Ave Citizens!

I was on holiday last week and was astounded by the lack of Lego in any independent toy shop. The supermarkets had some, but most were the small 6am to 9pm ones that have a minimal stock of impulse sets and battle packs (ergo, I had these sets already). However there was plenty of Cobi sets.

Cobi is a Poland based brick manufacturer with links to Best Lock (or they did have). This set is part of their rather interesting Romans and Barbarians line.

The box: Usual warnings about part sizes, a part count, an image of the built set and a mention of its compatibility with other brands in three popular European languages.

The back of the box shows some other sets within the theme.

As per usual there is an assortment of polybags, a sticker sheet and some instructions.

A random page of instructions. They may look a pain to follow, but the parts list with each step and the little roman chappies with numbered shields make it an easy enough build.

The sticker sheet. There are extra stickers, it looks to be a standard inclusion in all sets within the theme and is thus equipped with all the stickers any set would require.

Interesting parts. This is the motherlode, two different SNOT bricks, a single SNOT stud and a 1x4 SNOT plate! Wonderfully useful. We also have two nicely moulded wheel, a sprue with a spear, sword and standard. The small grey parts are a hook/clip and a pair of holed poles. These poles clip to a standard axel via their holes. The horse looks more horse like, with curves and suchlike. The clear section line is a minor annoyance.

The finished set. I realised while re-sizing images, I missed off the flag. It was nothing spectacular so no loss! The horse is clipped to the cart, the building is temple-ish and has a shield stuck to it. Our Roman soldier has a nice accurate helmet with plume, a shield, a sword and a lovely printed torso.

All weapons are minifig compatible, as modelled by Citizen Quarryman, but they will slide from a figures grip if held at an angle. The headgear fits nice and snugly.

Overall, the plastic quality is fantastic. The light grey is slightly darker than Lego, and the brown isn’t a shade Lego produce but otherwise it is indistinguishable from the major brand. In fact, in one of the small toyshops I went in, the shopkeeper had some Lego and some Cobi combined, to prove they fit together and I was hard pressed to tell the two apart. The set has an interesting design and is a theme Lego has not yet ventured into, so Cobi seems to be one of the better competitors out there.

Coming Soon: Cobi Soldiers and Toyriffic Pirate Boat!

Wow, those SNOT pieces really are interesting! If a clone brand can do it, why not LEGO?

The horse hitching looks a little more flexible too, although I prefer the more simplified aesthetic of LEGO animals.

Is that giant fort in the background also available as a set, or is it just box-art?

I believe this is it.

The entire Set List.

The horse hitching looks a little more flexible too, although I prefer the more simplified aesthetic of LEGO animals.

Agreed. This is a nice clone. I like the sword, and that cape and helmet are cool too

Very nice clone set, but an AWESOME theme - why don't Lego do similar ?

I'm not sure about the wheels, but the soldier looks real COOL.

Also just check that web site - are you planning on getting any more of these 'Peppermint_M' are you ?

Anyway thanks for the review and I'm a conformist! !

Heh, I may get a few more sets. The only problem is the price, which isn't so reasonable down here. I got that set for £9.99, which was a pretty good price. Online it runs a bit higher and then you have to add shipping.

It's very nice!

Where do you buy these from? I've seen a few Enlighten Brick type sets in Wilkinsons and TKMax a few times but never a steady supply!

Those Eagles staffs could come in handy for my project...

Some of those sets look pretty damn good, apart from the weird giant missiles they seem to stick with most of them... fun to see a theme different from LEGO's instead of just copying them directly. However, looking at the pricing it doesn't seem significantly cheaper than LEGO... which makes it less interesting.

I usually hate clone sets, but this one looks really nice! I like it all except the horse.

Definately an exception from the normally horrid clone sets I find.

It's very nice!

Where do you buy these from? I've seen a few Enlighten Brick type sets in Wilkinsons and TKMax a few times but never a steady supply!

Those Eagles staffs could come in handy for my project...

Independent Retailers in North Wales. I went to one in Conwy, one in Carnarfon and one in Porthmadog, all had varied Cobi sets for sale. I also found a few other brands around the place.I seek out clones these days, for the fun extras and for review.