Attack of the Clones
Posted by Huw,
Woody, our man in China, has once again been scouring the local markets for LEGO rip-offs and has sent through a bumper crop of pictures of his latest findings.
Somewhat surprisingly, the clone manufacturers are showing signs of innovation and the design of a couple of the sets is almost half-decent...
Future/Nick/Nexu Knights
LEGO's space/castle hybrid theme may not be selling as well as LEGO had hoped but that hasn't stopped three manufacturers creating their own versions.
Dargo brings us Future Knights and provides the hero knights with flying horses.
The shields and book look to be the same as LEGO's: I wonder if the shields work in LEGO's game...
Sheng Yuan has called its clone Nick Knights and has come up with its own vehicles which match LEGO's design aesthetics quite well.
Some real imagination has been shown here, using the ball from Jurassic World.
Lepin, as usual, has changed just one letter in the name but has at least come up with its own design of mech, which appears to be minifig-less.
My World
Next up we have Minec..., sorry, My World by Dargo. Again, we see some innovation in the designs and to be fair, pocket-money sets of this size are missing from LEGO's assortment.
Technic
I've not heard of CaDA before and it's interesting to see that it is not aiming to cause confusion with its box design and logo.
These models clearly use LEGO's part designs but the models themselves appear to be original: they don't look good enough to be ripped-off from AFOLs.
Heroes Assemble
Many of the clones copy LEGO's Super Heroes sets or produce their own. This Sheng Yuan one is interesting because it's half of 76013 Batman: The Joker Steam Roller and 30166 Robin and Redbird Cycle.
City
I've left the best to last! These City-style models from Gudi are half-decent. The look pretty well designed and could pass for official LEGO designs.
This one, however, would never be produced by LEGO, although I suspect many of you wish it was.
Closer to home...
You don't have to go to China to find shops full of cheap nasty rubbish. UK retailer Wilkinsons used to stock LEGO for a time but now exclusively sells its own brand called Blox.
My local branch even has a Pick & Mix at £4 a tub...
Now go and wash your eyes out... :)
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Quality of the plastic notwithstanding, some of Lepin's set designs do trump some official Lego sets. They have a lower ratio of generic vehicles in the action themes, at any rate.
Next time you head to Wilkinsons, I would suggest taking some holy water. Oh, and sprinkle some salt outside your door in case the demons follow you home.
I don't think that's Sluban. Must be Shen Yuan or SY.
Nasty stuffs...
A lot of these sets are better designed than LEGO sets. The Police Station is better than the current real one.
Horrible stuff X_X
Lego plastic has become worse over time during last years (If i'm not mistaken they even started using chinese factories). Eventually the rip-offs will improve their design and will become a real option.
There's tons of this stuff at my local dollar general, and some more at five below.
Fact 1: That second CaDa model looks a lot like Optimus Prime's truck mode.
Fact 2: Its packaging says "2 in 1."
Fact 3: It is called "Convoy Truck."
Fact 4: Optimus Prime is (or at least used to be) known as Convoy in Japan.
Hmm...
Both CaDA trucks seems to use one piece chassis, with battery box, receiver unit and motors inside.
@ilariel, I would like to direct you to this wonderful post by Aanchir from the article about the opening of the China factory
First of all, it's been established that the new factory will be serving the Asian market — people in other parts of the world shouldn't notice any difference. Second, there's no reason (aside from Eurocentrism) to think the quality out of this factory would be any less than the quality out of the Czech, Hungarian, or Mexican factories. And third, LEGO prices have been fairly stable for years now, and in many cases are lower than they were in the 80s or 90s. As long as those prices remain stable, does it really matter how much of it pays for design/production and how much is profit?
https://brickset.com/article/24807/the-lego-group-celebrates-opening-of-factory-in-china
Nexu knights, Star Wnrs, Heroes assemble :D These knock-off brands come up with such weird names. Clearly, they have zero imagination.
Thanks for that piece of advice.
That Pick & Mix Wall infuriates me for some reason.
I bought 20 road base plates from Wilko's just before Christmas in Gloucester. They were all £1 each! They are 32x32 studs and at that price I couldn't resist! Sadly they don't seem to do it in the Glos branch anymore.
