Although we can definitely blame Sam Bankman-Fried for scamming, no one can blame young people for falling for Sam’s scam. Finance YouTubers praised FTX (they were paid), and Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary also praised FTX (he was also paid). Many famous people were paid to promote FTX, which should raise some concerns for content creators about the ethics of brand deals and how they should best be handled to maintain a clear conscience. But above all, the FTX disaster is a wake-up call for young people to learn how to manage money and to stop making financial decisions based on trending fintech headlines or advice from YouTubers.

“FTX is Gen Z’s Enron. We have to hope that young people will learn from the experience.”

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Not that young people are doing a terrible job with their money; they’re not. Recent polls have Gen Z actually saving a bit more than Millennials, the generation before them. Gen Zers also tend to be more conscious about switching to cheaper options whenever possible, and they enjoy buying secondhand items and reselling unused things. Given that Millennials were such bad role models for financial decision-making, the fact that Gen Z shows any improvements is really quite remarkable.

It’s a tough time to be a young person right now. Life is strange in general, but right now it’s abnormally strange. In fact, according to older people, life was officially easier fifty years ago. Inflation, a pandemic, and a weird housing market are all making prices rise faster than wages, meaning that paying the bills often takes more effort than just getting a full-time job. Because of this wage gap, a record number of young people who are employed have to supplement their 9–5 jobs with secondary incomes. Whether driving for Uber Eats on the weekends, monetizing their social media channels, or learning how to freelance, Gen Z has become known as the generation of side hustles. And I can guarantee that it’s not just because Gen Z loves to work. It’s about maintaining a lifestyle. Side hustles have become a necessity for many young people to provide a consistent lifestyle in the present time when the economy is unstable.

Lifestyle is also the problematic word. Young people are on a never-ending spending spree. Social media photos have skewed the standards of what to buy and consume, and binging glamourous viral TikToks sets the cultural norm for impressionable teens that the influencer lifestyle is the minimum required for social approval. No matter if the influencer was sent their items free instead of actually buying them, or if they resold everything after each raving product review was filmed. Unfortunately, many young people today are only motivated to earn money so that they can buy more. Saving and investing in assets like houses and stocks that go up in value over time is really important for happiness later in life. So too, is investing in children, who generally help financially provide for their retirement-age parents. But homeownership is at an all-time low in many Western countries, and a record number of young Americans say they will never have children.

The future is not all bleak though. In a bizarre way, the many economic problems happening as of late are a fortune to young people — a trove of examples of the benefits of thriftiness and how to navigate the economic pitfalls common in the generations before them. This, coupled with a more connected online business news beat, give young people the opportunity, if they choose to take it, to learn from the publicized mistakes of older entrepreneurs and discern what not to do in business. Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse failures exude the dangers of mindless trend-following. Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter is a $40 billion example of impulse buying. And then FTX is Gen Z’s Enron. We have to hope that young people will learn from the experience.

The post Will Young People Ever Learn How to Manage Money? appeared first on Brick Magazine.

That day in May, Biden stood up from his Delaware Senator’s seat and proposed what now would be considered a radical solution: quit all government spending increases, yes, quit all of them. The official Senate notes from the day tell us what Biden said on the Senate floor: “If we fail to act decisively on deficits, if we allow the economy to come crashing down, this future agenda of the administration may well be only the beginning.”

“So to be clear, spending and the national debt is not a partisan issue. All parties share a bipartisan neglect for the national debt.”

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Biden was right. It was, in fact, only the beginning. The moment was weirdly foreshadowing. Now, in the same month of May, 39 years later, with Joe Biden as President, huge spending plans pushed hardest by his own party bring politicians into a panic as they ponder whether to vote to raise the debt limit and borrow more.

