I've been tempted by some the characters Lele and IQ have released, but I know they will just disappoint me in the end.

The Big Thing is so cool, I've decided I have to keep him (was going to sell on due to my dislike of any figure that won't fit in my frames).

So... I got my hacksaw out...

Avert your eyes if you are sensitve, but I think you will agree the end result is worth it!

More explanation on Flickr (see sig) - now obsession completed, to bed!

P.S if anyone can explain how to link direct to Flickr images it would save me a lot of hassle in future!

  On 10/23/2014 at 12:31 AM, jangosolo said:

The Big Thing is so cool, I've decided I have to keep him (was going to sell on due to my dislike of any figure that won't fit in my frames).

So... I got my hacksaw out...

Avert your eyes if you are sensitve, but I think you will agree the end result is worth it!

More explanation on Flickr (see sig) - now obsession completed, to bed!

P.S if anyone can explain how to link direct to Flickr images it would save me a lot of hassle in future!

He's now the center of attention. Unless you decide to put SY Human Torch in there whoa.

I like your frame. Its nice simple and clean. Emphasize the minifigs well. Did you make it yourself or bought it?

Sheng Yuan SY198 ... second wave of Star Wars ... I can't seem to find Darth Vader anymore in shops nearby.

Some minifigs do sell out a lot faster than the rest. Its really obvious when the shop owner opens a big container of about hundred or more SY198 minifigs and Vader's gone in less than a week.

Just got my first order, an older Decool wave I ordered to get Deadpool

All in beautiful condition, no print errors, tiny dot on Robin near the hips that wiped off with my finger after I took the pic. Apart from the obvious 'that's not what Loki's scepter looks like and what's up with Wolverine's claws?' they're perfect. It really looks like Decool is implementing their better printing and QC on older waves too.

For bonus points:

All arrived in proper sealed perfect condition boxes ^_^

WHOA those are some big pictures. Sorry! Delete them if they're too big :(

  On 10/23/2014 at 1:26 AM, summicron said:

I like your frame. Its nice simple and clean. Emphasize the minifigs well. Did you make it yourself or bought it?

Looks like a RIBBA frame from Ikea.

  On 10/23/2014 at 1:26 AM, summicron said:

He's now the center of attention. Unless you decide to put SY Human Torch in there whoa.

I like your frame. Its nice simple and clean. Emphasize the minifigs well. Did you make it yourself or bought it?

Thanks, it's an Ikea RIBBA frame, which I've painted and glued the wedges on, I've done quite a few - all on Flickr - perfect for a grown up minifig collection!

Hulkbuster :)

May be need some modification to the decool HB

Jango you should share your Dr Who minifig. I so want it lol

  On 10/23/2014 at 6:27 AM, Sabbath said:

Jango you should share your Dr Who minifig. I so want it lol

Haha, Ten is still my fave - it's an easy one though, alien conquest businessman body, sleepyhead hair, custom trench coat and any face really.

I've sold a few in the past, as well as my eleven version

  On 10/23/2014 at 6:49 AM, jangosolo said:

Haha, Ten is still my fave - it's an easy one though, alien conquest businessman body, sleepyhead hair, custom trench coat and any face really.

I've sold a few in the past, as well as my eleven version

Ruining your business there, I'd offer to buy one if you didn't just tell me how to make it :P

Meh, they aren't that profitable once you've tracked down all the parts, especially the hair!

Hulkbusters however, I'm keeping that design to myself for now!

  On 10/23/2014 at 7:17 AM, jangosolo said:

Hulkbusters however, I'm keeping that design to myself for now!

I like your Captain America one, very clean look

Cheers, was quite pleased with that one - the Shield is a really cool accessory. The GL one was the least popular, could never shift it! I'm doing another Iron Man one at the moment

Feeling a bit torn. I was about to order the Decool Future Foundation and the Thing 3 set to have a thing for it AND my SY FF set too. But I just noticed the hair on the Future Foundation Mr F is jacked. Not sure if I want it now, would have to order ANOTHER SY set jut to get the hair piece for him.

Unless someone here wants to sell me that hairpiece? Anyone got a spare?

I am very bothered by those figures.

They don't pay licenses or royalties.

Buying those is a slap in the face of both Marvel/DC and Lego, you don't recognize their work if you buy this.

Any and every customiser in the world currently producing minifigures isn't paying royalties or have licenses.

Some of them hugely respected who are considered to offer a service to the Lego community. Sold by respected resellers and online stores.

You either have an issue with everyone or noone.

  On 10/23/2014 at 3:04 PM, Robianco said:

Any and every customiser in the world currently producing minifigures isn't paying royalties or have licenses.

