Bootlego: A Guide to Bootleg Lego Brands [based on personal experience] (Scrapped Post)


This will be sort of a summary of the countless Bootlego brands out there. I won't know all of them personally but I will entertain any additional brands out there soon. 

For now, I'll be focusing on what these brands are known for and the quality of their products. Photos of the brands' products will be added next time maybe, as there are too many of them out there. 

It is important for readers to know the quality and specialty of these brands. Some of them may make or break your collections and your wallets. It is also important for readers to understand that most of these bootleggers have common characteristics; most notably are that their products are imitations of official Lego products, modified Lego products, or new creations that are often designs outsourced from third party sellers or customizers. 

Sheng Yuan 
Sheng Yuan or SY is one of the best out there in terms of quality. Their problems are that they release products late and they repeat a lot of their characters. They do Star Wars, Marvel, and DC among other themes; they also do themes for girls which is a good thing for a lot of people. They release minifig singles and build sets; their products are often imitations of Lego products such as: minifigs and Lego themed sets, modified Lego products like: bigger Marvel Helicarriers and Avenger Towers, or entirely new products such as: mechs, minifigs with jetpacks/accessories, bigfigs from video games [often taken from third party sources].
The worst I've experienced with Sheng Yuan is probably misaligned [by a little] printing on faces/build parts. Another issue that a lot of others hate about SY is their release of exclusive bigfigs that are included in certain build sets; meaning you can't get the bigfig unless you buy the whole set [and usually such set has already been released by Lepin which means you'd have to buy the SY set again just for that lone bigfig] but recently they haven't done this again.

Lepin 
Lepin is known for their quick releases of new Lego sets. They also release older sets that are hard to find [if you're searching for the original Lego ones]. They also started releasing imitations of non-Lego sets such as an arcade building from the brand Oxford and even custom ones from Lego Ideas. Quality wise, Lepin still releases great products; occasionally you'll be missing some parts or having extra parts that could make or break your build [so it's a good idea to buy from a nice store that will gladly send you what's missing]. They don't release minifigs in single sale unlike Sheng Yuan and really only focus on build sets; their minifig quality hit or miss, sometimes they're okay while sometimes they are horrible, at least in terms of design/printing. Another thing to note are their bootleg Lego Technic sets because other brands don't imitate Technic as much.
The worst I've had with Lepin, though I don't really own other Lepin sets, is that our Ghostbusters HQ set was short on clear windows; the clear windows were also really foggy and unclear. Quality wise, it was great.

POGO
POGO only recently showed up in the bootleg scene. Before POGO and XINH, Sheng Yuan and Decool [with maybe Bela and LeLe] were the big names. POGO is the Lepin of minifigs, meaning they release minifigs really quick, and they release new ones and old ones alike. Other than imitaion minifigs, they also release customs/new designs [that I assume were copied from third party sources].
My issues with POGO are, at times bad printing [that is isolated, meaning bad quality control on minifigs] and really tight parts especially heads. 

XINH
XINH is more or less the same as POGO except there are a few custom build sets out there released by XINH as opposed to POGO which faithfully only releases minifigs. XINH and POGO's quality are really hit or miss, but for the most part hit. They are also fairly quick, release old designs, and new ones as well.
If one design is released by both XINH and POGO, I usually pick the POGO design first. POGO still has better quality in my opinion but XINH is also decent. The worst thing I've experience with XINH is bad printing in terms of detail, color, and alignment. Sheng Yuan is still the best in terms of minifigs except they don't release a lot anymore. 

Decool
Back when there was no Lepin, POGO, or XINH, Decool was on top. Even Sheng Yuan was bad back when it was new, SY even had different feet for their minifigs. Decool releases minifigs in single/group sale, imitation of Lego and Lego Technic sets, and custom sets [like the famous Batmobile and Batpod]. Quality wise, they are still good. Though you don't see a lot of Decool anymore these days, at least not new designs/characters. They have released Marvel, DC, and Star Wars among other themes.
I've had no issues with Decool, though I still choose Sheng Yuan over Decool for quality and variety [but now POGO is also one of my top choices]. 

Duo Le Pin 
Duo Le Pin or DLP is supposedly owned by Sheng Yuan. It is also quite believable as Duo Le Pin, in my opinion, is one of the best in making minifigs. They release unique designs, usually not from official Lego products. Lots of times, their products are not even released by XINH or POGO.
My only issue with DLP is that some of their minifigs seem to have loose legs, but other than that I love their minifigs; it's a shame their presence in my local stores isn't too big. 

Sembo Block 


JX Elephant


Enlighten 


Dargo


LeLe


Bela


KSZ


GUDI


itoys


LEBQ


QS08





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