Yep for retired sets it's the only option and it's so much cheaper. Lego is so expensive that even as an adult only knock off makes sense in term of price specially if you want expensive sets like all the UCS Star Wars. Millennium Falcon at like 25-30% from the real.
"Fake Lego" is not real thing given the fact that Lego made its own name as a rip-off of Kiddiecraft bricks. Yup, Lego is not original and is a knock-off product, in and of itself. Kiddiecraft, which is the original building blocks and is now out of business, was the original, genuine plastic block toys. The so-called "rip-offs" nowadays are much more original in its MOC builds and much cheaper anyway.
Do though pay pal. Do not trust the sites and get all your money taken. This man make sense. I even bought fake nikes jorden. I can not tell the difference. Please pay thought pay pal or that site he said if not you will get robbed.
I appreciate this review being really honest and not snobby at all. Not everyone can access or afford the real deal but being careful about what fake products to buy is a good idea too.
If I got a fake as a kid i would be extatic. For 22$ i can buy a 42096 from china or a small shit authentic lego set. I could not be happier in getting a fake even as a adult
@@fentanylek it helped for me i had almost no income at the time and bought a few sets from china. now since a few years have a job again and spend around 2000+ on lego. lepin is the crack to cocaine (lego).
Bricks aren’t “painted” btw. It’s the colour of the plastic. I’ve looked at a lot of these cheaper sets recently and considered trying them. This diner is one set I’ve always wanted, but refuse to pay the crazy prices they fetch now! I might get one of these to try it!
I have an older lepin-original copy of the Lego Diner. Quality was ok, but not for first time builders. You have to consider some bad stones with it, but if you play around with same stones and check which ones are more usable or change the 😂 building technique a bit, then you get a great looking model at the end.
Yeah, I really liked this Diner set when it first came out, and still do to this day. I haven't bothered to try get hold of one due to the crazy pricing, but this right here might be how I can get it.
the fake chinese kits are indeed dyed/painted so be very weary.. honestly i think its a joke to buy fake rip off products but its your money, morals aside no ones stopping you.
Does it not bother you that Chinese criminals steal LEGO's intellectual property and you pay them for it making you a criminal too? Not to mention that the cost is so much lower because you're paying for forced labor. Very ethical!
@@Zunidrap no not really, if I can touch it and see it I own it, it’s Legos fault for overpricing there sets, if they were affordable I’d be happy to buy from them
@@mysty7148 Is everything else you own also stolen and fake? What do you mean is their fault? They charge you for quality, R&D, their employee's labor, etc. When buying Chinese fakes you only pay for the costs of materials, everything else is stolen, including the hard work of ethnic minorities forced into labor camps. So convenient that you don't care.
@@mysty7148 It's not about the cost of materials. This channel has a video explaining why Lego is expensive. You should check it out. I also can't afford many $100+ sets. But that doesn't justify stealing them or buying Chinese knockoffs which is basically the same thing.
LEGO has by no means a monopoly on good quality anymore. And 250 bucks for a house like that is already too much in my books anyway. In the last few years, I encountered several LEGO sets that I gave to kids of friends that had surprisingly bad quality bricks; like some Harry Potter books, or the Christmas Tree set. I am now also checking out all the alternative options all the time (Cobi, Cada, Bluebrixx etc.).
Thing is COBI is a legit company based in Poland which makes decent bricks, their sets aren't based of lego and are mainly their own designs of tanks and other military equipement
@@ZachBobBob I buyed before 2 years some small Lego system sets and all bricks 1x1, or studless 2x2 instantly crack and 42007 has issues with chain sticking.
@@ZachBobBob have you ever paid attention to the color of the bricks in newer sets? The color variation/deviation is just bad and extremely noticeable.
The biggest thing that sets off-brand to official for me is the baseplate. I have noticed that the lower quality baseplates curl up at the corners after some time. You definitely notice them more when moving around the Modular’s in my city. The official sets are flush to the bottom and the non-official sets wobble slightly. Definitely means a quality difference.
I work with children and we have a lot of Lego baseplates in our Lego-room. All the baseplates are completely flush, eventhough the children are handling them a bit rough sometimes. I noticed the brand new off-brand baseplate in this video already was curling up.
Yes, baseplates are often an overlooked item, and the wobbly ones really give a low-quality impression to whatever is built upon it. I would suggest replacing the cheap crappy baseplate with one from a brand know for its good baseplate quality, like Wange or Lego. It's really worth it when displaying.
so just buy a real lego baseplate and use it on the alternative sets. fuck lego for being so greedy and charging 100x what the market should be. ill take my money elsewhere, thats free market capitalism baby
One thing about the off-brand stuff is you can get baseplates that are actually plates. ⅔ brick thick, and have anti-studs on the underside. Jang uses them as backing plates for his collectible minifigs which he has wall-mounted.
The reason the set is cheap is not that "they got rid of the less important stuff" like packaging, it's that they stole the design and didn't have to pay a designer team for 3 months to come up with it.
It is so much cheaper because Lego is insanely overpriced. There are plenty of Chinese Companies that do their own designs and offer high quality bricks for a fraction of Legos prices. Lego turned into a scam company, never buy Lego for the full price. Always wait for a heavy discount. Guess where are all the Lego bricks are produced? Yeah, in China.
The Lego factory in China is relatively new. Most bricks are made in Denmark. Plus, both real and fake phones are made in China, but brand name ones actually work right. It's not that hard to make injection molded plastic peices, especially given the cheap molds they use. Sure they might seem fine, but you might get a set made on a mold with the "finest" worn out Chinesium that barely fits. If you look at the pictures of the big Lepin raid a few years ago, even ignoring the mess the factory looks like crap compared to Lego.
LEGO is pricing itself out of the market, new sets are becoming ever more expensive and older sets are impossible to collect on a "budget". I couldn't care less if an old set is a copy and if LEGO does, they should have done a reissue.
Exactly, and since this is an out of production kit, it's not really hurting lego. Because lego has already sold their production line, and if they wanted to make more $$ from this kit, they can just do a reissue. This is really just hurting all the greedy resellers that buy up kits for the sole purpose of selling at several times the retail price in a few years. Those people are not fans and only serve to price gouge people.
This is how I feel about it too, if Lego makes sets so expensive that people would rather get a knockoff brand without a second thought then that's a problem of their own making. I think as long as the knockoffs do keep small differences like the stud logo so you can tell it isn't official I don't mind it. Lego is a huge corporation that has always had overpriced products to some extent, they don't really deserve sympathy, and if this even has a small chance of making them step their game up then it's a W for collectors overall
For real. When we were young my parents were broke, but they managed to score a huge old Lego collection for very, very cheap from the newspaper (man I feel old). It was mismatched random pieces from many sets, some had instructions, some were missing bits, some pieces were broken, etc. But we loved it and still have it to this day. As we got older and my parents could afford it, we sometimes got new sets. But we had so much fun with the older ones that it didn't matter so much to have new stuff. I was so, so surprised the first time I went in as a buyer with my own money as a teen, finding out how much even a tiny set costs, let alone the huge ones. And it's even more expensive now. I can't imagine spending hundreds on a single set no matter how good it is. When I have kids I'll probably go the second hand route like my parents did haha
I purchased the first 5 building Modulars when I first got back into Lego as an adult as those has already been retired and it was a positive experience. All the pieces were there and it all fitted together great. I have them displayed along with original Lego sets together and you can not tell the difference looking at them. Of course I would have love Lego original sets but I could not afford the £2500+ price tag. Instead I paid less than £250 for all five.
I've bought two off-brand sets -- this and the Cinema Palace.Both were very good. The only minor quibbles are a few pieces don't quite fit properly, the minifig heads are sometimes a bit too loose, and I was missing a couple of minor pieces in each set. But with a nice big bucket of spare parts, it wasn't a big deal as they were common tiles and not specialty pieces.
That's a helpful comment. I am willing to sacrifice a small reduction in quality for a huge reduction in cost. But for someone like myself who doesn't have any spare parts to draw from, a missing part good make a huge difference. Maybe enough to make the set useless. Thanks for sharing your experience.
@@GnrMilligan for what it's worth, real lego pieces are only a few cents a piece online. It would be a hassle to have to pay for another package after you've got the first, but the price would still be far under the after market for sets like these.
@@Creatively_BankruptYour video makes me rethink the balance of quality to cost. But the theft of IP cant be ignored! The research is where a lot of cost lay.
@@GnrMilligana lot of patents on lego bricks have expired, so the ip side is a lot grayer than you would think. and thats why there is a explosion in off brand lego
@@affegpus4195 Hmmm, that's interesting cos the only thing that stops me trying these cheap knockoffs is the fact that it's Lego who paid to developed the product. I would have assumed they still owned the rights to the design.
Building bricks are injection moulded so for the most part there is no "paint", that is the color of the brick. Also the patents on the brick shapes and colors have expired about 2-3 decades ago, the only thing that off-brand brick makers can't do is use the LEGO branding on the studs. The minifig style is copyrighted though so third party sets will often come with goofy looking mini figures if there are any included.
The patents may have expired, but the knock-offs will never match Lego tolerances and quality control. I guess you have to figure out if 5-10 times the price is worth it.
It's not bad, imo. If you're a collector and can afford to collect it, then obviously buy from Lego. But if you just like the design, want to build, and can't afford the legit set, there's nothing bad about getting these "fake" ones.
Yes there is, because it is illegal and you are supporting stealing. If you don’t have the money, too bad for you just buy other sets and be happy with them. I don’t have the money to drive a Jaguar and I don’t rationalize that it is ok stealing one just because I want it and it is too expensive for me, I buy the car that I cán affort.
