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MAB

Eurobricks Archdukes
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Everything posted by MAB

  1. MAB
    I imagine it is a clone / custom part similar to a double clip / double C ring like this... http://www.minifigca...ome.php?cat=410
  2. MAB
    You don't normally get VIP points until the items are dispatched. They have been dreadful at sending out confirmation emails recently too.
  3. MAB
    The fake Deadpool is easy to spot due to the sharp lines one the upper torso / shoulders. But very nice printing job otherwise.
  4. MAB
    RIT dye (buy the powder) works great. Hands don't dye anywhere near as good as torsos, heads and legs. Neither do soft parts (like handcuffs).
  5. MAB

    Fake CMF Series

    MAB replied to JeagerEX's topic in Community

    The feet are obvious, especially on Iron Man. harder to tell on batman due to the colour and facing forwards. Do parents and grandparents get duped? It is plainly obvious that these are not lego when these are bought in shops due to the packaging. I imagine they don't care, they pick them up as it is a cheap toy. Buying minifigures without packaging on ebay is a little murkier, but normally still obvious that they are not genuine lego. But for many people that do not care about the branding, I think it is just that they don't care. Why pay $20 for a set for one wanted minifig, when you can buy the minifig for $2.
  6. MAB
    It's not like lego would use a widely available part in the wrong colour, would they? Plus he should have been wearing gloves in the Mines of Moria ... There goes accuracy!
  7. MAB
    Yes, I did it by phone. It was worth it to get enough hands for my fleshies. BL prices are crazy for hands. Often it is better value to buy a cheap minifig like the Lone Ranger and pull the hands off rather than buy a pair of hands there!
  8. MAB

