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LEGO |OT 3| Build Hard. Buy Fast. No Mercy.

I

Ironmask

Member
SiegfriedFM said:
Bootleg companies pay nothing for the license. They pay nothing (generally) for reusing molds, or very little to retrofit existing ones. They pay nothing for quality/health control. They pay less for materials. They don't have to consider play value. They don't have to consider making profitable sets.

Basically, they can do anything they feel there's a demand for. So, no shit they can do more than Lego.

They're also illegal, and you don't know where that money is going to. Bootleg stuff is often tied to organized crime. Just saying.
Click to expand...

I agree with you but will this change things as they are? I was just saying what i think is the right move for Lego to retain his marketshare and fans.

the situation of chinese factories,is so bad that every american and european company is building a factory there to improve the rights of the poor chinese.
 
A

antiquegamer

Member
SiegfriedFM said:
Bootleg companies pay nothing for the license. They pay nothing (generally) for reusing molds, or very little to retrofit existing ones. They pay nothing for quality/health control. They pay less for materials. They don't have to consider play value. They don't have to consider making profitable sets.

Basically, they can do anything they feel there's a demand for. So, no shit they can do more than Lego.

They're also illegal, and you don't know where that money is going to. Bootleg stuff is often tied to organized crime. Just saying.
Click to expand...

I am really not advocating bootleg products as replacement for the real things nor did I make any claim that bootleg company are competing with LEGO on equal level.

These bootlegs are imported here via Amazon seller are really not make for market like the US where LEGO are relatively cheap. Bootlegs and knock-off products are often the norm in many other (usually underdeveloped countries) because well LEGO are either so expensive or impossible to obtain. They serve their purpose in those market. LEGO is not competing with them because people that buy those bootlegs are never ever going to be able to afford actual LEGO products.

As for us collectors, these bootlegs and knock-offs to me are cool and novelty items. They are not going to replace my LEGO mini-figs and I am sure the same for other people here. Things like that black armor Iron Man was never going to get make by LEGO and I don't fault them for that. That said they could do a lot more with licensed products and figures. The X-Men and I have to say most of the Super Heroes set are terrible for both value and the figures you get. They have improve somewhat this year with the Falcon and other figures. I don't see anything wrong about calling LEGO out on make these set better and provide more variety.

I am chuckling at your comment about organize crime and bootleg products. These are not Gucci or Rolex watch or LV handbags. They are knock-off unlicensed toys.
 
A

antiquegamer

Member
Ironmask said:
I agree with you but will this change things as they are? I was just saying what i think is the right move for Lego to retain his marketshare and fans.

the situation of chinese factories,is so bad that every american and european company is building a factory there to improve the rights of the poor chinese.
Click to expand...

I am sure they are not building the factory to improve the rights of the poor Chinese workers, they build factory there for cheap labor and avoiding high cost of doing business in the US and they also build factory so they can get better control of the process of manufacturing and avoided the negative PR. The rights of the workers is probably the last thing on these company mind.
 
T

tuffy

Member
antiquegamer said:
I am sure they are not building the factory to improve the rights of the poor Chinese workers, they build factory there for cheap labor and avoiding high cost of doing business in the US and they also build factory so they can get better control of the process of manufacturing and avoided the negative PR. The rights of the workers is probably the last thing on these company mind.
Click to expand...
According to a little half hour TV special about LEGO's history and production process (whose name escapes me at the moment), the stated reason they built a factory in China was to reduce the time-to-market for releasing new products in the region and not for any cost advantage.
 
P

Ponn

Banned
SiegfriedFM said:
Bootleg companies pay nothing for the license. They pay nothing (generally) for reusing molds, or very little to retrofit existing ones. They pay nothing for quality/health control. They pay less for materials. They don't have to consider play value. They don't have to consider making profitable sets.

Basically, they can do anything they feel there's a demand for. So, no shit they can do more than Lego.

They're also illegal, and you don't know where that money is going to. Bootleg stuff is often tied to organized crime. Just saying.
Click to expand...

