Real vs Fake LEGO: Top 10 Differences Between Fake LEGO Sets & Genuine LEGO Sets

Real vs Fake LEGO: Top 10 Differences Between Fake LEGO Sets & Genuine LEGO Sets

Websites are flooded with fakes. In this video I show you how to spot a fake LEGO product or to see if your LEGO is fake.

1 - Price. If you see a price that’s too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t be fooled though, because a fake is not good value, it is an illegal, inferior copy of the real thing.

2 - Bundles of 50 minifigures. LEGO do not sell these. Fake minifigures are quite possibly the biggest problem at the moment for LEGO. The fakes are much cheaper made and so much so that they could break in your hands. What’s more they’re worthless.

3 - Product listings will try to avoid the word LEGO, or trademarks like STAR WARS. They don’t want to make their counterfeiting too obvious… just stealing product designs and artwork, and copying themes that they don’t have the licenses to use.

4 - LEGO is the only company licensed to make Star Wars products. Also the Technic, Friends or other LEGO themes are exclusive to LEGO. If you see anything from any of these themes in brick form by a company other than LEGO, then it’s a fake.

5 - New LEGO comes in boxes. If the toy you’re buying is advertised as new but doesn’t seem to come in a box, then it’s probably fake.

6 - If you do buy a fake by accident, you will notice that the quality is nowhere near that of LEGO. The bricks are not made of the same type of plastic. The colours will be different, the finish of the bricks will be different, the bricks can leave a strange residue on yours hands.

7 - LEGO instructions are very well printed and easy to follow. Fake instructions are printed on cheaper paper, the colour reproduction is poor so it’s difficult to know which bricks you need.

8 - LEGO will always print LEGO on the studs of their bricks, while fake manufacturers will not.

9 - LEGO is based in Denmark, and they never ship products from China. Be warned, customs in some countries are confiscating fake LEGO, so your shipment might never arrive anyway.

10 - Occasionally, LEGO slip up with the odd missing brick. I’ve had brick missing from one set in 30 years. Fake LEGO isn’t manufactured to the same exacting standards - so if you get a set and there are several bricks missing, you might have bought a fake.

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[nicklegostava]

Lego should re-issue sets, paying resellers more & more for sets is ridiculous.

[LordVader]

well, on the imperial flagship it said "pirates of the Caribbean " LOL

[thelegodoctor]

I once bought a Mr. Gold for $50. The description said it was genuine and the photos were definitely of a real Mr. Gold. When I got it, it turned out to be a definite fake. The printing on the torso and head came off very quickly and the paint got under my fingernails. In hindsight, I never should have thought a real Mr. Gold would go for that low.

[sonnybrisbane]

If you look on the side of a Lego box, it says some of the parts of the product are made in China. Lego shops are also in China. Doubtful Lego themselves would ship from China to another country, as they keep it regional in China's case, but my main point is it's not a given that Lego sets from China are fake.

[mehistaimsaar]

And sometimes Lego has misprints. They're quite rare.

[gavin]

Would the printing on LEGO bricks from 2009 be different form the printing on bricks now?

[ComedianBobFarrell]

I don't buy fake lego sets. I just buy the minifigures. The clone brands makes figures Lego does not make.

[crazymarioshow]

If I buy a fake lego set I will keep because just for the Minifigures Lego sets expensive I don't have money to get it

[handoltowa]

Nice, comprehensive list!
So, fake LEGO (i.e., Lepin) and non-LEGO (i.e., Megabloks) are two different things, the former coming from a rip-off company and the latter coming from a genuine, legitimate manufacturer!
P.S. Why do you think the video showing bricks melting has disappeared from the web?

[BrickTsar]

I think a person that is blindfolded could tell the fake stuff

[Jedi]

sometimes my little brother gets fake lego from our grandma..and when he destroys the set later he just puts that bricks in my box with original legos without me even knowing :/

[brickmantv]

One look and I can tell if it's lego or not so I never buy fake lego, I do have one exception (military minifigures) cos I need loads of minifigures to make an army its not about price but lego dose not sell in bulk. Other than that all my lego are 100% real lego.

[Fc_clips]

I see LEGO guns with a lot of them and it is one dollar 💵 so I don’t know 🤷‍♂️ if it is fake

[Ohne_Silikone]

I am not a fake lego fan, but Lego lost its way as well. Sets get more expensive while quality gets less. I have quite a lot of parts getting hairline fractures after one time use (2014), colours are off in some parts (2020). I even got a mangled part as well. I don’t endorse blatant copyright infringement, but Lego does not own the building system. They didn’t invent the studded brick themselves. I am perfectly fine with some brick building systems coming up with original parts and models and ‘lending’ standard parts from the Lego design. I don’t like how Lego screws small specialised Lego stores by power playing on them, while favouring the big concerns.

[n.d.]

A lot of exagerated statements. Are you trying to inform or scare people??

1.Illegal, you have to understand the different laws in different countries and the most important part is to tell in which specific case it is or would be illegal. By using fake lego its not clear what you're refering to. Any company that isnt Lego could go under that line.
2.Their plastic, depending on which company we're talking about should be the same, this goes for a lot of legit brands too. Almost no copy of minifig will break in your hands (never heard of any). The minifigs are one of the biggest problem because for many its hard to tell if its fake or not especially if you don't have a copy of the real.
4 looks accurate.

5 Lego uses big boxes for their sets. It is common for sellers to include one only when asked to because of the extra shipping cost (also the used set that no longer have the box).

6 If you get some residue on your hands after touching bricks (no mater which brand) I'd seriously ask questions too but I never heard or seen something like that. The colours and finish CAN be different(not will) from the real. The quality nowhere near... what you will notice is that its missing the lego on the studs and its what people should look at first. The quality is close enough that a lot of people would never notice it.

Number 7, nothing to say about that.
Point 8 is also great.

9. Always learn about import laws in your country no matter what you're trying to import. There are also safe ways to import these.

10. Lego does have great quality control and will replace every missing part. Keep in mind that missing parts in other brands especially the fakes will most of the time be caused by the seller and not the brand itself. Even if you buy Lego pieces, any third party seller can make mistakes and it happens very often.

You don't have to be scared to buy online. My recommendations would be to double check every minifigure and simply look at the lego logo on the other pieces and if you have doubts make sure that the website offers refounds.
Please take this comment as constructive criticism. I felt like it was misleading and I tried not to name any brand by respect to the channel.

[darthbane]

I've bought a number of lepin sets and regret it, stuff like the falcon slave ssd and death star 2.

I've since bought the lego brand and havent bothered opening the lepin sets.

[huskyharris]

I personally have never bought a lepin set so I don’t really know the difference, but seems ur explanation is good. Just a suggestion, this is the type of video u need to make, better than those hater comments video. Not saying hater videos are bad, but if u really wanna convince others, show good arguments like this in lepin comments video instead of making fun and fighting haters, that just gonna generate even more hate. And I find these type videos more informative, the last lepin comments video I find lack of information that at least convince people not to buy lepin

[aaronpenrose]

Although I do love Lego and it is FAR better then any other brick building company, you must admit the price of Lego is out of many people’s budget. I’m just a kid who wants to reenact Star Wars battles, and it’s hard to do so when Lego is so expensive and I only get 100 dollars a year for birthday. In my opinion, I buy fake legos for their price. But I think Legos are awesome.

[DanknDerpyGamer]

Not entirely sure, but I think Hasbro's Kre-O doesn't have a logo or name on the studs either.

[shellykp]

In reference to #10, Lego will replace that missing part for free! You just provide proof of purchase and can order your missing piece on their website. We've had to do this a couple of times. It's such great customer service!