Submit to these minifigs or perish [Sheng Yuan Age of Ultron minifig set]

The new Avengers movie is only about to start screening in American theaters and Sheng Yuan has already shipped their bootleg minifigs. That’s a pretty fast turnaround, considering that we’re talking about bootlegs here.

As an aside, watch the movie. It’s great!

Anyway, I know that I have a tremendous backlog of minifig sets to lay out on this blog. But I figure I’d shake things up a bit and try to post new acquisitions ASAP, so as not to further add to said backlog. For the readers who check back here every once in a while, thanks for keeping tabs on this small spot on the internet!

Decool Super Heroes Set 1 [Toy Impressions]

Here's Decool's answer to SY's Super Heroes set. If I recall correctly, these two sets came to our shores within days of each other. Fierce competition between bootleg makers, who would'a thunk it, eh? I ain't complaining, though, competition is good, the more options there are, the better.

Pricing is still at PhP 30 (USD 0.69) per minifig when bought as a set. That's a bit higher than the SY minifigs that retails for as low as PhP 25 (USD 0.57) per minifig. These are, again, Divisoria prices. If you plan to buy each separately, the prices bump up to PhP 50 (USD 1.15) per piece.

Sheng Yuan Hulk Minifig [Toy Impressions]

The knock-off stakes have officially gone up a notch. It used to be that Lego (I'm not really comfortable typing it in all caps even though it's officially spelled in all caps) knock-offs, or Lego-compatible products if you're more PC, simply took the standard block sizes of original Lego pieces, made their own original sets, mass-produced them, and called it a day.

Those knock-off sets are still in vogue, of course, and they're becoming more and more common in lower-end malls and bazaars.

What's new is that some enterprising manufacturers have started to take aim at some of Lego's more popular pieces that gives them tremendous staying power with today's kids and kids-at-heart old-timers: licensed minifigs (adopted slang for Lego human representations).