25% off Star Wars custom items at BBB

I love the custom arcade games.

@captaincassianandor said:
"Had an order primed and ready till I saw the tax and shipping costs to UK. It went from seeming comparatively affordable to outrageously pricey. "

Same here, was a rough wake-up

@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Given how protective TLG is about their IP, especially the likeness of the minifigure, it's a miracle that they don't sue the crap out of these guys, like they do with everyone who even so much as uses something with studs in their logo, let alone minifigs. "

Pretty sure they're Lego-made minifigures but with new printing so count as selling Lego. In the same way as you won't get sued for selling bricks with Sharpie drawings on them, I think it's legally allowed to sell these custom printed but Lego made minifigs. Correct me if I'm wrong and these are made by BBB, rather than just printed by them."
Going by how LEGO had their crackdown even on the custom printed figs used by the LAN and vendors on Bricklink, I don't think LEGO has the intention to allow such things anymore, no matter who makes them. As I understood the policy, only LEGO themselves are allowed to sell anything made out of LEGO pieces. Their stated reasoning was that customers must not be misled, which they claimed could happen if anyone else sold custom stuff made with official LEGO parts.
Yeah, weird policy in itself, I know, but that was the official statement.

@AustinPowers said:
" @alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Given how protective TLG is about their IP, especially the likeness of the minifigure, it's a miracle that they don't sue the crap out of these guys, like they do with everyone who even so much as uses something with studs in their logo, let alone minifigs. "

Pretty sure they're Lego-made minifigures but with new printing so count as selling Lego. In the same way as you won't get sued for selling bricks with Sharpie drawings on them, I think it's legally allowed to sell these custom printed but Lego made minifigs. Correct me if I'm wrong and these are made by BBB, rather than just printed by them."
Going by how LEGO had their crackdown even on the custom printed figs used by the LAN and vendors on Bricklink, I don't think LEGO has the intention to allow such things anymore, no matter who makes them. As I understood the policy, only LEGO themselves are allowed to sell anything made out of LEGO pieces. Their stated reasoning was that customers must not be misled, which they claimed could happen if anyone else sold custom stuff made with official LEGO parts.
Yeah, weird policy in itself, I know, but that was the official statement. "

What about Amazon or any other retailer, or toy shops etc? That isn't Lego selling the sets.
Come to think of it, what about Lego Stores themselves? I know that WHSmith run the Lego stores in America, for example.

*snicker* Luke’s got a batting glove on his right hand.

@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Given how protective TLG is about their IP, especially the likeness of the minifigure, it's a miracle that they don't sue the crap out of these guys, like they do with everyone who even so much as uses something with studs in their logo, let alone minifigs. "

Pretty sure they're Lego-made minifigures but with new printing so count as selling Lego. In the same way as you won't get sued for selling bricks with Sharpie drawings on them, I think it's legally allowed to sell these custom printed but Lego made minifigs. Correct me if I'm wrong and these are made by BBB, rather than just printed by them."

Nope. Minifig design is trademarked, and that’s the only protection left after all the patents ran out. So they are now extra protective of it, so they don’t get trademarks revoked (ask Bayer and Xerox about how that works). LUGs who wanted Recognized status (and thus access to LUGBulk) had to agree to retire or modify any logos that incorporated minifigs, and conventions who wanted event support had to agree to stop printing on minifigs. Printing on basic bricks is fine, but official policy is if someone wants to make custom minifigs for non-personal use, they have to make a bib element and print on that. I have no idea why these 3rd party custom minifig shops are left alone, but there’s also lots of IP issues.

@alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
" @alLEGOry_HJB2810 said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"Given how protective TLG is about their IP, especially the likeness of the minifigure, it's a miracle that they don't sue the crap out of these guys, like they do with everyone who even so much as uses something with studs in their logo, let alone minifigs. "

Pretty sure they're Lego-made minifigures but with new printing so count as selling Lego. In the same way as you won't get sued for selling bricks with Sharpie drawings on them, I think it's legally allowed to sell these custom printed but Lego made minifigs. Correct me if I'm wrong and these are made by BBB, rather than just printed by them."
Going by how LEGO had their crackdown even on the custom printed figs used by the LAN and vendors on Bricklink, I don't think LEGO has the intention to allow such things anymore, no matter who makes them. As I understood the policy, only LEGO themselves are allowed to sell anything made out of LEGO pieces. Their stated reasoning was that customers must not be misled, which they claimed could happen if anyone else sold custom stuff made with official LEGO parts.
Yeah, weird policy in itself, I know, but that was the official statement. "

What about Amazon or any other retailer, or toy shops etc? That isn't Lego selling the sets.
Come to think of it, what about Lego Stores themselves? I know that WHSmith run the Lego stores in America, for example."
It's not about selling official LEGO products. Like @PurpleDave said, it's about using official LEGO pieces, especially minifig parts, custom printing and then selling them (or even giving them away for free!) that's the issue.
That and all the IPs used can cause some serious legal repercussions. Vendors in Europe, in particular in Germany and Austria, can vouch for TLG's legal department coming down really hard on them.

