I saved $500 buying Chinese LEGO, was it worth it?

[@SeithonJetter]

So, related note, but many of the parts you can buy on bricklink are ridiculously overpriced by re-sellers. One piece that comes to mind is a "droid body" you can buy it direct from lego for about .20, but bricklink somehow sells it for like 10.00+ so blindly buying it from there is ridiculous.

[@tefnutofhoney2832]

Ive never seen it quite that extreme. The only way it would happen like that is: *the one being sold on bricklink has a print or rarer color *youre including minimum buys, tax, and or shipping *its an edge case of someone overcharging for a piece, leading to nobody buying it. Pieces on bricklink can be overpriced, but just not to the level you say Bricklink also sorts prices from low to high on any item, so, youd have to go out of your way to find the absurd prices.

[@RisingApe]

As I said in the video I am new to LEGO and MOC so I can’t comment, it wouldn’t surprise me if this were the case though

[@Dinowrestler]

​@@RisingApeI started using bricklink in October. You got to shop around to look at a few prices. Some people you don't pay tax! I try to stick to my own country to save on shipping.

[@RisingApe]

​​⁠yeh it’s a fun site and the prices vary A lot, if you’re prepared to put a lot of effort in. I sure you could save a lot

[@roddlez]

This shouldn’t be the case. As Bricklink is a true marketplace, people would buy from LEGO in bulk and resell on BL, and as the supply catches up to demand, prices would fall In this case, I speculate the $10 part from BL and the 20 cent version from LEGO are slightly different, either a specific, out-of-print color or mould. Otherwise, you have to believe sellers would be taking advantage of this chance to arbitrage the price, and BL sellers are on forums and discords looking for places and parts that are in demand.

[@fysy9989]

I'd only call this fake lego if it is a direct copy of an existing official lego set. The time of lego being the only brick brand that's worth to consider are long over. Often the quality of 3rd party bricks is equal or better than that of lego, at a better price. The only issue for me is when the MOC designer is not credited at all

[@RisingApe]

Yup, I think that’s fair

[@DeutschlanddenDeutschen1987]

LEGO isnt even the inventor of bricks

[@dominikkersten1506]

@@DeutschlanddenDeutschen1987 Thats an british Man called Hilary Page. Lego just copied his Bricks and called it LEGO Bricks.

[@DeutschlanddenDeutschen1987]

@@dominikkersten1506 exactly. Lego did a great job in punishing other brick Companys but slowly they are loosing market due to bad products and quality. They sell Sets for over 600 and put stickers on it. Also they recycle many colors (Millennium falcon for example) If you look what blue brixx or Cobi do. Much better quality

[@dindjarjarin]

I've had my own designs stolen by stores like temu. Not only do they not credit you, but you don't see a cent of what they sell. Legitimate stores will license out your designs and pay you for them.

[@TheBalthassar]

I don't personally think you should feel bad about buying budget versions of things, especially not when the 'official' version is the secondary market. The risk with budget alternatives is that the quality control isn't there, but if it is, then it's just the 'official' source not being competitively priced. 10 year old me might have had different things to say about that; the quality definitely matters more when you're regularly assembling a disassembling them, but the requirements are very different when it gets assembled once and stuck on a shelf.

[@RisingApe]

Aye true that. This model isn’t going anywhere!

[@Perpetual_Kid]

Most of the time quality control isn’t there. There are a lot of reasonably priced Lego sets. Other brands just don’t fit together well. If it doesn’t fall apart while putting it together, the plastic becomes brittle faster than Lego

[@jimwar211]

@@Perpetual_Kid Idk man, the majority of non-lego sets I have went together and stayed together just fine. Lego does have better quality control, with a nicer 'snap', cleaner printing and never needing to use more force than usual, but at the end of the day all the bricks really need to do is fit together and stay. I still use bricks I got years ago, the only brittle pieces I noticed are small non-brick pieces, like hands.

[@AlexTheDadGamer]

@@Perpetual_Kid Not true... I can vouch for CADA... absolutely amazing quality ... i would say 90% or more of LEGO quality... they partnered with one of my favorite designers : JKBrickworks ... payed him for the designs and released 2 amazing sets that LEGO just does not have in their portfolio... An orrery(or solar system as it is officaly called by CADA) and a safe... great building experience with impecable functionality /playability . He even built them live on stream and gave props to CADA

[@FY--my5gg]

​@@Perpetual_KidThat's the opposite of my experience. Non Lego sets / bricks have: better strength, better colour quality and consistency and no missing parts. Quality wise, Lego bricks are overshadowed by Gobriks and Cobi, Cobi leaves Lego in the dust as well when it comes to print quality. Lego torpedoed the quality and worth of their sets, the constructions are getting more and more loveless, they add the weirdest colour to the inside of sets and they charge more and more money for it. 2 examples: 75384: 150ish pieces and a price tag of 50+ € 10321: The saddest attempt of building a car, lack of metalic elements and costs 150€ If you want worse parts for higher price, you buy lego

[@shia8938]

What I liked about Chinese LEGO is the licenses that they have. They have the local franchise like Chinese cartoons or dramas and interesting ones like Ultraman, Digimon, Sanrio, Pokemon, and a lot of Japanese IP. And what I also like is them offering things that LEGO doesn't have like Sembo Block having Japanese theme sets or Royal Toys making Xianxia or Wuxia theme sets.

[@RisingApe]

Neat, any brands/ places to look out for?

[@shia8938]

@@RisingApe For the great ones: Keeppley/Qman/Enlighten - Their old ones(Enlighten) are just sets "inspired" by Lego but nowadays they are doing original designs and has cool licensed sets like Pokemon, Doraemon, Sanrio, etc. Their brick quality and clutch consistency is on par with Lego. Their bricks have ENLI engraved on it. And legitimate toy stores sometimes have them. Cada - They use their own bricks if I remember correctly. They have cool sets and very different design principles compared to Lego and they look more like MOCs(overly designed. LEDs, full of tiles, etc). Their bricks are also on par with Lego. They also produce technic stuff Mould King - same with Cada Star Diamond - They have interesting licenses of Chinese IP like the whole Taomee, Balala the fairies, and some other like King Fu Panda(which is rare). Their normal sets nowadays are targeted towards children so their catalog is just full of combiner robots. The quality of this brand is close to Lego. Sluban - They have a large catalog of sets with a lot of theme variation (City, Military, Girls, Fantasy, Cars, etc). And all of their sets are original ideas but they're trend chasers though. Their quality improved throughout the years and the recent ones are close to Lego in quality but their oldest ones is crap even worse than knockoffs while the older ones is average. Hsanhe - Has some gems like their Zoids "inspired" sets and SWAT ones but the clutch on this bricks are a death grip. Wange - I'm just putting this here because they have great sets but the quality of their bricks is mid. Some other brands that's good but they have some stolen designs Sembo Block - Has a Japanese theme sets and has Digimon nuff said. They're legit now but a lot of their older car sets are just speed champions clone. Decool - has a lot of cool sets like the Cyberpunk theme. And they're know for their Minifigures that has great quality, detail and variety (Journey to the west, Three Kingdoms, etc). They also has some clones though. Xingbao - Very good sets and have some legitimate sets but they stole some MOCs if I remember. Other good brands but I'm not sure if they have stolen designs and some have lesser quality. Jie Star/Lele Brother(kinda mid quality but cheap as dirt so you really can't complain that much)/Zhegao/StarMerry/Mingdi/Quan Guan. For the bad ones to look out for. This is the ones that you feel scammed even if it's cheap since their prices are the same to brands mentioned above: Leyi - Some sets they have is a hand grenade and the plastic quality is just inferior. SL toys - This is straight up bad like you can't even finish the set bad.

