Sluban Riot Police Command Car

[Peppermint_M]

Bought last Christmas from Wilkinson’s the pictures have sat on my hard drive for months.

This set is from the Sluban Riot Police Series that includes a nice selection of sets (Just like any Lego theme). Now I do not know of the legitimacy of the brand as it has been said that it is a copy of Oxford Bricks sets, however it isn’t a bootleg of any known Lego set, series or elements so it might just be an easy way for us in the west to get some of the cool Korean sets. I can’t find any sites in English about the brand, only the linked site in something (A little help please my continental friends?)

From the sticker, it has been imported from wherever by Ackerman Toys who also imported the Little White Dragon Tow Truck I reviewed in the past. You can see from the box, it is priced at £4, but I paid £1.99 as it was on sale after New Year.

It has 206 pieces that come in a cardboard sleeve and three polybags. The guns are on a sprue and are of a slightly lower quality than the plastic of the bricks.

The instructions are linear and printed on both sides of the sheet. Some of the steps can be quite complicated as there are quite a few parts are added at once and aren’t indicated that well.

Finally we have the van built, with the men and a small thing made of random spare parts. Unless I missed some in construction, which is unlikely as it was completed when I noticed the spares, these parts are supposed to be extra or there was a packing error.

A Close-up of the men that are included. They aren’t that bad however one of them kept losing his arm... The berets and riot vests are most useful for Lego figures, as are the guns (reviewed soon in a massive multi-brand weapon round-up).

Overall this is a well designed set. I do have some issues: The back door pops up, which is annoying and the single studs are very tightly gripping so they are near impossible to remove.

The Plastic is a decent quality and the rest of the bricks have the perfect grip friction for a solid model that can be taken apart. The other interesting elements are the windows with bars. They are different from anything I have seen in other brands and are quite useful in military MOCs.

So here was another Review. I like this theme and its unique parts. The quality is decent and the price fair.

Feel free to add mature comments

[Darth_Legois]

I once got a oxford set that looks exactly like this except the decals on the vests are diffrent (the vests are great though, better then anything LEGO has made)

Weapons, heads, helmets everything else looks the same so I guess it is a copy of a copy brand (if you consider Oxford a copy of LEGO which I do.)

It is a good set except the quality as you said is questionable.

Good review btw.

[Joey Lock]

I got a little police boat from Wilkinsons a few years ago. Mine too was Sluban. I believe Sluban is the English version of Oxford Toys.

It has some great vests and Snipers, however the weapons are a bit to big for Lego hands.

[Big Cam]

I gotta say that car and the molds for the figs accesories look like crap.

No offense to you for buying it but the car just looks bad, it's like a 1980's LEGO design.

[Peppermint_M]

it's like a 1980's LEGO design.

To which I must add, many members on this very forum seem to want. Especialy those who grew up with the classic 80s designs. Its a common complaint that sets are too specialized and curved/wide/big/etcetera nowadays.

I too have a boat, the hull was a very nice quality.

Also, the guns from this set fit in minifig hands quite well, but the plastic isn't that good a quality, feels like cheap dvd cases (ever bought them from a £/$ store? that kind of plastic) which was disappointing.

What I forgot to add: The berets fit minifig heads just fine but the gas mask / riot helmets do not as they have a long peg in the center of the interior socket, that easily fits into the Sluban figures (the head studs have holes right through) but not on Lego figure heads, however they do fit into 1x1 cylinders to make facless drones. The riot vests are by far the best feature, I really hope to find a few more of the riot police sets to equip my army with (I'll have to post pictures of the soldiers I have so far).

For £2 its great and I can safely say that kids are very excited to get realistic "Lego" guns without paying through the nose for licensed sets, I found out that Wilkinsons had these sets after seeing a kid tearing open the box and building in the town center! (Was very amusing how cross his mother was).

I have two more sets to post reviews about that I bought on my recent holiday, these should be forthcoming.

Edited November 9, 2009 by Peppermint_M

[prateek]

"Great" review. This set is actually pretty good for 2 pounds

[Joey Lock]

To which I must add, many members on this very forum seem to want. Especialy those who grew up with the classic 80s designs. Its a common complaint that sets are too specialized and curved/wide/big/etcetera nowadays.

I too have a boat, the hull was a very nice quality.

Also, the guns from this set fit in minifig hands quite well, but the plastic isn't that good a quality, feels like cheap dvd cases (ever bought them from a £/$ store? that kind of plastic) which was disappointing.

What I forgot to add: The berets fit minifig heads just fine but the gas mask / riot helmets do not as they have a long peg in the center of the interior socket, that easily fits into the Sluban figures (the head studs have holes right through) but not on Lego figure heads, however they do fit into 1x1 cylinders to make facless drones. The riot vests are by far the best feature, I really hope to find a few more of the riot police sets to equip my army with (I'll have to post pictures of the soldiers I have so far).

For £2 its great and I can safely say that kids are very excited to get realistic "Lego" guns without paying through the nose for licensed sets, I found out that Wilkinsons had these sets after seeing a kid tearing open the box and building in the town center! (Was very amusing how cross his mother was).

I have two more sets to post reviews about that I bought on my recent holiday, these should be forthcoming.

Wilkinsons is a awesome shop now they have it sorted. My Wilkinsons in Sutton is like a small supermarket with a B&Q styled section. But I don't trust the "Hooky" sweets and stuff.

Theres so many kids in there, you don't know whether a box never came wrapped in plastic or a kids taken it off and eaten some.

[Zzz]

Thanks for the review, I never heard of this brand and checked it out now. I must admit, they have a good collection and interesting themes. Would love to see TLC doing the same sets, cause I am sorry, but they look like they don't have that skilled designers.

[Peppermint_M]

There are much worse out there... Much, much worse (coming soon).

I think if they are in shops again this christmas I will buy the boat and the car in the same theme, they have excellent designs and I can post reviews.

[larry marak]

By the way, Sluban is definitely a Chinese clone of Oxford, not an Oxford export label. Oxford roundly condemns cloners of their sets on their website. If you look at their respective websites, Sluban looks like a mirror image of Oxford!

By the way, Sluban now has a distributing company in Belgium or the Netherlands. First Chinese company to establish a dealership in Europe.

[brickzone]

£2 is a good bargain. The quality of the plastic doesn't look great on the basis of the sheen/cracks seen in the photos but similar to other clone brands. £4 would get you the Lego Police Car (one police officer - but a decent vehicle), or Power Miners stone chopper (miner plus rock monster, cool-looking but tiny model with eccentric parts).

[Eskallon]

Hi there

I too have seen this set in Wikinsons here in the UK. I considered buying it when it was priced at £10 but decided not too and I am glad I didn't. The pieces arn't as good as megablocks, lego or other clones by the looks of them and the figs legs are

I normally wouldn't complain too much about clone brands if they were decent but this is just in my opinion.