Any Tips on Buying Bulk LEGOs?

SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 13:24
Last edited 30/09/2018 - 13:24

It's that time of the year again. I'm useless when it comes to finding budget toy sales and my 4 year old nephew has been asking for legos lately so was planning to try to get him some sort of bulk basic starter kit for christmas. Anyone got any tips of kits to get or stores/online stores to look at? Should I try something else, like mega blocks, can you mix and match both types?

Edit: hmm. Searching forums I did find a comment from Clear about a bunch of different knockoffs. I'll have a look at them now

Lepin is the best knock off brand as their quality is about 95ish % the same as Lego and they have identical sets(aliexpress.com) and reruns of the old classics(aliexpress.com).

Enlighten have been around forever, but their quality can be a hit and miss. The original Enlighten group did clones of the classics like the Pirates(aliexpress.com) and Police(aliexpress.com). The new Enlighten group have moved to more original designs(aliexpress.com).

KAZI are good for your traditional city sets like Fire(aliexpress.com) and Police(aliexpress.com). GUDI(aliexpress.com) are pretty much the same as KAZI.

Xingbao are more a high end brand and don't do many clones. Their sets like this(aliexpress.com) and this(aliexpress.com) are really nice.

Toys & Kids Building Blocks LEGO

Comments

  • 87percent on 30/09/2018 - 13:27
    +3

    Kmart/Target/Myer/eBay when it's on sale, which seems to be every second day nowadays is probably your best bet. Personally I've found the knock off Lego to not "click" together as well as the originals

    • Melb69 on 30/09/2018 - 13:31
      +2

      @cruizerdog 20% off at Target at moment.

  • SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 13:59
    +2

    Ok. I see the 20% at target. LEGOS classic might be a good starting point. Maybe one of the creative boxes and a supplement kit. Crazy that a baseplate is $10 just by itself.

    • SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 14:01
      +1

      Maybe start with genuine as a starter and order one pack of lepins or some other brand to test out how they mesh together

      • Nalar on 30/09/2018 - 15:00

        Go the other way actually, start with Lepin (or whoever does the best 'City' 'Ninjago' or 'Creator' knockoff sets) the difference in quality wont be apparent to a 4year old and your saving upwards of 50%

    • Melb69 on 30/09/2018 - 14:04

      Lego have had the market for construction sets. Now that the 50 year copyright is over there will be more copies, but the lego brick is well made. Just look out for sales.

  • SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 16:10

    Oh, lol.

    Me: hmmm, dunno about paying $91 for a Lepin - millennium falcon.

    Look at the genuine version at target, it’s 20% off for $215

    • Nalar on 30/09/2018 - 16:12

      Don't even look at retired sets!

      • Nalar on 30/09/2018 - 16:34

        Oh also, they never have the boxes FYI, they just ship in plain cardboard boxes.

        • SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 16:53

          Yeah, saw that. I won’t be the one that has to clean up afterwards ;)

  • Some Human on 30/09/2018 - 16:39
    +4

    Stick with Lego, it’s cost really is justified by the quality compared to other bricks. Also kids often turn their nose up at other brands.

    • SlappersOnly on 30/09/2018 - 16:55

      Yeah, probably still too young for that. Blocks are blocks. Would be more concerned about his mum turning her nose up at other brands

    • Randxyz123 on 30/09/2018 - 17:11

      +1 to this. Helped my little cousin assemble his "lego" a few Christmases ago. Was having trouble getting the blocks to connect, looked closer and realised it wasn't even lego.

      Kids aren't stupid. They'll ask why they have "different" lego to their friends.

      Also don't be that family member that buys the knockoff stuff. You'll find your birthday might be forgotten next year or "accidentally" left off the next family wedding list.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2018 - 17:09

    bigw and target seem to have periodic 20% of Toy Sales 2nd week of December every year.

    • SlappersOnly on 01/10/2018 - 07:47

      Yeah, big w would be the way to go. Get that extra 5% off with Woolworths gift card

  • Fier2 on 30/09/2018 - 19:54

    There are a couple stores that do 20%at the moment. What you can do is go to toymate and ask for a price match and you will get an extra 5% off.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/09/2018 - 21:15

    The kid asked for Lego, not a knock off.

    It's not about the quality of the bricks for them, but bragging rights.

    Don't be that uncle/aunt that the kid despises.

    Fork out that $60 and let the parents spend the thousands of dollars expanding the kit.

    • Nalar on 30/09/2018 - 21:55

      4 year old kids call every block Lego.

      Like how every plaster is a Band-Aid…

    • SlappersOnly on 01/10/2018 - 06:26

      Yeah I already said up the top that I’m probably getting the LEGO classic kits from target or somewhere else. The lepin build kits for CITY, CREATOR, STAR WARS etc is an interesting topic though. The city ones are really only 60%-70% of the price but discontinued lines or the specialised movie ones are a huge price difference.

      It would be good to test what the quality difference is because you could then get 3 or 4 sets for every 2 geniune (currently active) LEGO sets. If it fails then their easy to seperate, LEGO has its logo printed on every bump.

      I was already casually showing him yesterday the fire/police/city stuff to gauge what he was interesting in and was like “I want all of it! But I don’t know how to build it, can you help me put them together”.

    • SlappersOnly on 01/10/2018 - 06:46

      Like I’d be pretty keen on trying the CREATOR Ferris wheel for Lepin $95 vs LEGO $200 or the CREATOR carousel for Lepin $150 vs LEGO $350

  • endotherm on 01/10/2018 - 17:44

    The Lego I remember from my childhood was nothing more than just rectangular bricks. The fanciest thing I had were the sloped roof bricks, and they only came in one angle! None of this fancy-schmancy special pieces moulded to create a theme for that particular pack and useless for constructing any other model, e.g. window frames, wheel arches etc. It forced us to use your imagination more to get it to do your bidding, not just assembling it once to a pre-determined design. Lego was to pull apart and rebuild something new every time you played with it (just like Meccano once was…)

    Anyway the main reason for my post was to ask if anyone could recommend a way of just getting the traditional bricks, and slopes in various angles in bulk? I'm estimating 500pc or a couple of kg, but my estimate will be way off. I want to use them to build tightly fitting containers/boxes that closely contour and contain an object so I can make silicone rubber moulds (with a minimum quantity of expensive silicone), then disassemble the box after it sets. This is the easiest and quickest way I can think of to build a custom structure that won't leak and can be re-used. I've already started collecting some pieces, but have been shocked by prices on ebay, often averaging $1 a piece!

    Thanks.

    • subsbligh on 05/10/2018 - 05:49

      eBay and gumtree people sell kids old shit by the kg.

      You could sort it, buy some cool storage solution, or even better, build a Lego table (google some IKEA hacks).

      Uncle level 1000

      • endotherm on 05/10/2018 - 23:49

        Thanks, I didn't think of Gumtree, I'll check it out. I'm fearing most of the sets will be half full of custom pieces like half a star cruiser or an Indiana Jones pack where they won't be useful for me.

        • Nalar on 06/10/2018 - 16:47

          Try bricklink.Com

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