KingPixels

Eurobricks Knights
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Posts posted by KingPixels

  1. Posted

    I was in Hong Kong a few months back and ended up picking up some of the Iron Man knock offs (copied from HJ Media Studios designs) in person. These figures were clearly the hot item of the day at the local street vendors; pretty much every toy vendor had at least a small display.

    Of the few I picked up, quality seemed to vary wildly. Some were rather nicely printed with plastic quality on a decent clone brand level, while others were . . less impressive (sloppy printing, decidedly inferior plastic).

    Like Hammerstein has mentioned, it's strange situation in regards to intellectual property, and it is morbidly fascinating to watch this decidedly strange corner of minifigure production and collecting evolve.

    Have any pictures of that Hulkbuster knock-off popped up? I've looked around Flickr and eBay but haven't found anything.

    Do you remember the different brands? Could you do a quick write-up on plastic quality per brand?

    And Hulkbuster hasn't been shown yet, just the silhouette.

    can you show me the link ?

    The link to what? Lots of places sell them (eBay stores, AliExpress) but they all come from China.

  4. Posted

    Diluted drugstore acetone works better than sandpaper and is gentler, just make sure you rinse in soapy water so the reaction ABS/acetone stops once you have it like you want it. my 0.02cents

    Or you can try and get Lego arms to work with it, just use acetone gently on the socket till it's the right size/shape. And it would make the fig 10% official. well maybe 9% :D

    Or bite the bullet like I did because of this conversation and get the official one for 100 and something euros. I BLAME all of you for my wallets pain. (and the fact that plain green torsos are damned impossible to get)

    PS: I'm not responsible if the chinese plastic goes up in flames, gets eaten through or anything. It's probably more reactive than the european variety. IMHO

    The sockets already fit lego arms. :)

    I managed to get my fantastic four shoulders looking almost official, but it took a lot of work, frustration, and patience, so it's almost not worth it.

    You're suggesting softening the plastic with acetone, right?

  6. Posted

    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.

  7. Posted

    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.

  10. Posted

    I knew the X Men set had promising results! The Blackbird (more like the Bluebird) looks great, the minifigs look great. Just the price is atrocious, $50 USD usually means $60 CAD up here :cry_sad:

    You think that's bad? In New Zealand it costs $100 NZD (that's $86 USD and $93 CAD).

  13. Posted

    The newest decool set hit Ebay featuring Black Widow, Blue suit Wolverine, Toyfair Spider-man, Toyfair Phoenix, TDK Joker and Captain America.

    Bought a set for $12, a little more than I would have liked to pay for bootlegs but Phoenix is my favorite female marvel character and my nephew has been obsessed with that Joker custom since he saw it. Hope Lego realizes soon that there is a market for these minifigures and maybe does a 16 figure series or works with DC/Marvel to release different characters. I hope something gives soon though because the quality on these is only getting better and eventually some people's collection will consist of more bootlegs than official figures. Customs aren't a bad thing, and that's how I view these. They're just done on a larger scale and I can either pay $40 for a custom minifigure or $2 for one, I'll choose to save $38 every time.

    Could you post some photos of Phoenix and Spidey?

  15. Posted

    Why on earth would LEGO make sets based on The Batman? It's fairly out of date by now, and the target audience (present-day kids) wouldn't understand it. LEGO makes things for recent or classic properties to cash in on the public's interest.

    Not based on The Batman, but inspired by The Batman.

  17. Posted

    I'd have mixed feelings about that. :P Any Mr. Freeze minifigure sporting head printing like the 2006/08 one would be welcome, but I'm not sure how likely that would be mixed with that helmet, considering it'd possibly take inspiration from The Batman.

    I really liked The Batman, so I wouldn't mind that.

    For reference:

    Mr._Freeze_(The_Batman).jpg

  20. Posted

    http://www.figurerea...p?op=4&id=15891

    In case you need some inspiration here is an interesting artist, maybe you two could partner up and cast some of his sculps+ your talents.

    Really nice work on all of those I wonder how many of those characters will we see in actual sets.

    It should be noted that the guy you linked to buys Chinese clone brand Hulks and then sculpts and paints over them. He doesn't do any casting.

  24. Posted

    My Decool Fantastic Four arrived yesterday.

    The plastic quality overall is really good, almost dead on LEGO's. Aside from the pointed shoulders I'm really happy with the torsos, which is all I really bought them for (I use official LEGO arms, heads, and legs). The hair pieces were good too, but next to LEGO's they lack detail and are a tiny bit glossier, and the colour is also a bit off. The inside of the torsos (where the legs fit in) are a bit too tight, which means that the legs bend inwards a few nanometres, but it wouldn't even be noticeable if I wasn't paying really close attention. I would use the Decool hip element, but the round part in between the legs is the wrong shape (it doesn't curve inwards at the top). The figures are still really good overall though, and it's great to have a decal-free FF in my collection.

    If Decool fixed the shoulders on the torso moulds I would buy every minifig they put out (including the upcoming SDCC Amazing Spider-Man and Phoenix.

    LeLe and Sheng Yuang both recently put out some Captain America figures (8 each) too. Those helmet pieces are going to be so useful!

  25. Posted

    Maybe you should create your own or print off decals, bootleg minifigures are usually designs stolen from LEGO or AFOL who create custom decals, bootleggers have an unfair advantage since they don't have to pay Marvel or DC for the licence, they don't have to pay LEGO for copying their sets and designs and they don't have to pay AFOLs who have also put there own hours into there creations to have them stolen. As far as I'm concerned Bootleggers are thieves who illegally make money using other more talented people's ideas.

    How am I supposed to mould a Red Hulk out of ABS plastic? And for less than $2?