You definitely have valid points.

For a counterpoint though as a former big time Transformers collector there was a serious horrible trend that started many years ago and has gotten out of control. It has seemingly spread to Lego which is horrible. Limited Edition/Convention exclusives. I have hated store exclusives ever since Transformers got in bed with ToysrUs for the Masterpiece line but with Lego at least they make sets (except polybags) available for all at Lego S@H. I can even stomach the Lego Store/S@H exclusive figs.

What I absolutely cannot stand and get my head around are the damn convention exclusives. All they do is manage to piss off a large group of their fanbase, let rich collectors fellatio their egos all while the fig sits trapped in its plastic hidden from the world. Lego sees no profits from it selling for hundreds on ebay so what is the damn point. In the meantime the only way for me to get a Green Arrow fig is to hobble one together myself or get a cheap $2 bootleg. I would happily buy official ones, and do, but I can't if not given the option.

One advice, if you are only going to put one X-Men set out once a year how about not repeating 2/3rds of the figs from the previous years set in this years sets. As if there is not enough X-men characters to make figs out of. (Blackbird, lets see Beast, Prof. X, nawww Wolverine and Magneto). Maybe then I wouldn't be looking at that bootleg Phoenix Jean Grey.
 
G

gokieks

Member
After years of trying to convince myself to spend the money, followed by a period of despair when it looked like it was no longer available anywhere, followed by elation at LEGO Online Shop getting it back in stock right in time for me to justify it as a birthday present to myself, it's finally mine:

INwzD4G.jpg
Click to expand...
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
wetwired said:
Another few hours on Kenny's Robot! Robot! ROBOT!

CS_Mech_03.jpg


I think I'm done unless anyone has any suggestions? I've got a week left til the expo and I need to do a ship and some landscape to go with it so I can't dwell too much on it. It's been fun doing something quick (3 nights on this) compared to the Ghostbusters Rooftop which I was gretting really bored with and unhappy with the results.
Click to expand...

Very awesome. I love the car grills being used for the front of the feet. The pinching mechanism on the left arm is so simple and ingenious. The sliding mechanism looks sturdy, but easy to adjust.

Only thing just seems off to me is the blue energy hose. The shade of blue just makes it stand out. Perhaps a silver hose? I don't know if they make red ones to go with the traditional trans red stuff.
 
P

Ponn

Banned
gokieks said:
After years of trying to convince myself to spend the money, followed by a period of despair when it looked like it was no longer available anywhere, followed by elation at LEGO Online Shop getting it back in stock right in time for me to justify it as a birthday present to myself, it's finally mine:
Click to expand...

You're going to need a bigger table.
 
B

BentBricks

Member
Ironmask said:
YouTube user Digger318 puts reviews of the knock offs as soon as they're out. When he does a review he lines up 4 minifigs of the same kind and shows wich production error you can stumble into since the producer sells whatever the machine outputs despite of final quality.

Also the next serie of Decool will have a megafig The Thing, The Punisher and Bullseye. Lego really need to step its game up.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I see he has a Flickr account too.

I'm conflicted as I don't like supporting such a large scale illegal operation, but obviously not enough to stop me from buying some of their stuff. For LEGO it doesn't affect my LEGO purchasing at all, but it takes money away from those that own the intellectual property.

Decool does Dragonball Z too? Is that new for them? I saw some other bootleggers Dragonball Z, but they looked like crap.


Zerojul said:
Well that's interesting to say the least. I wonder how Punisher and Bullseye will hold up to their eclipseGRAFX and NACM counterparts...
Click to expand...

eclipsGRAFX and NACM are high quality and use legit LEGO parts. If you are talking about price/quality ratio, you can't compare.
 
F

fredrancour

Member
BentBricks said:
Three LEGO Ideas projects reach 10k, but none of them will never get approved. Maybe LEGO should suggest some price guideline that it's very unlikely any set > $100 will ever get made via LEGO Ideas. Those 3 projects look like they are each well over $200 in raw parts.

http://www.fbtb.net/2014/05/29/the-first-three-projects-to-achieve-support-on-lego-ideas/
Click to expand...


