Robianco

Well the seller on BL got back to me and has it available for £15 which includes shipping. It'll probably take around a week to get here from France though.

They were available quite easily in the UK for a little while at ToysRUs... £3.99 each I think? I think they all sold out quite quickly though.

I think once you get your head around how the colours are formed from a printer it helps to see how things will or won't work. Most printers run from ink cartridges that are made up of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black ink. The mixture of these four colours gives the entire spectrum that you can see... every magazine or book will be printed from these four colours. But they only achieve that from having a white base page to work from. Most ink in printers that you and I use is transparent therefore it needs the base colour of the media you're printing on to work from. If it's white then that's great... if it's transparent such as clear decal paper then it doesn't work the same way. Printing tint's of colours won't give enough ink coverage to stop the colour of the plastic you're adhering the decal onto showing through and having a large effect on the colour finish. Here's a printer that runs from opaque inks that will allow a white cartridge to be used instead of white: http://www.okidata.com/procolor/711wt It mixes the black from the remaining Cyan, Magenta and Yellow inks but uses white to help achieve a vibrancy of colour on materials that may not necessarily be white.

Some Phoenix Squadron ships and pilots would be nice. I wonder if the red B-Wing that's coming up with Hera piloting will make an appearance?

Isn't the Terry McGinnis design this one? http://2.bp.blogspot...ry+McGinnis.jpg If so I think someone at Lego could have recreated that artwork in around 10 minutes to have it more accurate rather than dig out the plates for the old torso design. I also know the BrickLink store to one of those eBay sellers so I've messaged them for more info or if one is available to buy as their eBay listing had 'more than 10' available. I'm willing to pay £12 or so for one to take some clear photos and see what the score is.

By the way... Has anyone noticed that posts in this thread aren't included in your post count?

Well the last pic with the bag of them shows someone printed a lot of them... which was going to be my first point. It certainly looks pad printed and that's an expensive process and the fact that all the copies of them seem to be located in the US says it's not a Chinese clone manufacturer. It can't really be a Batman Beyond figure as the design is way off and even the bootleggers now have a perfect copy of that fig. The wings look terrible though. There's definitely something 'hand-made' about them... they seem to be cut abnormally sharp and some of them look like they've been roughly coloured in. The use of an old design being recoloured is an odd choice. To be honest... ever since the Nurse Joker figure appeared I've thought something was weird about it. That figure was too roughly done and was simply based on Harley's medial torso but looked hand drawn. Hoth Bricks were convinced it was from a very reliable source but it looked badly done to me. Now having a Batman figure which is a recolour of another older design tells me that someone is getting hold of lots of prototype figures OR someone is trying to generate interest in supposed prototype figures and thus raising the price point for each of them to sell. Having Lego ask for an image to be removed doesn't always say it's real... their legal department contact many people selling figures they deem to infringe on their IP and it may be a case they they have been made aware that this figure is being sold as a genuine photo when it isn't... so they're asking for it to be taken down where they see it to stop adding fuel to the fire and profits to the maker.

I think that Batmobile is based on a doc by an EB member. That price is ridiculous though.... you could order genuine Lego parts for less!

I think we've had some kind of a rumour / hearsay about that before. I must admit the thought of a very large MF similar to 10179 does appeal and, to be honest, I'm thinking if they did it it would probably be an EPVII version with a square dish.

Does anyone have a link for the DLP Batman set on AE yet?

Almost that entire Bats range looks fantastic. My only gripe... and I know... How could I complain?!?!... but... the printing on the arms of the second on the left looks fantastic but it's on thick shoulders so not easy to replace. Everything else looks great and it's nice to get the new helmet mould in different colours. GL Bats looks really good as does the Batman Beyond figure. I'm hoping the print on the ZEA Bats has the accurate back with the Batradia as I can then replace the SY version but use official arms etc. I'll be picking this up straight away!

As others have said... would that be these ladders? http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=47996&idColor=86#T=S&C=86&O={"color":86,"ii":1} If so it'll only cost you around £300 for the correct ones...

I've always been able to pick up pre-order bonuses on the UK. I always sell the game on but as I'm no longer collecting Marvel I won't need to with this one. There's usually a UK distributor that handles the giveaways here.

I'd probably ask why Lego continues to allow online stores that produce MANY minifigures that break IP laws to continue when they're based in the US and other areas that they have significantly more power in than China. They exist... and Lego let them... and people make a profit out of it. Some people I'm sure make a LOT of profit out of it based on the amount of sales and the prices involved. If Lego let them happen then it can't be bothering them that much... and if it doesn't bother Lego that much then why would it bother people who buy Lego? You could say that the production of minifigures that aren't produced by Lego act to compliment their existing 'official' product and brand and therefore they let it happen... especially those that print on official Lego pieces. But that's got nothing to do with breaking IP laws... that's up to Marvel or DC... neither of them do a great deal to stop it. I won't say they do nothing as I know they've spoken to some customisers to remove certain products from circulation or warn against the production of some... yet there's still US based sellers on a certain Auction site that sell hundreds of figures a year... and have sold thousands previously. There is no difference however people want to look at it. And I'll also ask whether anyone has ever borrow a CD or tape or record or DVD from a friend to listen to or watch? If people say no then they're lying... but by doing so they've broken the law... but it seems such a minor one that it's OK. Somehow morally people can distance that from buying a custom minifigure that's printed on Lego... which somehow is different from someone buying a minifigure that's not produced on official Lego pieces... which is also apparently different from buying Lego accessories from customisers that also aren't made from official Lego ABS but may be produced in the US or Europe etc. If anything the continued activity in a thread hosted on a Lego forum which is over 200 pages long says that there's an audience that are interested in them... mostly I'd say for those unique and unavailable officially. An audience that I'm sure spends a great deal of money, or at least that which they can afford, on genuine Lego too. I'm sure people will continue to pop into the thread to ask the same question or give the same moral stance over and over again... but until Lego ask EB to remove any mention of such things then it'll probably continue... but then I'm assuming that Lego would then also vigorously look to close down the many many customisers out there who not only produce unique figures but also copy official Lego designs and Marvel/DC/Disney owned property in the same way.

