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I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from the
more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
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In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from the
> more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how copyright
laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't think
that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After all, if
they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out with a
completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both crusader
and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! (Does this mean
that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line??? Help!)
DaveE
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In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
>
> How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
> some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
> Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how copyright
> laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't
> think that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After
> all, if they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out
> with a completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both
> crusader and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! (Does
> this mean that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line???
And is it just me, or do those minifigs not have faces? It's hard to tell,
because the scan isn't a great resolution, but it looks like the heads are
unprinted.
Weird...I'm thinking blatant rip-off, myself, but I'm not certain. Wonder
what the copyright notice on the box says?
James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> >
> > How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
> > some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
> > Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how copyright
> > laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't
> > think that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After
> > all, if they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out
> > with a completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both
> > crusader and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! (Does
> > this mean that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line???
>
> And is it just me, or do those minifigs not have faces? It's hard to tell,
> because the scan isn't a great resolution, but it looks like the heads are
> unprinted.
>
> Weird...I'm thinking blatant rip-off, myself, but I'm not certain. Wonder
> what the copyright notice on the box says?
I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
> James
> http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
>
> I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
Yes there are quite a lot of differences, but I've never seen, or even heard
of, anyone trying to rip off LEGO. It is hard to imagine LEGO making a
similar but different version of the set, but it is also hard to imagine
someone trying to rip off LEGO, and doing it so badly. I wonder if there is
anyway that someone can verify the authenticity of this set with LEGO.
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Actually, there is a Chinese company that sells rip-offs of some of the
smaller sets here in dollar stores in Canada. The boxes look enough like
Lego to fool you, but the pieces themselves look to be of much poorer
quality when you take them out.
--
Paul Davidson
David Carriker <mr_carriker@techie.com> wrote in message
news:FnM8uJ.JpM@lugnet.com...
> In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> >
> > I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black • Falcon
> > Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
>
>
> Yes there are quite a lot of differences, but I've never seen, or even • heard
> of, anyone trying to rip off LEGO. It is hard to imagine LEGO making a
> similar but different version of the set, but it is also hard to imagine
> someone trying to rip off LEGO, and doing it so badly. I wonder if there • is
> anyway that someone can verify the authenticity of this set with LEGO.
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > > In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> > > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> > >
> > > How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
> > > some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
> > > Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how • copyright
> > > laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't
> > > think that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After
> > > all, if they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out
> > > with a completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both
> > > crusader and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! • (Does
> > > this mean that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line???
> >
> > And is it just me, or do those minifigs not have faces? It's hard to tell,
> > because the scan isn't a great resolution, but it looks like the heads are
> > unprinted.
> >
> > Weird...I'm thinking blatant rip-off, myself, but I'm not certain. Wonder
> > what the copyright notice on the box says?
>
> I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
Yes, DEFINITELY not Black Falcon's Fortress... that much is obvious... three
horses, white figs?, no castle corners with printing, no black spire w/ printed
flag, etc, etc... But there is a lot to suggest it IS Lego... after all, if you
were a knock-off, you'd want to save as much money as possible... so why try
and copy EXACTLY the same emblems, EXACTLY the same logo, a NEARLY exact design
to 6074, even the flip-top lid... AND add to that the fact that the box is
divided under the lid into two sections (left and right, tall and thin) JUST
like Black Falcon's Fortress... But at the same time, there are too many things
WRONG to make me think it's a bona fide TLC product... VERY odd...
DaveE
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In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > > > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > > > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> > I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> > Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
> >
> > http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
>
> Yes, DEFINITELY not Black Falcon's Fortress... that much is obvious... three
> horses, white figs?, no castle corners with printing, no black spire w/
> printed flag, etc, etc... But there is a lot to suggest it IS Lego... after
> all, if you were a knock-off, you'd want to save as much money as possible...
> so why try and copy EXACTLY the same emblems, EXACTLY the same logo, a NEARLY
> exact design to 6074, even the flip-top lid... AND add to that the fact that
> the box is divided under the lid into two sections (left and right, tall and
> thin) JUST like Black Falcon's Fortress... But at the same time, there are
> too many things WRONG to make me think it's a bona fide TLC product... VERY
> odd...
Well, most of those similarities aren't just to BFF, but to all (large)
Legoland Castle sets, so it may be a style knock-off rather than 1 specific
set.
I'm also curious as to how old this is - it may be just my read, but the
auction listing sounds like it was a recent acquisition.
Regardless, it qualifies as way weird.
James
http://www.shades-of-night.com/lego/
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > > > > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > > > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights • from
> > > > > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> > > I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> > > Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
> > >
> > > http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
> >
> > Yes, DEFINITELY not Black Falcon's Fortress... that much is obvious... three
> > horses, white figs?, no castle corners with printing, no black spire w/
> > printed flag, etc, etc... But there is a lot to suggest it IS Lego... after
> > all, if you were a knock-off, you'd want to save as much money as possible...
> > so why try and copy EXACTLY the same emblems, EXACTLY the same logo, a NEARLY
> > exact design to 6074, even the flip-top lid... AND add to that the fact that
> > the box is divided under the lid into two sections (left and right, tall and
> > thin) JUST like Black Falcon's Fortress... But at the same time, there are
> > too many things WRONG to make me think it's a bona fide TLC product... VERY
> > odd...
>
> Well, most of those similarities aren't just to BFF, but to all (large)
> Legoland Castle sets, so it may be a style knock-off rather than 1 specific
> set.
Yes, I am quite in agreeance...
> I'm also curious as to how old this is - it may be just my read, but the
> auction listing sounds like it was a recent acquisition.
I think my take on it is that someone bought the set in Saudi Arabia when it
was released (whenever that was... BFF came out in 1986, so maybe roughly
then?).. it was probably played with for a couple years, put back in the box,
and brought to the US during the Gulf War (1991 I think it was?)... and it
promptly sat around in an attic or something until someone decided to auction
it off on Ebay...
Of course, this guy's other auctions are kind of interesting... a lot of civil
war memorobilia, and a car? My read is that this guy is in need of money, and
went through his attic looking for things to auction off... and lo and behold,
a Lego set turned up!
DaveE
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In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > > > > > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > > > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > > > > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights • from
> > > > > > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> > > > I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> > > > Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
> > > >
> > > > http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
> > >
> > > Yes, DEFINITELY not Black Falcon's Fortress... that much is obvious... three
> > > horses, white figs?, no castle corners with printing, no black spire w/
> > > printed flag, etc, etc... But there is a lot to suggest it IS Lego... after
> > > all, if you were a knock-off, you'd want to save as much money as • possible...
> > > so why try and copy EXACTLY the same emblems, EXACTLY the same logo, a • NEARLY
> > > exact design to 6074, even the flip-top lid... AND add to that the fact that
> > > the box is divided under the lid into two sections (left and right, tall and
> > > thin) JUST like Black Falcon's Fortress... But at the same time, there are
> > > too many things WRONG to make me think it's a bona fide TLC product... VERY
> > > odd...
> >
> > Well, most of those similarities aren't just to BFF, but to all (large)
> > Legoland Castle sets, so it may be a style knock-off rather than 1 specific
> > set.
>
> Yes, I am quite in agreeance...
>
> > I'm also curious as to how old this is - it may be just my read, but the
> > auction listing sounds like it was a recent acquisition.
>
> I think my take on it is that someone bought the set in Saudi Arabia when it
> was released (whenever that was... BFF came out in 1986, so maybe roughly
> then?).. it was probably played with for a couple years, put back in the box,
> and brought to the US during the Gulf War (1991 I think it was?)
Yep. I was in it, I remember ;-)
> ... and it
> promptly sat around in an attic or something until someone decided to auction
> it off on Ebay...
>
> Of course, this guy's other auctions are kind of interesting... a lot of civil
> war memorobilia, and a car? My read is that this guy is in need of money, and
> went through his attic looking for things to auction off... and lo and behold,
> a Lego set turned up!
Or otherwise, he was in need of money, so he faked the set...
I don't know, but I'd bet rip-off - too many weird things about this set:
the "translated" Logo, the similarity-yet-differences from BFF, the maybe face-
less minifigs, the number that already has two earlier sets listed on it...
