58 replies to this topic

[Hey Joe]

LegoCityMann, on 16 October 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

The "School" building is just a copy of the Pizzeria from the City Corner. I do however like the look of the school bus.
~LCM

I've seen that set at the markets here in Beijing.  It's not a bad set but the school bus is eight bricks wide, too large.

I kinda like that Sluban brand, I've got one of their battleships and some (smaller) buses and a big old-fashioned fortress set I've not yet put together.  I'd have to say it's the best Chinese brand, the bricks are the same size as Lego (unlike BanBao) and the clutch power and quality is mostly there.  I haven't had any missing pieces yet either.  The minifigs aren't that great but the price is right.  Lego is really expensive here (double US prices).

Enlighten isn't so great IMO but those knock off Lego train cars that they make are passable.  The tires of the cute little forklift that came with the boxcar smell highly noxious.  That Enlighten tank that's pictured above looks like it's copied from another Chinese company (Sluban I think) so that's kinda funny, they copy from each other which I guess is what Lego did too back when they were starting out.

[titiblocks]

i dont like sluban, i think the quality is not good, the minifigures are horribles,
And sluban is a copied of a korean company : oxford
and the oxford quality is very good.
i loooove and buy lego since 35 years but i can buy other companies if the quality is good and if the concept is different (army, asian themes)
but when i see the bootleg on the first page, i am horrified !!!

[Dubbadgrim]

really sad to see such blatant knock-offs, but I guess it does give a whole lot of people some construction toys when they couldnt afford the real Lego.

[Tolkien]

A gun?!?! A freaking gun sold as a kids toy?!?! This is awful.

[paanjang16]

I posted a little review and comparison on Youtube on the Ice Dragon set made by this BELA bootleg company. The bootleg is near identical to the original except for a few pieces which they have replaced.

The review is here:

It does not help that it is sold within sight of a TRU in the place where I bought it. Take note the main reason I bought it is to review and hopefully let you guys know what this KO is about.

[DaSkulduggery77]

Alas. Another rip-off. Doomed to fail.

Then again, Mega Blocks didn't fail. But Lego's the one for me. I need to write a song.

[krystalKING]

MY GOSH, that is so close, at first i couldn't tell the difference, then my brain kicked in and i identified the differences.
If I owned Lego i would completly crush this 'Bela' company.

[Peppermint_M]

I think there is behind-the-scenes legal work all the time, sadly China ignores most of the patent laws so production and export continue unabated.  Instead it has to be inforced on the import end. Eventually there is legal right for the bootleg products to be siezed and destroyed by Customs officials, often on Toy Safety charge more than copyright infringement law. Soon enough the bootlegs will have a new "brand" on the box and the cycle will begin anew.

[Locomotive Annie]

When I was still into Brick wargaming I would buy Chinese military sets, not because the sets were good because most times the vehicles in the sets were very strange indeed, but because it was the only way to get olive drab bricks and modern weapons since Lego don't make any military sets.  Some Chinese sets were Ok and I soon got to know which sets to buy for specific parts and vehicles.  Cogo make quite a presentable amphibious tank as an example and their Jeep type vehicles were acceptable too for the most part.  One of Banbao's tanks was good provided the gun barrel was replaced with one made by Kazi for their armored car (Kazi provide a spare gun barrel in their sets).  Sluban make the best looking modern troops and Wange made the worst with Cogo, Enlighten and Kazi falling somewhere in between.  Banbao make the best helicopters, but their fixed wing aircraft needed certain parts glued in order to survive handling as well as the substitution of some Cogo parts.  Cogo's aircraft were better, only I wasn't all that into aerial warfare and what planes I had were generally used as set pieces in infantry campaigns.

Lately I've purchased Banbao trainsets and I've found them to reasonably good and a useful way to get hold of train models that Lego doesn't make.  Banbao's freight locomotive is particularly good and I had a lot of fun building it too.  The brick fit and clutch was really good and much improved over their earlier sets in my opinion.  Over the past months I've purchased a lot of Enlighten's train series and have found them to be reasonably Ok.  Generally I use these sets as a basis for modding and MOCing into the type of models I want to build and it's a very good way to get train specific parts cheaply and easily which is important when my only means of support is my Invalid's pension.  Don't worry I still do buy Lego, but in the form of individual bricks rather than a whole set.  Most Lego sets are well outside my price range these days.

Edited by Locomotive Annie, 23 February 2013 - 04:31 AM.