Subject:
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"Shifty" rip off brand -- more info from original poster
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands
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Date:
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Tue, 27 Jul 1999 20:31:41 GMT
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Viewed:
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785 times
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Sorry I didn't provide more information right off, but this was my first post
to the LEGO-related newsgroups so I wasn't aware exactly what was expected. I
just ran across this stuff in the store and thought it might be something
worth letting other people know about. No hoaxing here.
The store I found them in is in Langley, BC. Here are directions:
---
from Highway 1
take 200th St. South exit (Langley)
continue for about 5 or 10 minutes to 64th Ave. stoplight, turn right
continue to Fraser Highway stoplight, turn left
about 1km, left hand side there will be a London Drugs in a shopping complex
the shop is a "dollar store" type place to the left of London Drugs
found them in the toy section, rear left corner of the store
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Someone posted links to scanned images of the boxes -- these are exactly what
I saw in the store (the pirates and the knight, I didn't see the other two).
No editing on those pictures as far as I can tell.
I can only tell you what I saw by examining the parts within the plastic bag
because I didn't purchase any, thinking it would be "unethical" to support the
company, but I can see how someone might want to purchase them for research or
comparison purposes or whatnot:
> Apart from the printing, and the copy-right issues, how were the elements
> themselves? Did they compare in quality to Mega Bloks, or Best-Lock? Can you
> actually use them well with LEGO elements? I'd be very interested to see some
I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with other blocks, I'm a bit of a LEGO
loyalist, if only because I can barely afford LEGOs every now and then, much
less investing in other systems. But I digest.
They appeared to be LEGO compatible because they *were* LEGO blocks, just
poorly made and without the LEGO stamp. I wouldn't be suprised if, for
example, the plates snapped after being used several times.
It seemed to be the same quality plastic as little trinkets you buy from
gumball machines.
> group. TATCO pirate sets are similarly goofy, with blue and red swords, white
> spears, and green muskets; though the printing on TATCO pieces, while basic,
Again, these weren't like differently-designed but LEGO-compatible blocks -
they were direct, fairly accurate (if poorly made) imitations of actual LEGO
pieces. The swords and crossbow and quiver and minifigs, etc. all looked
exactly like LEGO at first glance; upon closer examination you can tell very
minor differences, probably due to cheap manufacturing rather than intentional
variations.
If you pick some up, you'll probably want to actually open up a few boxes and
look at the contents to see what you're getting, because they certainly vary
from what's printed on the box and vary with each other.
Like I said, one box contained a green horse (which came in three snap-
together pieces); one pirate box contained a red crossbow and red quiver, not
pictured anywhere on the box, yet other pirate boxes did not contain these; a
few of the knight boxes contained green minifig hands instead of yellow, as on
the box.
I didn't look at all the parrots, but the one parrot I did examine was just a
plain yellow parrot with no coloring at all, unlike the real LEGO parrot with
red and black markings pictured on the box, and was a bit thinner than real
LEGO parrots.
---
ChrisWL
lymancw@<nospam>wku.edu
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