@@milkjug7 have you ever created something that you are proud of and that you sell? Let me see that so I can reverse engineer it and sell it for 20% of your price. Then let’s see who is yappin’ to be annoyin’.
Dont use the word superior when you follow up the sentence by saying its not as good as lego. The definition of superior means better than everything else.
Lego has just gone too far in their pricing, in the 2000s you could get a a big ass set for 100,- max. nowadays you'd get a small set with a car and a building for that price
Only thing I feel gross about thoses is the copy. Brick system, even really similar or compatible. No problem. But copying a designer's set. Or even a community one like the lego idea, is awful. You can achieve the same effect with buying the part themselves and then picking the instruction online. But advertising with someone else work is just bad.
I ordered the 21335 lighthouse for about 80€ on Ali. And what should I say, I am really impressed. Lego asks for 300€ and there is definitely not a 220€ Quality difference. For about 30€ extra I ordered a lighting upgrade that No Lego set could compete with. I only have minor complaints. Some transparent Bricks are scratched. The figures are not so well printed. And the White colour is slightly diffrent between the bricks. If Chinese producers would decide to not stick to legos way and improve: Swap out the battery box for a recharabel one, fix the awful noisy motor, etc. They could even deliver a better set than lego for a fraction of the cost....
The problem is they don't only cut costs through material choices, but also by just stealing the design by choice. Which is a big part of the cost of a set. Meaning the person who actually designed the set is not getting the recognition they deserve.
@@nahimvasquez8909 so you'd rather steal a designer's hard work to help save on your paycheck, while cutting into the designer's paycheck while still being able to enjoy their product? You have absolutely zero respect if this is how you think, keep that attitude up and all the toys you buy so cheaply will be extinct in 20 years because they'll be no-one left to design them since it doesn't provide a living wage anymore.
@@CoolBossFightsmaybe if lego didnt charge 200 for every thing these fake sites wouldn’t be so popular. Cost of living crisis going on and you are here defending a billion dollar company. Sad
There are hundreds of brands that do not copy LEGO but are compatible with LEGO. Just buy those if you feel bad. As far as quality goes the Chinese ones are fine. My kids love them. No way I'm paying 400USD for a LEGO that was manufactured for 40USD. Don't forget LEGO did not come up with the idea originally. The company is getting too greedy.
excuse me but lego have a lot of designers, who are generating ideas for lego. Thise sets are legi's property. Its nice to look at the price of raw plastic and say that this is price of the final product but that is not how it works.
Whatever you say, last I checked though, these sets weren't meant "for kids" anyways, the creator expert line was ALWAYS meant for late teenagers and adults, thats why they were priced as they were.
I grew up absolutely adoring Lego. Even in the early 2000's Legos have always been an expensive toy, and we generally could not afford the sets that I wanted. The fact that sets can be enjoyed by children for a fraction of the cost is a true blessing. I would have been elated to have access to these sets as a young boy. I hope Lego adjusts accordingly and decreases their prices over time.
As a pretty average Lego collector, I can immediately see the quality differences in the color, fit and brick/stud shape, just from this video. It looks just like a Mega Bloks set: muted colors, sloppy tolerances, mold flashing, ejection marks. Is it worth the cost savings? Maybe if you're not a Lego collector. If you just want a set to build, then go for it. This would completely stand out in your collection if it was adjacent to actual Lego models though.
I'm building a clone Spiderman Daily Bugle I bought from Temu for about $100 and free shipping, as opposed to $350 for the Lego. Thus far everything has been great as far as fit and finish with the exception of the tiles for the roof of the little newstand, which were not fitting tightly enough, but a little super glue fixed that easily. There have been no missing pieces. All minifigs are included and they look great too. It came in a replica box with the Lego brand logo removed and the MARVEL logo changed to HEROES. Other than those two changes the box is identical to the original. The parts came in two large bags with each bag containing the smaller numbered bags, which was easy enough to sort. The instructions came in a nice manual that appears to be an exact copy of the Lego instructions, but without the introductory pages Lego includes in some of their instruction manuals. Years ago the knock offs sucked, but nowadays many of these copycat companies have really dialed in on the quality, which makes sense of course if you want to continue to tap into the market. I have no desire to collect kits to sell later, so the fact that these clones are not actual Lego sets is of no concern to me as long as the quality of the replication is really good.
I built a not-Lego Guardian Stalker from Breath of the Wild. It's not copy of a set that Lego sells, but Nintendo would probably like a word about the use of their IP. The quality was quite good, honestly. Way better than the "Lego compatible" sets that were around when I was a kid. Not quite as nice as actual Lego, but nearly. It was a good enough set that I ordered a couple more. A large Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, and a mimic chest from D&D. We'll see how those go.
While we’re discussing the ethics of knock-offs, how about the ethics of scalpers that drive up secondary market prices to exorbitant values. Scalpers, flippers, etc. are a slimy lot. That’s where my true ire lies. With regards to IP theft, in instances of retired sets, I don’t see it as an issue. LEGO sold everything they made and quit production, recouping everything they ever will on the set. Once it’s sold out, make all the knockoffs you want, just don’t try to brand it as true LEGO. China ripping off an individual’s MOC without compensation is the lowest of low, but that’s a separate topic. Note that I do not own any non-LEGO bricks. I’m just passionate that the ethics of knockoffs be discussed in tandem with the ethics if dirt-faced low-life scalpers.
One thing I actually really like about knock offs like that is that you can buy bricks on every color, not just whatever color options lego officially released for a specific part. If you like to use some of the rarer colors in your MOCs you've definetly run into not having enough parts in a specific color to build a design, so if you're cool with using off brand bricks then that is a very valid option to go for (especially if you like modified bricks like brackets, helps out a lot lol).
2:04 - you would instantly tell it was fake (the baseplate), as all LEGO official elements have the logo printed on it. This one is blank. I think a generic Lego collector would be able to identify the signs instantly.
I have to understand that major part of the price is development testing and Marketing. If you look at the other brands products, you can see that if they copy, it’s great if they create something original not so good. So the ip theft is real. If anything, the knock offs are expensive as they only manufacture the bricks.
Hi , thanks for the review , LEGO for me is super expensive. after doing some research , and yes LEPIN is one of best CN brand, but because of copyright issues. now almost many CN lego brand does not have brand on their box. sometime the package just come with bricks without box , so it hardly to idendify the brand and quality before buying. I think need to ask seller before buying it :D
So one thing I’ve noticed. I now have all the Modulars that are currently retired. I have 2 of the diners for a great moc but the diner is the ONLY one that is not a perfect replica. The diner uses other coloured parts, the figures are worse quality and overall just a bad copy. However like I said, the rest of the knock off Modulars are perfect copies except some slightly off face printing (which doesn’t matter since they’re just smiley faces)
I also received that bad replica, but I searched and found the good replica, apparently they have marks but they have removed the name due to possible problems, the good one in the manual prints CREATOR on the upper left side. It has all the details like the gloves, smooth tires, weight rack
Good discussion. I've purchased several "fake" modular buildings of retired sets and my experience was as you've described. For example, I have an original Brick Bank, and a knock-off. Other than the LEGO stamp on each stud, I cannot tell the difference. It does take some getting used to the packaging but, as you say, that's not really important. Baseplate quality isn't an issue for me since I put them all on MILS plates. As far as ethics: I buy from LEGO if the set is still available. If it's retired, I've bought knock-offs. LEGO isn't hurt, only the private "investors" who bought pallets of the sets are. The real issue is rip-offs of Rebrickable MOCs. In those cases I always buy the instructions from the original MOC designer even if I buy the set.
Just dropped by to thank you. Saved me tons of money over the years. For "defect" part I just ordered them from net XD. Keep them in glass displays with some led light. Nobody know the difference haha. Win win.
I understand producing original MOCs, but isn't publishing exactly same buildings using 3rd-party bricks considered as piracy and rights violation? I mean - this does not sound fully fair in regards to Lego.
My brother is a Lego purist, I on the other hand stopped buy lego and get everything from Ali. Not only they have all the current and some retired sets but a bunch on mocks and such. not to mention the quality for the price is not bad at all.
Yeah that’s true , but I as a Lego owner , I want the cheap stuff as well, I have lots of fake Lego Star Wars mini figs and a few sets that that I have made myself like a mandalorian set and a Death Star set all with fake Lego and fake minis , Lego sometimes can be very overpriced and I don’t mind the fakes at all
@@jimwar211 well it’s more than that, but it’s the first most obvious thing. Non-Lego plastic has a different feel/texture and weight. Also different strength and generally a different color. Nothing is as accurate as Lego moulds, either. You’ll find warping and pieces that don’t quite match, often. Some are just a tad too snug, others too loose to stay on. Mould lines/divots are often different and you can tell what type of machine made it. Notice the studs on the baseplate, see the concave ones with the plastic nodules? That’s where they injected the mould from. They differs from Lego’s baseplates.
@@valley_robot 90% of my Lego Star Wars collection is MOC from people like mould king, lol. 375$ set is 135$ there. Only things that are real Lego are the minifigs and their accessories. Got a large Imperial Interdictor with interior and full crew, right down to imperial droid and bounty Hunter speaking to an officer. For off brand, if they still exist, avoid light take. Worst plastic ever. Everything was weak and bent and nothing lined up properly especially anything involving axels.
I'm a die hard lego fan and every brick I own is genuine lego but lego has been steadily raising their prices over the years, pretty much putting a pay wall on the hobby. The thought of mixing fake lego into my collection makes my stomach hurt however for the reason mentioned before I am seriously considering buying knock of lego just to keep my hobby going.
