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Bootleg Super Heroes minifigs - worth it or not?

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BigFig Thing , Punisher and Bullseye it is then... I picked up Muddy River's Punisher recently and had a spare trenchcoat from an old Christo buy so I've got a pretty good pad printed version already.

Interested to see whose design they've stolen on that.. Christo/Muddy River/Eclipse/Pop... Bullseye looks like a straight copy of the Muddy River/NAMC figure.

After seeing that SY had copied Jek-14 and had the transparent arm I wondered how long it would be before Electro was made.

Red Skull, Taskmaster and Falcon getting cloned already? They're pretty quick on getting them copied. That next BigFig looks interesting... anyone with a better knowledge of DC and Marvel know who that might be?

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Looks like Hulkbuster, probably a copy from the guy that does the 3d printed Solomon grundy with the knives in the back, I can't remember the name now. Check flickr.

My partners won't like seeing that bullseye there one bit.

To me only the big figs have any value, everything else with one or two exceptions is just waste of plastic.

That thing looks nice, but i hope lego does it like the TMNT dogpond and not hulk size like that, it just looks soo weird.

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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Yeah... Looking at the face on that Bullseye it's the grimace face rather than the teeth bared which would make it a copy of the NACM version.

Copies of regular figures don't hold any interest to me as I have the original Lego versions but those customs and hard to get figures that I don't have are always interesting as long as the print is good.

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Yeah... Looking at the face on that Bullseye it's the grimace face rather than the teeth bared which would make it a copy of the NACM version.

Copies of regular figures don't hold any interest to me as I have the original Lego versions but those customs and hard to get figures that I don't have are always interesting as long as the print is good.

Rob don't tell me you are deserting to the knockoff camp?

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HA... No... Not deserting at all!

My collection of figures proudly contains MANY custom figures on genuine Lego parts and I'll always go for well designed, pad printed customs over knock-offs... despite the additional cost

But faced with paying $80 for a Christo Joker or $2 for a bootleg replica? Until I decide I've got that extra $78 just lying round then I'll accept the knock off for a short while.

Besides... nobody has yet put out a pad printed Phoenix or Comic Con Spiderman 2013 have they? So I'll take these for now.

The custom Spidey heads are on their way so they'll sit nicely on a Venom figure to make that one as close as it can. Just need the Ecto-1 now to fit the custom arms on the figures!

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I intend to do a Phoenix but not exactly the same as the con, I made a rule that I wouldn't replicate con figs or elements exactly to avoid scams, since our print quality rivals with Lego's, if we did it the same design someone could try and cash in, and I don't want anyone to be hurt by mine and my partners works.

They don't mind doing mainstream like the bullseye, but I know eventually we will get a daredevil bullseye set and then what?

The only saving grace for the "Chinesegate figs" as I like to call them is the big figs.

Rob, let me know how you like the heads, mine are also on the way but you will get them before I do, so give me an impartial review of those, so I see what can be done better. - Are you going to do the mod to the mouth part so you have both designs?

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I collect bootlegs across a few different toy lines and these lego minifig knock-offs are really interesting to me. Most bootlegs are produced in poorer nations where owning the original just isn't economically feasible. They are distributed locally or to much smaller markets. And the quality, as a result, is usually horrendous and, more importantly, they are almost NEVER produced with a collector market in mind.

These new figs have really upped the quality level and they seem targetted specifically to collectors and on a much larger global scale. This is really a game changer as far as collecting is concerned. Not only is it going to make buying minifigs a much more cautious process, it may even damage the price of existing collectible figures.

Normally, I'd be grabbing these up as true bootleg Lego didn't really exist prior to this (although there were knock-offs a plenty), but there's something about them that just seems unsavory to me. And I can't believe there isn't some kind of collector-involvement in the production of these. The producers just seem a little too tapped in to what AFOL's are looking for.

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That's an interesting point of view I'd not considered.

It's similar to the fact that in Barcelona there are bootleg football shirts sold in shops all over Las Ramblas allowing everyone to have the jersey rather than just the official Nike one at £60 and over.

We forget that these things are aimed at a completely different audience normally and some if the more obscure brands are really bad quality... But DeCool and Sheng Yuan are actually creating a better quality product... And improving all the time. This means their appeal is growing worldwide rather than just in the local, low cost, Eastern market.

There's only a couple of things in the new SY Captain America and Super Heroes ranges that stop them being on par with Lego and other quality customisers. A bit more QC and they'd need to be taken seriously.

The fact that they're both replicating Christo figures and now going after newer pad print customisers tells me someone is pretty switched on when it comes to this... But if they were REALLY switched on they'd just visit a forum like this and find out what people wanted and make those instead. They've shown they can make moulds and create custom pieces and now they've actually improved the shorter Lego legs.

Edited by Robianco

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Quality control, what would be the fun in that.

And miss all those nice unique surprises like, misaligned prints, wrong colors and print failures. Thats what makes it art. Its all the wonderfull combinations and diversity around the same VOAT. (and that's Sarcasm BTW)

I'm really surprised at the speed these are coming out, they must really have applied some resources just to this, I'm guessing selling so many Hulks and Iron-mans helped a bunch.

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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I would be a lot happier buying bootlegs if they (a), had more accurate moulds, like rounded corners and circular hip joins, and (b), they had better quality control. As it stands I have to buy two lots of every Decool figure in case one has a misprint, and I have to use a file to wear down the shoulders so they're more rounded.

I intend to do a Phoenix but not exactly the same as the con, I made a rule that I wouldn't replicate con figs or elements exactly to avoid scams, since our print quality rivals with Lego's, if we did it the same design someone could try and cash in, and I don't want anyone to be hurt by mine and my partners works.

