Comparison Rey’s Speeder LEGO 75099 versus LEPIN 05001

[perrush]

Hi all,

this will be my first 'review', well actually it's a comparison. It features a Chinese knock-off set versus a LEGO set. I hope this is allowed here. I also hope there are not to many grammer faults in the text (English is not my native language). Said that, here we go.


Comparison Rey’s Speeder LEGO 75099 versus LEPIN 05001

Content

1. Price
2. Box and Content
3. Instructions
4. Build & quality
5. Minifigs

1. Price

Retail price of LEGO 75099 is normally between €20 - €25. For a Lepin 05001 you pay between €8 and 10€ on AliExpress including shipment but without a box. If you want a box you will pay around €5 more. But as you see in the image above, that doesn’t guarantee that you receive a box in good condition J . I’m not sure how much such a Lepin set costs on the streets in China. Maybe someone can tell me that ?

2. Box & Content

The Lepin box is larger than the one from LEGO. It also comes with a cardboard inner tray. The instructions lay at the bottom of the inner tray and the sticker sheet was put into the instructions. This was a surprise to me. The packaging from Lepin is much better than that of LEGO. With LEGO the instructions and sticker sheets are most of the times just thrown into the box often resulting in folded instructions or a folded sticker sheet.

The Lepin box art is a plain copy of the LEGO box art. Lepin didn’t bother to make their own photo of the set. Because of that the photo on the Lepin box doesn’t reflect the real Lepin speeder. 2 things are different.

1. The trans clear slopes on top of the speeder are a little foggy in the real Lepin speeder. On the box art they are really clear, just like the LEGO ones.
2. Rey wears her pouch on the photo, but Lepin doesn’t include that part in the set !

Maybe that’s why Lepin included “specification colours and contents may vary from illustraions” (yes, including that grammer mistake J ). A remark I couldn’t find on the LEGO box.

Lepin removed some references in the box art, I suppose to avoid legal issues :

1. They removed the LEGO logo from the studs
2. The reference to Disney was removed
3. Star Wars has become Star Wnrs

I wonder if this legally really makes a difference. It’s obvious that Lepin 05001 is a plain copy from LEGO 75099.





(to be continued in the next post)

3. Instructions

If the box was almost a copy, the instructions are no different. Lepin copied the LEGO booklet, including the numbered bags although Lepin doesn’t number the bags of their set J.

There a few difference between the instructions.

1. The most remarkable is that Lepin has more building steps on one page then LEGO has. To be honest I like this. Lego instructions are often lengthy with very few steps on one page. But I understand that they are made in a way that every single person can complete the building process. Yet I found the Lepin instruction more pleasing to work with.
2. Because Lepin doesn’t included Rey’s pouch they needed to alter the instructions. They did this by putting a sticker with adjusted instruction on the place where the pouch is used.
3. Finally the Lepin instructions stops right after the latest building step. No parts list, no overview of other sets or whatever like we are used with LEGO.

4. Build and quality

Because the instruction are identical, all the parts of the speeders are identical too and after completing the build, the 2 speeders look like twins.

To be honest, the Lepin bricks feel good. They click good into each other and are easily interchangeable with LEGO bricks. Actually you could replace a LEGO brick with a Lepin brick without noticing it. I’m thinking about the hero shields (92222) used in the Bat-Pod (5004590). The original LEGO shields go more than €9 a piece on BL and you need 6 of them. A complete Chinese Bat-Pod costs less than 25€ … Just a matter how purist you are.

Not all parts are identical. There is one exception : trans clear parts. Like I said earlier, trans clear parts from Lepin are a little foggy, not completely clear like their counterparts from LEGO.

It feels a little odd using bricks without a LEGO logo. It doesn’t feel ‘right’ and it doesn’t look that good to me either. Secondly, the extrusion pip is much more visible at Lepin than it is at Lego. I like the visual appearance of LEGO bricks a little more than those of Lepin. Maybe this is just because we’re so used to LEGO logo’s.

The Lepin set has a sprue with weapons. Only the black nozzle is needed for the set. I guess we can say that all the other weapons included are extra ones.

An other issue I had was that the nozzle didn’t stick to the lightsaber hilt. So in the image underneath you’ll see that the hose is missing in the Lepin set.

I was missing a 3L black bar in the Lepin set. Maybe it dropped while opening the bags, I don’t know. But I couldn’t complete Rey’s weapon. Luckily there was an extra bar in the LEGO set.

The stickers of Lepin are definitely of a lesser print quality than those from LEGO. The colors doesn’t match the color of the bricks perfectly and the print is not always sharp and full.




(to be continued in the next post)

5. Minifigs

There are 2 minifigs in this set, Unkar’s Thug (SW655) and Rey (SW677)

5.1 Unkar
I must say it’s hard to tell the Unkars of both brands apart, even when you put them side by side. The print of the Lepin Unkar is a little sharper and heavier than that of the LEGO one. Because of the sharper print, I think many would say that the Lepin Unkar is the ‘real one’.