Lego should not be that expensive, it cant cost more than a tv or a laptop.If you are an adult collector ,you are not gonna play with that,you just want as a display
Cheap brick building tips. Buy of brick link, used or new, 1 year old sets. If you are willing to resell some keep the box and sell them when desired to buy new ones. If you want to make giant constructions, like cities and stuff. Consider buying in bulk. Weather lego or offbrand. Many are compatible so you can buy the offbrand for fondations or large bland pieces. And buy lego for particular pieces or colors, or to make a sturdier skeletons with less pieces, but just enough to support the larger fundatoo made of offbrand.
I have always bought the knock offs and I have never really had any serious problems. They are a lot cheaper and just about the same quality. The package and manual are not the same but the quality of the bricks are about the same. Some of us are on a limited budget and can't afford to spend over a certain amount for Lego toys.
I don’t mind if the pieces are separated into smaller bags. I often open them all into a pile anyway. It’s part of the fun, never sort. Just start building.
I’ve noticed that different types of copies, example: lego titanic is huge and highly detailed, one clone is a direct copy and another is just the outer shell. Price has a lot to do with it
There are certainly different levels of knockoffs. Some people only care about the putter section, while others want the detailed insides and will enjoy it. Certainly check around before U purchase to get exactly what is important to U.
For my purposes, that would be ideal. I want some of the modular buildings, but I don't need the mini figs or finished interiors. If I knew I could save even more on an empty shell of a building, I would go for that option.
As others have said, it's not paint, the plastic is that color when its molded. No paint. But I suspect perhaps you are young, so good on you for making such a great video, and getting so many subscribers already. Keep it up!
The parts are good, price as well. But copying is way easier than come up with creativity. They didn't design a thing. One designer got ripped off by that. I often buy sets of different manufacturers, but never direct copies of existing sets.
Actually, the parts are made from a lower grade ABS. Technically, it is a higher percentage of "re-grind" than Lego allows. This results in the pieces being less rigid and typically more brittle. It can also throw the colors off slightly. You have been warned.
This really, im okay with other brick sets company But at least make something new, not just copy paste what LEGO did, like Cobi that are pretty excell in making real war vehicle with bricks, (i personally have 3 of their sets and love it, all of them are pretty devent and great for showcase and play, since they didnt use sticker, but have it printed on the brick) they try to do something that LEGO didn't and won't touch, not just using the same logo, the same box, and the same sets.
2:02 For an average LEGO collector, he would instantly recognize it as fake because the studs don't have the LEGO branding on them. Plus, there are actual holes on the studs which are visible from a mile away. These holes are left from cheap injection molding and you can see those in every fake "LEGO" piece.
Lego also has viewable injection spots from the moulds. Nowadays you cant see a difference except the Lego writing on the studs. Wait. You can. Lego uses cheap stickers. Others prints. 😂
I've ordered a P-51 from ali express, and all I can say, is that it has lego quality. If the studs had "Lego" written on them you couldn't tell the difference. Wow, I'm amazed. Great looking model design that beats lego models. It has a minor design flaws, but nothing too serious.
I bought lepin ferris wheel a few years ago and avoiding some specific bricks, like minifigs heads or technic pins, the quality of the rest is pretty good, almost like original Lego
You know, a complaint I see among many builders is the lack of numbered bags. I guess I'm just too old school. When I built with Lego there were no numbered bags. Part of the build was spilling them all out on a table or the floor and just searching for the pieces as you built. I've bought a number of these "fake lego" kits and have yet to be disappointed. I'm not paying 800 bucks for a 100 buck kit from scalpers trying to make a big payday
I'm also too old school for numbered bags, I totally do not get the need. You can even sort all the stuff yourself by color and / or size which can be part of the fun. One thing is different, the sets I had as a kid were not so large as the new Lion castle that I recently bought.. Most of my old sets would fit in 2 numbered bags instead of 20.. 😄
@@joostdriesens3984 I think the biggest set I had when I was a kid was the Black Seas Baracuda and Fort Eldorado. I did have like three of those big rubbermade bins of them though, and my bedroom was an impregnable fortress when I was playing with them, unless my folks put some shoes on
@@panzerwolf494 😂 I had Eldorado to! But all my sea battles were fought with little rowing boats and a raft. 😄 Eldorado seemed massive at the time, but it was 'only' 500 pieces. Still an awesome set.
@@joostdriesens3984 Ah the fun you could have as a kid. Was always a shame I had lots of pirates but not a lot of the soldiers. So had to make some militia at times. Now days if you look around you can buy as many soldiers as you like.
I have no problem with ripoffs as long as the set isnt a copy of an existing set like this one is, not only do I love those mamoth boxes you get with these sets, but I also love the feel of opening up a creator expert set, I do have a couple knockoffs like a coffee shop, and an ice cream parlor, that I feel fine about having as those arent rip offs of lego orginal sets.
I mean since this is an Australian channel i doubt he would get stuff from the EU anyways. I doubt LEGO ships to Australia from the EU when they can deliver from their chinese or mexican facilities.
@@DiabloDBS it’s still a danish company and thus falls under EU tax laws on global income. Doesn’t matter if products are manufactured in Mexico/China. Apart from that they’ll have similar price points globally.
I've bought a number of the mini-block sets from Ali Express. 95% have been great. Most common complaint I have is color mismatch between the manual and actual bricks. I was building "the wave" artwork. It is 5 or 6 diferent shades of blue. Finally gave up because the colors in the manual were so far off the brick colors.
In my experience these off brand sets usually suffer from some inconsistency when it comes to manufacturing tolerances. Sometimes it's much harder to push them into place, where other times they almost fall out by them selves. And mold errors are a lot more common. Even in your video I saw one or two faulty molds.
The first difference I notice is the studs don’t say lego. But on the other hand, Lego brand plastics quality has gone down over the years. I have white pieces from 1970’s that still look new. And i have white pieces a few weeks old that are discolored. So i may give this a try. Just not mix them with my real lego pieces.
Lego Brick quality has gotten so low, it is hard to distinguish original Lego from the cheap ones nowadays. Most likely, they are produced in the same Chinese factory anyway.
I have mine from the early 90s and the quality is indeed subpar nowadays. I was so disappointed when I bought a set for my godkid. So when I decided to buy a set from Ali for myself I was not as opinionated. The set was good and I liked the process. I'm not a collector, I just like the process and I cannot justify Lego's price nowadays. They have taken modelism to a new era but they have also decided to match the prices of that field as well. A pity really.
@@sanoiro There are a lot of alternatives today. For Mould King sets, e.g., you pay the same price as for Lego, but you get much more pieces in higher quality.
I live in China, and if you buy these sets here they do come in a glossy box with pictures on it - it's the Ali-Express seller who is removing it and re-packaging it to minimise the cost
cut back of the less important things.. like designing the set, advertising it, making sure that its health and foodsafety and doing the legislation in each country... oh and of course paying salaries and taxes outside of china.. I know that not everyone can buy the original lego sets (me neither..) but buying these are basically like buying your neighbor's or friend's stolen car..
The quality of Chinese sets got way higher than the ones from my childhood. I remember getting one in late 90s and they were all cheap plastic, wouldn't actually stay connected or on the contrary wouldn't fit. Bought two a week ago, small one with regular breaks and "Technics" type car with remote control from different Chinese brands. Both are high quality, good ABS plastic, molded precisely and parts connect well.
And that’s why I hate that this is allowed… LEGO designs unique sets and then there are these knockoff companies that just do not even have the decency to create something original themselves… LEPIN did not even try to create their own original logo… 🙄🙄🙄
I think,... sadly said that,... that it is great option for anyone who just want to build these and don't want to think about high price of discontinued set
I won't buy straight up knock offs like this- but I have many Cobi sets (things LEGO doesn't make) and I LOVE them. The quality is VERY good and I actually like the instructions BETTER than LEGO, and the prices are very reasonable.
Imo it's fine if you buy knockoffs of sets that lego hasn't and will never make, but when you buy a rip off a set that designers put their heart and soul into? It just feels like stealing.
if i want to own an expensive lego set to build it and there is an exact copy that just doesnt have the lego branding on each brick, im going to buy the copy cause i just want to build it and display it. i dont care its not from lego as long as the quality is there. maybe lego shouldnt be so damn expensive and proabably people would buy more quantities and in the end make more money. and the boxes dont need to be so damn big either. 400$ lamborghini Sian and they couldnt be bothered to make all the pieces the exact same green some are yellowish, am i really paying for quality from Lego?
The reason the boxes is missing and manual is different is to allow for the package to clear customs and not be confiscated as a replica of a trademark item. With that said, Ur comment is SPOT on. Unless I'm collecting it and never opening it... a replica is just fine. I also enjoy modifying it as it's a replica (motor/lights) and not have to worry if a piece gets lost, stolen, or eaten by the cat.
I bought a fake lego set for about 50$ when the official one is 200$. There was a few problems like 1 missing parts, a few parts were correct but the wrong color. So I had to spend a few extra bucks to buy the correct parts but other than that I think it's a great option for a cool build that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars
I personally really just want the set, official or fake. For example, I want the horizon express train, but that is long gone, so I would just get it from AliExpress, and not soend like CAS$600 on 1 lego horizon express set
The real reason these knock offs are so much cheaper is that Lego has done all the research and development for them to simply copy. Far easier and cheaper to copy the mould of a piece than design a mould yourself and to copy a carefully thought out build design than design one from scratch. Without Lego doing the research and development these companies couldn’t exist or would be just as expensive as Lego.