[@RisingApe]

thank you that is a very detailed response@@shia8938

[@bassmangetioup5025]

@@shia8938i bet you are chinese 我觉得你是中国人😂

[@endersblade]

I've been eyeballing this set for a while now. Thanks for the video, I get to see how big it is!

[@RisingApe]

Bl**dy huge 😂 cheers for watching

[@vyren2030]

Same here - i love the king crab since it first appear in Battle Tech.

[@buster_335]

I was debating getting this, guess I'll order it now 😂

[@RisingApe]

DO IT!@@buster_335

[@FelipeGarcia-ts8vb]

If people knew how much LEGO charges for their stuff in Brazil, for example, this type of question would never pop up. It's just too unreasonably expensive. EDIT: Love the table, btw.

[@RisingApe]

🤩 yeh I’m a bit obsessed with the table too

[@TiMonsor]

@@RisingApeare the coins covered in resion or they just under a glass\film?

[@RisingApe]

it's a full resin pour @@TiMonsor

[@TiMonsor]

@@RisingApe oh cool.

[@aquapucci]

Same here. As a Brazilian living in the US, I understand and agree when you guys complain about the prices. However, in some places (like Brazil), it is basically impossible to have Lego as a hobby. A big set ($400-500) of Lego in Brazil would cost the same as 3-4 minimum wage-worth of salary. Considering that most people in the country do not even get paid that much, this hobby is restricted to rich people, and even rich people will never be able to afford Lego as middle-class Americans do. Pretty sad.

[@Phrancis5]

I too recently bought a knockoff Lego robot (Star War's K-2SO droid) for really cheap on Bangood. Mine came with printed instructions, sorted bags, and a slick identical looking box to Lego's that said "Space Wars". It went together just fine and feels like the same plastic weight, color, and quality Lego uses, without the name on the raised bits. The injection molding of so many different specialized parts can't be cheap, so I have to wonder if they just obtained the same molds used for Lego's production run - or it's produced in the same factory. Idk that most folks feel good about supporting these counterfeits, but we all don't have tons of disposable income either...

[@RisingApe]

It’s definitely a personal choice. For me I decide just not to buy them but I am not about to manage other people’s lives for them glad you enjoyed the video

[@brickotronic]

An Asian company simply took my instructions for my "Penny's Car" model and produced sets for it without even letting me know. I can tell you, I wasn't happy about it.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh that’s grim, sorry to hear that

[@dindjarjarin]

same happened to a few of my MOCs!

[@asimplepessimist8790]

I use to be a lego purist but have changed to both lego and off brand, especially for accessories and minifigures. Although you can feel the quality being cheaper it's still pretty cool and is really cool to add to your minifigures. Especially military minifigures or accessories. Also there isn't a good quality control so sometimes you could end up missing pieces with the sets from them.

[@RisingApe]

Yup that about sums it up, thanks for watching

[@MRTHUNDER.]

I’m kind of a Lego purist but I have some exceptions like making stuff that Lego doesn’t make like guns and train track but I hate that megablocks shit and all those stuff

[@matthiashibler1313]

„Off Brand“. There a just dozens of company’s producing and selling bricks. Lego didn’t even came up first with the idea. They are just the most well known company.

[@lupolinar]

Most "off brand" bricks (they are not...) are on par or better then what LEGO puts out and at normal prices.

[@cameronscott1853]

which other brands do you reccomend?​@@lupolinar

[@ovan2190]

Props to giving the instructions creator his due credit :) may seem obvious but I still think it's a good thing. The ultimate question is though, is it legal to use in a game of battle tech? Even if it's interactive scenery? Great video as always

[@RisingApe]

Thanks yeh, I think anyone who can make these is some sort of wizard! Thanks for the nice comment!

[@DaLEGOmaniac]

For scenery it is absurdly huge for the normal small scale of battletech. What you do is scale up the entire game big time and play on the floor.

[@Imperialofficer07]

Too be honest, as an adult fan of Lego, sorting out pieces by color and by type is actually part of the process. It's like sorting out the sprues in a way or sorting out the materials for the particular model kit. It's just the process that's in the way. After that then it's actually quite relaxing.

[@RisingApe]

I can see that, you need to sort them well enough though! I have come up with a better system now

[@mr.mmonstermania4576]

For that price... Why NOT... i found some of ths best WW2 sets from these Chinees manufacturers and the detail was stunning. Also for next to nothing

[@RisingApe]

Indeed!

[@Babar13-2]

you know its not legal to buy counterfeit lego, you are essencially helping those who illegaly copy the hard work of lego designers

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for the comment, however these are not lego bricks and the brick design is not IP protected anymore since the copyright elapsed. The design of this build is available for free from the designer who is credited multiple times and linked below the video.

[@Dodos622]

Remember that Lego make their parts under good working conditions and have well paid adult workers, that uses high quality plastics and non toxic paints. You dont know how the working conditions and quality of the parts are from those Chinese sellers. Most of those factories had even children working for a dollar per day

[@RisingApe]

I actually tried pretty hard to find this info but couldn’t, the company is based in Schenzen but I couldn’t find any specifics on workforce.

[@smilingbandit4975]

Nice, a King Crab made from bricks. Didn't know there are such models already.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@johnhanley5546]

Looks like a King Crab(?) from BM - now all you need is another one and a really big hexmap to play!! Enjoy videos - keep them coming as you can.

[@RisingApe]

Haha, future video idea!

[@nickthenuker7916]

The person who designed it, Hansenbricks, made a whole bunch of others from BattleTech (well only another 3 but that’s enough for a full Lance), the Catapult, the Uziel and the Ryoken.

[@timblake1989]

​@@nickthenuker7916are they from a video game or something?

[@nickthenuker7916]

@@timblake1989BattleTech, a tabletop game that dates back to 1984. There's a video game of the same name released in 2018, and it's also the franchise that the Mechwarrior, Mechcommander, and Mechassault games are set in.

