Robianco

I just think that Lego sets are inherently different to a MOC... no matter how close the plan or subject matter. A MOC doesn't have any restrictions on brick use, be it illegal or legal, piece count or cost limitations. The Swiss GBHQ has over 1,000 more pieces than this... which would actually bump it pretty close to the Taj Mahal in regards to being the largest set ever made (with regards to piece count). With regards to the back wall I'm going for the fact that it 'just looks like that'. If they'd used more brick to make it something else there'd have been people complaining that they wasted those bricks to change the look of the part of the building which wasn't necessary. It's the back, basically unseen wall, of a building that contains a ton of other things to attract and keep your attention. As a 'collector' you either accept how the set looks, love it and buy it... or you don't. The 10179 Falcon is a fantastic set but the mods people have made, especially to the rear engine section, have greatly improved it... albeit with many more parts than the original design. That doesn't detract from the original's appeal. I also don't care about people's issues with designs submitted to Lego Ideas... if you build something the already exists in the 'Lego Universe'... and Ghostbusters was already part of it, then tough. After Lego negotiated with the license holders do we not think that the Lego designers and the team as a whole might have discussed such things? Brent's original submission contained a HQ and others have submitted designs so the idea wasn't unique to anyone... so no matter how detailed you build it it isn't yours to claim. No matter how good your UCS bat mobile is it isn't getting released as an Ideas set... no matter how good your ship from Star Wars is and how quickly you got 10,000 votes it isn't getting released as an Ideas set... and no matter what licensed 'thing' you make over a certain piece count it isn't getting made as an Ideas set. Not until something drastically changes.

I think that's actually Bane v2... The v1 is getting very expensive now.

I've been invited for the past few years but nothing this year and I kind of expected it as I've seriously cut down on spend although it's still been around £800 or so straight from Lego. I must admit I've never found them that beneficial with regards to discounts, except for the free festive sets.

I've ordered through Engtaobao which uses an agent to order from Taobao. Shipping was quite expensive though but I did go for fast shipping. Maybe worth it if you're ordering a lot.

Frozen is a fantastic film, as is Brave, as is Tangled. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella et al have all stood the test of time. If this line is successful and there's no reason to think it won't be I can see them including a smattering from both classic and modern. The princess line has given us the Disney Princesses plus Anna and Elsa but I can see the CMF line being used to bring us things such as James Hook etc... things that wouldn't be released elsewhere. It's kind of a 'no fail' scenario.

Well once my stuff is out of storage in a week or so when I move into my new house you'll have a Jean Grey for nothing! ;)

I think the 'worth' or 'value' of something is, to me, entirely relative. Custom figures start from around £14 for a pad printed figure so looking at a good figure, even a bootleg, you could say that £6 is a good price for a unique figure... That's $9 per fig, so $15 is still only £10 for 2 figs even if you bin all the bricks. I think we're just so used to figures being only 60p each. That said... It's probably only SY that are making figs that would be worth it.

Mechs offer absolutely nothing to me as I really don't like bootleg bricks to start with but I'm quite interested in the Bats, Joker, Zod and Supes variations.

I was perfectly happy to drop the subject as it was getting quite repetitive but those close up shots don't look like pad printed figures at all. That's a digitally printed figure. The ink is way too thick to be pad (even though pad does have a little weight to the ink) and I've never seen Lego produce something that isn't pad whether as a test or not. There's no symmetry in the bat symbol or the muscle torso and there are blemishes and imperfections all over it. The wings also look like they've had a pretty bad cutting form set up or they've been done by hand. The cowl may be dark blue but I'm not convinced it isn't just a dyed piece or a bootlegged version. If anything is legit it's the cowl but the rest of it looks pretty ropey with images that clear. This is how Lego ink sits on a torso: http://jaysbrickblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/LEGO-Batman-Utility-Belt.jpg ...this image is at least three times the size of the image of the 'new' figure above and still has sharper detail.

I've had mine on display on it's stand since January. I had to move it yesterday as I'm moving house but I don't recall any kind of gap in it. I'll take a look tomorrow when I'm over at my in-laws as that's where it is at the minute and let you know if there's any kind of gap as mentioned.

I've got a few OT stormies now... Thankfully I bought all the sets they were included in. I also have a few of the previous version which was almost identical but without leg printing. I'm thinking of just BLing some helmets for the Rebels versions and they'd all pretty much fit in together. Maybe picking up some Rebels ST legs for the older OT ones would work too.

If they effectively removed JLB, Lebq and others of that ilk I'd be quite happy. Dargo were very much on that list but people seem to think they're improving. I hope SY and DLP can focus on not cloning official product. If non-Disney material means people can concentrate on DC then I'd be quite happy.

Fup doesn't always say very much. But when de does...

The bootleg figures actually don't bother me at all. I think the bigger issue is that people need educating about them and know the difference between bootleg and the real thing. I've never known a fake to fall apart though... that sounds like the kind of thing Brick Show would say in a scare mongering kind of statement. I know discussion of bootlegs is kept to the Community part of the forum so I'll say no more on that... although I will say that the new cowl is something that is being bootlegged widely now and it wouldn't surprise me at all if these were cloned figures although they seem to have Lego stamps on them which none of the bootleg companies do.

