Review: Star Diamond Series Building Electric Crane #80605

Finally I get around to getting a Star Diamond set again.  Even though it's a small one its been a long time since  I procured a Star Diamond kit.

Star Diamond is still the second best brick toy out there after Lego if you ask me.  It has top notch brick quality and is the best among the China brick toys.   

This model is pretty small with 1 minifigure but it was fun to build.  Besides it was a free toss in among a bunch of Lego I procured from a friend over the weekend.

Nice a construction guy!

The flimsy manual!

The bricks on my bed

The minifigure has to be assembled.  He is in pieces right now!

Well that wasn't so hard to build

Nice expression on the fig.

 I like the screw driver that came with the minifigure.  Awesome.

Nice articulation on the crane.  Just like Lego the arm locks into position and you can hear an audible click when you lock the arm.

Be sure to look for more Star Diamond sir!

Yep I must find more Star Diamond sets in the future!

Review: Ausini Farm Series No. 28501

Yep me and my girlfriend are officially into Ausini's Farm series of brick toy kits.

We bought our second set today because it was a:

PIG FARM!

Who can resist 4 pigs, a dog and a cow that are all compatible with Lego.

(Apologies in advance since I only had my phone camera when building this)



First the box:

Wow Ausini actually has a branded seal for the box.  Nice.

Sprues for the tools!  Reminds me of my other hobby Gundams!  Nice set of tools here!

Stickers for the animals which I will most likely not use.

I like Ausini since their figs are almost Lego like!  Except for the weird expressions and the general color choice :)

Do It Yourself Cow!

The lego like minifigs!

I get to build the cow!  Just like I had to build the horse in the first farm set!

With the cows and the pigs!  One pig is a different color!

Well she sure is enjoying herself!

A black dog and the tools in a barrel.

The pig shed partly done.

Unfortunately the wheel barrow is not the Lego wheel barrow

Carrots all around!

The pig pen is done!

Now for the carrot planter box!

Nice farm!

The cow over the fence!

The full pig pen!

Let;s herd them!

The carrot planter box. Nice!

A little parkour action into the pen.

OVerall it was a fun set to build as my girlfriend will attest to!  I like all the animal inclusions as well as the accesories in the box.

Great buy at 349 pesos

The unfinished list of alternative brick toys or the non-Lego ones

This post will be edited from time to time and will collect my thoughts on the alternatives to Lego bricks.

Good Alternatives but almost as costly:

Mega bloks
http://www.megabloks.com/

They make good quality bricks that are compatible with good old Lego.  They also have partnerships with such stellar properties like Marvel, Halo and World of Warcraft.


UPDATE (9/8/2013)
Currently the Hello Kitty sets are on sale in most Manila toy outlets.

Kre-o
http://www.hasbro.com/kre-o/en_US/

Made by Korean manufacturer Oxford who started out with Lego knock-offs.  The Kre-O toys are distributed by big time player Hasbro and is home to brick toy models for Transformers, Battleship and Star Trek

UPDATE (9/8/2013)

Currently most of the non-selling sets are at 50% off in local toy stores (for example the set with Wheeljack and another bot is now at 1000 pesos)

The Cheaper Alternatives:

Star Diamond   

What I personally consider as the closest you can get to Lego without getting actual Lego bricks.  This Chinese manufacturer has come up with top notch models that have amazing build quality.  I also turn to Star Diamond to get some military green bricks as well as some unusual brick shapes









Sluban     

http://www.slubanshop.com/

Sluban is my next go to manufacturer for cheap bricks after Star Diamond.  They even have a line of actual transforming models (something Kre-O can't seem to do with their own Transformers line) which was extremely enjoyable to build and play with.








Enlighten
http://enlighten-brick.com/


Rounds out my top choices for cheap Lego alternatives.  Their sets come with a lot of the accessories that you'll normally find in Lego sets.






Ausini

http://ausini.en.alibaba.com/

Recently I've added this to the list of my go to alternatives for cheap brick toys.  Their minifigs are close to the Lego minifigs and they have increase very quickly my collection of minifig accessories.  Me and my girlfriend found their Farm series and their Pirate series to be fun sets to build.

COGO/Loongon

http://www.cogobricks.com/en/index.asp


Wange

http://wangetoys.en.ec21.com/

Jubilax

Banbao