Attack of the Clones

China does not care, why would they? Official or unofficial they get to manufacture it. The only people that benefit from IP enforcement in China are IP holders who generally are large American or European holding companies.

Of course LEGO would like them to do something about it but so would every other company China ignores. Nothing will happen unless China agrees to sign up to some new treaties with renewed commitments to IP enforcement, but its really not in their interest to, especially when copyright terms have gotten completely out of proportion and favour companies who obtained/bought the rights to something 100 years ago (Looking at you Disney).

I can't really see many companies who are able to sell their product in all regions internationally, poorer areas can't afford luxury prices and if you do the right thing and sell at a price suitable to the region someone will come along and start exporting to regions with higher prices.

This has to be illegal!!!!!!!!!

Excuse me while I go and wash my eyes.

But really, that is quite outrageous.

I saw one of those products in one of the shopping malls in Tianjin (China) and reported to LEGO China. I got a reply telling me that they will send the case to the Legal department to follow up. I don't know if they have done anything about it because I still see those products in the shopping mall when I re-visit the mall at a later time.

Very very scary.

As per curious' comment, China isn't part of any international copyright treaties, which is why there are so many bootleg copies of everything there.

It feels unfair and a bit shady, but these companies aren't actually breaking any local laws... there is no protection for an individual's or a company's intellectual property.

I see these rip off sets all the time in Australian smaller toy shops and $2 shops. It frustrates me that these are becoming more and more common. However I can why shop owners are selling these rip offs. It's not cheap to buy a quality toy like LEGO. Smaller stores might not be able to sell as well due to their cheaper competitors (Target, Big W etc.). So these rip offs are the next best option for these sellers. I don't condone what's being done, but I can see why it's happening.

Yup, ever since the success of THE LEGO MOVIE, the penetration of the clones in every continent from China has been immensely high in demand. :( And yes, they are cheaper. But ain't touching these for fear of their manufacturing contents.

Those Anna and Honey Lemon figures look nightmarish...

The rendering on those boxes is some of the worst I've ever seen...

and Peppa Pig?! Interesting start to my morning.

By the way, I found these in Canada (Chinese strip malls). Loving the name of this topic

The most annoying part about these is that they have flooded the ebay market. It it sometimes hard to know if I am ordering the real item or a knock off

Man, Anna from Frozen has a serious tan there! Must be from after Elsa unfreezes Arendelle

I don't know why anyone would bother with cloning Legends of Chima. There's probably plenty of retailers trying to clear lots of genuine unsold stock...

You will not get any assistance from the Chinese legal system on this for a long time. Either the people are bought off, or what seems to be more likely, the Chinese government has decided that in order to prevent a monopoly of anything, there is no such thing as a copywrite/trademark/IP. They so called laws they do have in place are for show only, and when something does make it into their court system, the official answer from their magistrate (or equivalent) is that "It looks nothing like it." Capitalism at its worse, but if the people are willing to accept inferior products, then you get what you pay for.

I was at a convention last year, and as I was walking past a booth I noticed some 'superheroes minifigures' that I'd never seen before. Thinking that they must be custom ones, I got really excited... Until I got closer and saw they were actually horrid quality knockoffs. >_<

I do occasionally see them at those small pop-up stalls at the local shopping centres, invariably accompanied by other knock off toys, and I always have to wonder why, if nothing else, the shopping centre managers themselves don't step in and say they can't sell their knock-off junk there.

^^Reads Article (vomits)

It was stupid short-termism allowing China into the WTO without first insisting they agree to some international standards. They were given access to the world's markets without having to play by the same rules, and this has destroyed manufacturing industries the world over. It has, though, meant higher profits for those companies that took the risk to use Chinese industries and generally lower prices for everyone.

Thanks for posting the images, and writing the article Huw.

They are quite common in China (obviously), though not really in "main" toy shops (thankfully), but they don't have competition with LEGO, as they are much cheaper, and in the case of the minifigures, you know what you will get, compared to the LEGO blind-bags for the CMF (which can be found sometimes)...

