natelite

i wonder if that bout of cheap UCS DS is actually a clone brand too? i mean, if they can dupe ninjago, they can also dupe lego star wars. the only difference there is instead of just lego, the license owner can also sue them. but if they are in the business of producing copies, and are located in china, i don't think lucas entertainment can actually touch them. there seems to be a lot more downside than upside in moving production to cheaper countries. for czech and mexico factories, we see plenty of smuggled minifigures being sold on ebay. for china factories, we see clones sold. i guess lego has lax control over the production - i mean we don't have this massive issue with the iphone or ipad. i mean there are clones but they are usually so inferior that no buyer would want them. doesn't seem so with the lego sets. perhaps it is just that easy to duplicate a lego piece? despite the need for thousands of molds, it doesn't seem to affect the clonies. either the molds are not that expensive to make as lego said they are or the clonies are using lego's own mold from the factories abroad.

there are quite a few army builders in this series. at least 5 by my count - the alien trooper, knight, marion, robot mech, cyclops. maybe not marion but still plenty of hording will be had with this series. i think the only better series is 7. i'm quite happy with how this has turned out.

how exact is the item fake? i didn't see anything in the description which says it's a copy? edit: i see it now - the last photo of the set. wow, these clone brands can come up with copies quite quickly. i wonder how the plastic compares with the real deal too.

I don't quite like the new galaxy squad mechs. I would have liked a mech with a helmet over a normal minifig head much like the chima figures. The current design is too similar to KREO's. i don't know why TLC would stoop so low as to copy from an inferior competitor. they should be much better than that. in fact, 2 of the new creators 3-in-1 2013 sets are so similar to transformer sets - aka mecha as one of the design and a vehicle as the other other. if they put a mech minifig in that set, it would be even more like the kreo sets.

people who buy them are using them for video reviews - folks like thebrickshow - to make money from selling ads on youtube. for them, being first is very important, hence the premium paid.

Cmf for me too. I don't know if it is the long hair or fleshie skin but something about the LotR elves that I don't like.

^ i guess asking for some lego sets and for promotional trips is going to bankrupt TLC. your comment of sense of entitlement is misleading. i guess TLC is also too entitled to think they can get ideas for free? if you ever study IP, and copyright you would know that some of the cheapest multi-billion ideas were created before the creators figured out how their real net worth. toy story was a prime example used in case studies. pixar signed over the rights to disney when they first created toy story. having some reward is to encourage participation - and in the bigger scheme of things the rewards i proposed is chump change. it's hardly a dent for a theme. yes, there's risk that the theme wouldn't sell but that risk (molds, production cost, etc) runs in the millions, which compared to the participation prizes is like comparing an elephant to an ant. maybe in your world everyone is too entitled and should be working for next to free since the same labors can be had in china for peanuts. we're living like kings here earning more than their minimum wage of not $15/hr but $15/day. shame on us! what? you don't think that little timmy can turn a screwdriver or pack a box as well as you? if he's not asking for anything other than the pleasure of working then why should you? what ever is the world coming to... bunch of entitled snobs... working for free and still asking for second servings of soup!

exactly right. should be more than just a pat on the back. for what it's worth (hiring a theme designer and conceptual artists, etc) i think giving free lego sets for a year + free trip to billund + tour around the facility + trips to expos to participate in product promotion would very much pay for it. plus it's like a free staff for a year and you have hundreds of thousands participants competing for it. it's a no brainer. they are signing on a waiver form anyway - so that means the property belongs to TLC. if a theme sells well, you get multi-year sales for the half the annual cost of keeping an employee. how's that for cost-benefit?

If I win, what's in it for me? do i get a profit share like in cuusoo? do i get hired to come up with themes? doesn't seem fair to solicit for ideas and getting nothing in return.

I agree. It would be a great directional move for TLC to incorporate aliens and humans in a faction too. Instead of saying aliens = evil, humans = good, they should instead focus on traits. so an evil human will have a sinister/evil look - smug looking and evil grin. kinda like the robbers from the city/police sets. same with aliens. it's a great lesson for kids - that gloating is evil, that wicked is evil, etc. instead of being classed as evil by race. to teach kids about remorse, perhaps the evil faction would have double sided heads where the other side is a crying face - like the one of the jester from the castle theme. it's quite a strong message that preach about doing good - being evil will end in disappointment and heartache. and the good guys' heads can have determined looks and happy looks. it will teach about bperseverence - if you struggle hard enough you will eventually win. good triumphs over evil!

at that small size it is always hard to apply camo. you can always swap out tan parts for dark tan or brown parts. as for the front - it's the best application of existing bricks unless you ask for new molds. it will leave room for the next iteration - tumbler 3.0. but overall, i agree that while the size is perfect for city sets, it's too small for the regular kid friendly size. the first version is obviously too big. it needs to be slightly smaller than the first but bigger than current - like the agents vehicle sizes. those would be perfect for kids. i think the cuusoo project tumbler is about the right size for kids.

I wonder why TLC doesn't make a Cinderella castle in system or friends format. It should sell like hotcakes.

the official tumbler is around this size. if you count the studs, it's actually 8 studs by 8 studs. it's kinda blocker than your linked version but that's because the official version needs to be stable enough for little kids to play with. your linked version will crumble under light play. many steps involved illegal building methods too. i for one, actually like the official mini tumbler. it's just right to fit in a regular town set. it's about as wide as a bus, and that's about the right scale anyway. the bat is also cool except for the blue highlights. that can easily be moc'ed into all black. the size is also just right.

