Aliexpress: Lepin 05054 Star Wars U-Wing Fighter

Today, I'm going to talk about the Lepin 05054 Star Wars U-Wing Fighter bootleg Lego building set.  Well, it's mostly going to be me ranting about why the price of this Lepin set has to cost so much.

First let's look at the ship.  The U-Wing fighter is that cool troop transport vehicle from the Rogue One Star Wars franchise.  It's a quad engine gunship that has wings that pivot outwards.  In the underbelly of the ship, it can carry a number of minifigures.  The Lego and Lepin versions of the ship has a cockpit for one pilot whereas the movie version has a dual pilot cockpit.  This set has 679 pieces and comes with 5 minifigures: a U-wing Pilot, Bistan, Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor and a Rebel Trooper.

The amount of bricks in this U-Wing set is almost as many as in the Lego/Lepin X-wing fighter sets.  In my table below, I've compared the latest three Star Wars fighter sets that Lepin has copied from Lego.  Take a look.

Fighter	Lepin Model	Number of Bricks	Release Date
Poe's X-wing Fighter	05004	748 pieces	March/April 2016
Resistance X-Wing Fighter	05029	740 pieces	September 2016
Rogue One U-Wing Fighter	05054	679 pieces	December 2016

So I remember that when the Lepin Poe's 05004 X-wing Fighter first started showing up on AliExpress, it cost about $23 to $25 USD.   And when the Lepin 05029 Resistance Fighter appeared, it was priced at around $25 to $27 USD.

And I was ok with this price point because the Lego versions were and are much more.   Here's a snapshot of how much the Lego 10466 Poe's X-Wing Fighter costs on the Lego.com.   It's $79.99 USD.

I went on to Aliexpress and took this fairly current screen grab of the Lego knockoff Lepin 05004 X-Wing.  You can see it's $22.30 USD.   So the Lepin X-Wing version is about one-third the cost of the real Lego model.

The newer Lego 75149 Resistance X-Wing Fighter set is similarly priced at $79.99 USD.

The Lepin 05029 Resistance X-Wing Fighter is slightly more at $24.35 USD, again it's about one-third the cost of the real deal on Aliexpress.

So, now we are looking at Lego's 75155 U-Wing Fighter.  It is priced at $79.99 like the other previous X-Wing fighters.  But there's less pieces in this set, almost 10% less at 679.  Ok, it's 2017 Lego pricing, I get it.

So when I check Aliexpress, I expect that the new Rogue One Lepin version of the U-Wing fighter to only cost say $27 to $29 USD.  I was willing to pay that price.   But guess what, the lowest price on Aliexpress right now for the Lepin U-Wing is $40 USD!  That's right $40 USD.   That's 25% more than the other models that have more pieces.  I think that's just way too expensive for a bootleg Lego model.  It's not like Lepin has to pay any royalties to Disney or Star Wars.

As much as I want to buy the Lepin version, I'm going to hold off until the price drops to the price I'm willing to pay, which is under $30 USD.   What do you think?  Is $40 USD too much to pay for the Lepin knockoff version of the Lego Star Wars U-Wing?     Let me know, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

Sorry for the rant, I just had to get that off my chest.

Wange 34052 Creation Villa Building Set

So here's a set that I actually own, it's the Wange 34052 Villa building block set.  I bought mine back in April 2015 and I paid around $27 USD for it, so this is selling for quite a good price at just under $22 USD.  The quality of this set is good and brick clutch is decent.  I think this set might be a copy of an older Lego set but I'm not entirely sure.  This is a fairly decent size set with 755 pieces and it comes with a giant baseplate and 2 minifigures.  But just a heads up, the minifigures are not Lego compatible and look awful.

Aliexpress: Gudi 8911 Passenger Airplane

Hello, it's time to look at another bootleg brick building set deal I found on Aliexpress.com.  This one is the Gudi 8911 Passenger Airplane.  This set comes with three Lego compatible minifigures, a car and some kind of antenna tower.  There are 334 pieces to this set.  I've recently built the Gudi 9213 Fire Rescue Boat and was pleasantly surprised by the brick quality of that set, so hopefully this airplane set will also be a good set too.   The Aliexpress store selling this set is Biscuit's Toyland and I have personally bought other brick sets from this seller without any issue.