Nowadays, Joe doesn’t push to stop spending. Times have changed, it seems. Higher education has become a human right. In some ways, times haven’t changed though. Biden’s 1984 plan was busted in the House of Representatives and never made it into action. Since the year 2000, the U.S. has never once decreased its national debt. Joe’s predecessors, Obama and Trump, were two of the biggest culprits who raised it. They both touted their spending on the campaign trail too. Obamacare was financed with debt. So too were Trump’s pandemic-era stimulus bailouts. Then came Biden. His bailouts were bigger than Trump’s.

So to be clear, spending and the national debt is not a partisan issue. Everyone shows bipartisan neglect for the national debt. And while Biden blamed “the administration,” perhaps to turn guilt into the leverage needed to pass his plan in the Senate by one solitary vote as he did, “the administration” is not really to blame. It’s people. People like free things, and they don’t like the prospect of getting fewer free things. And they elect politicians who know their reelection chances hinge on promising more free things. It’s a bad dynamic, but human nature demands it, and the system doesn’t prevent it. A 1985 edition of The New York Times, dug from the archives, phrases it beautifully: “Outside Congress, the Administration and economic circles, the debt and the accumulated Federal budget deficits that make it up stir little concern, certainly less than that people express over such topical issues as trade and taxes.” And thus the spending cycle continues. Pretty soon, and pretty soon means by 2050, as estimates put it, we’ll have to raise the debt limit to even afford to pay the yearly interest. That will definitely raise taxes.

While it’s pitiable that people in the U.S. are unable to uproot their fancy for free things, they are not alone. The mighty United Kingdom boasts a mighty £2 trillion debt, and that number is expected to rise exponentially in the coming years.

Economists have a saying that “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” It’s not crazy expert speech. A person doesn’t have to be an economist to understand what it means, and a lot of problems would be solved if more people understood it. Basically, if we do or consume something now and don’t pay for it, somebody will have to pay for it later sometime. People then tend to assume the government can pay for everything they can’t afford by themselves. They say things like college and healthcare are human rights and should be free. Some folks even say housing is a human right. The government can pay for all of those things, right? No. They don’t realize that a government is just an extension of the people it represents. Governments get money by taxing people, and any money that a government borrows has to be repaid by its people through taxes. There’s no such thing as free anything.

If the U.S. defaults on its national debt, it means people can’t pay enough taxes or the government can’t borrow enough to cover the yearly interest on the debt. We’re close to that happening now, and it gets worse each time the government borrows more money. If it happened, it would set off a chain of really bad things. And yet people don’t care because they’re busy thinking about taxes. Life makes sense sometimes.

The post Why No One Cares About National Debt Until It’s Too Late appeared first on Brick Magazine.

The detailed Batcave, complete with classic iconography from the movie, is ingeniously crammed inside a black frame that folds into a box. The front of the box has a sculpted cutout of the Bat-signal, making for a great display piece both when the set is open or closed.

Included are 2 versions of Batman the Man in Black himself, Bruce Wayne, Catwoman, The Penguin, Alfred Pennyworth the butler, and Max Shreck.

• LEGO Batman Batcave – Shadow Box
• Release Date: June 5 for VIP member exclusive access, June 8 worldwide
• Prices: $399.99 US, £344.99 UK, € 399.99 EU
• Piece Count: 3981 pieces
• Set Number: 76252
• Age: 18+

See the official images below, and decide whether to cop this awesome set when it releases in June.

The post Official Look at the LEGO “Batman Returns” Batcave Shadow Box appeared first on Brick Magazine.

My clicking frenzy led me to an area of the interweb I had never clicked to before: fashion blogging. Repeller, a particularly rambunctious fashion-blogging site, caught my eye, mostly because of the fact that it failed (again, my ego needed boosting, don’t judge), but also because it had this gutsiness. Like, how could a website not succeed when it ran I Found the Best Going Out Top for Staying In and Am I The Only Person Who Doesn’t Want To Look Like Glass as its headlines? Surely somebody in the world somewhere would drool over that stuff. I would have reckoned a site like that would have attracted a whole community of droolers, huddled together, loyally drooling until the very end.