Well shit.

Just when I was thinking of swearing off legos, I feel compelled to buy and repurpose haunted house into wayne manor.
 
P

Ponn

Banned
BentBricks said:
Three LEGO Ideas projects reach 10k, but none of them will never get approved. Maybe LEGO should suggest some price guideline that it's very unlikely any set > $100 will ever get made via LEGO Ideas. Those 3 projects look like they are each well over $200 in raw parts.

http://www.fbtb.net/2014/05/29/the-first-three-projects-to-achieve-support-on-lego-ideas/
Click to expand...

Wayne Manor is, eh, not easily recognizable and comes off more like just a mansion modular.

Now the X Mansion, I would buy the shit out of that the danger room and cerebro.
 
B

BentBricks

Member
Ponn01 said:
Wayne Manor is, eh, not easily recognizable and comes off more like just a mansion modular.

Now the X Mansion, I would buy the shit out of that the danger room and cerebro.
Click to expand...

The issue I have is LEGO already has some IP rights to Batman and X-Men. LEGO can create their own version without LEGO Ideas projects like Wayne Manor and X-Mansion. I think a good example is the Star Wars Sandcrawler. LEGO rejected the Cuusoo project because it was too costly and various other reasons, but they already had plans for a Sandcrawler which is now available.
 
N

N.Domixis

Banned
I need some advice from lego fans, I need some money asap and have decided to sell some minifigure series. How much should i ask for complete sealed series of series 5,9,10,11,olympics,movie,Simpsons. And a couple from the other older series? They are not in the box, they are all just individual sealed polybags.
 
P

Ponn

Banned
BentBricks said:
The issue I have is LEGO already has some IP rights to Batman and X-Men. LEGO can create their own version without LEGO Ideas projects like Wayne Manor and X-Mansion. I think a good example is the Star Wars Sandcrawler. LEGO rejected the Cuusoo project because it was too costly and various other reasons, but they already had plans for a Sandcrawler which is now available.
Click to expand...

I remember reading people thought it was shady they turned the Cuusoo project down then released their own. I'm leaning towards them having their own plans BUT if they turn down the X-Mansion and then next year or so we see an official X-Mansion i'm going to go hmmm... If they aren't going to do any licensed products then they shouldn't even allow them up, it comes of as a cheap way to get ideas for themselves and gauging barometer for set releases.
 
N

neonglow

Member
N.Domixis said:
I need some advice from lego fans, I need some money asap and have decided to sell some minifigure series. How much should i ask for complete sealed series of series 5,9,10,11,olympics,movie,Simpsons. And a couple from the other older series? They are not in the box, they are all just individual sealed polybags.
Click to expand...

I'd ask for at least retail price. You can probably sell them in the $75 range.
 
W

WordAssassin

Member
Ponn01 said:
I remember reading people thought it was shady they turned the Cuusoo project down then released their own. I'm leaning towards them having their own plans BUT if they turn down the X-Mansion and then next year or so we see an official X-Mansion i'm going to go hmmm... If they aren't going to do any licensed products then they shouldn't even allow them up, it comes of as a cheap way to get ideas for themselves and gauging barometer for set releases.
Click to expand...

They recycle the Lego Star Wars sets all the time though, I wouldn't put too much stock into that idea based on the Sand Crawler happenstance alone.
 
M

MrPressStart

Member
Anybody know where I can find the 20% off coupon for Toys R us or Baby's R Us? I keep hearing about people having one... but I cant find anything... There is a set I want to get from Lego, but they are a bit high on the price...
 
G

genericsuperhero

Member
MrPressStart said:
Anybody know where I can find the 20% off coupon for Toys R us or Baby's R Us? I keep hearing about people having one... but I cant find anything... There is a set I want to get from Lego, but they are a bit high on the price...
Click to expand...

Sign up for their rewards card or create a baby registry with your address, and they'll start sending them to you.
 
