Alternate Brand Minifigure Guide and Set Lists
As you all might already know, there are various minifigure brands out there from China. They have different designs and ways of producing the figures which result in a lot more choices for us. Additionally, it's hard for us collectors to keep track of all their releases.To get more news about
cheap minifigures, you can visit minifigureonline.com official website.
XINH has one of the largest minifigure releases among the Chinese brands. Recently too, they've been known to produce good quality minifigures.
Some potential issues: weird face prints, the older releases are not as good, unique molds are not as defined/sturdy/well-madePOGO probably has the most designs but they usually focus on quantity over quality. Though recent figures have shown improvement, a number of their releases used poor printing and plastic quality.
Some potential issues: poor plastic/print quality, no extra hands for recent releases, poor baseplate quality, thin capes.Lele was one of the big 3 when knockoff brick brands were starting to grow. (Sheng Yuan and Decool were the other two.) They used to focus on boxed sets and minifigures but have expanded to the market that POGO and XINH target. (This list does not have the boxed sets, just their single-sale-online minifigures.)
DLP is a sub-brand of the popular Sheng Yuan brand. They mostly make minifigure-only sets and are often only available to be bought as a set. Traditionally, they are boxed figures but online retailers often do not include the boxes. Quality has been great though.
Kopf started out as an online store that simply sold other brands. They then started to rebrand those figures and eventually started to produce figures themselves. Recent Kopf figures have been of good quality and good designs. This list also has DA minifigures (allegedly Dargo, another boxed-set brand).
Some potential issues: inconsistend quality (due to different manufacturers in the past), repeated characters from other brands (Kopf and WM usually strongly compete which result to same characters being available from both with highly minor differences).
WM also started out as an online store that eventually started to make their own minifigures and their own designs (some of them). Recent WM figures have been of good quality with many original designs (as in not copied from other designers). This list also has MG (Megao) minifigures which is allegedly a sub-brand of WM.
A relatively new brand that only makes minifigures. Has been loved by fans since they first previewed. Additionally, their designs are (supposedly) original; they do not clone designs made by other minifigure designers.
Some potential issues: recent figures have not been as good as their first few releases due to changes in manufacturer, their original molds are sometimes out of scale (larger than usual for minifigures).There are numerous minifigure brands out there. Arguably, these are the easiest ones to find outside of China. Most designs are rip-offs from TLG or other 3rd party minifigure designers but we've also seen innovation from these brands (especially KORUIT with their all-original roster of designs and WM's recent custom molds and prints).
Do remember that the best quality will always be from Lego. Additionally, you'd be supporting designers if you purchase real Lego minifigures instead. These alternative brands are really for those who cannot afford the real deal as they are undoubtedly expensive especially for 3rd world countries where these minifigures sell well.
When it comes to knowing where it's best to purchase from, I would argue that it's from the Kopf Store and WM Store in AliExpress. Currently though, there's a ban on minifigures (this has happened before) and so it will be more difficult to find the figs you want, but that's the point of these recently updated set lists; with these, you will be able to see pictures and their codes that you can to browse AliExpress.
