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An interesting eBay find: LEGO Roman soldiers

Browsing eBay for LEGO can often turn up some interesting finds. For example just a few days ago I found these custom LEGO Roman accessories. They look pretty good as far as I can tell, and would go great with the LEGO Roman from Collectible Minifigs Series or just on their own. Just look at those sweet helmets, weapons, shields and armor-pieces!

According the eBay listings, the LEGO Roman accessories are made of plastic – no idea of the quality of plastic though. They are specifically made for LEGO minifigures, so they should fit well. I assume the accessories are either hand-painted or printed – I’m not sure which. I asked the seller some questions, but so far haven’t received a response.

The LEGO Roman accessories look good on the pictures, and I’m thinking of ordering at least one set, because I’m curious about the quality. They are not cheap though; $12.50 for one set, or $11.50 for those in bundles. Yeah, that’s pretty steep! But then again; it depends on how badly you want to make your LEGO Roman soldiers as realistic as possible. Below are some more pictures from the eBay listings (click for larger view):

The seller has several eBay listings with these LEGO Romans; either as a set of Roman accessories for one minifigure, or a bundle for four or five minifigures. Please note that the LEGO minifigures are NOT included, only the custom accessories, as seen on the pictures.

The seller is located in Hong Kong, and will ship worldwide for $5.50. They are considered a Top Rated Seller, although they do have some non-positive feedback – mainly related to not having an item in stock. I wouldn’t hesitate ordering from them, especially with eBay’s guarantee. If you want to check out the LEGO Roman accessories yourself, here are the eBay listings: Custom LEGO Romans by 7toys7

I know custom LEGO items are not for everyone, but if you want to own something very unique in your LEGO collection, these LEGO Roman accessories might be worth looking into. Let me know what you think. 🙂

Also, you may want to check out: Shopping for LEGO on eBay

{ 32 comments… add one }
  • TomTom March 10, 2012, 10:09 AM

    Hm, they do look good. I have never heard of this customizer before. I’m also curious about the quality. May have to order some. thanks!

  • Geno March 10, 2012, 1:36 PM

    They look pretty cool, from the pictures they look hand-painted. It’s areas like these that prove the infinite possibilities that LEGO can provide.

    • admin March 10, 2012, 5:43 PM

      Geno, yes, LEGO is an excellent medium for all kinds of artists! 😀

  • Areader March 10, 2012, 4:34 PM

    They sound way to cheap so be careful. I payed $25 for the first generation batman Joker, and I pay about $10 a fig for others.

    • admin March 10, 2012, 5:48 PM

      Areader, this seller is only selling the accessories, not the minifigs themselves. As far as customs go, these are on the expensive side. Although if they are hand-painted they are definitely worth it. The seller has great feedback, so I wouldn’t worry much. 😉

      • Areader March 12, 2012, 10:44 AM

        Ohhhhh OK. That makes moee sense :p

  • Hothbricks March 11, 2012, 4:49 AM

    Wow, I am not usually a big fan of hand painting on minifigs, but here, the quality seems awesome… Nice find!

  • simon menz March 11, 2012, 10:28 PM

    Go ahead for those interested, i ‘ve collected from 7toys7 50 minifigs just be careful as it’s fragile plastic and sometimes the helmets are too tight for the head. Excellent paint job and detail as far as authenticity goes it doesn’t get any more realistic than this.

    • admin March 11, 2012, 10:31 PM

      Simon, thanks so much for your testimonial! If you would like to share a picture of your minifigs let me know. We would love to see them!:)

  • admin March 14, 2012, 10:23 AM

    UPDATE: Seller wrote me back and said the following: “Sorry for the late reply! The items are PU Resin and they are hand painted. They are compatible with other similar item such as Lego. Thank you very much for your patience!” – So that makes it more clear! I do have some other LEGO accessories from another customizer who uses resin, and you can’t tell the difference between resin and plastic. So, these should be fine as well. 😉

  • brickography March 14, 2012, 4:23 PM

    These are beautiful — I just placed an order. My family is into Greek and Roman history and mythology. Can’t wait to get them.