Until you have 10 posts you can't use the messaging system and I'm not sure I can post a link to my store in this thread.

Well I've got several pad printed Marvel Custom figures that I've had on eBay that I'm selling for less than online retail stores if you're interested from customisers such as NACM, Muddy River, Phoenix Customs and Christo.

Well it's appeared in a recent Lego game as a playable level and it's a Batcave. I think it would have enough generic appeal but as an afol and a Batman fan I'm hoping for a very large, comprehensive and suitably expensive set so going the exclusive route makes sense.

I know what you mean... I think they tried to give quite a lot of variation and maybe that didn't work out that well. We still don't know exactly what they were working from but giving the helmet as one options then giving the hood with the printed head was a good way of creating variation without then needing to create another mould. We know that almost every imperial helmet in this series has a brand new mould as well as really taking rebel helmet work to another level with the transparent visors. While it may not be perfect they've at least given variation. Considering it took over 15 years to get a Vader helmet that came in two pieces that's not bad going.

It's never stopped Lego before and I'm sure they'll do it multiple time again in the future. Celebration Leia in a Y-Wing set? Han Solo with an A-Wing and Ackbar? Random villains in the Scooby sets? Target audience on an extended license will be kids... Having a variation of minifigs will help sell regardless of whether Whovians can accurately place the set in the context of a particular series.

I actually think that custom lightsaber look massively oversized. That version of the helmet/hood would work well but that may be something that happens off in the future. I don't really see them making a third option for the same figure in a 6 month period.

You can pick up relatively inexpensive pad printer than will work one colour in one place at a time.... but it'll be a used machine probably, although there are more cost effective models available. You then have to factor in the cost for each plate... one for each colour in each position... then the inks... then you have to make sure your piece is held in place accurately allowing the second colour to be added... if it's out by a fraction of a millimetre then you'll notice it. Look at torso prints from Lego around 15-20 years ago... there's was misalignment all over the place. These days their presses are much higher quality as are the rest of the printing materials used... and more importantly the artwork created is much higher quality. Pad printing isn't cheap. It's the best way to print pieces if you want them close to Lego quality but it'l cost... and if you're only doing short runs then it's pretty much prohibitive. I think Raminator has looked at creating a small hand made pad printing alternative but you'd have to ask him what level of success he's achieved.

Agreed with Helge. Always my go to store for minifig parts as well as many other things. Superbly well packaged and the parts are always in excellent condition. Service from Norway to the UK is superb.

I see the SY set with Ghost Rider is around now: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/SY220-Minifigure-Building-Block-Set-Toys-Captain-America-Spider-Man-Batman-Ghost-Rider-With-Motorcycle-DC/32453636632.html?spm=2114.031010208.3.38.hP1ZwT&ws_ab_test=201556_7,201527_4_35_36_71_33_72_34_73_74_75,201560_1 I might be in a minority but I will always welcome a well printed Batman variant. Even if I have to spend £5 or £6 for a set just to get one good figure, in this case a good Batman Green Lantern, then I'm fine with that. It appeared in the comics so I'm happy someone has done it. I think I'll wait until Digger has reviewed the Dargo stuff before I bother. All they have to do it get the torso and helmet right for Dr Fate and I'm a happy bunny. Cape, Legs and Arms can be added from official stuff but they just need to print that right.

I must admit from what I've seen I think the sets look pretty good. Battle packs are a must and the Imperial one adds to that with the new accurate Kepi so multiples need to be bought to update the Imperial officer in the Microfighter set. I actually really like the Han Solo promo figure but I'm kind of disappointed they look like they put the same one in the set... a blue version would have been great seeing as even Hot Toys produced both a blue and brown variation of that figure. Just putting a figure that's included in the Advent Calendar and a repeat of an existing Hoth Trooper isn't exciting although I quite like the turret. As others have said I'd say it only makes sense as an extension to a larger UCS Echo Base set (should it actually exist) We all knew the price point for the Carbon Freezing Chamber and we even had a description of it so I'm not sure why people are disappointed in it... I think it actually works really well for what it is and a second set would make an almost perfect full circle platform along with giving two Ugnaughts. I'm glad Fett doesn't have arm printing although I see the Slave 1 version has been removed from the revamped B&P. As a way of Lego actually acknowledging the existence of Cloud City now let's hope it's just a starter for ten. While that may be a Duros head in the Rebel BP I think adding that to a Yularen body and adding a widow's peak hair and gold epaulettes would make a pretty good custom Thrawn. The Rebels sets look nice too... I like the ITT pilot in the grey colour is nice... and I too welcome a cheaper way to get Kanan. I'm interested in whether the Hera in the Microfighter is a variation or just the Ghost version which would leave Zeb as the only exclusive. All in all I think the smaller sets looks really good. I'm holding off on opinions of the TFA stuff until I've seen the film. I agree with this... especially seeing as we've not seen him in the series yet. Having him leak in images such as this would be a shame.

Yeah... as above... just put a link to your Flickr in your sig. Nice Batman collection by the way... Feel free to take a browse through my account!