R

Rootbeer

Banned
Yup, got mine I'm the mail over a week ago.

Using it to buy Spaceship x3 was sooooo satisfying.

3 days till June 1st... Aka Walletmageddon.
 
F

fredrancour

Member
BentBricks said:
Here's a suggestion if you want to swear off LEGO. Stop following this thread. :)
Click to expand...

I'd also have to move Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium, Silver Mine Shootout, and several small lord of the rings sets from their glorious perches on my bookshelves.

It's kind of a dark trap because in order to pack them away, I'd have to touch them. I ccan't touch them without playing. I can't play without wanting to go dump a stupid amount of money on more.

Sigh.

I'll probably wind up buying another modular within a few months wont i.

Also my girlfriend started this whole thing and it would break her heart if I gave up on them.
 
P

PhoncipleBone

Banned
fredrancour said:
I'd also have to move Fire Brigade, Grand Emporium, Silver Mine Shootout, and several small lord of the rings sets from their glorious perches on my bookshelves.

It's kind of a dark trap because in order to pack them away, I'd have to touch them. I ccan't touch them without playing. I can't play without wanting to go dump a stupid amount of money on more.

Sigh.

I'll probably wind up buying another modular within a few months wont i.

Also my girlfriend started this whole thing and it would break her heart if I gave up on them.
Click to expand...
If you need to take them down and not really play with them, I have a very extreme solution.

Get a large plastic storage container:
rubbermaid.jpg


Then, quickly grab the sets you need to take down and throw them into this. Don't gently set. Just throw them in and watch them shatter.
You wont touch them long enough to want to play, and then once enough sets are in there the pieces are so mixed it will be a chore to rebuild them.

Seal the top, and stow it away. Out of sight, out of mind.

I said it was extreme.
 
M

MrPressStart

Member
So I am absolutely hooked on these damn modulars. It started with the cinema and now I am working on the petshop. I ordered the Town Hall from Target with the video game trade in special they have....

So I am left with the Parisian Restaraunt and the Emporium...
My dilema is two part!!!

1) I have the UCS xwing still in the box ($200 MRSP). I am thinking on taking it back to the lego store and getting the emporium and maybe the VW van??? Then ask for the restaraunt for Fathers Day...
Does this idea make sense to people or should I hold on to the Xwing?

2) I was thinking on putting the finished modulars in the Living room on the bookcase if the wife will let me. I thought that if I dress them up for the seasons that she might be cool with it. Does Lego make Christmas tree sets or holdiay decorartion type stuff to dress them up?
 
G

ghostmind

Member
gokieks said:
After years of trying to convince myself to spend the money, followed by a period of despair when it looked like it was no longer available anywhere, followed by elation at LEGO Online Shop getting it back in stock right in time for me to justify it as a birthday present to myself, it's finally mine:
Click to expand...


nZVlt2e.jpg
 
G

ghostmind

Member
O

oneknightr

Member
MrPressStart said:
So I am absolutely hooked on these damn modulars. It started with the cinema and now I am working on the petshop. I ordered the Town Hall from Target with the video game trade in special they have....

So I am left with the Parisian Restaraunt and the Emporium...
My dilema is two part!!!

1) I have the UCS xwing still in the box ($200 MRSP). I am thinking on taking it back to the lego store and getting the emporium and maybe the VW van??? Then ask for the restaraunt for Fathers Day...
Does this idea make sense to people or should I hold on to the Xwing?

2) I was thinking on putting the finished modulars in the Living room on the bookcase if the wife will let me. I thought that if I dress them up for the seasons that she might be cool with it. Does Lego make Christmas tree sets or holdiay decorartion type stuff to dress them up?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea to me. GE and VW Camper are close to their retirement. X-Wing will definitely be around longer if you decide you want that set again.
 
Z

Zerojul

Member
ghostmind said:
This ship has been one of my most wanted sets for this summer, ever since it debuted at Toy Fair.

