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Monday 19 March 2018

Batman CMFs series 2: Lego and Pogo comparison, part 2


Part 2 is coming, part 1 can be found here
Next 5 minifigures.
Like in the previous post Lego minifigures will be always on the left, while Pogo - on the right

71020-2: Friends are Family Alfred vs PG1191(404)

First, clearly visible mistake is flesh colored hands instead of gloves. Also Pogo has a little
issue with hair painting and a little more dim guitar print. But I like how Pogo suit contours are dark and more visible. Also my Lego minifig has weird gap where left leg connects the joint.

Not that much difference if we look from the side.

Well, Lego cloth is certainly done better. Looks like Pogo has misaligned print here. But honestly, if you display them, you usually display front and sides, not rear.

Pogo did good job with this minifigure. Hair printing is decent and sides too. But there are issue with hand colors and cloth printing.

71020-10: Vacation Alfred vs PG1198(411)

Pogo face print is blurry, stripes are thicker and less accurate and there is issue with alignment of leg print.

Pretty similar from sides, but again Pogo has more thick and less accurate lines. Cherry is ok, Pogo has a little more milky glass than Lego (that's general Pogo trouble with transparent parts). The abscence of dual molded arms is not visible here.

But the absence of dual molded legs is very obvious here on Pogo minifigure. Though both of minifigures lack stripes on legs rear and torso sides.

Again, if looking from front and sides, they are pretty identical, though with closer inspection blurry face and inaccurate lines are visible on Pogo.

71020-11: Soccer Mom Batgirl vs PG1199(412)

Pogo preview version had utility belt, but turned out real did not. I thought maybe it was a mistake and seller forgot to put it, as belt from Batbunny or Joker's fur collar were put separately from the bag. So I looked for real pics on AliExpress and nope, no signs of belt there as well.

Alternative face here. In general Pogo's yellow color is pretty dim.

Though they did side prints and cowl mold is pretty accurate.

Lego version had "Batman" cape, while Pogo has just usual cape.

Accessories. Again Pogo print is more dim.

So this minifigure has visible differences. Intensity of yellow color is noticeably lower on Pogo, cape is incorrect and utility belt is absent. Though mold of cowl is correct, I guess it's one of the worst replicas by far to my opinion.

71020-13: Wonder Twin (Jayna) vs PG1201(414)

Pogo's face is printed higher, besides it really looks if they draw templates be themselves, based on Lego, but not totally duplicatiing it.

Issues with yellow color again.

Absense of dual molded arms on Pogo minifigs isn't that noticeable if one of colors is dark. And ears. To to be fair both Lego and Pogo ear colors do not match their head colors. Lego has darker tone, while Pogo has lighter tone.

Cloth quality is okay, no dual molded legs here. It's not visible well here, but Pogo has incorrect back print here.

As you can see, Pogo colors are not that bright, also vinyl record has misaligned print and white color instead of gray.

71020-14: Wonder Twin (Zan) vs PG1200(413)

Zan looks similar to Jayna, though his torso print is a little different. Again yellow color issue.

Not very good ears coloring (both Lego and Pogo), no dual molds on Pogo.

Zan has correct back print. So Pogo used same back print for both Zan and Jayna.

And accessorie bucket with face (as Zan can transform in any water object). Milky version of Pogo and slightly different face.

Like the last time, most of the minifigures (except Batmom maybe) are of pretty good quality, especially when there are no originals nearby to compare. Pogo does a lot of work to duplicate Lego figs and they are progressing.

Saturday 3 March 2018

Batman CMFs series 2: Lego and Pogo comparison, part 1


Hey ho. I haven't posted anything for quite a while. Today I took 5 minifigs for comparison, which is 25% of the whole set.

Lego minifigures will be always on the left, while Pogo - on the right
First goes 71020-1: Friends are Family Harley Quinn. Let's get clear about bootlego, which is Pogo here. Pogo is able to make own molds based on minifigure pics of Lego future releases (they had Batbunny and Baturion long before TRU exclusive set was out. Besides Baturion Pogo made has white skin color, exactly like leaked catalog displayed it, while real baturion was flesh colored). So Pogo made friends are family Harly before cmfs were out - PG312. But later they've issued updated Harley based on CMF - PG402, but it was numbering failure, as PG402 was chromed Deadpool, so the real number should be PG1189, though nobody on AE sells her under that number.

