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LEGO |OT 4| EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

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wetwired

Member
I'm getting the Portal set for sure, but otherwise I'll probably wait for sales since I'm not really that interested in the game. I see the sets as kind of exclusive collector things.

I can see myself buying portal and maybe the BTTF ones at launch and not actually buying the game for a while. I don't even know what platform to buy for. Are the add-ons platform specific?
 

Ryuuroden

Member
I could care less about the game, so instead I'll wait for China to sell me the figs at less than $1 a pop.

Not cool....being that blatant in supporting the manufacturing of illegal bootlegs. I am kinda getting irritated that this thread is becoming so rampant in discussion and purchase of exact copy thievery of Lego property. Enough that I am risking being disliked for being a party pooper by bringing up my irritation.
 

ghostmind

Member
Not cool....being that blatant in supporting the manufacturing of illegal bootlegs. I am kinda getting irritated that this thread is becoming so rampant in discussion and purchase of exact copy thievery of Lego property. Enough that I am risking being disliked for being a party pooper by bringing up my irritation.


I feel like I'm leaning anti-bootleg, but in some cases I support it.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).
 

Ponn

Banned
Not cool....being that blatant in supporting the manufacturing of illegal bootlegs. I am kinda getting irritated that this thread is becoming so rampant in discussion and purchase of exact copy thievery of Lego property. Enough that I am risking being disliked for being a party pooper by bringing up my irritation.

Nah I don't think LegoGAF will dislike you. It's too laid back here, everything is awesome.

I feel bad for posting my haul's once in awhile because I know they are frowned upon but i'm like Ghostmind in that I really only get the ones that aren't available through Lego by reasonable means or just aren't even made. For instance the recent Flash series figs I picked up. OG Flash was available from that set and I already had two of him from sets but realistically the only one from that set that has a chance of being made by Lego is Reverse Flash and I will be happy to hand over my money for an official one as soon as its available. Sure the licenses aren't making money but they should take that up with Lego and get on them. I will gladly give Lego my money for official figs. It's a grey area though and if it makes people uncomfortable i'm ok with just not discussing it anymore.
 

Ryuuroden

Member
I feel like I'm leaning anti-bootleg, but in some cases I support it.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).

I consider those to be different as well. I put them in the same category I do with Garage Kit statues and figures of various anime properties and so on. I just get pissed off when I see support for buying exact clone copies of stuff in wide release that you can pick up legit on its own from bricklink or something if you don't want the set. Its like how you can go to any lego convention and there are 3rd party sellers selling military minifigs and stuff but you don't see them selling knockoff Captain Americas that are intended to look just like the LEGO produced ones. And I am happy to see those military minifigs.
 

Kyari

Member
My stance on the bootleg stuff out of china is that if its a reproduction of a con exclusive or a custom I'm totally okay with it. I love my Thing bigfig, for instance.
Its also a good way to stock up on army building things, like the army of crappy Green/Yellow/Red Lanterns you can pick up.
 

wetwired

Member
I feel like I'm leaning anti-bootleg, but in some cases I support it.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).

This is my stance really, SDCC exclusives and ones lego don't actually make are OK in my books
 
I feel like I'm leaning anti-bootleg, but in some cases I support it.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).
This is how I am. If it is making something that the market wants and is not officially supported by LEGO, then there really isn't anything wrong with it. And after all, they aren't branding it as LEGO in the end. They are just giving an alternative to what people want.
There is the grey area though in making bootlegs of licensed characters though, because the original IP holder is not being compensated for their works being used. I love seeing some custom figures and things pop up (like Wetwired's X-Files stuff), but it is a grey area in regards to IP rights. At the same time, LEGO themselves passed on it, but we don't know how Fox feels. But the figures could also just be labelled as "Male and Female FBI agent." It escapes the pesky IP stuff, but we still know why we really want it.

Now, if it is an actual bootleg, meaning a knock off of a figure or piece still being legit put out by LEGO, then it is bad. I mean, after all, why not just get the real thing at that point?
But to bring Wetwired into it again, his custom space figures are all good from my point of view. They are figures that there is obviously a market for, and that LEGO is not servicing by providing those colors.
 
