There’s one thing we have noticed this 12 months as we have been on the lookout for the perfect Black Friday deals on Lego: There’s more fake ‘Lego’ than ever, and it’s dominating Amazon’s Black Friday pages.
In case you’re searching for real Lego, be sure you do not get caught out by it, and be sure you recognize what you are buying.
Now, plenty of individuals will probably be joyful buying a brick toy from a brand that is not Lego. The difficulty is, that many listings purposefully obfuscate the brand, making it difficult to know exactly what you are buying. It’s made doubly difficult by the proven fact that a lot of these low cost imitators ape set designs actually made and sold by Lego. So you would possibly think you are getting a hot deal on the most recent Lego Star Wars set, but it surely’s actually coming from a totally different company.
Best Lego deals this Black Friday weekend 2023
Problems arise on account of the proven fact that a lot of these sets is not going to be made to the identical, strict quality control rules of Lego sets. Bricks won’t be product of the identical high-quality plastic. Instructions may not be legible. Your pieces may not click together in the best way that you simply’d hoped.
So, to make sure you do not get caught out while searching for Lego deals this Black Friday weekend and into Cyber Monday, we have put together some helpful advice on things to look at out for, and easy methods to check you are definitely buying real Lego.
Methods to spot imitation Lego during Black Friday weekend 2023
- Search for the phrase ‘compatible with Lego’ within the listing
- Check for an official set number
- Check product images for the official Lego logo
The brands selling low cost imitation bricks need to be sure they arrive up when searching the word ‘Lego’. Indeed, do a seek for ‘Lego’ in Amazon’s Black Friday sale section, and you may find more fake Lego than the true stuff. That is since the product listings often still include the word ‘Lego’ in there. But typically it’ll be a part of a phrase, like compatible with Lego, or works with Lego bricks. Be careful for these phrases or similar, because that is your first red flag!
One other thing to examine for is whether or not or not there’s an official set number. Each set produced by Lego has a five-digit identifier: the UCS Luke Skywalker’s Landspeeder is 75431, for instance, and the Marvel Avengers Advent Calendar is 76267. Official Lego listings will all the time have this number within the title. If it is not there, it’s likely not real.
If there a number? It might be sensible to cross-check it on the official Lego website to make sure the same set comes up. Just pop within the number into the Lego website’s search box, and if it’s an actual set number, it’ll pull up a result.
Finally, take a look at the product images. Does it have Lego’s immediately recognizable logo on there? It is a red square with ‘Lego’ written in white bubble writing. Each Lego product has this logo within the top-left corner of the box. In case you cannot see that on the product images, it’s likely not real Lego.
If you wish to buy other brick brands this Black Friday weekend, go for it — but watch out
- Read reviews first
- Check set and piece dimensions
We must always stress that simply because something is not branded ‘Lego’ does not imply it may be bad. We’re the primary to confess that some non-Lego brick constructing sets look cool, like this astronaut, or this BrickHeadz-style Link from The Legend of Zelda figure. The difficulty is that all of them come from different manufacturers, and so there isn’t any guarantee of their quality.
In case you buy a real Lego set, you recognize exactly what the bricks are going to feel like, you recognize how it may be packaged, and you recognize the dimensions and scale of the construct you are buying. In relation to non-Lego brands, there isn’t any standard for any of that, so you have to be extra careful and make sure you read the total listing rigorously.
Check reviews to see what other users consider the standard of the item. If there are a number of positive reviews, that is generally a great sign. We particularly like reviews where users have uploaded their very own images: It adds a layer of authenticity. If there aren’t many reviews, or there’s a great amount of negative reviews, that is typically a warning sign.
Also, check product dimensions. Plenty of other brick toy brands use micro-scale bricks, much smaller than Lego bricks, leading to smaller builds. Some are also just deceptively scaled within the product image. Take this ‘Typewriter Constructing Set‘ for instance. The true Lego Typewriter costs $250, but this one is just $14.99. How? Since it’s actually a fraction of the dimensions of the true thing.
There’s still fun available when you buy one other brick brand aside from Lego. But just exercise caution while browsing retailers – particularly Amazon – this Black Friday weekend. Ensure that you recognize what you are buying. In case you want real Lego but aren’t sure that the item you’ve got found is the true thing, all the time double-check against the official Lego website first.