Then I sat down outside of the convention hall, and went to inspect my l00t
Immediately I put the crack team over at Discord to work. I hadn't even seen a Death Trooper figure up close before, I also haven't seen any recently released minifigures, nor have I any clue what the current quality of the dreaded Chinese plastic was. But something was off.
Discord's judgement was a swift and merciless "Faker than Melania Trump's Tits" verdict. The evidence was damning.
Bootleg Lego identification expert Kaplan had linked this to either the Pogo or Xhin Bootleg Forge Worlds of the Maoist empire. Quickly event security was alerted, and things had played in our favour, the perpetrator was surrounded by law enforcement officers, ready to beat him within an inch of unreasonable force with truncheons should he try and escape. Thanks Allah. Recompense was quickly dispensed, and the perpetrator will likely taught the perils of fucking with a Brikwarriors need for cool looking troops. So all's well that ends well? Well no. Not to sound arrogant, but I am pissed with myself for not spotting the bootlegs from a mile away. The second I had peace quiet and time to examine the figures, it became obvious from touch alone that these were not right. SO what went wrong? Well below I present what I believe allowed me to fall for the fakes, and what you can do to protect yourselves from this cancer.
6) Ignorance of the quality of Bootlegs: Know your enemy. I knew Lego forgeries were getting more convincing, but I didn't realise how convincing. Without the ability to focus on the details, and properly feel the plastic, as well as the connectors, I'd say the figures are at a distance indistinguishable to anyone who isn't familiar with the figures printing.
7) Missing the obvious signs: Excess flash on blasters and helmets. Obnoxious mold lines. Freaking solid stud heads. I could have saved myself a lot of bother by looking closely for the easy things that distinguish a bootleg from genuine crack ABS.
8) False sense of security: I have seen MCM take a hard line of fake merchandise before, with vendors being ejected mid-day for selling fake goods. I let my guard down, and it almost cost me. Even after the incident, event staff assured me the store would be looked into to see how they were selling fake merchandise. (We passed 3 other stores selling minifigures on the way to the culprit. I say they have their work cut out from them).
Buying used and third party lego is a recommended method of building a Brikwars army. I am saddened that these were fake, as they would have allowed me to build an awesome set of troops with which to slaughter the genetically inferior with. Irony is a cruel mistress. Learn from my failures, keep your guard up, don't be afraid to thoroughly inspect models, and say outright no to bootleg models. So no one is under any impression to the contrary, these figures were of an objectively worse quality, and were being sold at close to a premium price.