Brickadier General

When I close my eyes I see this. lol I really don't think so. The original Bestlock had parts that were proportionally different to Lego bricks. The minifigs were also totally different from Lego's. I know now that Bestlock merged with Cobi and the figs look similar to Lego but they are flesh toned and the box art on their military sets do not look like these. Plus, the dude is located in China, which is a red flag. Yes I've heard of Oxford, and you are very lucky. I've tried to figure out where to get them but with no success. I bought what I thought was an Oxford tank off of e-bay, but it turned out to be a counterfeit (yes of a clone brand) by a company called "Sluban." And I have heard about the high quality too. But the counterfeit...oh my. One of the axels broke off so easily. And I would love to write something about Oxford, but I don't own any myself. I remember seeing a section in BrickJournal called "Not quite Lego." I think you should send an e-mail to Joe Meno about it and try writing an article yourself. I think it would be a nice read for AFOLs. Talk about Oxford and what kind of things they have to offer and how they compare with Lego...Basically like what you posted with a little more to flesh it out. I can't believe I didn't notice that. I asked the seller what company made this set, and he didn't respond. I guess I know why now. lol Lego does have factories in China now, right? The answer to all these questions...the rules of logical thinking need not apply for counterfeiters. I bought this Enlighten set, and it says it's a "bullet train" on the box. Now I'm no expert on trains, but a bullet train that ain't. It's red, so I'm guessing...probably blood. lol Again, logical thinking doesn't apply to counterfeiters.

Thanks a lot Kanal-K1, I just pooped my pants. But it's all good because I got to see the new Green Grocer set. Seriously though, this looks fantastic. I see sand green bricks, a stroller, and it's also good to see they are now adding details on the back. I think I see a "metal" staircase on the back.

This is Stubby, my politically incorrect sigfig.

I sent Joe Meno a rough draft of my article about 3 weeks ago but haven't heard from him yet. I guess he's pretty bogged down. And I do agree with you to a point. They are not much of a threat to Lego, at least in the Western world. But I can see them as a threat to Lego sales in Asia. In China, counterfeit sets are far cheaper alternatives to Lego. Telepathy. :-P

So I was looking around on e-bay and came across this auction. Here's a pic for the lazies: Now, you might look at this and think it doesn't count as a counterfeit because it is a military theme that Lego never did. However, I look at anything that copies any Lego piece, other than more basic blocks, as a counterfeiter. The minifig design here is an obvious rip-off which is nothing new. But look at the vehicle...the mudguards, the modified plate w/ bar on the open door, and the 6 wide "hood piece" on the roof. Now those are very recent parts. So how'd they get their hands on the molds so soon? This looks like it might be enlighten, but I'm not all that sure. I think I'll buy one to satisfy my curiosity. I have been writing an article on counterfeit Lego anyway.

It's a good prototype, but if I were you I think I would use a combination of 1x3 bricks and round 1x1 bricks. I think that would make it a little more structurally sound. Cale Leiphart did that with his water tower, and it works pretty good. Only problem would be getting that 4 wide wind on there. Lego did make 3 wide windows though, so those could always be used. Anyway, good luck with this project.

Doesn't bother me if it sells or not. If they only go for $50 then it just isn't worth it for me to worry about. And I know people go to e-bay to look for stuff cheap, but not always. I remember seeing a listing with 3 U.F.O. figs go for over $30. They definitely overpaid by a lot. I'm keeping a reserve simply because I don't want to get disappointed as I have in the past. If the bidding only gets to $35 it won't bother me, because then I'll at least have the assurance that I still have my minifigs. I was going to sell most of my castle minifigs, and they seem to do better, but nostalgia got in the way and I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I have the English version, and it really is a nice book. It's called "The Ultimate Lego Book" here. It would definitely be cheaper to buy the English one. Edit: Looks like Paradosis beat me to the punch by one minute. :-D

I generally go by type and separate everything in ziplock bags. It's the most effective way for me.

It looks great in that color scheme, and your modifications look good. And the cars look good proportionally with the engine.

I just edited my first post, where you will find the new review. I hope you like it.

There are honest people on e-bay who will tell you right off in the auction, as they should, that they separated the minifigs from the set. But of course, there are always going to be shady people pulling this kind of stuff. When you got it, was the box indeed truly sealed? Did anything look amiss? The bag thing sounds kind of suspicious. There is an incentive to take the figures out of Star Wars sets, as they sell for ridiculous amounts on e-bay, sometimes for more collectively than in the sets they came in (like the battle packs). Check the other guys listed and previous auctions, as there might be a possibility he listed the figs. Either that, or he could be hoarding them. Before leaving bad feedback, contact him and confront him about it. If he dances around the subject and sounds fraudulent, leave bad feedback. I would file a claims dispute if you can't get replacement figs for the set through Lego.com.

