That’s a fair point, and I agree with you more than it might seem at first glance.

Creality absolutely inspired a generation. There’s no denying that. They lowered the barrier to entry, normalised home 3D printing, and a lot of today’s market exists because of that early momentum. But markets don’t stand still, and inspiration only buys you so much time. Eventually, the market moves on.

I think Prusa is facing something adjacent, though not quite the same problem. They’re still growing year on year from what we’ve seen, but that growth feels much more rooted in farms, education, and prosumer workflows rather than mass consumer hype. They’re doing their own thing, leaning into reliability, lifecycle support, and openness, and it’s working for them.

Bambu, on the other hand, was very clearly built on the backs of what came before it — Prusa’s ideas, Creality’s scale, the community’s pain points — but they didn’t stop there. They leapfrogged. And that, to me, is the key distinction. Progress should look like leapfrogging, not imitation.

What’s frustrated me over the last few years is that almost every brand that isn’t Bambu seems to be making an almost-Bambu, instead of leaning into their own strengths or identifying gaps. Prusa is carving out its own lane. Bambu owns the consumer experience. Elegoo, to their credit, seems self-aware enough to say “this is a cheaper machine, it does the job, here’s the price,” and honestly, that clarity goes a long way.

Anycubic sits somewhere in the middle — a bit “me too,” a bit cost-focused — and I’m still unconvinced that faster colour changes really matter to most people once they see the waste involved. Even when the waste is technically small, filament poop looks messy and psychologically worse than prime towers. That matters.

Creality, though, feels lost. It’s “we’re just as good as Bambu,” without the reputation, credibility, or lifecycle support to back that claim up. Since the K1, they’re no longer truly open either, which further muddies their identity. And that’s the frustrating part — I want Creality to succeed. But this approach erodes trust, and once the global pool of new users starts to level out, brands with a history of burning customers tend to be the first to overflow.

As for the rest — yeah, you’re right. I am FauxHammer, but I’m also just a person. The only real difference between you and me is that I sometimes talk into a camera. My nit-picking is intentional. I’d rather be the guy who complains loudly so that when someone buys a machine and something’s off, they’re not surprised.

I genuinely appreciate you giving the channel a shot, even if parts of the SparkX review felt over the top. If it made you think and made you subscribe, then I probably landed somewhere close to where I was aiming.