Some of them hugely respected who are considered to offer a service to the Lego community. Sold by respected resellers and online stores.

You either have an issue with everyone or noone.

I have issues with everyone who parasites idea that other people had without giving them the proper credit.

If I start producing lego custom fantastic 4, I use LEGO's ideas, Marvel's ideas and NOTHING mine.

At least I should give some of my profit both to Marvel and Lego.

You see this as giving a service to other fans, I see this as getting myself wealthy without paying my dues.

Have added two new Customs to my Flickr if anyone is interested - see my sig below...

I'm currently writing a cheque to Marvel and to Filmation!

Edited October 23, 201410 yr by jangosolo

I've actually got no problem with people who dislike customs as long as it's across the board. My problem is with the double standards people can show when it comes to who produces 'customs' and some of them being OK while some are thieves.

There seems to be a general acceptance of the production of custom figures with Lego and it's licensees for some reason.

Whether they accept that there are some things they simply can't... or won't get round to releasing... and to have them made available to it's customers doesn't have any negative effect on it's sales.

There are many events around the world that have a Lego presence that has custom figures available... whether that's DC, Marvel SW, Harry Potter or many other themes. There are numerous online stores and sellers based in Europe and the US that produce custom figures with a variety of printing techniques and quality standards.

I think the idea that custom figure producers are getting rich of them is a mistake. The production costs of making short run figures... especially pad printed... is expensive. The cost of those figures covers the cost with a small profit. Maybe just enough to allow the start of the next figure run. I think if anyone wanted to see how wealthy they could become doing it should try if for a short while and see how far they get... although it surprises me to see just how many figures sell that I wouldn't touch as I don't like the quality of the design or print.

If Lego or any of the licensees wanted to shut down the custom figure market they could. They've got the financial might and the lawyers to go after the sellers and shut them down overnight.... but they don't.

If people don't like custom figures then that's fine but for me... as long as it's allowed by Lego and the above mentioned License holders... or they at least turn a blind eye to it then I'll take them as an acceptance of the service they offer... and it's not just me who thinks they offer a service. It's the 1000s of other buyers and Lego fans who also spend a great deal of money buying Lego sets that consider it a service that offers them a great deal.

I'm also pretty sure that these same people will be the first in line to pick up those DC and Marvel sets once they hit the shelves in the new year and put their hard earned money into Lego like they always have done.

  On 10/23/2014 at 5:53 PM, Robianco said:

I've actually got no problem with people who dislike customs as long as it's across the board. My problem is with the double standards people can show when it comes to who produces 'customs' and some of them being OK while some are thieves.

There seems to be a general acceptance of the production of custom figures with Lego and it's licensees for some reason.

Whether they accept that there are some things they simply can't... or won't get round to releasing... and to have them made available to it's customers doesn't have any negative effect on it's sales.

There are many events around the world that have a Lego presence that has custom figures available... whether that's DC, Marvel SW, Harry Potter or many other themes. There are numerous online stores and sellers based in Europe and the US that produce custom figures with a variety of printing techniques and quality standards.

I think the idea that custom figure producers are getting rich of them is a mistake. The production costs of making short run figures... especially pad printed... is expensive. The cost of those figures covers the cost with a small profit. Maybe just enough to allow the start of the next figure run. I think if anyone wanted to see how wealthy they could become doing it should try if for a short while and see how far they get... although it surprises me to see just how many figures sell that I wouldn't touch as I don't like the quality of the design or print.

If Lego or any of the licensees wanted to shut down the custom figure market they could. They've got the financial might and the lawyers to go after the sellers and shut them down overnight.... but they don't.

If people don't like custom figures then that's fine but for me... as long as it's allowed by Lego and the above mentioned License holders... or they at least turn a blind eye to it then I'll take them as an acceptance of the service they offer... and it's not just me who thinks they offer a service. It's the 1000s of other buyers and Lego fans who also spend a great deal of money buying Lego sets that consider it a service that offers them a great deal.

I'm also pretty sure that these same people will be the first in line to pick up those DC and Marvel sets once they hit the shelves in the new year and put their hard earned money into Lego like they always have done.

I strongly disagree.

TLG could shut down these people of course as much as EA could stop hackers from making cracks for FIFA.

Do you prefere to pay for FIFA 2015 or to play it for free by downloading it and cracking it?

There are two parties: the ones who love to endorse and give credit to people who spent money and time creating something we love, and the ones who only look at their wallet.

When I was a 15 years old kid I just wanted as many games as possible, so technically I would have also bought bootleg minifigures.

Now that I am 35 I understand the value of giving credit and endorsement to someone whom I appreciate the work.

