Official Rare & Promotional Collectibles Topic

[David Skyroller]

3 hours ago, Letagi said:

 Sometimes the numbers that people land on in auctions are almost unbelievably high, like $2000 for the light blue Kakama.

The seller said the light blue Kakama sold for $4,500 but I know in auctions like this, the higher bidders very often fall through and the sellers contact the next highest bidder(s). I think @Darknut probably has more info on this specific auction. I was expecting that one to land in the mid $2,000s and I think that $4,500 surprised everyone. My guess is it went so high because the seller has a good reputation, it was a cool color, and because a couple of the die hard fans who are actually willing to shell out that much money happened to know about the auction and have the cash/credit available.

@Owls I speculate the rank in "value" of your prototypes would be

1. Dark Turquoise Matatu (Because Dark Turquoise is really cool and because it would color match Kongu)

2. Yellow Ruru (Because of the Sand Tarakava Hype, but not #1, because there are at least 3x others of these out there)

3. Sand Green Rau (Because Tamaru and sand green is cool)

4. Violet Huna (Would rank 1+ higher if it was in a cool shade more commonly used in Bionicle)

5. Dark Orange Mahiki (Even though this is a color match for Huki, #5 Because kanohi in colors related to Po-Koro tend to sell for less (with the Trans-orange Kaukau being the exception), and the Mahiki is one of the weaker noble mask designs) The Brown Komaus go for much less than the white and yellow Hunas. (I know it is more common, but the color does play into it more than people realize)

6. Light Blue Trident (Because it's not a kanohi)

I speculate at the upper end of the rankings you will find a couple people who are willing to pay close to ~$3,000-$4,000, and at the lower end you are looking at ~$500-$600. A lot of that depends on the perception of the parts being genuine and your reputation as a seller.

[Letagi]

4 minutes ago, David Skyroller said:

The seller said the light blue Kakama sold for $4,500 but I know in auctions like this, the higher bidders very often fall through and the sellers contact the next highest bidder(s). I think @Darknut probably has more info on this specific auction. I was expecting that one to land in the mid $2,000s and I think that $4,500 surprised everyone. My guess is it went so high because the seller has a good reputation, it was a cool color, and because a couple of the die hard fans who are actually willing to shell out that much money happened to know about the auction and have the cash/credit available.

You're right, I just found the auction post and it was 4500. Not sure why I remembered 2000.

[Darknut]

58 minutes ago, David Skyroller said:

The seller said the light blue Kakama sold for $4,500 but I know in auctions like this, the higher bidders very often fall through and the sellers contact the next highest bidder(s). I think @Darknut probably has more info on this specific auction. I was expecting that one to land in the mid $2,000s and I think that $4,500 surprised everyone. My guess is it went so high because the seller has a good reputation, it was a cool color, and because a couple of the die hard fans who are actually willing to shell out that much money happened to know about the auction and have the cash/credit available.

@Owls I speculate the rank in "value" of your prototypes would be

1. Dark Turquoise Matatu (Because Dark Turquoise is really cool and because it would color match Kongu)

2. Yellow Ruru (Because of the Sand Tarakava Hype, but not #1, because there are at least 3x others of these out there)

3. Sand Green Rau (Because Tamaru and sand green is cool)

4. Violet Huna (Would rank 1+ higher if it was in a cool shade more commonly used in Bionicle)

5. Dark Orange Mahiki (Even though this is a color match for Huki, #5 Because kanohi in colors related to Po-Koro tend to sell for less (with the Trans-orange Kaukau being the exception), and the Mahiki is one of the weaker noble mask designs) The Brown Komaus go for much less than the white and yellow Hunas. (I know it is more common, but the color does play into it more than people realize)

6. Light Blue Trident (Because it's not a kanohi)

I speculate at the upper end of the rankings you will find a couple people who are willing to pay close to ~$3,000-$4,000, and at the lower end you are looking at ~$500-$600. A lot of that depends on the perception of the parts being genuine and your reputation as a seller.