Disclaimer: I bought some Gudi set two years ago because of good reviews (Blame Tomkins ;-) ) and a militar-sci-fi line with blocky but strangely alluring designs.... and I have to say that bricks' quality almost matches lego's ones. Minifigs, however, are just adequate. Gudi 8216 -- The Core of Defence, not reviewed here, is a hell of a playset, tho', fully original design and great play value.
Moreover, folks, you've forgotten the latest Enlighten stuff. Copyright problem notwithstanding -- namely, the minifigs which are protected by copyright laws -- their designs are really catching up with Lego designs.
On a lighter note: I'm waiting for Communist Lego 1.7 ;-)
That Pegasus knight looks pretty cool. Apart from that, I think I need to take a shower after looking at the rest. I bet the quality is rubbish too... I don't care what you sinophiles say.
On another note, even if the quality is similar to LEGO, can't they come up with their own themes?? I mean, do they have absolutely NO imagination??
The title got me to view this.
Lepin is the Darkaplier of toys.
Im super curious why Lepin feels the need to change a letter in the theme names. Its China, its not like they're not going to be successfully sued for copyright infringement.
The Lepin Nebulon-B Medical Frigate is the one set I have been tempted to purchase since Lego has yet to make it as a set. I believe the set was stolen from a Lego Ideas submission, but if Lego isn't going to approve these cool sets, someone else is going to profit off of them. I'm not interested in buying lower quality sets from the clone brands even though they are cheaper, but if these clone brands produce sets that Lego has failed to create, that may tempt me to purchase their product.
the brand you refer to as Sluban is actually Sheng Yuan or SY, sometimes called Sembo Block.
Can we leave out the anti-Eurocentric comments. Brick set is a place to get information about something lots of people love. The truth is, a nation is allowing for companies like lego to be ripped off. This article was about the knockoff brands, not the actual lego made in China. If you want to feel guilty for buying a better product, then stop buying lego and buy the knockoffs.
The main problem with these Chinese knock-offs is manufacturing quality. The clutch power is simply not good enough. And then there are the models these companies designe. Most of the time these have several fragile sections so they keep falling apart as soon as you lift them up.
I've tested a few and I'm glad to have finally left those knock-offs behind for good.
@Bycougars of course the Nebulon B is a rip off but I refuse to agree with the popular argument of "Oh, Lego Ideas didn't approve it so I hope someone else does, even if they are a clone brand". I'm hesitant to suggest that anyone build it themselves though because BL-ing that would be costly, unless you're an AFOL with an ample supply of loose bricks (alas, I'm not one of them). I can only suggest trying to get close with the bricks you have to hand, or hold out in hope for an official TLG model.
Aside from the ample ranting and raving about eurocentrics or non-eurocentrics, I just find these articles hilarious for the names clones come up with to sound different but the same. 'Nick Knights'? Nick and his knights of the round table doesn't quite sound right... 'Twas the Middle Ages, and Saint Nicholas realised his elves had succumbed to a virus and become annoying red scurriers. With this he rallied his fellow barons to thwart them, and thus the Nick Knights were born!
The worst part is that some people will buy that crap not knowing that it is not lego
The quality of lego's own bricks has deteriorated to the point that I'm actually afraid to build my recent sets because I expect many of the bricks will crack. I have recently disassembled a large non-lego branded set that had been put together for over a year. Guess how many cracked bricks I found. 0. Guess how many cracked bricks I found in my lego brand haunted house that had been put together for about 3 months. Just about every single 1x1 brick. If these brands would put out some original large scale designs, I'd switch. Sorry lego. It just not what it used to be.
I love how the nick knights say 95+ pieces or 136+ pieces, I mean like did they even count???
Curious that the CaDA boxes say "Designed in California"...
Having recently moved to the UAE and Lego being so expensive, I stumbled across many of these sets pictured. I hadn't purchased any clones previously, which was a conscious decision due to being a Lego purist.
However I decided to experiment so allowed my 6 year old son to purchase one of the My World sets. As mentioned already, the design and creativity matches and often surpassss Lego's offerings. That said the quality was shocking, no clutch power lol
Thankfully my 4 year old son got hold of it and played with it in the sink. You can probably guess what happened?
I would liken the experience to that of purchasing a McDonalds from a drive through, and then eating it in your car.