Not cool....being that blatant in supporting the manufacturing of illegal bootlegs. I am kinda getting irritated that this thread is becoming so rampant in discussion and purchase of exact copy thievery of Lego property. Enough that I am risking being disliked for being a party pooper by bringing up my irritation.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).

I'm with you both on this. I find the direct rip-off of retail figures to be a complete infringement on TLG's ability to produce, market and sell that specific item. I absolutely don't support it and would never seek them out nor advertise them as a viable alternative to figures in a (possibly expensive) set. In my mind, that's what Bricklink is for.

The figs that these Chinese companies do that are based on designs found in the games? Specifically the super hero ones? I'm fine with them to be honest. They're filling a niche that TLG will probably never fill.

The figs that are direct rip-offs of ridiculously low-run exclusives? Hell yes, bring them on. I'm not even talking Mr Gold, since we all had a "chance" of finding him in the wild. Like Ghostmind said, I'm talking about the convention exclusives that are limited to runs of a few hundred that NOBODY can get after the fact for less than $400. Fuck that.

That having been said, I've taken value from SillyEskimo's posts about his bootleg experiences and don't want to gang up on him. If the thread limited discussion to figs that aren't produced by TLG I'd be fine with it.
 
I think for the most part almost all the posters here are pretty laid back about the bootleg stuff and all. Heck, there is always discussion of Mega Blocks and Kreo stuff in here. We just like the bricks.

Now, if this thread did start getting attention from LEGO themselves (which would be awesome), then we would probably have to start policing it more.

This thread does seem to be one of the most welcoming and inclusive things on GAF. No one seems overly defensive or critical of other posters, and it just seems like a nice chill club. Just like a good message board should be. And it is even better because it is all done without any kind of formal oversight. The members posting in here are keeping it civil and policing it themselves. That is why it is the best place to visit.

NtIr0bi.gif
 

wetwired

Member
There is the grey area though in making bootlegs of licensed characters though, because the original IP holder is not being compensated for their works being used. I love seeing some custom figures and things pop up (like Wetwired's X-Files stuff), but it is a grey area in regards to IP rights. At the same time, LEGO themselves passed on it, but we don't know how Fox feels. But the figures could also just be labelled as "Male and Female FBI agent." It escapes the pesky IP stuff, but we still know why we really want it.

When I get around to promoting them publicly I'll be calling them "The X-Agents" :)

I've seen (and bought) figures that have flat out called them Assassins Creed or Batman etc, Batman was a weird case though as lego made all the parts themselves, it was just a new torso print to be a specific version of him (arkham orgins)
 
When I get around to promoting them publicly I'll be calling them "The X-Agents" :)

I've seen (and bought) figures that have flat out called them Assassins Creed or Batman etc, Batman was a weird case though as lego made all the parts themselves, it was just a new torso print to be a specific version of him (arkham orgins)
Best thing to do to avoid some unpleasant phone calls. Kind of a "C.Y.A." situation. :)

And those figures are fantastic. I am sure that you will find a way to send a free version of them to some certain actors that may or may not have influenced your designs.
 

Ponn

Banned
Anyone see this yet? Lego Ferris Wheel lights. The site that sells them doesn't have them available yet but they pretty much are what i was looking for. Has anyone seen anything close to this or better suggestion? I've checked some of the other hobby sites posted on here for lights that would work. They have nice stuff for my Christmas display but for my carnival stuff I really need these led lights that are in multiple colors and flash like this. If they aren't too expensive im thinking of getting multiples for the mixer as well and a couple of my moc's im thinking of. I want my Halloween display to pop this year.
 
I feel like I'm leaning anti-bootleg, but in some cases I support it.

Specifically, in cases where LEGO has not made the minifigure available to all - the SDCC minifigs specifically. I have zero sympathy for LEGO in this case. That could change if they offered these minfigs for sale via S@H or similar, which many toy manufacturers do.

The other case would be minfigs that LEGO has not produced yet (Daredevil), or may never produce (Punisher), or where the bootleg is distictive from LEGO's version (Groot).

This for me too. I haven't bought any knock offs and probably never will, but I understand why people get the bootlegs of SDCC figs and characters that haven't been made by TLG yet.

I would kill for a Lego Daredevil too.
 

Fowler

Member
I think for the most part almost all the posters here are pretty laid back about the bootleg stuff and all. Heck, there is always discussion of Mega Blocks and Kreo stuff in here. We just like the bricks.