@AustinPowers said:
"It's not about selling official LEGO products. Like @PurpleDave said, it's about using official LEGO pieces, especially minifig parts, custom printing and then selling them (or even giving them away for free!) that's the issue."

If you give them away 100% for free, I don't know if there's much anyone can do about it, since the whole basis of copyright/trademark law is maintaining control of any potential revenue streams. If you're not charging anything, there's no revenue to control. Conventions can't hide behind that, though, because they charge a fee to attendees, and often a second fee for the goody bag that something like this would frequently be included in.

"That and all the IPs used can cause some serious legal repercussions. Vendors in Europe, in particular in Germany and Austria, can vouch for TLG's legal department coming down really hard on them. "

And this also gets tricky. When I look at that photo, I see nothing that constitutes an actionable IP violation. The word "Rebels" isn't trademarked (and likely can't be). The font used isn't trademarked, and Lucasfilm can't even claim copyright on the "E", "B", or "L", since they weren't used in the main Star Wars logo, but were instead created by fans of the IP. It's a generic baseball uniform, which can't be shown to infringe on any team outfit design. And it's a generic blond guy with a generic baseball bat and a generic (black) batting glove on his right hand. You can look at this, and know for certain that this is Luke Skywalker, playing baseball on behalf of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, but as long as they avoid actually naming the character, it's defensible enough, and a small enough fish, that it's probably not worth the attention for Lucasfilm.

The other half of the equation is a different matter. It's still a trademark issue for TLG, and turning a blind eye does put their trademark status at risk. On the other hand, if they crack down too hard, they risk echoing Paramount's epic misstep with Star Trek fans in the mid-90's. Paramount decided they wanted to monetize Star Trek on the internet, so they issued fully legal C&Ds to every Trek fan site on the internet, so they could set up their own site and charge a hefty admission fee. It...didn't go well. So TLG could crack down on every Etsy-level shop where someone sells a couple custom minifigs per year, but imagine the toxic fallout they'd have within the fan community. Instead of picking up Paramount's stick, they seem to have gone the carrot route. They established a program where clubs could get RLUG status, websites could get RLFM status, and conventions could get some form of event support, but only if they all agree to comply with a few rules. Don't want to agree to the rules, then you're free to exit the program or never join.

@PurpleDave said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"It's not about selling official LEGO products. Like @PurpleDave said, it's about using official LEGO pieces, especially minifig parts, custom printing and then selling them (or even giving them away for free!) that's the issue."

If you give them away 100% for free, I don't know if there's much anyone can do about it, since the whole basis of copyright/trademark law is maintaining control of any potential revenue streams. If you're not charging anything, there's no revenue to control. Conventions can't hide behind that, though, because they charge a fee to attendees, and often a second fee for the goody bag that something like this would frequently be included in.

"That and all the IPs used can cause some serious legal repercussions. Vendors in Europe, in particular in Germany and Austria, can vouch for TLG's legal department coming down really hard on them. "

And this also gets tricky. When I look at that photo, I see nothing that constitutes an actionable IP violation. The word "Rebels" isn't trademarked (and likely can't be). The font used isn't trademarked, and Lucasfilm can't even claim copyright on the "E", "B", or "L", since they weren't used in the main Star Wars logo, but were instead created by fans of the IP. It's a generic baseball uniform, which can't be shown to infringe on any team outfit design. And it's a generic blond guy with a generic baseball bat and a generic (black) batting glove on his right hand. You can look at this, and know for certain that this is Luke Skywalker, playing baseball on behalf of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, but as long as they avoid actually naming the character, it's defensible enough, and a small enough fish, that it's probably not worth the attention for Lucasfilm.

The other half of the equation is a different matter. It's still a trademark issue for TLG, and turning a blind eye does put their trademark status at risk. On the other hand, if they crack down too hard, they risk echoing Paramount's epic misstep with Star Trek fans in the mid-90's. Paramount decided they wanted to monetize Star Trek on the internet, so they issued fully legal C&Ds to every Trek fan site on the internet, so they could set up their own site and charge a hefty admission fee. It...didn't go well."
And they apparently didn't learn from their mistakes, as in mid 2016 they did it again with their new rules on fan films and series, which put an end to those sometimes awesome productions like Star Trek Continues or Axanar, to name but two.

LEGO has also garnered massive negative reactions over here when their legal battles, which they probably hoped would go more or less unnoticed, went public and were picked up by national media.
It's one of the reasons why alternative manufacturers have seen such a rise over here while LEGO is becoming ever more unpopular and often can only be shifted by massive discounts. I bet there also wouldn't be as many YouTube channels who are either highly critical of LEGO or promote alternatives or both over here, had it not been for those highly publicized court cases that portrayed TLG in a very bad light and evoked the David versus Goliath image.