Many places over here don't really care about IP, and will quickly knock something off. On the news you occasionally see a shop raided for selling hooky stuff during a crack down, and someone who knows the shop will point out that the shop next-door (untouched) has more knock offs in it than that one, so someone must have forgotten to pay their bribes...

I have seen all sorts of things over here, including constraction figures for Star Wars including the robots, before they were mentioned on here, so that range must have leaked earlyish...

As for Chima, if you get stuff from KIDSLAND, and sometimes TRU, you can get a few copy of a dual language DVD with some of the TV series on it, which will help to sell it (same for Ninjago and Friends BTW)...

Parents, PLEASE - keep "ChiMo" away from your children

This is awful. I have seen some bad clone brands before, but these are worse than any of the ones I've seen so far.

Surely LEGO should step in soon? This could end up with no LEGO sitting on shelves in Chinese shops.

And no LEGO in China = no fun hobby for the many fans over there.

I want Big Hero 6 Lego now :c

(For the Dutch people around here: )
I saw a dad with his son, trying so sell Marvel figures like these on Kings day. Almost bought one, until I saw the Chinese brand logo on the foot plate.

I doubt these counterfeits are produced in someone's garage, and I have often wondered if employees at the Lego plants in China play a part (pardon the pun) in Lego counterfeiting. Producing the packaging and sets requires a decent-sized capital investment indicating some relatively deep pockets are funding these efforts.

Everyone knows that China is rampant with corruption, and their government often turns a blind eye to it (especially if the right government palms are greased). How else can the overt availability of obviously counterfeited products be explained? Law suits would be flying in any developed country (see link below from Brickset), which indicates that TLG doesn't feel they could win a lawsuit in China (most likely due to China's governmental corruption). Just saying...

http://brickset.com/article/14770/lego-gets-tough-on-competitors

Just come to South East Asia... I'm from Malaysia... counterfeit Lego has been here for the past 3-4 years... All coming from China. It seems the authority is doing nothing about it. But the reality is Lego community in here is getting bigger and bigger. Many those who bought pirated Lego eventually buying the originals after knowing how different the quality is. I personally know those who finally thrown away their pirated Lego and become a true AFOL.

I've been monitoring the clone activity for a while and no doubt they are getting better. I'm not only talking about the quality of their bricks, but also in the type of sets they release.

As an example, you would be able to get a copy of sets only release during events such as the COMCON034 - Rocket Raccoon's Warbird, or COMCON035 - The Collector. This is a clear indication that they are aiming for collectors who would be able to settle down for a fake instead of the real deal (that wouldn't be the case for me). They also try to fill the gaps in some series be releasing collections like fantastic four.

This site reviews new items regularly: http://mybrickstore.blogspot.ca/

But in the end, I'm not interested to own sets from China, I'm a purist.

@Farmer_John To be honest, there might not be much in the way of greasing palms, as they are probably government owned companies that are doing the cloning...

As a rule, if you wish to trade in China, and are not from China, you need to go into business with a Chinese company as a partner, which should really be stateowned. When a country has caused problems for China in the past, a company from that country has faced problems with their products, and been fined (but not the Chinese company in partnership with them...)

The Netherlands banned a Chinese company from importing tea, as the level of pesticides were too high for the Dutch requirements. Low and behold, suddenly Unilever had problems with Liptons teas in China, that they breached Health and Safety tests, so the whole ranges had to be removed (and I think destroyed) until it was deemed to be of a safe level to sell again...

My children would love those Peppa Pig figures.

Let us hope that the Lego Factory in China (opening in 2017) will have strict protocol and security. Last thing I want to see is someone being bought off and selling a official Lego mould. Personally I can't stand seeing these knock offs. I really hate the fact they are flooding ebay too. I check out the buyers anymore and if they are Chinese origin I will not buy from them. Something needs to be done but in order for that to happen it means a political solution to hammer China on how to do business.

