Tyberious Funk

I have quite a few Enlighten sets, and generally the build quality is very good. Reportedly, their pirate stuff is a bit lower standard (particularly the clutch power of some of the bricks). But at 9 euro, it's pretty hard to complain.

What's the quality of their figures like? Judging by the pictures, the plastic seems pretty decent, but the quality of the prints maybe a bit weak.

Anyone seen these from Dargo: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Dargo-867-Star-Wars-Minifigure-The-Force-Awakens-Kylo-Ren-BB-8-8pcs-lot-Building-Block/1357357_32535420305.html The first wave from The Force Awakens? Hopefully SY or Decool can come up with something soon.

I've noted this previously in this thread with Decool figures. I accidentally broke my Winter Solider figure trying to force a standard lego hand into his arm socket :( Could it be that Dargo are using the same molds?

What's the general consensus on the quality of the Dargo stuff? I've generally avoiding even looking at their figures... but there are a couple that really interest me, like Doctor Fate, Black Adam, Killer Croc, the Red Hood, the Atom, Kick megablocks... maybe a few others. I'm mostly a DC guy, so wave after wave of Iron Man variations don't really do much for me!

These are awesome. Are they Hulk/Thing bigfigs with some kind of sculpting material added on?

Is it my imagination, or do the base plates say "Wang World" ???

I've posted this in a previous thread, but I'll repeat it here... Lego in Australia is expensive, and often difficult to find (unless your interest is limited to mostly mainstream stuff). And to compound the issue, a lot of online retailers will actively geoblock Australians from purchasing Lego, so that's not an avenue for us. Even when it's possible to buy Lego online, the cost of shipping typically outweighs the potential cost savings. And the whole issue is compounded even further when the Aussie dollar isn't doing so well (like now). Dedicated AFOL are always keeping track of local retailers to keep an eye on products in stock, and taking note of any sales. So there are two issues for me. Firstly, I have plenty of other expensive hobbies, so I'm not inclined to blow a lot of cash on Lego (no matter how much I might appreciate some of the sets). And secondly, I just don't have the time to be a dedicated bargain hunter like some of my fellow Australians. So I typically limit myself to the smaller, cheaper sets (say, sub $20). The beauty of the bootleg stuff is that I can buy sets of minifigs (which I love) at a cost that is typically less than A$2 per figure, delivered. And the only "bargain hunting" I have to do, is a quick search on AliExpress. The "purest" in me doesn't like bootleg stuff. But the "realist" side of me sees the practical benefits. And I've started to replace a few dodgy parts from some of my bootlegs, with some genuine lego parts. So the line between bootleg and lego is getting blurry.

Looks like Digger has got a lot of work on his hands in the next couple of weeks.

Has anyone seen anything about the new Tribes and Castles line from SY? Some shots were posted earlier in the thread, that looked like they came from some kind of toy fair. They looked like complete, ready-to-sell products -- not just concepts. But I haven't come across anything on Ali Express. One of the problems with buying stuff from AE, is that it comes without the box or catalogue. I don't care about the box... but if SY have a new catalogue, I'd love to see it.

If Decool has stopped producing super hero figures, that's sad. But as long as they are still in business, and still producing products, there's a chance they'll go back to super heroes at some point. From what I understand, a lot of these Chinese manufacturers get a "Cease and Desist" order due to potential copyright issues... and they basically lay low for a while, hope that any legal issues disappear and then go back into production a few months later (sometimes under a new brand name).

Just a quick question / statement on the relative "compatibility" of some of these bootlegs... The black hand on my Decool Winter Soldier was a bit loose, so I decided to replace it. I grabbed a spare black hand I had lying around... pretty sure it's one of the numerous spares that SY send. I tried shoving it in the arm socket, and it caused the arm to split down the mould join. Mental note... Decool arms and SY hands are definitely not compatible. Anyone have any other warnings?

I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for them. You want to buy a set because you think it might be worth a little more money in the future... fine, that's your choice. But people that are basically hoarding sets as speculative investments -- IMHO, they are damaging the hobby. If bootleggers are cutting into their margins, then good.

It's disappointing for sure. But at least there are plenty of vendors on AliExpress... and I can't see them disappearing anytime soon. I imagine the eBay vendors have stopped selling because there have been complaints filled. They usually lay low for a little while, and then start selling again.

Hmm... judging by the listing here; http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Ausini-Pirate-Series-Pirate-Ship-No-N27405-Building-Blocks-Sets-132pcs-Educational-DIY-Self-locking-Bricks/1560883784.html Looks like the dragons come from Ausini.