Now, if this thread did start getting attention from LEGO themselves (which would be awesome), then we would probably have to start policing it more.

This thread does seem to be one of the most welcoming and inclusive things on GAF. No one seems overly defensive or critical of other posters, and it just seems like a nice chill club. Just like a good message board should be. And it is even better because it is all done without any kind of formal oversight. The members posting in here are keeping it civil and policing it themselves. That is why it is the best place to visit.

NtIr0bi.gif

This, this, this.

I am in the same camp as most of you -- not a fan of bootlegs unless it's a figure LEGO either doesn't make or has made as an extremely rare exclusive (SDCC).

But... this is what I love about LEGO-GAF: We're all pretty relaxed about the whole thing. We all have our own views on what's right and what isn't, and we're tolerant of everyone else's opinion. I feel like a lot of threads like this have cliques and built-in rules that are always hard to discern if you're on the outside. This could very easily be a difficult community to break into, but it isn't -- everyone is happy and welcoming when new posters join our ranks.

LEGO-GAF is awesome.
 

R-User!

Member
I think for the most part almost all the posters here are pretty laid back about the bootleg stuff and all. Heck, there is always discussion of Mega Blocks and Kreo stuff in here. We just like the bricks.

Now, if this thread did start getting attention from LEGO themselves (which would be awesome), then we would probably have to start policing it more.

This thread does seem to be one of the most welcoming and inclusive things on GAF. No one seems overly defensive or critical of other posters, and it just seems like a nice chill club. Just like a good message board should be. And it is even better because it is all done without any kind of formal oversight. The members posting in here are keeping it civil and policing it themselves. That is why it is the best place to visit.

NtIr0bi.gif

Hell, effing, YEAH it's the best place to visit!

Who's looking forward to the Civil War sets next year?!

I want a Wasp Fig!
in dat badass suit!

When the time comes, how cool will the first Thanos fig be? Will he come with a throne?! A Big Fig throne! I hope that he is more posable and less bigfigy.
 
While winding down on the Downtown Dojo build recently, I started thinking about another building I wanted to make. Across the square from where the inspiration for that house stands, there is an old building flanked by newer ones. It currently houses a bar, but it used to be a food court, as proven by the old signs that still exist. The original building is a slightly faded red and I had soaring ideas to finally make a modular in sand red - a discontinued Lego hue that was available in sets in the early 2000's. Then I faced reality. There are very few parts available and those that are cost tons. So I made a compromise. There is a band of more heavily faded red near the bottom, so I used sand red for that and regular classic red for the rest.

authorshome_originalbuilding.jpg




Unlike the Dojo, which only had a pencil sketch to work from, I built Author's Home in Lego Digital Designer, for several reasons. One is that I was temporarily out of cash and didn't want to overspend on parts I wouldn't eventually need. Another was that I wanted to get going without first waiting for packages to drop in. Also, there are several benefits to working digitally - like being able to copy sections and pull out parts from the middle of walls if you figure out new ideas. The downsides is that LDD is fussy about illegal connections, which there are a few of on this build, and that the parts inventory is sometimes wonky. Exporting a parts list took a lot of work and then trimming it down to parts that actually exist (there are no dark bluish grey 1x12 plates, strangely enough). Also, once I had everything in place, I used the program to generate a building guide to place all 2700+ bricks. The AI works in peculiar ways, and the experience is kind of building alongside a rather drunk child. The instructions started from the first floor and then worked downwards, hanging pieces off the underside as I went. It seems to work on a line of sight idea, with pieces put into place all over the place and sometimes building floating sections or sneaking parts in between locked sections. The words "go home LDD, you're drunk" were rather common during the two days it took me to put it together.

While I had some idea of what parts I had available, I wanted some luxury in terms of rare colours and exciting new parts. I achieved this with a combination of regular Pick-a-Brick for some bulk parts, Bricks & Pieces for some rare newer parts (like the TIE Fighter window which incidentally looks exactly like the top window on the original building), and a handful of Bricklink orders. The sand red band was designed expressly to only use two parts: 2x4 bricks and 2x2 corners. However, I found a few regular 2x2 with the same seller so I changed it around a bit to make a neater stack, and I was unable to get all four corner bricks at once so I used some grey ones instead. The flag was a late addition when I went downtown to compare the building to my design and spotted a flagpole mount - the flag itself is a very rare piece dating back to the 60's, almost half the supposed age of the building!