I was really confused on how you knew about that since I usually keep my collection pretty private, but then remembered my Brickshelf handle is the same as this one, oops. But yeah the Medium Blue Kakama's final price is public knowledge, what the seller has listed is the correct amount. Wish it wasn't, I was pretty good about not using my Lego budget this year for anything other than the GWP until that auction. I'm out of the game for a while now.

But yeah @Owls, I would agree with @David Skyroller on pretty much all points regarding the pieces. While what you have is mostly one of a kind, I think we may be hitting the peak of what people are willing to pay for a piece of plastic these days. If you're just looking for offers it will probably end up in the $2500 - $4000 range. I wish the pricing @Letagi mentioned was still a feasible amount, but it seems that isn't the case these days. If you want to try your luck with an auction you can too, but there's less power in vetting who you're selling to that way so you might just end up getting it into the hands of someone trying to flip it (if you care about that, that is). With the auction route I feel you'll still end up on the higher end of the prices mentioned here for sure, but it might take longer and you'll have to drum up the interest.

As for the genuineness of the parts, I remember you mentioning trying to get some Lego designer's feedback on them (I think it was Prince Galidor), so if you have proof of that from them it'll gain you a lot more credibility.

Edited October 25, 2023 by Darknut

[Letagi]

5 minutes ago, Darknut said:

But yeah @Owls, I would agree with @David Skyroller on pretty much all points regarding the pieces. While what you have is mostly one of a kind, I think we may be hitting the peak of what people are willing to pay for a piece of plastic these days. If you're just looking for offers it will probably end up in the $2500 - $4000 range. I wish the pricing @Letagi mentioned was still a feasible amount, but it seems that isn't the case these days. If you want to try your luck with an auction you can too, but there's less power in vetting who you're selling to that way so you might just end up getting it into the hands of someone trying to flip it (if you care about that, that is).

$500-1000 is still feasible, just not consistently so. The prototype black Ruru went for $725, and two brown Komau have sold for $1100 each recently. It depends entirely on who is able to bid, and how high, at the time the item goes up for sale.

Don't get me wrong, these new masks could very well go for a few thousand each at auction. There's just no guarantee, especially since the lack of provenance might cause some collectors to hesitate. Though I'll second that assurances from a Lego employee go a long way in that regard. 

[David Skyroller]

A WMKK was just listed on eBay for 1.5k (Not mine, but I will be interested to see how soon it sells, and if it's an accepted best offer.) Https://www.ebay.com/itm/314919499976?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=e-migoalqem&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=w3NMvHySR-2&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[Owls]

On 10/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, Roger C-T said:

 

First of all, any further details of where/who you obtained them from, and where they got them from, as far back in the timeline as is possible would be wonderful.

Second, I suppose it must be said, any further pictures of the masks would be greatly appreciated, especially shots compared to other parts of the same color from the same era. While it's absolutely believable that unknown mythical Bionicle parts show up over 20 years later, and the pictures you provided were great, there is a rise in popularity of resin "replicas" (fakes) out there that are getting better. While I don't think I've seen a resin mask that could stand up to close inspection, I'm not saying it's not possible, and unfortunately we are likely to see these fakes being passed off as the real thing at some point in the future if the craft is mastered.

 

Hey,

there's not a lot more I can say about where I got em from. I've been running a small Bionicle-centered BL store for a while, which is why I'm looking through lots to buy multiple times a day. The prototypes/misprints are from such a lot. It wasn't a cheap lot either and I was about 80% certain that those parts must've been bootlegs/fakes, but I was just curious enough to take the gamble. The rest of the lot was nothing too noteworthy; a few Toa Mata, a few Turaga and the Nui-Jaga, along with a few loose parts and two decks of the Bionicle TCG.
I guess the best information I can provide is that the lot came from a city in the very north of Germany, very close to the Danish border, so it's not unlikely whoever sold them knew someone at Lego back in the day.

