p_o_s_t_y Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Gotta love that costume they've put Logan in! Wolverine is also a stolen design from a flickr member mnap73,the fact that real lego collectors buy these figs baffles me,they are pretty bad IMHO,some of their custom pieces do look ok but it just feels wrong putting these beside official figs,the other figs feel tainted,plus customisers pay for official lego parts,pad printed figures,sell them in order to make more figs that people like and at the end they might have a few figs sold and then someone replicates their work with these figs,it'll bring an end to customisers pad printing figures and all will be left is the official figs and decool/sheng yuan replicas
itMFtis Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Wolverine is also a stolen design from a flickr member mnap73,the fact that real lego collectors buy these figs baffles me,they are pretty bad IMHO,some of their custom pieces do look ok but it just feels wrong putting these beside official figs,the other figs feel tainted,plus customisers pay for official lego parts,pad printed figures,sell them in order to make more figs that people like and at the end they might have a few figs sold and then someone replicates their work with these figs,it'll bring an end to customisers pad printing figures and all will be left is the official figs and decool/sheng yuan replicas And I have no problem with that. How much do the customizers pay for the Marvel license they are making money off of? They are stealing ideas off Marvel, and in turn, bootleggers are stealing the customizer's ideas.
Brickmamba Posted August 24, 2014 Posted August 24, 2014 Has anybody seen a SY Superman set with the updated (not curved) feet? I know they updated the Batman range but did they do it for Superman as well? I don't see SY rereleasing with square feet, your best to get that set and replace legs and arms with official
Brickmamba Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Wolverine is also a stolen design from a flickr member mnap73,the fact that real lego collectors buy these figs baffles me,they are pretty bad IMHO,some of their custom pieces do look ok but it just feels wrong putting these beside official figs,the other figs feel tainted,plus customisers pay for official lego parts,pad printed figures,sell them in order to make more figs that people like and at the end they might have a few figs sold and then someone replicates their work with these figs,it'll bring an end to customisers pad printing figures and all will be left is the official figs and decool/sheng yuan replicas The only person most likely getting ripped off here is LEGO. Both the customisers and bootleggers are making characters from the LEGO games and I doubt either are paying royalties to anyone for doing that. Bootleggers are not solely replicating everything, they do release their own stuff which the majority of us are mostly interested in like big fig Thing, future foundation etc. Right now the biggest advantage bootleggers have over everyone is price point. We all accept there’s some imperfections compared to official but at $1-2 a fig no one is complaining. I mean hell even printing on official figs are not perfect. Have you seen SY figs, the print is more than satisfactory. Swap some official arms and I’m more than happy to throw that fig in with the rest of my collection. Most customisers likely start of as hobbyists who wanted to PAD their own designs and decide to sell their figs online to pay off their investment. It is unlikely they would close shop because of bootleggers, if anything it may drive their prices down so they are more competitive which is a win for the consumer. At the end of the day we are all AFOLs who want to see more marvel/dc figs, whether we get them through LEGO, customisers or bootleggers its irrelevant and I’ve said this before, it’s your money and you are free to spend it the way you want.