I used the lamp idea from Detective's Office for the street level lights and to fill out some spare studs used for the curved bricks. I also wanted a wedding shop to the side, and a couple of sticker sheets from the Friends mall proved perfect for the signs as well as the display dress. Inside I got a bunch of neat formal torsos, and found another great use for the ridiculously useful new transparent part. The food court section is simpler, relying mostly on the Butcher collectible minifigure and his great accessories. Both rooms have tiled floors, which LDD incidentally told me to put in from the bottom.

The apartment is accessible via a staircase outside. The actual building crosses the entire block and there are other stores on the back side, but artistic license and all that. The first floor is an open space kitchen and living room area, with a slightly modernized set of utensils - I love the metallic silver tiles and use them whenever I can. I couldn't find the classic tap in grey, but Lego uses it for Friends nowadays so it can easily be found in white or gold. The sofa was adapted from Lord Business' Evil Lair and the big set of drawers under the stairs is an original design. While it's not apparent, I put some yellow flowers on the curtains facing out. The floor lamp uses a sand green stand and a sand blue shade for the heck of it, and because the sand colours are amazing.

The second floor is the library and bedroom. Not much to say here, except that LDD had a blast with the bookcases. For the bed I thought of Bilbo's bedroom and went for muted colours, with dark brown, dark red and tan. The inverted slopes are rare nowadays but I scavenged some off my viking ship.

Finally, the top floor is the work area for our writer M.S.S. Tolkberg, the famous fantasy author who created the epic "Elves" series which, as you all know, inspired all modern fantasy (the wedding shop girl is, incidentally, a huge fan). The main features are the desk and the fireplace, which includes a light brick. The desk has another of those super neat transparent parts for the ink stand, and an epic typewriter that I borrowed from this fantastic design. The first plan for the top floor was to have an attic packed with curios, slightly inspired by the scenes in The Neverending Story. However, when I needed the space for the desk, I left the owl in there.



On this build, I'm most proud of two designs. I wanted some ornate supports for the balconies (even though they are properly attached to the floor and don't actually connect) and the angled form of the classic metal detector proved perfect. It has a weird size - it's exactly one brick minus the vertical height of a plate wide. While LDD frowns on connecting studs to Technic holes, it works well in reality. Lego sent me the newer design of the detector which lacks the antistud on the bottom, which actually worked better than my prototype using classic space parts. Then there's the round window. I was experimenting with SNOT:ed double arches and seeing which round parts would fit between them, then looking up good prints. While it's a little oversized, the new TIE front window was too spot on to pass up. I got it to fit within two eight-wide arches with a ring of curved sections outside. The entire thing hinges on Technic bricks. I'm also rather proud of the neck clip parts that fill in the space underneath and add a slightly smoother slope to the grey, while the top section is actually sliiiiiiightly off the official standards but fits well within the tolerances.

Overall, this monster of a building is 46 cm at the crest and my biggest since I knocked down Town Hall, but it preserves the general proportions of the original much better than the Dojo. It was interesting to build in regular old red, since I generally dislike the saturated classic colours. I was a bit wary of the colour scheme being too similar to Fire Brigade, but the lighter red and dark tan breaks it up, I think. Also, gotta love that expensive, sweet sand red.

More pictures on the blog
 

Rootbeer

Banned
Where do people buy these China items?

aliexpress.com seems the most popular but they are also on ebay, amazon and elsewhere. Read through this thread and you'll learn a lot.

I'm pro-bootleg but only for rare convention exclusive minfigs and things of that sort. Or characters that LEGO are not likely to make. Apart from that, I invest tons of money into LEGO's official minifigures and sets so I don't feel at all guilty about buying a bootleg here or there if it helps fill out a roster. I don't think buying bootlegs as replacements for minifigs that are readily available and not terribly expensive is to be lauded though.
 

Boss Doggie

all my loli wolf companions are so moe
So Brickbuilder has the Ferrari vid up, is it the supposed Ferrari that will go along well with Mini Cooper and Camper Van?
 
