Lego S.W.A.T

Waaay before knock off/bootleg lego and their parts exist in mass production as like today, the only solution to have such parts not made available by lego is to  buy custom made which is very expensive and limited tho.

I remember buying this machine gun by Si-Dan for about RM20 (around USD6) inclusive postage. 

RM20 only for the machine gun

My favourite source to have those custom made parts are from Brickarms, Firestartoys, Brickwarriors, Brickforge and of course on ebay. I'm sure you also have your own favourite source to have custom made/printed lego parts. 

I had quite a few of the accessories but today i only manage to find 3 sets which is all from Brickforge. 

Each set cost me around RM20 (USD6) inclusive postage. With the same price, i can buy octuple of bootleg issued parts today. Too good to be true right? I will review SWAT set (8 boxes) by Lele in this post..

parts and trading cards

Uh uh.. first box to unpack and there's missing part already - most important part too... the shield! =(((((

I am not sure if it is intentional or error in packaging but i only receive 6 set of additional weapons/accessories out of the 8 boxes.

all identical

Let the pictures do the talking ya =)

Figures with accessories

Rear view

Now lets have a look on the torso and leg. I am quite impress with the design. Every torso has different design and no repetitive. 

without accessories

rear view

The plastic however, feel and look cheap. IMHO, the accessories and weapon by Lele is too thin. It is proven with this comparison. I compare one of the vest with Lego vest from Lego Robo SWAT (The Lego movie)

Right - Lele's, Left - Lego 

I strip the accessories from the minifigure, lay them out and have the same arrangement with the above photo (minifigure with accessories). It is very time consuming to arrange them with my fat finger. lol

Closer look on each accessories:

[edited on Dec 11,2014]

[Thank you sooooooo much to @apodistagon for these weapon name. =). I edit the picture above and put in the name just like the one in your email]

Cannot wait to have my hand on other SWAT set by Sheng Yuan (set of 4) =)

The question now, are those custom made parts or custom print on original lego parts are anywhere better than bootleg/knock off version? IMHO, buying original stuff is one way to support and show your appreciation to authenticity of the item. But custom made is just the same with bootleg/knock off. 

Yesterday i took some time to dig bootleg parts that i have and choose some  accessories that i think is cool and maybe will have some use in future. (for photography of course). If i treasure those custom made machine gun for years, i'll do the same for these parts because they are very unique.