I believe for a collectors, prices are resonable, me being one of them, but buying knock-offs is a good way to save money when buying it for kids, if you cannot afford the real ones. Everyone should have an opportunity to build :(
I'm not surprised that the quality is good to grteat because you mentioned that LEGO had discontinued this set a while back. So, in the marketing cycle, it has peaked and dropped. You mentioned that the only people who are keen to get the LEGO set are collectors, not the general public. This leaves copy cat makers to duplicate it as closely as possible without much fear of lawsuits. Glad you are happy with your purchase.
What's wrong about this isn't the package or cheaper instruction paper, but the fact that it's a stolen design. If you buy lego set, you're not just buying a bunch of plastic, but also the designers who spent their time creating it. Yes, Lego may seem overpriced, maybe it is, but complimenting thieves for their low price seems so much worse...
Especially when these sets take 6 months - 2 years to make and take a entire team of people. You are not paying just for the set but their time to make it
Ive got a fake pyramid and fake notre dame over the past few years. Quality wise its not that far off the real lego and end product is virtually indistinguishable from the real models aside from the lack of branding - as far as noticeable to my eyes, and when compared to the display models at the flagship lego store in Leicester Square. Bought myself a fake Eiffel tower for Christmas.
I had completely different experience. The set I got didn't have the same bricks as the original. I compared the instructions, they are completely different. Every big brick from the original was replaced with several smaller ones, sometimes one long brick was 8 smaller ones in the knock-off. This is a really big deal, as it makes the whole structure way less stable. Furthermore, because of this they couldn't just copy instructions, they made their own. And they were so much less fun to build. There was no logic to the order of build, many times I had to count studs carefully, because it was just starting with random elements all over the base plates. And yeah, base plates, there were I think 5 smaller ones instead of one big and one small of the original, which again, made it harder to build. So, in the end the result was there, it looked fine, but was, I believe, much less stable, more prone to damage while handling. And it was easy harder to build. I think the original is 6+ or whatever is the next age group, no chance a child of that age would build the knock-off on their own.
It's not ethical to buy fake set that is still on the shelfs. But let's say 10 years old set if you are not collector and just want the set that you missed on when you were younger... Go for it. Nothing good will come from emptying your bank account on a discontinued set.
I got the corner garage. It is so expensive now and the replica is very nice quality wise. And the cars from Cobi fits perfectly beside the pump. I have no problem with the replica. I cannot pay 500-1000 bucks for a Lego set.
TLDR without even watching the video is, yes fake lego is always worth it if u cant afford the real thing but if u can, then always support legit products. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
They cheaped of because of plain ripping off lego. They do not have to spend any money in designing the set. I hate lepin for this. If they would release they’re own designs i would be ok with them. Now i hope they disappear as soon as possible.
Let me give you all some advice, most people who are not familiar with the industry of bootleg legos or its history order one set once, and think this is Chinese lego quality! Some have great experiences others terrible, and all are making a premature assessment! There are multiple levels of quality in offbrand lego: they are as follows, small name or nameless brands, Lepin and derivatives of the OG Lepin, and GoBricks. GoBricks are the same price as the other two but the quality is so close to lego it’s hard to tell the difference apart from the lack of a “lego” logo. Buy GoBricks, don’t buy any other brands! This way you guarantee quality every time. Go bricks Chinese legos will say Go bricks in the deceptions, or the companies Mould King & Super 18k are GoBricks, got it? Good
It's like he have been spending all his money on genuine Lego when he could've been saving for a fake downtown diner and a cruise with the leftover cash lol
I would like to point out that you think buying a knock off, comes down to the matter of ethics. If the quality is more or less, the same and the availability of the original is not within your budget. You stated right up front that they spent a lot of money on the bricks themselves and didn’t spend money on the opening experience. But they also didn’t spend money on with paying at designer and doing testing to get everything correct. They merely paid somebody to buy one set and then itemize and copy copyrighted material to create their own instructions so I think they did skimp on something important in their process.
Thanks for such a mature and honest review. My family in Asia never had access to the resources, wealth, and distribution that we do in the U.S, so I am happy to se a review like this reflecting that cheap, Chinese, do not inherently mean trash, bad, unreliable. Plagiarism of design aside, these products have served as a lifeline of childhoods that most of the world cannot afford.
Outside how Lepin is controversial, I consider FO - Funwhole as the real challenger of Lego in Medieval/Steampunk/Nature Fantasy sets in the City stuff. Look at the F9015 Medieval market, it's even better than the Lego's blacksmith house..
I`m not a die hard lego collector, i owned a bit when i was a kid and i own plenty more now for myself and my kid. The one thing that makes me not buy knock off lego is the janky connection, they are spaced ever so slightly off to make it warp, to small and it has a gap, a bit of twist here and there, slabs lifting up. Yes i know its fraction of cost than lego what do i expect, dont compare price. its like buying fake rolex looks the same dose the same but quality is light-year way. Conclusion, good for those who dont care, mainly parents who buy cheap lego for kids to loose and destroy, any one who appreciated Lego as child would never buy this for their kids.
i will never go as far as buying fake lego to save money. i have received multiple fake lego sets from various brands before but that doesn’t mean i want them. i also received a bag of generic knock off bricks that i think are of similar quality to the ones in this video that i do use to help build up my city but i try not to when it’s not necessary. eventually when i can afford to spend more money on extra lego parts for mocs, i will replace the knick off bricks and most likely donate them
Maybe a little late to the party here but the fact that the baseplate just wobbles about kind of defeats the argument of “no real difference in quality” a bit. Also I would mention that not only is it a knockoff, it is actually stealing of intellectual property. If someone were to buy a bunch of say Lepin and build their own city with it, fine, but not with these modulars.
Its easy to tell from the video that these are knock off bricks so suffice to say a collector could easily tell the difference. One thing you havent considered is how well they age. Cheaper bricks often have decent clutch power when new but wear far quicker. BTW, whether you agree with Lego's price point or not, they have spent quite a lot of money on R&D so any company that profits from that is not right in any way. In no way should that be endorsed, its flat out wrong.
I think for normal people it’s ok to buy knockoffs especially if the set is not produced anymore and the only way to get it is through greedy resellers
Watch the Full Review Here:
ruclips.net/video/J0QmdmCOhIA/видео.html
Enjoy :)
Where is link to seller
Yep for retired sets it's the only option and it's so much cheaper. Lego is so expensive that even as an adult only knock off makes sense in term of price specially if you want expensive sets like all the UCS Star Wars. Millennium Falcon at like 25-30% from the real.
"Fake Lego" is not real thing given the fact that Lego made its own name as a rip-off of Kiddiecraft bricks. Yup, Lego is not original and is a knock-off product, in and of itself. Kiddiecraft, which is the original building blocks and is now out of business, was the original, genuine plastic block toys. The so-called "rip-offs" nowadays are much more original in its MOC builds and much cheaper anyway.
I own some of the first ever attempts at knock off legos and its silly how bad the figures are compared to these.
Do though pay pal. Do not trust the sites and get all your money taken. This man make sense. I even bought fake nikes jorden. I can not tell the difference. Please pay thought pay pal or that site he said if not you will get robbed.
I appreciate this review being really honest and not snobby at all. Not everyone can access or afford the real deal but being careful about what fake products to buy is a good idea too.
But it is illegal.
@@MaurizioOiziruam who cares
@@MaurizioOiziruamillegal for the people creating them
Not in China no copy right protection laws...Lego kiss my butt for them rip off prices...it's just plastic man
@@brandi598 you should...
To me this seems like the ideal gift a parent of a low income household that cannot afford big lego sets could give to their child that wants lego.
If I got a fake as a kid i would be extatic. For 22$ i can buy a 42096 from china or a small shit authentic lego set. I could not be happier in getting a fake even as a adult
In China, it only takes 7 dollars@@fentanylek
Yup
All legos are Chinese made so cry about it nerd@@fentanylek
@@fentanylek it helped for me i had almost no income at the time and bought a few sets from china.
now since a few years have a job again and spend around 2000+ on lego.
lepin is the crack to cocaine (lego).
Bricks aren’t “painted” btw. It’s the colour of the plastic.
I’ve looked at a lot of these cheaper sets recently and considered trying them.
This diner is one set I’ve always wanted, but refuse to pay the crazy prices they fetch now!
I might get one of these to try it!
Yeah you gotta wonder how knowledgable this guy is when he thinks the plastic is painted. LOL
I have an older lepin-original copy of the Lego Diner. Quality was ok, but not for first time builders. You have to consider some bad stones with it, but if you play around with same stones and check which ones are more usable or change the 😂 building technique a bit, then you get a great looking model at the end.
I got an eBay $80 diner couple years ago, nobody can tell the difference, definitely harder to build as everything cam in 2 big bags
Yeah, I really liked this Diner set when it first came out, and still do to this day. I haven't bothered to try get hold of one due to the crazy pricing, but this right here might be how I can get it.
the fake chinese kits are indeed dyed/painted so be very weary.. honestly i think its a joke to buy fake rip off products but its your money, morals aside no ones stopping you.
I can’t drop 700 dollars on some Lego but I just want to make a Lego city so I like the off brand because there not so overpriced
Does it not bother you that Chinese criminals steal LEGO's intellectual property and you pay them for it making you a criminal too? Not to mention that the cost is so much lower because you're paying for forced labor. Very ethical!
@@Zunidrap no not really, if I can touch it and see it I own it, it’s Legos fault for overpricing there sets, if they were affordable I’d be happy to buy from them
@@mysty7148 Is everything else you own also stolen and fake?
What do you mean is their fault? They charge you for quality, R&D, their employee's labor, etc. When buying Chinese fakes you only pay for the costs of materials, everything else is stolen, including the hard work of ethnic minorities forced into labor camps. So convenient that you don't care.