I'll try my best to get images with other parts of the same color the next time I get the chance, since I don't currently have the sapce or access to a nice photo setup. But I can guarantee that the material is the exact same as Lego's ABS plastic.

-Owls

[Illuminatus]

On 10/25/2023 at 6:45 AM, Letagi said:

$500-1000 is still feasible, just not consistently so. The prototype black Ruru went for $725, and two brown Komau have sold for $1100 each recently. It depends entirely on who is able to bid, and how high, at the time the item goes up for sale.

I'm happy to say that was me who won the prototype black Ruru; I just picked it up in person a few days ago at Copenhagen Airport.

It is a thing of beauty and 100% genuine from what I can tell.

I was very surprised that I won as I was realistically just one or two bids away from tapping out. It was a very long and drawn out $25-increment endurance battle between me and just two other bidders. I think it's possible that this one auction was just buried under the algorithm and seen by much fewer people than the one for the tan Kakama; it's also pretty likely that the few people that did see the auction very deliberately kept it to themselves.

In fact, Thomas (the seller) was thoughtful enough to offer me a brown Komau instead of the Ruru and while I did very much fancy that mask, I respectfully declined as I'd rather secure the less common (if more obscure) mask. All in all, the $725 price tag for a prototype is definitely an anomaly and I consider myself immensely lucky.

[Cygnus]

Hello everyone,

I recently made a post on possible replicas of SSKKs and it was suggested that I bring my query here. Would anyone more experienced mind shedding some light on what I have?

Thanks, post below.

 

[David Skyroller]

5 minutes ago, Cygnus said:

Hello everyone,

I recently made a post on possible replicas of SSKKs and it was suggested that I bring my query here. Would anyone more experienced mind shedding some light on what I have?

Thanks, post below.

 

Yes, these look like the vacuum metal Krana Kal (VMKK) given out to proto squad members and those who happened across the Bionicle van on one of its tours.

[Cygnus]

Wow, that would be quite a find then! Could they still be VMKK even if they seem to not have any metal properties besides appearance?

[David Skyroller]

1 minute ago, Cygnus said:

Wow, that would be quite a find then! Could they still be VMKK even if they seem to not have any metal properties besides appearance?

Correct, the coating is thin and can be scraped off similar to the old Lego Star wars lightsabers and the King Leo's Sword.

[Cygnus]

I used to have that sword! Well, this is great news then, I read about there being a Ca and a Xa variant of the VMKK. Am I correct to assume that these are Xa? Also, is there a good place to sell them that you would recommend?

[David Skyroller]

17 minutes ago, Cygnus said:

I read about there being a Ca and a Xa variant of the VMKK. Am I correct to assume that these are Xa? Also, is there a good place to sell them that you would recommend?

There are eight "breeds", and you have the Ca and the Yo. See the attached picture. I am sure a few people here would be interested in them (myself included), but if you would prefer to sell them through a 3rd party website instead of working something out directly with a buyer here, eBay would be a good place if you don't mind paying a higher percentage of the sale price in fees.

[Cygnus]

I see, I appreciate the clarification! I am open to working things out with a buyer here through PayPal G&S, however, I am going to sleep on it so I can properly come up with a price, which it seems that there has been very few sold in the last couple of years and thus quite hard to decide.

I will be online tomorrow afternoon (EST) and will see then what the interest is like for these VMKKs. If anyone would like further pictures of them, shoot me a PM and I will be happy to oblige.

Goodnight all! 

[ToaTImeLord]

Hello my friend Vox has helped me learn a bit but I think I own a rare piece.

 

 

[tourmalinex]

On 12/17/2023 at 8:20 PM, Cygnus said:

I see, I appreciate the clarification! I am open to working things out with a buyer here through PayPal G&S, however, I am going to sleep on it so I can properly come up with a price, which it seems that there has been very few sold in the last couple of years and thus quite hard to decide.

