Before we gaze forward into 2020 it is good to look back and digest what happened in past twelves months. 2019 was a eventful year in China clone brick scene. The biggest news was the fall of LEPIN during April 23rd. Fans of LEGO cheered while other clone makers shivered in fear and went low key. The crack down in fact was a welcome reprieve for many clone makers. Many clone brands who valued originality and creativity were suffocating as consumers bought counterfeit LEGO products, causing stagnant sales for them. Still, the crack down had introduced lots of mess and uncertainty in the clone bricks market.

It ALL begins with LEPIN

A bit of background history on China clone brick scene. Before year 2014, the unwritten agreement among the clone bricks makers were to share the pie and avoid direct competition. For example, BELA made Ninjago clone while LELE took on Friends and Elves. Decool seem to have affinity to DC and made Batman sets exclusively plus some Technic sets. SEMBO made small to medium sets of Marvels theme. Everyone was happy until LEPIN disrupted the balance. LEPIN adopted winner took all stance, making sets from every LEGO themes and pricing at level lower than other makers. LEPIN also managed to replicate discontinued LEGO Modular sets, which other makers had avoided due to high cost of moldings for large number of parts. In addition, the wholesale price of LEPIN set was CNY10-15 lower than retail price of other makers that made same LEGO counterfeit sets. The move eroded retail margins of other clone brands and infuriated many manufacturers.

Overnight, LEPIN boss Li HaiPeng became the most hated man not only for AFOL, but other clone brick makers as well. Li reportedly hired four bodyguards, fearing for his safety in Shantou. Other maker such as Gudi wanted to start counterfeit business seeing how profitable the practice was. Gudi’s Chief Designer resigned in protest and the brand never seem to recover after the designer left. It’s estimated LEPIN had 60% market shares of China clone bricks market and made close to CNY 600 million profit during year 2014-2018. To qualify as LEPIN wholesaler, one had to order minimum CNY 2 million a month, payment in cash and take whatever sets given.

The low CNY 4.5 million penalty that being slapped on LEPIN in the court case brought by LEGO embolden not only LEPIN but other clone brick makers as well. Not only discontinued Modular sets being copied, but those still in sale LEGO flagship sets being replicated as well. One could find UCS Millennium Falcon made by LEPIN, SEMBO, BELA and LELE. Customers were happy because there were more choices and prices were 20% of LEGO in China. The day of reckoning finally came with Shanghai Police arrested the gang of four of LEPIN. The crack down was similar to what Bandai did to Dragon Momoko, in which Shanghai Police was called in, bypassing Guangzhou jurisdiction in making the arrest. The photo below was taken during gala dinner of Meizhi, the parent company of LEPIN in early Jan 2019. Third from the left was boss Li HaiPeng and three of the deputies who would accompany him in Shanghai cell.

The Two Faced of Four Heavenly Kings

The Four Heavenly Kings of China clone bricks are LEPIN (J, Queen, King), SEMBO, LELE and BELA. To qualify as top players, the benchmark was they made counterfeit version of LEGO 70620 Ninjago City. Considering Ninjago City had whopping 989 unique parts and 4873 bricks, no small feat for any dick and harry. Below were four box sets of Ninjago City.









At the same time, all four had launched sub brands to white wash themselves while continue to leech on the Danish brick. Below is list of who owned who:

LEPIN owned Xingbao brand.

SY and Sembo Block were interchangeable between counterfeiting and own IP.

LELE owned Zhegao and Lin07.

BELA owned Winners

The strategy was to make money via cloning LEGO sets and supporting the growth of sub brands at the same time. They hope the sub brands will become self sustaining and reputable before they forced to close counterfeit brands.

Good Boys Enlighten (QMAN) and Sluban





Enlighten or the new name QMAN continues to produce sets with acquired IP. The IP under its belt were from movie and cartoon such as Nezha, Doraemon, Pokemon, Evangelion and Ben & Hollys. It had unique minifigures with oversize head.









Sluban is another good boy that paid for IP. So far it had acquired IP from movies like Pacific Rim and The Predator. It had unique figure design, which had more mobility compared to LEGO ones.





Gobricks, the Brick that Binds Them All

The secretive Gobricks which owned by Shantou City Golds Precision Technology had became the Foxconn of China clone brick scene. Known for its high precision molding, it supplied high quality parts to various brands such as Sembo, Mould King, Happy Build and Jisi (Decool). Gobricks parts could be found in many “No Brand” sets, especially the Bugatti which were the most sought Technic set among clone bricks fans in China. Notice the two Bugatti sets had no brand and different serial numbers. First Bugatti with serial 2019061, second one 100011.