@@Zunidrap I would be soooo glad if Lego used cheaper material, cause then I could buy there’s, but I can’t drop that much on a toy
@@mysty7148 It's not about the cost of materials. This channel has a video explaining why Lego is expensive. You should check it out.
I also can't afford many $100+ sets. But that doesn't justify stealing them or buying Chinese knockoffs which is basically the same thing.
LEGO has by no means a monopoly on good quality anymore. And 250 bucks for a house like that is already too much in my books anyway. In the last few years, I encountered several LEGO sets that I gave to kids of friends that had surprisingly bad quality bricks; like some Harry Potter books, or the Christmas Tree set. I am now also checking out all the alternative options all the time (Cobi, Cada, Bluebrixx etc.).
Thing is COBI is a legit company based in Poland which makes decent bricks, their sets aren't based of lego and are mainly their own designs of tanks and other military equipement
Bad quality bricks how? I've literally never had an issue with a single lego brick and I buy A LOT
@@ZachBobBob I buyed before 2 years some small Lego system sets and all bricks 1x1, or studless 2x2 instantly crack and 42007 has issues with chain sticking.
@@paolbackman651 That sucks dude
@@ZachBobBob have you ever paid attention to the color of the bricks in newer sets?
The color variation/deviation is just bad and extremely noticeable.
The biggest thing that sets off-brand to official for me is the baseplate. I have noticed that the lower quality baseplates curl up at the corners after some time. You definitely notice them more when moving around the Modular’s in my city. The official sets are flush to the bottom and the non-official sets wobble slightly. Definitely means a quality difference.
I work with children and we have a lot of Lego baseplates in our Lego-room. All the baseplates are completely flush, eventhough the children are handling them a bit rough sometimes. I noticed the brand new off-brand baseplate in this video already was curling up.
Yes, baseplates are often an overlooked item, and the wobbly ones really give a low-quality impression to whatever is built upon it.
I would suggest replacing the cheap crappy baseplate with one from a brand know for its good baseplate quality, like Wange or Lego. It's really worth it when displaying.
so just buy a real lego baseplate and use it on the alternative sets.
fuck lego for being so greedy and charging 100x what the market should be. ill take my money elsewhere, thats free market capitalism baby
One thing about the off-brand stuff is you can get baseplates that are actually plates.
⅔ brick thick, and have anti-studs on the underside.
Jang uses them as backing plates for his collectible minifigs which he has wall-mounted.
The reason the set is cheap is not that "they got rid of the less important stuff" like packaging, it's that they stole the design and didn't have to pay a designer team for 3 months to come up with it.
plus probably paid some kid $2 for a weeks work & have zero environmental concern for the manufacturing process.
I didn't think about that, tbh.
It is so much cheaper because Lego is insanely overpriced. There are plenty of Chinese Companies that do their own designs and offer high quality bricks for a fraction of Legos prices. Lego turned into a scam company, never buy Lego for the full price. Always wait for a heavy discount.
Guess where are all the Lego bricks are produced? Yeah, in China.
The Lego factory in China is relatively new. Most bricks are made in Denmark. Plus, both real and fake phones are made in China, but brand name ones actually work right. It's not that hard to make injection molded plastic peices, especially given the cheap molds they use. Sure they might seem fine, but you might get a set made on a mold with the "finest" worn out Chinesium that barely fits. If you look at the pictures of the big Lepin raid a few years ago, even ignoring the mess the factory looks like crap compared to Lego.
@@Felis877 Lego is absolutely by no means a scam company but I very rarely buy sets at full price anymore.
LEGO is pricing itself out of the market, new sets are becoming ever more expensive and older sets are impossible to collect on a "budget". I couldn't care less if an old set is a copy and if LEGO does, they should have done a reissue.
Exactly, and since this is an out of production kit, it's not really hurting lego. Because lego has already sold their production line, and if they wanted to make more $$ from this kit, they can just do a reissue. This is really just hurting all the greedy resellers that buy up kits for the sole purpose of selling at several times the retail price in a few years. Those people are not fans and only serve to price gouge people.
This is how I feel about it too, if Lego makes sets so expensive that people would rather get a knockoff brand without a second thought then that's a problem of their own making. I think as long as the knockoffs do keep small differences like the stud logo so you can tell it isn't official I don't mind it. Lego is a huge corporation that has always had overpriced products to some extent, they don't really deserve sympathy, and if this even has a small chance of making them step their game up then it's a W for collectors overall
Lego has been pushing the envelop in its pricing strategy, now they get customers choosing (knowingly) counterfeits than their original products.
For real. When we were young my parents were broke, but they managed to score a huge old Lego collection for very, very cheap from the newspaper (man I feel old). It was mismatched random pieces from many sets, some had instructions, some were missing bits, some pieces were broken, etc. But we loved it and still have it to this day. As we got older and my parents could afford it, we sometimes got new sets. But we had so much fun with the older ones that it didn't matter so much to have new stuff.
I was so, so surprised the first time I went in as a buyer with my own money as a teen, finding out how much even a tiny set costs, let alone the huge ones. And it's even more expensive now. I can't imagine spending hundreds on a single set no matter how good it is. When I have kids I'll probably go the second hand route like my parents did haha
I suggest if you're wanting Lego and plan to build it. Buy it used.
I purchased the first 5 building Modulars when I first got back into Lego as an adult as those has already been retired and it was a positive experience. All the pieces were there and it all fitted together great. I have them displayed along with original Lego sets together and you can not tell the difference looking at them. Of course I would have love Lego original sets but I could not afford the £2500+ price tag. Instead I paid less than £250 for all five.
Git a jorb, brokie!!
I've bought two off-brand sets -- this and the Cinema Palace.Both were very good. The only minor quibbles are a few pieces don't quite fit properly, the minifig heads are sometimes a bit too loose, and I was missing a couple of minor pieces in each set. But with a nice big bucket of spare parts, it wasn't a big deal as they were common tiles and not specialty pieces.
That's a helpful comment. I am willing to sacrifice a small reduction in quality for a huge reduction in cost. But for someone like myself who doesn't have any spare parts to draw from, a missing part good make a huge difference. Maybe enough to make the set useless. Thanks for sharing your experience.
@@GnrMilligan for what it's worth, real lego pieces are only a few cents a piece online. It would be a hassle to have to pay for another package after you've got the first, but the price would still be far under the after market for sets like these.
@@Creatively_BankruptYour video makes me rethink the balance of quality to cost. But the theft of IP cant be ignored! The research is where a lot of cost lay.
@@GnrMilligana lot of patents on lego bricks have expired, so the ip side is a lot grayer than you would think.
and thats why there is a explosion in off brand lego
@@affegpus4195 Hmmm, that's interesting cos the only thing that stops me trying these cheap knockoffs is the fact that it's Lego who paid to developed the product. I would have assumed they still owned the rights to the design.
I think the easiest way to spot the fake really is the fact that the normal studs on top of most pieces are missing the raised “LEGO” label/logo
That's not the point though. We all know it's not the real deal and how real Lego brick looks
@@skeppsica : Absolutely, but this person spent the whole video saying how you basically need to be a hardcore lego expert to tell them apart
@@noucheyeah that was kinda weird
Building bricks are injection moulded so for the most part there is no "paint", that is the color of the brick.
Also the patents on the brick shapes and colors have expired about 2-3 decades ago, the only thing that off-brand brick makers can't do is use the LEGO branding on the studs.
The minifig style is copyrighted though so third party sets will often come with goofy looking mini figures if there are any included.
thank you i try and tell ppl this all the time
Although the minifig copyright might fall at some point, as its justification is partially absurd.
The patents may have expired, but the knock-offs will never match Lego tolerances and quality control. I guess you have to figure out if 5-10 times the price is worth it.
@@kleverich The difference hasn't really been that big for a while. Even on aliexpress, a decent knockoff of a $100 Lego set costs 40-50 + shipping.
It's not bad, imo. If you're a collector and can afford to collect it, then obviously buy from Lego.
But if you just like the design, want to build, and can't afford the legit set, there's nothing bad about getting these "fake" ones.
Yes there is, because it is illegal and you are supporting stealing. If you don’t have the money, too bad for you just buy other sets and be happy with them.
I don’t have the money to drive a Jaguar and I don’t rationalize that it is ok stealing one just because I want it and it is too expensive for me, I buy the car that I cán affort.
@@NLGeebeedoing a whole lotta yappin just to be annoying
@@milkjug7 have you ever created something that you are proud of and that you sell? Let me see that so I can reverse engineer it and sell it for 20% of your price. Then let’s see who is yappin’ to be annoyin’.
a lego play set is 800.. dont see an issue w that at all@@NLGeebee
@@NLGeebee least annoying Lego simp
Dont use the word superior when you follow up the sentence by saying its not as good as lego. The definition of superior means better than everything else.
it's superior for the price, genius
Lego has just gone too far in their pricing, in the 2000s you could get a a big ass set for 100,- max. nowadays you'd get a small set with a car and a building for that price
Thank You Mr.Chadolf
its called an inflation
Only thing I feel gross about thoses is the copy.
Brick system, even really similar or compatible. No problem.
But copying a designer's set. Or even a community one like the lego idea, is awful. You can achieve the same effect with buying the part themselves and then picking the instruction online.
But advertising with someone else work is just bad.
I ordered the 21335 lighthouse for about 80€ on Ali. And what should I say, I am really impressed. Lego asks for 300€ and there is definitely not a 220€ Quality difference.
For about 30€ extra I ordered a lighting upgrade that No Lego set could compete with.