Just my $0.02...
-Shiri
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IT'S A FAKE!!
And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon fortress
and made a total fake with suplimented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it if
the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It would be
a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you look
at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it being
lego parts.
My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
Doyle
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In lugnet.castle, Doyle G. Nelson writes:
> IT'S A FAKE!!
Can you prove it is?
It doesn't look like a fake. If it is then it is a really good fake.
The only thing I find out of place other than the set itself being very skimpy
is that the "dalu" logo is not aligned in the center of the red square. The
official lego logo is. Also the "dalu" word seems to take all the space in
the red square leaving no space on the left and right. It seems strange that
a company would design such a poor-looking logo. Also, the red logo seems to
cover part of the blue flag. In all classic castle sets, there is always a
bit of space between the lego logo and the pieces of the set.
So using the above I would come up to a conclusion that this is NOT an
official lego set.
Also when comparing this to the 6274 front box scan, this castle is in a
different angle.
> And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
> consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon fortress
> and made a total fake with suplimented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it if
> the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It would be
> a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you look
> at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it being
> lego parts.
>
> My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
>
> Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
>
> Doyle
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I'm not sure that thing is a fake or not, but the minifigs really get me; just
why do they look like that? It doesn't seem as though TLG would alter the
minifigs in a set (as already established, this one looks like Black Falcon
Fortress). That logo change, upon pondering, does seem a little fishy, too.
I'd stay away from it, simply because I can't tell if it's authentic lego
material.
Mike
In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Doyle G. Nelson writes:
> > IT'S A FAKE!!
>
> Can you prove it is?
> It doesn't look like a fake. If it is then it is a really good fake.
> The only thing I find out of place other than the set itself being very skimpy
> is that the "dalu" logo is not aligned in the center of the red square. The
> official lego logo is. Also the "dalu" word seems to take all the space in
> the red square leaving no space on the left and right. It seems strange that
> a company would design such a poor-looking logo. Also, the red logo seems to
> cover part of the blue flag. In all classic castle sets, there is always a
> bit of space between the lego logo and the pieces of the set.
> So using the above I would come up to a conclusion that this is NOT an
> official lego set.
> Also when comparing this to the 6274 front box scan, this castle is in a
> different angle.
>
> > And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
> > consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon fortress
> > and made a total fake with suplimented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it if
> > the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It would • be
> > a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you • look
> > at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it • being
> > lego parts.
> >
> > My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
> >
> > Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
> >
> > Doyle
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Common sense isn't common at all. Very good. Now why do you say this is
a fraud?
--
Have fun!
John
The Legos you've been dreaming of...
http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego
my weird Lego site:
http://www114.pair.com/ig88/
"Censorship is yet another tool in the dumbing-down of America
by a power structure that relies on a populace too lazy or ignorant
to think independently." -Vanessa McGrady
Doyle wrote in message ...
> IT'S A FAKE!!
>
> And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
> consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon • fortress
> and made a total fake with supplemented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it • if
> the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It would • be
> a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you • look
> at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it • being
> lego parts.
>
> My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
>
> Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
>
> Doyle
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I am with Doyle on this one. This is not an authentic LEGO set. LEGO is
LEGO. DALU is totally different. Even the Japanese promo sets from the
Kabaya Candy Company say LEGO on them
(http://www.goldendale.net/buildingblocks/thevault/f_kabaya.htm). Go to
http://www.lego.com/info/addresses/europe.asp and look at the official LEGO
address listings. No matter what country you are in LEGO is called LEGO.
(And even if if the box did say LEGO it could still be counterfeit.)
Don't get taken by this auction.
(http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305)
-Nick
John DiRienzo wrote in message ...
> Common sense isn't common at all. Very good. Now why do you say this • is
> a fraud?
>
> --
> Have fun!
> John
> The Legos you've been dreaming of...
> http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego
> my weird Lego site:
> http://www114.pair.com/ig88/
>
> "Censorship is yet another tool in the dumbing-down of America
> by a power structure that relies on a populace too lazy or ignorant
> to think independently." -Vanessa McGrady
> Doyle wrote in message ...
> > IT'S A FAKE!!
> >
> > And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
> > consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon • fortress
> > and made a total fake with supplemented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it • if
> > the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It • would
> be
> > a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you • look
> > at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it • being
> > lego parts.
> >
> > My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
> >
> > Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
> >
> > Doyle
>
>
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In lugnet.castle, Nick Goetz writes:
> I am with Doyle on this one. This is not an authentic LEGO set. LEGO is
> LEGO. DALU is totally different. Even the Japanese promo sets from the
> Kabaya Candy Company say LEGO on them
> (http://www.goldendale.net/buildingblocks/thevault/f_kabaya.htm). Go to
> http://www.lego.com/info/addresses/europe.asp and look at the official LEGO
> address listings. No matter what country you are in LEGO is called LEGO.
> (And even if if the box did say LEGO it could still be counterfeit.)
>
> Don't get taken by this auction.
> (http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305)
>
> -Nick
>
>
>
> John DiRienzo wrote in message ...
> > Common sense isn't common at all. Very good. Now why do you say this • is
> > a fraud?
> >
> > --
> > Have fun!
> > John
> > The Legos you've been dreaming of...
> > http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego
> > my weird Lego site:
> > http://www114.pair.com/ig88/
> >
> > "Censorship is yet another tool in the dumbing-down of America
> > by a power structure that relies on a populace too lazy or ignorant
> > to think independently." -Vanessa McGrady
> > Doyle wrote in message ...
> > > IT'S A FAKE!!
> > >
> > > And what is more it is fraud and he can be reported to the internet and
> > > consumer fraud department. Most Likely this gentleman took a falcon • fortress
> > > and made a total fake with supplemented parts. Infact I wouldn't doubt it • if
> > > the person who wins doesn't even get it, or something close to it. It • would
> > be
> > > a waste of money to spend on such an obvious hoax. what is more is if you • look
> > > at the name he changed to DULA in order to avoid fraud on the part of it • being
> > > lego parts.
> > >
> > > My advice and $1 worth is STAY AWAY FROM IT! or you'll be sorry!
> > >
> > > Its just common sence which isn't common at all!
> > >
> > > Doyle
> >
> > For all of you who are speculating about the castle set on ebay, I think I have the answer! I emailed the guy who is auctioning it off and at first he told me that "dalu" is Arabian for "lego"! Since he didn't say anymore, I emailed him again and asked that he check the bricks and let me know if they had lego stamped on them. He wrote back and said they didn't! He said that they didn't have anything on them! Therefore, I think we can safely say that these are not true lego pieces! Dalu is obviously
a clone of some type! I'm just surprised that we haven't heard of it before.
enjoy!
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Reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
I don't think the seller can be trusted here. I don't care what he types in
an email, he likely is not truthful.
Here is what I believe the situation is:
- All of the pieces are genuine Lego elements
- The box is a genuine Lego box
- The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued to
the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I would
bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
- I do think that if I am correct, the job of putting new images on the box
has been done very precisely as the inside cover looks nearly perfect as far
as background color and any paper edges showing.
- Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect a
slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
(unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
- The pieces themselves may have come from several Lego sets, mostly 6074.
This would account for incorrect minifigs, incorrect shields, one extra
horse, No Yellow Tudor wall section, No Yellow half-arches, No Black extreme
slope corners or 4-sided pyramid piece.
- The printing on the wall segments may have been removed or the pieces have
been replaced with plain Gray wall sections from other sets.
- The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make a
more "complete" castle.
- From what I see, someone went to a lot of trouble to make us believe that
Dalu is actual Lego and has their own offerings of sets. The Logo burns me
up. The red Dalu logo is too fuzzy--plus everything everyone else has said
about touching the flag, etc. I don't have old-enough non-US Lego Castle
set boxes to compare it to, but it does not seem to measure up to Lego
standards. The most striking omission might be piece count if that was
present on the Lego 6074 Euro boxes.
- I do not know what printed Arabic text looks like, but I think that if
Lego were to translate into another language, they would use characters from
that language. This fake box was done with the English alphabet only--no
special characters at all. Another sticky point.
