LEPIN brings out Monster Fighters HAUNTED HOUSE (16007)

[zux]

I remember BL closing stores selling fake parts as LEGO, if you report this. Nobody doing business will get together with bootleg parts.

[H3ssian]

Interesting topic this, I followed the brick-links thread on this as well, it has some fantastic views from both sides.

Sadly Lego and the huge wave of Lego investors "Remember a lot of these people are not afol, just people out to make a dollar" made a gap in the market for cloned retired sets. It was only natural that this was going to happen. But from what I can see, Lepin by cloning some of the holy grail sets has got loads of attention and so much free marketing they could not have bought more. The Investment side of Lego, I know so many afol and they dislike them more than the bootleggers by a mile, its at the stage now when your hunting for a good deal,special to build even in the second hand market, your having to fight more with investors sweeping shelves than you do with builders and the likes. So the fact they might be hurting from clones makes many people happy the old 'make your bed sleep in it'  But now sadly Lepin are focusing on more current sets and even worse afol idea submissions. while I didn't have an issue with old retired sets, current and even more so idea submissions is bloody awful, Idea been one of lego's ranges that I love the most due to the diversity and also that hard working afol's are getting paid for their hard work etc this could make people think twice about submitting :(

I have to say I would love to know why Lego are chasing lepin over all the other company's, is it due to A: They crossed an IP that lego could just not let go B: The Quality of the abs plastic and molds are getting to close for comfort C: The speed that Lepin manage to clone sets. or all 

None the less it should make for interesting times with the court case etc, and the fact that Lego is starting factorys in China, they might have alot more pull than if they didnt

on a quick side note I do find it odd that a bunch of people do dislike the fact that Lepin and other clone brands are breaching IP's etc while clone minifigs are ok... that also breach IP's just not legos as such. food for thought

 

PS Rather new to the euro forum, long time reader/stalker

[Jedi-Bendu]

9 hours ago, agrof said:

I just googled it, and found this comment on Facebook, by the MOC designer:

No further comment needed.

Here's a comment from a Lepin fan: (the 'net is full of these kind of reactions.....it sums up the average Lepin fan)

Quote

I'm assuming he took pics and then posted them on the internet which makes them public property? I also assume he doesn't have copyright and/or patent rights pending?
The jury has reached a decision your honour ..... Hahahaha to bad sucker. You spends time money and what ever on it, then blew it all with a picture.
Sit down and stop your complaining.
Case closed

 

Sick.

[Robianco]

4 minutes ago, Jedi-Bendu said:

Here's a comment from a Lepin fan: (the 'net is full of these kind of reactions.....it sums up the average Lepin fan)

 

Sick.

That's such a sh***y comment. There's just no need for that sort of outburst.

[Sven F]

Maybe it has something to do with most L€pin fans being about 14

[Captain Pirate Man]

1 hour ago, H3ssian said:

Interesting topic this, I followed the brick-links thread on this as well, it has some fantastic views from both sides.

Sadly Lego and the huge wave of Lego investors "Remember a lot of these people are not afol, just people out to make a dollar" made a gap in the market for cloned retired sets. It was only natural that this was going to happen. But from what I can see, Lepin by cloning some of the holy grail sets has got loads of attention and so much free marketing they could not have bought more. The Investment side of Lego, I know so many afol and they dislike them more than the bootleggers by a mile, its at the stage now when your hunting for a good deal,special to build even in the second hand market, your having to fight more with investors sweeping shelves than you do with builders and the likes. So the fact they might be hurting from clones makes many people happy the old 'make your bed sleep in it'  But now sadly Lepin are focusing on more current sets and even worse afol idea submissions. while I didn't have an issue with old retired sets, current and even more so idea submissions is bloody awful, Idea been one of lego's ranges that I love the most due to the diversity and also that hard working afol's are getting paid for their hard work etc this could make people think twice about submitting :(

I have to say I would love to know why Lego are chasing lepin over all the other company's, is it due to A: They crossed an IP that lego could just not let go B: The Quality of the abs plastic and molds are getting to close for comfort C: The speed that Lepin manage to clone sets. or all 

None the less it should make for interesting times with the court case etc, and the fact that Lego is starting factorys in China, they might have alot more pull than if they didnt

on a quick side note I do find it odd that a bunch of people do dislike the fact that Lepin and other clone brands are breaching IP's etc while clone minifigs are ok... that also breach IP's just not legos as such. food for thought

 

PS Rather new to the euro forum, long time reader/stalker

Great post, I completely agree. 

