Subject:
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Clone wars
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Tue, 28 Mar 2000 18:05:53 GMT
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Because I have always wondered what the different clone brands build like, and
I've never actually built one, I decided to buy one of each "major" brand set.
(Mega blocks, Blockmen, and Best-Lock). I built them all, and I'll review them
here so the rest of you who are curious about other brands can have just a
little more information about these sort of things.
I tested one 1X , one 2X brick, and one plate from each set against a Lego
plate and brick. I spent roughly the same amount on each brand, and since I
like military machines, and each brand had a military themed set, that's what I
got. For the Mega Blocks, for $9.77, I got the "Pro Builder's series tank". For
Blockmen, I paid 9.97 for the "Assault HTV" set. Finally, Best Lock was
repressented by the 14.00 "Tactical Transport"- a big truck and Jeep, with an
antiaircraft gun on the trailer. All sets had (or were) vehicles. I'll start
with the Blockmen set, since it'll be the easiest.
It was hard to decide which Blockmen set to get. There wasn't much
selection in the $10.00 range, especially since one set didn't really have
any bricks with it (the Hummer). I bought the set I bought because It
seemed to have a good number of bricks with it. Unfortunately, for
Blockmen, that doesn't mean much. For 10.00 I got 84 pieces. Two of
these pieces were a whole Jeep, and the Gun that you snap on top. I
was dissapointed that I wasn't able to actually build the Jeep. It's just
one big toy, with solid metal axle and permanently mounted wheels. Two
more of the 84 pieces are the two Blockmen figures themselves. These
are built of soft plastic, and are badly painted. Along with that, they
are built with their legs far apart so that they can't link onto two studs
at the same time, so these poor soldiers must always be on one leg. I
don't like these figures at all. They also can't sit in the Jeep, but have
to drive it with one leg on the seat and the other hanging out.
The Bricks and one plate that came along wit the set though are
surprising. At first glance, they have a close resemblance to Lego, and all
pieces stick pretty well to Legos (and vice-versa). They are made from a little
different plastic, which is just a little thinner and a little duller, finish
wise. I saw a minimal amount of flashing left over on the bricks. The bricks
went together with each other very well in most cases, locking well, and for
the most part pretty easily. The bricks do have a few times that they
just don't want to fit, but this was pretty rare. One thing that I did notice
is that the bricks kind of gradually slide apart... it's like they fit fine at
first, but as you build more the bricks lose their grip due to the torsion from
the other bricks.
As the set comes with no instructions, I can't rate those. The specialized
pieces that come with the set (aside from the Jeep) are two sandbag pile bricks
and two razor wire bricks. These both actually look very good. The sandbag
piece is a single molded pile, with a hollow side and a sandbag side.
These are actually pretty cool. It would have been nicer if it was molded
more solid, but it's nice as it is. The razor wire pieces are pretty good
too, with painted razor wire on a green fence frame. Although it's flat,
it looks pretty good. I built a little fort, but it's not very special. The
set comes with 37 2x4 bricks in 3 different colors, and just as many 1x4
bricks, with a few 2x2's thrown in. There isn't much you can build with
that, but Ihave some broken walls, etc.
Overall, I say no to Blockmen. The sets are expensive, with few pieces,
and no real construction. This set is built for playing first, and building
second. In fact, on the box it shows a big pile of bricks with very little
building. The bricks themselves work with Lego well, and don't look too
different. The special sandbag and razor wire bricks are pretty nice, and
might make their way into one or two of my future constructions.
Overall, though these are bad sets, and not worth buying. High price,
low piece count, and nothing good to build.
I'm going to review the other two sets in this same thread later, so
keep an eye open.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Clone wars
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| Justin, Just wanted to give you a heads up to follow ups to this to (URL) S. Justin Husman wrote: < Snipped message > ___...___ Scott E. Sanburn-> ssanburn@cleanweb.net Systems Administrator-Affiliated Engineers -> (URL) Page -> (URL) Page -> (URL) (24 years ago, 28-Mar-00, to lugnet.general)
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