Creator Set | SerialBuilder | Pre-order update #2

Hello and welcome back to the Pre-order updates, where we try to keep you as informed as we possibly can, whilst running around frantically trying to get everything off the ground.

That’s how it’s been these past few weeks, so I’m taking a bit of a breather to answer a big question we’ve been getting and that has come up frequently enough to dedicate a whole update to it.

Are we a scam?

Now, obviously I know we’re not, but my job is to convince everyone else that we’re not and to make everyone feel safe knowing that we’re going to deliver their pre-ordered set. So to do that, let’s break down the anatomy of a scam.

How to identify a good scam?

🚩 An offer that sounds too good to be true

🚩 Asking for a considerable sum of money

🚩 There is pressure to act immediately

🚩 There aren’t any testimonials / testimonials are coming from questionable sources

🚩 There is the impersonation of someone

I put myself in the shoes of a prospective backer and asked myself, is EasternBrick displaying any of these red flags 🚩?

Dammit! I guess we’re scamming everyone up in here! 🥲

Now, I’m just kidding, but let’s go through each of these issues and tackle them one-by-one to put your mind at ease.

An offer that sounds too good to be true

How are we able to provide so much value to the customer? The main reason is simply that we’re not using bricks with the LEGO logo on them. The reality is that the price of LEGO is continually getting pushed higher, making it out-of-reach for many. We love LEGO, but we’re a little tired of that and so want to provide an option for those who feel the same way to not have to pay the LEGO logo premium.

If LEGO were to release our Creator Set, it would likely be starting at $1,400 for the Core Edition alone. We think that’s way too much.

We’ve heard a few people wondering whether our bricks are able to match the quality of LEGO’s and there’s no way to answer that question if it’s just a “yeah it’s comparable - take our word for it”, so we’re currently working on a video where we’re running some tests to show the similarities/differences. Stay tuned for a future update on that. In the meantime, since some of you have been asking, here are a few photos comparing our bricks to LEGO. They honestly don’t tell much as it’s hard to spot any difference, which is precisely why we’re putting together a more in-depth video with more practical tests.

For those who are wondering whether we’re ripping off LEGO - patents for the brick ended many many years ago and so it’s safe to say that LEGO has fully benefitted from the limited time protection that patents grant any business. But like with every patent, they expire to allow for competition to resume. This prevents companies developing monopolies and keeping prices artificially high.

Why don’t we make our own system of bricks? The straightforward answer to that is that the system is already in place - trying to fight the system with a new one rather than building upon it is a waste of resources and not what we want to focus on - that’s reserved for delivering jaw-dropping builds.

Coming back to how we’re able to offer incredible value - there are a few other reasons.

1. We’re not spending on running ads

   

   You may have learned of our pre-order campaign through a video that looked like an ad, but that was just the social media algorithms doing their thing. The cost to run ads can become astronomical and so we made a conscious decision to avoid it altogether. To fund ads, the price of the offering usually needs to be increased, which essentially means that the customer is indirectly the one paying for the ad to be shown to them. We don’t mess with that and as such no additional cost is passed onto you. So now that you know that we don’t run ads - your referrals and support really do mean a lot to us, so please do spread the word about us to help us reach more people.
   

2. Delivering amazing sets with extendable value is our main priority

   

   Whilst it may sound counterintuitive, we believe that by focusing on packing as much value into our sets as we possibly can so you only need to buy it once, is the way that our little startup will become profitable. We want to gain your trust by not pushing you to buy new bricks every time we release a new set. If you purchase one of our premium MOCs in the future, we think it’s far more responsible to give you the option to build it with your existing parts if you so wish to. It’s not the LEGO way and probably why we’ll never be as big, but we’re OK with that.
   

3. We need to offer something that’s attractive to customers buying knockoff sets

   The unfortunate reality is that there are a lot of knockoff brands out there just replicating whatever LEGO puts out, but also ones who steal MOC instructions from talented creators to offer sets that will no longer be targeted by LEGO’s lawyers, but at the expense of the original creator who never gets any credit or reward for their work. We think this is quite the injustice, but we can see why these types of businesses are thriving - they’re providing unsuspecting customers a way to buy these amazing sets that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to get from LEGO. The downside is that the customer usually needs to deal with inferior quality and an unresponsive/non-existent support team. But the prices are attractive, so the compromises can seem worth it.