wilson3a10 Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) The bootlegs products were first seen on the market last year. Until now they are still popular and attract many guys who haven't played lego for a long time. Most of them are not lego collectors and they would never, for example, buy a custom made swat minifig with lego parts for USD 15 each. The fact is they can buy a set of 8 swat/soldier bootleg minifig with USD 7. They, not lego enthusiasts, will never think of buying genuine lego products because they are not keen on it. They only think on price. From the other point of view, the bootlegs led me to buy more genuine lego products than before. But I think there are not many people like me. Edited August 25, 2014 by wilson3a10
agoodfella77 Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 (edited) Wolverine is also a stolen design from a flickr member mnap73,the fact that real lego collectors buy these figs baffles me,they are pretty bad IMHO,some of their custom pieces do look ok but it just feels wrong putting these beside official figs,the other figs feel tainted,plus customisers pay for official lego parts,pad printed figures,sell them in order to make more figs that people like and at the end they might have a few figs sold and then someone replicates their work with these figs,it'll bring an end to customisers pad printing figures and all will be left is the official figs and decool/sheng yuan replicas The only person most likely getting ripped off here is LEGO. Both the customisers and bootleggers are making characters from the LEGO games and I doubt either are paying royalties to anyone for doing that. Bootleggers are not solely replicating everything, they do release their own stuff which the majority of us are mostly interested in like big fig Thing, future foundation etc. Right now the biggest advantage bootleggers have over everyone is price point. We all accept there’s some imperfections compared to official but at $1-2 a fig no one is complaining. I mean hell even printing on official figs are not perfect. Have you seen SY figs, the print is more than satisfactory. Swap some official arms and I’m more than happy to throw that fig in with the rest of my collection. Most customisers likely start of as hobbyists who wanted to PAD their own designs and decide to sell their figs online to pay off their investment. It is unlikely they would close shop because of bootleggers, if anything it may drive their prices down so they are more competitive which is a win for the consumer. At the end of the day we are all AFOLs who want to see more marvel/dc figs, whether we get them through LEGO, customisers or bootleggers its irrelevant and I’ve said this before, it’s your money and you are free to spend it the way you want. p_o_s_t_y, I respect everything that you wrote and appreciate the dialogue we have on flickr and hope we can continue to do so -- in particular, I do agree with you that it's 100% wrong when a design that one person makes is used without permission by another party (especially for commercial interests). If you follow my photostream, you will also note that I am exceptionally wary / respectful of giving credit whenever I make my own MOCs if there was some kind of collaboration / idea, etc. from someone / something I saw on flickr (you may recall when I made my "MOC Young Magneto" from a post you made, the first thing that came to mind was that I had to not only make sure that I gave proper credit, but that I led with that as the reason for my MOC). I am a big believer of this (but those are things in my control), which leads me to the following points: Having said all of that, however, on balance, I tend to agree with Brickmamba as it pertains to bootlegs. For the following reasons: 1) AFAIK, LEGO is the only officially licensed manufacturer to produce building block minifigures of MARVEL (and DC) characters (other kinds of figures such as mini-mates, mega blok notwithstanding). 2) In other words, every other LEGO-like "costumizer" out there is (again, AFAIK) officially "unsanctioned" or not paying royalties. 3) As a consumer and fan of both LEGO and MARVEL, that's not really my fight (i.e. the royalty issue). I am purchasing products that help me to expand and complete my collection -- so from my perspective the more makers, the merrier. It gives the consumer more choice and it broadens awareness which in turn creates more potential demand. 4) In other words, my hard earned consumer dollar doesn't discriminate that way -- I am an avid fan / buyer of very high end / high price point customizers (e.g. Christo and chrome figs by minifigures.pl) to mid-price point customizers to the low-price point Chinese makers (not to mention that I spend a considerable amount of money on TLG products as well) -- basically, I am equal opportunity buyer. 5) As Brickmamba mentioned, if all the Chinese makers did was produce 100% knock-offs of both TLG products and other customizer products -- yes, I would have an issue with it 6) My first Decool purchase was a figure that neither customizers or TLG produced, namely Odin. They've gone on to produce other stuff as mentioned, Big Fig Thing, Grey and Red Hulks, Future Foundation figs, etc. 7) They also produce figs such as the SDCC exclusives (I have started topics on this separately, but don't want to sidetrack) which command exorbitant prices on the secondary market (hundreds, up to thousands). 8) It's a simple matter of supply / demand -- it was only a matter of time until someone came in with a reasonably priced figure to meet this incredibly high demand (e.g. SDCC knock-offs) 9) I'm not really sure I buy the theory that the Chinese makers are endangering the high end / pad printed customizers. These are very different target markets (although I am probably in the minority in that I buy extensively on both ends). In other words, there will always be a market for discriminating buyers of extremely high end pad printed minifigures. And to this same point, just because the Chinese makers exists does not in any way -- not even a single iota -- impact my plan and desire to purchase LEGO products. I will always be the first in line for the TLG MARVEL figs. 10) In sum, I don't have a problem with the Chinese makers in that they serve several important functions in the market today, namely, producing products that are in very high demand (SDCCs), original figs (Big Figs, future foundation, etc and, yes, the price point is extremely attractive. Yes, I think it's wrong when they steal designs -- there is no real argument about that. These figs are what they are -- cheaper versions of the real thing -- but the quality is improving with each iteration. The latest Future Foundation figs I must say are really nice and the Thing big fig / Red / Grey Hulks are awesome additions to my collection and sit proudly on my display cases next to my Christos and LEGO group figs. Edited August 25, 2014 by agoodfella
Brickmamba Posted August 25, 2014 Posted August 25, 2014 Anyways enough political debate, lets get back onto the good stuff diggers review on young justice and lele swat team
agoodfella77 Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Anyways enough political debate, lets get back onto the good stuff diggers review on young justice and lele swat team Ha! Agreed! Thanks for posting these reviews. Those SWAT figs look interesting. Looks like the LELE fig quality is improving... Edited August 26, 2014 by agoodfella
wickedlemon Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 I don't see SY rereleasing with square feet, your best to get that set and replace legs and arms with official It could happen. They've changed the feet from round to square in other waves so in time they may all swap over. My TMNT set has square feet for starters and I'm sure there are others.