I'm scarred for life. These are just box images of Lego sets with a similar Logo and a cheaper price on it. Lego obviously can't stop them, so they could possibly make it available in China that they're the FIRST brick construction toy company, and put the others to shame. Also, the monthly mini model build might shed some light on anyone there about the quality of Lego and Lego knockoffs.
Also, why bother having Lego sue? make Disney and Marvel aware of the counterfeit's, they can handle it.

Peppa Pig is a current Mega Bloks theme, so that knock-off company isn't that original.

Everybody seems so outraged at these. Doesn't bother me a bit. The Lego quality is undoubtedly superior to these knock-offs, but the counterfeiters are closing the gap quickly. I got a Chinese version of Commander Gree off of eBay recently, held it up next to the real Lego version (from set 75043), and the differences were very minimal. A true Lego Gree will cost you about $15 on eBay. The Chinese version - maybe 20% of that……if not less.

I think a little competition in the minifigure market is good. Plus, a lot of these companies are producing figures that Lego doesn't make. The best example are all the different Iron Man armor variations that I've seen on eBay. If Lego made these, people would buy them. But they don't so people will buy what is out there. Again, the quality is inconsistent (especially with the printing), but it is getting better all the time.

Lego should take note. The minifigure demand is what is driving these knock-offs. Lego needs to step it up and offer more quality minifigures in their sets, especially those that cost top dollar.

I've always enjoyed laughing my pants off at cheap Chinese clone brands!

All laughing aside, I don't believe LEGO can honestly have any serious competition in the future from China. They're just light-years ahead of any clones Chinese companies can produce. It appears that the issue of brick contamination (by harmful chemicals or unidentified rubbish) is commonplace in these clone brands. Quoting Communist LEGO "it looks like quality control is something they think other companies do."

If you are aware of the situation, i don't see it as much of an issue. You know not to buy things without the official Lego branding. Where i do see a potential problem is buying loose or in bulk. What happens with these get thrown in with real Lego and sold in bulk quantity? You really have no way of knowing which are legit at that point. And as has been said, you don't know what chemicals they use in theirs.

As Sundown said, the minifigure demand is the hook with most of the Chinese clones/knockoffs that I've seen. I am not interested in actually picking them up myself, but I have been tempted on occasion, or at least had my attention caught, by for example the Fantastic Four minifigures. They have the dual appeal of being unproduced by Lego and also being sold in a more accessible format. Those things are outweighed by my aversion to what they really are, but long story short, if Lego was offering the same thing I would definitely be a customer.

I don't mind these either. I like the fact that they allow me to add Marvel characters that Lego doesn't make to my collection AND get figures that I couldn't normally get due to cost (Phoenix, Bucky Barnes Captain America, Bleeding Edge Iron Man). And it's not that I don't have the money to buy the real deal, I just can't justify paying $300+ for a single minifigure.

Now if Lego started doing a wave of blind bagged Marvel Minifigures each year with past event exclusives AND characters they have no intention of ever making sets for (Fantastic Four, Spider-man 2099, Future Foundation, non-Wolverine X-Men characters, etc) then I would be buying those by the case gladly and not even giving the knockoff companies a second thought.

For anyone interested in expanding your Super Hero minifigures and not paying $30+ for custom designer versions on eBay, check out the stuff made by Sheng Yuan (SY) and Decool - I have things like The Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Punisher, Iron Man armor variants, Spider-man costume variants, Captain America costume variants and big minifigure versions of Venom, Groot, Rhino, The Thing, Hulkbuster Iron Man and Juggernaut and they are all great and add some thing different and unique to my Marvel Lego collection.

A little competition in the minifigure market is not good when based on theft.

If there were an eBay listing for half-priced authentic LEGO minifigures shoplifted from the local LEGO Store, would that be OK?

