IKEA Discontinues EXPEDIT, World's Best Gaming Shelf

JonB

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Sep 16, 2012
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IKEA Discontinues EXPEDIT, World's Best Gaming Shelf



We'd like someone to play taps now. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChTqYlDjtI]

IKEA has announced that they're discontinuing their venerable Expedit line of shelves, which have been a mainstay of the board game and RPG scene for years now. The shelves, with ample space to hold nearly any bulky board game box or full-size RPG hardcover, are pretty fantastically useful. IKEA is already pimping what they're calling the Expedit's replacement, the Kallax, but there's a certain fear that the thinner Kallax won't be able to manage the hundreds of pounds of thick RPG books that the sturdy Expedit could.

While the shelf is, for now, only discontinued in Germany, IKEA maintains a global distribution system that encourages verisimilitude of a single global inventory. It'll only be a matter of time before the shelves are phased out in the rest of the world.

Also panicking, apparently: Vinyl record collectors. A German language Facebook group [https://www.facebook.com/rettet.expedit] has been set up to decry the loss of Expedit and save it, accruing an unsurprising 20,000 likes given the country's love of both board games and vinyl. The Facebook protest is founded, apparently, on the notion that the Kallax replacement shelves won't have a 5x5 configuration. A reasonable concern for collectors with particularly dense collections who want a compatible look with their existing shelves.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go buy all the Expedit I can fit in my car and pour one out, in that order.

Source: Dangerous Minds [http://dangerousminds.net/comments/ikeas_expedit_line_is_biting_the_dust_and_vinyl_nuts_arent_happy_about_it]

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teebeeohh

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Jun 17, 2009
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i am german.
i am literally sitting in a room lined with those shelves full of records.
and Ikea furniture doesn't survive moving, this sucks
 

JonB

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Sep 16, 2012
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teebeeohh said:
i am german.
i am literally sitting in a room lined with those shelves full of records.
and Ikea furniture doesn't survive moving, this sucks
It really, really does suck. I've got half a room of these things. Desperately need more, now, before they're gone.
 

Weaver

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Apr 28, 2008
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I post on a lot of DJ fourms, and there have been posts mouring the lost of such a great shelf.

I haven't actually bought vinyl in years, but it really sucks to lose something so damn useful.

They also fucked up the Malm line of desks (the cheapest, sturdiest desk that can fit 2x tech 12's and a 12" mixer) and made a weird version with a drawer in it for more money.
 

JonB

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Sep 16, 2012
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Westaway said:
How can the Escapist claim to be the best "video-game journalism site" when their writers don't know how to use the word verisimilitude?
IKEA works to maintain the illusion that they have a global inventory, though they actually don't, by carrying the same main lines in every country. I'm not sure why you think the word isn't used right, or why you think your comment was particularly constructive.
 

webkilla

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Feb 2, 2011
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I have one of these. This will be a loss for the world.

Though, whoever says these things don't live through moving obviously hasn't tried to simply disassemble them. Its not that difficult
 

Olas

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Dec 24, 2011
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I guess I'm not sure I understand what makes these shelves so amazing, it looks like just a bunch of wooden squares without a back.
 

Hairless Mammoth

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Well, it sucks that Ikea is basically cutting a popular product line to force people to buy the cheaper one with thinner boards. Although, I never really liked Ikea's "wood" products since the were mostly made of MDF like all the other build it yourself furniture kits, and I omniloathe those after years of putting them together to watch them fall apart if they were moved(as in moved aside to clean, not to a new house) too many times, got water on them, or were looked at funny. Next time I want some shelves, I'll buy some nice pine boards and fire up my router. I need to justify buying tons of bits for it anyway.
 

Padwolf

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I have never had one of these. Thankfully I'm not in Germany, so hopefully I will still have a chance to have one of these in the future. It does look like a great gaming shelf. I certainly need one. My games are currently sitting half on top of books. I must have order in here! Must have a separate shelf for every console. Though those shelves lack a back, that's kind of offputting.
 

sXeth

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Nov 15, 2012
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Houseman said:
Step 1: Get 12 wood planks

Step 2: Cut them to size

Step 3: Cut slots in four of your planks to use these as the horizontal rows

Step 4: Nail it all together

Congrats. You now have your own shelf.

