Monday, December 25, 2017

Bootleg Minifigures Database By Down The Blocks

Welcome back to Bricks and Figs! 

Quick pop quiz today:


  1. What's the latest and greatest set of bootleg minifigures to come out?
  2. Who are the big manufacturers of bootleg minifgs at the moment?
  3. Is there a bootleg of a minifigure I want?


If you are like me and want the latest bootleg minifigure news, you want to head on over to Down The Blocks blog.   They always have the latest news about new minifigures that are showing up.

I briefly thought about compiling a list of bootleg minifigures a couple of years ago but gave up because I knew I could never keep up.   This was back when Sheng Yuan and Decool ruled the bootleg minifigure world.  After awhile they were rehashing the release of super heroes minifigures and there was only so many Iron Man and Captain America figures they could make.

Then came the Pogo and Xinh explosion coming with new super heroes I've never even heard of.
There's such a variety that it boggles the mind.  And it's such a major task trying to keep track of all of them.

Fortunately Down the Blocks has done the impossible by creating Minifigure Databases for both Pogo and Xinh brands.  These are currently the two major bootleg brands to produce minifigures.   



Here's the the direct links to the Pogo Minifigures Database List and the Xinh Minifigures Database List.   Go to Down the Blocks now! 

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Just got 2 new Lepin sets: City Crane 02069 and Park People 02058


I'm going to be reviewing these two new Lepin sets soon.  The first is the Lepin 02058 Cities Park People building set and the second is the Lepin 02069 City Crane set.   I got both of these sets from Reddit seller Jeremy (not Aliexpress).   Stay tuned!

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Not Lego Pogo Spiderverse Minifigures Set PG8017 Review

 

Here's a new 8 mini figure set from Pogo.  It's set PG8017 featuring the Spiderverse allies and foes, which is a knockoff of the Lego super heroes minifigures.  These are actual pictures from my collection.

PG068 Captain America


Captain America - front.


Captain America - back.

PG069 Spider Girl (Petra Parker)

Spider Girl, front view.

Spider Girl, rear view.

PG070 Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly)

Scarlet Spider in front.

Scarlet Spider from behind.

PG071 Kraven the Hunter (Sergei Kravinoff)

Kraven angry face.

Kraven from behind.

Kraven with regular face.

PG072 Scorpion (Mac Gargan)

Scorpion, front view.

Scorpion, rear view.

Scorpion, side view.

PG073 Hobgoblin


Hobgoblin has 2 different faces.  Unfortunately I could not remove his head from the cowl to show you his other face.  He comes with the extra pumpkin head.

Hobgoblin backside under his cape.

PG074 Sandman (Flint Marko)

Sandman has two faces, this is the scowling face.

This is Sandman's angry face.


Sandman's backside.

PG075 Stan Lee


Single face


Stan Lee came with bare arms, so I switched his arms with a mini figure from my collection that had light tan arms.



Brand: Pogo
Series: PG8017 Spiderverse
Number of minifigures: 8

Sunday, October 15, 2017

Keep on Trucking


Hey All, just wanted to do a little picture show today.  I have all these cool city and delivery vehicles which drive around Its-Not-Lego town to bring in supplies and keep the town clean.


This is the Enlighten brand Garbage Truck and Street Cleaner.  Model 1101.


Also by Enlighten, this nifty Ice Cream Truck. Model 1112.


An Express delivery truck by Enlighten.  Model 1119.


This tractor trailer is from Wange.  Model 40615.


This small delivery truck is from Kazi. Model 6093.


This super long truck and trailer is also by Wange.  Model 40616.


This utility truck is by Sluban.  It's from the Tower Crane set B0555.


And finally, the Lepin City Truck. Model 02036.



As you can see, I still have a few more reviews to do, so hopefully I will get to that soon.  Bye for now.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Fake Friends Minifigures Review

 I've bought a few bootleg Friends building sets in the past, primarily to use the bricks and accessories for my MOC sets.  Over time, I've acquired a few of the Friends minifigures from different bootleg brands such as Bela, Sheng Yuan (SY), and Lepin.  I prefer to use Lego style minifigs in my displays, so these ones all get tossed into a plastic bag.