@AustinPowers said:
"And they apparently didn't learn from their mistakes, as in mid 2016 they did it again with their new rules on fan films and series, which put an end to those sometimes awesome productions like Star Trek Continues or Axanar, to name but two."

What? I hadn't heard about that at all. The only other epic gaff I know of regarding Star Trek was when Playmates killed their action figure line practically overnight by releasing the 1701 Series. Lucas was really cool about fan films, and even helped some of them get wider exposure. There was even a promotion where you could buy a particular issue of some entertainment magazine, and there would be a DVD attached to the front cover that included a free copy of Troops, and I think I even got one or two other fan shorts on an officially sanctioned DVD release. I just wish they'd done this with Pulp Phantom, but that was a fairly lengthy series of shorts, and had messier rights issues being largely based on Pulp Fiction.

If you're going to buy custom minifigures at least buy ones of characters we haven't had in Lego before and are canon, not whatever this is.

@Maxbricks14 said:
"If you're going to buy custom minifigures at least buy ones of characters we haven't had in Lego before and are canon, not whatever this is."

So you're saying I shouldn't have bought those Gingerdead Men? Or Breadpool? Them's fightin' words!

@PurpleDave said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"If you're going to buy custom minifigures at least buy ones of characters we haven't had in Lego before and are canon, not whatever this is."

So you're saying I shouldn't have bought those Gingerdead Men? Or Breadpool? Them's fightin' words!"

Nah breadpools all goods.

I always found funny the protection of the LEGO IP, when they are selling it as a product.

If I buy something, it's mine. I can do whatever I want with it. Play, exhibit, print on it, give it away, and even sell it. You only have to clearly state that it is not an official LEGO product.

LEGO knows that if they go to court, they may lose, and they don't want that. That's why they are pressing the groups they can control, like the RLUGs, by blackmailing them to retire the support or Lugbulk.

@lluisgib said:
"LEGO knows that if they go to court, they may lose, and they don't want that."
But they also know that they have enough money to see court cases through to the end, whereas the individuals or small businesses they sue don't necessarily have those means. This has the effect that many cases don't even go to court as the smaller parties just give up. Because even though they might be in the right, they just don't have the money to attain their right. That's unfortunately how the system works.

@PurpleDave : yes, in 2016 CBS and Paramount issued new guidelines regarding fan media that were so strict and contained such high penalties that it basically ended all fan film and series projects.
It's a particular shame in the case of Star Trek Continues, which was the best fan series ever created. The quality of the production was beyond anything else, the attention to detail exceptional. It was praised even by Star Trek alumni as well as Gene Roddenberry's son who said that his firm belief was that if his father had still been around he would have considered the series as canon, which I think is a remarkable statement.
If you haven't seen the series, it's available for free and they even offer free download packages for making your own BluRays of the episodes, including menus, bonus material and cover art. It's truly a labor of love by those who made it and it shows in every detail.
Sorry for gushing so much about it, but I really love that show. If you loved TOS you will love this too.

https://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes.html

@KyloBen1012 said:
"Another weird post on this site. Stick to the reiews and news pieces. It's more professional looking."

Ah, yes. No other news allowed, Mr. Buzzkill.

The site is about the Lego community in general, not only TLG themselves.

Also thrademarks and stuff aside, doesn't Luke look a bit creepy to any of you? Because to me he sure does.

@Krutak said:
"Also thrademarks and stuff aside, doesn't Luke look a bit creepy to any of you? Because to me he sure does."

He’s wearing eyeblack, which makes sense for an outdoor sport where you frequently need to look up, but the overall look just screams A Clockwork Orange for some reason.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Krutak said:
"Also thrademarks and stuff aside, doesn't Luke look a bit creepy to any of you? Because to me he sure does."

He’s wearing eyeblack, which makes sense for an outdoor sport where you frequently need to look up, but the overall look just screams A Clockwork Orange for some reason."

Same, I thought this was one of the rival gangs from A Clockwork Orange. Didn't they have a fight with some dudes dressed in baseball uniforms, or something similar?

@DekoPuma said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @Krutak said:
"Also thrademarks and stuff aside, doesn't Luke look a bit creepy to any of you? Because to me he sure does."

He’s wearing eyeblack, which makes sense for an outdoor sport where you frequently need to look up, but the overall look just screams A Clockwork Orange for some reason."

Same, I thought this was one of the rival gangs from A Clockwork Orange. Didn't they have a fight with some dudes dressed in baseball uniforms, or something similar?"

There was a gang dressed like undead baseball clowns in The Warriors, but ACO takes place in the UK. Probably not a lot of people with baseball uniforms over there, at least not when the film was released.