1mo ago

What good alternatives to LEGO are there?

As a Bionicle fan, LEGO recently burnt me and the whole fandom pretty badly. So I'm pretty much giving the whole company the middle finger.

I know there are probably a bunch of good alternatives out there, and I remember some being mentioned to me previously, but I don't know where to find them.

I'm looking for LEGO and LEGO Technic alternatives/knock-offs of good quality. Preferable European in origin rather than Chinese.

They don't need to have popular or brand themes, or be copies of actual LEGO sets, just good parts at good prices.

30 comments

Don't have an answer for you unfortunately, but do you care to share more of this story about Lego burning Bionicle fans?
- There was a big ambitious project called "Masks of Power" which was going to be a full 3D action platformer. It looked truly amazing for a fan project, certainly better than anything LEGO has done for Bionicle.
  The team had been working on the project for eight years. In that time they've had multiple talks with officials from LEGO, who seemed to be fine with it (especially since Bionicle has been dead for 10 years). LEGO featured the project on their official podcast, and even allowed for a Steam release, so long as it remained free and none profit.
  We were going to get the first demo of that game a few months from now. But two weeks ago LEGO sent a cease and desist, and the project is dead.
  There are several large, ambitious projects in the works by Bionicle fans, a number of them animation projects, one of which I'm part of as 3D artist... But now with Team Kanohi and their game project lynched, we're all feeling like there's a sword hanging over our heads.
  
  Any reason given? Not that they have to give one, it's still their property to do what they want with it. I would keep an eye on them and if they somehow in the future come out with something very similar, I hope there are good records of the past years of work and discussion. Since it was going to be free and not for profit, not really a case for lost income, but there must be some laws to protect people working in good faith with a trademark knowingly who get their ideas stolen FOR profit. If that happens.
  
  Appreciate the background. That really sucks for the team working on Masks of Power, and I hope that your project doesn't suffer the same fate.
  
  That sucks, I'm really sorry. My sympathies as a fellow 3D artist.
  
  That really sucks! But Lego has a reputation for being a real dickhead of a company, though. Quality of sets has long been in decline also.
  High time for a change!
  
  How odd that investing your time and passion into a corporately owned IP would go wrong!
What happened with bionicle ?
- It was a sub-brand of Lego. Saved them from going under actually. Then discontinued and later rebooted (with different designs and parts) and rediscontinuted.
  Here's a good doc on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=126bLUkHuNI
Old post of mine, I need to get round to making a comm for this stuff - in terms of European BlueBrixx and Cobi are all that I'm aware of, BlueBrixx use Chinese bricks too though, there's not much avoiding it. As for a particular set, I've got a tallneck in the backlog that's largely technic, is huge and is well under £200 delivered ~7k parts if I remember right.
So, as far as I'm aware BlueBrixx use a brick manufacturer called gobricks in China - these are generally considered top tier. Mould King also use gobricks - they do some good start wars/space/car stuff (not clone kits, Mould King are pretty legit, as far as I'm aware they license/pay MOC designers for plans for the most part as well).
Other brands I don't have experience with (but have a really good rep) are CaDa, Pantasy and Rastar. CaDa and Rastar both license IPs.
IMO JieStar are also a pretty good brand, they are a brick manufacturer and a set manufacturer. I've never had an issue with a JieStar set, their bricks/clutch is a little tighter than Lego which is sometimes beneficial, sometimes a little annoying, but it's never caused an issue. (I've build a couple of 5k+ brick sets from JieStar - worst I had was a single malformed brick that I just hid). They make clone kits and original IP. (Some cool little 50 pc sets you can pick up for £1-2.
Reobrix is the other brand I like, they use JieStar bricks but make their own sets and license MOC designer work. Have some interesting aircraft/vehicles. Their cars are good, their B2 bomber was a bigger set, some of it was a little fiddly, but it holds together - it had 1-2 bricks missing, but I picked up replacements on bricklink for pennies.
I also pick up the odd no-name brand from AliExpress, tbh they've mostly been fine too, a couple were mediocre (I didn't have high expectations £15 for 1000pc sets, they were fine for the price tbh, the bricks were fine for one set, a bit too little clutch on the other - but honestly both look fine when they're assembled. I wasn't disappointed considering the price).
In terms of ordering -
YOURWOBB
Youmko/Barweer
Marstoy
I've ordered from all 3, they've all delivered what they said they would. YOURWOBB doesn't do clone sets, all original IP (and you can sort by brand) youmko are a mix, though mostly original stuff. Marstoy officially don't sell clone sets, however they do sell "Brick kits". If you go on the site you'll see a lot of stuff with names like M12345 - take M off the name and reverse the number, this is the corresponding Lego set (eg. M12345 would be Lego set 54321)
There's loads on AliExpress too - usual rules apply here, but choice, buy an item that has a lot of buyers with good reviews. If you buy a MOC off AliExpress chances are the original designer isn't being compensated - many people will go and buy the design off rebrickable to compensate the designer, but no obligation.
For minifigs there's:
RebuildVenus
This is the same company as Marstoy, free shipping over $17.
https://latericius.com/en-eu/blogs/blog/what-are-alt-bricks-lego-alternatives
Left field suggestions: Meccano and K'Nex. They're not cheap, but then Lego isn't either. They're not Lego compatible (nor compatible with each other) but the whole build-it-yourself and mix-and-match aspects remain intact.
What did Lego do this time?
- I posted the story to someone else on the comments.
- Can't afford it (or one that would make anything in the quality I'm after) and don't have space for one.
  
  They're really not that expensive anymore, year by year they're less enthusiast-only and more general consumer friendly.
  Bambu A1 or A1 Mini can comfortably print it with the desired quality.
Would you be interested in a large collection of vintage bionicles?
- That depends on a number of factors, and largely comes down to price. I'm not particularly rich by any stretch of the imagination.
  
  I’m packing up to move soon, so I will try and get everything together and take some pics.
COBI is good. You can't get Lockheed Martin or Northrop Corp. licensed planes at LEGO
While not building bricks, you may want to look into Gunpla and/or 30 Minutes MIssions. 30MM in particular is a line designed to mix parts from different kits, and as a Lego and Gunpla fan, certainly scratches that itch like Bionicle did.
Actually, besides Lego, there are many high-quality building block brands to choose from. In recent years, Chinese building block brands have also launched many independently innovative products. Moreover, the quality of China's top building block manufacturers has long been comparable to that of Lego's products. Recently, a friend recommended a website to me—they are OEM manufacturers for multiple Chinese building block brands. My friend has purchased their products and spoke very highly of them. The prices are also highly cost-effective, so I'd like to share the website with you. Here's their official site: https://brickvivid.com/
though sadly a chinese brand, sluban is decent quality with mostly original sets :P don't think they have any technic-focused stuff, though

30 comments