Apologies to any clone purists.
When I saw the space shuttle launch, only one horrible thought filled my head...if anyone makes a cheap knockoff of the Saturn V, there will be no forgiveness.
@IceCreamClone, thank you. Corrected.
@Aegis2000, that already exists. See Lepin 37003.
I'm the hypocrite! While I don't agree with with the Chinese rip off mentality, I've gathered 4 different sets of Nexu/Nick/Future/Dargo Knights armour that Lego don't offer (yet!) for my son.
It's funny to hear him ask if they're 'Chinese Knockoff!'
Oh my god what a bunch of ****!
I want some LEGO Pegasuses!
Horrible
China is HILARIOUS (in a blatant complete disregard of IP rights kind of way). What's even funnier is that they have extensive laws related to the protection of intellectual properties and brand counterfeiting and such, they're just not enforced at all.
@JMaster - aren't the Elves sets just infested with pegasuses (pegasi)?
I went to my local dollar general recently in the US and saw an exact copy of the architecture leaning tower of pisa, they had copied it exactly under another brand name
I'd love new castle barding and those giant pegasus wings. These work much better than Elves only because the horse is different and the wings are at least a color matching the horse as opposed to gold or silver wings. (Don't get me wrong, I love Elves and so does my daughter, so those are quite fun. I just like the normal horse mold better).
I hadn't bought any of these. Even at a great price, I automatically think of what I could have purchased with my limited budget on actual LEGO.
Gonna go pour some bleach in my eyes now
The future knights look the most interesting to me, in terms of a design that could have been added to Nexo Knights - futuristic flying robotic horsey type things.
Some of the Nexo Knights knock-off sets actually look pretty good.
Lord knows, they couldn't be more expensive than Lego is at the moment.
Sorry but I LOVE the Pegasus with the other horse models and the Jurassic World glass ball was a very good idea! The quality is probably shit, but some of their concepts are pretty cool.
I just hate that robot horses in NEXOS KNIGHTS and almost everything about this theme. Except for the bad guys, they have the best designs of this theme. But still, I think NK sucks in general and I miss the REAL castle themes.
Matt, do you own a phone? Everyone uses 'slave labour' to make their products. LEGO doesn't because it's 95% made by robots.
I have no intention of buying non-lego products, but I would not hesitate to purchase a non-friends Pegasi with those big wings if they were in a relatively inexpensive set. Or really any more traditional fantasy creatures for that matter.
You haven't posted even the best one.
There are great desined miniversions of Fortrex, Doom tower and even Jestro mobile.
Also I am VERY disaponted that there is no NEXO Knights knockoff that is called simply:
KNEXO Nights
Also reminder that Enlighted has TRANSFORMABLE Police station.
@The_Lego_kid, thats not an article, is a corporate advertise. Companies move to Asia just with one single objective: reduce production cost. And is naive think in any other reason. And as a company I fully understand they do that. In my personal case, I had never found a crack piece till this year while I was dismantleing my newer Lego sets to clean them.
The Nick Knights set with the stud shooters is a pretty good redux version of Macy's Thunder Mace, to be fair.
Also worth noting the My World sets have minifigs based on/taken from the two Minecraft character packs LEGO did.
@anyone who thinks the quality of Lepin bricks is worse than Lego: let me tell you for most parts it is absolutely equal to Lego. I have got the Lepin clones of the Green Grocer and the Haunted House, and there are just two or three part designs in these sets that Lepin has a problem with, most notably the hingeplate 73983 and the turn plate upper part 3679. Standard plates and bricks as well as almost all other special parts are identical in quality to Lego. If it wasn't for the missing Lego logo on the studs, most people couldn't tell the difference. Clutch power is an absolute non-issue. Colours are identical. Funniest fact of all: Lepin sets are actually BETTER than Lego when it comes to consistency of colours within a set!
I have heard that Lepin Technic clone parts would be worse, but as I haven't got one of those sets I can't tell from personal experience. And mind you I am only talking about Lepin, not any of these other clone brands. These might indeed be worse than Lego, who knows.
