Your experience with clone brands

[thedevil44]

This has most likely been a thread before, but when doing a search I only turned up several pages of clone wars. I was just wondering what is everyones take on clone bricks. I recently bought a pirate set from best lock out of curiosity. It was a disaster. The pieces did not securely fit together, the sails were made of a cheap plastic material, and all in all it was a horrible build. The only saving grace of this set were the accessories. They weren't exactly revolutionary, but it was nice to have different pieces.


This made me remember a horrible incident in my past. I recall when I was just about old enough to start playing with Lego my grandparents bought me an imitation brand for christmas that was so bad I did not play with actual Lego for several years after. I remember the figures in that set had joints on their knees and couldn't stand and could barely stay on their awkward horses. I was so young and inexperienced with Lego at the time I could not tell the difference between Lego and the clone brand. It jaded me to all building toys for several years. I was wondering if anyone else has had an experience like mine, and how everyone here views clone brands.

[yaya]

For me, it's Lego or nothing...

[Memsochet]

For me, it's Lego or nothing...

Same here. So much so when I bought some Lego lots off of ebay and they included clone bricks I gave them away to someone who wouldn't care if they were Lego or not. When I find a clone brick I missed, I immediately throw it in the direction of the trash can.

[Knight of Honor]

For me, it's Lego or nothing...

Same here. So much so when I bought some Lego lots off of ebay and they included clone bricks I gave them away to someone who wouldn't care if they were Lego or not. When I find a clone brick I missed, I immediately throw it in the direction of the trash can.

I don't like clone brands, but I RECYCLE them. Maybe they'll be made into some lego plastic bags or something.
--Knight

[porschecm2]

I'm about as far on the purist side of things as it gets, but nonetheless, I have had inevitable dealings with clone brands through buying used Lego over the years. There's a lot of different brands out there, but of the ones I've personally handled, I'd say Tyco is by far the best. As heretical as it sounds, the quality of Tyco's bricks were almost on par with Lego, and the fit and clutch are impeccable. I don't believe they are still in production, however. Megablocks are definitely a step down from Tyco. The color matching is usually off from Lego, the clutch is frequently too tight or too loose, and the plastic is a cheaper mix. Generally, it just goes down from there. Best-lock and similar brands have absolutely horrible quality. Some brands of dubious origin have gone so far as to blatantly pirate Lego designs, such as the Chinese clone brand Enlighten (AKA the apropos Shifty Bricks.)

My advice is that unless you really know what you're getting into, stay away from clone brands. Some people like buying them for the accessories, or for pieces not available in Lego, but be aware of the quality of what you're buying before you purchase clone-brands.

Cm2

[Danielas]

I use Mega block knights as bad guys and Mega blocks as ork castles because it always looks ugly!

[Barbrickian]

I don't (and wouldn't) own any off-brand clone bricks. I don't count third party accessories with off-brand bricks. I agree with porschecm2 about tyco though. Just last night I was over at my sister's and she had picked up a garbage sack sized lot of Duplo at the Goodwill (she scours their shelves often, and said they always have tons of megablocks but she'd never seen real Legos). There were some tyco knockoff Duplo bricks mixed in, and they fit well with the genuine bricks. The colors matched pretty well. The biggest problem with them is that the studs are solid on top, not hollow like Duplo studs.

Porschecm2, thanks for those links. Got a good laugh at Shifty. They just need to change one letter and it'd be even more apropos... and is it just me or is there some really "off" with their minifig heads. Maybe it's just that picture, but they look like they have goiter necks. How can they get away with selling those in Europe? Seems like a lawsuit would've stopped that.

[porschecm2]

Porschecm2, thanks for those links. Got a good laugh at Shifty. They just need to change one letter and it'd be even more apropos... and is it just me or is there some really "off" with their minifig heads. Maybe it's just that picture, but they look like they have goiter necks. How can they get away with selling those in Europe? Seems like a lawsuit would've stopped that.

No problem. Haha, yes, one letter changed would be more appropriate (or inappropriate). If I recall correctly, I believe they did actually have a lawsuit filed against them, and Lego won hands down--one of the first big copyright victories against Chinese knockoffs. Some of the other members may be able to tell you better about that.

