agoodfella77

Well, lo and behold: http://www.bricksandbloks.com/lego-rocket-raccoon-minifigure-polybag-5002145-revealed/ If I were an optimist, I would say that TLG is responding to their customers about the SDCC exclusives. Either way, thank you!

Way awesome. Great job!! May I ask where the chest piece is from for Tony's Hulkbuster?

Shoot me a PM.

Definitely not cheap. But it's one of my favorite figs to be honest...

Does anyone have a link of the LELE Hulkbusters online any where? Can't seem to find it on Ali Express or eBay? Thanks in advance.

Welcome aboard digger! Been a huge fan of your vids! Thanks, I added you on flickr! Thanks man, I love my brick-build HBs as well, they were def. fun to build.

Love to see more pics of the Captain America HB. Do you have a flickr account? Can you post more pics? So shoot me a PM with links? Thanks and great stuff!

It's: A) Ironic B) Hypocritical C) Ignorant D) All of the above

Woah! Those are awesome! Where did you get the parts for that Captain America mech / Hulkbuster??

Thanks guys! I do actually build with the real things on occasion ;)

Decool Hulkbuster

These are all very fair points. Having said that, the SDCC exclusives haven't really had that much publicity (at least I haven't been really aware of it until more recently -- by that I mean the last few years). At the same time, I think with this increased awareness there has also been an increase in the criticism of this distribution system -- which is a byproduct / unintended consequence of this exclusive system. In other words, whereas these giveaways were nice little bonuses / swag for convention go-ers they were items that didn't get that much publicity or coverage. A few things have changed over the last few years, namely: 1) Coverage of SDCC (in general) has gotten much broader and much deeper 2) There are a number of reasons for this -- but in a nutshell, we are living through a kind of geek "golden age" if you will -- popquiz, what are the Top 3 grossing films this year? MARVEL's Guardians of the Galaxy, MARVEL's Captain America Winter Soldier, LEGO Movie. All three films / franchises will have very visible / strong presence at SDCC. Even no. 4 Hasbro's Transformers, No. 5 -- Disney's Malificent, No. 6 -- MARVEL's X-Men Days of Future Past and No. 8 MARVEL's Amazing Spider-Man round up 7 out of the top 10 grossing films this year. The Super Heroes genre is experiencing a kind of renaissance that a Super Hero fan like me can only dream of... 3) Why is this relevant? Because Hollywood success sits at the very apex of media / entertainment news. This is simple fact. And as topics ranging from Super Heroes to the LEGO movie dominate these headlines, SDCC coverage will naturally bask in this limelight / halo effect. 4) Finally, LEGOs participation in SDCC has also increased over the last few years. Add all of this up? And even your casual LEGO fan who probably had never heard of SDCC probably knows about it now. We will reach a point where the LEGO Group will begin to weight the benefits of this system vs. the cons. A lot of people make the argument that "noone has ever cared before, so why are you bringing this subject up now?" -- well, I would argue that not a lot of people cared simply because not a lot of people knew... They know now.

That's really interesting about the Yellow torsos. Can you post a pic comparing the TLG Wolvie vs. the Bozhi Wolvie?

This is a very reasonable solution that I have also endorsed.

Got a picture of the next wave?

The Punisher wave.

Hey Rob, thanks again for your help man. That Hulkbuster looks awesome def. going to be getting that. Also, fingers crossed they put out an SDCC variant of Rocket -- if they put out the regular version, then there is a very good chance the SDCC is coming. The new Decool wave is very solid btw guys -- def. worth getting.