    • admin March 14, 2012, 4:28 PM

      Let me know how you like them! I’m also very much into Greek & Roman history, so these are definitely great for us history buffs! 😉

  • brickography April 22, 2012, 3:01 PM

    Well, I got my order and was initially impressed, but was quickly disappointed after trying to mount the custom parts to standard LEGO parts. Here’s what I wrote to the seller — I wonder how he’ll reply:

    The painting and sculpting of your Roman Soldier minfig parts are beautiful. However, the compatibility and fit with standard LEGO parts is poor. I am an adult assembling the parts fresh out of your shipping box, and a few pieces have already broken. Here are the many problems with the two sets of four that I purchased:

    • When I put LEGO hands on some arms, your arms cracked — the fit is too TIGHT! And on some arms, the hands are so LOOSE, they do not hold your weapons straight. The hands just spin loose in the arm socket.

    • Most of your helmets are also too TIGHT to fit on a standard LEGO head. Four helmets will not fit a LEGO head at all! I’ve mounted the others, and they will not come off now.

    • Most of the bodies are also too TIGHT. Three bodies will not fit at all on a standard LEGO minifig torso. The ones that fit are very tight, and will not come off.

    Too bad. The painting and sculpting are quite impressive. Of the eight sets I got, perhaps four are useful for display only. No play. The other four are mess of broken pieces or pieces that won’t fit on standard LEGO parts. Very disappointing after spending $96. 🙁

    • admin April 22, 2012, 3:10 PM

      Thanks for the excellent first-hand review! If you would like to add some pictures to your review just let me know. I’m sure readers would greatly appreciate it.

      eBay is excellent at making sure you receive a refund for broken pieces and items not as described, so just make sure you follow up with the seller and Paypal to get a refund for what you think is appropriate. Also, I would highly suggest leaving honest feedback to let others know what to expect.

      I hope the seller will use your feedback to improve on their products. As you say; the details and the painting is beautifully done, so if they would just work on the quality-control of the parts they would have a real winner! 🙂

  • brickography April 22, 2012, 3:25 PM

    Thanks, Admin. I’ll certainly follow up with eBay feedback so others can benefit. I also hope the seller will take this constructive feedback and improve his products. If the parts compatibility improved and became as great as the painting and sculpting quality, I would buy a small army of these Romans. But we’ll see first how the seller does with customer service and responsiveness.

    • admin April 22, 2012, 3:30 PM

      Yes, I’m curious to hear about how the seller will handle this as I was also planning to place an order to improve my LEGO Romans. One thing you did not mention; how is the quality of the plastic? Is it comparable to LEGO’s quality?

  • brickography April 23, 2012, 2:17 AM

    Admin, below is the reply I just got, which seems to be a canned response, and doesn’t address the quality problems I outlined. The only option they give is to return the goods at MY cost. What would you do in this situation? Also not sure what they mean by “no damage,” since some of the parts have broken, as noted in my e-mail. 🙁

    “We are very sorry about this.
    We do accept return. You could return the item at your cost.
    Then, we would refund you as soon as the item in a good condition, without any damage.
    Looking forward to hear from you!
    Thank you for your understanding!
    – 7toys7”

    • admin April 23, 2012, 9:27 AM

      Since it doesn’t seem like the sellers is willing to take responsibility, at this point I would just open a Paypal dispute for item significantly not as described. Paypal will get on their case. 😉

    • admin April 24, 2012, 9:25 AM

      I wrote to the seller also to put a bit of pressure on him about the quality issues. Here is what he wrote me back:

      “Thank you for your mail! I am very sorry to cause you any trouble. Actually, I would ask him/her to give me the picture to show that problem or broken parts. Surely, it is our quality problem. We would bear the full responsibility. I would try our best to resolve this problem . Than you for your understanding!”