[@Sinsteel]

@@timblake1989 Several series of PC games, as well as the old pen and paper. The first game I really got hooked on was Mechwarrior on the PC in about 1990.

[@o-o_pingu]

Dont make the mistake of sorting bricks by color!! Sort them by size or type (studded or technic), then you can easily distinguish them by color when grabbing them from their respective container. Otherwise you have to search for years even when you already "sorted" them

[@RisingApe]

waay too late for that, but thanks for the tip, I will remember it for next time..

[@ivanasukjadic1423]

The Chinese shops on Ali Express buy MOC manuals from Rebrickable and then their factories manufacture the blocks needed for those mocs and then sell them. In my experience the quality is very good, but with the occasional missing or incorrect piece. Sometimes the very large flat plates can be warped, but I would say it is 99,9% similar to authentic lego.

[@RisingApe]

This basically sums up my experience, I am not a fan of selling other folks work so I try to buy the MOC files to support the artist who made the file too

[@MaleOreo]

The editing and production in this video is top tier 💯

[@RisingApe]

Thanks so much

[@shadowminor]

I have always been a LEGO purist so it is really hard for me. I would rather not have it that buy non LEGO.

[@RisingApe]

Completely fair, from the small amount I have done, Lego is much better.

[@gizmomckopp1131]

Why though? LEGO hardly makes sets which are worth their money. Look at Cobi for example. They have a different target audience, but they make everything in Europe, whereas LEGO definitely gets their bricks cheaply from China. Cobi has better quality all-around and almost non of their sets get stickers anymore. Only top-quality prints. Have you had a close look at LEGO's prints lately? I can only say Orient Express. When I pay premium prices, I want premium quality and LEGO does not deliver that in any way. The only thing they have going for them is that a chimpanzee could follow their instructions. Not even the minifigs are worth it, when you are honest about their quality, especially the colour consistency of coloured bricks and prints which are supposed to match, better never do.

[@DonSchomer]

Built this set with my 13 yr old. A few of the bricks (maybe four pieces) simply did not fit to top pegs and I had to modify them or replace with actual lego pieces, and the opening claw mechanism was very problematic, but in the end it was all acceptable for the price paid.

[@RisingApe]

Awesome glad you had fun!

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

I bought several 'Lepin' knock-off sets about 6 years ago, but only out of print sets like 2000s UCS StarWars models (AT-ST, X-wing, B-wing and the original 2007 Millenium Falcon), so I wasn't taking money out of Lego's pocket. I wouldn't buy a KO of a set that was still at retail. The Falcon was originally $600, but at the time would have cost $6000 on the secondary market. 😨 I paid $170 for the KO. I'd say it was above 90% Lego quality, but the minifigs were pretty crappy. (Easy enough to replace with genuine figs from Bricklink. I have the Vampire Mansion playset, but I discarded the KO figs and bought genuine Lego ones including some Monster Hunters and other spooky characters. 😱)

[@RisingApe]

Yeh hard to argue with that, no doubt the knock off isn’t as good but it’s a fraction of the cost.

[@MRTHUNDER.]

I don’t care how much money I’m saving. I’m never buying fake Lego besides custom guns figures and stuff like that

[@drewlovelyhell4892]

@@MRTHUNDER. Generally I agree, and am very careful not to get KOs of MP Transformers and stuff like that. But like I said, if the genuine item is long out of production, it does no harm. For example, I bought some knock-off G1 Transformers, just so I could have mint condition versions of some old classics. I don't mix fake bricks with my real Lego. I just have the models permanently on display . UCS kits are not only very expensive but very hard to get in my country. I had a hell of a time getting the Lego Snowspeeder. I couldn't find any stores that stocked them. I ended up buying one on Ebay from the UK.

[@drteeth362]

I only have one foray into knock off lego sets. The most notable differences that jumped out at me were very inconsistent tolerances. Most piece connections either had wicked tight tolerances or tolerances looser than even the loose LEGO tolerances. The other thing is what you had to deal with which was unsorted bags, it GREATLY increases the build time

[@RisingApe]

GREATLY increases is right! Thanks for watching

[@mrpoool1015]

A big question I always have when it comes to other "lego" brick manufacturers is the parts quality, what was the parts quality on this model like? Like clutch power and consistency and in case you've tried it, compatibility with genuine lego parts?

[@RisingApe]

The parts are honestly 95% perfect but some are variable, usually on the top loose side, completely compatible with genuine Lego though

[@RickBolda-g9w]

The Sluban mechs are pretty good, I have 7 of as of now, all has had numbered bags and instructions are easy enough to follow. But that's just my opinion.

[@RisingApe]

Ahh yeh I have seen them, I’m not familiar with the IP though. They look kinda Gunpla?

[@panzerwolf494]

I've bought numerous Chinese knockoff kits. Some were great, some not so much. But i'm not paying scalper prices on discontinued Lego

[@RisingApe]

Fair

[@SeithonJetter]

Oh, that reminds me, when i priced it out on bricklink, removing the ridiculously over priced parts, it came down to about 230? euros or so. I imagine if I went through it with a finer eye and substitute out some of the scam priced parts it would come down a bit more :)

[@RisingApe]

Awesome thanks for sharing

[@mauz4588]

When I built mine a few years ago, I want to say it came out to about 300-400 before shipping. At the time there were some incorrect colors in the instruction inventory leading to a few high priced or unfindable pieces. Plus the pointed wedge plates didn't exist in white yet.

[@valley_robot]

I've checked brick link, over priced as F, I'll buy the fakes thank you very much

[@RisingApe]

fair@@valley_robot

[@tftf60]

There is nö official Lego Set of this. I found this to be a strange caption.

[@RisingApe]

How so? This set is not made by LEGO, it’s a fan creation and the Chinese company has assembled the pieces.

[@christianege4989]

@@RisingApe If it is not an original LEGO design, then it is no LEGO set, and therefore your caption is strange and wrong. The chinese manufacturer stole the MOC from the designer, that is all that is wrong here, but this hole has nothing to do with LEGO directly except that the bricks are compatible and look the same. But this still is no problem, as there are no patents at all anymore on LEGO bricks, everybody can legally produce them. Or do you only buy the "Mars" bar, but never ever the cheaper ones of the same type from other brands in the supermarket (just an excample)? Why is it that all LEGO fans have a problem with bricks of other manufacturers, but for sure not with all other "rip-offs" from other brands out there, Mars, Coca-Cola, just to name a few?

[@dindjarjarin]

Stores like Temu have stolen my MOC designs and sell them without my permission or even giving credit. Rule of thumb is if the store doesn't say who the original MOC designer is, they stole it and you should not support them. There are stores like lesdiy that license out MOCs.

