Quintessential things I've noticed about Cobi

[Xfing]

I'm for all intents and purposes an exclusive Lego guy, but recently I've found myself watching some channels on Youtube that do reviews of all those military sets, and finally I caved in and decided to try Cobi - it's another European brand, manufactured in Poland after all, so I thought it might be nice to check out what it looks like in its modern iteration. I think I had some Cobi set in the mid to late 90s that mimicked Lego City and then had those parts mixed into my Lego without noticing (until I made the purge, anyway), but I've heard that in recent years Cobi have drastically improved not only their designs, but also their brick quality.

So the set I bought was the Challenger tank (2627). So far, I've put together the first bag, here are my impressions: 

The bricks look fine, there are very minor occasional mold defects in hidden areas that don't affect the brick's look or functionality. There is something off that I can't quite put my finger on when it terms to clutch - the bricks give off kind of a rubbery feel when being put together (hell, they feel rubbery, period!), also sometimes they're really tough to connect, as if the tolerances were too tight or something. You feel like the bricks are struggling against you when you try to put them together. I'm pretty sure the tank's floor which I put together first, in fact bent upwards when the SNOT connections were first made, as if the bricks were stressed while they shouldn't be if their dimensions were perfectly calculated. After some time the bend eased and it's straight again, but it did get me worried for a moment. I know it may have something to do with the density - their models are very spacially dense in small parts compared to Lego's (which some describe as a "model-like" quality). Overall, I definitely prefer building with Lego, that much I can already say. Also, the grip that pins have on bars seems to be loose and wobbly, to the point of feeling unreliable. 

That would be all the gripes I have though. Other points of interest and observations (except for the obvious stuff everyone knows, such as that they only use prints and no stickers):

- Cobi is very Technic-minimal, in fact probably the single brand least eager to engage in Technic stuff. Almost feels like it's a point of honor or something - kinda like Lego steadfastly refusing to do any military sets, Cobi refuse to involve any Technic elements. I think they had to finally cave in their biggest tank models where the tread wheels were put on Technic axles, but that's about all Technic you'll ever see from these guys. I do suppose that limits them quite a bit, compared to brands such as Cada who happily use and mix both part families liberally. 

- The tank is 11 studs wide, and Cobi appears to favor odd width models. To that end, there is a lot more odd-length bricks (such as 1x7) and plates (1x5 to 2x7) that are regularly used than I've ever seen with Lego. AFAIK, the latest odd-length plate Lego introduced was the 1x5 in 2021 - in Cobi you see this stuff all the time, including two-by plates, as I mentioned. There are overall plenty of exotic plate dimensions such as 3x4, 4x5 and more. Gotta say, pretty neat. 

- This is by now common knowledge, but Cobi are probably the market leaders in stud reversal techniques at the moment. They feature tons of brackets and plates with side studs - most of which Lego does have, but it's in fact because Lego has been catching up on Cobi's own catalogue. There are still many interesting piece families that Lego doesn't carry, such as the super thin plates with reverse studs (same width as the thin part of brackets), which are very useful for putting together high-density constructions with studs in multiple directions), plates with studs on both sides etc (although I haven't found any such in the model as of yet), and even 1x1 bricks which are hollow on both sides. What's really cool though are plates with studs on the side without the addition of a bracket, which lets you do more compact SNOT stuff. And the coolest thing are definitely the insertable single studs, which you can put into plates to completely reverse a build. There are also 1/4 parts of the circular plate (Cobi's equivalent to Lego's 4032) - you can put 3 of them into a round cylinder thingy (like fuel tanks), and the empty part can be left for an attachment point, which lets you preserve the circular shape of the whole thing, don't think Lego has something like this either, and it might be neat. 

- They have a wider than Lego family of jumper plates, such as 2x2 tapering into 1x2 in the middle and many more, plus a significant number of plates with only part of the studs they should normally have. That makes it a breeze to shift between even and odd at the drop of a hat, pretty nifty stuff.

- They have tons upon tons of differently angled (and even truncated) sloped tiles, many of which make flush surfaces very easily. They carry some angles Lego doesn't feature at the moment.      

- There is a number of miscellaneous bricks that resemble Lego's, but are just slightly different, such as the 1x2 plates with indented slopes, 4 of which are used here for the engine base - these seem like they could be a really useful addition for Lego too. There are also hinged headlights built of 3 pieces which the tank uses - something Lego doesn't really need, but quite creative nonetheless. Likewise, there are decorative tiles with a mesh pattern that Lego doesn't have, and a 2x2 version of the grille plate (superfluous).

So overall - I do not regret this purchase, and am enjoying the build so far, but I think I'll be sticking with Lego in the future, regardless. The SNOT-heavy building process is very engaging and satisfying and the model is very sturdy, but there is very little inherent rebuildability and the feel of the bricks and the difficulty of putting them togheter turns me off a bit. What I'm really rooting for is for Lego to keep introducing the SNOT and stud reversal-centered solutions Cobi is so dominant in, as well as some other miscellaneous elements, as they have been slowly doing already, to extend the system in ways where competing brands such as Cobi no longer have any sort of edge over them.  

Edited October 30, 2024 by Xfing

[Peppermint_M]

I have a few Cobi sets, I keep considering the one with Sabaton in...

Thanks for sharing your views, long ago it was just me being a bit of an anarchist 

[Xfing]

Well, like I said, it's mostly a one-off. I have some serious nostalgia and emotional attachment to Lego, so I'll just be rooting for them to catch up in terms of versatility. Too bad they're very rigid when it comes to their design philosophy and refuse to introduce certain part families for reasons which I consider less than reasonable.