And yes, the heads are weird. I seem to recall that people who bought these sets reported that the contents inside the box only vaguely resembled the box cover. Pieces were frequently in the wrong colors, or the wrong minifigs were included, and other such atrocious violations of quality control (note the bat-shield carried by the Forestman.) All in all, the sets were just a mess, and barely usable even to those not concerned with Lego purism.

Cm2

[davee123]

Back in about 1999 or 2000, Best-Lock had some wonderful looking castle sets:

http://www.suave.net/~dave/tmp/bestlock_castles.jpg

I bought two of those pictured, and it was pretty disappointing. The tolerances were poor (about 5% of the bricks were slightly malformed), the helmets were glued onto the figures, often rather haphazardly, but the set design was pretty neat (especially compared to what Lego was coming out with at the time). The strangest thing (worst thing) was that the black elements started turning my hands black after building for 15 minutes or so. As I recall, I think it was sort of powdery, or perhaps something along the lines of dry-erase marker "leavings" on a whiteboard. Best-Lock quality may have changed considerably since then, but back then, it was pretty bad.

Has anyone experimented with the K'Nex bricks?

DaveE

[siabur]

I prefer Lego of course, but every once in a while I'll pick of mega bloks just because it's something that works with my comic. Recently I've used some base plates, and I hate to admit it, I like the evil knights figures for some reason. Right now it's all about whether it will work in my comic.

[LEGOFREAK]

Tyco is still the best clone, I have a bunch left over from when I was a kid and they still work just as well as lego.. Ok, almost as well.
there is another brand. Ah. Best lock Cobi - Cobi bought Best Lock as far as I remember the story. (corby? shoot.. now I'll have to look it up!)
I'll tell you this - You put some of those bricks in with Lego and and you wont be able to tell the difference. I am not kidding, I bought a tank set and it works great with lego. The colors are off of course, but it adds a bit of randomness.
They hold just as well, and are the scale is exact - none of that being off by a tiny bit. Definitely HIGH quality.

[ben_toy_tech]

Clone brands are the ones I put in the small box in a dark corner. I can spot them easily even if unmarked (many are) simply by how inferior the quality of the molds used to make them are. The plastic is of inferior quality as well. I have never seen a clone piece where it was not immediately obvious. Although I must admit that LEGO is closing the gap in terms of their quality of late, especially with Bionicle, see-through bricks that are supposed to be opaque, and so forth. Hold up a 2x4 brick from a new set to the light vs. one from an 80s set to see what I mean.

[JoshWedin]

Tyco bricks are the only ones that have ever fooled me on a regular basis. I've bought a lot of used brick and have gotten used to picking and tossing, but the odd Tyco brick (usually blue or black) still pops up in my bins now and then. In fact, I was recently tearing down my black tower from last year and found one Tyco 2x4 brick in it.

Josh

[Clefspeare]

I used to buy Megablocks when i was a kid. VERY bad experience. Missing pieces, falls apart, pieces don't fit, etc, ect.....They actually created a loyalty for Lego which I still have.

[Count Blacktron]

I've gotten a few here and there, mostly as gags that make me chuckle. The best gag sets out there come in these flavors:

1. Best Lock produced a Military themed Town environment set that featured a tank, helicopter, some infantry attacking a set of buildings with some police and rescue personnel carrying away citizens in an ambulance. The best term I can say is "Shock and Awe" as I gazed upon the incongruity of this in a child's play item. The joke around my friends became "Third World Legos". I saved the box art, and recycled the product within.

2. Mega Bloks Alien Agency series replicated the look and feel of the animated MIB (Men In Black) so well that I had to have them for a Halloween display. The quality wasn't frightful, but they did have a few variances in clutch power.

3. Mega Bloks also came out with a series of military themed sets about the same time as the Alien Agency series that was 1 part City, 3 parts G.I. Joe-esque and very unique at the time. The vehicles of the line were odd, because unlike LEGO where the elements make the vehicle MB felt it necessary to mold parts like a realistic looking item and have them fasten together with studs and Bloks. Oddball but a lot of fun.

4. Hasbro attempted to meld 3.75 G.I. Joe figure designs and vehicles together with their Built To Rule line, which more than anything became "Built To Rot". They would not stay together and the figures would fall out of them when you sneeze. It was just impossible to feel like you were getting your money's worth and not to feel like you were doing preschool building. Seriously they were bad.