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On 8/11/2023 at 2:34 AM, tourmalinex said:

Conclusions on gray leeches

1.       They do not fit on Lego axles. If they are Lego parts, should they not fit?

2.       They are FDM printed, so they are hard to paint.

3.       They don’t match any leech’s artwork made by Lego.

4.       All the Lego printed prototypes I research are SLS.

5.       I feel that they are fake, however TNG did not charge me for them based on my research.

                                                                                                                                                               About the Blue Leech

It was sold by TNG partner who claimed ownership of the Blue Leech.  The blue leech is the same as the one in the picture that I posted. Holding the piece in the past, it was made of SLS and felt like sand and was painted blue.

As far as the blue one goes, (I’m certainly not calling you a liar) but I’m sure you’d understand that without pictures of the actual one they had, as far as I’m concerned theirs doesn’t exist/is fake, until pictures are brought forward for inspection. 

1 hour ago, tourmalinex said:

The blue leech looks like this picture I found online.

There partner wants to see if they can sell it at Brick-fest.

If the “powdered blue” leech is the same as that one, I’d say it’s safe to say the gray ones are real, assuming he got them all from the same person. I have four of those ones, from a former lego employee.

19 minutes ago, tourmalinex said:

It’s a white metal Krana, someone tried to drill it to make it a pendent. I have looked at some other white metal krana that Lego made they are cheaply made with molding lines and rounded points on the sharp parts of the mask, like someone used a hand file on it. Someone tried to solder something to this one and drill a hole in the forehead. So bricks and mini figs could not sell it. There is ownership problems with the one blue leach.

RIP that WMKK. I have a replica that I bought which has damage where the stud was because it was soldered to a ring. Looks practically identical to the official one I had awhile back.

Ownership problems is an interesting issue, I wonder what could be going on there. 

Just now, tourmalinex said:

I ended up going to McDonald's and get them and the stuff I wanted.

. 

Oh wow, is that an actual vmkk? That’s awesome! What happened to those blue ones he said he had?

3 hours ago, tourmalinex said:

I have bought other stuff from them that was real. There prices are like from 4 year ago on masks. No ones going to sell you moive edition set for $50 now adays.

I don’t quite follow what you’re saying here, sorry 

1 hour ago, tourmalinex said:

From Seller:

They are a table prop; I would call them a decoration and they were gifted to me in 2011. I had a leach pod that was missing a clip on one side and a color deformity, the person who bought them told me they sold it on eBay for $000, when they came back asking for more. I don’t see much value in them like $7 a piece, I been looking on eBay for prices. Arther considers these prototypes; I don’t see them as such.  

I find the lack of information concerning, and the whole situation suspicious. Nobody buys something from you and resells it for triple digits and then comes back, tells you they did, and asks for more to sell. Also a noticeable lack of pictures other than the one you shared. They haven’t said how many they have, so while $7 apiece seems innocent, they could just be printing these and turning a big profit even off of just $7. Also really weird they haven’t gone to any sort of bionicle forum or community to ask about them, that’s what most people typically do, even people unfamiliar with bionicle. 

That being said, at $7 apiece there isn’t much risk.

Edit: It’s also odd they aren’t asking for more, after seeing somebody sell one of his items for triple digits. As shown by the red gold avohkii, he sold them initially cheap, saw people resell it for quad digits, and put his up for auction to get more money. Doesn’t add up why he’d be asking pocket change for them, at that point you may as well be giving them out for free, unless of course they are costing him money to produce. But of course that’s worst case scenario, it’d help if we had more info and pictures obviously. 

1 hour ago, tourmalinex said:

I think they are fake....?

Reading this over again, I’m very confused. He mentions a tridax pod being resold two years ago on eBay, but is there any record of that? I haven’t gotten any of my tridax pod or shadow leech prototypes from eBay- and I don’t believe I got any tridax pods a whole two years ago, but time flies. I’m really curious what the tridax pod in question was. Could you ask for a picture of that?

6 hours ago, doodleloot said:

Keep in mind though that those parts are SLS printed (fusing Nylon powder with a laser), not FDM prints like tourmalinex mentioned. Not that Lego may have never used FDM for prototyping, but the parts we saw used for Toy Fair prototypes around that time were spray painted SLS prints usually.

Maybe there is some more context that could shine light on these? Were these (allegedly) given out to trade show visitors?

Interesting, I don’t know much about printing. I’d still be really interested in talking to the person myself though, if not to confirm to myself they are not real. I think the ones I have are spray painted, but coooould be powdered?

21 hours ago, tourmalinex said:

These are being sold as "Trade Show Leach " , they are FDM printed. Does Lego 3d print pieces for trade shows?

My 3d printer at home can make these in a higher quality in the same color.

TRADE SHOW LEECHES? I’m rolling in my grave right now.

To answer your question they do, several pieces in the trade show prototype Axalara were 3D printed, two being the adapted Miru and it’s HUD.

8 hours ago, The Archivist said:

You are more correct than I am about the specifics. I didn't have this info and appreciate it. Slight correction, I am 100% sure the 5k listing appeared AFTER the ebay auction. Which is what made me think it was the same mask from the auction. 

It didn’t. He briefly had the listing up before the 5k listing went up. (Assuming the worst) I’m assuming he took it down when the 3k listing showed up and put it back up afterwards to try and “justify” his price more.

The prices people like SYU and BU ask are exorbitant, even for how rare the items are. That trans orange shadow leech prototype SYU sold for 800? (Well firstly, he claimed it was the only one in existence “to his knowledge”, which was lying on both fronts). These were given out free (as quite a few prototypes have been) years ago, and on top of that hundreds of shadow leech prototypes in varying colors were made. I own a trans orange as well, and reached out to him letting him know his wasn’t the only one, and provided pictures, and he RESPONDED and acknowledged this to me- and then didn’t update his listings. So I can personally prove his claims were a lie.