I think the blue and grey one is easily the better of the two... even with the older muscle torso etc. I like that particular bat symbol too. I just find the approach to each of these 'proto' designs a bit odd... a lot of recycling of older designs. I don't think we've ever had changes this subtle to create a 'new figure' before. If I'd seen the grey and blue one first I might have thought it was legit... a little on the lazy side but legit nonetheless... even though the wings are something that don't sit right with me either. Do we really think they're phasing out the old hard plastic wings for a redesigned flexible plastic based on the Space wings? We've had leaks of figures before... but to a couple of people at the most and in small numbers that sell for a premium on eBay followed shortly after by the real thing. There just seems to be too many of these around. I'll be honest... the more and more I think about it the worse I feel about the possibility that these might be what get released. Put a black head with face print on the grey and blue one and I'll probably live with it (although I'd really want the new cape in dark blue soft fabric for it to replace the plastic wings) but the black one just seems utter rubbish as a new fig... just a poorly thought out figure.

These figures are all over the place.. Mexico, Ireland, France, U.S.... That just tells me that the circulation to resellers is quite wide... and that there's a lot of them. Too many to be honest. To me, that's still no indication that they're real. Yes, the blue one looks to make a little more sense than the black and red version and the artwork on the wings is slightly better than the black one but still crap... and still has the copyright information printed off centre. I still don't get why they'd go back to the old muscle torso or they'd use plain heads rather than print them on dark blue/black to match the cowl. Surely that cowl was created to be used on heads printed on dark colours?

Right... I've ordered the two DLP sets along with the Decool Arrow set and the SY Justice League. Looks like I'll have loads of figures to give away though including that Grodd... I'll also have loads of the new Bat cowl on my hands. I'm thinking of switching out the printed arms on the Arkham Batman for genuine grey arms and going for vambraces? Or can anyone recommend a good set of printed arms that can be used instead? At least I'll get to compare the Decool and DLP Arsenal with my genuine version. I'll post pictures when they arrive.

I wonder have DLP used my artwork too or have they bothered to draw up the official back print from the original. I'm pretty sure the boots on the Sam Wilson Cap won't be dual moulded though. I think I may have to get those legs from a Spidey and some genuine blue arms and red hands to get that one as close to the SDCC as possible. Same with the dark red arms and hood for Arsenal. Yeah... but the set will probably cost around £5 for all of them so no great hardship at all...

Which C-3PO? TFA version is in TRU for £4.99. There should be a new one in the Droid Escape set coming in the new year so wait if you want an OT version.

I'm always amused when people ask why something hasn't been leaked. It's because nothing should be leaked... Hence it being a 'leak' not a 'reveal'. It's not out in the public domain because it's not supposed to be. The sense of entitlement in the frustration is staggering at times.

The Joker Nurse is even more obviously fake to me for the reasons I've stated previously. I'm hoping that when these figures are finally released they're proven fake for a couple of reasons... not least because I think they're quite bad. ...and why is it that the people who have these are also the only people in the world who still only have vga quality cameras on their phone?!

How is the Electro Batman design a recoloured version? It may use a Bat Symbol that's been used on a previous incarnation but even the Arctic Batman uses the regular black and yellow variants Bat Symbol. The suit itself is modified with the electro points over it and also has a unique print on it's cowl. What we're looking at here is a design with zero modification or customising by the design team but just printed in a different colour. Or am I missing something?

The thing is we've seen a photo of a bag containing 50+ of these figures... If someone has taken this many then there should be enough of them at the factory that these won't be missed... So why print that many up of a fig just as a prelim test? The lack of back print also doesn't make sense for something that's been printed to this quantity. Both customisers and bootleggers have printed the Beyond design perfectly so why would Lego dig out 8yr old artwork to print up? Surely the design team would be asking why before anyone else. The wings have no bleed to the artwork which is also a schoolboy error... The design team wouldn't make that mistake on a print run whether prelim or not... They also wouldn't put keylines around the edge knowing the cutting form needs a bleed tolerance to cover any slight movement as it runs through the press. These also look like they've been cut by hand hence the very sharp points to the wings. The copyright text is also way off centre on those blue wings which is a poor mistake to make. If these do turn out to be even close to the final thing then it represents the laziest and poorest design choices Lego has made in the entire theme. Every character to date has had a new design when required however slight so I just don't see why their flagship character, and he is whether people like it or not, would even be considered for something like this.

That's just the thing for me though. The Joker Nurse was apparently from a source that gets pre release figures too... We've had around 17 Batman variants and they've never recoloured an existing design. The Juniors Batcave used an existing torso but changed from dark to light blue but there was no recolouring anywhere just a change of accent colour. For a black and red variant I'd expect a new design, maybe similar to the game design rather than just recolouring for the first time. Some people may be getting things that they genuinely believe are legit and from a source that has historically been reliable but there's nothing about the things I've seen that ring true.

Good call!