A survey of Communist LEGO 2015
Posted by Huw,
I have a morbid fascination for clone brands but not half as bad as Anthony Tomkins who deliberately tracks them down to review and compare them with the real thing. He's just published a new version of his findings. Here's how he describes it:
"Communist LEGO 2015 is a UK AFOL’s review of a random spread of some Chinese-made LEGO-compatible kits. The sheer size of the industry, coupled with the rapid expansion and constant changes to company stock, manufacturing facilities and branding, means only a small percentage of available sets could be looked at. Previous issues – see v1.4 for the earlier reviews – dealt with the more accessible kits in the UK, along with a determination to build up a cheap Zombie Army of terrible minifigs. This version, covering 2014-2015, has changed tack slightly, targeting more legally dodgy copies along with some newer sets appearing on the market."
It makes for fascinating, if terrifying, reading!
4 likes
25 comments on this article
Brilliant and hilarious! And yes in places deeply deeply terrifying....
Oh crap... My PDF reader is incompatible with the file format for some reason. :S
The free (for all) market is alive and well in China.
DESTROY IT WITH FIRE
Thanks for the links, there's some interesting stuff to be read at them both.
If lego made that set they'd have sixty screaming lawsuits on their doorstep the next morning.
What I want to see are more of Reasonably Clever's "Toybox of FAIL." Those were great...
One of my favourite reads of the year.
A very good read. Still getting my head around cloners cloning clones of clones ...
Mega Bloks looks to be doing great with its Halo and Call of Duty themes.
Great article that made me laugh a lot. It's worth noting that the quality of SY or Sheng Yuan minifigs is much better than the example reviewed (very entertainingly). As a perusal of mybrickstore.blogspot shows, their quality now rivals Lego itself. The main variation seems to be eyes that are sometimes marginally too far apart or facial proportions that haven't been copied exactly. However, when not directly compared with an original minifig, you probably wouldn't notice and most of the time they are spot on. The overly large arms and different legs are now gone and the printing quality is fantastic. In terms of display, they are perfect. Playing with them would probably reveal numerous issues though.
Given the huge number of minifigs that appeal to collectors being released by Lego and the relatively high cost of buying and/or collecting them, these kind of high quality figs being produced by Decool and SY are very tempting. I will admit to buying copies of exclusive minifigs for my collection that I would otherwise have to pay 100s of dollars for. There is a definite moral issue that I seem to have conveniently overcome for selfish (read monetary) reasons, but if Lego didn't release expensive exclusives, I would never have bought any clones and I have certainly done my part to promote Lego to its massive success, beginning in the late 70s. So my conscience is pretty clear...
There is no way that set is worth a pound.
"Captain Rex looks like he sat on a nail" I lost it there.
Yikes. That's horrid.
@thehornedrat US Dollar has the same problem of depreciating.
Clone brands released certain minifigs that's not officially available through Lego. For example the Bruce Banner minifig done by SY: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.887791627969744.1073741964.802963709785870&type=1&l=cfb2fd6f56
Other example is Hong Kong Police Tactical Unit: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.889693911112849.1073741967.802963709785870&type=1&l=ea36665f56
Both examples are excellent products from the clone brand.
I love the humorous tone. A nice read!
Love the no-holds-barred approach to the writing.
I was in tourist resort Greece recently. In one of the beach goods/souvenir-type shops was a variety of cloned block kits with comic book themes at low-low-prices.
My son was all for buying some for his friends, even when I pointed out it was not legit and possibly dodgy quality material. His words in reply were "perhaps my friends would like imitation Lego". I steered him back towards the fridge magnets....
@CCC, I'm pretty sure the author is using "Communist" to mean Chinese for comic effect and knows perfectly well that the two aren't synonymous. He even describes LEGO made in China as Communist! :~P
Good read, made me laugh.
Get your pitchforks...I've seen a few times when the SY were better quality than LEGO...mainly the cheap DK book figures. Those are terrible quality. I almost didn't think it was actual LEGO until I checked it over to see the LEGO name written in the usual spots. Soft, cheap plastic. Flimsy arms and legs. I was surprised.
Recently in Sweden, Lego-clones named "ku le bao" were given out as happy meal toys. they seem ok, haven't assembled them though, but at first glance the molds and pieces are exact lookalikes, the colours are not.
ku le bao doesn't show up in the list though, does anyone know which manufacturer it is connected to?
it is officially imported into Sweden by a Linköping-based company (at least according to a sticker), I can't imagine though there is no copyright infringement in the EU though.
I will admit that I bought one of SY's Groot mini figures, but that is because LEGO has chosen not to make one of their own that can actually fit inside the Milano. I have to give it props for using an identical paint patern as the larger buildable version in the Knowwhere Escape set. I am also considering buying the blank transparent colored minifigs from Decool that, once again, LEGO has not produced.
The one thing that does rub me the wrong way is when I have encountered vendors that try to pass the clones off as authentic LEGO brand and charge higher prices for them. This last weekend I considered buying a clone Quicksilver from a vendor but they wanted $15 for it. I can buy an authentic one from Bricklink for around $11.
Thanks for posting this. I wish the author would also share where he bought each set from.
I would love to get my hands on that light up street lamp. Does anyone know a source? I don't see it on ebay.
I really enjoy the humor of these reviews.
"The minifig was thus a welcome addition, but only from a sacrificial viewpoint."
I did enjoy writing this - a bit of stress relief after some of 'those' days at the office. Most of this is over 6 months old, but I had the results table on the 'to do' list and finally got around to finishing it last week. Lots of interesting websites being mentioned, which will be noted if I ever do another of these.
The hooky minifigs are starting to turn up at car boot sales, and I'm having trouble spotting them.
The lights are found on www.liteupblock.com (this can be read from the picture in the review if zoomed in).
My favourite parts of this year's effort was to create the morgue for the female research scientists, and to use the four robot tortoises from the exo-suit kit as vandals. Great fun.