Clone Brand REVIEW: Best-Lock Tank

[ILikePi]

Hi guys.

Today, I went to Toys R Us, looking for Space Police III sets. Well my TRU had everything new but that. Then I saw some LEGO clone brand sets, and thought, "Toys R Us sells clone brand LEGO toys? " I then looked at some of the sets. They all looked pretty badly designed, but the prices were much better than that of LEGO. I then decided to get this tank set, to see what they were like. Okay, now lets get this review over with...

Set Name: N/A

Theme: N/A

Pieces: 240 (Not sure if this is real)

Minifigures: N/A (Just three bootleg figures )

Price: $10.99 USD at TRU

Year Released: 2007 I don't know...

Brickshelf Gallery

This review won't have that many words because I don't have much time to write stuff.

Box front. Note how the company put the words "Works with other brands" (obviously LEGO ) and "CONTAINS EVERYTHING! (see back of box for details)." That means that they know that people will think that they didn't include everything.

They just included these three bricks for no reason. I'm not sure if they're part of the 240 pieces.

Top

Right side

Bottom (Note that this set is for ages 7+)

Back (Shows what's included)

Left side

The whole back of the box flips open.

Inside, there is...more cardboard. Perhaps to make the set seem big?

There is some random writing on one of the pieces of cardboard. To me, it looks like the number 58 and a Chinese word.

The cardboard flipped over.

The "sticker sheet". This isn't really a sticker sheet, more of a black and orange design printed onto sticker paper and cut into random shapes. I obviously won't be applying these.

On the back, there is some text reading "HuaSheng". Perhaps it's the company that printed this?

Here are the contents. The odd thing is that this brand's plates (the smaller ones) have grooves on them, like LEGO tiles.

Instruction sheet front. Note how each step is so demanding for a 7+ year old playset. Also they tell you to assemble each minifigure, although they already come assembled.

Back of the instruction sheet. On here, you also also asked to assemble the hinge joints included in this set, but they already come assembled too.

Now, this is something we don't see from LEGO that often anymore (at least I've never seen it). The parts that have already been placed in previous steps are grayed out.

Parts spread out in the included cardboard.

Interesting parts. I will go through them under this sentence.

(1) These are some 1 x 12 dark green pieces.

(2) Some weird dark green hinges.

(3) Some pearl silver accessories on a sprue.

(4) Some weird dark green (DkGr) "cannons" that go on the tank. The bottom studs for them are very loose.

(5) Weird DkGr hinge.

(6) Some odd DkGr inverted slopes with "vents" on the slope part.

(7) A few DkGr clips that and hold minifig utensils.

(8) Some weird old grey and black 1 x 2 bricks with a bit of a "slope" on the sides.

(9) A black antenna.

(10) A weird black turntable that is different that LEGO's version.

(11) Rubber treads that are bent badly.

(12) Old grey tire spokes.

(13) 8 cool grey brown sandbag pieces. The box art shows them as metallic copper...

(14) Some large circular pieces.

(15) Another sprue with pearl silver accessories.

These figures are a bit shorter than minifigures. The arms and hands move too easily. There are hips, but they are covered by the torso.

Back. The vests have different designs.

Wow, they even printed the figure's lip on the neck.

The other two figures have no printing under the vests.

Here is a comparison between Best-Lock's flesh color and LEGO's flesh color. LEGO's looks much better.

Build

Here is the build, after every step. The build took 1-2 hours, but that was just because I was taking pictures, and halfway through the build, there was a trail of ants on the floor that I had to vacuum up.

The "cannon" pieces just fall off if you turn the set upside-down.

The 1 x 2 sloped piece with no other pieces on it (the one by itself) comes off way too easily.

There are lots of extra accessories that aren't shown on the box.

Extra parts. There's a whole bunch of big ones. Some of the extra parts, like the trans-orange 1 x 1 plates, are 100% of the parts found in the set.

All of the accessories.

Wow, a 7-8 foot tall gun?

Since the tank is hollow, you can fit all the accessories inside for storage.

The complete set.

Left

Back

Right

Bottom

This set was pretty good (for a bootleg), but I wouldn't recommend buying this set, unless you really need parts to make a creation that needs some random bricks in the middle or something, or if you want to get some useful parts, like those eight sandbags. Although this set is a good price, the parts are low-quality. The figures aren't good, either. You should save your money for the new sets coming this summer.