 

Welcome to the forum btw.

[Peppermint_M]

I think the Figure issue is more a case of niche interests filled. While a large number are indeed copies of actual figures in sets, there are plenty of characters represented that TLG will not be producing in a long time (Age of Apocalypse X-men, Fantastic Four etc) or replicas of figures from the games that have never appeared in physical form. 

[crossmr]

Maybe if Lepin only stuck with old sets Lego wouldn't have gone after them, but... companies like Lele and Bela also do current sets. Their quality is also good. I found one of the Bela elves sets awhile back for my kid. I had no experience with Bela and wanted to give it a shot. Their new stuff is on par with Lepin. Good quality bricks. Good clutch. Only one part was off (kind of rope basket, the part the chain attached too had a hole too big. But I fixed that) SY also copies their current sets in addition to minifigures. SY clones a lot of their Friends sets, Nexon nights,  and other stuff. Decool also directly clones sets I believe.

The difference with Lepin is simply that it is it the biggest sets. The prestige sets. Until now most of the other companies only did smaller sets. Lepin was going after the really noticeable big size things.  However, in reality Lepin isn't doing anything different that other companies haven't been doing for awhile already. I think that might hurt Lego in any court case. Lego let Enlighten copy their products for over a decade without doing anything until Enlighten eventually went legit.

 

[Captain Pirate Man]

@Peppermint IMHO, that seems a little double standardish. I'm not trying to argue with you, especially being that you are a MOD. But I really feel that entire train of thought is severely flawed. I am playing Devil's Advocate here, it's not that I want to defend Lepin, but really? Its ok to buy and get excited about fake minifigures, but sets are crossing the line?

If you take the fact that the next line of Lepin modulars were created by AFOL's, (even some on this forum) out of the equation. Say they were Lego prototypes that for whatever reason Lego decided NOT to release. They would still be owned by Lego, yes, so it would still be stealing, but they would be stealing things that Lego doesn't really want. The same applies to the minifigures. Lego has the rights to ALL Marvel and DC super heroes (as far as we know), but for whatever reason they decided to not make many these bootleg companies are producing. Even if Lego hasn't been authorized to produce certain super hero figs, they still have paid for those licenses, the clone companies have not. So, in reality it is NO different buying fake figs than buying fake sets.

Yes I realize stealing an AFOL's design is taking things a step further, and I by no means agree with that. But I do find it a bit hypocritical that the tread right next to this one can go on and on about fake figures, and that's perfectly fine. But we are somehow crossing the line. I feel if the powers that be want to ban all clone discussions (which I've heard is on the table), it should also include minifigure discussion as well. Whatever is decided, I will live with and accept, because I like this forum. I just hope it can be fair for everybody, not pick and choose what is allowed and not allowed. It should be all or nothing IMO.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Captain Pirate Man

[crossmr]

I think the argument is a lot like the one regarding music downloading. When you look at the massive price disparity between real Lego and clone Lego, you have to wonder if any sales for clone Lego would actually go to real Lego. I know those modulars are really expensive. I could never justify the price of even a single one. However, the clones, especially when I ship directly from China are more within my budget. It isn't a matter of saving up either, I simply couldn't justify that amount of money on a single set. Is Lego losing any money by my buying that set? no it isn't. This was the same issue that they had with music where they claimed every download was a lost sale, and that was just patently absurd. Luckily the chinese courts are surprisingly smarter about that, and the last time Lego sued in China, all they got was a nominal fine, something like $6000 because you can't prove there was actual financial damage.