[@RisingApe]

As I said in the video this is appalling I didn’t know this when I purchased though. Drop me a message if you can I would love to chat more about MOCs and how you make them

[@salvation7362]

I bought some knock off brick wall pieces, a multi police vehicle mashup pack (with tons of black pieces) and a weapon and armor set so I could build a SWAT style tactical MOC with an Armored Personal Carrier. Some of that just isn't possible through legit means. I don't feel guilty because I have 113 Lego sets and like I said, some of that you can't buy from Lego anyway. I can respect their stance on not making war sets or themes based around violence but... they sure do bend the rules for licensed properties! Some of the pieces that are made and sold by these companies are legal since the copy protection held by Lego for earlier pieces has ended. Note that I said "some". It's all about having fun in the end, we're adults playing with Lego.

[@RisingApe]

Exactly can’t take it too seriously after all

[@morgothfromangband6082]

I use the Chinese sets as parts dispensers for my large lego projects like a black lego technic Mechashingodzilla, a large Lion Knights castle, a black Dragon Knights castle, the UFO (97) Queen's Command Ship, and a super large Morgoth vs Fingolfin diorama in front of the gate of Angband. These mocs need LOTS of pieces, some i get from Lego and Ebay but most i get from other brick companies from China and Germany. 🤩🥇

[@RisingApe]

Nice, I really like Letbricks

[@panboi7490]

NEVER sort by color, but rather by piece type. It's easier to find a red 1x2 in a pile of 1x2s than find a red 1x2 in a pile of red pieces

[@RisingApe]

Lesson learned the hard way! Check out my latest build it’s one of the first things I talk about!!

[@steveboily8138]

Awesome build! The mech is incredible! Budget price are not really a bad thing. You want a product and you want to pay a certain amount for said product, it all come down to: Do you want to pay the price or not? But if the product is of a good quality even if it is not legit then I say good, better yet Great! In conclusion.... a pretty awesome mech and a 500$ saving, I call that a pretty nice day.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks really great comment thank you

[@hexenhammer483]

I’m. BattleTech kid and in an alternate universe Lego would make BattleTech kits I sure as hell would own them all, even the ucs series

[@RisingApe]

Love it

[@supsup335]

Why is there a king crab "lego" model in the thumb nail? Can i buy that? LER'S GOOOOOO!

[@RisingApe]

Yes! Yes you can

[@harryberning3621]

Great video very well made! And yeah bricklink does take a bit of getting used to and fine tuning

[@RisingApe]

Thanks I appreciate that

[@Schlelkohov]

The only guilt I would personally feel would be credits and permission to the original designers and the ethics behind the production of the pieces themselves But Lego is a corporation, not the family-owned business it may have begun as. In the present, the company has outright purchased it's second market, and has made deals with major retailers in the US and Europe to choke out honest competitors with original part designs and themes by limiting the amount of shelf space they can have in toy aisles. As an adult who grew up with Lego aspiring to make compatible pieces of my own some day, it's incredibly disheartening, and frankly disgusting to see how greedy and cold they've become under the bright facade.

[@christianege4989]

And lastly, LEGO has no patents anymore on their bricks. They are now "public domain", anybody can produce them. Not only from the moral, but also from the legal side is there no problem buying alternative manufacturers.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for this comment, I tried to lay out how I felt in an honest way.

[@Schlelkohov]

@@RisingApe No problem, I just wish more people understood why the "everything else is a knockoff" mentality is actually harmful to the industry as a whole in the long-run Competition sparks innovation, and Lego has taken as much inspiration for their part designs in recent years from companies like Mega as they had inspired Mega in the 2000's

[@tren133]

@@christianege4989 It's like different shades of grey on the moral side of things. Lego puts the instructions for each set on their website for free, right? And a third party Chinese manufacturer can legally produce all the little pieces in that instruction, sans the "lego" moulded into each brick. So you buy the AliExpress version of the Ferrari Daytona with the aftermarket bricks and a copied instruction booklet for $70, that's technically legal I suppose, but also at the same time the AliExpress seller is totally ripping off the lego. But what if all the pieces came in yellow instead of red, is that slightly less of a bootleg? Or what if it is a retired set Lego isn't even producing anymore, is that even less of a moral issue? And then lastly, there are those amazing MOC makers who can use 3500 of the 3800 pieces in the Daytona set and turn it into a Ferrari F40. So if you paid that creator $30 for their plan, then bought this knockoff Daytona kit on AliExpress, and but you just use it to make the F40 MOC, so you didn't even build the Lego version of the kit. Is that totally fine then, and not at all a bootleg? Since after all you built a completely different set.

[@Kommunisator]

@@christianege4989 not completely true, on some pieces they still have a "3D trademark" which protects the design, and they regularly update this for new designs and challenge it in court for older ones. They don't go after the companies who make these pieces though (like GoBricks, which produce better quality bricks than Lego themselves these days), but rather the small retailers that import the pieces. They push out court orders to seize shipments based on design infringements and leave it to the shops to challenge them - who, if they are small, cannot do so and go bankrupt anyway. This goes around by word-of-mouth, and less and less small retailers are risking to import pieces and kits into Europe. Lego leaves larger companies alone. Lidl, the retail chain, sold their own brick sets around christmas, complete with figures, and Lego did not do anything because there was a risk of really having to defend themselves in court. And Lego just lost another case in the highest EU court, where they were granted rights to the design to their minifig, but lost out on preventing others from producing minifigs that fit on studs or could be seated on those - because the court said, that the figure was not a "toy figure" but a "building block figure" and as such, some design elements are necessities of the interoperability with said blocks. And since the basic blocks are not patented anymore (and Lego just lifted them from the original Kiddicraft anyway, didn't invent them), Lego cannot prevent any company anymore from creating figures that work with Building Blocks in mind. Apart from that, Lego has been producing bricks in China for a looooong time too. Almost nothing is made in Billund anymore, lots of stuff in eastern Europe, but p.ex. all minifig collectors bags come from China as per declaration on the packages. Also, basically every part in a set that is included in a separate clear plastic bag comes from china. A few of these official Lego parts don't even have a Lego stamping on them, like some aliens from older Star Wars sets. Make no mistakes, Lego is nowadays a profit-first-company, not the toymaker they once were who took risks and failed, often sitting at the brink of bankruptcy. If not for Star Wars, Lego would not be anymore. The company was offered to Mattel for a single-figure million sum, and Mattel declined back then, thinking it was a bad deal! That speaks volumes. There was a time when there were Lego sets on the market that cost them more to make than they retailed for. There was no cost control, but we got innovative and fun sets. Nowadays, look to chinese brands for this. There are lots who pay the designes and come up with fun alternatives to Lego stuff.