- Authenticating the name Dalu has not turned up any toy or plastics
manufacturers.
So far this is what I have found:
1. Canadian Trademark Database refers me to info on importing Chinese
industrial goods such as bathroom fixtures
2. Shanghai Dalu Friendship International Hotel Equipment and Facilities
Trading Center
3. search of LOCIS.LOC.GOV via telnet (Library of Congress) gives no matches
to any searches
4. US Patent & Trademark Office searches also have no matches for Dalu or
Daluland
5. No matches in UK Patent & Trademark Office
6. Additional online searches futile.
Anyway, that is my view on this. Overall, I believe that the pieces are
Lego but that it does not correctly represent any specific Lego set. Dalu
and Daluland are fictitious and cooked up by the seller.
_______________________________________________________
Kevin Salm
....The biggest fan of the Gray Lego brick....
_______________________________________________________
> Tom Reed wrote in message ...
> For all of you who are speculating about the castle set on ebay, I think I
have the answer! I emailed >the guy who is auctioning it off and at first
he told me that "dalu" is Arabian for "lego"! Since he didn't >say anymore,
I emailed him again and asked that he check the bricks and let me know if
they had >lego stamped on them. He wrote back and said they didn't! He
said that they didn't have anything on >them! Therefore, I think we can
safely say that these are not true lego pieces! Dalu is obviously
> a clone of some type! I'm just surprised that we haven't heard of it
before.
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|
Interesting theory.
However,
1. It seems like a lot of work for someone to kludge up
a new image to paste on the cover of an existing box. What
some people won't do for money .... but it seems like too
much work to me.
More tellingly,
2. The castle wall corners appear to be round (look in the bottom
picture showing the contents of the set, in the left half of
the box). It looks awfully round to me, and therefore wouldn't
be a genuine LEGO element.
My guess - it's a clone, and the person is legitimately describing
the pieces when he says that there are no logos on the studs.
If Margo K is making the winning bid on the set, I hope she will
tell us the results of the winnings after she's gotten her hands
on the set.
This point of yours ("The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present
in this auction offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to
compensate and make a more "complete" castle.") is fairly compelling
to my suspicious mind, though.
--
jthompson@esker.com "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> Reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> I don't think the seller can be trusted here. I don't care what he types in
> an email, he likely is not truthful.
>
> Here is what I believe the situation is:
>
> - All of the pieces are genuine Lego elements
> - The box is a genuine Lego box
> - The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued to
> the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
> right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I would
> bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
> doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
> - I do think that if I am correct, the job of putting new images on the box
> has been done very precisely as the inside cover looks nearly perfect as far
> as background color and any paper edges showing.
> - Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
> that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect a
> slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
> (unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
>
> - The pieces themselves may have come from several Lego sets, mostly 6074.
> This would account for incorrect minifigs, incorrect shields, one extra
> horse, No Yellow Tudor wall section, No Yellow half-arches, No Black extreme
> slope corners or 4-sided pyramid piece.
> - The printing on the wall segments may have been removed or the pieces have
> been replaced with plain Gray wall sections from other sets.
> - The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
> offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make a
> more "complete" castle.
>
> - From what I see, someone went to a lot of trouble to make us believe that
> Dalu is actual Lego and has their own offerings of sets. The Logo burns me
> up. The red Dalu logo is too fuzzy--plus everything everyone else has said
> about touching the flag, etc. I don't have old-enough non-US Lego Castle
> set boxes to compare it to, but it does not seem to measure up to Lego
> standards. The most striking omission might be piece count if that was
> present on the Lego 6074 Euro boxes.
>
> - I do not know what printed Arabic text looks like, but I think that if
> Lego were to translate into another language, they would use characters from
> that language. This fake box was done with the English alphabet only--no
> special characters at all. Another sticky point.
>
> - Authenticating the name Dalu has not turned up any toy or plastics
> manufacturers.
> So far this is what I have found:
> 1. Canadian Trademark Database refers me to info on importing Chinese
> industrial goods such as bathroom fixtures
> 2. Shanghai Dalu Friendship International Hotel Equipment and Facilities
> Trading Center
> 3. search of LOCIS.LOC.GOV via telnet (Library of Congress) gives no matches
> to any searches
> 4. US Patent & Trademark Office searches also have no matches for Dalu or
> Daluland
> 5. No matches in UK Patent & Trademark Office
> 6. Additional online searches futile.
>
> Anyway, that is my view on this. Overall, I believe that the pieces are
> Lego but that it does not correctly represent any specific Lego set. Dalu
> and Daluland are fictitious and cooked up by the seller.
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> Kevin Salm
> ....The biggest fan of the Gray Lego brick....
> _______________________________________________________
>
>
>
> > Tom Reed wrote in message ...
>
> > For all of you who are speculating about the castle set on ebay, I think I
> have the answer! I emailed >the guy who is auctioning it off and at first
> he told me that "dalu" is Arabian for "lego"! Since he didn't >say anymore,
> I emailed him again and asked that he check the bricks and let me know if
> they had >lego stamped on them. He wrote back and said they didn't! He
> said that they didn't have anything on >them! Therefore, I think we can
> safely say that these are not true lego pieces! Dalu is obviously
> > a clone of some type! I'm just surprised that we haven't heard of it
> before
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|
In lugnet.castle, Jeff Thompson writes:
> Interesting theory.
>
> However,
>
> 1. It seems like a lot of work for someone to kludge up
> a new image to paste on the cover of an existing box. What
> some people won't do for money .... but it seems like too
> much work to me.
>
> More tellingly,
>
> 2. The castle wall corners appear to be round (look in the bottom
> picture showing the contents of the set, in the left half of
> the box). It looks awfully round to me, and therefore wouldn't
> be a genuine LEGO element.
>
> My guess - it's a clone, and the person is legitimately describing
> the pieces when he says that there are no logos on the studs.
>
> If Margo K is making the winning bid on the set, I hope she will
> tell us the results of the winnings after she's gotten her hands
> on the set.
>
> This point of yours ("The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present
> in this auction offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to
> compensate and make a more "complete" castle.") is fairly compelling
> to my suspicious mind, though.
I don't believe this.
Why would someone go through all the trouble of making a fake box just because
they wanted to keep the special pieces from that set? If they wanted to just
get the pieces, they could auction off the rest for parts and I'm sure that
the total amount they would make on breaking up the set for parts would be
roughly the same what they'll get for this set or maybe a little less.
It does seem too much work just to make a few extra bucks.
Dalu cannot mean Lego in arabian. Lego doesn't have any other meaning. It's
just lego and it's a name of a company and a product. I can see an arabian
name for house or a horse or a bowl of soup but not lego.
For the conclusion, this cannot be an official lego set. It is either a
clone, a fake (which is hard to believe) or another possibility is partial
lego and partial other brand. Those horses and shields just look too much
like lego to be anything else.
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|
In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Jeff Thompson writes:
> > Interesting theory.
> >
> > However,
> >
> > 1. It seems like a lot of work for someone to kludge up
> > a new image to paste on the cover of an existing box. What
> > some people won't do for money .... but it seems like too
> > much work to me.
> >
> > More tellingly,
> >
> > 2. The castle wall corners appear to be round (look in the bottom
> > picture showing the contents of the set, in the left half of
> > the box). It looks awfully round to me, and therefore wouldn't
> > be a genuine LEGO element.
> >
> > My guess - it's a clone, and the person is legitimately describing
> > the pieces when he says that there are no logos on the studs.
> >
> > If Margo K is making the winning bid on the set, I hope she will
> > tell us the results of the winnings after she's gotten her hands
> > on the set.
> >
> > This point of yours ("The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present
> > in this auction offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to
> > compensate and make a more "complete" castle.") is fairly compelling
> > to my suspicious mind, though.
>
> I don't believe this.
> Why would someone go through all the trouble of making a fake box just because
> they wanted to keep the special pieces from that set? If they wanted to just
> get the pieces, they could auction off the rest for parts and I'm sure that
> the total amount they would make on breaking up the set for parts would be
> roughly the same what they'll get for this set or maybe a little less.
> It does seem too much work just to make a few extra bucks.