This is no different. LEGO has the legal ownership of the right to manufacture minifigures in the likenesses of characters from Star Wars, Marvel, D.C., Disney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc., as well as its own themes like Ninjago, Chima and Friends.

Anybody else manufacturing such minifigures is stealing. Just because it is intellectual property rather than the actual plastics involved does not diminish the fact that it is theft, pure and simple.

I doubt people would argue that LEGO should take note that minifigure demand is what is driving shoplifting from the LEGO store in the same way that it is contended that LEGO should take note that minifigure demand is what is driving counterfeiting.

What is puzzling is that LEGO has not taken action against eBay. At any time there are hundreds or even thousands of listings on eBay for stolen intellectual property, but eBay could care less because it makes money off the fees.

Last month I went to flee market that had knockoff chima

I saw tons of these on Amazon.com. I was about to get some Marvel figs, but saw the brand was S.Z. World Minifigures not Lego.

^^ It is horrifying. LEGO is patented, but bootleg figures and pieces are usually slightly different in the way the pieces clutch together. The interior of ripoff minifig torsos is different from official ones. China does everything it can to fool buyers, but somehow evade legal action. I hate it.

To the people who buy these knowing they aren't genuine, I hope you don't let your kids play with them. They could be incredibly toxic based on some of the tests done by Watchdog, Which and others on other Chinese fakes.

It's not just in China that sells it, I saw street vendors peddling this stuff around Seoul a month ago. That said, the largest retailer in Korea (e-mart), has an awesome 20ft section of LEGO that looks like it's vendor maintained, and nary a clone or knockoff was to be seen there.

Well knockoffs are supposed to be illegal in China. If you can prove they are countfeits or knockoffs. But, as car manufacturers are finding out, it is a bit hard to get the China courts to recognize a blatant knockoff.
This is why I scoff and those trying to sell good in China. It is great, until someone easily knocks them off and sells what you are trying to sell for half price. Compound this with the obvious theft of materials, schematics, or production equipment-or all three- from LEGO factories in China pumping out these knockoffs. That is why they are so good. Stuff from LEGO factories in China is also likely coming out the back door as either defective, or they literally are leaving the door open. To be fair this is also occurring in other parts of the world (like Simpsons heads in Mexico being sold on eBay months before release), but not at such a prolific rate as China

If you Google LEBQ it comes up with hundreds of rip off minifigs and the cards they come with look exactly like Ninjago Spinjitzu character cards with LEBQ minifigs on them.

This is disgusting. I wish that some legal issues are found, because I don't think there have been any cases against these companies.

TBH, companies did it to themselves in search of profits. Now it hurts them and they complain. No sympathy. Even for LEGO.

Gaaahhh! Wake me up from the horrible nightmare! Yeesh!
-Plus Wolverine with green?!

I live in Asia. So many bootlegs you can find here (e.g china, hong kong, south korea, taiwan etc). 2 problems that may lead to popularity of bootlegs lego. 1. Expensive lego products force customers to try bootlegs. 2. bootlegs companies do try something new that lego hasn't made yet. For instance they made ironman that lego has not done in the past ( the mark 21, 22, 35 etc...) So there's any increasing no. of people buying for completing their collection or bricks or for MOCs.

I was wondering why my eyes itched, and then I remembered reading this article. Some of these are exact duplicates. I think they might actually buy Lego sets, repackage them, and sell them for more with slight modifications, although obviously not the Minecrafts abomination. I saw online some website where they sold construction sets that were CLEARLY Lego, but under another brand name and they had their own sets, like an actually worth buying submarine. I didn't buy it for multiple reasons, including that it would only encourage those awful people, and that I suspect, if I ordered and received it, it would not be as much like Lego as it looks.

I know there's a knock-off brand called LELE that does Mixels "Creative Variety" ones, using the instructions printed off of the website. The Nixel faces are always consistently put on lopsided.

