People need to remember that there’s a difference between knockoff like Lepin wich is a illegal copy and compatible brands like Cobi wich are just competitors. The bricks itself isn’t patented, just the minifig and the set design so making building block sets isn’t knockoff. Also Brands like cobi do things different like military sets and they Even have their own brick designs. A cool fact is that LEGO actually started to use some cobi brick designs so LEGO also takes ideas from competitors. Also cobi prints everything and is more affordable even tho they don’t produce in Asia. It’s all made in Europe unlike LEGO who outsource to Asia
I just got the Cobi Sherman tank, I think it is 100% better than any of the other ones, because it’s affordable, AND it feels and looks just like Lego. Keep up the great work!
Why I like cobi, is that it has some pieces that Lego would never release. It has twin side flat pieces; if they need a 1:7 piece, they will just mold a 1:7 piece! Cobi is just better in every single aspect.
I absolutely prefer the Cobi stuff. not only is it the right colour but on things like ww2 fighters they look way better than brickmania which relies on lego bits. Then theres the insane brickmania price point that means you can buy four or five cobi for the same price.
@@Brickafit agree. If Cobi continues to improve and becomes more mainstream and available lego may have to have a serious rethink or loose a chunk of market share.
0:45 Dave has the drip! Favourite moment of the video! Keep up the good work Joshua! A real banger, I laughed so hard during the first minutes, with the introduction of the afvocates!
One thing I understand is not wanting to mix Lego and Cobi bricks. But then again in my mind Lego sets I tend to deconstruct and MOC but I feel Cobi sets are more ‘brick models’ and I never intend on deconstructing them unless a rehashed version comes out. Over all as a person who loves Lego (pirates are forever my soul) and who is a big cobi fan boy I think you did a pretty good job here. The only thing I would add is I think of the 3 Cobi does a better job with historical details and getting closer with historic lines. Also heads up: if you do cobi ship. Be warned the HMS hood is a little different from all the others. They used Multicolor bricks for the interior. Their response was because they thought have tons of grey /red bricks was monotonous and wanted to make the interior builds more visually interesting. (From the outside it looks fine, just the internal pieces are so) but the cobi fans didn’t like that so they discontinued that. So if you happen to get a ship and it’s the Hood that’s why half the bags look like rainbow fun time
Real problem with Cobi bricks in particular is not the quality (which is lego level for some years now), ethics (it is made in EU and is the only legit and ethical competitor at this point) or price (they get pricier over time with quality increase). It lies with colors. Cobi is not using the same color palette as Lego, meaning that their light grey is slightly different from Lego's. Same with their greens, olives, dark grey...hell, I think even white is a bit different than Lego's when you look at it. Cobi used that strategy to make themselves different from Lego, to not be "yet another knock off" and to better fit the military color scheme which is the standard for Cobi. It makes things slightly annoying though, when you try to supplement your bricks and you simply can't find a decent source of them other than yet another model set (buying blocks off-sets from Cobi website is limited to the most common ones...which is far from ideal).
Cobi trumps lego in any competition regarding military, brickmainia just looks too blocky and have weird colors Unlike cobi where they go the extra mile to print the bricks, mold special parts, and make em in colors that match their real world counterparts I just got their easy 8 and Huey And they look so dang good And their price is a heck of a lot better than brickmainia plus the plastic is good quality and have actual license from Boeing, Bell, Northrop Grumman and a bunch of others
Thanks for the fun review! 'Lego snobbery' (Legobbery?) reminds me of the elitism sometimes displayed in the tabletop wargaming hobby; Some gamers refuse to collect anything not made by their manufacturer of choice. (A few manufacturers 'ban' other companies' products from their official events, tournaments, etc.) Shrill shouting matches have thus ensued between grown adults over the providence of their toys. But I wonder if, in both hobbies, the rejection of 'off-brand' offerings is driven by the desire by elitists to protect their investment? Literally thousands of dollars can be sunk into either Lego or (say) Games Workshop collections. And just for the sake of disclosure: I do rather love Cobi's efforts. :)
I think your sketches encapsulates the target audience of each product really well. Coming in, I just cannot help but cringe at anything that is not LEGO when I already have an established lego-only collection. However, if I was reincarnated and started from square 1 again, I would probably go with COBI. Much cheaper and their models have inherent advantages because COBI focuses on military stuff, unlike LEGO. The unproportionate size of the Mingcheng is too much for me, but ~$25 for those 4 lego-style minifigs? Actually not too bad... So yeah, I think COBI vs LEGO comes down to being a lego purist or not and the Mingcheng's only clear advantage is the minifigs and super low price
If you haven’t seen. Cobi Finally has an expensive tank Set. A 1:12 Scale Fully detailed tiger. It’s absolutely one of the best sets I’ve ever seen in brick. It’s fully detailed, engine, crew, gun. It’s massive and detailed and feels absolutely worth the cost of it
I stopped in really thinking this wasn't to go good . But after watching the video I think you gave a fair review on all of the tanks. Normally reviews like this normally favor Lego and Lego only. But you guys did the opposite. Thank you. As a collector of mini figures I buy all and they do not ruin you collection if they placed on top or near . Off brands are good for mocks and we are starting to see this more and more in mock displays at Brick mania shows.