I don't mind mentioning the price as if it's too hefty for some people then it does impact whether I bother doing it again, so I don't mind you're honest in your reactions to the price.

This first batch went for $100 for 6, I did it this way as Orange for example is by far the most expensive (purely for the parts) whereas others are cheaper and the price averaged out. I underestimated the work involved in it from my side though and if I was to do the same ones again I'd probably go up to $20 a piece maybe to cover the time involved.

Pearl Gold would probably go over that even though, it's one of the one-offs I did (I sacraficed a C3PO) and that one is the only one I haven't painted the airtanks for yet as I haven't found an even close colour match for it yet.

That works for me, but drop the pearl gold. Drop orange if that's too hard too. If not enough interest for multiple colors, I wouldn't mind just getting purple or one of those other colors I mentioned.


When I get around to promoting them publicly I'll be calling them "The X-Agents" :)

I've seen (and bought) figures that have flat out called them Assassins Creed or Batman etc, Batman was a weird case though as lego made all the parts themselves, it was just a new torso print to be a specific version of him (arkham orgins)

To save on shipping, I'd like a pair of X-Agents to go with any future classic space explorer minifigs. If it will save a lot of money, I would just need the heads and torsos (can't remember if there was leg printing too). The Black Window hair is a bit pricey currently.
 

elfinke

Member
So Brickbuilder has the Ferrari vid up, is it the supposed Ferrari that will go along well with Mini Cooper and Camper Van?

Hi all, long time reader first time poster and all that - even though I've never contributed these last few Lego OTs have been among my favourite threads.

For my upcoming birthday I finally succumbed to the desire to buy new Lego: the last Lego I ever bought was various 1990's Technic sets (I've many sets from that period, still largely in top nick). I've flirted with buying some of the new Technic sets over the last few years, but have always found other things to spend money on instead, or the Technic sets haven't quite lived up to my expectations for the money outlay (another Aussie Lego fan here). By and large I've never aspired to own any of the other Lego themes, with the exception of a few of the Creator sets and Mindstorm. But I do enjoy reading and watching people's build logs of all Lego varieties.

However. For this birthday I said bugger it, buy me some Lego! So people have, and in the mail, hopefully for delivery in the next day or three are the (locally designed!) fabulous Ecto-1, the Ferrari F40 and a few other odds and ends, but those are the highlights. If no one else is picking it up, I'd be happy to provide a build log or any other details of the F40 anyone is interested in?
 
However. For this birthday I said bugger it, buy me some Lego! So people have, and in the mail, hopefully for delivery in the next day or three are the (locally designed!) fabulous Ecto-1, the Ferrari F40 and a few other odds and ends, but those are the highlights. If no one else is picking it up, I'd be happy to provide a build log or any other details of the F40 anyone is interested in?

We welcome your wallet in our circle, and sure we would love more details and pictures on the F40 build! :)
 

wetwired

Member
That works for me, but drop the pearl gold. Drop orange if that's too hard too. If not enough interest for multiple colors, I wouldn't mind just getting purple or one of those other colors I mentioned.


To save on shipping, I'd like a pair of X-Agents to go with any future classic space explorer minifigs. If it will save a lot of money, I would just need the heads and torsos (can't remember if there was leg printing too). The Black Window hair is a bit pricey currently.

I don't know how popular the dark green one is but it's kind of a "dependency" one, For the purple, the only dark purple hands I could find were from a dark green torso, so I had to buy dark green torsos anyway, Then I just grabbed some random chima torsos that had dark green hands to complete those.
 

ruxtpin

Banned
I'm getting jealous of everyone in this thread. I took a new job about 8 months back, which has been great ... apart from the fact that I'm always traveling. Only been home for 3 days in the last month and a half or so. I want to build!
 
Just moved to Singapore and to my dismay the prices of LEGO here are at least 50% higher than what they were back in Canada...

I'll probably go visit LEGO Land Malaysia with the kids soon enough, how are LEGO prices in Malaysia? What about set availabilities at the LEGO Land store? Do they have everything?
 

Wanderer5

Member
Man this year had mark the return of lego for me in some ways heh heh. The return of Bionicles and I recently got into the Lego Marvel Superheroes game, along with planning to look into Lego Worlds. Physical wise I still only going to check this out for now really.


Come release date (least I think there isn't one yet?)
 
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