So it's 71020-1 vs. PG1189(402):
From the first glance they are almost identical, though Lego dual molds hair, while Pogo colors them, and not without flaws. Also there is small issue with face print, Pogo colors are a little bit dim.
Pogo minifigure has some problem with holding itself together, skates fall easily and torso can be easily separated from legs because of skirt.

Arm side prints are on par.

Pretty similar here are well, but Pogo has some paint spots. This may vary from figure to figure. You may be lucky and get ideally painted fig as well as horrible one.

Second face here. Pogo version is little more dim as well.

In general they are very similar, but minor color differences and some painting issue are visible.

71020-7: Tropical Joker vs. PG(1195)408 (same story with numbering issue).

Pink color on glasses is more dark on Pogo version, as well as there's coloring issue on duck's beak and no moon painted on duck's head. Pogo's transparent stud on camera is pretty milky, but Pogo's popsicle looks better. Sandals' tone is different, so are hair.

Lego has dual molded arms and legs, Pogo just paints them, though it's done pretty accurately on this minifigure.

Pogo's back print is little off and a little dimer.

Second faces.

So, minor tone differences, but Pogo is pretty close to Lego. Also Pogo build is assembled tight and does not separate from 1 tough like Harley minifig.

71020-9: Vacation Batgirl vs PG1197(410)

Pogo has some issue with aligning face print. They print it too high and it doesn't look well with cowl. To make it looks better you'll have to rause the cowl a little bit

Pogo's yello is dimer the Lego's but Pogo's metallic is shinier.

No dual mold for Pogo here as well. Surf board is ok.

Also nicely one minifig.

71020-8: Vacation Robin vs. PG1193(407)

Some printing Pogo issues here. Looks at right arm, flasses and paint spot on shorts. Also Pogo shirt is dimer.

Lego has more gold on boombox, 

but Pogo has more gold on ... icecream.

I would say Pogo is fine, especially if you'll be lucky enough to get perfectly printed version.

71020-6: Swimming Pool Batman vs. PG1196(409)

The cowl. Lefo has whole cowl, swimming glasses can't be separated. While Pogo has usual cowl + rubber glases.

Skin tone is different.

Lego dolphin is bigger,

But you can do it like that with pogo:

Also pretty well. Ruber swimming glasses from Pogo are a plus and a minus, they can be placed differently but can be torn easily as well.

So, if there's not much painting job and no dual mold Pogo can work very well. They are woth attention if Lego are expensive at your place.

Monday 10 July 2017

KF6016 partial review

Sup, folks.

A lot of people were asking around what the hell is this:


Kopf brand is known for rebranding others, often even well known brands like Pogo or DLP for example as well as obscure brands. It is rumored they actually produce own stuff, though I haven't seen any valid proof.

So KF6016 is set of brick figures. Reminds me of Mega Bloks pokemon series. I bought KF253 Robin, KF254 Batman, KF255 Batgirl, KF260 Superman for obvious reasons.

Figures consist of 3 2*2 bricks with prints, some of figures optionally have 2*2 flat hair tile.

Sides are not printed. There's a platform with each minifigure.

They have cute printed butts.

Bricks are not glued, so you can switch them as you like it.

That's a bad idea, Clark

See? I told ya.

I consider them cute. Nice unusual addition to my collection. Besides they don't take much spaces if placed near each other. So I would recommend them.



