larry marak

Lord Admiral, I think you may mean COKO. They were wiped out in litigation by TLG and did shamelessly duplicate Lego sets. I have a few COKO castle wall panels in my display case. COCO on the other hand is located in Shanghai and was the producer of the old metrics Best Lock elements for 12 years. They are still in business, still selling new old metric sets. Their Warhammer inspired line is awesome. From several years of collecting Chinese clone sets, I've come to the conclusion that before the "socialist market economy" was established the PRC collected a vast data-file of elements from Lego, Mega-Block and Oxford patents, and made them available to their toy manufacturers. With the new economy, where monolithic companies were broken up into many competing companies, there are now at least 8 different manufacturers inside the PRC selling original and stolen designs under at least 18 different company names, plus their export label names!!! They differ quite a bit in quality, with Enlighten (which still does custom painted bricks, a practice Lego seems to be retreating from) and Sluban (which shamelessly steals Oxford designs) at the top of the heap, Little White Dragon (best lock's current source) Kazi, and Wit Toys somewhere in the middle and Ligao and Digo somewhere near the bottom. One area where there is quite a lot of difference in these cloners is the minifig. Not only does painting vary, but so does design. A number of differently jointed models are out there.

You've gotta find them on ebay. Search under building toys for the two biggest licensed rip-off lines Kazi makes, Star Space Wars and Spider Super Man. Chances are a seller who has either series for sale has both in his ebay store. Coincidentally I just received two Kazi micro-scale fighters in the mail today from the PRC. 19 and 23 piece sets, done using Lego patented parts.

Too late. Kazi does a Star Space Wars line with copies of TLG's Star Wars sets. Kazi is a double pirate because they both reproduce exactly TLG designs and manufacture elements (cheese slopes) that are still under TLG patent protection. Bella, a sub-brand of Wit Toys, makes Racers, Studios, and Paradisa sets. By the way, Enlighten bricks just celebrated their 45th anniversary last year.

I don't have that model, but go for it. MB uses the same computer software for its car designs as General Motors and for those cars which are not <insert that tiresome argument>, you get a build that is as solid as a die cast metal model. If it was the Italian mountain rescue helicopter (red) the released last year you should go back for it. They introduced a number of new curve pieces that tlg has never done and now due to patent laws can't do for 25 years. MegaBloks also has released the licensed model of the Eurofighter. To die for.

That's not too much of a stretch, tying in Agents to DinoWars. Dinowars brought me into Lego. I'm a life long Godzilla fan (the original, the 1984 sequel with Burr, and the 2002 version) and building urban warfare scenes of Godzilla vs the national guard has been my goal for several years. For ruined buildings, I've found MB's shattered window panels, released in their Spiderman sets to be useful. Biggest problem is scale. 84 meters high is a lot of bricks. Kadawa of Japan (which was sold for decades in the U. S.A. as Brix Blox and Loc Blocs) has the Godzilla license, but their sculpture is only about 12 inches tall.

The problem is, if you want new parts to expand your pirate holdings, this is currently the only source, unless you wish to switch over to Mega's Pyrates and Pirates of the Carribean line, both of which are overly sculpted in my opinion.

A hobby within the hobby is to purchase and build a Brick set (brick is one of the 6 brand names Enlighten uses) and then go through peeron to figure out which set or sets were cloned to make that particular set. Enlighten clones Lego and Megablocks quite a bit. Most of the other Chinese cloners are either original designs or they clone Oxford, the Lego of Korea.

'Cpt. Pegleg Blockbeard Thanks for the reviews. It occasionally needs to be emphasized here that Enlighten is available to provide substitutes for Lego sets that have been long out of production. After 45 years of producing lego system clones, their quality is on a par with TLG, and they still do painted bricks, which lego seems to be withdrawing from. If you want to acquire new lego-inspired ships, this is the only option left.'

It is incredibly unfair. Maybe its competition for the buyer's dollar...Over in California Lego sit on the shelves next to Megablocks, Best Lock, Knex Bricks, and Revell's new fangled sets that are competing with mindstorms and bionicle.

We need a new acronym here, CAFOL, criminal adult fan of lego.

My wife Melissa, the Lego purist (I"m a heretic, alas) has found that swinging the pillowcase around several times after sending it through the washing machine removes most of the water inside the tubes. Centrifugal force does wonders. It also exercises the arms and prevents damaging the elements against the metal drum of the machine.

