R-band light curve of the afterglow of GRB 111209A in comparison to the long-GRB light-curve sample of Kann et al. (2010, 2011b). Data are corrected for Galactic extinction and, if possible, host galaxy contribution, but are otherwise as observed. The strong variability of the afterglow at early times is evident. At late times, the afterglow is among the brightest observed so far. This is in strong contrast to the R-band afterglow of GRB 130925A (thin black curve), which is exceedingly faint due to very high host-galaxy extinction (Greiner et al. 2014).