Brickmania ist viel zu überteuert. Weiß nicht was ansatzweise diese Preise gerechtfertigt, die haben einen vollknall und die leute die es kaufen noch mehr.
Great video. Although I don't know if you guys know this, but the Ming Cheng Sherman is basically an exact copy of the old COBI M4A1 Sherman. I would take Brickmania and Cobi any day, but I wouldn't buy the Ming Cheng set seeing as it is the Lepin of Cobi.
For reminded, Mingcheng is liteally 1:1 copy of older Cobi Sheman. I friggin have this set from Cobi and chineese clone is identical, only worse quality.
@@Brickafit 7.allegroimg.com/s1024/0cf793/8d35dd504f459b2a0670d5382e37 Yeah i mean its literally this set from photo, but its good example how they improved on construction, especially when compared with newest version of M4A1 from CoH 3 cobi.pl/gfx/cobi2/_thumbs/pl/sklep_oferta/13151/sherman-m4a1,3044-back,k3djZatnlKiRlOvRlmRk-.jpg
Nice American Civil War reference with the name. Also, Cobra King is on display at the US Army museum at Fort Belvoir now. A buddy of mine assisted in setting up the displays and said that when he crawled into the tank there were still spent brass casings littered on the floor. And while I'm not going to dismiss somebody for buying 'off brand' there is something that doesn't feel right about buying these sets since many of them have been reverse-engineered from other designers.
glad to see cobi finnally picking up the reputation they deserve
same
They now know as one of the top tank building sets, crazy
@@Sacred_eD Theyve been my go to for brick tanks since like 2017! Amazing how theyve improved throughout the years
@@rayn2913 can you fit lego mini figures in them?
@@anonymoushunter9808 Yes
People need to remember that there’s a difference between knockoff like Lepin wich is a illegal copy and compatible brands like Cobi wich are just competitors. The bricks itself isn’t patented, just the minifig and the set design so making building block sets isn’t knockoff. Also Brands like cobi do things different like military sets and they Even have their own brick designs. A cool fact is that LEGO actually started to use some cobi brick designs so LEGO also takes ideas from competitors. Also cobi prints everything and is more affordable even tho they don’t produce in Asia. It’s all made in Europe unlike LEGO who outsource to Asia
Your completely right. You're comment will be in upcoming video!
Could you provide an example of a piece that Lego introduced later than Cobi? Just asking outta curiosity, since that'd be something big
I just got the Cobi Sherman tank, I think it is 100% better than any of the other ones, because it’s affordable, AND it feels and looks just like Lego. Keep up the great work!
You have a good point.
Why I like cobi, is that it has some pieces that Lego would never release. It has twin side flat pieces; if they need a 1:7 piece, they will just mold a 1:7 piece! Cobi is just better in every single aspect.
I absolutely prefer the Cobi stuff. not only is it the right colour but on things like ww2 fighters they look way better than brickmania which relies on lego bits. Then theres the insane brickmania price point that means you can buy four or five cobi for the same price.
Honestly fair points although there is something nice about pure Lego!
@@Brickafit agree.
If Cobi continues to improve and becomes more mainstream and available lego may have to have a serious rethink or loose a chunk of market share.