Although these particular knock offs are laughably awful, I do enjoy Decool brand knock off minifigures, especially when it comes to the variety of ironman suits and other superheroes they offer. I feel its a bit better when you are buying figures that lego doesn't already make. Just my opinion though.

I really really hate these things with a passion. They are so incompetent that they cant even make their own products. And that "Anna" frozen fig doesn't even look remotely like the character suggested on the box.

These bootlegs also on the retail markets in Indonesia, from street vendors up to up-scale shopping centres. The prices are very cheap, even in this kind of slowing down economy, around Rp 15,000 to Rp 20,000 (US$ 1 = Rp 13,000). While the original Lego's unopened collectible minifigures series at Rp 45,000 in retail toys stores, or if opened and sold by the collectors can reached Rp 200,000 or more (if rare). That's why these knockoff are so popular here. The buyers are from children up to grown ups who collect toys/action figures, some of them do not mind buying knockoff brands and they know those are cheap products with low quality.

I noticed a local group on facebook that was offering a Co-Op type deal where the more people buy the better the price gets for super hero figures. There were a lot of people signing up. I am sure most have no idea that they were not getting the real thing it was $1CAD per figure and I bet a lot of parents and grandparents think they are getting great deals when it is junk. The worst are people who bring them in locally and put them on sites like Kijiji for trade. They get rid of the knock offs and get the real thing in exchange. You really have to be careful buying anything theses days, have to look for the LEGO logo on the legs or body if you are not sure. One thing they have not done is pawn them off as LEGO, always a similar logo or name and no LEGO marking on the figures.

Everyone beware if the price seems two good to be true it is probably a knock off. 10 seconds checking your figures could save a lot of heartache.

This is disgusting. ebay is terrible at cleaning up these clone brand ripoffs. Just look up LEGO HUlkbuster and see the disgustingness.

I'm not going to lie, I do own some of these. Although I only, emphasize on only, buy ones that aren't actual LEGO minifigures, like Iron Man MK 1.

MY EYES. THEY BURN.

What truly upsets me is that China is one of the great cultures of history -they have led the way in so many technologies , art forms and ideas over the centuries. But since the 19th century they seem to have lost their way - everything is either a cheap imitation of western ideas or downright toxic leftovers of communism.

I look at shanghai and don't see the terracotta army, jade jewellery or their phenomenal swords just bits of america transplanted. If they gave up this imitation game and rediscovered their own art it could be fantastic.

Awesome! might try and pick up some of them if they are not as much as normal legos.

^ could be, but where is the profit??

For other comments, there are stories about trucks leaving factories, pulling over and swapping half of their cargo with knock off stuff, which is then sold in stores as proper product. With LEGO you can tell by the feel of the plastic, but with other things like, say yogurt, you don't know how hygienically it has been made, how well the seal on the top fixed to stop it going off etc. In the meantime the other truck goes away to sell the real things at a reduced price somewhere else. People find it is real (mixed with knock off), and buy more from them...

Very sad. Once the boxes are opened though, what you have inside is not always what you see on the box.

For Minecraft, Huw didn't post the photos of the Minecraft individual figures (or I might have forgotten to send them), and they do look like the LEGO ones, especially the skeleton and the zombie.

You know the LEGO factories are in Mexico, Billund and Czech Republic, right? factory in China is still in construction.

YOUR MONEY BUY WHATEVER YOU LIKE, LEGO SHOULD LOWER THEIR PRICES DOWN,
SOME ARE BAD SOME ARE GOOD,

Lego is too much and there is a cheaper way so I love them !

As a designer myself blatant copying of a pre existing idea just makes me furious. Rather than creating other sets that fill a gap in the market, like some do with military themes or extra licenses, they're just reselling almost exactly (on the surface) what already exists! The Friends ones look completely real on the box bar the product logo.