Sunday 4 June 2017

Batman minifigures comparison + how to distinguish different manufacturers

Sup?
Today I'm gonna compare Batman minifigures from the latest Batman movie. And I'm gonna use Pogo pink rubber band with studs for that.
Our contestants. Yup, that many of them, but actually there are only 5 brands here.
Left to right:
Lego, Lego, Lego, Lepin, Lepin, Sheng Yuan, Xinh, Pogo, Pogo (custom cape), Pogo (custom cape)

Okay, closer look. First 6: Lego (Mr. Freeze attack), Lego (Joker's Baloon escape), Lego (Lego magazine bonus), Lepin (Batcave Break-In), Lepin (Batmobile), Sheng Yuan (Clayface Splat Attack):

So yeah considering previous Lepin and SY versions, they can only be purchased with sets. As Lepin doesn't produce minifigures separately from sets (actually does, but not much, and sorta custom series). SY produces minifigures, but they skipped Batman in Batman movie set for some reason.

Okay, next. First one is a repeat - it's SY. Then goes Xinh version and next 3 Pogo Batmen, last 2 with custom capes.

Let's just cut the brands to 5 by removing same brands:
We have left to right: Lego, Lepin, SY, Xinh, Pogo

Even closer look. It is not an illusion, SY batlogo looks more colorful comparing to Lego version.
Lego, Lepin, SY, Xinh, Pogo

Inspect utility belts.
Lego, then Lepin. And if you ask me, I would pick Lepin or SY belt versions instead of Lego one (they are more 3d to me).

Sy, Xinh, part of Pogo

Xinh, Pogo
Pogo loses here in the terms of quality - objectively the worst here. Xinh is so so.

Capes.
Lego has very soft cloth material, but also solid.
Lepin is very very thin, feels more like plastic than cloth (worst here).
SY has typical SY cape, material is pretty nice.
Xinh is velvet and collects dust just perfectly.
Pogo has the most dense material of all, it's pretty strong, but as I've mentioned I used custom capes on other Pogo Batman minifigures.
Lego, Lepin, SY, Xinh, Pogo.

Cowls off.
Only Xinh looks different from them. Others are pretty close to Lego.
Lego, Lepin, SY, Xinh, Pogo.

Second faces:
Again Xinh is different, doesn't have second face at all (the worst here).
Lego, Lepin, SY, Xinh, Pogo.

But also there's additional contestant, which I decided not to include in the comparison above, because it's made with mistakes. It's LELE. As you can see minifig has 2 utility belts: printed and real one.

Besides the head is from the other model and printing is not so nice.

So if you ask me, whom I would pick, I would say SY was one of the closest to Lego, besides I like SY utility belt more than Lego one and the batlogo is more colorful than Lego. UnfortunatelySY minifig was bought in the set and is not sold separately yet, but I hope they'll make a new Batman Movie set soon.


The most interesting part goes here.

The differences in molding or how to distinguish different brands.

First I have to say that we're gonna skip legs as they are almost identical (since we don't have Decool here - there's no point in it).
So let's start with torso or how torso docking part looks (where you attach legs).

Lego, let's call it criss cross

Lepin, almost empty

Sheng Yuan, little plastic stripes, that divides torso in 3 sections.

Xinh, criss-cross, Lego-like

Pogo, something special actually (Btw KL has same shape of leg docking, so it's one more proof that KL belongs to Pogo)

Lele, like SY, but thicker. 3 sections

As you can see, all manufacturers are different. But there are more differences. Let's look inside the torso and at the hands connect to it:

Lego: the hole for arms is not cross-cutting, the torso is whole inside. 

Lego. The hand connects to the torso with round connector, which has small gap in it.

So what about chinese brands?
Lepin: the hole is torso is cross cutting, hand connector looks like a screw cap for a flat blade screwdriver.

SY, looks like Lepin. Bit t has very thin stripes on the inside, just looks at another angle and you'll see them.

Xinh is different, the hole is torso is more "half-shut". Same not Lego-like hand connector

Pogo tries to be Lego-like, not cross cuttng hole and round connector with smal gap.

Lele has hole, but round with gap hand connectors.

So summing up. They all are different, but still distinguishable. But remember that this is only about latest minifigures. For example, Pogo itself had changed torso docking mold at least twice. I'll try to make a whole new post where I would include more manufacturers and their differences along with how they've changed.
Also at first I wanted to compare more Batman movie minifigures - Joker, Robin, Batgirl, but the post already is way too big for that. So was it interesing, any advices?