After spending a ridiculous amount of money on true lego brand sets (Including all of they're very expensive UCS sets, and even an $800 simpson house!) I tried a mould king set. I have since assembled about 25 of their sets. Probably wont buy another true Lego set again. While the pieces are almost perfect copies (minus the lego emblem stamped on the top of studs) they don't always fit just right.
Now, that being said, the value and challenge of MKs models vs the super high cost and easy assembly of Lego, kind of a no brainer!
(On a funny note, I call em "Chaddys non-Lego legos (R)") lol
Lepin got cracked down so hard by the Chinese government, because it happened at the time Lego was building factories in China (for the entire Asian market, where Lego is growing the most these days) and was entering the Chinese market as well. So the Chinese government wanted to appease the Lego company who furious over Lepin, and could have withdrawn its new factory plans if the government hadn't done anything.
I've tried a couple of knock-off brands, and my main issue with them, even the ones who don't steal designs (although you can never be 100% sure) is that the quality of plastic itself is just not that great.
Regarding brick quality - it has supposedly been getting better and better. I bought a (hopefully) wholly original design from Mould King and intend to put that to the test for myself when I get a chance!
One of my favorite "off-brand" LEGO makers is Enlighten. They do original sets, and some of their original fantasy/castle/medieval ones are a lot of fun to put together and display. And they're crazy cheap, too. I've been able to snag sets with a few hundred pieces each off Mercari for, say, $7 each. It's nuts.
The biggest issue with them is that the bricks aren't quite up to where we'd want them to be, even for a secondary company. But that comes as a company refines their processes and learns.
I really enjoyed this newsletter! I had no idea Lepin sets existed. I actually almost bought the Jurassic park gate set off aliexpress without realizing it was counterfeit - the pictures made it look perfect. I like the winter village sets and I think I’m going to get some of the alt brick MOC in that series. So many cool ones.
Never knew about these, though it's not surprising at all. I did find it surprising though that Lepin got shut down considering how common this kind of thing is there. Guess they just got too big.
Rejected Idea sets seem like the "least bad" when it comes to stolen content though. The idea submissions don't get financial compensation if the idea does get picked and I would imagine that many of the creators would be happy to be able to see their creation come to life in the end.
Yes. Each "flavor" of clone is definitely serving a market. Retired sets, unlicensed sets (I would looove some One Piece Lego sets), rejected Lego ideas, etc.
The only one that isn't iffy is when they make + sell an original design, though.
Oh, I would love One Piece lego sets too! I imagine a Going Merry would probably be easy enough to do...
Yeah, definitely no question on the original designs. That the cafe seems to fit in with the modular sets and has lighting is definitely a step up. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out :)
After spending a ridiculous amount of money on true lego brand sets (Including all of they're very expensive UCS sets, and even an $800 simpson house!) I tried a mould king set. I have since assembled about 25 of their sets. Probably wont buy another true Lego set again. While the pieces are almost perfect copies (minus the lego emblem stamped on the top of studs) they don't always fit just right.
Now, that being said, the value and challenge of MKs models vs the super high cost and easy assembly of Lego, kind of a no brainer!
(On a funny note, I call em "Chaddys non-Lego legos (R)") lol
Interesting article.
A fascinating story, thanks.
Lepin got cracked down so hard by the Chinese government, because it happened at the time Lego was building factories in China (for the entire Asian market, where Lego is growing the most these days) and was entering the Chinese market as well. So the Chinese government wanted to appease the Lego company who furious over Lepin, and could have withdrawn its new factory plans if the government hadn't done anything.
I've tried a couple of knock-off brands, and my main issue with them, even the ones who don't steal designs (although you can never be 100% sure) is that the quality of plastic itself is just not that great.
Regarding brick quality - it has supposedly been getting better and better. I bought a (hopefully) wholly original design from Mould King and intend to put that to the test for myself when I get a chance!
One of my favorite "off-brand" LEGO makers is Enlighten. They do original sets, and some of their original fantasy/castle/medieval ones are a lot of fun to put together and display. And they're crazy cheap, too. I've been able to snag sets with a few hundred pieces each off Mercari for, say, $7 each. It's nuts.
The biggest issue with them is that the bricks aren't quite up to where we'd want them to be, even for a secondary company. But that comes as a company refines their processes and learns.
I hadn't come across them in my research - thanks for the heads up!
Sure thing! They're one of the few Not LEGO :tm: brands that I watch for and see what cool stuff they release.
I really enjoyed this newsletter! I had no idea Lepin sets existed. I actually almost bought the Jurassic park gate set off aliexpress without realizing it was counterfeit - the pictures made it look perfect. I like the winter village sets and I think I’m going to get some of the alt brick MOC in that series. So many cool ones.
Never knew about these, though it's not surprising at all. I did find it surprising though that Lepin got shut down considering how common this kind of thing is there. Guess they just got too big.
Rejected Idea sets seem like the "least bad" when it comes to stolen content though. The idea submissions don't get financial compensation if the idea does get picked and I would imagine that many of the creators would be happy to be able to see their creation come to life in the end.
Yes. Each "flavor" of clone is definitely serving a market. Retired sets, unlicensed sets (I would looove some One Piece Lego sets), rejected Lego ideas, etc.
The only one that isn't iffy is when they make + sell an original design, though.
Oh, I would love One Piece lego sets too! I imagine a Going Merry would probably be easy enough to do...
Yeah, definitely no question on the original designs. That the cafe seems to fit in with the modular sets and has lighting is definitely a step up. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out :)