Sunday 28 December 2014

Lego Rhino (Big Figure) By Decool 0190

Another Lego Marvel Super-villain character - Rhino released by Decool.



I don't know about the character so much but i saw him once at the end of The Amazing Spiderman 2 movie. He looks a little different than the movie but i'm sure he will look the same with Lego video game character. 

A few picture of him from Lego Video Game and animation series:

source: Google

source: Google
Parts in sealed plastic inside the box:



Unassembled parts:



The figure:


Update:
Thanks to @anonymous in the comment section below: this figure misses the printed eyes on the side. i search him using Google images and yeah, see this picture below:



Waiting for Lego Juggernaut next!


You may read detail review of another character here: Green GoblinVenomHulkHulkbuster IronmanThe Thing.

Saturday 27 December 2014

Imitation of Lego Collectible Minifigures CMF Series 1 by Bozhi (set number 98057)

Have a look at these pictures. Do they look familiar? It's a complete set of 16 clone lego collectible minifigures (CMF) Series 1 by Bozhi. It's the first imitation of CMF series and i guarantee, more series are coming. 


Bozhi even used the same background with the original lego box:


source: ebay


I don't have the original CMF series 1 box but i have one from Series 11. I believed the CMF box for all lego CMF series are the same so here's the comparison.



The box to store these 16 figure is big because instead of using plastic packaging like lego does, they use smaller box for each figure.


What's included in each box: parts in sealed packaging and a small pamphlet.



Even the pamphlet looks the same!


Baseplate and extra hands that i wont use in the comparison below.



Here's the comparison with the original Lego figure on right side in every picture.

1. Demolition Dummy - The accessories is the same but Bozhi's front torso looks dirty.




2. Tribal Hunter (Indian) - I'm not sure if it's only me but I only got one feather for my Bozhi figure.. and the black tip for bozhi is on both front and back tip of the feather.



3. Forestman - The front torso of Bozhi figure looks faded.




4. Skater 



5. Zombie. The most sought after figure in series 1. For the accessories, Bozhi's drumstick that he's holding is shorter than Lego. 



6. Cowboy. 



7. Super Wrestler. The cape is thinner for Bozhi's.




8. Magician. Bozhi uses 4L bar instead of 3L bar that Lego used.



9. Circus Clown. 



10. Nurse. 



11. Robot. The head gear and right arm for Lego figure look shinier. Is it metallic silver? But Bozhi's use plain silver.


12. Caveman. 



13. Ninja



14. Spaceman. Few of my friends told me that they have problem fixing the helmet to the head, but mine is perfect. Its not visible in this image but Bozhi's use longer 4L trans-blue bar and Lego use 3L bar. 



15. Deep Sea Diver - the goggle for Bozhi figure doesn't look as clear as Lego. Printing on the front torso also looks messy.



16. Cheerleader. Look at last image. Lego has side printing on her leg. 


I have mixed feeling over this imitation. It's undeniable that the imitation is not perfect and we still can distinguish which is which.. but the fact that they are out there.. together with the original is kinda scary.

IMHO,  Bozhi's just lucky with this series of CMF. Having both this set and previous Bozhi League of Legends figure (Link), I can tell that Bozhi is the kind of clone brand that won't come out with back printing and dual sided face. Only Decool will come out with dual sided faces. (to date)

Yes, original Lego CMF series 1 don't have any dual sided faces or back printing but additional printing on Lego figure (arm, back of the head, and back of the torso) has gradually become more common as the series progressed. Cheerleader above is one example. Look at the detail that Bozhi decide to skip - side print on the leg. More minifigures in other series will have details that i bet these clone brand won't bother to imitate and that's the easiest way to differentiate them. 

Anyway, please don't be afraid to buy original Lego now. These imitation don't have any "Lego" logo on any of their parts so that's the main point to highlight when you're inspecting a minifigure. Secondly, these imitation normally don't have sharp printing on their torso. You can scroll back up and see Demolition Dummy guy for example. However this method need confirmation by inspecting any "Lego" word on them because some printing of these imitation can deceive our eyes and actually quite good. You may refer circus clown for example. I think the printing on the imitation figure is better - because printed line on the torso looks clearer on the left figure. But lucky, i can still find which figure has "Lego" trademark on the parts so i know which is which.


I bought this Bozhi set (complete figure of 16) for RM45 (USD13) so each figure is RM2.80 (USD0.80). Just look at the original price for this clown on ebay:



What do you think about these imitation?


Friday 26 December 2014

Lego Collectible Minifigures Series - Possible to be cloned?


source: Google
As we all know it, those tiny people in Lego shape is called Lego minifigures. The above logo, Minifigures also known as Collectible Minifigures is one of Lego theme introduced in 2010, with the first series (Series 1 Collectible Minifigues (CMF)) released in May 2010. To date, there are 13 regular series (series 1 to 13) and 3 special series (Team Great Britain Series, The Lego Movie series and The Simpsons series). There are 16 unique and exclusive minifigures in each series (excluding series 10 (that come with super rare and exclusives Mr.Gold) that make it 17 figures in total for series 10 and Team GB series which come with only 9 unique figures)

I myself start collecting these CMF quite late.. if i recall correctly, i found Series 8 CMF in local Toys'R'Us  somewhere in October 2012. That's when i realised, "oh my god, oh my god. i need to start collecting them IMMEDIATELY before its too late!". After some research, i decide to buy the previous series (series 1 to 8) in one shot because that's the cheapest and easiest way to collect them. Bam! Paid RM1,550 ($445) inclusive shipping for complete set of series 1 to 8 and after some simple math, it's about RM1,550/(8 set x 16 fig) = RM12.11 ($3.47) per figure.