The difference between you and me it's simple. While you can tolerate that someone dislikes bootlegs and people buying those, I can't tolerate the opposite, because to me it's just a slap in the face of people who worked hard for something. And since I have proof that while Lego can close an eye on this, Marvel has already shut down non-official replicae of stuff, so I won't be that surprised if they got problems with bootleg minifigures also.

Meh, I wrote a grant big rant about the legality and morality of bootlegs, but ended up deleting it. At the end of the day it's irrelevant.

I like 'em. And as long as they continue to be cheap, reasonable quality and fill a niche that official Lego products don't... I'm going to continue to buy them.

Edited October 23, 201410 yr by Tyberious Funk

  On 10/23/2014 at 10:11 PM, Itaria No Shintaku said:

Do you prefere to pay for FIFA 2015 or to play it for free by downloading it and cracking it?

Man, FIFA sucks.

I take your point.

It's the reason that I still have CDs on my shelves and continue to buy them to support that artist... And I continue to buy concert tickets. I have several versions of Led Zeppelin's catalogue but I'll still buy the 2 new remasters next Monday morning.

But I'm talking about the production of minifigures that aren't produced by Lego under license. There's no choice of whether to buy the Lego version as it doesn't exist.

It's not about playing a cracked version of a game over buying it... I've said repeatedly that I don't agree with the cloning of Lego sets. I don't buy them... If I want a Lego set I'll buy the Lego version whether that's direct from my Lego store or from a high street store. My shelves don't have copies of official Lego sets or figures... Except for SDCC figures. But I think I share the frustrations of 1000s of Lego fans worldwide on the distribution of those.

Imagine if FIFA was limited to how many teams it had in it... It has a few but not all... And your team wasn't one of them... They'd shown your team on a trailer... You could even play against them but never as them. Then a third party company produced an add on to the game that had your team in it. Would you be tempted? You'd bought the game... Not downloaded it or cracked it... But here was your chance to make the game more 'complete'... If EA released an add on later on you could always buy that too and delete the third party add on but there was a chance EA would never release it.

I think the vast majority of people here feel that way about customs. If they were available from Lego there'd be no market for copies... Or a greatly diminished one for those who still couldn't afford it. But while they aren't there will always be a market for people who create them.

Marvel very well may have a problem with bootlegging of merchandise as any company would... But we're back to the argument of whether we're just talking about Chinese companies making these sets and figures or the many people that are producing figures that aren't currently available. One call or visit from any of the legal teams from Marvel etc could close some eBay stores tomorrow. They don't even have to be heavy about it... Just a chat will suffice and they'd be gone. If that ever happens then we might see a change in the custom minifigure market.

I knew a guy in New York who used to have a business creating needle drops of the Beatles catalogue... He'd clean up the audio from first pressing and print discs etc... 1000s of customers worldwide on a mailing list. Then in early 2009 he had a visit... From EMI. They told him they liked his stuff... Even told him McCartney owned some of it... But as they had the remasters coming out they'd like him to stop... For at least a year. So he did. Then he started up again and continued to archive the Beatles vinyl catalogue as the remasters still didn't give all Beatles fans what they wanted... And EMI left him alone.

In the same way Lego know they can never give fans everything they want... Even if they'll tease them with it sometimes in games etc... So they know the custom market will exist to provide those. And as the largest toy brand in the world they know that if and when they release those things the custom market is so small they'll still sell millions of sets worldwide including to those who had a custom because they were Lego fans in the first place.

  On 10/23/2014 at 11:46 PM, Tyberious Funk said:

Meh, I wrote a grant big rant about the legality and morality of bootlegs, but ended up deleting it.

I thought about that but I'd typed the whole thing on my phone so I was determined to finish it!

What Rob said. I started collecting these bootlegs to check if the value of my sdcc collection was under threat. Now I buy them mostly because they are items that lego does not make.

If it's a choice between real lego and clone brands I go real lego. Heck I throw non lego blocks out when I find them in my collection. But when my four year old son started regularly dismantling five to fifteen dollar minifgs and losing the parts... well I got flexible. I want him to love lego like I did and I don't want to micro manage him or restrict his lego access. Plus I love his weird megablocks lego men.

I suspect most people here strongly support Lego, Marvel and DC. Over their life they have likely spent crazy money on legitimate comics, movies, games and toys. I have. So I don't feel bad about getting the odd bootleg figure especially if lego has not made it yet or they make it impossible to reasonably acquire (SDCC). They all still have my custom. I'm not making money out of the figures. Not saving money either. Technically it's not legal but it's a hobby.

Megablocks is a swear word?! Chuckle. You megablocking megablocker. Yeah that sounds good.

Edited October 24, 201410 yr by gavralcraw