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ks6349

Is this a fake pack?

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This is the set I've owned and found being sold on different platformsME3YYL1_o.jpg

Below is a picture I accidentally saw on Instagram, which I have never seen on eBay or Amazon...Is this a fake pack?

ME3YYL0_o.jpg

 

 

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On 10/3/2021 at 12:50 AM, rriggs said:

Can’t see either of your pictures now…

 I have uploadedME41U8F_o.jpg again. Can you see it now and notice the difference?

ME41U8H_o.jpg

Edited by ks6349

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3 hours ago, MAB said:

Genuine. US vs worldwide issues.

I don’t think any official versions of the figure pack included an I love Legoland Torso, or two unprinted sand blue torso’s? Also the blue legs from I think Alien Conquest or the CMF skydiver.  This reminds me of the scam some action figure scalpers pull on stores like Walmart and Target. They buy a high value desirable figure. Carefully open the box without breaking the seals. Take out the figure and any valuable bits, replace them with a cheap junk figure like a Mattel Wrestling fig. Reseat the box and return it to the store for a refund. The clueless CS Reps don’t know what the figure is supposed to look like, issue the refund and reshelve the bogus fig since it was a “sealed box”. I just don’t know why you would do that with a couple of city firefighters? 

Edited by Faefrost
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8 hours ago, Faefrost said:

I don’t think any official versions of the figure pack included an I love Legoland Torso, or two unprinted sand blue torso’s? 

I didn't even look at the figures, I was referring to the packaging. If one person on Instagram is claiming to have this, then it is probably faked. I'm not sure what the point would be though, on such a cheap set where the minifigures are almost worthless.

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Can see the pics now and there is something not right about that second one

Why would someone fake the packaging well and then put in crappy torsos?

Very odd…

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On 10/7/2021 at 6:07 AM, rriggs said:

Can see the pics now and there is something not right about that second one

Why would someone fake the packaging well and then put in crappy torsos?

Very odd…

Did you mean second one is likely to be fake??

Edited by ks6349

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On 10/9/2021 at 1:09 AM, ks6349 said:

Did you mean second one is likely to be fake??

Maybe a fake or might be a mistake or (less likely) some kind of special version that was done for a specific reason (a show or a giveaway?)

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19 minutes ago, rriggs said:

Maybe a fake or might be a mistake or (less likely) some kind of special version that was done for a specific reason (a show or a giveaway?)

No it is for sale, asking approx. $20. I am interested because it looks great and is rare, but I am not able to find out any information about this set. The seller claims it is "version 2"

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14 hours ago, ks6349 said:

No it is for sale, asking approx. $20. I am interested because it looks great and is rare, but I am not able to find out any information about this set. The seller claims it is "version 2"

No way that is a version 2. I collect a few different action figure lines as well as Lego, and this is seen frequently in those collector circles. Someone buys the figure, or in this case minifig pack. Take it home and carefully open it so that it looks like it hasn't been opened. Swap the figure and accessories wanted for some old figure laying around they don't care for. Seal it back up and then return it for a refund.

This way the person gets what they want without paying for it and at the same time gets rid of some unwanted stuff laying around.

Although in this case, are the parts swapped out worth the effort.

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5 minutes ago, Bludchylde said:

No way that is a version 2. I collect a few different action figure lines as well as Lego, and this is seen frequently in those collector circles. Someone buys the figure, or in this case minifig pack. Take it home and carefully open it so that it looks like it hasn't been opened. Swap the figure and accessories wanted for some old figure laying around they don't care for. Seal it back up and then return it for a refund.

This way the person gets what they want without paying for it and at the same time gets rid of some unwanted stuff laying around.

Although in this case, are the parts swapped out worth the effort.

You've left one of the greatest comments to the world that I really admire.

Yes, you've pointed out what I am always saying - people swapping bricks.

In the worst-case scenario, those people carefully open the Lego box perfectly, taking out all the bags and replace it with pasta (e.g. Macaroni) and return it.

I always wish to know how Lego is facing the challenge when it is unlikely that

friendly return and refund policy will be changed in the future. 

I wish Lego would investigate the returned item before reselling it again to next customer or simply liquidate it. However at the moment I really don't know how they handle returned Lego sets, will they just put it onto the shelf and sell again without any investigation? 