I guess it's a matter of perspective. Three dragons are priced at $15 including delivery. That's $5 per dragon. IIRC, the cheapest dragon you can get on Bricklink is around $8-$10, excluding delivery costs. If you already have a couple of sets that include a dragon, paying for another one... I guess it might be a bit pricey. But personally, I have nothing... so I'm more than happy to fork over a few bucks. I'll probably end up giving one of them to my nephew who loves dinosaurs -- might be a good way to get him interested in Lego AND fantasy.

Given this is a super hero thread, I'm not sure if this is of interest to anyone. But someone is making Lego dragons; http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-Shipping-Dragon-DIY-enlighten-block-bricks-Compatible-With-Other-Assembles-Particles/223715_2045473067.html The ad says they are "enlighten" brand, but I doubt it, since Enlighten don't have anything on their website that matches. I haven't found anyone else selling them, other than that particularly AliExpress store.

Given that most AliExpress vendors offer free shipping, why would you try and bundle your order together? It won't save you anything. I've been deliberately buying from different vendors in order to get the best price, and to check out which ones have the best delivery times.

Meh, I wrote a grant big rant about the legality and morality of bootlegs, but ended up deleting it. At the end of the day it's irrelevant. I like 'em. And as long as they continue to be cheap, reasonable quality and fill a niche that official Lego products don't... I'm going to continue to buy them.

Looks like a RIBBA frame from Ikea.

I have the two Lele waves of LotR/Hobbit figures, and the quality on them is really bad. I wish I'd bought the minifig sets that came with a collection of Eagles/Wargs, so I could check out their quality. But c'est la vie. I'm not ordering anymore Lele stuff unit I hear reviews that say they've improved. SY stuff, on the other hand, has usually been top notch. So I'm all over this new LotR set. Ok, so 2 of the figures are horses... at $9 for 8 figures, that's only $1.15 each. Ignoring the horses for a moment, $9 for 6 figures is still only $1.50 per figure. I figure (no pun intended) that if SY make good sales out of this wave, they'll be inclined to make more waves and I can get my hands on a cheap Theoden, Ringwraith, Mouth of Sauron, etc

Ordered my set from AliExpress for $8.80 (including shipping) Stuff from AliExpress has typically taken around 4 weeks, so I guess I'll see something by mid-November. It feels like forever, but living in Australia, you get used to waiting for stuff to arrive from overseas. Makes me think I should load up on a few more purchases, so I have some stuff that will arrive just before Christmas :)

IMHO, the print quality on all of the figures is very good. The main "issue" I have, is that it seems like they print the torso and hips/legs together. The advantage is that the pattern on the torso joins neatly with the pattern on the legs. But on one of my figures, Pantheon (the Centurion-looking guy), there is a slightly rough ridge on the bottom of the torso where the the join has been painted over and then the legs and torso separated. It's very, very minor though. Also, because the print pattern "blends" between torso and legs, you can't really mix and match some of the figures parts. eg, Zed (the guy that looks a bit like Shredder), has an armour pattern that crosses from his torso to his legs. If you swap his legs, his armour looks a little bit incomplete. Overall, these are very minor criticisms though. It's a really high quality set. I really love the fact that Decool made something completely different to Lego (even if they are ripping off someone else's IP), and also the fact that they've created some unique parts. I'd really love to see them do some more "original" stuff. Can the arms and legs of the Mr Fantastic figure be swapped with regular lego figures? I'm not a major fan of the Fantastic Four. But the parts alone in this set are pretty cool. Mr Fantastic's longer arms and legs would make him useful for creating custom figures.

Don't know if this is of interest to readers of this thread, since they aren't "super heroes" per se, but last night my pack of League of Legends minifigures arrived; http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Decool201-heros-Legends-League-Tryndamere-Garen-Pantheon-figures-LOL-block-toys-Dota-game-building-blocks-Compatible/2040941957.html I don't play League of Legends, but I bought the figs because they looked interesting and I like fantasy-style figures. Typical Decool quality... slightly below Sheng Yuan, but still very good. A couple of the figures are a bit dull... Katarina is probably only interesting for her pink hair, while XinZhao has a nice torso print but not much else. But some of the others are really cool... Garen's armor and sword are (to the best of my knowledge) completely unique to Decool. Likewise the helmets on Tryndamere and Zed. Definitely worth 8 bucks.

Some of those new SY sets look cool. I have two Lele waves of LotR/Hobbit figures, and they are pretty rubbish. So I'll be buying SY251 in a heartbeat. Some of the sets look pretty cool too. I know SY make pretty good minifigures, but what about the quality of their sets? Are they worth buying?