Iron man. Lego?

FoxyA19

I was surfing eBay and I came across this; http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Marvel-Comic-Heroes-Mini-Super-Hero-Figures-Lego-Uk-Seller-/251445337833?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&var=&hash=item3a8b4f5ee9

Now I didn't know which Category to post this under, so I have gone with this one just to be safe. Can anybody shed any light on these figures? Where do they come from? Are they LEGO? Does anybody buy them simply for the awesome suits?

Shib

I have seen someone trying to sell this stuff on a Facebook Lego group, they distinctly avoided any questions of "Is this actually Lego or imitation knock off?"

Some of the pictures on the boxes look like they could be taken from Lego products, but the branding is clearly not lego. I wouldn't go anywhere near this stuff personally...look at the photo of Superman and look how bad that cape is.

Legoboy

Note, that the description states "LEGO COMPATIBLE!!!"

FoxyA19

Personally I like the Iron man figures and as I am a Superhero fan I am undecided whether or not to buy them, as I will constantly be thinking they are not LEGO!! Even if they are compatible!

Shib

seeing as they are obviously ripping off Lego they will also be ripping off the character designs, therefore the people who own the character rights, (Marvel and DC) would not be getting the money for their intellectual property. That doesn't sit well with me, I don't like the idea of giving money to someone who is stealing ideas from a franchise I like, even with the argument of some of those Iron Man suits aren't available through official channels it still doesn't sit well with me.

Bumblepants

Mega had the Iron Man rights before Lego did back when the first (and maybe 2nd?) films came out. Might have originated there.

Shib

its clearly ripping off lego the mega blok iron man was completely different

DoubleD

If you look closely the cape is around the arms not the neck. So at least they are not ripping off the instructions from lego.

richl

They're Chinese clone brand Decool. In spite of myself I picked up a set last year - the printing isn't as good as real LEGO and the plastic feels a little cheaper. That said, I only wanted them to display in hall of armor MOC (that I still haven't got round to).

Many have strong feeling on clone brands (since they essentially steal the LEGO designs) and the minute LEGO brings out Iron Man minifigs with these designs, I'll buy those and bin these but right now, for the price, they're acceptable for what I need.

Shib

doubledbrick said:

If you look closely the cape is around the arms not the neck. So at least they are not ripping off the instructions from lego.

Thats what makes the cape look so bad, looks more like a sleeveless jacket than a cape.

andhe

I was involved in a discussion about these on flickr. Not only have they ripped off Lego's design for the direct copies, but they have also stolen a lego fan's designs for the Iron Man variants (HJ Media Studios i fyou're wondering. He does loads of cool renders and was behind the Galaxy Troopers CUUSOO project).

Now I can understand how someone in China can get away with selling them, but this ebay seller seems to be based in Bristol, so surely they're breaking some sort of laws by selling 'cloned' products?

Also please note, that the actual product printing varies massively in quality (from what I've seen online) to the packaging renders.

andhe

Similar, possibly the same counterfeit figures here. Note the milky quality of the plastic and odd printing http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/jarrakh/m.html?item=181336866133&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

Avoid.

madforLEGO

I would report them to Disney and Marvel in addition to LEGO as copyright infringement. One of those companies should submit a cease and desist to the seller then as they are not in China I believe the companies can do this.

FoxyA19

I won't touch them, I will just patiently await the day that TLG release the same suits. Also it wouldn't feel right having fake LEGO amongst my awesome and growing collection.

Shib

madforLEGO said:

I would report them to Disney and Marvel in addition to LEGO as copyright infringement. One of those companies should submit a cease and desist to the seller then as they are not in China I believe the companies can do this.

Disney in particular have been fiercely defensive of their intellectual property in the past.

mountebank

Out of curiosity I stuck the terms iron man patriot lego into ebay.co.uk. There's loads of this stuff out there.