Robianco

First and third are also knock offs... All DeCool figures... The next batch has 2 Comic Con figures and a clone of the Christo Joker... I've bought loads of customs over the years... spent a fortune with Christo during that time. The more good pad printing comes through on the customs over digital printing then hopefully the costs per figure will come down. Unfortunately it seems to be going up.

I'm torn now... with the discount the Death Star is £15 less than the Sandcrawler. I'll be popping to the Lego store in a couple of hours so I'll let my head make the decision then. All my points will be saved for the Summer wave. At least I can get one of the larger items with them.

I own quite a lot of these. I'll always say that the clones will not replace my original Lego figures but I pick them up for those figures that aren't available officially. Considering DeCool are now cloning Christo minifigures making them available for around £2 each rather than £30 I'm happy to pick them up. My Red Hulk Bigfig and Fantastic Four arrived this morning. I really can't argue with the quality and the printing. Some of the face designs aren't great but I normally replace those with proper Lego heads.

I actually bought a Halo set as it was reduced to £1 just to see what it was like and I have to say the quality of the plastic and moulding was pretty poor. Whether things have improved in the last year or so I'm not sure but if that was anything to go by then I wasn't impressed. People have complained about Chinese Lego items quite a lot yet the fake Lego custom figures I've received were all of better moulding and plastic quality than the Halo set I bought. A young relative of mine visited from Canada last year and bought a Kreo set... some of the actual brick and build wasn't too bad although I think the mini figures are way behind Lego standards. Lego's design rules are what set it apart from their competitors. Minifigures are basically perfect for their use... Incredibly well designed to integrate with the brick world around them and their accessories. As competitors can't copy the minifigure their attempts to create their own variation are what let them down. I also don't like the over detailed moulding of the Halo / COD range. That's just a personal preference. I'm not a hater or a purist Lego guy so I'd be happy to acknowledge well made toys when I saw them... I just don't feel what I've seen warrants it.

Just a quick note for those hoping that the mid May VIP exclusive was a 66 Batmobile it seems it isn't. After speaking to a Lego staff member yesterday they seemed to think it was the Carousel that was coming out. Ecto-1 is later in the summer.

The designs of the figures is the most important thing... and these look great. So many things can let a design down and these look like they've been carefully put together to make them look as close to official figs as possible. Then comes the printing. I still think pad printing is the best way to go to get things looking perfect. But it costs. I've priced up getting things printed in the past for myself and that was bad enough working on one side of a torso and a head print. For anything that has arm, leg, face and torso prints over multiple colours then they're going to be expensive to produce... factor in the blanks of the actual Lego figure and it's easy for a price to rise and rise. Machine printed figures can be done in very small numbers keeping them cost effective but they'll feel and look different from your Lego figures. That's why Christo figures are so sought after. His designs are good but it's the printing that makes all the difference. $35-$40 can be the end price of a Christo figure... not always though. They may seem expensive... especially when compared with some other sellers who print digitally but I'd pay extra for good pad printing. It just limits the amount of figures you can buy. The current Chinese fake figures are going to test a lot of customisers. They're now cloning Christo's figures. What used to cost $30 can now cost $3. You may run a slight gauntlet on the printing being bang on but it's worth the risk. This has happened with Iron Man and other Super Hero customs, Comic Con exclusives and genuine Lego figures. They're now creating bigfigs that TLG hasn't even done. You can but a set of Fantastic Four for $15. That's less than a single figure of the exact same design from a customiser who has printed digitally. That's where China's mass production and cheap manufacturing comes into play. I think the key to finding success in customs now is getting the figures absolutely bang on... and by that I mean the actual choice of figure. If they sell then you'll have enough to pay for the next figure's print. Then it grows. If they don't... and there's a few excellent figures out there, all pad printed, that aren't selling as well as people had hoped and it's denting their enthusiasm to produce more. The more the price of Chinese fakes stays low and the quality even slightly improves it's going to put people off paying $40 for one figure when they can pay that for 20 customs from the far East. I hope more people produce great customs like this. There's 3 other people I know that produce pad printed customs and I'd take all their figures if it wasn't for the seemingly high cost. I just know that to be able to get some sort of business model going they're going to stay at that price or it's simply not worth the people producing them actually doing it. I can think of 9 figures I'd like to add to my collection including these 2 and it would cost me over $300 for them.

In the UK it's 15% of selected sets and they don't know which ones it will be yet. The event actually starts next Monday here in the UK which is the 28th... that's when the Sandcrawler gets released here. To be honest 15% isn't something that's going to sway me one way or the other on Lego sets... you get closer to 20%-50% off items pretty regular here with other retailers and they all price match most of the time.