Sir, remember, you can't drive that far.

WHAT?

Sir, you can't drive that far.

WHY?

Remember, the tank's going to---BANG

The tires exploded (That's what happens if you move the tank too much).

Edited May 30, 2009 by ILikePi

[Svelte]

You say the sandbags are grey but they're kind of... not. They look brown to me in your pic...

Those greyed out instructions did use to be a hallmark of some Lego sets - in things like the Legends re-releases of Black Falcons Fortress and Guarded Inn, they do the same thing - ie only show the parts used in each step in full colour.

Woo! I love nitpicking your review, ILikePi, since you do such a good job of nitpicking everyone else!

[ILikePi]

You say the sandbags are grey but they're kind of... not. They look brown to me in your pic...

Whoops. I'll fix it.

Those greyed out instructions did use to be a hallmark of some Lego sets - in things like the Legends re-releases of Black Falcons Fortress and Guarded Inn, they do the same thing - ie only show the parts used in each step in full colour.

Okay, I'll add that to the review...

Woo! I love nitpicking your review, ILikePi, since you do such a good job of nitpicking everyone else!

I find mistakes very easily, for some reason.

[Svelte]

Nice review, anyway!

I like the tank, that dark green shade is attractive. The stickers look terrifying! The plastic looks very soft - do the pieces hold together well?

[ILikePi]

Nice review, anyway!

I like the tank, that dark green shade is attractive. The stickers look terrifying! The plastic looks very soft - do the pieces hold together well?

Thanks!

I agree, the dark green does look good, and the stickers look horrible.

The plastic seems like ABS; hard and stiff. The parts hold together pretty well. Only a few (5-10) pieces are really loose.

[daxflame680]

Ooh, Best Lock. I bought a set from them once. The quality of the bricks was disastrous.

A fairly small set like this took me hours and hours to build.

Ya gotta own one of these to know how bad they are

Edited May 26, 2009 by daxflame680

[Siegfried]

Oh my gosh! You put a lot of work into this review! Great review of a horrid set. I get grumpy over the molding marks on LEGO... but these are much worse.

It does remind me though that I need to buy a fabuland shovel....

[Svelte]

Ya gotta own one of these to know how bad they are

One Xmas as a kid I got some horrendous giant transforming robot in a clone brand that wouldn't hold together no matter what, and I've never even been tempted to pick up a clone brand since!

[Siegfried]

One Xmas as a kid I got some horrendous giant transforming robot in a clone brand that wouldn't hold together no matter what, and I've never even been tempted to pick up a clone brand since!

As a LEGO fan, I was made to assemble a clone set that my sister bought for one of her kids. They couldn't assemble it using the instructions. Anyway, the funny thing about this set is it claimed on the front that it was a "transformer", but to do so you had to break and rebuild it...

[Johnny 5]

AAAAHH!!! IT BURNS US!

All in all it a decent set, if only it wasn't B_L

Maybe you could recreate it in LEGO form.

Edit: Just as a note, I voted Above average for a bootleg set. If we are comparing it to a LEGO set I would've put poor of course.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Johnny 5

[Captain Green Hair]

I voted poor, it looks contaminated.

And i seriously hope we do not get anymore Bootleg reviews clogging up our Lego forum.

[Peppermint_M]

INTERJECTION

Best-Lock is not a bootleg. It is a clone brand of a medium quality (since they changed brick sizes). Similar to Megablocks but lower quality.

A bootleg is a clear copy of a Lego set or a non-Lego brand set that uses Lego specific elements. Like this:

Bootlegs can vary from dreadful quality to useful and useable (I have a review of a set I bought to post, but with the moderator objection, I guess I'll e-mail it to Reasonably Clever and see if Chris Doyle will run it for a day off) I have built up quite a collection of non-Lego brands for elements Lego won't make (like certain guns, and until recently bulletproof vests) and will continue to buy cheap sets for these and for filler brick.

To conclude:

Bootleg = Clear Rip off of existing Lego set (e.g. "Power Racer" cars).