    Hill Castle

    MAB replied to Uter's topic in LEGO Historic Themes

    Yeah, very 1980s. Although it is not on a hill, it is at the same level as the lake. So maybe Lakeside Castle would be a better name.
  9. MAB
    That has been the way for quite a while now. Licensed sets stopped the company from disappearing completely. Many sets are purchased because of the minifigs, not the bricks. They have stopped selling them direct now, but that was not true last year. Lego were still selling the fleshie hands by themselves (without the torso) through customer services at 6p each in the UK. That is the same price as a cheese slope. I know as I bought 200 of them. The yellow ones were cheaper at 5p each.
  10. MAB
    I'm from the UK, which is in Europe. Have you ever been refused a tourist VISA to the US? Virtually every European country has visa agreements with the US which makes getting one simple. Not being able to get a visa to visit the US is a fairly bad argument to use against exclusive lego minifigs only being available in one place. I do realise that lego is sold around the world. I realise that some things are exclusive to particular regions too. Year of the Snake, exclusive to the Far East. Marina Bay Sands, similar. These are comic book heroes from films, Hollywood characters. They are exclusive to where the studios choose to hold the conventions.
  11. MAB
    I agree with everything apart from the last sentence. He is perfectly entitled for a shot at getting them, the same way as everyone else that gets them has that chance. By attending SDCC. I have yet to see a good reason why anyone is stopped from attending SDCC.
  12. MAB
    Why will you never be able to go to SDCC? What you really mean is that you choose not to spend money on going to SDCC. Lego also do highly prized Inside Tour sets, given only to a handful (~50) people that pay to go on their Inside Tour every year. These are not available elsewhere, only to those on the tour. Would you also have them either stopped or made available to everyone, devaluing the exclusiveness of the set for those that get it by going on the tour?
  13. MAB
    I have a lot of brickwarriors parts, and they are excellent quality. Although mine are all historical, not modern guns. I did once get a badly molded part (badly formed grip on the back of a shield), but they gave me a voucher worth 4x the part value for my next order. Their customer service was very quick to reply too. I also have a lot of brickforge parts, again always been happy with them. Go with who has what you want.
  14. MAB
    I see. I also doubt we will see anything new from LOTR if we don't get any new sets.
  15. MAB
    That is incorrect though. They have had a fairly major worldwide promotion with Shell throughout 2012-13, possibly this year too in some countries. For sets like this and the racers:
  16. MAB
    Glass paint (which I assume is the same as window colors) will work for the trans part. Paint a few thin coats, instead of one thick one. For the pillar, I'd go for a combination of a 1x1 brick, with 1x1 round bricks / cylinders on top. It would also match the door hinge pillar too.
  17. MAB
    Marge is definitely not nude underneath. Lego don't do yellow hips in any minifigures any more for precisely this reason. Same with fleshie hips too.
  18. MAB
    ??? There have already been three LOTR films. And there won't be a fourth, since the story is done.
  19. MAB
    It is only win/win from your point of view. If there was a win for lego by not doing exclusives, then they would stop doing them. The fact that they continue to do exclusives suggests that there is a good reason for them to do them. They don't do it just because they know it angers some collectors.
  20. MAB
    An assembly of minifigs. Works on two levels :-)
  21. MAB
    Yes, and lego have gone past basic level economics in making decisions about these. Letting everyone have everything they want at the price they want it is not always good economics. I don't have a clue of the finances of SDCC, and what lego pays for the stands. But I do know a large number of people attend conventions to get their hands on exclusives like this, sometimes for resale, sometimes for themselves. By offering exclusives lego gets punters in through the doors, that is, ticket sales. No doubt they have an agreement with the convention organisers that if they give away things that gets the punters in, then their advertising / stall rates will be reduced. These sort of figures will be very little value to them in the numbers they are produced, but no doubt give them a large break on advertising costs. I assume the break on advertising costs is more than the costs to produce the figures. They clearly don't want to give every freebie away to every attendee as that would be significantly more expensive, so there has to be a penalty to getting the figure (waiting three hours in line, for example). Having perceived high value freebies also partly justifies the ticket costs of the convention. Should they give up those sort of deals, so that everyone can get the minifigs they feel they should be entitled to in a regular set?
  22. MAB
    It's the striking a balance that is the problem. For you, maybe three years and a different version of the character will work, like for Green Lantern. There will still be people wanting all versions of Green Lantern, and wanting them now. Why should they have to wait, just because they are not willing to spend $500 on a figure? There will then be questions about why is lego holding back on general releases when everyone has already seen the figures? And there will still be exclusives changing hands directly after the conventions for $100s. Scalping by non lego fans will still happen, as well as genuine lego fans selling their minifigs for a profit to recoup some costs of their trip. Knowing something will probably happen in three years won't stop the reselling of exclusives. Plus then there is the problem of continuity of licenses, what if they no longer have the license three years in the future?
  23. MAB
    Greenpeace used their guerilla tactics to take out the UK customer services yesterday. https://secure.greenpeace.org.uk/page/s/phone-lego
  24. MAB
    What would you have them do? Not make any promotional exclusives? Just have minifigs that were going to be released in sets anyway? Think about the consequences of that, as there are also unintended consequences to making everything equitable. Less people at the lego stands, since there is no point queuing up for hours to get something that will come out in a set anyway. For some less reason to even attend a convention. Less online discussion about Lego exclusives. Less point of Lego being at conventions. No fairly unique characters to be produced ever, just ones known to the general public since those are the ones that sell. So virtually every set will be a standard Batman or Spiderman. No Zurr-En-Arrh Batman ever, since most people buying lego for kids won't recognise him. The demise of rarer collectables for those that do want them. How many of those nice 2x4x3 promo bricks that used to be reasonably common at events at LDCs and Legoland do we see these days? Virtually none, except in Germany. People complain about not being able to get to the different Legolands or Lego events to get them, and they get stopped.
  25. MAB
    If it is theft and not just a prank to wind up people on the internet, then it is theft. It is not sanctioned by lego. It is no different to someone breaking into a collector's house and stealing their minifigs, whether they were affordable or not. That is not down to Lego.
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