I hadn't considered that aspect. While I would really, really love pad printed SDCC Phoenix and Spider-Man customs, I can understand why nobody wants to make them. I wonder if there's any way around this issue.

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Wow, movable short legs... I suppose I need one of those Robin and Penguin figures...and a Phoenix! But I see no chance of finding those Sheng Yuan stuff here in Germany. Any ideas or info for me?! Maybe someone from Europe who knows how to get hands on those? Please PM me if you like!

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Wow, movable short legs... I suppose I need one of those Robin and Penguin figures...and a Phoenix! But I see no chance of finding those Sheng Yuan stuff here in Germany. Any ideas or info for me?! Maybe someone from Europe who knows how to get hands on those? Please PM me if you like!

eBay is your best bet. A lot of sellers in China ship free internationally.

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I would be a lot happier buying bootlegs if they (a), had more accurate moulds, like rounded corners and circular hip joins, and (b), they had better quality control. As it stands I have to buy two lots of every Decool figure in case one has a misprint, and I have to use a file to wear down the shoulders so they're more rounded.

I hadn't considered that aspect. While I would really, really love pad printed SDCC Phoenix and Spider-Man customs, I can understand why nobody wants to make them. I wonder if there's any way around this issue.

There is one way we talked about over here, making a replica with some kind of logo or adding a mark or something like that, but it would make 2 things happens,

1-Price would go up for each part of the fig, since head torso and legs would have to have that,

2-It would make the figs less than pretty, with all the letters showing, in the legs you can put it on the inside of the leg, but what about the other parts?

the guy I couldn't remember the name is Paul Janowski his hulkbuster bellow

Marvel Hulkbuster Front (3D Printed)

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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Yeah... that looks like the figure on the leaflet.

I used to like the DeCool Iron Man figures. They really went to town on the metallic print and Sheng Yuan had the odd inverted toes.

Now though Sheng Yuan have upped the quality of their product so much with regards to lego and torso moulds, accessory and custom moulds, plastic colour, print and most of all their QC... while DeCool are still a little hit and miss and their shoulders are too sharp. (I do the filing thing too!)

The SY clones of Lego figures are now pretty much spot on and you'd need an actual official figure to compare next to it to be able to spot that it wasn't real.

So if anything some of the figures in the Captain America range are a little disappointing as they could have been really superb... I think it goes to show that their designers are limited... great at copying existing but need a little work to create something new. That said the torn leather jacket looks great... I'm only getting the set for that and the NYTF Bucky Cap.

I'm waiting for them to arrive to be able to compare the Christo Captain America from the first movie with this one... except for the shoulder print being missing and the slightly squashed face print it looks like it could be very good.

The copies of the regular Cap figs I'll give away.

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eBay is your best bet. A lot of sellers in China ship free internationally.

That's the problem, I cannot find any :sceptic:

If anyone knows an ebay seller who ships worldwide (where he bought his Sheng Yuan figs) and maybe currently has non in stock, feel free to tell me :-P

Edited by KCMatze

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MU3A7351

Picture of minilegs

they look like the ones sold by

http://www.brickfortress.com/

I have no connection to fortress, but I'd advise if you want mini articulated legs you get them from them not in knock off bat sets.

It's important to support our Community and not people who are in it for themselves at everyone elses cost, not that I'm above buying some of the knockoffs or anything ,but only if its something that doesn't exist like the hulks or for customizing (but only cuz I don't like to drill into proper lego pieces, it makes me all sad and weepy).

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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I have some of the brick fortress legs and they are great. They are only $1.15 each and the plastic is real similar to Lego.

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I have some of the brick fortress legs and they are great. They are only $1.15 each and the plastic is real similar to Lego.

I thought they did like me, and had them molded in actual official lego plastic?? I actually never got any of those.

At around 1euro each they probably are even cheaper than buying the decool sets just for the 2 legs, and having it shipped from Hong kong.

So no reason to buy those sets I can think of if you are in the USA or Europe (not sure if they have a dealer here).

Question to you - Goblin that is Super: How well do the leg colors match to the actual lego colors?

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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Nice link Joe :) Brickfortress legs look really good! Guess I will order some right now...although shipping is more expensive then the rest of the order :wacko:

Edited by KCMatze

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I thought they did like me, and had them molded in actual official lego plastic?? I actually never got any of those.

At around 1euro each they probably are even cheaper than buying the decool sets just for the 2 legs, and having it shipped from Hong kong.

So no reason to buy those sets I can think of if you are in the USA or Europe (not sure if they have a dealer here).

Question to you - Goblin that is Super: How well do the leg colors match to the actual lego colors?

The plastic seems like ABS but is probably closer to CMF quality than minifigures you get in sets. They feel real close to to Lego.

The colors are real close. The black, dark blue and light grey seem to be a perfect match. The brown seemed a tad light. I'll post some pics tonight.

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Nice link Joe :) Brickfortress legs look really good! Guess I will order some right now...although shipping is more expensive then the rest of the order :wacko:

One more Lamb brought back from the dark side LOL.

--------------------------------

Thanks Goblin, I sent a pm to Kc over there telling to try and get some folks to share costs there are more people probably interested in those, some even in his Country.

I'm always telling you guys to form buying groups and crowdfund stuff, its worth the hassle, specially these days with shippings as high as they are. Eurobrickers UNITE :)

Do you know if they have a Distributor here closer to home. Pity about the abs difference.

PS: KC One good idea is to use Bricklink ratings to create confidence in who the ringleader will be if you decide to go with group shopping.

Edited by CustomJoe_MD

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I don't get it. Can you buy each figure seperately or do you have to buy like a wave of six figures?

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