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Comments
The vast majority of custom minifigures for sale are violating somebody's IP rights, but the rights-holders are either unaware of the infraction or aware that litigation won't have a positive financial outcome, so they don't do anything about it. If one of these custom minifigure makers did something exceptionally stupid that gets a lot of press, like marketing a set of "Nazi War Heroes", owners of all the IP they have been using without authorization would probably become interested and sue them into oblivion.
Sign me up for at least two sets!
Sigh....
10 shields for whatever faction you like for 86p delivered. Same with the matching armour.
Substitute whatever loathsome thing you want for "Nazi War Heroes" in my prior post. The point is that the vast majority of the public does not even know that custom minifigure makers exist, and as long as it stays that way they can mostly get away with IP infringement, because it is not worth the IP holder's effort to shut them down. But if they suddenly "went viral" with something that IP holders don't want to be associated with, those IP holders may decide to stomp on them to mitigate damage to their own brand.
It looks like Lepin took some liberties in its haste.
i dont know other fakes nor would i buy one,but what lepin does is kinda impressive.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/minifigures/characters/cleopatra-4c42acfe06ce4b3bb00fbd28ce099441
They are still using the name there in the URL. Similarly, the Detective was also briefly changed to Sherlock, and the URL is still ...
https://www.lego.com/en-us/minifigures/characters/sherlock-2290eb64478549539b250927455781e0
They re-release a modular or other highly sought after set here and there on a limited run it sort of stops the 'need' for Lepin for completionists that can't afford or refuse to pay some of the prices on the secondary market.
I've spoken to people who have bought Lepin sets becuase of the secondary market prices. I don't agree with it but I can understand. Why pay $1000 for something you want to build a put on display or in a Lego City or pay $100.
Would I buy Lepin for a set I want? (Green Grocer) No. Would I buy a re-release from Lego? Of course.
If i was running Lego I would have a classics line of old classic sets and highly sought after retired sets. relese maybe 5 or 6 a year if we have the bricks in production of course.
Really surprised Disney don't pursue Lepin for license infringement on Avengers/Disney/Star Wars sets.
It looks like Lepin is releasing their own designs of modulars now. This stands to hurt LEGO more than the copies. I like the looks of other modular designs people sell on eBay, but the fact that I have to Bricklink its pieces really detracts me. I have no way of knowing if those designed modulars will end up costing me $500 in the end. Lepin will most likely release many modulars each year and they will pull in sales to AFOLs, taking more sales away from LEGO.
I was able to experience a Lepin set the other day - a Green Grocer copy. It looked good from a distance but as I approached it, there were slight gaps between some of the bricks and the windows in the bottom left looked wonky. The 1x2 tiles do not line up at all. It looked very cheap and the owner said that it was a frustrating building experience. He won't be buying anything made by Lepin again.
I would like a copy of Green Grocer but I'm not willing to pay what the aftermarket wants and I certainly don't want a clone. Maybe Lego could look at doing runs of the unique pieces and offering those for sale in the Pick a Brick section?
Often LEGO won't want to do runs of now obscure parts/colours that are not used in anything else just for people wanting to build a set from years before. Whereas if a designer reuses a part/colour in a current set then there is a chance of the part being made again.
(And I partially wonder if Lepin's bootleg helped push LEGO towards making the new one)
I (and many others!) would love it if they chose to do more of a Parts-on-Demand approach to Pick a Brick. Logistically it would be difficult, but I'm sure they could if they tried, and it would surely be a boon for the MOC communities.
Of course, this may be another avenue for clone brands to take in the future.
It would most likely never halt IP infringed sales in Asia, and even if Lepin had to shut down (which I don't think they would), they would just start up again under a new rebrand. It would most likely just piss off the company and encourage them to double down on IP infringement. Most of the workers and some of the corporate execs probably don't even view it as counterfeiting, but copying something they appreciate in an attempt to do it better.
Perhaps Lepin quality has worsened, but when I bought and built my Lepin Green Grocer clone last year, the finished product looked almost 100% like the real thing. A few parts were of a different design, and because of a mistake the seller made, the bag with all the sand-green 1x8 bricks was missing (got a partial refund for that error). I replaced those 1x8s with the much cheaper 1x4 bricks of the same colour, plus replaced the bricks that were of a different design as well as the large window pane pieces, because Lepin transparent pieces seem(ed) to be more milky in appearance.
The building experience was just as enjoyable as with any original Lego modular (I had built the "real" DO, PR and PC in the months before). Fit and finish of the pieces was no different than on a real Lego set, apart from the 1x2 hinge plate pieces. But as this was just a problem on a few of them and in areas where it didn't matter, it didn't affect the finished build at all.
All in all, I have now got a GG clone that looks just like the real thing, and for less than 75 Euro including cost of the replacement parts. I also got the Town Hall and the Haunted House for a similar amount of money and with a similar experience. And as these are just used as display pieces I don't mind the fact that they are clones, as the parts will never get mixed with my real Lego collection.
That being said, I don't intend to buy any more Lepin sets either. Not because I think the quality is bad, but because the abovementioned three sets were the only discontinued sets with crazy aftermarket prices that were of any interest to me. And I would never even consider getting Lepin or other clones of current Lego sets.
I just wonder if they sense their impending demise (Lego lawsuit), and are basically just trying to get as much money as possible with all these presales, even though they know full well they don't actually plan on releasing these sets. Or if they DO, it'll be once the Lego lawsuit is decided. It also feels like a convienant way for Lepin to say to the courts "look we make sets Lego doesnt" even though they haven't actually made it into production. From my understanding, the only sets they made that can be some what considered "theirs" (even though they stole them from MOCCERS) are the three large buildings they did, the museums and what not. But beyond those three, it feels like smoke and mirrors to me. I'm curious if anyone has been following them, or might have some insight that I may have missed.
I don't think they are trying to make a cash grab, I think they are actually doing that well. From what others have said, their quality continues to improve. They now have numbered bags and their minifigures have better quality and their sets have fewer missing parts. Lepin is owned by the same company that also owns Xinbao, who has been collaborating with MOCers to get their sets made.
I think the presells are for the stores to know how many to order from Lepin, they aren't actually for Lepin (from what I understand about Aliexpress, etc).
I notice that the presells are going on the sites earlier and earlier. For example, sellers put presells on their sites right after Ninjago City was announced, but it took at least 2 months until they were actually available.
This is just what I have observed, but I might be wrong. Very interested in how the lawsuit goes, I'm surprised we haven't heard anything about it since it was delayed until September, which was last month.
@CaptainPirateMan The main MOC I keep finding of the Flying Dutchman is not the one Lepin has for presale. They are probably hiring MOCers to create original sets for them. It looks like Xingbao is the main company that makes authentic non-counterfeit designs and Lepin is the company that makes blatant counterfeits of IP current and discontinued sets (which they really shouldn't do). Xiaomi also looks like it's getting in on the action with the new "LEGO-compatible" robot which stands on just two wheels and moves around. It looks like Lepin has plenty of sets that LEGO doesn't make including a Nebulon-B and tons others. The offerings will only get bigger. If they fold under a lawsuit, one of the other companies will easily aquire their assets and all they would have to do is not copy IP anymore.
The problem with searching through the websites is Aliexpress is very weird and hard to navigate. I ordered a Emerald Night from Lepin for $37, but there were at least 12 different listings of the Emerald Night, many of which with different price points. I understand many could be different quality, but not all of them could be different.