New No Brand pink and white Bugatti without any identification numbers.

However, many pointed out that Gobricks could be the one behind those No Brand sets. Gobricks issued a statement refuting the allegation. The parts from Gobricks had LEGO part numbers engraved together with Gobricks’ own serial. Example below from Mould King Avtoros Shaman in which the tire had LEGO part number 18450 together with Gobricks M094 serial appearing together.

I Come, I See, I Steal

Demise of LEPIN sent chilled down the spines for many clone bricks manufacturers. Instead of copying LEGO design, they turn the attention to MOCers. Many instructions could be found free on Rebrickable and that create opportunity for copying. Predominantly the Technic Mocs were being targeted and leading copycats were JQK (LEPIN), Mould King and Happy Build.





What to Expect from China Clone Bricks in 2020?

Following were our prediction based on our analysis. The market for interlocking brick toys is expected to get bigger. Legitimate LEGO who poised to capture higher market shares with more stores opening in China. The demand for clone bricks will be higher as well because not everyone could afford or willing to pay the high price to get Danish bricks.

SEMBO to be the 800-pound Gorilla in 2020

Among the clone brick makers, Sembo would emerge the top in 2020, cementing its lead since 2018. Sembo own offering based on acquired IPs and in-house design are having various degree of success, thanks to strong team of designers. For 2019, it had acquired IP of top grossing movie in China, such as The Wandering Earth. Though the movie Shanghai Fortress bombed in box office and demand for the tie-up sets were lackluster. The strategy of IP acquisition and in-house IP development would continue in years to come. Sembo also made friend with strong political connection. In 2020, it will make brick set of Shandong aircraft carrier in collaboration with culture arm of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation. SEMBO was the first to have proper authorization from state related entity in making military related sets. Other makers such as Sluban, Kazi had been making China military theme product such as Liaoning aircraft carrier without any IP approval. LEGO would need to think twice before bringing Sembo to court.

Sembo will continue to leech on LEGO for years to come, as the business is too lucrative to give up. At the same time, it will nurture its own IP offerings and grow that business. However it needs to work hard to retain its team of designers to maintain its lead. Its lead designer just job hopped to KAZI in the beginning of 2019.

J, Queen and King plus New Kids on the Block LEJI and SX

When LEPIN was down, one China netizen commented: “There would be thousands of LEPIN that will take its place”. It took less than six months for LEPIN to revive itself as J, Queen and King brands, collectively known as JQK. Not forgetting LEJI and SX who wanted to be the next LEPIN. As long as there is money to be made, there won’t be shortage of LEPIN wannabe.

The crack down back in April 2019 had hampered JQK production capability, restricted itself to limited range of offerings, unlike the heyday where it copied every single theme that LEGO had. LEJI and SX adopted the same strategy, going for popular choice such as LEGO IDEAS Steamboat Willies. LEJI was rumored to be related to SEMBO in the beginning. End up LEJI was sourcing some parts from SEMBO and bought retired molding from the latter.

Come 2020, JQK, LEJI and SX will continue to produce counterfeit sets, though it’s unlikely they will go for old LEPIN ways of copying every single LEGO themes and sets. The risk is too high and no one wanted to go to jail. One creative way is to sell the set as alternate built with different instruction and getting buyers to download original manual from LEGO website. Following is what J brand did for fake Hogwarts Clock Tower Set (LEGO 75948). The J brand version was mirror image of the original and link provided in the set to download original LEGO manual for builder to replicate.

Catch me if you can!

To reduce the chance of getting caught, “No Brand” LEGO counterfeit will continue to be made by unknown clone makers. Gobricks will continue to be part of this by supplying high quality parts to these makers. This had made identification of the real mastermind harder. LEGO legal team is expected to have hard time in 2020. Below is the latest “No Brand” clone version of LEGO 42110 Land Rover Defender.

Though you could still find clone bricks being sold on Taobao, many sellers in China had moved to other channels such as Wechat and Pinduoduo. Often flagship sets such as Bugatti, Ninjago City and Hogwarts Castle were being offered in flash sale via Wechat and Pinduoduo.

Murky Water or Blue Ocean for Clone Bricks?

In summary, there is no way to eradicating counterfeit LEGO makers in near future. There is always demand for cheap imitate LEGO products. We do wish the strategy of own IP and in house design sets will get market acceptance and be profitable. Only then the China clone bricks will stop copying LEGO. China Clones are leeching on LEGO while charting their own courses. The practice of copying LEGO and doing the “right” thing through sub brands will continue for years to come. Not forgetting the emergence of “No Brand” counterfeit LEGO sets make the clone brick scene even murkier.