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Comments
Lele and Bela has been at it for years, and there is no sign of any original design from them.
It is telling that TLG went after Lepin instead of Bela, who is the bigger offender in terms of sets. :-D
As for Lego Ideas, Hsanhe has been copying (or at least highly inspired by) the Mini-Shop series. But this reveals an opportunity as well. Currently, a MOC enthusiast has no way to commercialize his work. If there is a brick supplier, he can actually create his own sets and sell them! This is what Hsanhe appears to be doing -- they seem to be a very small outfit. There is no way they can afford to have the brick molds for the few sets they put out.
There is a Sembo Block mini-building series too:
Is this original, from Lego Ideas or someone's MOC?
I myself don't mind whether Lego stole the original design or not, I was just replying to @danstraindepot as he obviously thought Lego to be on impeccable moral high ground, which they are not.
Oh and about our own history. Don't worry, we don't need the world to remind or condemn us for what we did in WWII, our own educational systems guarantees that every new generation will forever feel guilty for what our ancestors did, even though we and our kids have no connection to those deeds whatsoever. But that is something for a discussion in a different place.
It sort-of sweeps the big four copycats under the carpet: Bela, Decool, Lele and Lepin. These are the direct threats to TLG. Their design is as good as Lego (duh), their quality acceptable to good, and the price cheap.
It also has extremely biased sampling. It showcases the bad sets, but not the good ones. This leads the ignorant (like I once was) to think that Lego is far and away superior to the others.
Here are two examples.
Sluban F1 car:
The article claims that Sluban copies Oxford. It may be true in the past, but I find that the two lines don't overlap. (Correct me if I'm wrong.) Sluban has the same Oxford minifig design, that's it.
Enlighten Sunshine Hotel:
Used to be a copycat in the past (based on Internet hearsay), but now has its own line. The design aren't too bad, although still simple compared to Lego's.
The bricks have 'ENLI' on the studs.
So, don't be caught unaware by the ever-rising quality, not just in bricks, but in design.
What is it with the cracking argument? I have had Lego for almost forty years now, heavily played with in my youth and used and reused in MOCs in recent years. I have never EVER had a cracked piece. What on earth do you do to Lego pieces to get them to crack? Or do we in Germany somehow get premium Lego pieces that just don't crack? Perhaps that is why we pay more for Lego than the US ;-)
@dougts: thank you for the interesting pics of the MF pieces. I have the Lepin Town Hall and it also uses those "ribbed" 1x2s, albeit in a different colour, dark bluish grey. I didn't notice the effect your bricks showed. Will check again if mine have the same effect that I might have overlooked.
Clutch on the clip/bar piece was better than LEGO (basically same clutch as normal instead of the weak clutch that that LEGO piece always has
seated minifigs also had "normal" clutch as opposed to the weak clutch that LEGO minifigs have. There may be good reason that LEGO minifigs have weak clutch when sitting, and I am only drawing the comparison
I couldn't find the misalignment issue with my bricks:
And in case anyone is interested, here is a comparison pic of the Lego Brick Separator versus the (very different this time) Lepin version (which actually works better separating tiles than the Lego original funnily enough):
The Town Hall I already built on an original tan Lego baseplate. The Lepin baseplates are just too thick for my liking, although they make good minifig holder plates similar to the ones from Strictly Briks that Jang used for his display.
Lepin:
Lego:
Honestly, I can't see a difference. Apart from the fact I turned the two "askew" bricks the wrong way round on the Lego version, but that shouldn't make a difference, should it?
:-)
http://ijr.com/2016/10/706512-costco-sold-tiffany-diamond-rings-at-great-prices-for-years-theyre-in-big-trouble-for-it-now/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=owned&utm_campaign=ods&utm_term=ijamerica&utm_content=law
My fat testicles got in the way again ;)