It's amazing how much the value go up in such short period of time. I know i paid premium for it because at that time, one pack of cmf only cost RM11.90 ($2.99). . but getting them separately even by series is not feasible at all. In October 2012, one complete set of 16 of Series 1 cost about RM500 ($145) on ebay.

You may read the info about these CMF from Brickipedia or Brickset. Everything you wanna know about them is there but for us Malaysian, the price listed is in US dollar. So i did some quick reading on some forum and group discussion about them from May 2010 to date and extract the retail price in TRU Malaysia. It's time consuming but not that hard after using search function in those forum =). So here's what i get:

To read these info, i use this format:
lego code - name - date available - price in RM - price in USD

8683 - Series 1 - May 2010 - RM9.90 - $1.99
8684 - Series 2 - September 2010 - RM9.90 - $1.99
8803 - Series 3 - January 2011RM9.90 - $1.99
8804 - Series 4 - April 2011 - RM9.90 - $2.99
8805 - Series 5 - August 2011 - RM9.90 - $2.99
8827 - Series 6 - January 2012  - RM9.90 - $2.99
8831 - Series 7 - May 2012 - RM10.90 - $2.99
8833 - Series 8 - September 2012RM11.90 - $2.99
8909 - Team Great Britain Series - July 2012 - NA (only available in UK) - GBP1.99
71000 - Series 9 - January 2013 - RM11.90 - $2.99
71001 - Series 10 - May 2013 - RM11.90 - $2.99
71002 - Series 11 - September 2013 - RM11.90 - $2.99
71004 - The Lego Movie - January 2014 - RM11.90 - $2.99
71005 - The Simpsons - May 2014 - RM12.90 - $3.99
71007 - Series 12 - October 2014 - RM14.90 - $3.99
71008 - Series 13 - January 2015RM12.90 - $3.99 (price drop from previous series yeay!)

I'm not sure if you're still interested.. but i'm dying to know how much premium exactly i paid for series 1 to 8 that i bought in October 2012. 

I paid RM1,550 for 8 series that i bought on ebay.  
Cost of those 8 series if i'm on track and  bought them from TRU = (RM9.90 x 6 set x 16 figure) + (RM10.90 x 16 figure) + (RM11.90 x 16 figure) = RM1,315.20.  
Premium paid = RM1,550 - RM1,315 = RM235 ($67) for those 8 series (128 figures).  
That's 18% premium from the cost price.
To be honest, it's quite scary how much those older series are being sold now. I did a quick search on ebay for just 16 figure of series 1 and here's the result:




Roughly $310 (RM1,081) for 16 figure.

Curious to know more? I try to search complete set of Series 2 and these result appear:



Roughly $171 RM560 for complete set of 16 series 2 CMF.


How crazy is that? Price for some of the individual figure is crazier. Especially zombie from Series 1 and minifigures wearing mascot suit (chicken suit guy, bunny suit guy, bumblebee girl). Just look at these image. How can price for  bumblee girl from series 10 that was released in May 2010 can get even to Zombie from Series 1 and Bunny suit guy from series 7? Yeah, i know the answer.. its demand vs supply but wow... just wow..


Have you ever wonder will these figure get cloned by any china brand?
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Clap clap. Bozhi did it. Yup, they are the first to imitate lego collectible minifigures series 1. Look at what i just bought!








This is it. This is just the beginning. I'm sure there are more to come. I'll do extensive comparison to the original figure in my next post. 

Lele 78063 Lego Unfold Knights minifigures

I've hold this set unopened for so many days till I got help from one of my friends. I don't know this Lego figures are from which anime/game or tv series. I tried to google "Unfold Knights" but the search result doesn't help much. Until one of my friends told me it's from animation and game named Tenkai Knights. 

source: google
... and maybe because it's one of the signs of ageing, i just noticed on one of the box (the blue figure - top, right) the label is different. It's very clear word of "Tenkai Knights" whereas the other 5 box labeled with "Unfold Knights".  



Using some info on their wiki, i think the name for each figure (from left) will be: Bravenwolf Tenkai Firestorm, Valorn Tenkai Terrablast, Tributon Tenkai Iceblast, Lydendor Tenkai Lightningstrike, Dromus Tenkai Whirlwind and Vilius Tenkai Dark Tempest.


Here's a few pic of them that i found from the wiki:

I wish the figure come with wings/jet pack at their back.. to bad they don't =(

Additional weapon for each figures above:


Front and rear view of the minifigures:



I think the figure is too plain - simple design on the front and no print at the back at all. Not only they don't come with wings/jetpack but at least give them separate piece of chest armour or shoulder pad to give them bulky, heavy armoured look.. well,  just to make them look like in the image from their animation. Oh, one more thing.. look at the leg.. clean and plain! Please Lele, at least print something on the leg that look like knee pads pattern.. or something. just not this plain!

Sheng Yuan SY253 Lego Castle

I don't have any original Lego castle set or minifigure but i think i'm in love with them. This is the 3rd minifigure set by Sheng Yuan. The other 2 set are SY175 and SY165 (Link).

Update@Dec 27th, 2014:
I've been told by @anonymous in the comment section below that to date, there are 4 series of castle minifigure set by Sheng Yuan in total. The last one that i dont have is SY166. Thank you sooo much for the info =) 


The figures with accessories/weapon:


Without accessories/weapon:




Wow, now i just realise something. No wonder they look so familiar. Figures in this set is the same with 4 figures(bottom line) from Lele 70400:


You may read about these 4 castle theme set here (Link).