Lego S.W.A.T

Waaay before knock off/bootleg lego and their parts exist in mass production as like today, the only solution to have such parts not made available by lego is to  buy custom made which is very expensive and limited tho.

I remember buying this machine gun by Si-Dan for about RM20 (around USD6) inclusive postage. 

RM20 only for the machine gun

My favourite source to have those custom made parts are from Brickarms, Firestartoys, Brickwarriors, Brickforge and of course on ebay. I'm sure you also have your own favourite source to have custom made/printed lego parts. 

I had quite a few of the accessories but today i only manage to find 3 sets which is all from Brickforge. 

Each set cost me around RM20 (USD6) inclusive postage. With the same price, i can buy octuple of bootleg issued parts today. Too good to be true right? I will review SWAT set (8 boxes) by Lele in this post..

parts and trading cards

Uh uh.. first box to unpack and there's missing part already - most important part too... the shield! =(((((

I am not sure if it is intentional or error in packaging but i only receive 6 set of additional weapons/accessories out of the 8 boxes.

all identical

Let the pictures do the talking ya =)

Figures with accessories

Rear view

Now lets have a look on the torso and leg. I am quite impress with the design. Every torso has different design and no repetitive. 

without accessories

rear view

The plastic however, feel and look cheap. IMHO, the accessories and weapon by Lele is too thin. It is proven with this comparison. I compare one of the vest with Lego vest from Lego Robo SWAT (The Lego movie)

Right - Lele's, Left - Lego 

I strip the accessories from the minifigure, lay them out and have the same arrangement with the above photo (minifigure with accessories). It is very time consuming to arrange them with my fat finger. lol

Closer look on each accessories:

[edited on Dec 11,2014]

[Thank you sooooooo much to @apodistagon for these weapon name. =). I edit the picture above and put in the name just like the one in your email]

Cannot wait to have my hand on other SWAT set by Sheng Yuan (set of 4) =)

The question now, are those custom made parts or custom print on original lego parts are anywhere better than bootleg/knock off version? IMHO, buying original stuff is one way to support and show your appreciation to authenticity of the item. But custom made is just the same with bootleg/knock off. 

Yesterday i took some time to dig bootleg parts that i have and choose some  accessories that i think is cool and maybe will have some use in future. (for photography of course). If i treasure those custom made machine gun for years, i'll do the same for these parts because they are very unique. 

Lele Superheroes Figure - Set of 8

This Superheroes set of 8 by Lele comprise of The Flash, Taskmaster, Batgirl, The Joker, Falcon, Electro, Nightwing, and M.O.D.O.K. 

For now, Lele is the first china brand that imitate Task Master, Electro and M.O.D.O.K. They come in bigger box than the usual bootleg lego box. Image below show comparison of Captain America's box from Sheng Yuan side by side with these set of 8 by Lele.

From this picture below, I wonder why they need to use bigger box when they can fit these in normal box. i hope it's not their attempt to jack up the price. the extra pieces provided for the additional build is not that huge/excessive.

for some reason these wording give me goose bumps O_o

unassembled bricks

minifigures with their accessories

rear view

Ok, now let's have detail comparisons. I'll have original lego on the right for all these pictures.

headband colour is slightly diff. face expression is 100% the same but also with slight colour diff

My oh my, they look the same. same design, same size. Even the mould also the same. Quick way to distinguished them is by looking for "LEGO" word on the parts. For this example, i will pinpoint where to look.

For Lele's version, colour of the eye is printed out of targeted area

Lele's version without dual sided head. rear torso also has diff colour

xxx

Well well well, what do we have here. 4 versions of Nightwing! Since we have the chance to look at all version side by side, let's have detail look to find the obvious diff.

1

2

3

4

5

To be honest, i actually forgot which is which.. but i maintain the order when taking photos of every parts from each figure. 

Picture No.1 - 2nd guy from right has different face expression. Simple google/bricklink  search will show you how the real lego nightwing expression.

From the above print screen, now we know that nightwing come with dual sided face. Different expression on 2nd guy face that we highlighted above is actually alternate expression. so there are still probability that he's original. let's move on to next picture.

Picture No.2 - BAM! bootleg/imitation spotted. Only the left and right guy has dual sided face. So both 2nd and 3rd guy from right is eliminated. Definitely not original. 

Picture No.3 - Please note that to date, Sheng Yuan still maintain to use "H" shape inside the torso, while the other brand has "X" design inside the torso same like the original lego. So 3rd guy from right is eliminated. (Oh, we already took him out from picture no.2 analysis anyway)

Picture no.4 - Please note that to date, Decool always use this design (circled in photos) for their leg assembly. Sheng Yuan and Lele will have the same design with Lego. so now it's very definite that the guy on the left is not original, leaving the guy on the right the only candidate for original Lego.

Picture no.5 - Let's have closer look on the parts. Try find "LEGO" word on each parts. This will become definite proof that the figure is original/imitation. With this example, it's now confirmed Nightwing on the right is the original Lego. 

On the other hand, how i determine which figure is from which brand.. provided each figure is complete, not mixed. (There's no way telling which is which if the torso, head, leg mixed with each other since they don't carve their brand on the parts): 

xxx

For Falcon, I'll have Sheng Yuan's version on the left. Original lego is on the right and Lele's in the middle.

Lele's Falcon has yellow hand instead gold/brownish colour. Arrow on the forehead also in grey instead yellow. 

Only the original Falcon come with dual sided head

Same shape and design, with slight colour diff. Arrow above show where "LEGO" word can be found on original wing

Same with Batgirl, we will have Sheng Yuan's version on the left. 

looks like Lele don't bother to use gold/brownish colour for the hand.. and the lipstic colour in purple

Only original lego come with dual sided head. Rear torso has same design but slight colour diff

Finally +1 point for Lele. For Batgirl, the mask and hair piece is closest to original Lego.. but still, the hair colour is slightly diff than original lego.

Last but not least, The Flash! From left: Sheng Yuan's, Decool, Lele and Lego.

Sheng Yuan's Flash is from video game variant, that's why he has different torso (with different zigzag pattern on front torso), head and mask/helmet. (Sheng Yuan's Flash). 

Decool's version is the closest to original. Same face expression (light flesh colour dual sided head) and same zigzag colour on the torso

Lele's Flash has same face expression with original Lego but didn't come with dual sided head. The torso has same design with Lego but the line on the body is bolder.

As a conclusion for bootleg version of the flash, my favourite is still Sheng Yuan's (because he's video game variant) and Decool (because almost the same with original) =)