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Morality of Bootleg Parts


SailorQuaoar

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Have you ever been MOC-ing and thought "I love this part, but I wish they made it in other colors. Then it would be so much more useful!"

 

Have you ever wanted size 4 shells in tan or lime? Size 3 shells in dark red? Small beast feet in lime, blue, or white? Breez's helmet in blue? Or even Evo's helmet in orange?

 

Lego doesn't make these parts in these colors, but knockoff companies do.

 

I know that every knockoff is copyright infringement, and the plastic quality is inferior to Lego's.

 

I do not buy knockoffs that are carbon copies of official sets. I only get the ones that contain recolors that Lego has not made for whatever reason.

 

I want to support Lego by buying official parts. But the fact of the matter is that they don't make every part in every color. Not to mention that the HF helmets are now retired molds.

 

The 2001 mask packs were/are a cornerstone of many Bionicle MOCs, because each shape came in multiple colors.

When masks stopped getting recolored, they became a lot more limited in how you could use them.

 

And while I understand that mask packs aren't profitable enough for Lego to bring them back, I think we'd all like to see the new Toa masks in each others' colors. (Plus purple) Since they're a new system we can't use old masks.

 

If a knockoff company started making "Roboticle" sets with recolored g2 masks, you bet I'm buying em.

Because Lego will never make mask packs again, is it really taking money away from them?

 

So basically my question to you is; Would you ever buy a bootleg for exclusive parts?

Or do you feel that nothing justifies ripping off Lego's molds, even a recolor that they might never make?

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Not only is it ethically dubious, but getting bootlegs in the hopes of getting recolors is not a reliable practice. Often, the colors won't quite match Lego's own, and sometimes they don't even resemble those on their own packaging. There's plenty of other opportunities for defects, as well—brittleness, imperfections in the mold, etcetera.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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I've actually never seen a bootleg set in person at any store near where I live, so I most likely couldn't even if I wanted to. :P

 

But if I did find one with recolored part, I still wouldn't get it. 

Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story.


 


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Not only is it ethically dubious, but getting bootlegs in the hopes of getting recolors is not a reliable practice. Often, the colors won't quite match Lego's own, and sometimes they don't even resemble those on their own packaging. There's plenty of other opportunities for defects, as well—brittleness, imperfections in the mold, etcetera.

The tan parts I got were a near identical match to the official color, and they were no more brittle than Glatorian-era sockets. Maybe I just got lucky?

 

Now I'm wondering if we could ever get 3rd party Bionicle sets in a similar manner to 3rd party Transformers. Hasbro hasn't sued em so far.

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It's an interesting question. I don't think I would though just because I'm too lazy to order from sketchy websites lol. But also I usually MoC with older parts anyway so I don't really care too much. If I think an older mask will look better, I'll use it.

 

 

 Since they're a new system we can't use old masks.
 

I beg to differ on that. :P

 

That looks AMAZING! I know it's not a super technical build, but I dig it!

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  • 2 weeks later...

If we do start condoning the use of bootlegs and third parties, I strongly suggest they be community tested first. Have members get the products and test them out, then post reviews. If they're bad, make sure no one else buys them.

 

I have third parties and knock off bricks with my Lego's, but if they're too brittle or misshapen I throw them in a "sin box" for my little brothers and sisters to play with.

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Everything about bootlegs gets on my nerves. I absolutely hate the concept of leeching money off of other peoples' ideas and intellectual, which is why I don't even visit Pirate Bay for public domain things because I don't want to give them the ad profit. In turn, even if it was something crazy like the world's first working mask of shielding I still wouldn't get it because the people who so blatantly steal from others because they refuse to come up with any original ideas don't deserve the money.

 

I know this is kind of a rant, but I'm the kind of guy who wouldn't even be able to go into an isle in a store that had bootleg Legos (especially Roboticle, like geez!) just because it would put me in a mood for the rest of the day. Kind of like when I read a status on FB/Twitter/Instagram that is just so dumb that it surpasses all levels of funny and leaves me in a red-hot mood for the rest of the day contemplating how these kinds of people even exist. Except in this case it's a blatant injustice not a pet peeve.

