Brick Toys and all Sorts: 2014

2014 has been my year of Lego knockoff (Bootlego) minifigures purchase. Initially I do not have any intention in buying-collecting Lego minifigures. As much as I like original Lego minifigs, but the minifigures are expensive and mostly comes together as a part of a bigger Lego play set.

After the first minifig purchase of Decool brand TMNT Mikey and Raphael for my kids to play, I find this imitation minifigures good in quality and almost match the original.

Ralph lost its head, so just assume its the Pulverizer

Due to the popularity of the Marvel Avengers and Iron man movie, bootleg company comes out with their Superheroes collector set, and I find the bootleg version of these Super heroes under the Decool brand nice and cute. It also come with Spidey, Supe and Wolverine.

The Hulk is mini then, Fury and Black Widow is not part of this initial release

This is the start of the bootleg(o) minifigures collection.
Note : I am not reviewing in detail here, the internet have many sites already reviewing these bootlegs with many view of the minifigs..

Subsequent purchases are quite in numbers;
Decool Iron man variants (Iron Patriot, War machine, Iron Man Mks) and the remaining Decool TMNT Leonardo, Donnie and Sinseh Splinter (refer previous picture). Due to some Decool Iron Man suits are not available, hence I got some from Sheng Yuen (SY) Iron Man minifigures. and find that SY brand is also good in quality. Unlike Decool, SY do not practice both side printing on the head, and the leg design is slightly different. (they changed later)

Iron Man minifigs - one of the best character to collect

Next bought the SY first wave Star Wars series (Young Obiwan, Good Analkin, Yoda) and Chima Lion Laval and father Lagravis. (my Kids like them after watching the Chima 4D theatre in Legoland Malaysia).

Next purchase is the SY Superman series (8 pcs set) - only got 7 out of 8 as one superman is bought earlier from the Decool Super Heroes series purchase. Bizzaro is unique. I never knew such character exist from Superman if not through this minifigs, and I got to know from the net that Lego did not come out this Bizzaro character.

SY 187 Supes - Like that Bizzaro

Then come SY Batman variant series (8 pcs set) - love the White Batman, I thought Batman never wears white. One can actually paint the white batman into red, yellow or blue. It is from this set that I first encounter defects from SY bootleg(o) minifigures, not due to the unavailability of the Batarang (although dissapointed) as I don't consider contents variation from illustration as a defect, but a serious printing defect. (See for your self) Robin must got slapped real hard from Batman. But, this really makes the figure Unique. ( I got a replacement head for this).

SY 182 See Robin's face - too much "Oppa Gangnam style"

Subsequent purchase is the SY Latern Corp series (8 pcs set). Did not purchase all 8 characters at one time as most of the Lantern Corps minifigs are not in stock during my purchase due to it has been in the market for quite some time. Takes me quite a while to get Green Lantern and finally White Corp to complete the collection. (notice the logo for White lantern is printed wrongly, but SY corrected it in later release) Do not know why SY did not come out with the remaining Lantern Corps, maybe they are not so in demand like Iron Man. Love that blue guy

SY 186 Lantern Corps - I like the Blue Guy

Bought a simple SY friends 6 box set for my girl, but she prefers TMNT. Later SY release bigger friend's set with accompanying nice setups includes all the 6 characters (same face, same shirt). Hence, if you plan to buy all 6 of those bigger boxes, don’t need to buy the earlier 6 figs set.

Friends - bigger box set with houses

The remaining initial release SY Chima set .....good quality set.

SY Star Wars characters (later 2nd wave release with 8 fig set instead of 6 fig set on 1st wave release).

SY195 with LeLe's Vs series (comes with dark battle droid and white platform)

The SY Iron Man second wave series.

Iron man and Pepper Pot inside the display case (extra one here)

The first LeLe(LL) superheroes release did not get a good review, and personally, I find LL Superheroes set a bootleg of bootleg minifigures - low quality in detail and finishing. But my first LeLe minifigures purchase of the Lone Ranger 8 pcs set is surprisingly good. One of the good set from LeLe. No defect, no missing parts. Contents inside is same as what is illustrated on the box. LL is famous for providing all sorts of extra weapons not corresponding to the box illustration, especially for their Ninja(go) sets. Tonto is not included in this set

78010 Too bad Tonto is not featured

LeLe's fitting is very tight, so, fitting the hand or arm need some force, and will result in painful finger tips.. Anyway, start to accept LeLe as the 3rd choice for bootlego brand, but only purchase if Decool and SY did not come out that specific character.

SY Spiderman 8 fig set; and gradually one by one of the remaining variants from LL Spiderman set. Only now I know Spidey actually have so many costumes variant. Initially I thought this bootlego is pulling my leg, turn out the costumes depict are actually featured.

SY 188 Spidey set - Carnage is good

LeLe 78018 Four out of the 8 figs Ultimate Spidey set

Got the LL Lord of the Ring set next Only got 5 out of the 8 pcs set. I got Frodo later from the LeLe 2in1 big Goblin King set (HoBpit 78033 set with Goblin king and same LL LOTR characters). I find Gandalf's beard having the same color as his shirt, so I paint it slightly white-grey

78051 (6 of 8 without that fat Goblin)

78033 if you want the fat goblin (but we don't need 8 right!)