Ideally the only items going close to or above $1k are the items made of precious metals. Anything else, including, yes, sought after prototype masks, should realistically not go over 500. Both the proto masks I’ve owned (which were pretty recently purchased) I bought for $300. Non mask items like prototype zamors or other prototype weapons I’ve bought for $50. That’s my ideal market as far as prototypes go- and I’ve been able to make it happen. So if you see something listed way too high don’t bite or cave into FOMO. Be patient and be diligent, chances are you’ll find it cheaper.

Obviously the market has some part in everything, but there are sellers who knowingly and willingly take advantage of it. SYU is widely regarded as somebody who has almost SINGLE-HANDEDLY scuffed the market to where it is today, and has been banned from quite a few bionicle communities for his practices. Defending such practices does nobody any good and enables them further. 

Happy you were able to get something so cool! I’m sure something like this would have to be a crown jewel in your collection, I would have to imagine that that’s the largest prototype set we’ve seen actually pass hands! And I mean, the Axalara is just downright cool to begin with.

On 7/26/2023 at 9:13 PM, prototype hunters said:

Hello y'all I have these kanohi mask boxes in my collection and I am thinking of selling them 

Prices:

8599 rare $70

8598 $20

8569 $20

8525 $50

Prices are per box all are open box and contain all their contents.

Prices seem a bit steep if they’re open and you know what they’re getting, but they don’t know what they’re getting. I’d recommend selling the masks and krana individually at that point, and just packaging them in the boxes as a bonus 

22 years, that is just insane. Here’s to 22 more 🎉 

8 hours ago, Chrono Vogon said:

No one else is selling? 

Don’t believe anyone is selling any of these, no. Always a chance one pops up though eventually 

19 hours ago, Mushy the Mushroom said:

Coffee for me! 🧡For flavor, pain reducing quality and energy! And more recently, bear-approved blender coffee slushies from frozen coffee cubes, a bit of milk, some salt and cinnamon. Texture is nice because eating actual food isn't frequent for for me due to medical complexity. 
Gatorade Zero and the fantastic fake-fruit flavored fizzy water are also favorites for me but typically fight me once ingested. Bullion used to be a favorite but not tolerating that now. 

That’s fun! I used to like coffee quite a bit. I’ll still pick one up from Starbucks every once in awhile if it’s convenient enough. I also drink a lot of Gatorade Glacier Freeze, but other than that not a big Gatorade or energy drink guy.

4 hours ago, Heyzorks said:

Tea

Tea any day of the week, and not that weird stuff that people call tea with bubbles in it or some rubbish

the real, proper tea

is this gatekeeping? probably

Yeah I personally don’t see the appeal of having slimy balls in my liquid beverage 🤣 but hey I also like Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and that is a universally disliked movie. Tea is good though! Like I said half n half is my go to, I don’t like straight up sweet tea anymore. I do like hot teas but I have to be in the mood for them.

I used to be a huge soda guy- I loved trying all the new wacky flavors that would come out and drank several a day (super unhealthy, I know haha). A couple months back I randomly lost all interest in soda, and I’ve been drinking a lot of Arnold Palmer half & halfs. What’re your guys’ go to drink?

6 hours ago, Chrono Vogon said:

I've no hope of getting all of these, but is there a way I could get my hands on at least one of them?

None of these are for sale haha. I do have one extra that is a one of a kind mismold, but I’m not actively looking to part with that.

5 hours ago, doodleloot said:

Is there any info on pricing for the Inside Tour exclusive transparent blue Mask of Water from 2015? I don't see any sold items on Bricklink and don't think there is a consensus on what would be considered a fair price for one, since I'm guessing it sells fairly rarely. I know that Duckbricks spent around 2.5k on his, but I don't know if that's representative of what the mask is actually worth.

Some recently sold on eBay for around $900 each without the packaging

.

52 minutes ago, Skybird said:

Recently bought the Prototype Axalara, I'll make a post once it's in my hands, but it's from the New York International Toy Fair from early Feb 2008

 

The wave 2 parts are all powder printed and sprayed from what I've heard, which makes sense, as they did that for a lot of protos like these for events or reference. It was a trade event not open to the public

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickjournal/sets/72157603926050073/

So you’re the lucky guy! That’s such an awesome addition to your collection. Do you have plans on displaying it yet?

30 minutes ago, Roger C-T said:

AFAIK these were all picked up by one guy who bought them from a German BL store (listed as Kurahk Kraata IIRC). A bunch of weird stuff comes from the German Legoland factory store. Did you get yours from the same guy?

I got mine from the guy who got them from the German BL store, that being said I won’t disclose their name so they don’t get a bunch of messages haha.

11 minutes ago, TERIDAX941 said:

Where do you keep finding these prototypes? They seem to be popping out of the woodwork lately.

I’ve been very good with finding prototypes haha, I don’t know how or why, or if I’m just getting lucky with them. But this time, I knew a guy

Hey all! Recently traded for some prototype kraata, and was able to get all but a stage 5. I am aware there are only two known prototype stage 5’s, but figured it would not hurt to put this out there regardless, just in case. Please let me know if you have one!

14 minutes ago, tourmalinex said:

Do not all the (SSKK) say sterling on the back and the other ones (WMKK) are hard plastic metal coated?

 

 

Can’t comment on the SSKK but the WMKK is not coated, it is fully metal. You are thinking of the VMKK, which is hard plastic coated with a chrome-colored metal.