Welcome to
another installment of Knockoff Nation. This is a (semi)regular
article on HiddenLevel where I (OgelBlockHead) will review toys that come
from the Far East, typically China, that are off-brand versions of more popular
brands. In the past this usually indicated poorly made toys; cheap
plastic, castings from lousy molds, sloppy paint, mismatched parts, etc., this is
no longer always the case. If you know where to look, you can find some
really nice toys at a great price.
Today's review
is of Lego MiniFigure knock-offs of the various Superman and Superman related characters. There are a few Lego sets
that currently include some of these characters, but some have never received the Lego minifigure treatment. The
prices that I have found for this set are fairly reasonable. I bought
them together on Ebay for about $10. If you look around, you should be able to find
it for about the same. At that price it's less than $1.25 each which is more than
reasonable for a minifigure considering the blind packs go for $2.99 to $3.99.
As always, you can usually save by bundling with other figures.
You'll notice some differences between these figures and true Lego MiniFigures. The most obvious deviation is the legs. The feet are beveled on the sides at a 45 degree angle rather than coming to a sharp 90 degree angle. In general, the edges of the the figure are also a little rounder and softer than Lego. Another notable difference is that the capes are made from a different kind of material than Lego's typically stiffer material.
The best thing about this set (other than the low price) is that assortment of characters you can get. Here are the figures typically available in this set:
 |
| Classic Superman |
 |
| Clark Kent |
 |
| Cyborg Superman |
 |
| Bizarro |
 |
| Man of Steel Movie Superman |
 |
| Man of Steel Movie Black Suit Superman / Kal-El |
 |
| Man of Steel Movie Jor-El |
 |
| Man of Steel Movie Kryptonian |
The most exciting of these are Bizarro and Cyborg Superman, who are not availble as Lego at all, and Jor-El, who is a hard to come by exclusive.
The printing on all of the figures is crisp and well applied. On many of the figures it even extends to the legs and the backs which isn't always common on minifigures.
Along with the figures, you also get a variety of accessory pieces. Each figure comes with a studded black base with "LELE BLOCK" printed printed on them. They also have two to three green or blue "kryptonite" pieces and some even come with gray cone pieces.
To be perfectly honest, I don't quite like the "feel" of these as much as real Lego or even some of the other knock-offs I've gotten. I think maybe it's a combination of the plastic being a little different and departure in appearance for the legs. That's not to say I regret getting this set, I'm very happy to have some of these characters in my collection, I just wish they were a little better.
The opinions expressed by the HiddenLevel Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of HiddenLevel.org or anyone involved in the running of this site. HiddenLevel is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Bloggers of this site.
The HiddenLevel Blog was founded as site for contributors to be able to express their opinions and share news about the interest they enjoy. The main purpose is to have fun.
Other sites are welcome to use the information found on this sit as long as credit and a link are provided. For and questions you may have or for further information about the site, please contact hiddenlevel.team@gmail.com