Actually, I'd like to try this I'm sure it's much harder than I imagine it being.
It's not especially, if you have the space and time to do it in. Drilling holes for thicker bolts would brace it a bit better then straight nails (and make it adjustable by being able to take shelves on/off). You'd also probably want some sort of basic painting too.
 

Dr. Thrax

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notanick said:
but truly - most ppl do not have that much time on their hands
Honestly, with the proper tools it would take at most a few hours if you wanted to leave it unpainted/unfinished.
I could probably point my grandfather to a picture of this shelf and he could make it in a few hours easy.
It'd be a weekend afternoon kind of project.
 

Demagogue

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Mar 26, 2009
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Dr. Thrax said:
notanick said:
but truly - most ppl do not have that much time on their hands
Honestly, with the proper tools it would take at most a few hours if you wanted to leave it unpainted/unfinished.
I could probably point my grandfather to a picture of this shelf and he could make it in a few hours easy.
It'd be a weekend afternoon kind of project.
Yup this exactly, I could show it to my dad and it would be one in a weekend along with all the other puttering around he does.
 

Polarity27

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webkilla said:
I have one of these. This will be a loss for the world.

Though, whoever says these things don't live through moving obviously hasn't tried to simply disassemble them. Its not that difficult
This. They also live through moving just fine even if you don't disassemble them. Have 12 separate pieces of Ikea furniture that was moved three times in the last year and the only damage to any of them is a horizontal gash on the back of one of the narrow Billy bookcases sustained when my husband slipped on ice and dropped it onto something sharp. Otherwise, not a scratch on any of them, and none were disassembled. I can't imagine how hard people must be on their furniture if it literally falls apart being moved once.

I love the Expedits and am happy I just picked up two for the new house-- I actually like 'em *because* they don't have a back. Nothing uglier than that simulated wood veneer on the backs of the Billy ones, I usually sand, prime, and paint them or just plain take them off entirely on the narrow bookshelves (the wider ones are way too wobbly). The Expedit ones are much sturdier than the Billy and deeper as well, so large books (like art/design "coffee table" books) don't stick out like they do on the dedicated bookshelves. They also make a great room divider, again because they lack a back and light passes through them. You can also get little drawer and door inserts for individual cubes. Not at all happy about them dumping the line!

(Yes, I imagine you could make your own though I don't envy the bother of trying to duplicate the glossy finish or the little drawer inserts at home. Way more than an afternoon's work!)
 

RevRaptor

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Mar 10, 2010
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Seth Carter said:
Houseman said:
Step 1: Get 12 wood planks

Step 2: Cut them to size

Step 3: Cut slots in four of your planks to use these as the horizontal rows

Step 4: Nail it all together

Congrats. You now have your own shelf.

Actually, I'd like to try this I'm sure it's much harder than I imagine it being.
It's not especially, if you have the space and time to do it in. Drilling holes for thicker bolts would brace it a bit better then straight nails (and make it adjustable by being able to take shelves on/off). You'd also probably want some sort of basic painting too.
I agree its not terribly difficult. When I make shelves I like to use small metal corner brackets, they are about 20 cents each and really firm up the whole structure. Bolts are best but screws are quicker.

While its not really that hard to make shelves from scratch there is definitely an art to it. If you can't measure exactly and cut straight things are going to get pretty wonky.
 

copycatalyst

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JonB said:
Westaway said:
How can the Escapist claim to be the best "video-game journalism site" when their writers don't know how to use the word verisimilitude?
IKEA works to maintain the illusion that they have a global inventory, though they actually don't, by carrying the same main lines in every country. I'm not sure why you think the word isn't used right, or why you think your comment was particularly constructive.
At the risk of receiving a warning, I will chime in with agreement that 'verisimilitude' was used incorrectly. First, it needs an article in this case. Second, if you want to say "an illusion of a global inventory" the meaning is much clearer by saying "an illusion of a global inventory." It's not just a case of the word being too hoity-toity. Verisimilitude and illusion are not synonyms.

Was Westaway's comment rude? Yes. Was 'verisimilitude' the right word? No.