5.2. Rey
The Rey minifig of Lepin is clearly of a lesser quality then the LEGO Rey.

1. Firstly there is no pouch available in the Lepin set. I suppose Lepin hasn’t got a mold for this part and didn’t bother to make one.
2. The Lepin hair piece is totally different and doesn’t match the real headdress of Rey from the movie. Again I think that Lepin didn’t want to make a new mold just for Rey alone. But with the hair piece Lepin included, Rey doesn’t look like Rey … …
3. The right arm of my minifig doesn’t fit well into the body. It’s a little loose.
4. On the right side of Rey’s headgear a little silver paint is missing.
5. The print on the torso is clearly much more heavier. It doesn’t look that good to me.
6. The head is printed on 2 sides. The print on 1 side is acceptable, but not so good as the original from Lego. But the print on the other side … … well no comment needed I think.

Edited September 25, 2016 by perrush

[Anonknee Muss]

Let me remind you bootleg brands are illegal and are ruining lego's business, it's truly disgraceful these bootleg brands.

But doesn't mean I don't like your comparison of the brands, you identified that Lepin has better packaging maybe you should address this to lego customer service? I personally don't like bootleg but try telling customer service about anything you don't like?

Edited July 19, 2016 by J4ck

[perrush]

J4ck, plain copying like Lepin does is indeed 'not done'. But we can't ignore the fact that we will see more and more other brands into the 'brick market'. It's always good to know what's going on instead of putting your head in the sand. That's why I made this comparison, not to promore these brands.

Edited July 19, 2016 by perrush

[PicnicBasketSam]

GAH! Lepin Rey's alt face is terrifying...

Hah. "Star Wnrs". I wonder if the translator even speaks English...

[Mr Greeble]

GAH! Lepin Rey's alt face is terrifying...

Hah. "Star Wnrs". I wonder if the translator even speaks English...

Star Wnrs is for copyright reasons.

[dr_spock]

Ha, STAR WNRS. This is a matter for the Disney and LEGO company legal and IP departments to deal with.

Thanks for the comparison. It's interesting to see how close copies have come in quality.

Your English sounds fine.

[Robianco]

I like that this comparison was done in a genuinely fair and neutral standpoint. Faces always seem to be an issue for the bootleg designers even if it's a straight copy.

Let's not go down the 'bootlegging is ruining Lego's business' route again... It clearly isn't. Asia is Lego's fastest growing market and just happens to be where these are at their most readily available. People who can't afford larger Lego sets may pick these up but Lego is a premium product with a huge and loyal fanbase.

Interesting that the print on the bootleg thug appears to be superior to the op over the Lego version. There are some terrible quality bootlegs out there but there are those capable of something excellent... It's a shame these efforts are concentrated on copying existing product but I suppose that's the whole point of them. No licences, no r&d, no design or marketing... Hence very low price product.

Lego and the ip owners need to decide whether they're going to try and close them down but with China's history of ignoring international copyright it could be a futile venture.

[BrickJagger]

It looks like someone drew Rey's alternate face on, jeez

The Lepin model is remarkably similar to the Lego one out of the box, but you can tell the Lego one is of higher quality. Nice try, clone.

[briksen]

it's a unique "duck face" rey

[JGW3000]

Nice review, and incredibly, its for sale at Amazon as "legoelieds lepin 05001 Star Wars Rey War chariot" the same seller has a wide range of other direct copy stuff

[Lego Dino 500]

What's the brick quality and parts tolerance like compared to Lego? In Train Tech, we've been discussing a Lepin clone of the Emerald Night, and it seems they sell tons more clones. They even have a 15008 Green Grocer for less than $50, and a Venator class Star Destroyer in the same price range.

[AFOLguy1970]

My understanding is that it is very hard to tell with the exception of the missing Lego logo. It is interesting to see a side by side comparison of the two. In the "Shameless Confession" thread, I stated an actual temptation to acquire a Lepin version of something like Green Grocer or Super Star Destroyer. Yet, I have so far decided not to cross over to the dark side. Instead, this next extra paycheck will go to some small Lego sets and power functions.

[perrush]

@ dino, for what I've seen. Bricks are as good as the same as those of LEGO and are completely interchangeable. It's obvious they master the technique. The only thing we can hope now is that they star making their own sets (should be just a matter of time before some starts with that)

[Markem1200]

Great post @perrush   .. to answer your question.  The Lepin 05001 is around 40-50 RMB here in Shanghai China. (approx 5 british pounds).  On the flipside .. the real lego kits are extremely expensive here.  Almost double the price of the rest of the world.  I was at one of the official lego stores at shanghai disneyland yesterday.  The lego ghostbusters firehouse was 4000 RMB .. 460 British pounds .. or 800 cdn dollars .. vs 450 cdn back home where I'm originally from.  Most foreigners who are Lego fans buy Lepin or other knock off brands because buying Lego out here is hard to justify.  

[Aethersprite]

Thanks for doing this! It's very informative. Lego will always beat other copycats because it's so much more superior quality-wise.

[Adamskii]

How is this thread not locked? IF it's ok to do comparisons between Lego Lepin and anyone else (does not breech the new 50:50 guidelines) this thread is a test case I guess for setting precedence. 

 

 

[Robianco]

This thread should probably be closed or just left to drop down the pages.

[Captain Nemo]

As per the revised site guidelines, I am closing this thread. 

 

Thank you!