I will be online tomorrow afternoon (EST) and will see then what the interest is like for these VMKKs. If anyone would like further pictures of them, shoot me a PM and I will be happy to oblige.

Goodnight all! 

XA:$450  Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One                 

ZA:$375 Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One

Vu: $350 Easy 2

Ca: $380  Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One

Yo: $150 Easy 1

Su: $200  Easy 2

Bo: $150Easy 1

[Aiden]

8 hours ago, tourmalinex said:

XA:$450  Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One                 

ZA:$375 Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One

Vu: $350 Easy 2

Ca: $380  Hard  To Find - Everyone Wants One

Yo: $150 Easy 1

Su: $200  Easy 2

Bo: $150Easy 1

What’re these prices based on? Yo, Su, and Bo are all worth way more than that, honestly they should all roughly be worth about the same. They’re all equally hard to find, although I’ll note the Yo coincidentally is one I’ve seen pop up the least of over the years.

[tourmalinex]

Rededicated......

Edited December 25, 2023 by tourmalinex

[tourmalinex]

8 hours ago, Aiden said:

What’re these prices based on? Yo, Su, and Bo are all worth way more than that, honestly they should all roughly be worth about the same. They’re all equally hard to find, although I’ll note the Yo coincidentally is one I’ve seen pop up the least of over the years.

My friends have been buying them for 3-6 years now. They have been hoarding them.

Edited December 25, 2023 by tourmalinex

[Aiden]

3 hours ago, tourmalinex said:

They have 3 complete sets of them and 4 random lots.

I’m sorry but that seems pretty hard to believe. Even assuming that’s true, those prices are an outlier. Those are just good deals, not really what these would typically sell for. It’s also really hard to take private sales into account since it’s completely based on he said she said. The cheapest public sale of any VMKK anytime recently was $300.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Aiden

[tourmalinex]

Thats not what they plan to sell then for. I have made offers to buy a complete set of 8 at a discount with a payment plan. I physical inspected the items in 2020 because of question about origin of the pieces.

I am not sure how many of them are there and why there was that many in Europe because I believed them to be a USA item for some reason. I will say a complete set is around 5k.

Edited December 26, 2023 by tourmalinex

[Aiden]

28 minutes ago, tourmalinex said:

Thats not what they plan to sell then for. I have made offers to buy a complete set of 8 at a discount with a payment plan. I physical inspected the items in 2020 because of question about origin of the pieces.

I am not sure how many of them are there and why there was that many in Europe because I believed them to be a USA item for some reason. I will say a complete set is around 5k.

Iirc a complete set sold for 2k years ago. I don’t remember if it included a full set of GPKK or not. 5k seems a bit high, that’s valuing each krana at 625 which also contradicts the original varying prices for each individual krana you listed. Basing prices on public sales, a full set would realistically go for $2400-3600.

[tourmalinex]

5k has to do with the fact that they are a collectibles selling business. An individual might beable to sell them cheaper.

Edited December 26, 2023 by tourmalinex

[Turaga onewa]

https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/79777167-lego-bionicle-exclusive-gali-mask-2015-lego-inside-tour-bionicle-event

looks like a Exclusive Gali mask

[Ektris]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:54 PM, Turaga onewa said:

https://www.catawiki.com/en/l/79777167-lego-bionicle-exclusive-gali-mask-2015-lego-inside-tour-bionicle-event

looks like a Exclusive Gali mask

Well that would be mine now.

 

Was a bit annoyed when the first auction ended right as I figured out the reserve price. But was the only bidder this time. Hadn't heard of this site before, so just might not have garnered much attention..

 

Leaves only the pearl gold Kraahkan to get to "complete" my collection of G1 and G2 non-single-or-double-digit-in-existence exceptionally rare masks.

[Turaga onewa]

That's cool, the only mask I am currently missing to complete my collection is the yellow huna.

[confused piraka]

just bought my first 'rare' mask. movie edition kraahkan! (the makuta wearing it was $5. the mask was much more.