I only have minor complaints. Some transparent Bricks are scratched. The figures are not so well printed. And the White colour is slightly diffrent between the bricks.
If Chinese producers would decide to not stick to legos way and improve: Swap out the battery box for a recharabel one, fix the awful noisy motor, etc. They could even deliver a better set than lego for a fraction of the cost....
I would love to hear about Ur set!
I have one in transit from CN that hasn't arrived yet. Congratulations on the good score.
well, to be honest, some of those were from same factory....or which used to produce real one. and they still make lots of money out of it
Yeah the fraction of the price is there for a reason, someone getting payed 10 dollars per shift at the factory packaged that stuff
The seller on Ali Express didn't have to pay tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to design the set. That's a lot of the difference
@@outman6207no, lego owns all of their factories. They don't just get some other factory to make their stuff
What do you mean no dead giveaways on the baseplate? Aside from the obvious non Lego printing, there's those studs with the ring inside.
Also the fact that it's extremely bent. I am not a collector or anything, I only just used to play with it as a kid but I can instantly tell.
The problem is they don't only cut costs through material choices, but also by just stealing the design by choice. Which is a big part of the cost of a set. Meaning the person who actually designed the set is not getting the recognition they deserve.
Yeah I'd rather do that than pay hundreds for toys😂
@@nahimvasquez8909 so you'd rather steal a designer's hard work to help save on your paycheck, while cutting into the designer's paycheck while still being able to enjoy their product?
You have absolutely zero respect if this is how you think, keep that attitude up and all the toys you buy so cheaply will be extinct in 20 years because they'll be no-one left to design them since it doesn't provide a living wage anymore.
@@CoolBossFightsmaybe if lego didnt charge 200 for every thing these fake sites wouldn’t be so popular. Cost of living crisis going on and you are here defending a billion dollar company. Sad
There are hundreds of brands that do not copy LEGO but are compatible with LEGO. Just buy those if you feel bad. As far as quality goes the Chinese ones are fine. My kids love them. No way I'm paying 400USD for a LEGO that was manufactured for 40USD. Don't forget LEGO did not come up with the idea originally. The company is getting too greedy.
So you support criminals. Great 🤮
And you're chineeseey right? Explains everything.
excuse me but lego have a lot of designers, who are generating ideas for lego. Thise sets are legi's property.
Its nice to look at the price of raw plastic and say that this is price of the final product but that is not how it works.
Whatever you say, last I checked though, these sets weren't meant "for kids" anyways, the creator expert line was ALWAYS meant for late teenagers and adults, thats why they were priced as they were.
As with all things in life you get what you pay for and what was once $10 is no longer $10 today.
I grew up absolutely adoring Lego. Even in the early 2000's Legos have always been an expensive toy, and we generally could not afford the sets that I wanted. The fact that sets can be enjoyed by children for a fraction of the cost is a true blessing. I would have been elated to have access to these sets as a young boy. I hope Lego adjusts accordingly and decreases their prices over time.
As a pretty average Lego collector, I can immediately see the quality differences in the color, fit and brick/stud shape, just from this video. It looks just like a Mega Bloks set: muted colors, sloppy tolerances, mold flashing, ejection marks. Is it worth the cost savings? Maybe if you're not a Lego collector. If you just want a set to build, then go for it. This would completely stand out in your collection if it was adjacent to actual Lego models though.
lego doesn't have the color quality it once had also colored transparent things are mostly milky
I'm building a clone Spiderman Daily Bugle I bought from Temu for about $100 and free shipping, as opposed to $350 for the Lego. Thus far everything has been great as far as fit and finish with the exception of the tiles for the roof of the little newstand, which were not fitting tightly enough, but a little super glue fixed that easily. There have been no missing pieces. All minifigs are included and they look great too. It came in a replica box with the Lego brand logo removed and the MARVEL logo changed to HEROES. Other than those two changes the box is identical to the original. The parts came in two large bags with each bag containing the smaller numbered bags, which was easy enough to sort. The instructions came in a nice manual that appears to be an exact copy of the Lego instructions, but without the introductory pages Lego includes in some of their instruction manuals. Years ago the knock offs sucked, but nowadays many of these copycat companies have really dialed in on the quality, which makes sense of course if you want to continue to tap into the market. I have no desire to collect kits to sell later, so the fact that these clones are not actual Lego sets is of no concern to me as long as the quality of the replication is really good.
i remember building the back to the future delorean with over 1800 pieces, and there were no numbered bags. I finished it in two weeks
I can see that the bricks in this set fit quite off. But you are def right that its very good quality for the fraction of the cost
I built a not-Lego Guardian Stalker from Breath of the Wild. It's not copy of a set that Lego sells, but Nintendo would probably like a word about the use of their IP.
The quality was quite good, honestly. Way better than the "Lego compatible" sets that were around when I was a kid. Not quite as nice as actual Lego, but nearly.
It was a good enough set that I ordered a couple more. A large Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, and a mimic chest from D&D. We'll see how those go.
While we’re discussing the ethics of knock-offs, how about the ethics of scalpers that drive up secondary market prices to exorbitant values. Scalpers, flippers, etc. are a slimy lot. That’s where my true ire lies.
With regards to IP theft, in instances of retired sets, I don’t see it as an issue. LEGO sold everything they made and quit production, recouping everything they ever will on the set. Once it’s sold out, make all the knockoffs you want, just don’t try to brand it as true LEGO.
China ripping off an individual’s MOC without compensation is the lowest of low, but that’s a separate topic.
Note that I do not own any non-LEGO bricks. I’m just passionate that the ethics of knockoffs be discussed in tandem with the ethics if dirt-faced low-life scalpers.
One thing I actually really like about knock offs like that is that you can buy bricks on every color, not just whatever color options lego officially released for a specific part. If you like to use some of the rarer colors in your MOCs you've definetly run into not having enough parts in a specific color to build a design, so if you're cool with using off brand bricks then that is a very valid option to go for (especially if you like modified bricks like brackets, helps out a lot lol).
2:04 - you would instantly tell it was fake (the baseplate), as all LEGO official elements have the logo printed on it.
This one is blank. I think a generic Lego collector would be able to identify the signs instantly.
And that it's warped
I identified that Instantly, and I'm not a Lego collector. :p
I'm a die-hard Lego fan so, unfortunately for me, it means I buy less often.
Also, I buy more LEGO per kg, use pick-a-brick and look for discounts.
I have to understand that major part of the price is development testing and Marketing. If you look at the other brands products, you can see that if they copy, it’s great if they create something original not so good. So the ip theft is real. If anything, the knock offs are expensive as they only manufacture the bricks.
Blue collar won't understand that.
Hi , thanks for the review , LEGO for me is super expensive. after doing some research , and yes LEPIN is one of best CN brand, but because of copyright issues. now almost many CN lego brand does not have brand on their box. sometime the package just come with bricks without box , so it hardly to idendify the brand and quality before buying. I think need to ask seller before buying it :D
So one thing I’ve noticed. I now have all the Modulars that are currently retired. I have 2 of the diners for a great moc but the diner is the ONLY one that is not a perfect replica. The diner uses other coloured parts, the figures are worse quality and overall just a bad copy.
However like I said, the rest of the knock off Modulars are perfect copies except some slightly off face printing (which doesn’t matter since they’re just smiley faces)
I appreciate Ur feedback.
I also received that bad replica, but I searched and found the good replica, apparently they have marks but they have removed the name due to possible problems, the good one in the manual prints CREATOR on the upper left side. It has all the details like the gloves, smooth tires, weight rack
I'm pretty sure any lego collector could tell you that baseplate is fake haha
Good discussion. I've purchased several "fake" modular buildings of retired sets and my experience was as you've described. For example, I have an original Brick Bank, and a knock-off. Other than the LEGO stamp on each stud, I cannot tell the difference. It does take some getting used to the packaging but, as you say, that's not really important.
Baseplate quality isn't an issue for me since I put them all on MILS plates.
As far as ethics: I buy from LEGO if the set is still available. If it's retired, I've bought knock-offs. LEGO isn't hurt, only the private "investors" who bought pallets of the sets are. The real issue is rip-offs of Rebrickable MOCs. In those cases I always buy the instructions from the original MOC designer even if I buy the set.
Just dropped by to thank you. Saved me tons of money over the years. For "defect" part I just ordered them from net XD. Keep them in glass displays with some led light. Nobody know the difference haha. Win win.
I understand producing original MOCs, but isn't publishing exactly same buildings using 3rd-party bricks considered as piracy and rights violation? I mean - this does not sound fully fair in regards to Lego.
It 100% is, but since its a crappy chinese company, theres nothing lego can do realistically
@@Devlinsky Fair enough :D
In the Lego vs Lepin lawsuit, Lepin lost because they used Lego’s artwork, not because they were selling Lego compatible bricks.
My brother is a Lego purist, I on the other hand stopped buy lego and get everything from Ali. Not only they have all the current and some retired sets but a bunch on mocks and such. not to mention the quality for the price is not bad at all.
The only people who would actually benefit from a knock off are the ones who just enjoy building and playing with it, not the collectors.
"For an average Lego collector you would not be able to tell that this base plate is fake." No lego printing anywhere on it, haha.
Yeah that’s true , but I as a Lego owner , I want the cheap stuff as well, I have lots of fake Lego Star Wars mini figs and a few sets that that I have made myself like a mandalorian set and a Death Star set all with fake Lego and fake minis , Lego sometimes can be very overpriced and I don’t mind the fakes at all
If the only reason you can tell something is a certain brand is because their logo is printed all over it, that says a lot about the brand.