Well, seeing as mr timms have posted the pics, I won't need to. The side profile pic looks okay. The front though looks like he's got a fat head. The front plate looks too big and the fact that the helmet sits higher up (above the brow) than normal helmet just give the sense that the minifig has a swollen head. I prefer the slicker look of the marine helmet. It's not because of the color either. You can try a black ADU helmet and it's still the same result. Looks top heavy...in a bad way.

can you share what you like about it? i agree that the artist rendering looks awesome. the actual product, not so much. with a body armor, you can shift the perception somewhat but without is just horrible. i think it looks too big for halo, while the space marine is more halo-like, and more starship trooper-like. i think i'll take some photos tonight and show you what i mean.

the ADU helmet looks weird on any head. i think it was initially designed to sit lower but due to some engineering mishap, it sits higher up on the head. as a result, it looks like the minifig has a swollen head. put it on any head and compare, and you will see what i mean. even the classic biker helmet looks better than the ADU helmet. the round inset inside the helmet needs to be filed down in order for the helmet to sit flush on any head. the same is also true with the atlantis armor or new space suit. it sits too high up but thankfully the space suit looks less ridiculous because of the golden visor, which hides the flaw pretty well since it's not transparent/translucent. i'd be curious to see if the new mr freeze is affected by the silliness of that armor piece. i like the space marine helmet a lot more but it's main flaw is that it is missing a visor. give it a visor and it will be the best helmet out there.

i don't mind colorful troopers, just as long as they come in various shades of darker hues. i would like them to be the updated versions of the classic spacemen. so i'm talking about colors like dark blue, dark red, dark yellow/tan, black, white. i also like updated versions since classic space didn't have green, so a dark green spaceman would be great! so would dark purple and dark pink (a space lady of course).

i'm fine with exclusives. there's nothing stopping you from bidding or not bidding anyway. btw, it's easy to corner the market because of the limited production runs, but then again the "scalper" or dealer is still taking a lot of risk. imagine if he overpaid and the demand from AFOLs is not really as strong as he predicted, then the price will come down. he will lose money for every one he overbought. it's a huge risk. so, yes, if he has unlimited money, he can buy all 1000 units, but then what? he won't be able to make anything out of them if there are no actual buyers at his price point. i think exclusive sets and figures are just another part of the lego market and i think TLC should develop them. you can't call them legitimate or illegitimate. lego by nature is a very expensive toy. by your logic, if it's above a certain price point then it becomes illegitimate? why? i would like a 14k gold c-3po too, and so would anyone else. why doesn't TLC make more of them? it's just not fair, right? it's simple, the desirability of a set is proportional to the price. the higher the price (or presumed value), the higher the desirability. imagine if UCS DS can be bought retail for $1.99, do you think anyone would bother buying these or any other sets? everywhere you go, lego pieces would litter the street. got a crushed minifig? no prob...just dump it and buy another UCS DS. i'm sure you'll be having the opposite conversation - of how TLC is screwing legitimate collector because the sets are too cheap, and non lego fans buy these to throw away... and legitimate lego fans are angry their precious toy is no longer sacred. after watching shows like toy hunter and collection intervention, i now have a much better understanding and appreciation of exclusive items. if you love lego and you want your collection to appreciate in value in the future, then buy exclusive items. if not, then just treat your lego sets as playthings where once worned out, you throw away. there's nothing stopping you from how you want to enjoy them. just because the green lantern is too expensive for you to play and discard, doesn't mean it should be that way for other lego fans who want to keep and collect. you enjoy them how you want to enjoy them and i get to enjoy them how i like to enjoy them.

nice sleuthing. so i guess this is resellers buying from resellers. makes me feel a little better that there's no duplication happening. overall, i guess the big winner is ebay and paypal. feeding off of these resellers. it's like a ponzi scheme aka musical chair: the last one caught without a seat loses. i guess for such limited editions, it's quite easy to corner the market. just keep buying at your target floor price and relist at the higher price and eventually you have a full monopoly on the item. people will need to buy from you in order to get any. nice!

darn it. that kills it for me. no galaxy patrol armor means no buy. i freaking hate the adu/space villain helmet.

i think meccano/erector has gears of wars. it's based on a video game but i think it's close enough.

yup, we asked for thundercats and we got chima instead.

we're not talking 20, we're talking 200+ per figure. even if you pay each attendant $20 for a figure, you're talking about $4000 of seed money. probably more.

i would buy your argument if there were other variants of CC items for sale, like action figures, posters, etc. Afterall, no one camps at the lego booth 24/7. But it's only lego. Another suspicious trait is that the multiple minifigures were the same. e.g. someone selling just phoenix and venom or just shazam and bizarro. what are the odds of that? perhaps they gotten hold of a box of shipment? a box usually contains 50. there's also one guy who kept selling the 4 figures. at first i thought perhaps his friends were helping him bid up the items but it wasn't the case. his feedback actually indicated actual sales. I don't see how he could have gotten that many complete sets. It's like he has an army of 100s of participants.

the last NYCC superman was supposedly sold for north of $350. i said supposedly because who knows the bidder might be a pal of the seller. and you can't get market price since there are only 200 ever made. a new superman from the lex luthor set is only $5-6, not $10. you're looking at more than 58x mark up for just the display card. i would assume if AFA certified would be $500 if not more, making it 100x marked up over regular set figure. the only thing unique about it is the printing. lego pieces can be easily obtained otherwise. with flat-bed printing possible now with a $18k machine and we've seen lots of customizers printing their own, it's not hard to postulate that a few unscrupulous individuals can easily print their own copy of the figures. display card printing is nothing new and can be done easily 5-10yrs ago. so why not now? i don't mind limited editions minifigures but i don't think they should make it easy to duplicate. i seriously think TLC should have control numbers or authentication seals for limited editions. much like the 1st series UCS MF.