[@FrankJaeger803]

I bought a Xingbao bootleg Xenomorph kit off Ebay a few years back. You can definitely tell the bricks aren't as nice. I mean it holds together okay but it's very flimsy compared to Lego. It barely stands up due to the flimsy joints. What I'm considering doing is swapping the joints in the legs and hips for actual lego parts. Hopefully that'll solve it.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks, this one was pretty good, definitely display only though. Which works for me

[@dspl1991]

So basically... You got what you paid for in an entirely legal way, at a great price and a huge discount, and all the pieces fit fine, and because you didn't pay full price you're feeling bad about it? 🤔

[@RisingApe]

Basically yes..

[@SteelWolf13]

I came for the King Crab Battlemech. Stayed for the how to build.

[@RisingApe]

Thank you 🙏

[@crazyivan512]

I love that there are cheaper versions of some kits, I have bought quite a few larger kits from Temu and as You said I have always been happy with their pretty quick shipping, You definitely will have some kits that the instructions are just not good at showing what it is the kit needs assembled or where, I have always gotten extra pieces, For me, I use the Temu app on my phone and remove it after I buy the kit, and I never do any of their " its almost gone" emails, I dont spin their "wheel" for coupons, I ignore all that

[@RisingApe]

Yeh you have to avoid all the nonsense with TEMU, also like most sites, it’s worth shopping around as some stuff if cheaper locally

[@samuelgentry4125]

Ironically I got a sponsored ad on temu for this vid at the start of the video

[@RisingApe]

Haha, jokes, there is no escape I guess

[@shoulderpyro]

I see Battletech Lego. I am happy. ...i wont be buying any meself. But I still love seeing the King Crab like this

[@RisingApe]

A man of culture

[@Schregger]

I mean, I wouldnt buy from Temu, but off of Amazon, sure, possibly. But where exactly is the official lego version?

[@RisingApe]

In lots of cases TEMU and Amazon share the same suppliers. There is no official version of this model, that’s why I was happy to build it/ buy it.

[@michelangelo5903]

i have been on aliexpress for like 2-3 years and their countdown sales are legit! well some of them. a few the prices go up before the sale and then down to regular price for the sale. but for the most part the sales are good! i have purchased a few minifigs over the years and i’m happy to say the quality has improved all around since 2020 when i started!

[@kelo3801]

I've bought off Ali Express & I accept the trade off. It is buyer beware. Once u get over that, they do have a great selection of items. Do or don't...the choice is your. The King Crab is one sweet mech! The 4 the video!

[@RisingApe]

Totally agree! I have bought a fair bit from there, it’s worth shopping around though, stuff is often cheaper elsewhere and it switches around

[@michelangelo5903]

@@RisingApe that is also a great point! the deeper you look the better the sales! the prices on things have also went up since i started as well. i also recommend looking at the reviews a lot of the time you can tell if the minifigure is going to be sweet or if the print is weak (example: some clone trooper visors print terribly! but not all! some figs look great! usually the “error” is consistent on all that particular minifigure so if the captain rex you want looks like poo then so will yours! where if it looks great for the other pictures yours will look good too! hopefully i typed that up coherently i just wanted to add that to anyone who is interested but not sure.

[@michelangelo5903]

@@kelo3801 they have a great selection for sure! they have a great selection of MOCs and minifigures that Lego doesn’t make! some- most are stolen. if you can live with that then i definitely recommend it! i have only regretted a small handful of things i bought! the bad ass stuff definitely out weighs the not good.

[@dindjarjarin]

just beware that many sellers on aliexpress stole other people's MOC designs and sell them as their own. If they don't credit the original designer, it was stolen and you shouldn't support them

[@javierdarkhorse5816]

Would it be possible to put the cheap kit together with the better original instructions? Or are things just too different for that to work?

[@RisingApe]

The bricks are interchangeable as long as you use the right parts, the instructions work with any brand. You can find them in the links below the video.

[@javierdarkhorse5816]

Are the knock instructions different? Or is the Chinese instructions also using the originals?

[@RisingApe]

The instructions are the same, lifted directly from the original creator

[@deadGrlz206]

Knockoff Lego kits are pretty cool. It's fun to be able to build a nice kit without blowing hundreds off dollars. Lego's prices have gotten absolutely ridiculous

[@RisingApe]

Yeh official LEGO is basically unaffordable for me.

[@paulnortness1354]

God bless you for mentioning Amazon with Temu and Aliexpress in the same breath.

[@RisingApe]

I mean there isn’t much difference between any of them right? I have even done videos where I could have bought the same products for 3 different prices from each site, literally from the same maker.

[@mikkelnyhuus9173]

I sorted by size and shape as a kid. Looking for a gray stud piece hidden below gray large pieces was just pain.

[@RisingApe]

It really is

[@dyriten]

I own about 500€ worth of knockoff lego and If it was authentic lego the price would be something up to 3500€

[@vincentwalsh2480]

In my opinion I do buy new Lego sets but ones that are not being produced anymore I will purchase the off brand bricks. For example I got into the Lego modular sets In a big bad way 2 years ago and I bought every one that was available at the time and last month I bought the museum set that came out in December. Old sets are painfully expensive like the green grocer so I bought that from Temu. For a set like this mech, I would purchase the instructions from the creator and then source the set from Temu.

[@RisingApe]

The instructions are free to download from the creator it’s linked below the video

[@antagonist99]

Looks like you were missing a few parts? At least a 2x2 curved slope at one hip, and two bars on the left arm?

[@RisingApe]

There were a few bits that were missed but to be honest those last hours were a haze of desperation 🤪

[@mikewhitaker2880]

as long as parts can be mixed and matched it's not a super issue.. and there are some "custom" parts that even official Lego won't EVER offer... at the end of the day though, i wish i could buy more sets/parts, specially certain older sets i could not afford as a kid and are no longer available now.... and i wish i still had my collection from my child hood, even being a SMALL collection that it was....

[@RisingApe]

There are so many toys I wish I still had

[@ShortRound42]

Well if you pay slave wages in their company, no health insurance, no paid sick days, no paid vacation, no paying wages to a designer since they took the instructions (which is another employee they didn’t have to pay), no quality control, etc. Why are people naive to all this?

[@RisingApe]

I do get your point, and for some products on the TEMU platform this is the case, not this product though or I wouldn’t have made it. The design is Fan Art and so is freely available, and this isn’t any different to any other Chinese product, LEGO itself is partially manufactured in China too.

[@ShortRound42]

@@RisingApe You're not understanding. Oh boy, another one. What do you think, the bricks magically were made and put into that package all by itself. Once again, the reason it's still priced 'cheaper' than a regular brick building product is there is VERY LITTLE OVERHEAD. Some person still has to do the work to get the bricks sorted and packaged to you. Well those people are paid slave wages. Someone still has to run and maintain the injection molding machines that produce the ACTUAL physical parts that were sent to you. Well, those people do actually exist and are paid a pittance. And regardless if it's fan art. Did you get it for FREE? No right? Someone took the instructions and mass produced it, sold it for a profit. And you just enabled them. I'm sure they weren't a charity, right? Again, why are people naive to the real world.