I love the look of it, and it comes with an Ithorian that would be a great fit for the Cantina, and an RA-7 droid that would be perfect for the Sandcrawler.
Click to expand...

I must admit I totally overlooked it in favor of the OT sets. After watching Jang's review I think it might well be my next purchase. Looks really great and I like the minifigs that come with it. I'm sold.
 
R

Rootbeer

Banned
Jerkson said:
Are there any LEGO sites that list upcoming sets like gaming sites list upcoming game releases?
Click to expand...

ghostmind said:
Brickset is a good resource - you can list by year, by theme, or other criteria.

Brickipedia often contains release information that has yet to make it to other sites, but since it is a wiki false information can find its way into the entries.
Click to expand...

Sorry Jerskson I totally saw your post and was going to reply hours ago but I got sidetracked.

Agree with ghostmind, brickset is the best. it has very powerful sorting features... fiddle around with it and you'll find what you want there.

highly recommend you create a free account and use it to keep track of the sets you own. It is a totally invaluable resource for AFOLs, and anyone not using it should look into it.
 
G

ghostmind

Member
Oooo... the Heartlake Shopping Mall has new metallic silver printed coins!

8UPXvVQ.jpg


Not purchasing the set, but I`m looking forward to these coins to hit other sets and Bricklink.
 
M

mernst23

Member
Alright, hopefully time to trade or sell some of my duplicate simpsons characters.

I have a bart, 2 marges, and 2 flanders from the minifig series with the bag cut at the top and I am looking for a lisa, milhouse, mr burns, ralph, and grandpa. If you are from the u.s. and want to trade shoot me a pm.

If you are looking to buy them, ill sell them for 3 a piece plus shipping.
 
S

SiegfriedFM

Member
ghostmind said:
Not sure if it has been mentioned yet, but JANG also has new reviews up for:

70145 Maula`s Ice Mammoth Stomper

41058 Heartlake Shopping Mall
Click to expand...

Mammoth is kind of underwhelming up close. It's probably the look they were going for, but it's a very empty Technic box with legs. Makes me want to do a mumakil MOC though.

The mall though, oh my. It's like the regular creative Friends sets times six. All kinds of cool details everywhere. If someone ever says Friends is just dumbed down stuff for girls, that's what I'll point to. Sure, it's pink but some of those details are brilliant.
 
J

Jerkson

Banned
Zulithe said:
Sorry Jerskson I totally saw your post and was going to reply hours ago but I got sidetracked.

Agree with ghostmind, brickset is the best. it has very powerful sorting features... fiddle around with it and you'll find what you want there.

highly recommend you create a free account and use it to keep track of the sets you own. It is a totally invaluable resource for AFOLs, and anyone not using it should look into it.
Click to expand...

ghostmind said:
Brickset is a good resource - you can list by year, by theme, or other criteria.

Brickipedia often contains release information that has yet to make it to other sites, but since it is a wiki false information can find its way into the entries.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendations. I'm off to create an account.
 
C

cassidyarch

Neo Member
I can't tell if Jang's videos are curtailing my LEGO buying habits, or totally enabling me.

You know you have a problem when you find yourself commenting out loud while watching the video of the Heartlake Mall. That Photo Booth trick is nice. I enjoyed Jang's comment about the car that manages to be "both tiny and huge at the same time."

I did pick up the Friends Dolphin Cruiser last year and have zero regrets.
 
T

tiggerkiddo

Member
SiegfriedFM said:
Mammoth is kind of underwhelming up close. It's probably the look they were going for, but it's a very empty Technic box with legs. Makes me want to do a mumakil MOC though.

The mall though, oh my. It's like the regular creative Friends sets times six. All kinds of cool details everywhere. If someone ever says Friends is just dumbed down stuff for girls, that's what I'll point to. Sure, it's pink but some of those details are brilliant.
Click to expand...

Pfft, I tell the Lego Store employees that those sets are way too well designed for me to get hung up on the fact that they have pink pieces and what not.

It's like those darn Paradisa sets, they were so well designed...
 
T

Tempy

don't ask me for codes
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