“If you want the best,get the best,get Brickmania”
-Pierre Gustavi Tousaint Reynolds’s III
0:45 Dave has the drip! Favourite moment of the video! Keep up the good work Joshua! A real banger, I laughed so hard during the first minutes, with the introduction of the afvocates!
Thanks so much it was fun too
One thing I understand is not wanting to mix Lego and Cobi bricks. But then again in my mind Lego sets I tend to deconstruct and MOC but I feel Cobi sets are more ‘brick models’ and I never intend on deconstructing them unless a rehashed version comes out.
Over all as a person who loves Lego (pirates are forever my soul) and who is a big cobi fan boy I think you did a pretty good job here. The only thing I would add is I think of the 3 Cobi does a better job with historical details and getting closer with historic lines.
Also heads up: if you do cobi ship. Be warned the HMS hood is a little different from all the others. They used Multicolor bricks for the interior. Their response was because they thought have tons of grey /red bricks was monotonous and wanted to make the interior builds more visually interesting. (From the outside it looks fine, just the internal pieces are so) but the cobi fans didn’t like that so they discontinued that. So if you happen to get a ship and it’s the Hood that’s why half the bags look like rainbow fun time
Real problem with Cobi bricks in particular is not the quality (which is lego level for some years now), ethics (it is made in EU and is the only legit and ethical competitor at this point) or price (they get pricier over time with quality increase). It lies with colors. Cobi is not using the same color palette as Lego, meaning that their light grey is slightly different from Lego's. Same with their greens, olives, dark grey...hell, I think even white is a bit different than Lego's when you look at it.
Cobi used that strategy to make themselves different from Lego, to not be "yet another knock off" and to better fit the military color scheme which is the standard for Cobi. It makes things slightly annoying though, when you try to supplement your bricks and you simply can't find a decent source of them other than yet another model set (buying blocks off-sets from Cobi website is limited to the most common ones...which is far from ideal).
Cobi trumps lego in any competition regarding military, brickmainia just looks too blocky and have weird colors
Unlike cobi where they go the extra mile to print the bricks, mold special parts, and make em in colors that match their real world counterparts
I just got their easy 8 and Huey
And they look so dang good
And their price is a heck of a lot better than brickmainia plus the plastic is good quality and have actual license from Boeing, Bell, Northrop Grumman and a bunch of others
Amazing video! Really enjoyed it
FYI Cobi is NOT a Lego knock off! They have their own designs.
Thanks for the fun review!
'Lego snobbery' (Legobbery?) reminds me of the elitism sometimes displayed in the tabletop wargaming hobby; Some gamers refuse to collect anything not made by their manufacturer of choice. (A few manufacturers 'ban' other companies' products from their official events, tournaments, etc.) Shrill shouting matches have thus ensued between grown adults over the providence of their toys. But I wonder if, in both hobbies, the rejection of 'off-brand' offerings is driven by the desire by elitists to protect their investment? Literally thousands of dollars can be sunk into either Lego or (say) Games Workshop collections.
And just for the sake of disclosure: I do rather love Cobi's efforts. :)
I think your sketches encapsulates the target audience of each product really well. Coming in, I just cannot help but cringe at anything that is not LEGO when I already have an established lego-only collection. However, if I was reincarnated and started from square 1 again, I would probably go with COBI. Much cheaper and their models have inherent advantages because COBI focuses on military stuff, unlike LEGO. The unproportionate size of the Mingcheng is too much for me, but ~$25 for those 4 lego-style minifigs? Actually not too bad...
So yeah, I think COBI vs LEGO comes down to being a lego purist or not and the Mingcheng's only clear advantage is the minifigs and super low price
Thanks for the compliment and I agree with you.
as a Cobi fan i can confirm, i am indeed a cat
If you haven’t seen. Cobi Finally has an expensive tank Set. A 1:12 Scale Fully detailed tiger. It’s absolutely one of the best sets I’ve ever seen in brick. It’s fully detailed, engine, crew, gun. It’s massive and detailed and feels absolutely worth the cost of it
I stopped in really thinking this wasn't to go good . But after watching the video I think you gave a fair review on all of the tanks. Normally reviews like this normally favor Lego and Lego only. But you guys did the opposite. Thank you. As a collector of mini figures I buy all and they do not ruin you collection if they placed on top or near . Off brands are good for mocks and we are starting to see this more and more in mock displays at Brick mania shows.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks
Isn't that "Mingcheng" Sherman actually a Quan Guan set? Should be Quan Guan 100081... at least that's what I see it listed as on aliexpress.