Popularity of these bootleg minifigures spawn a few more makers - brand trying to enter the market. I have tried one brand IQ, well, it does not take a high IQ person to judge its quality. Somehow no other bootleg brand has Two Face yet, and I find him acceptable. Harley Quinn haven't complete her makeup yet (she's not white). Surprisingly, IQ has double face printing, Two Face actually has "three" face here (ha ha)

We are not getting married

Not recommended buy

Sheng Yuan 8 pcs Captain America Winter Solder set. Only bought 7 minifigs from this set, as one CapA is already available from the Super Heroes set earlier (the expresion and weapon is different, but it’s just a small detail). Being a winter soldier set, there's no winter soldier (Bucky) minifig inside. SY made all CapA aka Steve Rogers in various forms and one lady in CapA suit (I found out much later she closely resembles Stargirl from DC comics, but she don't use a shield). SY should come out Falcon (black winged) and Bucky (Winter Soldier) instead of just concentrate on one character.

SY 169 Why no Bucky

Not enough of CapA? Lele also came out with their CapA Winter Soldier 8 pcs set at the same time focusing on Steve Rogers, but LL CapA shield look like an umbrella or a parachute top. For those that want Winter Soldier, Decool has it.

SpongeBob Squarepants set from SY. (8 pcs set). Good, but two of the minifigs are not to my expectation. Patrick Star – he is greedy, but why need to make him so messy. The worse is Sandy Squirrel, OMG, why is she having PATRICK STAR's body? If it is not economical to make her tail, then obmit this de-Tail. There's so many lady minifig body from previous set that can be used, why need to choose Patrick’s body. (!!!). Just print any woman body design with a scuba diving uniform is good enough. This really drop the standard of SY.

SY177 Spongebob, one of my kids fav cartoon

LeLe too come out their Spongebob set, almost similar, but without Sandy.
The Superhero SpngeBob is nice, but the McDonald toy looks better (and cheaper).

Before SY comes out with their Castle set, LeLe (LL) already has their own 8pcs set. LL come out two 8 pcs set (later more), but some of the minifig are repeated in these 2 sets, even the "side accessories" are the same. So, unless you plan to make an army of medieval soldiers, or want to make a chess set, then go ahead and get all the sets, if not, just select the different ones from these Castle series. The soldiers have different face printing and uniform are different.

Internet image of an Original LEGO chess set

It is from this Castle set that I start to be more careful with LeLe's contents. Many issues from this Castle set (repeated minifigs from different batches, missing accessories, different color legs, character inside is different from what illustrated outside on the box - and it is not accidental as I exchanged 3 boxes and encounter the same issue.

Funny thing, SY and LL don't make any Queen in their sets. LL has a princess. Quite hard to make a chess set without the mighty Queen.

Toy story bootlego minifig from Sheng Yuen (SY172). Overall is good, a bit disappointed that SY included a dirty Woody - Buzz together with a clean Woody - Buzz in this 8 box set. Original Lego have the Horse and Stinky Pete. Maybe Pete is not economical to make, but the horse is like any other minifig horse, just the face printout is different. If SY can change the facial expression of Woody and Buzz, they can change the facial expression on the horse mold. Anyway, for a "dirt" cheap price, it is still affordable to get a "dirt" covered best buddies.

SY172 - Toy Story 4

You got a friend in me

My son says the Toy Story minifigs looks "real" compare to other minifigures. Initially do not get what he means, turns out that he meant the figs resemble very closely to the actual characters. Well, due to the Toys story's main characters are Toys, so, a "toy" made into a toy will sure look like the real character which is a Toy.

LeLe Movie wave 1 (not that special, no Emmet)- spoof off from the Lego movie. LL Wave 2 set has Emmet.

78023 This is the Daiso display casing I normally use to house the minifigs

Started to buy the Ninjas from the Ninjago series. The reason it took me so long to get them is because the stall did not sell them initially. Bought the LeLe set, then the LeLe vs. set (with skeletons and all the earlier LL Ninjago releases), then the SY set and when Decool finally come out their version (same characters) much later, I got so much similar Ninjago that I did not get them. Basically, I lost track of LeLe's releases on Ninjagos. Actually, Decool released many Ninjago set earlier.

Ninjagos from LeLe vs series

One of the better LeLe Ninjago set

Bad guys of Ninjago LeLe Vs set (printing is not that good)

SY 173 Ninjago set Techno robes - minus Sinseh Garmadon (no stock)

LeLe Lloyd Garmadon, Gold Ninja and PIXAL (LL gave one extra PiXAl)

More SY super heroes and super villains

SY 161 Marvel Avenger Assemble - Hulk is big from now, Cap A is ...not nice

SY 171 - did not get Batman (too man of him)

My girl's favourite - Nickleodeon TMNT collection

SY176 with one LeLe Fish Face (78016)

Some minifigs from Lego clone big box Firemen set from Enlighten. Enlighten is actually quite good and mainly comes out their own designs.

... and some loose purchase of various mini figures from JLB (Justified Lame Buy) and others

JLB One Piece ( Bought only one piece out of 8) and red Hulk , SY Cute animal series (only bought one out of 8)

If Decool is my top choice, why I did not purchase any Decool minifig after the initial purchase? This is due to the place I reside mainly supply SY and LL brand and have very limited location selling the Decool brand which cost 60% more expensive. Therefore, I mainly get the SY/LL figures. But from November 2014, after I mentioned to the seller to get from his supplier the Decool series, from then on the store starts selling Decool (yeah - but still limited as the cost price is higher). His business boom, and so is my collection.

Anyway, nothing beats the imagination of building Lego bricks.