And as others have noted, if someone is against slave labour being employed to make products, then they have to get rid of their smartphones, tablet computer, notebooks, gaming consoles as well as most other electronic gadgets. Just google Foxconn. Or almost any Chinese toy manufacturer, who often produce for western companies. Why do you think it says "Made in China/Vietnam/Bangladesh/Malaysia/Macao/etc." on about 99.9% of just about everything you find in almost every shop?
Quite hypocritical to reduce the slave labour argument just to Lego clone products.
I feel I should defend Wilkos and their Blox range. It isn't some iffy knock off but a legitimate 'compatible with the leading brand' alternative. They don't copy any of lego's designs. It (as far as I know) is the same make as Bloc Tech who had some issues with Lego some years ago - about the design of the minifigs - which are long resolved. I know some afols will never go anywhere near Other Brands but for those that do Bloc Tech /Blox are a perfectly legal alternative brand the same as Mega Blocks is.
@bookmum this set here http://www.wilko.com/blox-construction/wilko-blox-luxury-yacht-set/invt/0417597 looks like a knockoff of this: https://brickset.com/sets/41015-1/Dolphin-Cruiser
As bookmum said, the Wilko Blox is actually not bad for the price you pay. They do a nice castle for about £25 that would be over £100 from LEGO
It is all very well saying, but it is not LEGO, however if you are a parent on a very limited budget you could do a lot worse!
I am lucky in that I can afford LEGO, but some families can't!
Just saying.
Although I don't buy them I don't mind affordable alternatives to those that can't be purists e.g. Megabloks/Blox (so long as they don't literally rip off designs) but I read the reviews of the Blox boat linked rough from MaxL and I couldn't stop the shivers going down my spine when one of the reviews said "Great building set at a great price, no more Lego for us." Shudder...
I suppose in theory it can only be a good thing for non-clone building brands to gain more of Lego's audience - it should mean lower prices, but somehow in practice I doubt it. I already buy slightly less Lego because of the pricing structure but I'm not keen to turn to another brand - however if I had kids the story may be different.
Nick Knights?? Really? That's just sad. That Battleship design is nice, so if you could recreate it in Lego it'd be great. The Minecraft ripoff stuff is so stupid and not anywhere close to game accurate.
^^^ Yeah, you're right. Many people here say those brands are crap, but it's better that a kid gets an average toy than no toy at all. I'm pretty sure kids won't mind if those bricks are from the Blox brand.
Those clone brands are terrible, but their names are sometimes a bit funny ("Star Wart").
Lepin has already copied the 70620 Ninjago City set, months before the official release date of it!
^ Has it? Are there pictures?
Edit: found it: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-559Pcs-Lepin-07045-Genuine-Superhero-Movie-Series-The-Batman-Robbin-s-Mobile-Set-Building-Blocks/32796820484.html?spm=2114.40010208.4.18.z19JaL
How is that even possible?
Interesting... I wonder if this "The New NINJASAGA Movie" will be any good.
^^ Ooh! The Ninjasaga Movie - when can I see it in cinemas?
@Huw - "How is that even possible?"
But aren't those just low-res images of the same LEGO Ninjago set photos we already have with the LEPIN branding overwritten on it? Not very clever. I guess what's surprising is that they seem to be already selling it prior to the original being released. Or maybe there would be a delay if you ordered it now. I guess you'd have to wait to see what you're copying before you could actually copy it.
UNLESS... they have a spy on the inside?!? Corporate espionage is not something LEPIN would stoop to, is it?
Very tempting though...
WHAT!!?!?! That makes me want to puke! The New Ninjasaga Movie?!? Really Lepin? I didn't think you could be that stupid!
My local Poundland has exact replicas of 7801 and 8402, save for the colours and the wheels, which are solid plastic. That, and 8402 has no figure or scenery.
Inside tour of SY factory who make Nick Knight: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1674406412867160.1073741830.1673084802999321&type=1&l=8a5f26034a
A glimpse into Pogo factory: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1674932916147843.1073741831.1673084802999321&type=1&l=9817a81b80
@The Rancor I too have read reviews of blox on the wilko website where the reviewer refers to it as 'lego'. Wilko did actually have, for a while, a statement on the reviews that their product is not lego nor made by lego.
@Max L what I meant is that blox don't copy designs like for like. Yes they have a boat /castle /fairground set etc but the designs are their own.