Edited February 18 by confused piraka

[Aiden]

PSA on shadow leech prototypes:

I've been collecting Bionicle prototypes for a few years now, and it all started with the shadow leeches. I've done a lot of research on them, most likely more than anyone else, so I'd like to consider myself a pretty reputable source when it comes to this particular niche. I've recently seen some questionable "prototypes" pop up, and I wanted to address them along with showing ones that are legitimate, to hopefully inform people who may be less knowledgeable on the topic before making any purchases.

Firstly, I want to talk about and show off the real deals (See image 1). First, the Binkmeister prototypes (Image 1, row 2). These are already outlined in this topic, but I'll give a quick rundown. Bags of prototypes were given to community members (for example Black 6) from Binkmeister, a Lego employee at the time (I'm unsure of their current employment status). Among these were prototype shadow leeches, in an array of different colors (all possible colors are shown here, though it's important to note the shades and red speckling vary, just like the normal shadow leeches). I received two yellow leeches from Dviddy, and I traded for the rest of the Binkmeister leeches I needed from a reputable source (who will be kept private). 

While searching for the leeches, I came across a post in BZP from a former Lego employee, Torsti, made in 2014.

 

It's explained that while they were interning, they found a drawer full of shadow leeches, and was allowed to keep them. This lot consisted of 53 seemingly normal leeches, four 3D printed prototypes of an early design for the leech, three test mold leeches in opaque orange, a 3D printed tridax pod prototype, and another tridax pod prototype in a slightly darker trans orange, with a slightly different mold.  I reached out to them and we were able to work out a deal, and on arrival I discovered that the 53 "normal" shadow leeches were also prototypes. They each had varying amounts of sparkle to them, different consistencies of rubber (some being particularly flimsy), some being in much more vibrant shades of blue/green than what was released, and one even having red speckling mixed into it (See image 1, row 1, and row 4/5 for the tridax pods). There have been no images of these prototypes from Torsti other than what he and I have shared, so it is likely these are the only ones of these in existence.

(Image 1)

This leads me to the recent "prototypes" that have popped up recently. I won't be naming names, of course (as it is always possible to be wrong, and I don't want to put anyone on blast, just raise awareness), but it has all been rather suspicious. Last year, four light gray leeches (FDM printed) popped up, claiming to be from a trade show. I reached out to Skybird, who has done a lot of reasearch on trade shows and prototypes since he won the bid for the prototype Axalara, who gave me his opinion on them. "Axalara comes up for sale in late June (sold early July), I make the story public about two weeks into July.

•I mention trade show (by name)
•They mention trade show (vague)
I mention location, NY
They mention location, TX
•I source pictures from a private event (because lego invites press)
•They explain a lack of pictures with photos being unallowed (fair enough
•I mention parts are printed, and mention the method but not the specific acronym (SLS)
•They show printed parts (appear FDM, something I have not seen Lego use, but either way, they definitely aren't SLS)

All of the info they share is public info, but the only info that could prove the parts are real, sources, material, documentation. Those are left out", and also mentions they couldn't find any trace of a trade show happening at that location, in the rough time frames a shadow leech would be relevant. Here is the post of Tourmalinex's haul, where he was given the leeches for free, alongside some rarer items he purchased: 

Something I've noticed is that questionable items will often be shown with rare, legitimate items, potentially to try and boost its credibility. The story behind these is (in my opinion) just doesn't hold up, and they have never been seen prior or have any sort of evidence that can prove that they're real. They also claimed to have one of the 3D printed leeches I received from Torsti, but when asked for pictures, none were provided.