It's a real danger to the fame of the TLG

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On 10/3/2021 at 5:48 PM, Faefrost said:

I don’t think any official versions of the figure pack included an I love Legoland Torso, or two unprinted sand blue torso’s? Also the blue legs from I think Alien Conquest or the CMF skydiver.  This reminds me of the scam some action figure scalpers pull on stores like Walmart and Target. They buy a high value desirable figure. Carefully open the box without breaking the seals. Take out the figure and any valuable bits, replace them with a cheap junk figure like a Mattel Wrestling fig. Reseat the box and return it to the store for a refund. The clueless CS Reps don’t know what the figure is supposed to look like, issue the refund and reshelve the bogus fig since it was a “sealed box”. I just don’t know why you would do that with a couple of city firefighters? 

I thought of this too, I've seen it one some collectibles, but in this case, it just doesn't make sense.  The firefighter torso was extremely common and goes for like 10 cents on Bricklink.  The Legoland one is about 50 cents (cheaper than I thought, honestly) and is considerably rarer since I think you had to get that from a park, whereas those forest firefighters were available in every set from that subtheme, some of which were extremely cheap. 

So the re-selling angle is out, which suggests that maybe someone desperately needed some firefighters, but at that point, why not just take the entire figure and swap in generic ones? 

It's also way too random to be an error or mispackaged thing.  The mixture of things here is just too weird, and I assume these figure packs might be assembled by hand?  I mean, I can't see a machine being able to align the accessories and stuff in such a way that fits in the package, but I don't know.  

It's just super bizzare.

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26 minutes ago, Kit Figsto said:

I thought of this too, I've seen it one some collectibles, but in this case, it just doesn't make sense.  The firefighter torso was extremely common and goes for like 10 cents on Bricklink.  The Legoland one is about 50 cents (cheaper than I thought, honestly) and is considerably rarer since I think you had to get that from a park, whereas those forest firefighters were available in every set from that subtheme, some of which were extremely cheap. 

So the re-selling angle is out, which suggests that maybe someone desperately needed some firefighters, but at that point, why not just take the entire figure and swap in generic ones? 

It's also way too random to be an error or mispackaged thing.  The mixture of things here is just too weird, and I assume these figure packs might be assembled by hand?  I mean, I can't see a machine being able to align the accessories and stuff in such a way that fits in the package, but I don't know.  

It's just super bizzare.

Yeah, I mean there are specific niche builders who might want a lot of those specific firefighters. The yellow turnout gear with dark red helmets matches some well known US fire services, such as much of California. So if someone was modeling their fire department they might want a lot. But they’d want the whole figure. Heads helmets and legs too. I could see this as being from a Chinese or South American bootleg shop that is just sticking any random figs on the blister card. But you would see more random legs and accessories. This is almost the correct set. It’s just weird. 

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These Lego thieves are just even more ridiculous than other thieves, they are taking advantage of the loophole of the TLG's return policy while they may even believe that they themselves are not thieves. But fact is it's just illegal, it's only because Lego has overlooked the problem....Fortunately I have never bought from Lego stores, all my Lego sets are bought directly from other local reputable merchants who don't allow any return or refund after walking out of the shop no matter what. I will never, ever buy from Lego stores unless they largely tighten their return/refund policies one day. As an amateur Lego fans I can immediately detect that the staff at Lego stores here are just clueless, I can remember the set number, number of pieces, the new products and the recently retired products much better than any one of them. I truly believe that they may possibly never think of these Lego thieves in their mind, but they are doing this job and getting paid for this job so this is not an excuse. Honestly speaking, from my feeling for the staff here, I believe that it is VERY EASY to steal bricks and refund in the Lego stores here. I have never, ever done this and I will never do this bad thing but this doesn't mean other people won't do this.

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Everything in this thread about the origins of that weird pack has been conjecture - it could be as simple as someone having a laugh on Instagram. I don't know why you'd jump to any conclusion that anyone got it from a LEGO store even if the Instagram user says so.

And yet, that's led into doom and gloom about LEGO employees all being idiots and LEGO having such terribly pleasant return policies that they're encouraging thieves? 

Keep it reasonable and sane, thanks.

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