@@jimwar211 well it’s more than that, but it’s the first most obvious thing. Non-Lego plastic has a different feel/texture and weight. Also different strength and generally a different color. Nothing is as accurate as Lego moulds, either. You’ll find warping and pieces that don’t quite match, often. Some are just a tad too snug, others too loose to stay on. Mould lines/divots are often different and you can tell what type of machine made it. Notice the studs on the baseplate, see the concave ones with the plastic nodules? That’s where they injected the mould from. They differs from Lego’s baseplates.
@@valley_robot 90% of my Lego Star Wars collection is MOC from people like mould king, lol. 375$ set is 135$ there. Only things that are real Lego are the minifigs and their accessories. Got a large Imperial Interdictor with interior and full crew, right down to imperial droid and bounty Hunter speaking to an officer.
For off brand, if they still exist, avoid light take. Worst plastic ever. Everything was weak and bent and nothing lined up properly especially anything involving axels.
I'm a die hard lego fan and every brick I own is genuine lego but lego has been steadily raising their prices over the years, pretty much putting a pay wall on the hobby. The thought of mixing fake lego into my collection makes my stomach hurt however for the reason mentioned before I am seriously considering buying knock of lego just to keep my hobby going.
Just do it, the Lego grind never stops
Lego should not be that expensive, it cant cost more than a tv or a laptop.If you are an adult collector ,you are not gonna play with that,you just want as a display
@@edutemoche5369 i play with my legos as an adult collector
Cheap brick building tips.
Buy of brick link, used or new, 1 year old sets. If you are willing to resell some keep the box and sell them when desired to buy new ones.
If you want to make giant constructions, like cities and stuff. Consider buying in bulk. Weather lego or offbrand. Many are compatible so you can buy the offbrand for fondations or large bland pieces. And buy lego for particular pieces or colors, or to make a sturdier skeletons with less pieces, but just enough to support the larger fundatoo made of offbrand.
I have always bought the knock offs and I have never really had any serious problems. They are a lot cheaper and just about the same quality. The package and manual are not the same but the quality of the bricks are about the same. Some of us are on a limited budget and can't afford to spend over a certain amount for Lego toys.
Do you know which brands are Lego cross-compatible?
Supporting criminal activity just because you’re short of cash,is not a valid excuse.
I don’t mind if the pieces are separated into smaller bags. I often open them all into a pile anyway. It’s part of the fun, never sort. Just start building.
I’ve noticed that different types of copies, example: lego titanic is huge and highly detailed, one clone is a direct copy and another is just the outer shell. Price has a lot to do with it
There are certainly different levels of knockoffs. Some people only care about the putter section, while others want the detailed insides and will enjoy it.
Certainly check around before U purchase to get exactly what is important to U.
For my purposes, that would be ideal. I want some of the modular buildings, but I don't need the mini figs or finished interiors.
If I knew I could save even more on an empty shell of a building, I would go for that option.
2:42 this wouldn't effect me all that much because I just open all the bags and dump them in a heep like a toddler anyway!😂
As others have said, it's not paint, the plastic is that color when its molded. No paint. But I suspect perhaps you are young, so good on you for making such a great video, and getting so many subscribers already. Keep it up!
The parts are good, price as well. But copying is way easier than come up with creativity. They didn't design a thing. One designer got ripped off by that. I often buy sets of different manufacturers, but never direct copies of existing sets.
Actually, the parts are made from a lower grade ABS. Technically, it is a higher percentage of "re-grind" than Lego allows. This results in the pieces being less rigid and typically more brittle. It can also throw the colors off slightly.
You have been warned.
@@AaronAlso Lego itself recently definitely has color consistency problems too
This really, im okay with other brick sets company
But at least make something new, not just copy paste what LEGO did, like Cobi that are pretty excell in making real war vehicle with bricks, (i personally have 3 of their sets and love it, all of them are pretty devent and great for showcase and play, since they didnt use sticker, but have it printed on the brick) they try to do something that LEGO didn't and won't touch, not just using the same logo, the same box, and the same sets.
2:02 For an average LEGO collector, he would instantly recognize it as fake because the studs don't have the LEGO branding on them. Plus, there are actual holes on the studs which are visible from a mile away. These holes are left from cheap injection molding and you can see those in every fake "LEGO" piece.
Thank you my sir i came here for this comment !
Lego also has viewable injection spots from the moulds. Nowadays you cant see a difference except the Lego writing on the studs. Wait. You can. Lego uses cheap stickers. Others prints. 😂
I've ordered a P-51 from ali express, and all I can say, is that it has lego quality. If the studs had "Lego" written on them you couldn't tell the difference. Wow, I'm amazed. Great looking model design that beats lego models. It has a minor design flaws, but nothing too serious.
And you can get it for 18 euros free shipping. If this was real lego, it would cost 99.99.
Yep, im not spending 200 dollars on 42130 set, then i go to tiktok shop and it cost only 15 bucks 💀
I bought lepin ferris wheel a few years ago and avoiding some specific bricks, like minifigs heads or technic pins, the quality of the rest is pretty good, almost like original Lego
You know, a complaint I see among many builders is the lack of numbered bags. I guess I'm just too old school. When I built with Lego there were no numbered bags. Part of the build was spilling them all out on a table or the floor and just searching for the pieces as you built.
I've bought a number of these "fake lego" kits and have yet to be disappointed. I'm not paying 800 bucks for a 100 buck kit from scalpers trying to make a big payday
I'm also too old school for numbered bags, I totally do not get the need. You can even sort all the stuff yourself by color and / or size which can be part of the fun.
One thing is different, the sets I had as a kid were not so large as the new Lion castle that I recently bought.. Most of my old sets would fit in 2 numbered bags instead of 20.. 😄
@@joostdriesens3984 I think the biggest set I had when I was a kid was the Black Seas Baracuda and Fort Eldorado. I did have like three of those big rubbermade bins of them though, and my bedroom was an impregnable fortress when I was playing with them, unless my folks put some shoes on
@@panzerwolf494 😂 I had Eldorado to! But all my sea battles were fought with little rowing boats and a raft. 😄
Eldorado seemed massive at the time, but it was 'only' 500 pieces. Still an awesome set.
@@joostdriesens3984 Ah the fun you could have as a kid. Was always a shame I had lots of pirates but not a lot of the soldiers. So had to make some militia at times. Now days if you look around you can buy as many soldiers as you like.
Ngl I never read the numbers on the bags... I just pour them all out in their own piles, throw the bags away and get to work..
I have no problem with ripoffs as long as the set isnt a copy of an existing set like this one is, not only do I love those mamoth boxes you get with these sets, but I also love the feel of opening up a creator expert set, I do have a couple knockoffs like a coffee shop, and an ice cream parlor, that I feel fine about having as those arent rip offs of lego orginal sets.
Nice. I want the 89 Batmobile but I’m not paying 500 dollars for what was a 200 dollar set.
I bought 42130 M1000rr for 15 bucks💀
That I'll agree with, the prices on retired sets are absolutely crazy sometimes.
The paint? It's the plastic that is colored. Not a layer of paint.
They also save on marketing and paying EU salaries…
I mean since this is an Australian channel i doubt he would get stuff from the EU anyways.
I doubt LEGO ships to Australia from the EU when they can deliver from their chinese or mexican facilities.
@@DiabloDBS it’s still a danish company and thus falls under EU tax laws on global income. Doesn’t matter if products are manufactured in Mexico/China. Apart from that they’ll have similar price points globally.
I've bought a number of the mini-block sets from Ali Express. 95% have been great. Most common complaint I have is color mismatch between the manual and actual bricks. I was building "the wave" artwork. It is 5 or 6 diferent shades of blue. Finally gave up because the colors in the manual were so far off the brick colors.
In my experience these off brand sets usually suffer from some inconsistency when it comes to manufacturing tolerances. Sometimes it's much harder to push them into place, where other times they almost fall out by them selves. And mold errors are a lot more common. Even in your video I saw one or two faulty molds.
The first difference I notice is the studs don’t say lego. But on the other hand, Lego brand plastics quality has gone down over the years. I have white pieces from 1970’s that still look new. And i have white pieces a few weeks old that are discolored. So i may give this a try. Just not mix them with my real lego pieces.
that's why i'm thankful for these companies that keep these sets alive lol
Getting a real lego set for me is like a luxury item lol.
Lego Brick quality has gotten so low, it is hard to distinguish original Lego from the cheap ones nowadays. Most likely, they are produced in the same Chinese factory anyway.
What a load of crap
LEGO isn't produced in China....
I have mine from the early 90s and the quality is indeed subpar nowadays. I was so disappointed when I bought a set for my godkid. So when I decided to buy a set from Ali for myself I was not as opinionated. The set was good and I liked the process. I'm not a collector, I just like the process and I cannot justify Lego's price nowadays. They have taken modelism to a new era but they have also decided to match the prices of that field as well. A pity really.
@@joandavis9055 They are. You can read that on the official Lego Website.
@@sanoiro There are a lot of alternatives today. For Mould King sets, e.g., you pay the same price as for Lego, but you get much more pieces in higher quality.
I live in China, and if you buy these sets here they do come in a glossy box with pictures on it - it's the Ali-Express seller who is removing it and re-packaging it to minimise the cost
cut back of the less important things.. like designing the set, advertising it, making sure that its health and foodsafety and doing the legislation in each country... oh and of course paying salaries and taxes outside of china.. I know that not everyone can buy the original lego sets (me neither..) but buying these are basically like buying your neighbor's or friend's stolen car..