I can't help but think how odd it is however that Jedi Master Luke would still be using a blaster... on a Hoth background

come on guys, these are not that bad, i mean where else can you get rhino, juggernaut, thing, Big fig groot and a big fig hulkbuster? i love these!

come on you got to amit these are cool
http://i01.i.aliimg.com/wsphoto/v0/2050265717/-font-b-SHEN-b-font-font-b-YUAN-b-font-SY167-Building-Blocks-Super-Heroes.jpg
http://www.repackedpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/03_Acq_Albie.jpg
and decool even has it's own facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Decool/1389485491340717

Interesting that you posted this today because today I decided to look at my long lost forgotten Bionicle knock off that was buried in my closet.

Just saw a whole slew of them in my local 99 cent store! They are from Shanghai! they are such poor knock-offs no real LEGO fan would buy them! And I noticed they are using the banners but changing the models as well!

The ones we get here in Calgary are really quite well done, for clones. I mean, even I get fooled for the moment that I see them in my peripherals. Once you take a look at the packaging, the illusion all melts away. But the product is staggeringly accurate.

wait they were at the 99cents store!!! YAY!!!

Lego should use this to their advantage. See which figures are being the bootlegged the most and make them more available to the consumer.

Lol, in a QSO8 blue an orange Millennium Falcon rip off, in the description they wrote, "Designer is fully compatible with the designers known Danish firm, which forbade us to write the name of four letters. To help you understand what kind of company it is a link to her site - Link," (translated from Russian).

Minecrafts? Is that what the kids are playing these days? The Minecrafts?

I'm actually fine to see the very last product, which is also my qustion about the clones: why don't you cloners do those characters that don't appear in official LEGO products but FOLs would love to see, just like those customizeation designs? Well, I know some cloners have done some video-game-exclusive SH characters, like Supergirl before 2015, but that is a very rare case and it's still illegal in some aspects.

Sadly in Taiwan, I often occasionally see these kinds of things in holiday markets while LEGO toys major appear in my local ToyRUs and departments. As a FOL it's embarassing to see the global 7-11 onvenience store have the cloned 7-11 sets rather than putting some real LEGO there.

The JLB Frozen is really cofusing: you neither use the real Frozen Anna clone nor use any original minifigure design, but just throw us a typical Friends clone? I bet you may apply any kind of licensed picture to claim that a Friends/City figure is the main hero of that film.

Oh and, no BH6? Shame on you, LEGO.

Can anyone tell me does the bela 'friends' or any bela sets have the bela/Lego logo emblazed across the top of the bricks or are the studs plain like in the box art?

This is terrible! The minifigure is a trademark of tlg, china has no respect for the ip of others!

To those who endorse these blatant copies shame on you! It is unfair to the people who have worked hard to produce the lego groups quality products to help fund these blatant rip offs.

LEGO would have been told before they started moving production to China that this would happen (my wife who was planning a cosmetic factory over there was told that every piece of equipment taken through customs could be copied and in some cases they set up entire duplicate factories next door) but they decided to do it anyway as it was cheaper. As much as I love LEGO there's zero sympathy there and no point in the customers getting upset about it on their behalf. It was a business decision and LEGO obviously decided that it was worth it for the cheaper production.

well, what's worse is I know of a LUG who's actually okay with displaying KOs, whether figs or sets, in their get-togethers. now that's sad.

Here in Indonesia counterfeit Lego is all over the place as well. They know the real stuff is best quality. But keep in mind that the price of for example a 954 pieces model like the Star Wars MTT, set no 75048, is about 2 1/2 times (yes, no typos!) the monthly salary of a sales person in a shop here! Hence totally understandable there's a market for counterfeit Lego! Not anyone can afford real Lego.

First of all, the pictures provided extremely funny time, almost an hour laughing for my kids (7/9.5). The top laughable was the "Minecrafts" set, with the odd figures, with "CHIMO" and the Peppa Pigs being head to head. And I guess we will have another run today evening :-)
My smaller one stated that "they must have made those with their eyes closed"...

