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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, Jeff Szklennik wrote:
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I saw some new military bucket sets at the Concord, NH Toys ‘R’ Us this
weekend & they had the Cobi logo & the Best-Lock logos. I did not buy any so
I don’t know if the pieces are of the ‘old’ Best-Lock proportions, or more
like Lego. From the computer generated box art, I noticed the minifigs look
like Lego style with non-sculpted cylindrical heads & flat torsos; some new
(for Best-Lock) canopy pieces & a new dome piece for a base/HQ building. A
tank in one of the sets had a shovel & other tools as well as some cool 1x
clip plates. There were desert beige & Army green military sets.
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Okay, I picked up a set. It was $29.99 for 1000 pieces in, frankly, a box
that’s much larger than necessary. Since it’s throwaway cardboard, I admit that
this makes me a little uneasy. Perhaps future sets will be more parsimonious in
their use of packaging. Curiously, I couldn’t find a set number or name, but
the box displayed the Cobi & Best-Lock logos as you described. Generally, the
set seems in line with the “Small Army” series of Cobi products (not previously
available in North America).
I’m at work, so I haven’t had time for a deep examination, but first impressions
are very good. Let me answer the basic questions outright:
For the Cobi/Best-Lock line, they’ve gone with the standard LEGO/Mega Bloks
proportions, so that a plate is 1/3 the height of a brick.
Minfigs: Very good quality, in the style of LEGO minifigs (the printed,
cylindrical heads, rather than Mega Bloks’ very cool sculpted heads). The set I
picked up includes 8 figures, six of which have pale “skin” and two with brown
“skin.” Accessories include a few of firearms, binoculars, backpacks (that hang
over the front and back of the figure), helmets, and visors. In my set, six of
the figures have chocolate-brown uniforms, while two have black attire. Overall
the figures look very much like the ones seen on the Cobi website predating the
Best-Lock merger.
The set includes separate instruction booklets for two helicopters, a tank
(somewhat juniorized), a jeep, and a little command center. The pieces are
polybagged, but the parts for each vehicle span several bags.
Disappointingly, there is no catalog or pictures of other sets. But the set is
quite impressive, and the quality of the bricks that I’ve examined so far is on
par with LEGO or the more recent Mega Bloks elements.
Even if this Cobi/Best-Lock chimera only does as well as Best-Lock has done on
its own, it will likely be a significant market presence for several years. It
appears that the minds behind the merger have identified the strongest aspects
of the Cobi line and have abandoned (for now, at least) the weaknesses of
Best-Lock. I’m eager to see additional, smaller sets, perhaps including Space
and Town lines as shown on the Cobi website.
I’ll post scans of some of the elements and maybe part of the instructions when
I have the chance.
Dave!
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: New Cobi/Best-Lock
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| (...) Excellent price to peice ratio. (...) Sweet. (...) Super sweet. Personally I prefer the more generic interchangable parts figs to the super detailed sculpting of Megabloks. (though admittedly it allowed some cool things like Ninja Turtles) (...) (18 years ago, 20-Apr-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | New Cobi/Best-Lock
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| I saw some new military bucket sets at the Concord, NH Toys 'R' Us this weekend & they had the Cobi logo & the Best-Lock logos. I did not buy any so I don't know if the pieces are of the 'old' Best-Lock proportions, or more like Lego. From the (...) (18 years ago, 19-Apr-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, FTX)
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