Right, so I'm going to Target yesterday to see if they have anything new (Inika sets, TFC Primus, Battlestar Titaniums, the works) And as I'm glancing through the spiderman figures my eyes rest upon this piece of work-

Interesting, no? I was able to look through the packaging, and the Rhotuka things appear to be compatible with the old lego launchers as well. The spinners have had some heavy remolding, one with 4 spokes, one with 5 and one with 3, all with a web lattice pattern on the spokes. The ripcord is not any usual bionicle color, but you can tell right away that it is the bionicle one (bushel holes anybody?), its more of metallic blue color. Since Spidey's backpack launcher thing is in the package upside down I couldn't see if it was compatible with lego Rhotuka, though I'm sure it is. Still, I thought this was an interesting find and thougth I'd share it with you guys.
DtM

Well, this is mighty interesting. I'd hate to think that LEGO's being ripped off, but it really looks like it. Why don't you PM Greg and he can pass the word on?

Just when you thought Spiderman couldn't get any worse...

Wow that looks as if the toy company thought lego's ideas were better than there own, anyway nice find the rip cord does look the same deosn't it?

What a rip-off. It seems that they are copying Lego. I hope Lego does something about it.

-NotS

Well, Lego has had relations with the Marvel company before, remember the Spiderman sets? Maybe they still have some sort of business deal going on.
DtM

Geez, Thats Stealing if I ever heard it, I knew other countries had Bionicle Rip Offs, But stealing the the design of the Hordika!!, That is just Nasty, And thats EXACTLY the same Rip Cord except Color and the "Teeth" are the wrong way

Yeah, I noticed this a couple of weeks ago on the Toybiz official site. Toybiz is a good company though and I doubt they would "steal" from Lego.

I wouldn't have believed that was intentional theft if the rip-cord didn't have the technic pin holes on them. I mean, c'mon.

There'd better be legal reprocussions for Marvel.



This post has been edited by Spork O' Doom: Jul 1 2006, 12:26 PM

I don't really like any of the Spider-Man merchandise except for the bed spreads and video games, but how can you say that? Spider-Man is awesome. I do think that this is a rip-off from BIONICLE though.

-

Anyoen else find the hilarious punnage of 'rip-off' in thi topic? XD

Well, back on topic, I find this truly bizzare.

Anyway, comparing it with the actual LEGO Ripcord, you'll notice that the teeth are on opposite sides, which rules out that they stole LEGO's actual ripcord.

TMD woz 'ere

*ahem* Please stop dising Spider-man..SOME OF US like it alot.....

This is a ipoff though....I never buy action figures anymore so.......Hey, here's a question, are Bionicle toys considered action figures?

This post has been edited by zaktan master of piraka: Jul 1 2006, 12:41 PM

I allready pointed out the teeth, I still think that it is too close, why would Spidey be a Technic set

Why is everyone so up in arms about this? Legal reprocussions?

Guys, Marvel couldn't (and wouldn't have) stolen the idea so blatently as they are using it here. Lego and Marvel have already made products together, this is simply another one of them.

That said, I think its pretty silly looking on Spidey's back, but those Spinners look nifty, with their new colors and patterns.

it seems like spidey has been infected with some sort of venom

this is quite odd
the ripcord... i find it odd that it is positioned in such a way (with the inverted teeth) it'll be interesting to see how it works

i like the spinners, the pattern is quite cool

and that actionfigure not as cool as nuparu

he isn't currently, nor is this even lego, but he would make a technic cool set (imagines pushing a button that shoots web)


thanks for this tragic update

This post has been edited by Mikerahk: Jul 1 2006, 01:07 PM

Try not to flame Sider-Man, people... It could start trouble.

That's... Weird... Even his thighs are silver.

They totally stole Lego's ripcord and Rhotuka though, they just modified the molds a little bit to get away with it. Honestly though, is reversing the direction the teeth face enough to escape prosecution? oO

Anyway, nice find. Looks like Spidey got bitten my a Visorak.

Yeah, there seems to be a lot of weird similarities, I mean, Spidey was bit by a spider, and so were the Toa, and now they both have Rhotuka o.0.
But seriously people, please DON'T turn this into a flamewar, it ain't Spidey's fault, there are significant remolds on the spinners and ripcord to make sure that they aren't the same the exact same pieces (though they still seem compatible). Another notable change is that the bushel holes have been filled in by about 1 millimeter (hard to tell by that pic maybe), so you might be able to squeeze a bushel pin in there, and you might not.
DtM

Huh. That's... strange. It must be that Lego and Marvel have a deal, I don't think that a company like Marvel would rip-off (Yes, I get the pun TMD ) something like this.

-String

I just had the mental image of Matau Hordika fighting The Scorpion...

Anyways, this is kinda cool. It's a bit surprising that the packaging wouldn't have the obligatory LEGO insignia slapped on there somewhere. I wonder if we can use the ripcord in BBCs...

yeah i got it at first i didn't but now i do iv'e seen this but cmon don't alot of toys have rings or whatever you want to call the but lego didn't start the "rip-cord" (pun intened) :Por the "rings" but it is a "rip-off" kind of in the grand scheme of things

Eh, my little brother (who wasn't with me at the time) is very interested in this toy, if he gets it sometime this week, I'll try to have pictures up of it, but no gurantees. And Makaru, I was thinking the same thing, I seriously hope that ripcord is still compatible with the bushels.
DtM

As toromaga said, we shouldn't flame spiderman. People like it.

I wouldn't know why they would copy off of lego. There are many other ideas they could use.

hhmm...Ive seen lots of Toys that have spinners WAY before the Hordika, But their completly copying LEGO's ripcord!



but, Takuta-nui, I dont think Spider-man is getting worse at all.







This post has been edited by TDguy: Jul 1 2006, 01:43 PM

The thing is TDguy, they're the exact same size of spinner, and they have the same hole on the underside that attaches to the lego launchers, backwards compatibility usually doesn't happen between two toy companies. If they were say, smaller, larger, or used a different launching peg then I wouldn't consider them Rhotuka remolds, but they aren't any of those things, they are blatant remolds of Lego pieces.
DtM

I say we kill our "friendly" neighborhood spider man. I mean.... Well, the hordika can take him on anyday. Oh well. Interesting find.

Just to clarify...

Bionicle was not the first to come up with the Rhotuka idea. The spinner/ripcord thing has been going on for a long time.

The only real reason to propose that Spider-man has "ripped off" LEGO is because of the ripcord's almost identical similarity to Bionicle's ripcords.

Let's not flame Spider-man or Marvel. Business is business. If LEGO finds this grounds for something serious, they'll deal with it. If not, they'll let it go.

And besides, I wouldn't say it's that serious a rip-off. All they really stole was the detail design of the ripcord. Ripcords are all built basically the same way. The only rip-off here is the handle design.

So let's not worry about it. It's nothing really that serious.

Dr. B

This post has been edited by Dr. Bionicle: Jul 1 2006, 03:17 PM

Thanks, Dr. B. Your points are all correct. And it seems some of us here are taking this a bit too far, with the flaming and whatnot.

And flaming isn't needed.

Topic closed.