Who cares. LEGO has so much money, they are not getting poorer out of it
The quality of Chinese sets got way higher than the ones from my childhood. I remember getting one in late 90s and they were all cheap plastic, wouldn't actually stay connected or on the contrary wouldn't fit. Bought two a week ago, small one with regular breaks and "Technics" type car with remote control from different Chinese brands. Both are high quality, good ABS plastic, molded precisely and parts connect well.
Another thing that greatly reduces the price of a knock off… they don’t have to take on the costs of designing the sets like the originals do.
And that’s why I hate that this is allowed… LEGO designs unique sets and then there are these knockoff companies that just do not even have the decency to create something original themselves…
LEPIN did not even try to create their own original logo… 🙄🙄🙄
I think,... sadly said that,... that it is great option for anyone who just want to build these and don't want to think about high price of discontinued set
I find the quality of cheap sets are lower quality than, but much less expensive than Lego.
The quality to value is higher than Lego kits.
I won't buy straight up knock offs like this- but I have many Cobi sets (things LEGO doesn't make) and I LOVE them. The quality is VERY good and I actually like the instructions BETTER than LEGO, and the prices are very reasonable.
Imo it's fine if you buy knockoffs of sets that lego hasn't and will never make, but when you buy a rip off a set that designers put their heart and soul into? It just feels like stealing.
if i want to own an expensive lego set to build it and there is an exact copy that just doesnt have the lego branding on each brick, im going to buy the copy cause i just want to build it and display it. i dont care its not from lego as long as the quality is there. maybe lego shouldnt be so damn expensive and proabably people would buy more quantities and in the end make more money. and the boxes dont need to be so damn big either. 400$ lamborghini Sian and they couldnt be bothered to make all the pieces the exact same green some are yellowish, am i really paying for quality from Lego?
dude fake legos have lead in them
The reason the boxes is missing and manual is different is to allow for the package to clear customs and not be confiscated as a replica of a trademark item.
With that said, Ur comment is SPOT on. Unless I'm collecting it and never opening it... a replica is just fine. I also enjoy modifying it as it's a replica (motor/lights) and not have to worry if a piece gets lost, stolen, or eaten by the cat.
I bought a fake lego set for about 50$ when the official one is 200$. There was a few problems like 1 missing parts, a few parts were correct but the wrong color. So I had to spend a few extra bucks to buy the correct parts but other than that I think it's a great option for a cool build that doesn't cost hundreds of dollars
aliexpress is an awful place to buy from. yes they have a dispute function, but will always take the sellers side, so its practically not there.
I bought a LELE "Star Wart" Millenium Falcon off the street in Hong Kong and it's a dead ringer for the real deal.
I personally really just want the set, official or fake. For example, I want the horizon express train, but that is long gone, so I would just get it from AliExpress, and not soend like CAS$600 on 1 lego horizon express set
The real reason these knock offs are so much cheaper is that Lego has done all the research and development for them to simply copy. Far easier and cheaper to copy the mould of a piece than design a mould yourself and to copy a carefully thought out build design than design one from scratch. Without Lego doing the research and development these companies couldn’t exist or would be just as expensive as Lego.
I believe for a collectors, prices are resonable, me being one of them, but buying knock-offs is a good way to save money when buying it for kids, if you cannot afford the real ones. Everyone should have an opportunity to build :(
I'm not surprised that the quality is good to grteat because you mentioned that LEGO had discontinued this set a while back. So, in the marketing cycle, it has peaked and dropped. You mentioned that the only people who are keen to get the LEGO set are collectors, not the general public. This leaves copy cat makers to duplicate it as closely as possible without much fear of lawsuits. Glad you are happy with your purchase.
What's wrong about this isn't the package or cheaper instruction paper, but the fact that it's a stolen design. If you buy lego set, you're not just buying a bunch of plastic, but also the designers who spent their time creating it. Yes, Lego may seem overpriced, maybe it is, but complimenting thieves for their low price seems so much worse...
Especially when these sets take 6 months - 2 years to make and take a entire team of people. You are not paying just for the set but their time to make it
Thanks for the video, glad to see there’s alternative options for Lego like sets without the steep price.
Ive got a fake pyramid and fake notre dame over the past few years. Quality wise its not that far off the real lego and end product is virtually indistinguishable from the real models aside from the lack of branding - as far as noticeable to my eyes, and when compared to the display models at the flagship lego store in Leicester Square.
Bought myself a fake Eiffel tower for Christmas.
I had completely different experience. The set I got didn't have the same bricks as the original. I compared the instructions, they are completely different. Every big brick from the original was replaced with several smaller ones, sometimes one long brick was 8 smaller ones in the knock-off. This is a really big deal, as it makes the whole structure way less stable. Furthermore, because of this they couldn't just copy instructions, they made their own. And they were so much less fun to build. There was no logic to the order of build, many times I had to count studs carefully, because it was just starting with random elements all over the base plates. And yeah, base plates, there were I think 5 smaller ones instead of one big and one small of the original, which again, made it harder to build. So, in the end the result was there, it looked fine, but was, I believe, much less stable, more prone to damage while handling. And it was easy harder to build. I think the original is 6+ or whatever is the next age group, no chance a child of that age would build the knock-off on their own.
It's not ethical to buy fake set that is still on the shelfs. But let's say 10 years old set if you are not collector and just want the set that you missed on when you were younger... Go for it. Nothing good will come from emptying your bank account on a discontinued set.
I got the corner garage. It is so expensive now and the replica is very nice quality wise. And the cars from Cobi fits perfectly beside the pump.
I have no problem with the replica. I cannot pay 500-1000 bucks for a Lego set.
"it isnt far off either" *shows a picture of a person walking on a far stretch road*
TLDR without even watching the video is, yes fake lego is always worth it if u cant afford the real thing but if u can, then always support legit products. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk
They cheaped of because of plain ripping off lego. They do not have to spend any money in designing the set. I hate lepin for this. If they would release they’re own designs i would be ok with them. Now i hope they disappear as soon as possible.
Let me give you all some advice, most people who are not familiar with the industry of bootleg legos or its history order one set once, and think this is Chinese lego quality! Some have great experiences others terrible, and all are making a premature assessment! There are multiple levels of quality in offbrand lego: they are as follows, small name or nameless brands, Lepin and derivatives of the OG Lepin, and GoBricks. GoBricks are the same price as the other two but the quality is so close to lego it’s hard to tell the difference apart from the lack of a “lego” logo. Buy GoBricks, don’t buy any other brands! This way you guarantee quality every time. Go bricks Chinese legos will say Go bricks in the deceptions, or the companies Mould King & Super 18k are GoBricks, got it? Good
It's like he have been spending all his money on genuine Lego when he could've been saving for a fake downtown diner and a cruise with the leftover cash lol
I would like to point out that you think buying a knock off, comes down to the matter of ethics. If the quality is more or less, the same and the availability of the original is not within your budget. You stated right up front that they spent a lot of money on the bricks themselves and didn’t spend money on the opening experience. But they also didn’t spend money on with paying at designer and doing testing to get everything correct. They merely paid somebody to buy one set and then itemize and copy copyrighted material to create their own instructions so I think they did skimp on something important in their process.
"There is no real dead giveaways" then shows a baseplate with injection moulding marks with holes almost as big as the stud itself.
Thanks for such a mature and honest review. My family in Asia never had access to the resources, wealth, and distribution that we do in the U.S, so I am happy to se a review like this reflecting that cheap, Chinese, do not inherently mean trash, bad, unreliable. Plagiarism of design aside, these products have served as a lifeline of childhoods that most of the world cannot afford.
Outside how Lepin is controversial, I consider FO - Funwhole as the real challenger of Lego in Medieval/Steampunk/Nature Fantasy sets in the City stuff. Look at the F9015 Medieval market, it's even better than the Lego's blacksmith house..
I agree. I got the Lighthouse of Alexandria from them, and it's amazing! I love that they integrate the lights into the building process.
I`m not a die hard lego collector, i owned a bit when i was a kid and i own plenty more now for myself and my kid.
The one thing that makes me not buy knock off lego is the janky connection, they are spaced ever so slightly off to make it warp, to small and it has a gap, a bit of twist here and there, slabs lifting up.
Yes i know its fraction of cost than lego what do i expect, dont compare price. its like buying fake rolex looks the same dose the same but quality is light-year way.
Conclusion, good for those who dont care, mainly parents who buy cheap lego for kids to loose and destroy, any one who appreciated Lego as child would never buy this for their kids.
i will never go as far as buying fake lego to save money. i have received multiple fake lego sets from various brands before but that doesn’t mean i want them. i also received a bag of generic knock off bricks that i think are of similar quality to the ones in this video that i do use to help build up my city but i try not to when it’s not necessary. eventually when i can afford to spend more money on extra lego parts for mocs, i will replace the knick off bricks and most likely donate them
Maybe a little late to the party here but the fact that the baseplate just wobbles about kind of defeats the argument of “no real difference in quality” a bit. Also I would mention that not only is it a knockoff, it is actually stealing of intellectual property. If someone were to buy a bunch of say Lepin and build their own city with it, fine, but not with these modulars.
Its easy to tell from the video that these are knock off bricks so suffice to say a collector could easily tell the difference. One thing you havent considered is how well they age. Cheaper bricks often have decent clutch power when new but wear far quicker. BTW, whether you agree with Lego's price point or not, they have spent quite a lot of money on R&D so any company that profits from that is not right in any way. In no way should that be endorsed, its flat out wrong.
Its definetly ethical to buy clones, when LEGO is selling plastic for 300$+
I think for normal people it’s ok to buy knockoffs especially if the set is not produced anymore and the only way to get it is through greedy resellers
Lepin is probably a chinese factory that also produces for Lego.