But alas, no, they don’t, and the site didn’t. The only article I can find that addresses Repeller’s closure is a short one, which, to give her due credit, was written by the founder, as all closing letters should be. Despite that closing article being the fifth most popular post on the whole site according to the site’s own ranking system, it only has eight comments. Perhaps Leandra deleted some she didn’t like, or perhaps, in the words of one of those eight, that was really all they got.

In all seriousness though, it seems that the failure of Repeller was quite a saga. Without getting into it all, it suffices to say that before Leandra’s last post, she wrote what seemed to be an apology letter to the site’s readers for “the pain the site had caused,” and announced the hiring of a diversity and inclusion consultant. This was in 2020, right around the time of the big Black Lives Matter protests.

“Oh boy, I get it now,” I thought. Not that diversity and inclusion efforts are bad. It’s just that the site wasn’t about that: it was about women’s clothes. And that’s why Repeller failed.

It’s a, how best should I phrase this, interesting, time for the media industry right now. In a surprising double-whammy to readers of online news, Vice has declared bankruptcy at the same time that Buzzfeed axed its whole news division (RIP, I kind of liked Buzzfeed’s web design while also hating the articles themselves). Both Vice and Buzzfeed started out as scrappy, great sites which told people important stuff that more mainstream news sites wouldn’t say. But I think everybody can agree they aren’t great sites any more.

They started doing less of telling people important stuff and more of cherry-picking specific stuff that fit the narrative they wanted to forward, leaving out everything else. That might work great for my friends at Impact, but when people are relying on you for the news — or in Repeller’s case, women’s clothing advice — straying from that founding mission, or attracting an audience who expects you to stray from that mission, is nothing but a disaster. I find that it strangely all makes sense that some of the biggest viral news sites are crumbling while I’m resurrecting a viral media site about, of all things, LEGO collecting.

But that’s what I like about the LEGO community. Most of you aren’t here for a political agenda. You’re here to create, to learn, and to, in a real sense, find a respite from the highly politicized world around you. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Now don’t get me wrong. With the audience I have in this space and the attention I pay to it, I’ve taken the personal liberty to explore and support some D&I efforts behind the scenes. I think supporting female LEGO creators is important, and designing LEGO parts that make people everywhere feel included is something that can be really helpful. Barbie did the same thing with heart-touching results.

But do I think all media sites should use even their most innocent-seeming content to forward these agendas at the cost of the satisfaction of their readers? Heck no! I think the next generation of media sites (at least the ones that don’t fail) will need to cater to the curious, the learners, those who don’t need a site to tell them how they should think, but who instead read stories to find the next big thing to research for themselves and who genuinely find joy in reading about what other people think because it makes them feel something. What about those who feel repelled by it all and would prefer not? Well, they can, maybe, go into fashion blogging.

The post I Am Forced to Conclude That Fashion Blogging is Too Weird appeared first on Brick Magazine.

In the beginning of his nearly hour-and-a-half YouTube video titled “Massive LEGO Collection Tour: Over 6,000 Sets and 15,000 Minifigs!,” the US-based streamer DuckBricks walks through the large area of his private residence that he dedicated to his LEGO collection. Thousands of framed items adorn the walls, massive cities and landscapes dwarf the tables and shelves built just to hold them, and, most strikingly, spaceships suspend from the ceiling as though mounted in a museum display.

According to DuckBricks, real name Christopher Lee, the museum-esque mood was not accidental. Throughout the unscripted 80 minutes, he explains the significance of each of his items, how they were acquired, and their relation to the LEGO toy brand with all the knowledge of a curator. While it’s difficult to explain to people unfamiliar with collector culture how or why to stick around for movie-length home tours, I cannot help but spend at least a few of those rare, coveted late-night binging sessions listening, enthralled, to the stories and memories the collection evokes inside the mind of the collector.