[@RisingApe]

Thank goodness you enlightened me.

[@Fredministrator]

Lego didn't really invent those bricks as far as I know. they just added a few stabilizers to them. They basicly profit of marketing, a big marked share and seamingly abusive missuse of trade marks (as far as I can tell). The part where someone produces models from hansenbricks without permission is certainly a concern. Also the model design is probably owned by Battletech.

[@RisingApe]

I have no issue with LEGO tbh, but the BT IP situation is very confusing

[@Fredministrator]

@@RisingApe I absolutely agree

[@diatonicdelirium1743]

There is one Chinese brick manufacturer (GoBricks) that produces bricks at least as good as Lego. None of these infringe on a copyright or patent by Lego, so that's a nonissue. When it comes to designs things get murkier, unfortunately those do get pirated and marketed by other Chinese companies.

[@RisingApe]

Interesting thanks

[@tftf60]

There are a lot of original brick Sets, that have nothing to to with Lego. And Lego brick quality isn't rising in my opinion.

[@RisingApe]

I am a noob in this area so I will defer on this one but thanks for the comment

[@junior1138]

I have a few of these knock off Grail pieces as well as many genuine items. (Last one was the big Razor Crest.) They are unarguably lower quality than the original product. Lines aren’t as straight, material is softer, corners don’t square. That having been said, the inadequacies are fairly minor and the finished items are just fine. Being hyper critical, my big Century Pigeon (as opposed to Millennium Falcon) has started to sag a little under its own mass and isn’t keen on moving around!

[@RisingApe]

Aye it’s not as good but it is within reach financially

[@junior1138]

@@RisingApe I was a ton for the big Helicarrier. Can’t remember what the Falcon cost, but it wasn’t a payment in a BMW X1!

[@Meg_A_Byte]

It's the same dilemma as with anything else. You buy cheaper stuff - you get cheaper product. The quality is one thing and because bricks are not a practical product, it doesn't really matter. But the other thing is that you value the "real", the high quality stuff way more and for way longer. Society of consumerism is teaching us to buy everything (and now more often to rent everything), so no one value their stuff anymore. If you spend 500$ extra on something, you're going to like it a lot more and for a lot longer. Not to mention the actual resell value which is almost zero with knock-off sets, but still high with LEGO. TLDR: Terrible ethics aside, if you buy more expensive stuff, it's better for you and the market.

[@RisingApe]

Definitely some great points in here, thanks for making them. I don’t know I fully agree with you, with some high cost products there is no intrinsic value in there beyond artificial demand for example Diamonds. Or cult LEGO sets, if your aim is just to build a kit or have your kids play with it, then that is also valid.

[@Meg_A_Byte]

@@RisingApe I'm neither a collector or have experience with off-brand bricks, but the QA and as I mentioned the resell value means that LEGO is in fact more luxury product which means your experience with it is different.

[@TransGalGaming]

you cant tell me this isn't an upgraded version of ED 209.....

[@RisingApe]

I can but they were released super close to each other in the 80s definitely lots of creative licensing I reckon

[@ascensionindustries9631]

There are some Mould King kits I want, but I would order directly from them. Temu is a scam. They reel you in with cheap prices then charge you double for other products. For example, a Hiya Toys figure was listed for 68% off at over $40. I buy Hiya Toys and that figure is no more than $24. There were alot more like this too.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh, Ali express and Amazon do this too, always pays to shop around.

[@zibberebbiz]

I live in Hanoi and I have almost a decade of experience regularly buying bootleg Lego sets, which are easily found in hundreds of stores around the city, including a few really big ones with direct lines to China. I'm building the bootleg Rivendell today and it is so pristine and well done. I mean, in terms of being "fake". Yes, it says "Lopd of the Ring" on the box, but it's pretty perfect. There might be a few somewhat loose or tight fitting parts (for Rivendell specifically, the flame parts in the candles need a little glue/putty to stay in place), and I feel like you can tell the plastic is a bit lower quality, but generally they're indistinguishable and I save SO MUCH MONEY. I can't even say that I save money, because I wouldn't be able to afford all these sets in the first place. I saved up for a "real" Lion Knight's castle last year, but that was so expensive I could barely justify it. I'm glad I did it, for nostalgia purposes, but I just can't afford to do that again. I don't make a lot of money and I do not feel guilty at all that I turn to "fake" Lego to have access to awesome building experiences. btw you say "Chinese Lego" but you know Lego Lego is made literally in the same neighborhood in China as these bootlegs, right?

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for the comment, I’m new to scene, I built the kit as a fun post Christmas side project. A few folks have pointed the LEGO build location to me in the comments though

[@mortenbaywedebye4714]

What is your/the best goto place in Hanoi in terms of price and volume/selections? I would love to buy for my kids?

[@RisingApe]

From Vietnam? No idea to be honest my guess would be a reseller online.

[@mortenbaywedebye4714]

@@RisingApe sorry was trying to ask @zibberebbish 😊👍

[@RisingApe]

Haha 😜 sorry that makes more sense, I don’t see the comments in context. Hope you get your answer and thanks for watching

[@tvandbeermakehomergo]

I purchased a 1-1 clone of the lego Titanic for £80. Been great so far, and no major issues, but the quality is not as good as real lego. Still though if your on a budget its a good option if you want a top tier set

[@RisingApe]

Nice, thanks for watching

[@BigrookieMER]

The mech looks like awesome upgrade of ED209.

[@RisingApe]

I had to Google it, and yup possibly was based on it, the 209 was 1987 the KCG 000 was 1989

[@sjoerdvogels]

I bought this same set, also from TEMU, but i had problems with attaching the torso to the legs. They didnt just correctly fit. 1 side is forced, the other side the pin just broke....All in all still a great set, some missing pieces while building and like 100 pieces left when i got it finished😂. By far the best set ive ever build.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh, don’t get me wrong this is absolutely for display ( you don’t want to be handling it) but it’s very cool!

[@sjoerdvogels]

It went wrong with assembling, the torso had to move 3mm to fit correctly into the legs ( don't know where it went wrong, did everything right) wish I could add photos, page 169 took me 1 hour to get it right. It stands now, I'm just afraid to move it.

[@KORNdog1986]

Personally I don't see any issue with buying cheap KO Lego. But generally I tend to stick with kits that are either never going to be made by Lego themselves or kits that have tried and failed getting through the Lego Ideas stage. I have stuff like an Alien chestburster, a Wipeout Feisar ship, , a Ken Block Hoonigan, a Spinner car from Bladerunner, the Akira bike and a Johnny 5...Lego could make these things...if they did I would buy them from Lego! But they don't...and I'm not going to source all the parts to build them myself with official bricks. Which is where these AliExpress kits fit in. Sure they might not have the tolerances of real Lego. They might have a few bits missing. But for the price I really can't complain.