 

[Captain Pirate Man]

My 2 cents in the whole Lepin controversy... I feel the whole thing is a bit of an overreaction on the part of AFOL's. I don't believe for one second that Lepin is any sort of financial threat to Lego, in any way shape or form. I've read some AFOL's calling this the beginning of the end, and other apocalyptic type responses. 

I honestly believe the only reasons why Lego is even taking action against Lepin is due to IP's like Disney and some of the automobile companies like Ferrari and others. Disney especially doesn't take kindly to people stealing their stuff. So it wouldn't suprise me in the slightest if they are the brains behind this lawsuit.

Reason two might be the fact they are doing some the big CURRENT D2C sets. I can see Lego being upset about those. But really how much of Lego's profits are from the D2C sets anyways? They are not really kid friendly sets, and first and foremost Lego is for kids. So I doubt the large expensive sets really do all that much for their bottom lines. 

I just feel like as a whole, AFOL's have made the Lepin controversy a HUGE ordeal, and in the grand scheme I don't believe they really well all that many sets. Obviously stealing AFOL designs has allowed them to sort of attack our crowd personally. But I sort of feel like it's Microsoft being scared of Linex's little brother or something. Not gonna happen.

Let me also add, that Lepin isn't exactly cheap. Yes it's cheaper than Lego, and cheaper than after market sets for sure. But it's still pretty pricey. The market they have aimed towards (outside of China) is people coming out of there dark ages, people that missed out on a lot of these sets. My point is that's not a HUGE market to begin with. Eventually it's going to dry up, or at least slow down. Yes new people will get back into Lego and may choose Lepin, but then again maybe not, people do have brand loyalty to Lego. Not to mention Lego is a lot more convient for your average person. You can go into any store and buy Lego, or buy online from Lego themselves. With Lepin you have to go to Aliexpress or a slect few other outlets, and everything is coming from China. That's a big turn off to a lot of people I'm sure. Plus many of the sets are missing pieces here and there, again another turn off. 

Take Wootles design for example, Lepin is selling that for around $150 or so. Yes it's fairly larger than your official modulars. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to spend $150 on a set, I'm going to buy from Lego. All the reasons I mentioned before play a role (convienience, etc) But 150 bucks is not anything to sneeze at. So clearly Lepin isn't "all that cheap" either. Which again makes me feel like they will always be this "niche" type company, not a real threat of any sort of significance. Therefore should be treated as such IMO.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Captain Pirate Man

[Ltfalcon]

My  Imperial Flagships arrived today.

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Ltfalcon

[Captain Pirate Man]

17 minutes ago, Ltfalcon said:

My  Imperial Flagships arrived today.

 

Mine just cleared customs, so I'm hoping by the end of the week to get mine.

[Ltfalcon]

1 minute ago, Captain Pirate Man said:

Mine just cleared customs, so I'm hoping by the end of the week to get mine.

Good times this weekend 

[agrof]

@ crossmr:

Music downloading is very different case, there is only 1 company (music publisher) who owns exclusively the rights for intellectual properties. They fight with end customers - individuals, for not realizing more and more money (greediness??), instead of enjoying a kind of free advertisement - just my opinion. This is fight for profit extension. With LEGO and clones we speak about fight between companies, and for the same (more-less, sorry for generalization) exact valuable market. This is a classic competition where each participant tries to win bigger slice with own innovations (healthy competition), or by spying, stealing (unhealthy, unethical competition).

Back to bootlegs, some thoughts:

I am not afraid, that LEGO will loose profit, and yes all bootleg company who steals designs should be handled in the same way. Till now the quality of the bootleg bricks was an easy filter, and many just didn't bought them. Chinese brands deliver today pretty good bricks as seen on reviews, but this is still not an issue, I even dare to say it is a good thing to see them improve.