Please remember that I cannot verify whether the seller or the item featured is good or not. Use your own judgement and research before making any purchases.  I have no affiliation to Aliexpress or the sellers found there.

Aliexpress: Where to Find the Cheapest Lepin Modular Buildings

I gotta say, now is a wonderful time if you are a fan of Modular buildings.  In the short span of six months, we have seen every Lego modular copied, even the most famous Green Grocer.   If you are new to Lepin and worry that you have missed the boat on getting some cheap modular buildings, fear not, as I have curated a list of bootlegged modular buildings you can find on Aliexpress right now for under $60 USD delivered.

Let's take a look at what I found.

Lepin 15004 Fire Brigade

Here's the Lepin 15004 Fire Brigade set. It is a knock-off of the Lego 10197 set which is now retired. It has 2313 pieces and comes with a vintage fire truck and several minifigures.  On Aliexpress, it is selling for $58.35 USD shipped.  I have this set and you can find my review of it here.

This seller has it even cheaper at $56.68 USD.

Lepin 15009 Pet Shop

This Lego set is still in production, but Lepin chose to copy it anyways. It has 2128 pieces and is selling on Aliexpress for $58.37 USD.  I bought this set, but haven't built it yet.

This seller has it cheaper at $57.12 USD.

Lepin 15002 Cafe Corner

The Lepin 15002 Cafe Corner was the first bootleg modular I ever bought.  Although there are some minor differences between this set and the original Lego 10182 set, the build was still fun.  The Lepin version has 2133 pieces and can be found for $57.94 USD.   I have set also and you can find my review of it here.

Another seller has the Cafe Corner for $56.59

Lepin 15008 Green Grocer

Oh btw, I couldn't find a Lepin 15008 Green Grocer for under $60 USD, but it's not a lot more expensive at $61.25.   If you don't feel like paying over $1000 USD for the real Lego Green Grocer, you can get this set from the link below.



Anyways, if you want to check out whether you think the quality of the Lepin sets is any good, you can try it out for less than a night out for dinner.

Please remember that I cannot verify whether the seller or the item featured is good or not. Use your own judgement and research before making any purchases.  I have no affiliation to Aliexpress or the sellers found there.

List of Past Deals I found on Aliexpress

Here's a list of some the great bootleg Lego deals I got in the past on Aliexpress (priced in CDN dollars, except where noted).

April 2014:  Kazi/Loomen 6721 Police Station Building Set, $15.78
August 2014: Sluban M38-B0330 School Building Set, $19.85
December 2014: Sluban M38-B0367 Airport Building Set, $10.99

January 2015: Enlighten 909 Fireboat Building Set, $23.24
February 2015: Ausini 25903 Train Building Set, $39.61
May 2015: Sheng Yuan 302 Batmobile Building Set, $5.28 USD

Lego Two Face chase set 6864 is now retired and original sets sell for $141 USD on Amazon.

May 2015: Sheng Yuan SY308 X-men jet $15.96 USD.

July 2016: Hsanhe Modular Buildings, set of 6, $43.07
August 2016: Lepin 07018 Batmobile Building Set, $8.53
September 2016: Bela 10541 Emma's House Building Set, $26.97

If you have found some great deals, let me know!

How to Buy Bootleg Lego

I buy my bootleg Lego mini-figures and block sets from only two online shopping platforms:  Ebay and Aliexpress.   Each site has it's pros and cons.  I've pinned this post to the top of my blog so it's always accessible.

Mini-figures

Mini-figures can be bought individually, or in sets of 4, 6 or 8.  I buy big figs individually.  The best quality bootleg mini-figures are made by Sheng Yuan, Decool, Lele, Bozhi and Xinh.  There are other Chinese brands but their quality is questionable.