 If you're wondering why they are all bald, it's because their hairpieces are actually compatible with the Lego minifigure heads.  The majority of the Friends style minifigs are female, but there are about two or three male minifigs.  In terms of uniqueness, almost all of them have their own outfit, I think there's only one or two that are duplicates.  Also the faces of the friends minifigures have some variations in facial features and eye colours too.



Here is a list of the sets where the Friends style minifigs come from:

  • Bela 10169 Pet Hospital
  • Bela 10162 Cafe
  • Bela 10541 Emma's House
  • Bela 10403 Recording Studio
  • Lepin 01007 Hotdog Van
  • Lepin 01011 Pizzeria
  • SY Pop Star


 Stored away in the same bag, are the Sluban style of minifigures, also not compatible with the Lego style.  While most of them are male, there are a few female minifigs in the Sluban line-up as well.  I figured I might as well take pictures of them too, since I have them out.

A lot of the Sluban minifigures come from the construction series, that's why there' so many of them in overalls.  A lot of them came with red hardhats, and fortunately, they will fit on a Lego style minifigure head.  The hairpieces aren't that great but they do kind of fit also.  That's why these ones are bald too.  If you look closely, they do have some unique looking faces.

Here's a list of the Sluban sets where these minifigs come from:

  • M38-B0516 (City series) Girl at Mailbox
  • M38-B0565 (City series) Hotdog Cart
  • M38-B0563 (City series) Courier
  • M38-B0523 (City Series) Camper
  • M38-B0551 (Construction series) Excavator
  • M38-B0539 (Construction series) Steam Roller
  • M38-B0555 (Construction series) Tower Crane
  • M38-B0552 (Construction series) Dump Truck
  • M38-B0550 (Construction series) Cement Mixer


So do you collect Friends style minifigures and do you ever mix the alternate brands with the Lego stlye minifigures?

Monday, September 25, 2017

I made a Mini Modular MOC from several brands of bricks.


Hi there!  Yesterday, I was going through some army related brick sets I have.  They aren't a theme that I've really gotten into.  So I did an inventory and I had an army base, a military Jeep, a combat medic ambulance, an assortment of motorcycles and several army minifigs.  Oops, I guess I should have taken proper pics of them before taking them all apart.  I started deconstructing them so I could use some of the green bricks in making a new mini modular.

And here's the final result.  As it turned out, I didn't use that many of the dark green bricks because I didn't want a modular that was too dark.  I ended up just using the army green bricks around the foundation and some accent pieces along the roof.  

The First Floor


With my limited amount of bricks, the best option for me was to make another two storey building in the same design as my Hsanhe KFE mini modular building.   Here's a peek at the first floor looking in.  As you can see it's still unfurnished.  I've used some of the green bricks as banding around the foundation perimeter and closer to the top.

The white bricks come from different brands, hence the colour inconsistencies.  I think I used white(ish) bricks from Megablocks (the worst, they yellow), some from Gudi and Sluban, and some from Enlighten.  I figure nobody is going to see the sides of my building anyways.  The one brand that's not in this building? Lego, lol.

 The front facade is borrowed from the Enlighten Sunshine hotel set.  The front and rear green doors are taken from a Hsanhe set I reviewed last week.


 Another look at the side reveals a lot of colour inconsistencies amongst different brick bands.

Like the first floor, the second floor is empty also.  The second floor roof uses black tile bricks from Sluban. I can tell because all of the Sluban bricks are stamped M38.

The Second Floor


 The green bricks around the windows are from the Lepin Parisian restaurant.  Some of the army green bricks made their way into the second floor as well.  Since I'm using several smaller pieces for the roof instead of one solid piece, there is a tendency for the bricks to arch upwards at the ends, oh well.


 At some point in the future, I have to add a staircase to access the second floor from the first floor.

 This is how the mini modular looks from the side.

 And this is how it looks next to the Hsanhe KFE building.  It's pretty much the same height and proportions.

Here's the mini modular in the streetscape with the other Hsanhe buildings I have modded.   I just wanted to show everyone that it doesn't matter what bricks you use, you can still have fun making little buildings such as this one.  It doesn't always have to be Lego.

So what kind of shop can I make it?  Please let me know if you have any ideas, because I still haven't figure out how to furnish it yet.   Thanks for looking!