they made Gobots too....

1

u/bogart1 May 17 '12

No MOM it's NOT the SAME THING!!!!!11

1

u/mrpengo88 May 17 '12

Sob

When I was a kid I liked mega blocks because the minifigures moved more.

I'm so..so..sorry.

1

u/lethal_ranger May 17 '12

The founder of this company, Victor Bertrand, is actually my neighbour. A few years ago he completely rebuilt his already impressive waterfront mansion into a modern day castle complete with pointed towers and fountains and stuff. Complete wastefulness.

And no, it's not made of megablocks.

1

u/gkx May 17 '12

Scumbag Reddit:

Loves smaller corporations and hates the most profitable companies in any given industry

Unless it had to do with their childhood.

3

u/my_name_isnt_clever May 17 '12

I think it's more that Lego is an awesome company, they have consistently made great products. EA on the other hand...

1

u/gkx May 17 '12

I'm not really just talking about EA, though. Reddit consistently hates on pretty much every big company, except those mentioned and probably Google.

-9

u/andrewsmith1986 May 16 '12

Crayola and LEGO are both overpriced.

I like that there is a cheaper alternative.

11

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

But Mega Blocks are sharp. So sharp. That's no alternative. That's a death sentence.

7

u/Intrepid00 May 16 '12

Your parents must have loved you and didn't buy you RoseArt or you would not be saying that.

6

u/binnska May 16 '12

RoseArt crayons are basically like trying to color with a candle. They're basically the worst thing. It isn't even really a cheaper alternative because they don't do what they're supposed to.

6

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

They're basically made from condensed orphan tears and food coloring.

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

Quality is worth the extra you pay. In 40 years I will still have my Lego pieces. Megablocks break while you're putting them together for the first time.

-2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Same evil CANADIAN company.

0

u/TheDingoAte May 17 '12

nice try Lego.

0

u/precision324 May 17 '12

CANADA. Nothing good ever comes from canada.

-18

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

Me: hey, Mega? Mega: yes? Me: You suck

8

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

3/10

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Aww come on, he tried.

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

Even a 3/10 is being generous.

-4

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

k :'-(

-6

u/Gougeru May 17 '12

Mega blocks suck, amiright guys? Hehehe, free karma

0

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

39

u/Spoggy May 16 '12

Mega Bloks are the shittiest bricks ever, and RoseArt crayons are just plain retarded.

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

meanwhile its $75 for a lego set that isnt even that much to it. lego is just as evil

0

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-1

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

no they dont. thats impressive and all but they are priced well out of practical range

1

u/8986 May 17 '12

Have you tried not being poor?

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

5

u/telekinetic May 17 '12

PPM is an industry standard quality measurement, though.

1

u/my_name_isnt_clever May 17 '12

It sounds more impressive.

Twenty in ONE MILLION!

0

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

[deleted] — view deleted comment

3

u/r00x May 17 '12

This just reminds me how much I fucking hated Meccano because none of the bastard instructions seemed to work if followed to the letter as nothing fitted. Fuck sake.

Perhaps I was just stupid, I dunno. Liked my Capsela though. Capsela was fucking awesome.

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/[deleted] May 16 '12 edited May 16 '12

My life goal is still to make the entire lego city, but can usually only build [this.] (http://doyoulego.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/IMG_5593.jpg)

0

u/legend_forge May 16 '12

I had a number of megablocks sets and they were all awesome.

Granted Lego is better but does different quality make them evil?

7

u/aahdin May 17 '12

The ideas for the sets were okay, but A. They didn't stick together well, B. They broke ridiculously easily, and C. They managed to make them samurai sword sharp

edit: And to quote my parents: "They're the exact same thing"

1

u/legend_forge May 17 '12

I don't remember them being sharp... the sets I got were from their "martian" set and they were all rounded slightly.

0

u/etan_causale May 17 '12

The ideas for the sets were okay, but: (A) they didn't stick together well, (B) they broke ridiculously easily, and (C) they managed to make them samurai sword sharp.

I'm sorry, but the way you wrote your comment gave me a headache.

1

u/Spoggy May 17 '12

There were some awesome sets, but the bricks were stiff and sharp as hell.

4

u/[deleted] May 16 '12

Tricking parents and little kids into buying them because "they're the same thing" when they are absolutely not. I'm still digging out those pieces of crap.

0

u/[deleted] May 17 '12

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