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The subject should probably add "revisited" as my guess is this has been
frequently re-discussed.
Still, I find myself repeatedly looking at some of the clones now even popping
up in German stores. Recent finds include - of course - MegaBloks and
surprisingly enough BestLock.
Both apparently use a relatively cheap plastic material, with MegaBloks mostly
making compromises when it comes to color consistency, while BestLock bricks
seem to suffer from lack of stability, a great variance in brick dimensions (you
wouldn't guess in how many heights they make these 2*2 bricks) and colors you
wouldn't even want to taste if you knew they were candies.
I have to admit that MegaBloks have won a reasonable amount of appreciation with
me since they still stick to the original 2*4 brick as the basis of very complex
models, and leaving color and brick material aside, the look and feel of the
models and the instructions are very good while the sets come at an almost
aggressive price. Still, they manage to mismatch the original LEGO colors and
thus don't blend well with the original. What should worry LEGO IMHO, is that
MegaBloks have managed to achieve a consistency in brick quality that almost
matches the decreasing quality of modern LEGO brick production. It may not be
long and even purists will find something to ponder about.
As for BestLock, I've read a comment saying "how do they stay in business?" -
well, how do they after all? I had the chance to acquire a large box of bricks
for testing, and "best" is not what they "lock" like. The "ideas" displayed on
the box wouldn't even work if the bricks sticked together the way they are
supposed to - the failure starts with the lack of the classic 2*4 brick that
allegedly is not offered to avoid copyright infringement suits.
Now I see plenty of other clones appear on the net. Some look like copied LEGO
sets and of course pose the obvious copyright question. Most importantly
however, I'd like to know just how close they get to the real thing, or how far
away they still are.
Don't get me wrong, I'll always have demand for a good LEGO set at a fair price,
but I will consider ideas of other brands if they make an interesting addition
to my collection. I won't support cheap crap or - even worse - product piracy
though.
Opinions?
Jerry
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Clone brand quality
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| (...) Hi Jerry! That's a great post filled with good observations and questions. I don't know if you're aware, but Best-Lock recently merged with Cobi, a brick-brand centered in Poland, to become Cobi/Best-Lock. Under this new name, Cobi gained (...) (18 years ago, 6-Jul-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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