Apart from that, I would avoid getting KO bricks, not just because their clutch power would be either zero or below, or over 200% (experience from used lots), but the unlogoed studs would make me feel awkward. About 5-6 years ago, we got a COBI set (Polish remake), which was good, good, but not LEGO. Then I reached for my old sets and then I came back from my dark ages and spent like 10k+ [GBP] on SAH alone. So in a way, LEGO should send a thank you note to COBI (and to Chinese KO makers).
Spending 50%(+?) less on a crappy product, which doesn't worth even 5%, is plain waste of money.
Not to mention the "support". Imagine calling QSO8 or BELA with a "Erm, my brick/minifig's arm got cracked, can you send me a replacement one at your cost?". Sure they would...

On the other hand, LEGO is guilty in supporting the "remakers" with purposely drying up market for parts, especially with those "common" ones, where the mold must exist, because the part is produced in different color - red 6x6 inverted radar dish anyone? (But list could go on, with dark blue arch and sand green elements). Mold is there. Material is there....
So if I were QSO8, BELA or other KO maker, I'd concentrate on those, maybe I would start with a "Light Bluish Gray Boat Mast Rigging Long 28 x 3".
With a wanted list of 1484 and 2+2 currently available for EUR 200 being the lowest, I'm sure they could make a fortune. Probably many people wanting that element would "sacrifice" their disgust in exchange for a 90-95% "discount". And there are no studs on that one...

I seriously thinking about getting those Peppa Pigs though... :-)

On the other hand, there is the large upper middle class and above market in China who will pay premium prices for Lego. I think Lego needs to set up a better presence in China through a network of LCS and an online shop. No point setting up just a factory there and getting distributors to do the job.

It doesn't just ends with George and Peppa but includes Daddy and Mummy as well.
Imagine these as full scale Simpsons version!

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=wki5mv&s=8.VVnuLmDC7i4

Lol, just think how much a Baymax big-fig would sell.

"Begun, the Clone War has."

This annoys me. Just so these Clones can tap into the uniqueness of Lego...
*Reads Article* *Goes to local 99p store to...Eliminate...the clones there*

Well... Collectible minifigures are made in China and these copies are made in China. Can it in any way be true that they're not simply similar, but that they're just THE SAME things made using the same equipment? And the only difference is that clones are produced and sold illegally? These spears, shields, stands - all of them are being made in China for LEGO. BTW, Peppa Pig ones look too interesting to hate them)

I wonder how this will get worse once the Chinese factory opens. Easier access to molds, parts, materials, etc could just lead to more and more piracy. I'm very disappointed in Lego for opening a factory there for a few reasons, but the worst is definitely because if the tacit approval or indifference to this kind of thing ruining the experience for their customers.

If they had any concern other than money, they'd cancel the Chinese factory.

Ouah !!! Ca pique les yeux ! It stings my eyes (for no-frenchies)

If you squint LEBQ really does look exactly like LEGO! A shortsighted intellectual property lawyer would have a fit!

I wonder if Western companies could start shamelessly copying prestigious Chinese products and incentivise the Chinese government to do something about it. Ignoring international laws on such matters and simultaneously selling in the international markets smacks of having and eating one's cake.
I wonder what Western laws aren't covered by Chinese law that could help... bombing factories is probably illegal in both... :P

"Includes cards!", I gotta get me some of those. I wonder if my friends will want to trade them with me. Oh boy, these new sets are exciting...

they even copy the collectible minifigure series! omg.

http://mybrickstore.blogspot.fr/2015/05/imitation-of-lego-collectible.html?m=0

Here in my country they sell them on the streets, they are ridiculous cheap.
But it amaze me how detailed the copies are, I mean, there is a big illigal work behind to produce such copies.
Anyway when you touch the plastic you realize how low quality it is.