 

In short, no. I would never do that. I would be more likely to get the materials to make a mold of a piece and forge it out of whatever plastic I wanted. Yeah that's pretty absurd, and no I have never done anything even remotely similar to that, but at least it wouldn't be funding the people behind such shameless bootlegs. Because of this I recommend that you stay away from bootlegs. It takes thousands of individuals to choose not to pay these freaks money to keep their cycle going, and you, me, and everybody on this forum are all said individuals. In the end it's a viscous cycle.

 

Knockoff Company + Product Purchases = More Money to Continue the Line of Knockoffs

Repeat

 

Throw a wrench into that cycle by making do with less or improvising by creating pieces. In fact if you live in a university town like I do, they likely have 3D printers for student or even public use, so if you can get your hands on a CAD of the piece you want or a 3D scanner you can print the piece and even modify the shape a bit if you know how to 3D model. This means less money for the bootleggers and in turn less bootleggers in the world.

 

Thanks for bearing with my disturbingly rant-like post and remember:

 

The only good bootlegger is a bankrupt bootlegger.

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Herro there, person.

How are you?

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Given the existence of other LEGO-type building products, I'm curious how far LEGO's intellectual property rights extend - clearly they don't hold an iron grip over the construction toy market.  What is "bootleg," then? 

 

things obviously using wholesale, or copying LEGO molds, things intenrtionally and obviously mimicking BIONICLE's look and feel. that sorta stuff. :0

 

"Bionic-soldier fire-master tahu robot!" or something like that is usually a good hint anyway.

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Given the existence of other LEGO-type building products, I'm curious how far LEGO's intellectual property rights extend - clearly they don't hold an iron grip over the construction toy market.  What is "bootleg," then? 

 

Well, for starters, it's pretty obvious with CCBS, considering that's entirely a LEGO invention, and I wouldn't be surprised if they own the rights to it.

 

There's also copying their sets wholesale, copying the minifig exactly, copying some of their more specialized bricks (even brands like Kre-O have to make changes to some bricks to avoid infringement), etc. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between this and this.

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I've never gotten bootlegs, per se, but I do have a few Mega Bloks sets given to me by unknowing relatives in years past. For a time, those blocks were combined with my official LEGO parts, but eventually I realized their artificial status and sorted them out. They're now sitting in a container in the closet and I have no clue what I'm going to do with them.
 
Mega Bloks is still more of a ripoff than a bootleg. They use the same system but have their own lines and licensing deals. Bootlegs are clear infringements of specifically LEGO products, sets, and designs. I've seen quite a bit of ripoffs, but oddly enough I've never actually come across a bootleg.
 
I would never purchase either one if given the opportunity, although I do consider the bootlegs infinitely more unethical than ripoffs.

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Luckily for me, when I was a kid, nobody thought to give me Mega Bloks mixed with my precious LEGO bricks (either I was really lucky to have parents that instantly recognized the difference between the two or it just happened all the stuff I was into did not have a Mega Bloks equivalent). That being said, when I was playing at other people's house, I made it a special point to separate the Lego bricks from the Mega Bloks elements so I wouldn't have to use them. I do not like Mega Bloks because they basically profit off of an idea that's not even their own and actually pretty successful (to be fair, they do do some things different, but far from enough to justify a stolen idea). To be a little fair to Mega Bloks, while it is a ripoff, it is a legitimate company that does vary things every now and then. Bootlegs, however, illegally profit off of LEGO and are arguably a greater threat because of their illegality and ability to fool ignorant consumers out of a company's rightfully earned intellectual property profits. 

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Would I buy a bootleg set? Yes. I don't know if it's particularly ethically dubious, all things considered. After all, I routinely buy numerous other genuine Lego sets. Mainly, I was interested to see how bootleg CCBS would compare to the real thing, when I encountered a bootleg set in person and had the opportunity to buy it. The bone pieces were generally beneath contempt, but the shells were surprisingly decent quality, overall.

 

~B~

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have bought quite a few knockoff sets for recoloured parts lately, and I'm certainly not afraid to use them in MOCS. XSZ is a pretty good brand for CCBS third-party parts - decent quality, superb colour matching, and some pretty fun models. 

I'll never buy a bootlegged version of an official set design, however.