Well then one I bought off of Amazon was mingching
I like your attitude in the video,also very well executed
Thank you
Brickmania ist viel zu überteuert. Weiß nicht was ansatzweise diese Preise gerechtfertigt, die haben einen vollknall und die leute die es kaufen noch mehr.
Stimme dir nicht zu, Tut mir leid, Mann
Ich finde er hat recht
@@Brickafitthink about it they onyl buy the piece and make a instruction it dosnt xost more than like 30 bucks to create the sets
Brickmania: “Cobi is for little kids” includes empty interior as excuse for huge price and small piece count
The MingCheng is actually an M4A2/A3 Sherman, because m4 has different hull hatches and m4a1 is made of rounded cast steel.
Great video. Although I don't know if you guys know this, but the Ming Cheng Sherman is basically an exact copy of the old COBI M4A1 Sherman. I would take Brickmania and Cobi any day, but I wouldn't buy the Ming Cheng set seeing as it is the Lepin of Cobi.
I didn't know that thanks.
Just found your channel. Keep up the great work. Imma buy all of em
Thanks so much
Fun fact: Lego hates Wargaming, and Cobi actually partnered with Wargaming to create several sets based on World of Tanks
Man the guy with glasses looks like George Lucas
Have you seen cobi sherman firefly 2533?
I haven’t actually
@@Brickafitit is a great set! Do recomend
Sluban has some good quality and nice model tanks from around 20 bucks
Cool
Great video, lads!
Just ordered Mingcheng. I wasnt even sure if it was a real company. They had no reviews on Amzn. Glad you proved that its at least real. I got a T-90
Glad I could help
Cobi tank is not bad, but jet airplane looks weird
i like it how they took it like is a actual federal court
Love the vid
Thanks
jd brick: am i a joke to you
LOL love the brickmanias guys name
and the mingcheng one "I work 6 jobs right now"
I like the Brickmania one way more! But that's just me because I am a LEGO purist and a huge brickmaniac.
honestly, as a lego purist and an individual who likes to support American business, I buy brickmania.
though lego is made in europe ......... thanks for supporting our industry 😁
@@cyberleaderandy1 yes but BRICKMANIA is American. No problem though!
The thing is brickmanias models arent as acurate as the cobi models espesically the planes
You guys should do a update as Cobi Tanks now are knocking it out park with there tanks now. You guys should try and get 1/12 tiger 131.
dude, i have so many Cobi sets, and they all are better in price and in quality. the price of lego just doesn't compare with cobi
Mingcheng is a copy of a old Cobi Sherman Set
Why dose MingCheng have some cobi parts on their tanks
For reminded, Mingcheng is liteally 1:1 copy of older Cobi Sheman. I friggin have this set from Cobi and chineese clone is identical, only worse quality.
Wow did not realize that. Well this changes things.
@@Brickafit 7.allegroimg.com/s1024/0cf793/8d35dd504f459b2a0670d5382e37 Yeah i mean its literally this set from photo, but its good example how they improved on construction, especially when compared with newest version of M4A1 from CoH 3 cobi.pl/gfx/cobi2/_thumbs/pl/sklep_oferta/13151/sherman-m4a1,3044-back,k3djZatnlKiRlOvRlmRk-.jpg
i love the australian acent
Not sure what your referring to but okay.
It's Quan Guan not ming ching
cobi is a Polish brand!!!
I think looks best in my opinion
*cobi*
Nice American Civil War reference with the name.
Also, Cobra King is on display at the US Army museum at Fort Belvoir now. A buddy of mine assisted in setting up the displays and said that when he crawled into the tank there were still spent brass casings littered on the floor.
And while I'm not going to dismiss somebody for buying 'off brand' there is something that doesn't feel right about buying these sets since many of them have been reverse-engineered from other designers.
Ming Ching I like the best
i got the cobi tank for 40,8 bucks
City is good ngl
Made in china
I like brickmania better
Brickmania is better in my opinion and I’m first
Cool
Your welcome
👎