Sheng Yuan sets, in general, are mostly eight figure sets, whereas Decool minifig sets have six figures in them, but sometimes there are more or less.  I tend to focus mostly on the Marvel and DC Superhero mini-figures, but I have bought clones of the Lego mini-figure series, Clash of Clans and Ghostbuster figures too.

Block sets

Block sets can be bootlegs of older and newer Lego sets, or by Chinese brands such as Sluban, Enlighten, Ausini and Bozhi.    Examples of Lego sets can be older city vehicles or more recently, buildings from the Friends series, or Superheroes vehicles.

Sluban makes a few airplane and city vehicle sets.  Enlighten sets clones some of the older Lego sets like submarines and trains.  Ausini makes their own train series that Lego has not produced.

The latest block company to enter the foray is Lepin.  They have successfully cloned all of the Lego modular buildings and several of the large Star Wars sets.

Ebay

You can usually find mini figures and block sets under the Toys and Hobbies category.  Most times they are in the Building Blocks subcategory but you can also find them in the Action Figures subcategory.

Items are listed in auction format or Buy it Now.  I look for items that come with Free Shipping where the sellers are from China.  Sometimes you can find some really good deals with Buy It Now, but the best prices come from winning an auction and paying a lot less.

For Ebay, you'll need a Paypal account to provide the most painless payment method.

I have found that sellers typically ship out the items within one or two days of payment and it takes on average three weeks to one month before I get it.

Items will come with a tracking number (see below for more about tracking) and an estimated delivery date.  If the item doesn't arrive within the specified period, you can get a refund from ebay.

Aliexpress

I've been using Aliexpress since early 2014.  Aliexpress is like an online mall where many sellers have virtual storefronts.  You are basically dealing with a seller and not Aliexpress directly, although they will try to mediate disputes.  There's no auction style listings, only fixed price listings.    Some listings will state a minimum quantity that needs to be purchased, because they might sell both retail and wholesale.

Some items will be shipped for free and others will charge for extra shipping.  I don't know why but it takes up to one week for a seller to ship an item, and then it takes over one month for it to arrive.  if it takes longer than one month, raise a dispute with Aliexpress.

It's somewhat intimidating for new users because of the plethora of products available.  There's a learning curve to figure out how to filter out the items you are looking for.  Start by browsing the Blocks category and use the search filters to find things you are looking for.

Be warned that seller ratings and feedback are irrelevant. Do not trust any of the feedback or reviews because they may be bogus.  Even  sellers with great ratings will still try to scam you.  You have to understand that it's buyer beware and ethical behaviour is not always followed on Aliexpress.

You may discover some amazing deals, but even though they are listed, the seller might not actually have any stock.  I have bought items only to find out that the seller lied about having inventory. Sometimes they will give you a fake tracking number and indicated that they shipped it when in fact they didn't.

There is no requirement for a seller to honour an item's price.  They might decide not to sell you the item because they realized they priced it too low.   Sometimes they try to ask you for more money after you have bought.  If that happens raise a dispute right away.  I tried to file an Aliexpress complaint against the seller, but there are limited complaint categories and if it isn't listed, they will not listen to your complaint.  Seller asking for more money after an item purchase is not considered as fraudulent by Aliexpress.

Your only recourse is to get a refund but you will have to raise a dispute and wait sometimes up to one month to get your money back.

Paypal is not an option for Aliexpress users.  I have purchase protection on my Visa card so I use this as my payment option.

Tracking

Most items come with a tracking number but there are two types, one for small packages and one for larger packages.

Small packages are usually sets of mini-figures or items under ten dollars.  The tracking numbers associated with these items consist of ten numeric digits.

I use this website to track packages originating from China.  http://www.trackingmore.com/

Larger packages come with a different format tracking number, ie: RI586779712CN.  
The first letter will always be R and the last two letters will be CN, sometimes SG or HK. The last number is a check digit to verify the other numbers in the tracking number.

If you suspect that the ebay or aliexpress seller gave you a fake tracking number, you can check to see if it is valid at this website:   http://post-tracking.com/validate/

Hope this information has been useful to you.