Welcome to the community. I see you used to live in PA. I live in Central PA, near Hershey. And you're never too old for Lego.

OK, so there may be some hope that these do exist. Capcom's Secret File Flyers If you look down at some of the responses, there's one that stands out: I've never heard of block block before and can't find anything on them, mainly just enlighten. It's very intriguing. So who's up for a trip to Hong Kong? edit: Just did a little more research...Block Block is also the name of a Capcom puzzle game. So who should we think is right? Real or just a promotional advertising mock-up for Strider?

I would say that, in general, the quality of sets, especially town/city, has increased dramatically in the past five years alone. In that respect, change has been a very good thing. Listening to AFOLs moreso than before is also a plus. The Hobby Train and Modular Town sets are perfect examples of the good that can come out of this partnership. And I look forward to seeing what the Power Functions train sets will look like, especially since Lego is consulting AFOLs. And I also think that to some degree, the licensing has also been a good thing. Star Wars in particular was a smart move. Many people wanted to recreate Star Wars vehicles before the line came out, and several built their own MOCs. When the sets debuted it was like a dream come true for them. For me though, I like the Super Hero deals. I loved Batman as a kid, and it's great to see him in minifig form.

Well, I just google searched "capcom lego" to see what I could find on this, and I hate to say it but this doesn't seem to be a real set. The picture was done, rather, for promotional purposes. Here's what I found:

Even though someone else mentioned this, I definitely recognized the character in the foreground as Strider Hiryu from the Capcom game, Strider. He was also playable in the fighting game, Marvel vs. Capcom. It definitely is reminiscent of the counterfeit company Enlighten, but it looks different. Unless they are copies of clone brands, the hair pieces look original. If this Capcom tie-in is legit, this set is intriguing. Where did you find this, Hinckley? I want one too!! Because if there is a Capcom tie-in there, it could mean that they have Mega-man and Street Fighter.

Why, I remember back in the day when all we had was good old Soul Calibur and none of these new fangled characters from other franchises. lol Seriously though, it is kind of cool that they do that but they are kind of out of place, and I don't think that the series needs them to sell games. Even Soul Calibur 1 for the Dreamcast still looks and plays fantastic today, and it didn't have any. I also kind of find it annoying that in Super Smash brothers they throw in a couple characters from other franchises like Sonic. Personally, I think if they're going to do that then they should at least make a Nintendo vs. Sega fighting game with an equal number of characters from each franchise. I think it would do really well sales-wise, not to mention that it would be symbolic of the old 90s console battle between Nintendo and Sega.

It's very nice and has a lot of good detail inside. Just one question though...what exactly is that "canopy" piece you used for the roof of your car. I really like it and might consider getting some.

The ban is stupid. Rules in a school over use of them is not stupid. However, to say that every piece used belongs to everyone is stupid. I also noticed in the video how they spliced footage of an AFOL train event with the footage. "Children built buildings like these." No, not exactly. If they're going to use that kind of footage, then they need to at least specify where it came from.

oops, I always thought anything before the Star Wars line could be considered classic space now that they're pretty old. I don't know if I'd get that much either. I guess I'll just have to wait a few days and make adjustments if I need to.

So I finally listed my minifigs on e-bay. There are 104 in total. You can see them here. Although the bidding is starting at $20 I do have a reserve price set at $115. I know that the low price is to stimulate bidding, but due to some very disappointing experiences in the past (where I sold some things for considerably less than their actual value) I've decided to go ahead with a reserve. If you check out the link, you can see all the details on the figs. I tried to be as thorough as possible.

Switching from 9V electric trains to battery powered trains. 9V may have been expensive, but electric trains are generally not very cheap. And even then, Lego train sets were still cheaper than Lionel train sets. And batteries are a great inconvenience. Also, I think destroying the molds for monorail track was not a good idea, especially when they were only used in 3 sets. I think it still would've had more potential.

Yeah, especially Star Wars ones. If you can buy a huge lot on e-bay for around $100-200, sometimes you get lucky and get a lot of Star Wars figs. They've often helped me make much of my money back. Before the new set with Darth Maul, I was able to get $25 for the original Darth Maul figure. 8-