      Hope this helps some! 😉

  • brickography May 2, 2012, 11:26 PM

    Admin, I just e-mailed you a couple of photos and a video clip showing the issues outline above, all of which I also sent to the seller. Feel free to share with your readers.

    • admin May 3, 2012, 8:55 AM

      Got them! I will upload them here today. It is a shame that the quality doesn’t live up to standard as the parts are really nice. I was just watching your Roman minifig video-clip with the loose arm, and he looked awesome (besides the loose arm, of course). 😕

  • admin May 3, 2012, 9:42 PM

    UPDATE: here are the pictures from brickography.

    • brickography May 3, 2012, 10:32 PM

      In the first image with the cracked arm, the crack occurred the first time I inserted a LEGO hand. Note that the hand doesn’t go in all the way, but it still cracked. Four other arms have similar damage.

      In the second image, check out how far the top of the torso is from the armor’s neck opening. This is as far as it will go. The armor is way too tight to take the torso. Three are like this and don’t come close to mounting. I got LEGO torsos in the others, but they will not come out now, and they’re aren’t the torsos I wanted to put in. 🙁

      • admin May 4, 2012, 8:30 AM

        That’s just sad. What I find interesting is that when I first found this seller, he had no negative feedback related to the Roman accessories, and looking at his finished listings I saw that he sold several of them already. He even got some positive feedback from those listings. So I don’t know if you just got a really bad batch of accessories, or they were always like this and people just didn’t leave feddback? 😕

        Please make sure you leave honest feedback to warn others. Also, please note that the seller lists his items as private listings, so unless you specifically mention in the feedback that it is about the Roman accessories, people won’t know which item your feedback refers to. 🙁

        • brickography May 4, 2012, 11:26 AM

          Will do. The seller refers to an outside dealer for these custom parts. He’s not the one producing them — he’s only selling them, which partly explains his lack of ability and interest in addressing the LEGO-compatibility and quality issues.

          • admin May 4, 2012, 11:32 AM

            Hm… that is very interesting! I did see that he sells all kinds of stuff. That’s too bad. A true LEGO customizer would put his heart and soul into his customs and would take feedback very seriously. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to be the case here, but more like someone trying to make a quick buck on someone else’s work. Sad. Would love to meet the actual artist! They are obviously talented and would only need to make some improvements to make these a win! 😐

            • brickography May 4, 2012, 11:50 AM

              I agree. I felt good about buying these at first because I thought I’d be supporting a talented artist and customizer across the globe (as well adding some awesome figs to my collection).

              To be honest, I feel bad about filing an eBay complaint because the artist may be the worst off in the deal. I’m sure the seller will keep his cut. I come from a developing nation, and I know that the dispensable funds I spend on LEGO may amount to the artist’s livelihood and living expenses for a month!

              Still, the marketplace can’t allow buyers to be ripped off.

              • admin May 4, 2012, 12:05 PM

                Yeah, probably the seller is giving pennies to the actual artist. I mean these are expensive items! Some of the most expensive customs I have seen. Hopefully the artist will improve his items and find a better venue to sell them.

  • admin May 3, 2012, 9:47 PM

    UPDATE: There is also a video brickography has taken, please see below. It is a shame that such nicely customized parts don’t fit well! If the seller would just improve on the quality these would be real winners! 🙁

    • brickography May 3, 2012, 10:37 PM

      This fig in the video clip is the only compete set I was able to assemble (of the eight). His arms are loose and his torso and head will not come out without damage to the fragile resin. My kids said, “What a sad Roman who can’t hold his weapon!” He is sad, indeed.

  • brickography May 4, 2012, 1:41 AM

    Update: I have escalated my eBay complaint to eBay customer support, as I have no trust in getting properly reimbursed by the seller. In the end, thumbs down on defective products and apathetic customer service.

  • ninja5 June 6, 2014, 2:15 PM

    Glad I read this part before I bought the full set of Romans!

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