Edited by Logan McOwen
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I really don't like the idea of buying bootleg toys in general, and I make sure whatever I have isn't fake. But for Bionicle, there is one exception. There is this one Chinese knockoff set called "Masker: Ultimate Judge Trua" which looks as if someone inverted Pohatu Nuva, gave him different weapons, silver Metru shoulder pads and a Mata brown Kiril. Of course, the plastic is probably not going to be the best, and I would be giving money to people who can't even come up with an original constraction design, but the special pieces could be used to make some of my MOCs look better. Such as my Toa Nidhiki, which is just a Lhikan with green, black, and silver armor and a Volitak. I could use the silver Metru armor to replace the Nuva armor on his shoulders. But that's just my opinion.

Here's a picture for reference:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've never bought a bootleg Lego set before (Unless MegaBloks counts as "bootleg" in which case, yes I have), but I do buy third party lego pieces sometimes.

Usually I only get things like custom figures or custom guns when I buy third party.

 

I never buy the bootleg sets though.

I don't trust them. lol

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  • 1 month later...

I remember using some Mega Bloks parts in my creations way back when I was too young to really tell the difference (though I wasn't the one who bought them), but that was when I still built things primarily out of System pieces. Ever since I moved on to Constraction Sets, however, I've avoided them like the plague.

Technically, I did unintentionally buy two XINH Hero 5 Star Soldier bootleg copies of the HF Ogrum set last year, though; I was looking to get more of his transparent green shell pieces to use on a MoC, and, in my defense, the seller had listed them as the actual sets made by Lego. After realising what had happened after I opened the smaller bags (neither contained the original packaging) and seeing how easily the pieces (which smelled like they were previously dipped in paint thinner) broke when I started building them (I've had socket joints from 2008 - onward that developed breaks less frequently), I've since been a lot more careful when it comes to buying sets off of Ebay in an effort to avoid them in the future.

Edited by Timageness

Epics: 

Hero Factory: Contagion

RPG Characters:

BZPRPG Characters

RPG History:

The Asylum, Bionifight Infinite, Year 60,000, Matoran und Panzer, HF RPG 2.0, Wasteland, Corpus Rahkshi, Skyrise

GM Résumé:

Matoran und Panzer (Formerly Appointed Co-GM), Corpus Rahkshi (Former Substitute Co-GM)

 

 

Feel free to shoot a PM my way if you're waiting for me to respond to something and I've been taking a while to do so.

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Does anyone know if the parts sold on bricklink are guaranteed to be real Lego parts, or if they could be knockoffs?  I've probably bought $300 worth, which is probably 8-10 lbs. of parts.  They're sold at really, really cheap prices in some cases.  But I've never noticed a difference in quality between those parts and the kits from the Lego store.

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Well, their legal info at the bottom of the Home Page seems to imply that they only deal in parts made specifically by Lego, as there aren't any other brand names listed alongside theirs. If you really want to double check, though, most official parts have the Lego trademark printed somewhere on the individual pieces. I would assume that if someone was peddling bootleg parts on the site, they probably wouldn't be doing so for very long.

The most probable reason why the parts are so cheap there is likely due to simple economics; the average price for any set also includes things like the cost of the printed instructions, both exterior and interior packaging, and other various details, like the amount of profit the company sees per purchase and the inflation of the materials that go into the sets themselves, such as plastic and paper. What you're seeing there price-wise is actually likely to be closer to the actual production cost of each individual piece; either that, or how valuable said piece is to the seller who posted the listing.

I make no claims to be 100% correct with every little detail contained inside this post, so if anyone else would like to step in and provide more info for clarification purposes, consider yourself welcome to do so. This was just my attempt at answering a question I read within an hour or two of getting out of bed.

Epics: 

Hero Factory: Contagion

RPG Characters:

BZPRPG Characters

RPG History:

The Asylum, Bionifight Infinite, Year 60,000, Matoran und Panzer, HF RPG 2.0, Wasteland, Corpus Rahkshi, Skyrise

GM Résumé:

Matoran und Panzer (Formerly Appointed Co-GM), Corpus Rahkshi (Former Substitute Co-GM)

 

 

Feel free to shoot a PM my way if you're waiting for me to respond to something and I've been taking a while to do so.

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