At the end of the video, DuckBricks cites the database Brickset as ranking his collection among the largest 15 in the world. Yes, Duckbricks’ collection might be an outlier in size, but the same stereotype of crowded spaces jammed with stuff holds true for collectors pretty much across the board, regardless of the stuff they collect.

SOME PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF HAVING STUFF. THEY’RE AFRAID OF COMMITMENT, TERRIFIED OF BAGGAGE. THEY LIKE TO GAWK WHEN THEY SEE OTHER PEOPLE’S STUFF.

In Nashville, my city, there’s one person who knows collecting more than just about anyone. His name is John, and he owns the local sports card shop. Over the years, John’s shop became a local mecca of sorts. For many, it was a fastidious tradition “to bring your kids and spend an hour,” according to John’s friends. Not even to buy, but to revel in the “vibes, aura, and feel.” Shops-turned-museums like the one owned by John have, for years, been the last surviving bastions in the war against minimalism.

And it is truly a war, as John might not own his store for much longer. He woke up one morning last month to news of fire, fire. “They found two wires that had been burnt and the coverings of the wires were taken off. The cash register was melted.” “This store has been my livelihood for 40 years and it’s been a lot of good,” John told reporters. “You wouldn’t think that this little store could have flames that big, but they were that big.” John says his store had been broken into a lot for years before the fire, to the point that it prevented him from qualifying for insurance. Now, his only hope is Gofundme.

In the mainstream, collecting gets a bad rap. True, the pandemic might be killing minimalism (good riddance), but even after a forced multi-year hiatus from house partying, my guests still wrinkle their noses at my ‘88 Star Wars action figures on the shelf, my coins, my stamps, in short anything that isn’t sterile and dull. And while I know that having a pristinely decluttered house is an almost impossible standard to achieve, it is nonetheless the standard. 

I think the problem is that some people are afraid of having stuff. They’re afraid of commitment, terrified of baggage. They like to gawk when they see other people’s stuff. They gawked at John and my local sports card shop. DuckBricks knew they would gawk, so he made a museum. BrickStar made a museum too, come to think of it. But the gawkers miss the point of it all. Collecting is not about the stuff. It’s about the knowledge, the memories, the finding. It’s about stewarding everything worth remembering. In a world dominated by the realm of the clickable, warehouses no longer hold crates of archives as the Indiana Jones saga reminds us they once did. Now new data warehouses hold hard drives and servers, full of NFTs (empty shells of what once was stuff). Collectors seem to be the only ones who have enough sense to shun the clickable and appreciate the touchable. We need more of that.

The post Is Collecting Really About the Stuff? appeared first on Brick Magazine.

So I pivoted hard toward making money, and it must have worked because I have money now. And I know a lot more about the ever-spinning cogs that are the journalism business. But I missed the people at Brickinspired, the irreverent humor, the chance to ignore politics to hurl myself, happy-go-lucky, into the world of culture that we built.

Why did I start this in the first place? Well, my affinity for LEGO in particular began when my 8-year-old self won builder’s runner-up at my local toy store using pieces borrowed from a friend. The taste for thoughtfully-crafted media came from my violin studies, when a traveling teacher caused a stir in our masterclass by exclaiming, following an expletive, that I had become too much of a perfectionist to succeed at even the most precise of instruments.

On a deathly serious note, I’m extremely lucky to have one of the world’s biggest audiences of adult toy collectors around the web only a button press away. Although people know the brand more than they know me as the individual responsible for it, I can say with confidence that I never took the position lightly, and I recognize a certain responsibility to lead and nurture the culture that all of us have built. It is to that end that I welcome myself back, and you too, I hope, to the new iteration of Brickinspired.