wilson3a10 Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Ultraman Edited August 27, 2014 by wilson3a10
wilson3a10 Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Where the hell did that come from? This is from JLB Ultraman set, the one which makes the One piece set.
Darkdragon Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 This is from JLB Ultraman set, the one which makes the One piece set. I must purchase that.
wickedlemon Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Ultraman Stop teasing me! I'm still waiting for my set to arrive. These will go nice with my Mega Bloks Ultraman figures.
Robianco Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 I must admit it's an interesting looking figure but I wouldn't know Ultraman if he bit me on the backside... ;) I assume he's a Japanese hero with a long TV history?
wickedlemon Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 I must admit it's an interesting looking figure but I wouldn't know Ultraman if he bit me on the backside... ;) I assume he's a Japanese hero with a long TV history? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraman Been running since the 60s. I'm more of a Kamen Rider person myself, but these are a cool step in the right direction.
Darkdragon Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Been running since the 60s. I'm more of a Kamen Rider person myself, but these are a cool step in the right direction. I wish there were some Kamen Rider figs. MegaBlok Power Rangers don't count as toku figs to me (personally can't stand MB figures in any of the lines they have come out with) On a related note, I did pick up the full set of DeCool Dragonball figs. I'm impressed with everything but the legs, which I'm in the process of switching out. The lego-like parts (some small parts and weapons) are way too stealy-clone for me, so I've tossed them and will replace with real lego parts if I even use them.
Borex Posted August 26, 2014 Posted August 26, 2014 Ultraman How good is the quality? JLB still sounds to me as a poor knockoff brand. Just as Lele btw. But i'm interested in buying Ultraman.
wilson3a10 Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) How good is the quality? JLB still sounds to me as a poor knockoff brand. Just as Lele btw. But i'm interested in buying Ultraman. The build quality is just ok, at least it got square feet. You can see plastic runners at the hand. However, I'm really impressed by the helmet. That is really cool. Don't get too much expectation on them is my advice :> Edited August 27, 2014 by wilson3a10
Borex Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 The build quality is just ok, at least it got square feet. You can see plastic runners at the hand. However, I'm really impressed by the helmet. That is really cool. Don't get too much expectation on them is my advice :> Thanks!
robuko Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) Oh thanks Wilson I wanted to know about those JLB set quality. They look pretty good, printed legs and everything. Have you bought the one piece or Dragon Ball or transformer sets? I have just picked up the Decool new iron man and punisher waves and the SY young justice sets. And... breaking news. .. The missing 6 Decool numbers are GoTG 0175 Ronan the accuser with cloak and hammer 0176 Nebula 0177 Gamora 0178 Drax 0179 Star lord no helmet 0180 Rocket racoon standard version not SDCC 0181 red hulkbuster as known 0182 big Fig venom Also for the first time 201 to 206 are league of legends characters. No idea who these are but they will be useful for fantasy/history building Edited August 27, 2014 by robuko
Kire Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 Was hoping decool was going to fill the gap in my GotG team and make a minifig sized Groot, but nevermind still pretty cool and big fig venom.... *shivers of ecstasy*
Borex Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 Did they make a green drax per chance? Then that wave still has some interest to me
robuko Posted August 27, 2014 Posted August 27, 2014 @Borex I'm afraid not, these all seem to be copied straight from the standard Lego sets. I haven't got any gotg apart from the SDCC Rocket so I'll be picking these up!
Recommended Posts