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In lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands, Gereon Stein wrote:
> 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?
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
distribution access to North America, and they basically relaunched the
Best-Lock line. Where Best-Lock used to be almost totally incompatible with
LEGO, the new sets match the proportions of LEGO bricks very closely, and the
plastic quality greatly exceeds the old Best-Lock formula. So far only
military-themed sets have been made available in the United States, but Cobi had
basic town- and space-style sets before the merger, so these may yet appear, as
well.
Mega Bloks seems to be suffering from a hiatus of new products right now, though
I can't speculate on the cause. Still, they've been steadily improving in
quality for years, even if they still have variance in colors.
Another recent brand was Hasbro's Built-to-Rule, which featured brick-based
construction sets with GI Joe, Transformers, and Tonka themes. Although the
quality was very good, it appears that the product has failed, and no new sets
appear to be forthcoming.
There are a number of knock-off brands that produce sets almost identical to
LEGO or Mega Bloks, but with vastly inferior quality. These are, in almost
every case, illegal, and they've been hit by numerous lawsuits in recent years.
Still, you might see them on eBay or in retail stores from time to time.
Overall, the quality of clone brands has gotten better, in some cases almost
equal to LEGO. My personal favorite brand is still Mega Bloks, but I'm always
interested to see what other new clone brands have appeared on the market.
Dave!
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Clone brand quality
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| (...) The infamous Chinese "Bricks" company has made several knock-offs of LEGO sets, and have lost several legal cases, but they also make their own legal military sets, with excellent designs and pretty high quality bricks, matching the MB quality (...) (18 years ago, 6-Jul-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Clone brand quality
|
| 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 (...) (18 years ago, 5-Jul-06, to lugnet.off-topic.clone-brands)
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