> Dalu cannot mean Lego in arabian. Lego doesn't have any other meaning. It's
> just lego and it's a name of a company and a product. I can see an arabian
> name for house or a horse or a bowl of soup but not lego.
> For the conclusion, this cannot be an official lego set. It is either a
> clone, a fake (which is hard to believe) or another possibility is partial
> lego and partial other brand. Those horses and shields just look too much
> like lego to be anything else.
I don't think the seller is trying to deceive anyone! In his email to me,
he stated that he didn't know much about lego. He was also upfront in
telling me that the pieces didn't have the lego logo on them. I think that
he was convinced that the set was an arabic issue of a lego set. With the
similarities, it would be easy to be fooled if your weren't that familiar
with lego. What I want to know is where is this company that is blatantly
ripping off lego clones. What other sets are they copying? And I would
also like to hear a comparison of their pieces to lego pieces!
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Tom Reed <Merthyn1@webtv.net> schreef in berichtnieuws
FntEHn.LoG@lugnet.com...
<snip>
> What I want to know is where is this company that is blatantly
> ripping off lego clones. What other sets are they copying? And I would
> also like to hear a comparison of their pieces to lego pieces!
You're thinking the same thing I am, aren't you?
Trying to find an easier way to get those castle sets and bricks!
J/k :o)
--
Arjan Brugman
-
abrugman@casema.net
Arjan.Brugman@philips.com
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| |
|
In lugnet.castle, Tom Reed writes:
> [...] What I want to know is where is this company that is blatantly
> ripping off lego clones. What other sets are they copying? And I would
> also like to hear a comparison of their pieces to lego pieces!
I have no idea where that big clone come from. Recently I saw some small LEGO
clone sets in Toronto. They were inside one of those "insert coins to roll a
toy in ball" machines. All of them are older small sets like 1733. There is
no LEGO marking on the machines. The set pictures have their LEGO and System
logo replaced by some English characters that doesn't make any sense. The sets
are clearly fake just by looking from outside - in the balls the mini-fig hands
are not attached to the body, and the colours are off. The sets are most
likely imported from mainland China since there are a few Chinese character
printed on the pictures. I would only expect them from places that have no or
minimal LEGO marketing present.
They costs $2 Canadian each. If they are $1 I would bought one to take a
closer look.
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D. Jezek <danjezek@REMOVEaloha.net> schreef in berichtnieuws
Fnt3v2.H6H@lugnet.com...
<snip>
> Dalu cannot mean Lego in arabian. Lego doesn't have any other meaning. • It's
> just lego and it's a name of a company and a product. I can see an • arabian
> name for house or a horse or a bowl of soup but not lego.
If I recall correctly, "Lego" is Danish for "play" or something similar.
Just thought I'd let you know. :o)
--
Arjan Brugman
-
abrugman@casema.net
Arjan.Brugman@philips.com
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According to the book, "The World of LEGO® Toys,1987, the Word LEGO, was
coined by Ole Kirk, founder of LEGO, based on the danish phrase "leg godt"
which translates to 'play well". Interesting side note is that Ole found out
later the Latin word "Lego" means " I assemble" or "I put together".
neat huh ?
John
In lugnet.castle, Arjan Brugman writes:
>
> D. Jezek <danjezek@REMOVEaloha.net> schreef in berichtnieuws
> Fnt3v2.H6H@lugnet.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> > Dalu cannot mean Lego in arabian. Lego doesn't have any other meaning. • It's
> > just lego and it's a name of a company and a product. I can see an • arabian
> > name for house or a horse or a bowl of soup but not lego.
>
>
> If I recall correctly, "Lego" is Danish for "play" or something similar.
>
> Just thought I'd let you know. :o)
>
> --
> Arjan Brugman
> -
> abrugman@casema.net
> Arjan.Brugman@philips.com
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John Morgan <trees@utk.edu> schreef in berichtnieuws
Fnu594.851@lugnet.com...
> According to the book, "The World of LEGO® Toys,1987, the Word LEGO, was
> coined by Ole Kirk, founder of LEGO, based on the danish phrase "leg godt"
> which translates to 'play well". Interesting side note is that Ole found • out
> later the Latin word "Lego" means " I assemble" or "I put together".
> neat huh ?
> John
Yes! That's it!
I knew I wasn't completely right.
Sounds like Lego was meant to be. :o)
Thanks for refreshing my memory!
--
Arjan Brugman
-
abrugman@casema.net
Arjan.Brugman@philips.com
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In lugnet.castle, Arjan Brugman writes:
>
> D. Jezek <danjezek@REMOVEaloha.net> schreef in berichtnieuws
> Fnt3v2.H6H@lugnet.com...
>
> <snip>
>
> > Dalu cannot mean Lego in arabian. Lego doesn't have any other meaning. • It's
> > just lego and it's a name of a company and a product. I can see an • arabian
> > name for house or a horse or a bowl of soup but not lego.
>
>
> If I recall correctly, "Lego" is Danish for "play" or something similar.
>
> Just thought I'd let you know. :o)
Yes, of course! %^/
What I meant to say is that the name of a company cannot be different in
another country especially used as a logo on the box of a product. But
someone else already said that and I'm not going to repeat it. :-x
Seeing this item can mean there are more of these sets? There have to be.
I'm surprised that noone else knew about this.
I also exchanged couple e-mails with someone a long time ago that lives in
Egypt and over there all lego sets are the same as in US.
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|
> In lugnet.castle, Jeff Thompson writes:
> Interesting theory.
>
> However,
>
> 1. It seems like a lot of work for someone to kludge up
> a new image to paste on the cover of an existing box. What
> some people won't do for money .... but it seems like too
> much work to me.
>
> More tellingly,
>
> 2. The castle wall corners appear to be round (look in the bottom
> picture showing the contents of the set, in the left half of
> the box). It looks awfully round to me, and therefore wouldn't
> be a genuine LEGO element.
>
> My guess - it's a clone, and the person is legitimately describing
> the pieces when he says that there are no logos on the studs.
I don't see how any of the pieces can be anything but genuine Lego. It is
really hard to tell from the photos if the corner wall segements are rounded or
not but I don't think that they are. If you look at the assembled pieces at
the top where they meet the plate above them, the joint looks just it should.
If I took a fuzzy photograph of my own Castle wall corners I bet that they
would look rounded, too, especially the plain Gray ones.
If some company other than Lego decided to fabricate plastic pieces identical
to Lego they would have to spend a helluva lot of money just for the equipment
and molds. Even if the quality is only 50% of Lego, the cost involved with
exact copying of Lego elements would be excessively prohibitive. And no matter
how shady or devious another company might be, why would they attempt to market
thier clones in packaging that is clearly "identical" to Lego packaging.
As I understand the trademark system to operate, anyone can produce pieces
identical to Lego and even sell them in arrangements (sets) identical to Lego
but the Dalu and Daluland logos are clearly overstepping the Lego image
trademark.
I have to stick to my theory that some individual has dummied up the box and
created this Daluland stuff--perhaps for fun and amusement to see how many
suckers will bid on this!!
I have thought up another angle on the seller. Other items for auction on Ebay
by this seller are either Civil War items or automobiles. The Lego doesn't
seem to fit in the scheme of things. Any why are there no other items from
Suadi Arabia like Desert Shield/Desert Storm collectibles? I wonder if this
seller has some connection to a pawn shop? This is where the Lego set may have
turned up. Or not. All I know is that I do not trust the seller here.
> This point of yours ("The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present
> in this auction offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to
> compensate and make a more "complete" castle.") is fairly compelling
> to my suspicious mind, though.
I think that this is key to the whole thing. Someone wanted the best pieces
but decided to try and sell a "complete" Castle set anyway.
Kevin Salm
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In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
>
> If some company other than Lego decided to fabricate plastic pieces identical
> to Lego they would have to spend a helluva lot of money just for the equipment
> and molds. Even if the quality is only 50% of Lego, the cost involved with
> exact copying of Lego elements would be excessively prohibitive. And no
> matter how shady or devious another company might be, why would they attempt
> to market thier clones in packaging that is clearly "identical" to Lego
> packaging.
Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of "Shifty"? They are a Chinese clone
that duplicates everything from pieces to sets to logo image. They are a true
"clone" in every sense of the word! The only difference is the quality. They
certainly don't seem to be going away, so the cost must not be as prohibitive
as you seem to think. I think the cost of dummying up multiple pictures for
a box would be far more prohibitive for an average person.
Jeff
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Here's some pics of Shifty boxes:
http://members.xoom.com/legohead/shifty.html
(from a link from the construction clones page
http://members.xoom.com/legohead/clones.html)
incredible copies of lego boxes!
i'm no expert but i'm inclined to believe that this dalu set is another rip-off
clone. getting that photography so close to classic lego castle backdrops had
to be a trick and a half.
..joseph g
In lugnet.castle, Jeff Stembel writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> >
> > If some company other than Lego decided to fabricate plastic pieces identical
> > to Lego they would have to spend a helluva lot of money just for the • equipment
> > and molds. Even if the quality is only 50% of Lego, the cost involved with
> > exact copying of Lego elements would be excessively prohibitive. And no
> > matter how shady or devious another company might be, why would they attempt
> > to market thier clones in packaging that is clearly "identical" to Lego
> > packaging.
>
> Out of curiosity, have you ever heard of "Shifty"? They are a Chinese clone
> that duplicates everything from pieces to sets to logo image. They are a true
> "clone" in every sense of the word! The only difference is the quality. They
> certainly don't seem to be going away, so the cost must not be as prohibitive
> as you seem to think. I think the cost of dummying up multiple pictures for
> a box would be far more prohibitive for an average person.
>
> Jeff
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|
In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> I don't see how any of the pieces can be anything but genuine Lego. It is
> really hard to tell from the photos if the corner wall segements are rounded
> or not but I don't think that they are. If you look at the assembled pieces
> at the top where they meet the plate above them, the joint looks just it
> should. If I took a fuzzy photograph of my own Castle wall corners I bet that
> they would look rounded, too, especially the plain Gray ones.
I agree with you here- they don't really look rounded to me-- the shadows from
the upper overhang make it look pretty flat.
> If some company other than Lego decided to fabricate plastic pieces identical
> to Lego they would have to spend a helluva lot of money just for the equipment
> and molds. Even if the quality is only 50% of Lego, the cost involved with
> exact copying of Lego elements would be excessively prohibitive. And no
> matter how shady or devious another company might be, why would they attempt
> to market thier clones in packaging that is clearly "identical" to Lego
> packaging.
I'm wondering on this one... suppose you bought a lego set-- how much would it
be to make something like a sand or plaster cast of it from which you made a
new mold? It'd probably be a lot less expensive than designing your own
molds...
> As I understand the trademark system to operate, anyone can produce pieces
> identical to Lego and even sell them in arrangements (sets) identical to Lego
> but the Dalu and Daluland logos are clearly overstepping the Lego image
> trademark.
Well, that's assuming that the trademark/copyright system is enforced
everywhere. There are doubtlessly some countries where there aren't such laws
(for example the game Starcraft's CD's were copied and re-sold by another
company in another country (Indonesia I think? Somewhere out there..) and there
was no law against it, since whatever country it was didn't recognize
Blizzard's copyright to the software) It could be that back in the mid-late
80's in Saudi Arabia, there weren't any recognized copyright/patent laws
governing Lego, and so it was easy to come in and make a clone...
> I have to stick to my theory that some individual has dummied up the box and
> created this Daluland stuff--perhaps for fun and amusement to see how many
> suckers will bid on this!!
Nah... WAY too much work, money, and time for 1 person to make the box look
THAT good and only make one of it, solely for the purpose of fooling ebayers..
probably whatever he makes on the auction wouldn't be worth the price to print
a box up that nicely and take the photographs so well... (the box's
photographs, not the photograph OF the box) If *I* was trying to fool some
ebayer into thinking I was sending a unique set, I could probably use photoshop
to phony up an instruction cover, then post the picture, claiming it was a scan
of the instructions... no need to photograph the box... why include the box
anyway? There are much easier ways to fool people than what this theory would
suggest... and also IF he WAS trying to fool people, why not post MORE pictures
of his hard labor-- where are the phony instructions? Also, IF he's trying to
pass it off as authentic and he's already gone through all the trouble of
finding an old-style castle set's box to base his picture on, why not put some
other info on the box like a piece count to make us believe further that it's
really Lego?
> I have thought up another angle on the seller. Other items for auction on
> Ebay by this seller are either Civil War items or automobiles. The Lego
> doesn't seem to fit in the scheme of things. Any why are there no other items
> from Suadi Arabia like Desert Shield/Desert Storm collectibles? I wonder if
> this seller has some connection to a pawn shop? This is where the Lego set
> may have turned up. Or not. All I know is that I do not trust the seller
> here.
As previously stated, my stake on the seller is that he needs money. He went
looking through his attic for things that might be valuable, and came up with
this stuff... He's also auctioning off his car... in other words, this says to
me 'I really DO need money'. Or maybe he just bought a used car, and thought
rather than post an ad in the paper where he sells it for a certain price, why
not sell it to the highest bidder?
Also-- if you're going through the bother of printing and making up ONE phony
Lego set, why not do more? Assuming that SOMEHOW he has access to high quality
photography equipment and printing equipment for making the box, etc, why not
find OTHER, RARER things to rip-off? Why choose Lego, and ONLY Lego? It just
doesn't make enough sense.
> > This point of yours ("The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present
> > in this auction offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to
> > compensate and make a more "complete" castle.") is fairly compelling
> > to my suspicious mind, though.
>
> I think that this is key to the whole thing. Someone wanted the best pieces
> but decided to try and sell a "complete" Castle set anyway.
Nah... that's WAY too much trouble to go through just to keep 'rare' pieces. I
don't really know how much it would be to make a phony Lego box like that, but
I bet it's easily more expensive than buying these pieces online from some
other trustworthy Lego fan...
Plus (as an aside), of all the sets I've bought secondhand from ebay, rtl and
lugnet auctions and sales, only ONE set has been 100% complete. Almost
EVERYONE, INCLUDING die hard Lego fans forgets a piece here or there (usually
things like horse backings, a missing 1x1 brick, an extra sword, plumes, etc.,
or there's a substituted piece like the wrong color legs or helmet, etc.), and
they STILL advertise them as being complete. There's precious little to be lost
by still advertising your set as complete, even if you know it isn't. And on
this note, assuming that he only has a mostly complete 6074, you've got to take
into account that in order to be profitable for him, he's got to assume that
selling it as a phony set will get him enough money over selling it as an
incomplete 6074 to pay for actually designing and implimenting the phony
box & instructions. And guessing at about $40, maybe $50 for an incomplete
6074, and maybe expecting about $100 when posted as a 'rare' set, that'd mean
he's expecting to pay less than $50 to make the phony box, etc., which I'd
doubt, unless, again, he's got access to sophisticated photography/printing
equipment...
Anyway, my thought is it ain't Lego. As if the box, pieces, and logo weren't
enough, the fact that the seller says the pieces don't say "LEGO" on them (or
even "DALU") is enough to convince me that it's some sort of knock-off...
Personally, I think that's the best explanation... hopefully whoever wins the
auction will be kind enough to post info about the set...
DaveE
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David Eaton wrote:
> > I have to stick to my theory that some individual has dummied up the box and
> > created this Daluland stuff--perhaps for fun and amusement to see how many
> > suckers will bid on this!!
>
> Nah... WAY too much work, money, and time for 1 person to make the box look
> THAT good and only make one of it, solely for the purpose of fooling ebayers..
> probably whatever he makes on the auction wouldn't be worth the price to print
> a box up that nicely and take the photographs so well... (the box's
> photographs, not the photograph OF the box)
An inkjet printer would turn out good enough pictures for this purpose
> > I think that this is key to the whole thing. Someone wanted the best pieces
> > but decided to try and sell a "complete" Castle set anyway.
>
> Nah... that's WAY too much trouble to go through just to keep 'rare' pieces. I
> don't really know how much it would be to make a phony Lego box like that, but
> I bet it's easily more expensive than buying these pieces online from some
> other trustworthy Lego fan...