Just one month later, new "prototype" leeches popped up on Reddit linked here: 

The leeches are all white, SLS printed, and notably on a sprue. It's been pointed out to me that with SLS printing, there is no reason for them to have been on a sprue, but I am not an expert on 3D printing myself, so I can't confirm that. They also had a note stating what it was, and they showed me a very low quality digital image of it when I requested to see it in personal messages. Even if the note was higher quality, I can't say a note is enough to verify their legitimacy. I unfortunately don't have an image of the note at this point as it's been awhile. They told me they sold them to a reseller who was planning on splitting them up, but I've yet to see any pop up until very recently. The first user who responded to this post is now deleted, and the other comment afterwards was straight up deleted, which is a bit suspicious on its own. The user who made the post was also on a brand new account at the time. Like the previous gray leeches, these had never been seen before nor had any sort of real evidence, but something notable is that the big critique with the gray leeches is that they were FDM printed, and these white ones fix that issue with being SLS, and the seller made a point to make sure people knew these were SLS.

Just last Thursday, this post was made in BST from a new account: 

Where they post an image of items they allegedly received from somebody who worked for a "promotional events company". It's worth noting they have the NYCC Clear Hau, which may be there to boost credibility, somewhat similar to the VMKK with the gray leeches earlier. Of course, that's being pessimistic, but it's important to look at all the possibilities. Among this assortment of items, there is a white leech and a blue/black tridax pod half. The white leech looks to be identical to the ones on the sprue, notably with no sprue of course. This is in fact not from the sprue, however, as they claim this lot of items was bought in 2018. The tridax pod doesn't make much sense, as if you take a look at it, it's a completely unique mold. It was suggested that it may be a test mold for Von Nebula's tridax pod, however he used the same exact mold of the original tridax pod, just in blue and black. It's possible that they may have tried to use a different design, but this has never been seen prior. When asked, I was also not provided with additional pictures, as they were conveniently (in my opinion) given away (for free) despite them claiming they bought this lot to resell. Without additional pictures, it's impossible to really look into the pod further. Additionally, on the topic of the leech, somebody reached out to me and claimed they heard from a designer, and that there is a file for the white leech that was "not meant to be distributed", and that they have the file, and they can be printed at home. The file was not provided, but this is suspicious on both ends- either this claim is true, and that means that people could just print their own fakes, or it's fake, and people have just been printing fakes. I'm going to completely ignore this claim, as it contradicts it's purpose of trying to prove legitimacy, while also being nothing more than a claim.

These three instances all have too many suspicious aspects too them, and in my opinion, are not legitimate. It's perfectly possible that I'm wrong, but I'd like to encourage you all to look into this kind of stuff further than what is presented at face value. A story isn't always true, and it's important to cross reference, compare, and talk to knowledgeable people on the topic. Sorry for the long read folks, I felt it was important to put this out there as I've felt these recent pop ups have been rather suspicious, and I've seen a lot of people kind of just accept them as real with pretty minimal research.

 

 

 

 

[Turaga onewa]

I agree with you and I think that prototype leeches never came in white; they came in orange, yellow, red, and blue.

[Gallaver]

2 hours ago, Aiden said:

PSA on shadow leech prototypes:

I've been collecting Bionicle prototypes for a few years now, and it all started with the shadow leeches. I've done a lot of research on them, most likely more than anyone else, so I'd like to consider myself a pretty reputable source when it comes to this particular niche. I've recently seen some questionable "prototypes" pop up, and I wanted to address them along with showing ones that are legitimate, to hopefully inform people who may be less knowledgeable on the topic before making any purchases.

Firstly, I want to talk about and show off the real deals (See image 1). First, the Binkmeister prototypes (Image 1, row 2). These are already outlined in this topic, but I'll give a quick rundown. Bags of prototypes were given to community members (for example Black 6) from Binkmeister, a Lego employee at the time (I'm unsure of their current employment status). Among these were prototype shadow leeches, in an array of different colors (all possible colors are shown here, though it's important to note the shades and red speckling vary, just like the normal shadow leeches). I received two yellow leeches from Dviddy, and I traded for the rest of the Binkmeister leeches I needed from a reputable source (who will be kept private). 

While searching for the leeches, I came across a post in BZP from a former Lego employee, Torsti, made in 2014.