Clone Brand = Similar to Lego, combines with Lego but not as high quality as Lego. (e.g. Oxford, Megablocks, Best-Lock)

[Eilif]

Thanks for clearing up the Clone and Bootleg definitions. However, while this set is not a bootleg of LEGO, it very well may be a bootleg, or possibly a licensed copy of an Oxford set. I haven't compared the entirety of the Bestlock and Oxford lines, but a large percentage of Best-Lock sets are inferior versions of Oxford sets, notably the police and fire lines which are nearly exact copies. Bestock clearly uses the Oxford designed minifigs, and some of the specialty pieces are clearly Oxford designs.

I voted for average because other clone brands like enlighten use printed bricks for thier camo, and the shoddy track construction is unacceptable. Keeping from getting a "poor" rating is the fact that like most bestlock sets, it's a great bargain for the number of pieces, explores a theme that LEGO doesn't and has alot of useful accessories.

Overall, a very good review. I have a few of the Bestlock fire and police sets that were marketed under the "Just Kidz" Brand, and my experience has been similar. The copied-from-Oxford set designs are fine, and there are a number of interesting elements, but the quality is notably less than LEGO or Oxford (based on Oxford reviews). There always seem to be a couple of pieces that either fit too tightly or not tightly enough.

[prateek]

can lego minifigs hold the weapons?

[Eilif]

can lego minifigs hold the weapons?

Yes.

[ILikePi]

Best-Lock is not a bootleg. It is a clone brand of a medium quality (since they changed brick sizes).

Oh, okay. Can an admin or moderator please change the title of this review to "Clone Brand REVIEW: Best-Lock Tank"?

Oh my gosh! You put a lot of work into this review! Great review of a horrid set. I get grumpy over the molding marks on LEGO... but these are much worse.

It does remind me though that I need to buy a fabuland shovel....

It only took me 30 minutes - one hour to write this topic.

Maybe you could recreate it in LEGO form.

I don't have these pieces, let alone dark green ones. Sorry.

And i seriously hope we do not get anymore Bootleg reviews clogging up our Lego forum.

Don't worry, this is the only one I'm going to review.

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

I'm never going to get one of these sets again (at least for a long time).

Edited May 27, 2009 by ILikePi

[Peppermint_M]

Interesting Best-Lock/Oxford theory. Too bad they dont release them in the same quality and themes.

[KimT]

Bootlegs can vary from dreadful quality to useful and useable (I have a review of a set I bought to post, but with the moderator objection, I guess I'll e-mail it to Reasonably Clever and see if Chris Doyle will run it for a day off)...

Go ahead and post it.

If there is such a thing as usefull clone brands, then I for one would like to learn about it.

Also I found this review pretty good and useful.

It's good to compare other brands with the one we cherish, just to keep things in perspective.

We're whining about micro-changes in shades of reddish-brown - when this particular set obviously is much much worse

[pellevin]

I'm especially weirded out by the catch-phrase under the logo; "Build a lot - Play a little". I mean, what!?

[fenrir]

Price: $10.99 USD at TRU

A waste of money in my opinion.

You need to stay open minded but LEGO offers the best products and service I believe.

[Eilif]

Fenrir,

I mostly agree with you. I have no use for this set myself, but if you wanted OD Green Bricks and a military brick playset, I think that this would be a fair option. Especially since it's less than half the price-per-piece of comparable LEGO sets.

I'm especially weirded out by the catch-phrase under the logo; "Build a lot - Play a little". I mean, what!?

I think you misread the catch-phrase, it reads "Build a lot - PAY a little".

[thinkdoodle]

I think they serve a niche, since Lego doesn't make military-themed sets.

I got a similar set previously - no complaints, but Best-Lock may want to use some other material for the rubber treads, because mine cracked after a couple of months.

[ILikePi]

I would also like to point out that the bricks might have a large amount of color inconsistency. I checked the tank near some light and saw that there were two colors on the tank: an olive drab-ish one, and a jade green-ish one, but I'm not completely sure if this set is one color for the tank or two. You won't notice it just by looking at it, but you might be able to see the difference in color if you look at it closely by bright light.

EDIT: The box size is 1' X 1' X 2'' (30 cm X 30 cm X 5 cm); way too big for a 240 piece set. The bags take up less than half of the box, while empty cardboard takes up the rest.

Edited May 30, 2009 by ILikePi

[pesgores]

Can you send me those instructions via PM, please? I need to try this out in LEGO

[Luke McAwesome]

For a copycat company, it's alright. Although since I hate clone brands, I rated it as "Poor".