What if he has a bunch of 6074s? I'd watch this fellow to see if he
auctions more of these, and if in the future he auctions the rare
pieces.
--
Frank Filz
-----------------------------
Work: mailto:ffilz@us.ibm.com (business only please)
Home: mailto:ffilz@mindspring.com
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This is all starting to sound like a conspiracy theory...
Someone already posted info from the seller that the bricks don't have Lego
molded onto the studs (or Dula for that matter), they freely gave up this
info indicating an ignorance of Lego.
I would tend to agree that the seller:
1. Doesn't know much about LEGO.
2. Did buy the set somewhere where IP is not strictly enforced (I'm not an
IP expert but the color scheme look and feel, and use of Dulaland may be a
little bit gray as far as trademark enfringment goes anyway).
3. Doesn't realize its a knock-off.
4. Doesn't intend to defraud anyone.
We already know that Lego imitations are manufactured, look similar to Lego
bricks, are made with inferior/unstable materials, etc. Bricks could be
purchased from existing manufacturers in one market, and repackaged and sold
in another.
Knock-offs with a similar look and feel happen. I was in Beijing a few
years ago and noticed a Jeep Cherokee. It looked like a Jeep from a
distance. When you looked at it up close, it appeared to have been reverse
engineered with a tape measure. The fit up on the sheetmetal was gross. In
some counties, pirating is a high form of flatery.
just my $0.02 ...
-Rob Doucette.
Frank Filz <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:3873B497.7AAE@mindspring.com...
> David Eaton wrote:
> > > I have to stick to my theory that some individual has dummied up the • box and
> > > created this Daluland stuff--perhaps for fun and amusement to see how • many
> > > suckers will bid on this!!
> >
> > > I think that this is key to the whole thing. Someone wanted the best • pieces
> > > but decided to try and sell a "complete" Castle set anyway.
>
>
> What if he has a bunch of 6074s? I'd watch this fellow to see if he
> auctions more of these, and if in the future he auctions the rare
> pieces.
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In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
>
> > As I understand the trademark system to operate, anyone can produce pieces
> > identical to Lego and even sell them in arrangements (sets) identical to Lego
> > but the Dalu and Daluland logos are clearly overstepping the Lego image
> > trademark.
>
> Well, that's assuming that the trademark/copyright system is enforced
> everywhere. There are doubtlessly some countries where there aren't such laws
> (for example the game Starcraft's CD's were copied and re-sold by another
> company in another country (Indonesia I think? Somewhere out there..) and
> there was no law against it, since whatever country it was didn't recognize
> Blizzard's copyright to the software) It could be that back in the mid-late
> 80's in Saudi Arabia, there weren't any recognized copyright/patent laws
> governing Lego, and so it was easy to come in and make a clone...
Most likely Taiwan. I know they do not support International Copyright Law. I
have some CDs I purchased before I knew of this that are rip-offs. They were
made by a company called Son May, which copies Anime and Video Game Soundtracks
and markets them. I believe Video copying is big business there, too.
Jeff
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>
> I don't see how any of the pieces can be anything but genuine Lego. It is
> really hard to tell from the photos if the corner wall segements are rounded • or
> not but I don't think that they are. If you look at the assembled pieces at
> the top where they meet the plate above them, the joint looks just it should.
> If I took a fuzzy photograph of my own Castle wall corners I bet that they
> would look rounded, too, especially the plain Gray ones.
The wall corners are round take a close look its as obvious as day! also the
lego corners are one piece, his corners look like the old mega blocks castle
pieces.
Doyle
It's not all lego but maybe 75%, but still I wouldn't pay those prices for
just a few pieces that I may never get. This whole topic is getting stupid.
It's fake, not a real FF and who ever buys it will get ripped for the price =
simple isnt it!
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Kevin Salm <kdsalm@dreamscape.com> schreef in berichtnieuws
FnsuxI.C8@lugnet.com...
> Reference: • http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> I don't think the seller can be trusted here. I don't care what he types • in
> an email, he likely is not truthful.
Man, you really went out of your way to solve this mystery!
Great work Kevin!
Just some small notes for info:
> Here is what I believe the situation is:
>
> - All of the pieces are genuine Lego elements
> - The box is a genuine Lego box
> - The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued • to
> the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
> right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I • would
> bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
> doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
> - I do think that if I am correct, the job of putting new images on the • box
> has been done very precisely as the inside cover looks nearly perfect as • far
> as background color and any paper edges showing.
> - Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
> that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect • a
> slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
> (unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
Could be though, European sets don't have that sentence printed anywhere
either.
> - The pieces themselves may have come from several Lego sets, mostly 6074.
> This would account for incorrect minifigs, incorrect shields, one extra
> horse, No Yellow Tudor wall section, No Yellow half-arches, No Black • extreme
> slope corners or 4-sided pyramid piece.
> - The printing on the wall segments may have been removed or the pieces • have
> been replaced with plain Gray wall sections from other sets.
> - The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
> offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make • a
> more "complete" castle.
>
> - From what I see, someone went to a lot of trouble to make us believe • that
> Dalu is actual Lego and has their own offerings of sets. The Logo burns • me
> up. The red Dalu logo is too fuzzy--plus everything everyone else has • said
> about touching the flag, etc. I don't have old-enough non-US Lego Castle
> set boxes to compare it to, but it does not seem to measure up to Lego
> standards. The most striking omission might be piece count if that was
> present on the Lego 6074 Euro boxes.
Nope. We don't get piece counts on any set. :o(
> - I do not know what printed Arabic text looks like, but I think that if
> Lego were to translate into another language, they would use characters • from
> that language. This fake box was done with the English alphabet only--no
> special characters at all. Another sticky point.
>
> - Authenticating the name Dalu has not turned up any toy or plastics
> manufacturers.
> So far this is what I have found:
> 1. Canadian Trademark Database refers me to info on importing Chinese
> industrial goods such as bathroom fixtures
> 2. Shanghai Dalu Friendship International Hotel Equipment and Facilities
> Trading Center
> 3. search of LOCIS.LOC.GOV via telnet (Library of Congress) gives no • matches
> to any searches
> 4. US Patent & Trademark Office searches also have no matches for Dalu or
> Daluland
> 5. No matches in UK Patent & Trademark Office
> 6. Additional online searches futile.
>
> Anyway, that is my view on this. Overall, I believe that the pieces are
> Lego but that it does not correctly represent any specific Lego set. Dalu
> and Daluland are fictitious and cooked up by the seller.
Btw, noticed two other things:
- Don't see a copyright mark after "DALU".
- There's a blue antenna in hte box. (Check the blue and red flags in the
right center of the box.) Did TLC ever ship any other than black or grey
with Castles?
Cheers!
--
Arjan Brugman
-
abrugman@casema.net
Arjan.Brugman@philips.com
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In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> Reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> I don't think the seller can be trusted here. I don't care what he types in
> an email, he likely is not truthful.
>
> Here is what I believe the situation is:
>
> - All of the pieces are genuine Lego elements
> - The box is a genuine Lego box
> - The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued to
> the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
> right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I would
> bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
> doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
> - I do think that if I am correct, the job of putting new images on the box
> has been done very precisely as the inside cover looks nearly perfect as far
> as background color and any paper edges showing.
> - Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
> that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect a
> slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
> (unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
>
> - The pieces themselves may have come from several Lego sets, mostly 6074.
> This would account for incorrect minifigs, incorrect shields, one extra
> horse, No Yellow Tudor wall section, No Yellow half-arches, No Black extreme
> slope corners or 4-sided pyramid piece.
> - The printing on the wall segments may have been removed or the pieces have
> been replaced with plain Gray wall sections from other sets.
> - The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
> offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make a
> more "complete" castle.
I agree with your points. The set is likely to be fake, and it prolly is (I
don't want to accuse anybody, but the facts are not on the seller's side here,
unless he/she would like to come out and say something we haven't noticed...
not likely either)
> - From what I see, someone went to a lot of trouble to make us believe that
> Dalu is actual Lego and has their own offerings of sets. The Logo burns me
> up. The red Dalu logo is too fuzzy--plus everything everyone else has said
> about touching the flag, etc. I don't have old-enough non-US Lego Castle
> set boxes to compare it to, but it does not seem to measure up to Lego
> standards. The most striking omission might be piece count if that was
> present on the Lego 6074 Euro boxes.