[@RisingApe]

The Akira bike would be a great kit.

[@andreynasonov9527]

No one wants to say it but, if you’re okay sacrificing the original experience of the instruction manual and organization, then its a great way to get legos for very cheap

[@RisingApe]

In this case the instructions were great and in pdf format

[@stijnd5268]

Odd, when I upload it in bricklink is only comes to about 300~ euros for the full parts list including the rare pieces (though this does include used)

[@RisingApe]

That’s is weird, although I guess it flips around, for a UK supplier it was around £550 for me, there were others too

[@joserosas7944]

As a amateur builder always try to save money so i bought non lego bricks, but if i can i try to spend some money on original, so the company can keep on market so we can see new creations

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it

[@nogardmarith]

The IP theft comes form a company selling a kit of a trademarked IP. Granted generating a instruction for a BM can fall under fair uses laws as long as you're not soul purpose of making money off it. That is the reason why some of these companies I don't support. Yeah you can get an awesome "Lego Technic" supercar model but I'm pretty sure they don't have any of the licensing required.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh it gets very murky the deeper you go sadly. And no chance they are licenced sets

[@stevenwilliams7905]

I have that mech on my “to build” list but have put it on hold because I have two other BattleTech mechs I want to build first. I finished building a Marauder 3R MOC and found I could save money by buying used bricks, it cut my cost down more than I thought. However, I also learned that some brick colours should NOT be bought USED, namely white. It’s a troublesome colour with many used white bricks ending up on the yellowy side with age. BrickLink is the best spot for bricks and with careful selection and looking at sellers you can get some good deals. My Marauder was just over $150 US in the end. Downside is of course cost of some of the more intensive mech MOC’s. My next build is a Warhammer and it is pricier than the Marauder. However, from all appearances the ‘Hammer looks like a sturdier build than the Marauder which I have had to and am still in the process of making modifications on the less structurally sound part joints. We will see how this turns out when I am done. Oh, my Marauder can be seen on various FB BattleTech pages.

[@RisingApe]

Awesome, it might even have been your marauder build that made me take the plunge on the king crab

[@rionsteiner4422]

I just skip on part where theres Lego assembling.

[@RisingApe]

By all means

[@serpintinelion8926]

Yeah I have bought several sets of knockoff Lego's. The UCS Millennium Falcon, Ewok village, Razorcrest, UCS Sandcrawler, and a few larger MOC sets (my son and I are huge Star Wars nerds). Have saved a lot of money and have not had any issues with brick quality or delivery.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for watching and for the comment

[@serpintinelion8926]

@@RisingApealso used to play the tabletop battletech with miniatures and loved it. The Crusader or Archer were my favorite’mechs to use. Think I still have all the technical readouts in a box somewhere with all my miniatures.

[@sandykauffman8856]

I've bought pieces and very small sets on Temu , but I'm Not dumb enough to even Attempt to buy Anything bigger then afew dozen pieces.

[@RisingApe]

I mean this turned out fine, and this seller sells on multiple platforms. TEMU just hosts 3rd party sellers

[@doug3117]

I bought a 'classic car' from Brickloot to try the Chinese products. About 1,000 pieces. Problem of not knowing which bags to open when, pieces not fitting together easily, 3 pieces breaking. End result is OK, but I'll stick with the real Lego in future.

[@RisingApe]

Aye from what I have seen it’s a Wild West out there

[@C4l4b82]

This King Crab looks awesome. One of my favorite mechs.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks

[@caccioman]

For my understanding of copyright law it is not legal

[@RisingApe]

Pretty sure this is, off brand bricks are fine and the model and instructions are not IP protected. But it’s absolutely a bit icky about the lack of credit for the designers

[@noodles2459]

I mainly use ali express from hobby supplies like bases and grass tufts etc.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh I have used Ali Express a lot, check out my other video on it. And thanks for watching

[@slate613]

Guy from Midwinter Mini's got a gift of a 3D printed Atlas in Warhammer 40K Epic scale! It's half the size of a Warlord Titan!

[@RisingApe]

Yeh I saw that video it’s awesome

[@britishtechguru]

Temu seems OK for BASIC things like Android circuits and add-ons but TERRIBLE for completed things like cameras etc.

[@RisingApe]

It’s a real Wild West, I have another TEMU vid where I tested some hobby bits, most were great

[@gundamzeta3447]

I often see this advertised for £50 somehow! Some of my favourite models of the Lego adjacent verity are from competitors like Coby and Mega and contrary from popular opinion they aren’t knockoffs or fake but alternative, to be fake or knockoffs they would have to directly copy a model design form Lego or market themselves as an Lego product. Companies like Leppin comes to mind. But other companies like Mega are well known for having official licensing for things like Halo and Pokemon like how Lego has a license for StarWars. Cobi is popular because it’s one of the few doing great historical military models.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh let bricks do some awesome MOCs which have nothing to do with LEGO. Big fan of

[@arielle2745]

Speaking of money, I 💖 your table. So cool.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks 🙏

[@Neonsilver13]

Regarding the morallity of buying bricks from other manufacturers. Lego has lowered the quality of it's sets for years, whle at the same time increasing the price. No one should feel bad for not wanting to buy original Lego bricks. Especially since some of the third party bricks are easily comparable to lego quality wise, some are from what I heard even better. Additionally Lego is more likely to increase a lawyers salary to try to shut a competitor down this way instead of improving their products. In general if you pick a Lego set and compare it with a set from a different company that depicts something similar, for example a police station, you will likely pay half the price and/or get twice as many bricks out of it. Even if you do that comparison with a current Lego set and a similar Lego set from ten years ago you will have a similar result. So you might get better bricks from other companies, but there you wouldn't have the convenience of bricklink or of buying the set prepackaged from a questionable source. In general unless you want a specific licenced set, there is little reason to go for original Lego.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh, this seems like a fair response. Thanks

[@valley_robot]

I'm happy with my 23 quid Ali express millennium falcon so far, the instructions are great, it fits together really good, it's going on display so I don't care if I have to glue some pieces, it's a discontinued lego kit, but even if it wasn't I don't care, I have lots of fake lego and lots of real lego and as a 53 year old man I couldn't give a shit about brand loyalty, the fake stuff is fine if you don't care about reselling

[@RisingApe]

Fair point, for me it’s not about brand loyalty and more about copyright. Lego isn’t my thing really so I am not wedded either way.