BUT If they can do this, why don't they invest in design too? There are numberous answers in this topic already for this question. This is where the red lamp gone on to me, I reached my tolerance limit. I look at the big picture and all of my reactions are not focused on LEGO copies issue only as AFOL, but in general as human being. I don't like this phenomenon, whatever area of life and human interactions we are talking about - I am sure all of us can name such in own-life experience. So what can I do on my level? I don't support those companies by bying from them, just like I don't help thieves on street to break up cars, or stealing handbags. It is a decision, to take the personal social responsibility. We have a huge value in our hands, the chance of choice, and we must use it in a responsible way. Yes, I am idealist, but I believe in education too - like this conversation topic.

About stealing LEGO's or MOCers IP, I don't see much difference, only MOCers are more naked, they have ZERO resources to fight. If we buy those sets, and legitimize bootleg companies to do this, what will cause this in long-term? Probably less and less MOCs will be shared, and the whole sense and role of such communities like EUROBRICKS will shrink and gets demoralized. But even could happen, that there willl be a race between MOCers, whose creation will be copied next?  Seriously, looking at history, this has less chance, I don't want to see loosing the fun of playing.

It is strange for me, if someone says: I don't have enough money to buy original, so I buy fake ones. If You can't afford, than You don't buy it. It is that easy. We are not talking about primer needs like drinking, eating, living.

I also agree with Captain Pirate Man, shipping, customs included - this is what many just forget to calculate or deny to confess -, Lepin's price is not that attractive any more for those who don't live in China.

Edited October 12, 2016 by agrof
added content

[Robianco]

I think the issue with the figures, while having parallels is slightly different. The thread was started in response to there being figures such as FF available and back then these were a completely unknown entity. Who is making them and are they any good? There have been plenty of times over the last 30 or so months that people have posted on the thread with the same staunch defence of Lego and vented their anger at the fact the thread even existed never mind had any regular contributors.

The interest, for the most part, in that thread is for new figures that are unique, that maybe will never be produced by Lego or are at least new at the point of release. Obviously as time went on these companies cloned waves of existing figures (SY released two sets of 8 figures that replicated every AoU figures from those releases including the Helicarrier). I'm not remotely interested in figures such as that... or even with new figures that are printed badly or have poor moulding and fit. But they can occasionally release a new figure that is comparable to Lego or any of the number of customisers out there. Customising is another minefield altogether. 

I had a (heated) conversation a couple of years ago on a Flickr thread because a member had a Wolverine figure copied by Decool and sold. My argument was that while it was annoying to the Flickr member involved after creating the artwork and having the figure printed, he had no legal right to complain as he didn't own the image rights to Wolverine and therefore was violating Marvel's IP by replicating that figure and selling it. (it was a completely different uniform to Lego's release and is still unique in that sense). The fact that a custom minifig producer can get 50 or 100 printed and sell them for £20 seems to be OK... but if that's copied and sold for £1 that's evil. I argued that it was the same thing but just done on a different scale. Yes, the custom fig was printed on genuine Lego parts and the Decool wasn't but there's a huge precedent for custom moulded parts too. There are accessories, armour etc that are custom moulded by very reputable companies across the world and we as Lego fans accept these. Brickforge make two parts arms and legs to customise the dual moulded experience... so those arms wouldn't be genuine Lego ABS but would work with your genuine Lego torsos. Christo, probably the best custom minifig maker out there, moulds many pieces of fantastic quality but they're obviously not genuine Lego ABS yet they become part of some of the most expensive custom minifigs available.

Which brings me on to custom pieces themselves. We talk about Lego going after bootleggers in China because they replicate their product and whether the Chinese Courts will uphold their claim when they've dismissed even more blatant IP infringements such as the cloning of luxury vehicles such as BMWs X5. Yet there are various stores on eBay that are based in the US and sell custom printed minifigures. I can pretty much guarantee they don't hold any licenses from DC, Marvel, BBC or any other company from where the likenesses of these figure originate... and yes, they've cloned existing Lego product such as SDCC figures as well as replicated designs owned by Lego such as game designs. Yet they still happily sell with over 100 items on their store at any one time. If you were to sell a set of bootleg Iron Man armours that Lego haven't produced you can have them removed by Lego's legal team immediately. But I can see why. You need to draw the line somewhere and the fact that there are resellers on eBay that buy figures for 80p each and sell them on for £3 each floods the market with counterfeit product and makes a profit for both the bootleg company and the reseller. Remove this and less people will buy the fakes... which might slow down production or at least limit it to its original market in the east. If the likes of SY, Decool etc had just made non-existing product they'd probably be looked upon quite differently. Firstly let me say that a custom minifig maker normally puts out an excellent product. Very well crafted designs that are printed with more care and attention than Lego themselves due to the small number they're produced especially when pad printed. I've bought many of them. Bootlegs can range from Lego like in quality of print and plastic to utter crap on both counts.

