I Just Bought: The Mos Eisley Cantina 75290 knockoff set!

Here's my latest buy from Aliexpress, not sure if it's going to go through.  The seller has a really low feedback score and rating, so I guess we will have to wait a few weeks to see if I actually get a tracking number that works.

So far, I have had zero success trying to buy a cheap version of the Mos Eisley Cantina from Aliexpress.  I think I've tried to buy it about 3 times already, each time resulting in me having to raise a dispute to get my money back, either due to the seller not sending the item or giving me a fake tracking number.  I mean you can find a fairly decently priced knockoff set for between $150 to $200 on Aliexpress, but I'm always on the hunt for the best bargain.
 

With discounts, the total cost of the set including shipping is $133.24 CDN which works out to about $102 USD at current exchange rates.  Not bad for 3187 pieces. Or about 0.03 cents per piece.

This is what the retail price of the Lego 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina sells for, about $450 CDN + tax.

The Lego 75290 Mos Eisley Cantina set was released in September 2020, and one would expect that it's retirement date should be sometime this fall.  As a result, the OG set should go up in value.  The website Brick Economy suggests that the value of the set will increase to around $700 or more.

Brick4.com lists the knockoff set as 60016 but with no brand.  Hope the quality and the minifigures are decent.   Guess we will roll the dice again and hope for a good outcome! Look for an update in a few weeks or so.

Aliexpress Find: Chaobao 5632 Sanitation Truck (clone of Lego set 4432)

I wasn't plan on buying anything on Aliexpress today, but then this listing popped up on my computer screen.  It looks like an exact replica of the Lego 4432 Garbage truck set but it's by an unknown chinese knockoff brand called Chaobao Renren.

While the Lego version of the truck has long been discontinued (it made it's appearance back in 2012), this latest clone version of it has just surfaced.  According to the Aliexpress listing this set has 369 pieces whereas the OG Lego set only had 208 pieces.  

In the picture I can see that the knockoff set comes with some garbage bins that the Lego version didn't come with.  Also it is unknown at this time if the Chaobao set comes with mini figures or not.

Anyways, I decided to pull the trigger on this one, and see what the quality of this unknown brand is like.  I'm assuming it will take approx 3 weeks to one month of it to get to me, so look for a review of this set in late July or early August

Update:  Review of the Chaobao Renren 5632 Garbage Truck has been published on my blog!

Here's all the not Lego sets and minifigures I bought in the first half of 2022.

 

Hi brick fans!  It's time for an update on my new not Lego purchases for 2022, from January through to June.  Most of my purchases were from Aliexpress.

In January, I bought a couple of World Minifigure Spiderman-Noir WM6052 minifigs, mainly to get the capes to enhance my Blade Runner custom minifigures. I paid three bucks CDN for the pair of them, which is the going price at the moment.  Not much of a deal.

In March, I wanted to get a small new stand for my not Lego modular city, so I found this Sembo 601111 set on Aliexpress.  This one came in at a whopping $10 CDN.  I think I paid too much for this small set.

I have most of the not Lego Batmobiles, except for the classic 1960's version so, in March I ordered this MOC set from Aliexpress: Product - MOC-24651 1966 Batmobile.  Paid about $15 CDN for it, but I haven't built it yet though.  For an approx 300 piece set, the price is OK.

I'm still trying to complete my collection of Lego style modular buildings, so I finally picked up the nearly 2500 piece Downtown Diner from Aliexpress for around $90 CDN.  It's on my backlog of sets to build at the moment.

To round out my March purchases, I ordered this Imperial Troop Transporter for my not Lego Star Wars collection.  Product:  MOC 38045 on Aliexpress.  Price was mid 30-ish CDN.  Still need to build this one as well.

My lone purchase for the month of April was the Boutique Hotel Lego clone. I think this one is by Leji.  Also from Aliexpress.  Price was on the steeper side at around $130 CDN from Marstoy store.  Bought but not built yet.

For the month of May, I decided to get a few more random minifigures for my not Lego city.  It was only $5 CDN for the entire set of 8 minifigs (works out to about 63 cents per minifig). I think that they are from the theme set PUBG (Players Unknown Battle Ground) game.  These minifigures are pretty limited on Aliexpress.

Also in May, I couldn't resist buying this cool retro style TV set from the Top Toys Aliexpress store. With discount coupon, this cost me around $20 CDN.  Building this soon!

In June, I made my first purchase of some Star Wars and other minifigures through Marstoy.net.  A few but not all from the Xinh series XH0323.  Price per minifigure ended up being about $2 CDN, after shipping costs, and paypal currency exchange fees.  I don't think they are up on Aliexpress yet.

Back on Aliexpress, I bought one lone goat.  Why? Just because.  In my Funwhole wood cabin set, there is a gated area off the side of the building, so I figured this would be a good place to keep a goat.

To round off the month of June, I bought a clone version of Lego's new 12 Grimauld Place.  I really only want it for the front facade so that I can convert it into a full modular style building.  It's around $65 CDN.  Not cheap for only under 1100 pieces, but I expect the pricing to increase in step with Lego's anticipated price increases.

Happy building and see you next time!