Just checked that out! Nice to have Phoenix and 2014 Comic Con Spiderman in one set. Black and Yellow Wolverine could be really nice depending on the print. A copy of Christo's Dark Knight Joker is also a nice addition. I've got the new Cap but I'll use the shield for a Winter Soldier custom of him in his jacket and chinos. Very interested to see if that's a copy of the Lego Black Widow or Christo's version on the leaflet. When my Fantastic Four figures arrive I should be able to see properly. All in all a nice set that I'll definitely pick up. I'm hoping that new bigwig will be Thing. I think that would make a perfect Fantastic Four set until an official one comes out.

Really? That would be great. I only realised the other day that I'd got all of the DeCool figures except for one set (the ones with Dr Doom in). I might pick those up just to keep the thing going although I have all of the official Lego figures in that set. Do you have a source for what the planned releases are?

Welcome!... and Congrats on Mercedes start to the season! I must admit our Lego interests don't overlap too much as I don't follow Technics, Chima, Hero Factory etc but if I can help in any way in sourcing comics or DVDs as mentioned I'll be happy to help you along! Enjoy the forum!

As much as I don't think I'd buy a fully bootleg set like this it highlights how far these companies have come in making replicas in a quality that increasingly similar to Lego.I don't want bootlegged mini figures to replace my official Lego ones but as a way of collecting Comic Con / rare / unreleased figures? I'll take them all day long.I've just ordered a set of Fantastic Four figures for £8. That's £2 each and the collective set is less than an individual figure being sold by customisers. They've simply copied the design. I've also ordered a Red Hulk mini figure for £6. Customs of that were selling for closer to £40.. and they had hand painted or decal faces. These are machine printed and damn close to the official one.If Chinese companies can make Phoenix, Back Suit Spiderman and other figures that sell for £100s and make them available for £2 or £3 each... sometimes less... then I will not complain at all.

Witch King Showdown for me. That one would pretty much beat anything we haven't had.

I've got all but the bottom right one.... Nice work! :)

I managed to pick one of those up a few months ago at half price... Glad I got it when I did!

I'm still tempted to get 2 Black Gates from Toys R Us which will then give a £10 voucher for Lego. Selling the figs in one would pay for it!

Thanks for the heads up! Just ordered Unexpected Gathering and Pirate Ship Ambush!

Shame the print was bad on your Venom... The one I received was perfect... I suppose it's the nature of these and them being so cheap... QA isn't as high as Lego! I'm just hoping the Red Hulk bigfig I just ordered is ok!

Well I'm throwing my hat into the ring that the May exclusive is the Ghostbusters set for VIPs also... That's not to say I wouldn't like a 60s Batmobile... I certainly do... I just don't see it happening so quickly after that poster release. I hope I'm proven very wrong though! ;)

If you get your post count up to 10 and PM me I'll send you the links to the people I've used.

I just don't see the problem with bidding on eBay. It's not that hard. Just bid what you want to pay as close to the end of the auction as you can. If you win it that's fine... if you don't that's fine too. BL can be a cheaper way to get sets but sometimes you can pick up a set cheaper on eBay although not normally things that are priced for buy-it-now.

Toys R Us are having a little sale too... The Pirate Ship Ambush is £44.99 but you also get a £10 off voucher for spending over £40 on Lego. (Unfortunately you can't use the £10 on that order!) Black Gate is down to £29.99 so you can get that for £19.99 if you wait for the voucher to come in then order again!

I too have far more faith in Disney to delivery a great trilogy of movies, and therefore a better vehicle for Lego releases, than I would have had in Lucas. The last Indy film pretty much finalised that for me. The sets look great to me. I'm not too concerned about the B-Wing's closed wings as I'll be displaying it with the foils out (somehow). This wave and the GOTG sets look like absolute blinders to me. Very happy for my Lego fix but very unhappy for my wallet.

Harry Potter torso from 4866... just in case! ;)

Which Sainsburys is that? The Tesco on Park Road has changed the layout and there was next to no Lego in the place. i didn't get a chance to ask anyone where it's all gone. I love that place for Lego... some great deals there. I hope it's just been moved!

I think that's ultimately the most important point. Lego is, by it's very nature, a modifiable medium. In the same way a MOC is a build that is something personal to an individual then the modding of a mini figure is the same. If it's something for your own enjoyment (and ultimately shouldn't that just be what it's about?) then you are the only judge of your work that matters.