Well, to the point that they don’t get an angry letter from the Lego Group asking them what the hell they think they’re doing, that is. But this new line of miniature toys based on Akira Toriyama’s designs of some of anime’s most recognisable heroes do walk a pretty damn fine line.
The line of tiny “Figmes” include Goku, Vegeta (and super-saiyan powered up versions of them), Krillin, Piccolo, Frieza and Cell, and given that they’re around 500 yen — or $US4 ($5) — each, they’re most likely to a very similar scale that Lego’s own minifigures are.
It’s impossible to tell if their feet let them get secured onto building blocks, but given just how insanely close to Lego minifigures these guys are, it wouldn’t be surprising if you could just pop them into a Lego set and be none the wiser, outside of the exaggerated and simplified faces.
Maybe not so surprising, given the popularity of cheap, blind-bagged toys that’s swept the world, but it’s kind of amazing to see something like this from Bandai, just for the sheer comparison to Lego. The Dragonball Z figmes will hit Japan in March 2016.
[Via Nerd Approved]
Comments
7 responses to “Bandai Desperately Wants You To Think These Dragonball Z Figures Are Lego”
Check your patent info. Lego has been out of patent since early 2000s. Anyone can build Lego now… legally.
How does lego have any rights? Surely lego falls under industrial designs and not any sort of copyright, which would have run out years ago. You just can’t call it lego since they still have the trade mark right?
I’m probably getting some of this wrong, and it may be different in different parts of the world but I beleive they don’t have any kind of protection on the basic brick design though they do have a trademark on their specific three dimensional minifig shape. This is pretty damn close to basic lego minifig shape, and I want to say I read something recently about a court case based on the claw hands of minifigs but I can’t find a link. Oh, I have found a link for the 3D shape trademark though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33147827
Ah right, I don’t think that would hold up in most courts (probably just the eu giving an eu country more rights) because it’s giving someone infinite copyright/designs rights via trade marks, which is generally a big nono.
Honestly I thought they were custom Lego minifigs until I read the article.
Riavan – the design of the basic Lego minifig is copyrighted in much the same way any character design is.
Industrially manufactured 3d objects fall under design law not copyright. Designs registrations only last around 15 years in Australia.
Lego dimensions 2 characters 😀 how cool would that be