Ask independent toy dealers in the U.S. and they'll tell you product shortage is deliberate TLG policy. Production contracts are for Target and Walmart....toys stores get supplies 5 months later, if at all, and are severely rationed. Gylman is right that Asia (and Central-South America) is the growth area for the Lego market. But to sell these, in these countries where per capita income is so low, they need to manufacture and sell inside China or India, so that they can sell for one 8th of what they retail for in the EU. Currently Enlighten (which has been manufacturing since 1963 and its 4 or 5 mainland China competitors {I've been doing a research project on this very topic} produce and market boxed 150 element sets for 3 dollars or less). That is the price point TLG needs to strive for in order to enter these expanding markets.

Well, when my wife found a grey megabloks plate in a sealed envelope from her Cafe Corner, she contacted Lego customer relations.............But then she's contracted Lego purism, a disease which blinds the builder to many possibilities. In sympathy to her illness, I scrupulously lodge all my lego with hers in our project room. My MB's are sorted out by type. Specialty elements that are unique to MB to in the spacials case, while common elements are organized by type in a mirror to her lego organizers. The Mbs stay in the same containers as Tandem, Tyco, (new style) Best Lock, BTR, Brick, Coko, Kazi, Li-gao, Blockmen, and Cobi, and Knex blocks. Systems that are not fully compatible, like old style Best Lock, and Dia/Blox Brix/Lock Blox, are stored separately, as are unique one off brands, like Italocremona, OK, and Better Blocks. By the way friends, this is not only the 50th anniversary of the lego 2 x 4 brick, but the 45th anniversary of Enlighten.

I recently came by around 30 Toppo elements, all slopes of varying sizes and roof pieces, all in beige. They have hollow studs the same height as old-style best lock bricks (which make they compatible with lego bricks but not lego plates or tiles) but unlike best lock, they have tubes on their undersides. I know there are plenty of clone haters on this board. Have any of you run into these? I'm just curious where they come from and when they date from. Thanks in advance, Larry De Gustibus Non Est Desputandem.

The Forbidden Lego book has information on cutting and otherwised modifying pre-made lego bricks, and over on bricklink an automotive plastic dye was identified which is absorbed into white ABS, allowing you to make bricks in about 16 new colors...not high demand colors, but enough to greatly increase your variety.

The Unofficial Lego Builder's guide is an excellent book on the fundamentals of Lego design. It clearly states what many of us know but have never put in words, and it includes a valueable Brickpedia appendix on many categories of brick elements, illustrated and listed by part number and date of issue. My wife and I consult it at least once a week. I've ordered Forbidden Lego. Imagine the Lego product line if Bart Simpson was CEO.

Was that the Alien Agency line? A true classi *sweet* c!

Maybe someone at TLG noticed that the patent for that particular shape of 1x1 cone which Megabloks had is now in public domain and they decided to switch to a better engineered mold. Wouldn't be the first time TLG has adopted Megablok elements. Ultimately, Lego, Mega, and Best Lock are all in the same business.

KMOI, that was one awesome essay.

Exoforce is both sad and hopeful. the brick to ball socket elements are useful. The lack of rear armour is rediculous. And the idea of fortifications in the mecha battlefield is falacious. Mecha exist because any target that can be located in a fixed position can be eliminated. The Warriors Future force series (Mega, bad transclear elements had more realistic designs. But right now to get "real" mecha you either have to order Bandai/Mega Blocks Gundam robots (will cost you $150@ easy) or ATCO Transformer sets (they secured the brick rights to the movie and transform from robot to car without removing blocks) and they are also an Asian market only product.

. So unless their quality has been jacked up a HELL of a lot since 2001... you'd be crazy to mix the 2 brands together. Quality control is MUCH better now than in 2001, especially for the trans-elements. I don't know what the price differential is over in Europe, but in the U.S. Mega and Lego price out about the same. The price leaders today in bricks are Best-Lock and K'nex, both of which are selling bricks for about half what Lego and Mega price at. As for availability, Lego is continuing to lose market share worldwide. Mega is the sales leader in Spain, England, Canada (duh), and most of south America, where Lego withdrew several years ago. Apparently Lego is now number 3 in the U.K. behind Mega and Knex (which has always been phenominally strong in the U.K.). Mixingis now more about aesthetics and element shape. Lego consistantly is very shiney when new, but also is softer and scratches more easily than Mega. Mega is non reflective, but comes in more colors and shapes. Best-Lock looks more like Lego but the dimple studs are ugly. K'nex bricks and plates are all uniformly rounded for child safety, which limits their application to weathered surfaces on castles and forts, or perhaps railrail bridge foundations. While the conversion units allow all standard Knex to intergrate seemlessly with Lego, the shapes of rods and connectors severely limit the occasions to run the two in the same Moc. One thing is for sure, Lego is the original clone brand (clone of the U.K's Kiddiecraft bricks) and many of their elements are essential for general building. If the Lego group didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent it.