Other sites cover the more limiting news beat of product reviews that I would rather not clutter my columns with. Instead, expect semi-infrequent but well-penned must-reads from me as well as short notes breaking down trending topics insightful to collectors young and old. Much like your creations and collections, you can also shape this site with your own handiwork, as I will accept, edit, and publish opinion pieces from readers that are well-voiced and which provide value to the community.

I’m proud to say that editorially, the brand’s relationship with any other company (i.e. The LEGO Group) is non-existent. I have always believed (and stated in my editorial policies) that affiliating with any particular consumer brand would hinder good journalism as opposed to helping it. I hope the results prove me right.

Much love from your Editor,

Antonio Dodson

The post I Welcome Myself Back, and You Too appeared first on Brick Magazine.

With lots of hype around the premier of Bad Batch on Disney+ last week, the timing for the LEGO release couldn’t be better. The set 75314 The Bad Batch Attack Shuttle includes six minifigures — Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Echo, Crosshair, and a Gonk droid, and Clone Wars fans will find emotional tie-ins to the popular franchise, as well as plot hints for the opening episodes of Bad Batch.

The Attack Shuttle has 969 total pieces including many interesting parts in colors that are sought-after by collectors and fans like ‘sand blue’ and ‘lime green’. The main ship’s functions are a cockpit that detaches, a staging area that opens up for lots of action, and a working blaster cannon. Recreate an iconic Star Wars speeder chase with two speeder bikes, also included, that also have working stud shooters and posable controls.

The post LEGO Star Wars Bad Batch Attack Shuttle Available Starting August 1 appeared first on Brick Magazine.

Before the PS5 was even released to the public, it’s rumored that stripped down pieces of the console were shipped to the Nike HQ in Oregon to make sure they were able to transfer the full essence of Playstation in shoe form. Sneaker designers did an uncanny job getting the details of the PS5 just right, given the most pre-launch information they were able to squeeze from the secretive Playstation team was a word of mouth description over the phone. White textured uppers represent the PS5’s outer shell, with black and blue accents to mimic the Playstation’s inner box and lighting.

The Nike X Playstation collab drops on May 27 in the U.S. for $120 on Nike’s SNKRS app. Follow @brickinsneakers on Instagram for more updates and sneaker news.

The post Nike and Playstation Collab for PG5 “PS5” appeared first on Brick Magazine.

But one kid used his free-time to build a truly massive airplane made completely out of LEGO bricks.

Based on the Agents of SHIELD TV series, the LEGO version of a SHIELD Airbus built by an industrious kid took over 30 hours and 6,000 bricks to construct.

The post Boy Builds Massive LEGO Superhero Ship, And It’s Incredible… appeared first on Brick Magazine.

Mandalorian Battle Pack

• 75267 LEGO Star Wars Mandalorian Battle Pack
• 102 Pieces
• 4 Minifigures
• Retail: $14.99 USD

Mars Research Shuttle

• 60226 LEGO City Space Mars Research Shuttle
• 273 Pieces
• 2 Minifigures
• Retail: $39.99 USD

Central Perk

• 21319 LEGO Ideas Central Perk
• 1,070 Pieces
• 7 Minifigures
• Retail: $59.99 USD

Mobile Bat Base

• 76160 LEGO Mobile Bat Base
• 743 Pieces
• 6 Minifigures
• Retail: $89.99 USD

123 Seseme Street

• 21324 LEGO Ideas 123 Seseme Street
• 1367 Pieces
• 6 Minifigures
• Retail: $119.99 USD

From an awe-inspiring battle pack based off the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian” to a great deal on LEGO Central Perk from “Friends,” LEGO fans of all ages will go crazy over any of these great sets. Which will you choose? See more LEGO news and inspiration on our Instagram, @brickinspired.

^{The writers at Brick are inspired every day with how fans of the brick are pushing the boundaries of art and design. If you have an inspiring build to share, please send us an email at editorial@brickinspired.com.}

The post TOP 5 LEGO Sets You’ll Actually Want to Buy Right Now appeared first on Brick Magazine.