Unfortunately these bootleg companies didn't stop there, they're not in it to help AFOLs expand their minifig collection. So they got into cloning sets... across more and more licenses. Some of them have started their own ranges ( in all seriousness if you have any interest in military minifigures check 'S' brand's Falcon Commandos... absolutely superb print across the whole minifigure... if these were Lego there'd be pages eulogising about them) but in the most part they stick with copying existing Lego product... because it sells. I've always thought that these sets were designed for the Asian market. A market that isn't as affluent and so creates a supply for those that demand. Which is the problem. As others have said, with the subtlety of a brick, if you can't afford something that may actually mean you can't own it. I would like a Rolex Submariner but it costs around £6000 so until the times comes that I can afford it I won't get it. I own an Omega Seamaster so I'm more than happy with that... besides if I spent £6000 on a watch my wife would kill me. But I have also firmly believed that people who want genuine product will always go and get it regardless of there being a cheaper fake available. There's a very good replica of Phoenix Customs Arachnid Hero and it cost around £1 (or it was in a set of 8 figs for £6 or so). Yet every time he prints more of the original it sells out at $35 or so each. It's a fantastic figure and some of the best printing I've ever seen on a Lego figure. There are copies of Christo figures yet the originals still sell for far more. There will always be a market for the original (and better) product.

Lepin seem to have looked at things and actually thought 'Go hard or go home' and they've gone for it... large products with big price tags and they seem to have got their quality right. This feels different. It's not aimed at the Asian market anymore offering sets for £10 instead of £40. These are £150 sets and they're going after the rest of the world and giving people the top end of Lego's catalogue. Again... if they'd just replicated retired product would people see them differently? Who knows... but they didn't. They're making existing product hand over fist and the quality seems to be comparable so Lego feel they need to stop it. Not just because of IP laws but because Asia is Lego's largest growing market... even with the SYs and Decools doing their thing for the last two to three years, this growth is what persuaded me that the cheaper products weren't hurting Lego's offering as the market was still growing and quality wins out in the end... but now there is something that could really dent their growth and if it sticks around unchallenged it will gain legitimacy in the market place... especially to buyers.

For those that have modular towns would you seriously consider holding off on buying next year's modulars, whatever they may be, for £130 in the hope that two months later you can buy a clone for £35? If so that's the reason Lego want to stop it. If Lepin wanted to create something new... something to add to the modular landscape that wasn't a clone of an Ideas set or an existing one they'd be showing some initiative but they've been aggressive in their production with no desire to create something new... they may only have a year to go... Let's see what happens when they run out of things to clone.

Basically nothing that hasn't been licensed should exist... we know that. No figure that hasn't had permission from it's image rights holder should be printed... but they are. And I love them. So maybe I'm part of the problem... Can we have one and seriously not expect the other to come along too? As much as I originally thought the subject of scale was irrelevant with the copying of that Wolverine figure years ago maybe I'm falling into that same trap now. Maybe it's Lepin's scale of production that is really the issue and I've actually just become the people I was arguing with. Bugger.

This was far longer than I anticipated.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Robianco
Typos... Long post so still finding them.

[agrof]

Yepp, as I see, this is a quite new situation, or better to say: a new level of the bootleg situation, and we still learn how to handle this.

That's why it is good to have this Topic, and read all the opinions and arguments. Still: "Nobody tells me what for should I spend my money" is not an argument.

