Minifigs.me offers exciting range of printed tiles
Posted by Huw,
In a bid to make sure no minifig ever goes without something they need again, UK-based Minifigs.me has just launched an extensive range of brand new custom printed tiles. Depicting all kinds of everyday objects from credit cards and board games through to classic games consoles, these are made to cover every eventuality!
With most of these direct printed tiles selling for £0.95, they’re an excellent way of making your custom minifig or build unique. Even better, if you don’t see what you want, Minifigs.me will design and print anything you want on standard LEGO tiles. They’ll even print business cards for you!
Caroline Savage, joint Director of Minifigs.me said, “We wanted to do something fun and affordable. No design was taken off the table. That’s why we have an extremely eclectic collection. I’m pretty sure we’re selling tiny Oyster cards alongside miniature copies of ‘Moby Brick’. We’ve got a lot more on our list to make, too!”
To explore what they’ve already made, or to create your own, head over to http://www.minifigs.me/tiles
0 likes
25 comments on this article
Definitely getting a few of these. Maybe they could do a Heroica one to go with the other board games.
Those look really good.
^^ Clone brands are a poor comparison as in many cases they blatantly copy, and compete directly with, products produced by LEGO themselves. In contrast, these printed elements will almost certainly never be available through any 'official' channels.
It'll be interesting to see whether the copyright holders object or are actually happy to turn a blind eye to something that is in effect marketing their brands and filling a gap in the market.
Just wish they were cheaper...
Nice! More excellent products from MinifigsMe!
Though the copyright issue is interesting. Maybe having things like "Gamestation" instead of "Playstation" (for example), so as to keep the look and general feel, but not be using trademark terms? (like the "Mini 'uns" instead of "Minions"). Or maybe MinifigsMe isn't big enough for Microsoft/Sony/Parker games/whoever to care?
If a small company is making money from using a big company's name, the big company will object.
I've gotta get some of these. Really really nice.
^ Care to elaborate? Minifigs.me are a great firm and many Brickset members would agree. Yes, technically they shouldn't be using copyrighted designs, but I doubt the copyright holders will object as it is such a small niche market and they aren't actually competing with their products.
^^Yes, you say "another reason" - what are your other reasons? I've never had or heard of any issues with MinifigsMe.
Thanks for all your comments. The truth is we're a very small business, and although we've approached a lot of companies about collaborating on the products we produce. Sometimes it's resulted in a great official relationship (e.g. the Scouts and Guides), sometimes it's led us to pull the product from our website. Most of the time we get an unofficial 'nod' to carry on (e.g. a retweet of our product etc...) or they just don't respond at all.
We produce what our customer's ask us to make, sometimes we have some good ideas of our own, but mostly it's you guys that come up with the best ideas for products! If more than one person asks from something/somebody we try and add it to the site. That being said, most people still ask for a personalised, bespoke minifig of themselves, or someone they love - and we're always going to be happy to produce those minifigs, even if they're a lot more work - they make us smile :-D
Wow this is amazing and very reasonably priced, especially for the custom ones!! Will be placing an order soon :)
^^ You want to be really careful about currency. The Bank of England control the copyright on sterling currency, and once sued an artist who did hand-drawn versions abut 6 ft wide! US dollars are OK as long as they are not within a certain size ratio to the originals (something like 25%) when the Federal Reserve gets sniffy about forgery questions.
^I assume that you are thinking of the American artist James Boggs. That was different as he was arrested for counter fitting notes, his art is to create a "books note", which, is exchanged for goods and that is his art. It would be hard for them to argue that the lego money is the same. The copyright is to prevent counter fit notes as it adds something to prosecute money launders with rather than attack people making other produce. Any attorney would be really unpopular.
I am sure that Minifigs have done their homework over copy right. Frankly it will only ever be a cease notice. It is a huge waste of their time to go after a small company. Frankly most companies would love it to be redone in lego. I have bought from them a number of times and can't speak of them highly enough.
Many cool designs there. I love the notepad that says:
1. Get more bricks.
2. Build something totally awesome.
3. ??????
4. Profit
Nice reference!
@Savage_Steel; Have you done any records? I'd like to increase my LEGO record collection. "Brick Fever"'s kind of lonesome.
Sometimes I wish I weren't hardwired to be so staunchly against anything that's not official LEGO. Some really neat pieces you have there.
I really like these but I would take note of the concerns regarding copyrights. I have some experience here...
1) You will obviously become very popular, try to avoid copyrights as you will draw the ire of IP's once you make the mainstream press and no doubt some day you will.
2) Your customers will love you, your competitors will report you.
3) Beware of DMCA's to Google, Yahoo etc. U.S. Companies don't really bother with suing anymore, they just have you blacklisted at Google (a nuclear option) which is really hard to undo! I've done DMCA's for my art posted without my permission and they really do work!
4) Original content is actually a good thing!
5) Showcase your licensed items! Some company's really may want you to promote their items with a formal agreement! This is a GOOD thing and positive PR!
6) When in doubt, go generic.
My only problem is that some of the pieces seem to be really low quality printing. Look at the monopoly board, for instance. Looks incredibly pixelated.
@castleguy: $1.61
You can use Google to convert currencies, measurements etc from one unit into anothet. Just type something like "convert .95 gbp to usd" (you don't need the quotation marks) into the search bar.
I've been lucky enough to visit minifigs.me HQ and view these printed parts. They are amazing.
@Cult_Of_Scaro I understand what you're saying about the pixelation. This is a photo issue not a printing one. When the parts are in hand there are no printing quality problems.
@Cult_Of_Skaro - just remember that that is printed on a 2x2 tile, so if you "zoom in" at all on the picture, you are probably viewing it at more than 1:1, so it may well look pixelated. My orders from MinifigsMe have not looked pixelated in the flesh.
The game systems are nice, but I would like an option for extra controller tiles with the NES & Wii. The Game Boy would be better with an actual game screen, Tetris should be simple enough to do at that scale.
Items with real life images such as posters would look out of place in a Lego model unless they were emulated to look Lego-like (with minifigs, lego shark, etc.).
^I agree with you for the most part, but the chance to have my minifigs play Monopoly or Cludo (what Americans call simply "Clue") on an authentic-looking board is very tempting. (Surprised not to see Scrabble as an option!) Sadly, their cost for shipping to the US makes it unlikely I'll indulge. A pity, as these are very well done and not unduly expensive by themselves, given their nature (compare these prices with the accessories from The Simpsons minifigs on BrickLink, for example)!
Wow, the tiles are really detailed. I will be getting some.
Thanks everyone for your positive response to our tiles. We're taking all your advice on board and your ideas for future development. Please keep an eye out in the next few weeks for some new products and perhaps some re-designs of a few of them. We also agree that the games systems should come with 2 controllers, so we'll do that going forward.
And thanks to our loyal customers for confirming that the print quality is good, but unfortunately difficult to photograph well, especially on such small items! :)