Not everything what is made in China is a cheap "clone". Being LEGO fan and living over 10 years in China, there is no way around, not to buy the Chinese clones (which are all more or less made at the same factories under OEM contracts in the South of China). Just got myself 3 series ea. 8 figurines of "The Walking Dead" made by another new Chinese brand called "Elephant" - not only get you lots of excellent printed zombies (which can be used for other MOCs), you also get everybody from every season of TWD. Can't put pictures in here, sorry. Another example by "Elephant": Super-Heroes (Marvel & DC) in Iron Man suits. Is it necessary - maybe not / is it fun - sure yes.

Counterfeit Star Wars Lego? That's a Cease and Desist twofer!

As a Marvel Super Heroes collector, I'm okay with it. The Chinese bootleg companies SY and Decool have produced a lot of characters Lego has never made - Mr Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, The Thing, Juggernaut, Silver Surfer, Galactus, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, The Punisher, Bullseye, Beast, Jean Grey (90s Comic version, not Phoenix), Pyro, Red Hulk, and Black Bolt. I would buy Lego versions of these characters if they were available but there aren't. Decool's quality isn't as good as Legos, but SY's minifigure quality seems fairly close to Lego's quality at least for display purposes (the shoulder's are a bit tight for play).

Hey,guys I am from China and I am completely speechless when I saw this article............

i think these are great buy i have all superheroes, lego ain't making much variety and there prices are high due to there popularity, it would take lego years to acquire license to make these superheroes,chima,etc,etc,

Update on the Wolverine figure.

After pestering for a while, I let my son make it. I found the torso piece to be printed on both sides, and the side they show on the box is actually the back (the front has an "X" in a red circle as a belt buckle, and there is a print of his pec muscles as well). I suppose it is an easy mistake to make, as when you open the box up, the arms are not attached... At least this one had the hands on his arms I suppose...

(Sorry if this ends up being a double post)
If you want to see just how much/many of these are out there.... goto aliexpress.com and search for "minifigure". They also have the full sets. It's funny when you see an "Avengers" set of minifigs that consist of both Marvel and DC characters or a SpongeBob set with Sandy's head on Patrick's body. There is also a lot of minifig characters available that Lego doesn't make (transparent stormtroopers).

I am looking forward to some fake lego cloud city. Saves waiting for the lego muppets to make one.

I just saw a Chinese clone set of Simpsons figures on Ebay.

haha, i see mainly americans complaining about that, it's not china's fault that you're raised in the most twisted and f****d up law system in the world.
Chinese government is pretty quick when copyright infringement on IP occurs but ONLY if your rights are registered in CHINA! again in CHINA! Chinese companies always check the local registers, and if it's not registered in their country they start production.
how in the world should they know about copyright registered somewhere else in the world and why should they even care?
in this case it's only LEGO's fault not investing in registrations of their rights in china and the best way to do that is to be partner with a chinese company.
i'm pretty happy about the bootleggers, they take down the minifig collectors which i call minifig kidnappers! minifigs belong into the hands of playing kids and not adult collectors.
a big THANK YOU to china

OK,I a chinese.Honestly,I once bought some clone minfigs.The quality is not so bad.And I got like 5,6 different IRON MANs which cost less than 10 dollars. So maybe that is why A lot of clones sold online.IT IS MUCH CHEEPER THAN LEGO. Chinese parents do care about the lego brand. they just care about the money.

I know there will be few people reading this now, but a few things to consider:

Clones make figures that Lego don't: Fine, but they are not of the same quality; they use the same form/shape as LEGO minifigures (which is a copyright theft issue); and they often copy figures that LEGO has produced (e.g. the boxes of CASTLE figures, which are figures from CMF sets), which is theft of intellectual property (IP) of both LEGO (which they pay a lot for), and often a 3rd party that has licensed that image to LEGO.

Some people will then sell them as LEGO minifigures, which is dishonest to say the least, and this then makes people give up the product, due to "how badly produced it has become"...

If they just steal IP and produce different figures (as people have pointed out,numerous Iron Man suits), it might be acceptable, but when they blatantly steal current established figures and products, then this has to be stopped, as it is unacceptable.

I hate the people that made thees