[Jedi-Bendu]

33 minutes ago, agrof said:

@ crossmr:

Music downloading is very different case, there is only 1 company (music publisher) who owns exclusively the rights for intellectual properties. They fight with end customers - individuals, for not realizing more and more money (greediness??), instead of enjoying a kind of free advertisement - just my opinion. This is fight for profit extension. With LEGO and clones we speak about fight between companies, and for the same (more-less, sorry for generalization) exact valuable market. This is a classic competition where each participant tries to win bigger slice with own innovations (healthy competition), or by spying, stealing (unhealthy, unethical competition).

Back to bootlegs, some thoughts:

I am not afraid, that LEGO will loose profit, and yes all bootleg company who steals designs should be handled in the same way. Till now the quality of the bootleg bricks was an easy filter, and many just didn't bought them. Chinese brands deliver today pretty good bricks as seen on reviews, but this is still not an issue, I even dare to say it is a good thing to see them improve.

BUT If they can do this, why don't they invest in design too? There are numberous answers in this topic already for this question. This is where the red lamp gone on to me, I reached my tolerance limit. I look at the big picture and all of my reactions are not focused on LEGO copies issue only as AFOL, but in general as human being. I don't like this phenomenon, whatever area of life and human interactions we are talking about - I am sure all of us can name such in own-life experience. So what can I do on my level? I don't support those companies by bying from them, just like I don't help thieves on street to break up cars, or stealing handbags. It is a decision, to take the personal social responsibility. We have a huge value in our hands, the chance of choice, and we must use it in a responsible way. Yes, I am idealist, but I believe in education too - like this conversation topic.

About stealing LEGO's or MOCers IP, I don't see much difference, only MOCers are more naked, they have ZERO resources to fight. If we buy those sets, and legitimize bootleg companies to do this, what will cause this in long-term? Probably less and less MOCs will be shared, and the whole sense and role of such communities like EUROBRICKS will shrink and gets demoralized. But even could happen, that there willl be a race between MOCers, whose creation will be copied next?  Seriously, looking at history, this has less chance, I don't want to see loosing the fun of playing.

It is strange for me, if someone says: I don't have enough money to buy original, so I buy fake ones. If You can't afford, than You don't buy it. It is that easy. We are not talking about primer needs like drinking, eating, living.

I also agree with Captain Pirate Man, shipping, customs included - this is what many just forget to calculate or deny to confess -, Lepin's price is not that attractive any more for those who don't live in China.

Fantastic. Exactly my thoughts.

Regarding the "If You can't afford, than You don't buy it.": I couldn't have said it better.

I can't afford a Rolls Royce. Would I buy a fake one? Nah.

[H3ssian]

2 minutes ago, Jedi-Bendu said:

Fantastic. Exactly my thoughts.

Regarding the "If You can't afford, than You don't buy it.": I couldn't have said it better.

I can't afford a Rolls Royce. Would I buy a fake one? Nah.

I have always been if I cant afford something, I buy the next best thing....

[Robianco]

14 minutes ago, H3ssian said:

I have always been if I cant afford something, I buy the next best thing....

You mean Megabloks? ;)

[Florian_Wayne]

1 hour ago, agrof said:

Lepin's price is not that attractive any more for those who don't live in China.

 

Yes thats true. Better spend 2000,00€ for the LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon than 160€ for the LEPIN one. 

Or:

LEGO Haunted House: 350,00€, LEPIN: 58,00€
LEGO Imperial Flagship: 600,00€, LEPIN: 59,00€
LEGO Super Star Destroyer: 700,00€, LEPIN: 100,00€
LEGO Café Corner: 600,00€, LEPIN: 52,00€
LEGO Green Grocer: 550,00€, LEPIN: 55,00€
LEGO Taj Mahal: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 170,00€
LEGO Star Destroyer: 1600,00€, LEPIN: 113,00€
LEGO Death Star 2: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 119,00€
LEGO Black Pearl: 350,00€, LEPIN: 42,00€

All LEPIN prices including fast shipping via DHL Express


Sorry, but your comment makes no sense
 

[Robianco]

1 minute ago, Florian_Wayne said:

 

Yes thats true. Better spend 2000,00€ for the LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon than 160€ for the LEPIN one. 