[@Scotty-Z70]

actually there are three sides to every coin

[@WizardOfOss]

Haven't bought from Temu (yet), I have got quite a number of sets from Ali though. Mostly LOZ, which are actually 25% smaller than Lego. And in general I've been very happy with those. Yes, there's the sorting issue, but other than that, only minor annoyances. Especially considering the prices, I can live with that. And most importantly: the end result looks really good. They actually cut a lot less corners than Lego often does. And the amount of spare parts you get is pretty insane. I have always tried to avoid IP theft, either it being a copy of a Lego set of a stolen fan design. Unfortunately still ended up with one set (Shanghai Metro) that seems very much inspired by a (by now rejected) Lego Ideas submission, which I'm pretty sure was first. And even when I think the LOZ version is an improvement over the (supposed) original design, it still feels wrong. Luckily there are now quite a number of brands that have stopped such practices, and now have either their own (good!) designs, or actually credit and pay a fan designer. And some even design their own unique parts......some of which have actually been copied by Lego 🙂

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for this comment, that’s really good to hear.

[@TKs3DPrints]

well lego lost the patent for lego in 1978. i remember the lego software they use to build you own models. though the best ones get picked and sold by lego.. i put 4 parts together as a test to see how much it would cost.. for just 4 small parts would have been over 10 pounds not including post. think the main problem that people go for the other kits has to be the price.. i keep seeing the millennium falcon on sale on facebook adds.. you know its a scam and for that price it just has to be a scam.. but man i would so love to build that.. but i also would have no place to put it after. lol.

[@RisingApe]

Yeh the millennium falcon is a cult classic now, I would like one and I don’t even really follow Star Wars

[@ShaharLevy]

What's with the saturation? Haha I'm new to the channel

[@RisingApe]

What do you mean? Never had that comment before, is it too high? If so what device are you watching on, just so I can review.

[@ShaharLevy]

@@RisingApeIt just changes significantly throughout the video. Compare 0:35 and 0:41

[@ShaharLevy]

@@RisingApe or 1:50 and 1:55

[@RisingApe]

​​⁠thanks for the feedback, I will take a look, I probably made a mistake in the edit tbh, this one was filmed over several days and while I try to keep it all tight its still a learning curve for me.

[@ShaharLevy]

@@RisingApeno problem, and it's a really nice video covering this build

[@STRYKER1467]

The Thumbnail got me... oh man imagine if Lego would do battletech stuff that would be amazing, also is it minifig size ?

[@RisingApe]

No it’s nearly 18” tall the mini figs are around 3”

[@STRYKER1467]

@@RisingApe I think taller mechs are possible but wallet wise it would probably be good if they make ligh mechs like the commando jenner cougar crimson hawk locus urban mech and many more they are small enough for a diorama for a minifugure size display.

[@gizmomckopp1131]

If LEGO made them, the would be made of as few bricks as possible, any meaningful detail would rely on cheap stickers, and there'd be blue pins visible everywhere. Plus, you'd have to sell your daughter to afford them. Look at Cobi, Pantasy and Bluebrixx - they put LEGO to shame.

[@roddlez]

The ick factor of Temu is real. The old adage, you get what you pay for, applies there. In this case, you got all the bricks you needed for this MOC, unsorted, with no instructions and since there is no IP theft or illegal stuff going on, so as long as the price you paid feels fair for what you received… I don’t think anything else really matters. (Even if Temu is screwing over its sellers-it’s not like they are forced to sell on Temu)

[@RisingApe]

Yup I agree, I did get instructions though, they sent a card with a QR CODE

[@roddlez]

@@RisingApe technically, this is true! 😂 probably a good thing as paper instructions end up in trash eventually anyway Great video

[@michaelp9061]

This set looks crazy. I would just get this over inflated legos.

[@RisingApe]

The set is amazing

[@Xiv2022]

You dodged the Ninjon Temu issue. Thank you for pointing out that, nevermind Temu, even Amazon use time limited predatory marketing.

[@RisingApe]

Absolutely they are all at it. TEMU is just the latest

[@VonFreklstein]

Lego did a price hike in the summer of 2022, some sets were raised by a lot like the medieval blacksmith went from 150 to 180. This is a hike of 20% despite Lego already raking in billions a year, being toy company number 1. Hows that for being ethical?

[@RisingApe]

Really good point

[@czapioch]

Two things: 1. those bricks aren't Lego. They look like Lego but they aren't Lego. 2. There's no official Lego model of this mech. You're referring to MOC.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for watching

[@Smartiekid1984]

Just because something is built from 3rd party bricks, doesn't automatically make it bad. My least enjoyable build was an official kit. The LEGO Bugatti Bolide was a horrible build. Looks nice, but not a nice build experience. I've built a few kits using 'unofficial' bricks by now and only twice have I noticed a quality issue. One set was a kit that was only a few pounds from Home Bargains so poor QC was to be expected. The other was a large unlicenced Lamborghini, This definitely felt and looked like it was a 'knock off', but still for less than £20 it was definitely a decent buy, especially if somebody was after a low cost gift, or somebody just dipping their toe into brick building as a hobby. Sometimes, LEGO kits are just so heavily cost prohibitive, so having a lower cost option is only a problem for those with elitist attitudes or no financial restrictions.

[@RisingApe]

Ooh yeh just had a look, that Bugatti looks horrific!

[@yeezeey4037]

I hope you did not run into a situation where there are missing pieces. Buying 3rd party brick sets carry such risks at quite a high percentage let alone this set you have are in the thousand of pieces.

[@RisingApe]

There were a few pieces I had to sub for different colours (that were included) but no it wasn’t bad on that front.

[@Roysac]

Rip Offs are always a mixed bag, but there are many legal alternative companies like Pantasy, FunWhole, Wange, CaDa, Cobi and more, that are much cheaper than Lego and by now offer even better quality products than the self proclaimed "Quality Leader". ... Also. Do not sort pieces by color. Always sort by type. ;)

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for that, and yeh OMG lesson learned about sorting pieces…

[@ShyGuyXXL]

You should be careful if you're going to call this "Lego". The Lego company has been known for coming after KZbinrs who use the Lego brand name interchangeably to mean any Lego-esque interlocking bricks. If they're not actually made by Lego, you're not supposed to call them that. Even if the bricks have the exact same shapes as Lego bricks. Otherwise Lego runs the risk of their company name becoming a generic term like Sellotape, Band-Aid or Chapstick, and they might lose the ownership over their name. Don't quote me on this, but I think they've even threatened to sue youtubers over this sort of thing. So if you're talking about a knock-off brand, it's best not to literally call it Lego.

[@RisingApe]

Thanks for the heads up

[@ShyGuyXXL]

@@RisingApe No problem!

[@KnotXackly]

Is your desk made out of epoxy/resin and actual coins?

[@RisingApe]

Yeh, 1800 2p coins and a resin poured top

[@KnotXackly]

So it was £360 for just the coins?

[@alnilam8933]

​@@KnotXackly £36

[@SIG442]

I refuse to even try Temu, ali express etc. For LEGO or even 3rd party I rather buy from sources that are more well known in a positive way.

[@RisingApe]

Fair enough