 

It's explained that while they were interning, they found a drawer full of shadow leeches, and was allowed to keep them. This lot consisted of 53 seemingly normal leeches, four 3D printed prototypes of an early design for the leech, three test mold leeches in opaque orange, a 3D printed tridax pod prototype, and another tridax pod prototype in a slightly darker trans orange, with a slightly different mold.  I reached out to them and we were able to work out a deal, and on arrival I discovered that the 53 "normal" shadow leeches were also prototypes. They each had varying amounts of sparkle to them, different consistencies of rubber (some being particularly flimsy), some being in much more vibrant shades of blue/green than what was released, and one even having red speckling mixed into it (See image 1, row 1, and row 4/5 for the tridax pods). There have been no images of these prototypes from Torsti other than what he and I have shared, so it is likely these are the only ones of these in existence.

(Image 1)

This leads me to the recent "prototypes" that have popped up recently. I won't be naming names, of course (as it is always possible to be wrong, and I don't want to put anyone on blast, just raise awareness), but it has all been rather suspicious. Last year, four light gray leeches (FDM printed) popped up, claiming to be from a trade show. I reached out to Skybird, who has done a lot of reasearch on trade shows and prototypes since he won the bid for the prototype Axalara, who gave me his opinion on them. "Axalara comes up for sale in late June (sold early July), I make the story public about two weeks into July.

•I mention trade show (by name)
•They mention trade show (vague)
I mention location, NY
They mention location, TX
•I source pictures from a private event (because lego invites press)
•They explain a lack of pictures with photos being unallowed (fair enough
•I mention parts are printed, and mention the method but not the specific acronym (SLS)
•They show printed parts (appear FDM, something I have not seen Lego use, but either way, they definitely aren't SLS)

All of the info they share is public info, but the only info that could prove the parts are real, sources, material, documentation. Those are left out", and also mentions they couldn't find any trace of a trade show happening at that location, in the rough time frames a shadow leech would be relevant. Here is the post of Tourmalinex's haul, where he was given the leeches for free, alongside some rarer items he purchased: 

Something I've noticed is that questionable items will often be shown with rare, legitimate items, potentially to try and boost its credibility. The story behind these is (in my opinion) just doesn't hold up, and they have never been seen prior or have any sort of evidence that can prove that they're real. They also claimed to have one of the 3D printed leeches I received from Torsti, but when asked for pictures, none were provided.

Just one month later, new "prototype" leeches popped up on Reddit linked here: 

The leeches are all white, SLS printed, and notably on a sprue. It's been pointed out to me that with SLS printing, there is no reason for them to have been on a sprue, but I am not an expert on 3D printing myself, so I can't confirm that. They also had a note stating what it was, and they showed me a very low quality digital image of it when I requested to see it in personal messages. Even if the note was higher quality, I can't say a note is enough to verify their legitimacy. I unfortunately don't have an image of the note at this point as it's been awhile. They told me they sold them to a reseller who was planning on splitting them up, but I've yet to see any pop up until very recently. The first user who responded to this post is now deleted, and the other comment afterwards was straight up deleted, which is a bit suspicious on its own. The user who made the post was also on a brand new account at the time. Like the previous gray leeches, these had never been seen before nor had any sort of real evidence, but something notable is that the big critique with the gray leeches is that they were FDM printed, and these white ones fix that issue with being SLS, and the seller made a point to make sure people knew these were SLS.