   
   Our strategy is to make our set as attractive (if not more) to the customer so that anyone thinking about buying from shady sources, will hopefully think twice, since we’re offering something better. The more people that buy original MOCs from us instead of the questionable no-name brands, the more we’re able to reward the original creator for their creations. It’s a conscious decision on our part - we know we can offer the Creator Set for much more because it really is packing a lot of value, but we still want to convert those who are considering the knockoff alternatives.

Finally, I’ll just mention the strongest motivator for why we want to offer lots of value is that we just want you to remember us as that little brand that is working hard to get the creator paid and provide great value to the customer - two seemingly contradictory goals, but we do love a good contradiction.

Is over-explaining is also a red flag? 🤔 On to the next flag!

Asking for a considerable sum of money

It’s true, but we’re delivering a tonne of value in exchange. Each of the 2 bigger builds would cost at least $699 each if they were released by the LEGO. We’ve been asked why we can’t offer the sets individually, which I explained in the previous post, but we’re certainly thinking about how to make that happen. Our focus right now is on the concept of Creator Sets, where we provide you with a tonne of bricks to make whatever you want, including some pretty awesome builds. We’ve heard you though and will see how to make the builds even more accessible. Also, this is just our first Creator Set. Future sets may not be as big and so will be more affordable. What those sets will allow you to make is still a big question mark, but we’re excited just thinking about the possibilities.

Pressure to act immediately

I totally got called out for the language we’re using on the pre-order tracker which sounded too ‘FOMO’ inducing, which I will accept. However, it doesn’t make it any less true - this really is a pre-order that we’re not yet sure we’ll be able to do again. Of course we would love for this Creator Set to be an evergreen set and to continue releasing instructions for new sets over time, but it all depends on how the pre-order goes. Part of why we’re limiting it is also because we don’t want this pre-order period to be too drawn out as we’d like to get everyone’s Creator Sets to them as soon as we can so that we can prove ourselves and remove the need for this post altogether.

We don’t want you to feel pressured into pre-ordering now. We will try to bring it back in some form, but it may not be at the same price or with free delivery. If you know you’re going to get it eventually, then this is probably the best price we’re going to be able to offer it. I say probably, because read the bit above about providing incredible value.

No testimonials or from questionable sources

The only thing I can say here is to state the facts, which is that nobody has our set yet since it’s our first set and hasn’t been produced. The sooner we can close the pre-order campaign, the sooner we can place the order with the factory and then get the Creator Sets sent out to you. We’d love to get them to you all as quickly as we can so that we have the social proof that we’re delivering and are who we say we are. Once we do get them to you, we’d love for you to leave us a review so that everyone else can feel safer knowing that they can trust they’ll get the set they ordered.

Besides that, my only other credible claim is that I’m the co-founder of a previous Kickstarter brand called Lumos, where we made smart helmets and ran some pretty high profile pre-order campaigns. You can read all about it online and see proof of how we delivered thousands of products to our customers across the different campaigns. Funnily enough, we had people calling us a scam back then too…even after we had started delivering.

Impersonating someone you’re not

We’re not really impersonating anyone, but did get called out for using a lot of AI imagery for ourselves which seems like a red flag. I get it - we’ll try to include ourselves in images and videos a bit more - but sometimes, you know, you just don’t want to have to do up your face for the camera - I currently look hideous due to the lack of sleep I’ve had the past few weeks. AI is my saviour. Isn’t this what AI was developed for - to make us all look fabulous?

Hopefully these rebuttals have helped to ease any niggles you may be feeling, but do know that we’re hard at work upgrading the instructions and making fixes to the builds - would a scammer care about investing so much time in something like this? I think not. Where’s the proof of my upgrades, I hear you wondering - stay tuned for the next update!

How should we bag-em?

Just to close off this update - we’re working to figure out how to bag all the parts and package everything. Before we get to the solution, we just need your feedback on a few things so that we can share the options for you to choose from in the next update. Please provide your feedback by commenting on the post and/or liking the suggestions that others are making so that we can get a rough idea from you.

If you have more ideas, feel free to share below.

See you in the next one!