>
> - I do not know what printed Arabic text looks like, but I think that if
> Lego were to translate into another language, they would use characters from
> that language. This fake box was done with the English alphabet only--no
> special characters at all. Another sticky point.
I agree with that. I think I mentioned that earlier, also Israeli sets for a
fact have the original lego logo and I don't think TLC would've changed it for
anything.
> - Authenticating the name Dalu has not turned up any toy or plastics
> manufacturers.
> So far this is what I have found:
> 1. Canadian Trademark Database refers me to info on importing Chinese
> industrial goods such as bathroom fixtures
> 2. Shanghai Dalu Friendship International Hotel Equipment and Facilities
> Trading Center
> 3. search of LOCIS.LOC.GOV via telnet (Library of Congress) gives no matches
> to any searches
> 4. US Patent & Trademark Office searches also have no matches for Dalu or
> Daluland
> 5. No matches in UK Patent & Trademark Office
> 6. Additional online searches futile.
>
> Anyway, that is my view on this. Overall, I believe that the pieces are
> Lego but that it does not correctly represent any specific Lego set. Dalu
> and Daluland are fictitious and cooked up by the seller.
>
> _______________________________________________________
>
> Kevin Salm
> ....The biggest fan of the Gray Lego brick....
> _______________________________________________________
>
>
>
> > Tom Reed wrote in message ...
>
> > For all of you who are speculating about the castle set on ebay, I think I
> have the answer! I emailed >the guy who is auctioning it off and at first
> he told me that "dalu" is Arabian for "lego"!
Sorry, but this is totally unreasonable. I'm not 100% sure here, I only
learned arabic for two years (1) but the word "lego" I believe is a play-off
of "play well" in Danish (2). It has no literate meaning so how the heck could
it be translated?!?!
I've learned arabic for two years (1) and never heard of the word "Dalu".
If he said that to you, he's/she's moved from being maybe unknowing or
unrealizing this is a fake (let's give the guy(gal?) the benefit of the doubt)
to lying to you. I might be jumpin' to conclusions here but this is really too
much.
> Since he didn't >say anymore,
> I emailed him again and asked that he check the bricks and let me know if
> they had >lego stamped on them. He wrote back and said they didn't! He
> said that they didn't have anything on >them! Therefore, I think we can
> safely say that these are not true lego pieces! Dalu is obviously
> > a clone of some type! I'm just surprised that we haven't heard of it
> > before.
I wouldn't be so sure that it's a clone - the seller could've been fooling you
just as easily as he's (she's?) fooled someone into paying $85 for a fake lego
set. (that's the current price.)
-Shiri
(1) more than the most here probably but still not too much :-)
(2) I read about this a long time ago in lego.com but I'm pretty sure this is
right.
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In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> Reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> - The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued to
> the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
> right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I would
> bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
> doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
> - Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
> that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect a
> slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
> (unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
Believe it or not, boxes may vary significantly from one area to another. For
example, I have two 6080s, one from Canada and one from the US. Here's a
brief list of differences:
The US 6080:
-Box is more "orangey-yellow" in colour
-Says "664 interlocking pieces."
-Says "Use this box for storage" on the inside
-Says "LEGOLAND Castle System" on the front cover
-Greatest difference: Inside of box's layout is similar to 6074 with two areas
sectioned off by a divider.
The Canadian 6080:
-Box is a lighter shade of yellow.
-Says "667 pieces."
-Lacks the "use this box for storage" comment
-Only says "LEGOLAND" on the front cover
-Inside of box has a *hard plastic tray* for storage of pieces!
So maybe this makes our Interesting Castle on eBay more of a mystery...
> - The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
> offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make a
> more "complete" castle.
The fact that the "valuable" pieces have been removed seems awfully fishy to
me...
Perhaps we should ask the winner of the auction to verify our questions?
Bryan
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In lugnet.castle, Bryan Wong writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Kevin Salm writes:
> > Reference: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> > - The box is likely the box from Lego 6074 with a totally new image glued to
> > the front and inside cover. I am looking at the boxes for 6073 and 7074
> > right now and even the inside cover picture is different. However, I would
> > bet that the rest of the box has been unchanged unless this seller really
> > doesn't want anyone to know it was once a Lego box.
> > - Notice that the box divider looks just like the 6073 or 6074 box except
> > that the printed words USE THIS BOX FOR STORAGE is not present. I detect a
> > slight yellow color variation so I think that this has been covered up
> > (unless it was never on non-US Lego boxes).
>
> Believe it or not, boxes may vary significantly from one area to another. For
> example, I have two 6080s, one from Canada and one from the US. Here's a
> brief list of differences:
>
> The US 6080:
> -Box is more "orangey-yellow" in colour
> -Says "664 interlocking pieces."
> -Says "Use this box for storage" on the inside
> -Says "LEGOLAND Castle System" on the front cover
> -Greatest difference: Inside of box's layout is similar to 6074 with two areas
> sectioned off by a divider.
>
> The Canadian 6080:
> -Box is a lighter shade of yellow.
> -Says "667 pieces."
> -Lacks the "use this box for storage" comment
> -Only says "LEGOLAND" on the front cover
> -Inside of box has a *hard plastic tray* for storage of pieces!
>
> So maybe this makes our Interesting Castle on eBay more of a mystery...
>
> > - The most valuable pieces from set 6074 are not present in this auction
> > offering. Likely harvested out; other pieces added to compensate and make a
> > more "complete" castle.
>
> The fact that the "valuable" pieces have been removed seems awfully fishy to
> me...
>
> Perhaps we should ask the winner of the auction to verify our questions?
>
> Bryan
Has anyone emailed the winner and asked them to enlighten us when they
receive the set? After all the controversy, it would seem like a good idea!
I'm curious if the winner thinks they bought a true lego set or not. I
still don't believe the seller is behind any fraud or conspiracy. I think
it's the company that's questionable!
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In lugnet.castle, Tom Reed writes:
> Has anyone emailed the winner and asked them to enlighten us when they
> receive the set? After all the controversy, it would seem like a good idea!
> I'm curious if the winner thinks they bought a true lego set or not. I
> still don't believe the seller is behind any fraud or conspiracy. I think
> it's the company that's questionable!
... and the winner is ... amf70!
In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare and
it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
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In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare and
> it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
That's Abner all right. Even *I* don't go up against him (much). He has some
amazing stuff(1), some of which I have been privileged enough to see. Thanks,
Abner...
Note the timings, he's got sniping down to a science. That other sniper,
blacktron1, never had a chance, he was too late and too low.
1 - how about the "whistle train"
(http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=118-1) mint in a sealed box with
shrinkwrap still on it and not even much in the way of denting? Or how about a
complete Minitalia collection? Amazing.
++Lar
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In lugnet.castle, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> > ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> > In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare and
> > it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
>
> That's Abner all right. Even *I* don't go up against him (much). He has some
> amazing stuff(1), some of which I have been privileged enough to see. Thanks,
> Abner...
But, the question is....
Does he read/post on Lugnet? RTL?
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In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> > > ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> > > In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare and
> > > it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
> >
> > That's Abner all right. Even *I* don't go up against him (much). He has some
> > amazing stuff(1), some of which I have been privileged enough to see. Thanks,
> > Abner...
>
>
> But, the question is....
>
> Does he read/post on Lugnet? RTL?
I know he used to post on RTL back in 1995 or so - I recognize
the email address. He posted with the pseudonym "Ace Maze,"
I think.
--
jthompson@esker.com "Float on a river, forever and ever, Emily"
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In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> In lugnet.castle, Larry Pieniazek writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, Dan Jezek writes:
> > > ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> > > In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare and
> > > it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
> >
> > That's Abner all right. Even *I* don't go up against him (much). He has some
> > amazing stuff(1), some of which I have been privileged enough to see. Thanks,
> > Abner...
>
>
> But, the question is....