Or:

LEGO Haunted House: 350,00€, LEPIN: 58,00€
LEGO Imperial Flagship: 600,00€, LEPIN: 59,00€
LEGO Super Star Destroyer: 700,00€, LEPIN: 100,00€
LEGO Café Corner: 600,00€, LEPIN: 52,00€
LEGO Green Grocer: 550,00€, LEPIN: 55,00€
LEGO Taj Mahal: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 170,00€
LEGO Star Destroyer: 1600,00€, LEPIN: 113,00€
LEGO Death Star 2: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 119,00€
LEGO Black Pearl: 350,00€, LEPIN: 42,00€

All LEPIN prices including fast shipping via DHL Express


Sorry, but your comment makes no sense
 

I think it's more the fact that we're not talking about sets that are priced like battlepacks anymore. Sets that were designed to be picked up with pocket money. That's where a lot of the previous bootleg sets were aimed.

With these it's over €100 for a set. As much as that's very cheap compared to the original set price it's still a large outlay. If you're going for that particular set then that would make economic sense but just to buy Lego it's still a big commitment.

[Jedi-Bendu]

30 minutes ago, H3ssian said:

I have always been if I cant afford something, I buy the next best thing....

Even if that next 'best' thing is immoral and does illegal things?

6 minutes ago, Florian_Wayne said:

 

Yes thats true. Better spend 2000,00€ for the LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon than 160€ for the LEPIN one. 

Or:

LEGO Haunted House: 350,00€, LEPIN: 58,00€
LEGO Imperial Flagship: 600,00€, LEPIN: 59,00€
LEGO Super Star Destroyer: 700,00€, LEPIN: 100,00€
LEGO Café Corner: 600,00€, LEPIN: 52,00€
LEGO Green Grocer: 550,00€, LEPIN: 55,00€
LEGO Taj Mahal: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 170,00€
LEGO Star Destroyer: 1600,00€, LEPIN: 113,00€
LEGO Death Star 2: 1500,00€, LEPIN: 119,00€
LEGO Black Pearl: 350,00€, LEPIN: 42,00€

All LEPIN prices including fast shipping via DHL Express


Sorry, but your comment makes no sense
 

Those are aftermarket prices....NOT the original retail prices. (and I guess thats what he meant)

 

To all Lepin fans: suppose you work as a self-employed designer...and you designs are copied, sold and you lose income. I bet you're all fine with that? 

Edited October 12, 2016 by Jedi-Bendu

[H3ssian]

1 minute ago, Jedi-Bendu said:

Even if that next 'best' thing is immoral and does illegal things?

Immoral is subjective eg I think most oil company's are Immoral. do you use fuel in your car? if you do, does that make you Immoral?

IN regards to Illegal, no I would not buy anything that was deemed as Illegal in the Nation I live in, but that would be taken in to consideration when deciding whats the next best thing was.

 

I hope I answered your questions clearly.

 

Regards

[Capparezza]

Basically, I'm in the "Retired sets for way under collectors prices? Yay!"-boat. It's great for someone who missed out on the original, by whatever reasons. And saving on 70 bucks for the Lepin Monster House or 290 for the original Lego one is a big difference, too.

However, I would not buy any Lepin or other knockoff brand set. This is something that does not play well with my attitude against copycats in general. It's okay if you copy some clever idea for your MOC. It's even okay if you recreate a whole MOC for the fun of it. But making big money out of other peoples ideas is definitely not.

 

On a sidenote, the comments about Lepin (or others) parts turning up on BL or other second hand Lego sites just gave me the willies. When I buy Lego, now after coming out of my dark ages, 90% of it is second hand. Receiving some cheap knockoffs instead of the original might be a possibility nowadays and even the thought of that makes me angry....

Edited October 12, 2016 by Capparezza