Ha! Agreed! Thanks for posting these reviews. Those SWAT figs look interesting. Looks like the LELE fig quality is improving...

p_o_s_t_y, I respect everything that you wrote and appreciate the dialogue we have on flickr and hope we can continue to do so -- in particular, I do agree with you that it's 100% wrong when a design that one person makes is used without permission by another party (especially for commercial interests). If you follow my photostream, you will also note that I am exceptionally wary / respectful of giving credit whenever I make my own MOCs if there was some kind of collaboration / idea, etc. from someone / something I saw on flickr (you may recall when I made my "MOC Young Magneto" from a post you made, the first thing that came to mind was that I had to not only make sure that I gave proper credit, but that I led with that as the reason for my MOC). I am a big believer of this (but those are things in my control), which leads me to the following points: Having said all of that, however, on balance, I tend to agree with Brickmamba as it pertains to bootlegs. For the following reasons: 1) AFAIK, LEGO is the only officially licensed manufacturer to produce building block minifigures of MARVEL (and DC) characters (other kinds of figures such as mini-mates, mega blok notwithstanding). 2) In other words, every other LEGO-like "costumizer" out there is (again, AFAIK) officially "unsanctioned" or not paying royalties. 3) As a consumer and fan of both LEGO and MARVEL, that's not really my fight (i.e. the royalty issue). I am purchasing products that help me to expand and complete my collection -- so from my perspective the more makers, the merrier. It gives the consumer more choice and it broadens awareness which in turn creates more potential demand. 4) In other words, my hard earned consumer dollar doesn't discriminate that way -- I am an avid fan / buyer of very high end / high price point customizers (e.g. Christo and chrome figs by minifigures.pl) to mid-price point customizers to the low-price point Chinese makers (not to mention that I spend a considerable amount of money on TLG products as well) -- basically, I am equal opportunity buyer. 5) As Brickmamba mentioned, if all the Chinese makers did was produce 100% knock-offs of both TLG products and other customizer products -- yes, I would have an issue with it 6) My first Decool purchase was a figure that neither customizers or TLG produced, namely Odin. They've gone on to produce other stuff as mentioned, Big Fig Thing, Grey and Red Hulks, Future Foundation figs, etc. 7) They also produce figs such as the SDCC exclusives (I have started topics on this separately, but don't want to sidetrack) which command exorbitant prices on the secondary market (hundreds, up to thousands). 8) It's a simple matter of supply / demand -- it was only a matter of time until someone came in with a reasonably priced figure to meet this incredibly high demand (e.g. SDCC knock-offs) 9) I'm not really sure I buy the theory that the Chinese makers are endangering the high end / pad printed customizers. These are very different target markets (although I am probably in the minority in that I buy extensively on both ends). In other words, there will always be a market for discriminating buyers of extremely high end pad printed minifigures. And to this same point, just because the Chinese makers exists does not in any way -- not even a single iota -- impact my plan and desire to purchase LEGO products. I will always be the first in line for the TLG MARVEL figs. 10) In sum, I don't have a problem with the Chinese makers in that they serve several important functions in the market today, namely, producing products that are in very high demand (SDCCs), original figs (Big Figs, future foundation, etc and, yes, the price point is extremely attractive. Yes, I think it's wrong when they steal designs -- there is no real argument about that. These figs are what they are -- cheaper versions of the real thing -- but the quality is improving with each iteration. The latest Future Foundation figs I must say are really nice and the Thing big fig / Red / Grey Hulks are awesome additions to my collection and sit proudly on my display cases next to my Christos and LEGO group figs.

Yeah, I'm really happy for this. Also the Red Skull comes with a black officer's cap -- something the the official version did not. Does anyone have a link for the Decool Hulkbuster?

Yes!

Anyone from Hong Kong on these boards? I'm actually scheduled to be going there soon and was wondering what the best place would be to browse / pick up some Decool / SY / LELE sets? Feel free to PM as well. Many thanks in advance!

Has anyone seen the actual picture of the figs? There are some interesting tidbits from the pictures on the boxes if the figs match them: 1) Red Skull -- I hope it comes with the Black Cap as pictured 2) Taskmaster -- I hope his Shield has that T logo on it

This is a great point. The Spider-Man SDCC fig is a perfect example of this. IMO it's the nicest printed Super Hero figure TLG has put out to date. Meanwhile the normal Spider-Man fig has no leg printing and we are now into our 8th set / release with the same Spider-Man figure.

Thanks CopMike, I look forward to engaging with all in a respectful manner going forward (and hope I can expect the same in return).