Just last Thursday, this post was made in BST from a new account: 

Where they post an image of items they allegedly received from somebody who worked for a "promotional events company". It's worth noting they have the NYCC Clear Hau, which may be there to boost credibility, somewhat similar to the VMKK with the gray leeches earlier. Of course, that's being pessimistic, but it's important to look at all the possibilities. Among this assortment of items, there is a white leech and a blue/black tridax pod half. The white leech looks to be identical to the ones on the sprue, notably with no sprue of course. This is in fact not from the sprue, however, as they claim this lot of items was bought in 2018. The tridax pod doesn't make much sense, as if you take a look at it, it's a completely unique mold. It was suggested that it may be a test mold for Von Nebula's tridax pod, however he used the same exact mold of the original tridax pod, just in blue and black. It's possible that they may have tried to use a different design, but this has never been seen prior. When asked, I was also not provided with additional pictures, as they were conveniently (in my opinion) given away (for free) despite them claiming they bought this lot to resell. Without additional pictures, it's impossible to really look into the pod further. Additionally, on the topic of the leech, somebody reached out to me and claimed they heard from a designer, and that there is a file for the white leech that was "not meant to be distributed", and that they have the file, and they can be printed at home. The file was not provided, but this is suspicious on both ends- either this claim is true, and that means that people could just print their own fakes, or it's fake, and people have just been printing fakes. I'm going to completely ignore this claim, as it contradicts it's purpose of trying to prove legitimacy, while also being nothing more than a claim.

These three instances all have too many suspicious aspects too them, and in my opinion, are not legitimate. It's perfectly possible that I'm wrong, but I'd like to encourage you all to look into this kind of stuff further than what is presented at face value. A story isn't always true, and it's important to cross reference, compare, and talk to knowledgeable people on the topic. Sorry for the long read folks, I felt it was important to put this out there as I've felt these recent pop ups have been rather suspicious, and I've seen a lot of people kind of just accept them as real with pretty minimal research.

 

 

 

 

 Why are Why are you making me out to be a liar because I never said I was selling those 3D printed pieces at all.  I even said that I had all those 3D printed looked and was  told they were not real but no apparently I am some kind of weird scheming person......

Edited February 24 by Gallaver

[Aiden]

4 hours ago, Gallaver said:

 Why are Why are you making me out to be a liar because I never said I was selling those 3D printed pieces at all.  I even said that I had all those 3D printed looked and was  told they were not real but no apparently I am some kind of weird scheming person......

I’m not. Specifically said I’m not pointing fingers, your post just so happened to be one of these instances a fake shadow leech prototype popped up, and I was going through them all. You never said you had them looked at, and were told that they were fake (unless you did AFTER the post I made). You did however say you bought this lot of items to resell, which is what I said. All I was saying is that it’s just very weird and suspicious that all of these have popped up so close together, and there are other things that just don’t line up. It’s perfectly possible that you bought those items without knowing their authenticity, which is why I didn’t outright say you were scamming or anything. I’m sure you’re not, but I also wanted to talk about the possibility either way for general awareness. Apologies if it came off otherwise.

[Turaga onewa]

Is this a gold Vahki head?

[Lightbluekaukau]

Hello, I have gotten hold of a White Huna mask that I'm looking to sell. What is a fair price for it? I heard about the one selling on bricklink for 3000+ euro but that seems unreasonable.

[Turaga onewa]

I am thinking $1500ish those masks on bricklink are over-hyped by people who sell their masks at unreasonable prices, and then buy them back. Then, they list it again, justifying their unreasonable prices.

[InconspicuousShark]

$1500-$2000. It's rare but I don't think you could justify much more for plastic personally. I imagine this will be an easy mask to counterfeit down the road too, fan made mask recolors are getting really good.

[confused piraka]

On 12/24/2023 at 7:49 PM, ToaTImeLord said:

Hello my friend Vox has helped me learn a bit but I think I own a rare piece.

yeah I own it too, might be looking to sell. can I get some information on it please?

[Vspinax]

Hi, I noticed today that one of my silver Kaukaus look slightly different. I have 3, where 2 of them are identical, and one that stands out a little bit. It's a bit hard to capture on picture, it looks more clear irl, but I tried. it's a lot more clear when you shine a light trough them.

I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything. I'm guessing it's probably nothing special, just a variation, but thought to check it out just in case. sorry if I wasted your time

[Turaga onewa]

Just color variations between the silver and gold mask colors.