>
> Does he read/post on Lugnet? RTL?
I don't know if it is appropriate to dig through someone's posts but in case
you want to read them, try using dejanews:
http://www.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/dnquery.xp?DBS=2&ST=MS&QRY=%7Eg+rec.toys.lego+%
7Ea+amf70@aol.com&svcclass=dnserver
You can also read his one and only post here on lugnet by typing in his name
in the search box on the main page :-)
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David Carriker wrote:
>
> But, the question is....
>
> Does he read/post on Lugnet? RTL?
More of a lurker, I guess.
Now, if you all came to the GMLTC meetings, you'd get to see some of
this stuff, that's what I am saying. :-) C'mon, Minneapolis in the
winter isn't THAT cold and windy. What are you saving those airline
miles for, anyway?
--
Larry Pieniazek larryp@novera.com http://my.voyager.net/lar
- - - Web Application Integration! http://www.novera.com
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.
NOTE: Soon to be lpieniazek@tsisoft.com :-)
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As a seller, I really like Abner ;-)
As a competing buyer, its futile.
My feeling about this set, is that its a knock-off, like Mega Blocks or
Tyco. Although not many people are interested in old Mega Blocks Castles,
they aren't exactly easy to find, and the Dalu set is obviously even less
obtainable. Does anyone remember Gargamel's (Glow in the Dark) Castle from
the early 80s, when Smurfs were cool? Another interesting knock-off, IMO.
--
Have fun!
John
The Legos you've been dreaming of...
http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego
my weird Lego site:
http://www114.pair.com/ig88/
"Censorship is yet another tool in the dumbing-down of America
by a power structure that relies on a populace too lazy or ignorant
to think independently." -Vanessa McGrady
D. Jezek wrote in message ...
> In lugnet.castle, Tom Reed writes:
>
> > Has anyone emailed the winner and asked them to enlighten us when they
> > receive the set? After all the controversy, it would seem like a good • idea!
> > I'm curious if the winner thinks they bought a true lego set or not. I
> > still don't believe the seller is behind any fraud or conspiracy. I think
> > it's the company that's questionable!
>
> ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare • and
> it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
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John, can you email Abner and find out about this Daluland stuff. I think that
a lot of us are still wondering about this stuff and if there is any authentic
Lego in this lot.
Thanks
Kevin Salm
In lugnet.castle, John DiRienzo writes:
> As a seller, I really like Abner ;-)
> As a competing buyer, its futile.
> My feeling about this set, is that its a knock-off, like Mega Blocks or
> Tyco. Although not many people are interested in old Mega Blocks Castles,
> they aren't exactly easy to find, and the Dalu set is obviously even less
> obtainable. Does anyone remember Gargamel's (Glow in the Dark) Castle from
> the early 80s, when Smurfs were cool? Another interesting knock-off, IMO.
> --
> Have fun!
> John
> The Legos you've been dreaming of...
> http://www114.pair.com/ig88/lego
> my weird Lego site:
> http://www114.pair.com/ig88/
>
> "Censorship is yet another tool in the dumbing-down of America
> by a power structure that relies on a populace too lazy or ignorant
> to think independently." -Vanessa McGrady
> D. Jezek wrote in message ...
> > In lugnet.castle, Tom Reed writes:
> >
> > > Has anyone emailed the winner and asked them to enlighten us when they
> > > receive the set? After all the controversy, it would seem like a good • idea!
> > > I'm curious if the winner thinks they bought a true lego set or not. I
> > > still don't believe the seller is behind any fraud or conspiracy. I think
> > > it's the company that's questionable!
> >
> > ... and the winner is ... amf70!
> > In the past 4 years I haven't seen anyone outbid this guy. If it's rare • and
> > it's something he wants, he will get it. No matter what the price.
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > > In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> > > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> > >
> > > How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
> > > some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
> > > Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how • copyright
> > > laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't
> > > think that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After
> > > all, if they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out
> > > with a completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both
> > > crusader and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! • (Does
> > > this mean that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line???
> >
> > And is it just me, or do those minifigs not have faces? It's hard to tell,
> > because the scan isn't a great resolution, but it looks like the heads are
> > unprinted.
> >
> > Weird...I'm thinking blatant rip-off, myself, but I'm not certain. Wonder
> > what the copyright notice on the box says?
>
> I'm thinking rip-off more and more - take another look at the Black Falcon
> Fortress, you will see a number of differences:
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=6074-1
Note also the REAL 708 set(s):
http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=708
Not really your average Castle set...
Also, TLC would totally NOT change their logo in any case - it's not their
style... ;-) If anything, they would've written a translation - but when I
think of the Israeli sets, that's not likely - Israel has a totally different
language,(i.e. different letters) yet TLC didn't make any translation
whatsoever for us...
I would definitely bet on rip-off...
-Shiri
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In lugnet.castle, James Brown writes:
> In lugnet.castle, David Eaton writes:
> > In lugnet.castle, David Carriker writes:
> > > I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
> > > http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
> > > It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from
> > > the more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
> >
> > How phenomenally odd! "DALU"? "DALULAND"? I assume this is a translation of
> > some kind? But why translate a product name? Does "lego" mean something in
> > Arabic? Could it concievably be a rip off of lego? I'm not sure how copyright
> > laws are in the Saudi Arabia-- could it be some other company? I wouldn't
> > think that TLC would alter the product THAT much for another market! After
> > all, if they're already manufacturing Black Falcon's Fortress, why come out
> > with a completely different box/set/instructions/etc? And why include both
> > crusader and black falcon shields/figs in the same set? I need answers! (Does
> > this mean that nobody is castle complete without the whole Saudi line???
>
> And is it just me, or do those minifigs not have faces? It's hard to tell,
> because the scan isn't a great resolution, but it looks like the heads are
> unprinted.
>
> Weird...I'm thinking blatant rip-off, myself, but I'm not certain. Wonder
> what the copyright notice on the box says?
I noticed that too... but I didn't really think anything of it... I took
another look at the picture, and it looks like they COULD be there... I think I
could barely make out the mouths, but they looked like straight lines (no
smiles)... again, VERY hard to tell from the pics... and unfortunately, I can't
click on "ask seller a question" because apparently his email's not there or
something... Otherwise, the string looks of thicker quality than TLC's
traditional string, and also it looks like the rim around the yellow crusader
shield is slightly wider than usual... of course it IS really hard to tell
anything for certain...
DaveE
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David Carriker wrote:
>
> I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from the
> more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
That is just to darn weird!!! I looked at it, and it looks eerily like
my BFF, but the minifig colors are not like any I've ever seen in a
castle (looks like the hands are the same color as the bodies/arms), the
crusaider shields are the wrong color (I've never seen GREY backgrounds
on them), but the BFF shields are dead on. I can't tell... if it's not
LEGO brand, some company went through a lot of trouble to make dead on
copies. One thing, in the front box pic, the castle corner walls look
like the stud slots are much larger than on standard LEGO brand. I
don't know what to say... I'll think I'll bid on it, though, just to
solve this mystery!
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
jmbrown@mines.edu
http://www.pcisys.net/~jmbrown/
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I've been looking at this set for a while now... and the corner pieces
look rounded to me.. at least the front ones that are easily viewable
(by the 2 horses) and I noticed one of them in the box, it's by the
yellow cardboard on the left side about in the middle, does anyone else
think this is rounded off instead of squared off like regular lego
walls?
I don't believe this to be a real Lego set, it might have some parts,
like the horses that look a lot like Lego's peices, though I think it's
a good looking box wise rip-off.
I think I know who that is bidding on it, and I hope if they win they
will let us know what this set is really like :)
David Carriker wrote:
>
> I found an interesting castle set from saudi-arabia on ebay:
>
> http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=227975305
>
> It looks like a variation on the Black Falcon Fortress. Any insights from the
> more knowledgeable folks here? I noticed that it was numbered 708.
--
Keep on Bricken'
-Tamy
Follow the bouncing boxes!
http://home.att.net/~mookie1/jambalaya.html
http://home.att.net/~mookie1/
http://mookie.iwarp.com/ (mirror site)
Lego isn't a toy, it's a way of life!
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