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Fake and Funny LEGO Legends of Chima Sets

As you may know the LEGO brand has lots of competitors. The toy-business is a fierce battle-field, where some brands play fair-game by creating their own quality products, while others are total rip-offs of real brands. Most of these products originate in China and are referred to as LEGO clone brands, LEGO rip-offs, LEGO knock-offs or simply… fake LEGO.

LEGO Clone Brands

Not all construction toy-brands coming out of Asia resort to such low-blow methods. In fact some brands – like Oxford Toys – although similar to LEGO has their own product lines and maintain very high quality standards. On the other hand real clones (isn’t that an oxymoron?) take meticulous care in stealing the box-art, product name and design of real LEGO products with the sole purpose of confusing consumers. Make no mistake: the quality of these products is horrendous, so don’t buy them.

Normally I don’t talk about low quality LEGO clone brands, because I don’t want to give them any free advertisement, however I found some really interesting ones recently that I thought to share. Again, these are only for your education and amusement. I’m not suggesting in any way shape or form that you buy them. These are just for laughs.

Okay, so let’s have some fun and horror! Here I will show you some LEGO Legends of Chima knock-offs. The first sign of a LEGO clone brand is the way they are so (un)creative with product names. They will rip-off a LEGO Ninjago product down to every detail of the box design and then re-name it to Ninjato or Ninjaman, or something equally lame. (Yes, those names are actual clone brandings!) With LEGO Legends of Chima they use names like Legends of Ghima and Legends of Chim. Yeah, right…

LEGO Clone Brands Ninjago

Check out this Legends of Ghima set. Notice how they copy the box-design and name and modify it just enough to get away with stealing LEGO’s own products and confuse consumers. Most people won’t notice the subtle change between the “C” and “G” – exactly what clone-brands want.

LEGO Clone Brands Legends of Chima

And here are some Legends of Chim products. The name is not nearly as smart as the above, but I guess clones have their problems too. Speaking of problems it is interesting to note that clone brands are also notorious for ripping each other off; one clone copying the products of another by just adding a little twist – like what you see here.

LEGO Clone Brand Legends of Chim

LEGO Clone Brand Legends of Chima

LEGO Legends of Chima Knock Off Set

But my most favorite LEGO Legends of Chima knock-off (if there is such a thing) and what inspired this article is this mix between the LEGO Ninjago Samurai Mech and the LEGO Legends of Chima characters. One thing that is really confusing though is that the Mech has the colors of the Lion Tribe, but it seems like the good-guys are fighting it. As I said; clones are not the most clever. But anyway, I thought this was pretty interesting.

LEGO Clone Brand Chima-Ninjago Mech

There are tons more of both LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Legends of Chima knock-offs. If you want to go down the slippery slope of LEGO clone brands you can check them out at Alibaba.com, which – not surprisingly – is a Chinese knock-off of eBay full of counterfeit products.

LEGO Clone Brand Details

So what do you think of these LEGO clone brands? Have you ever encountered them and perhaps bought one by mistake? And what do you think of the Chima-ized version of the Samurai Mech? Like it? Hate it? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below!

And you may also like to check out the following related posts on (real) LEGO Ninjago and (real) LEGO Legends of Chima sets. Beware of the clones!

{ 94 comments… add one }
  • Noahnace10 April 25, 2013, 10:17 AM

    You were right, I did like this article! Some of those, like the “Samuria Mech” were just pathetic… 🙄

  • Håkan April 25, 2013, 10:23 AM

    I know the patent of the basic Lego system has expired, and Oxford and Mega Bloks etc utilize their own design, but I’m unsure of the proper legality of these products…

    • Håkan April 25, 2013, 10:24 AM

      I’d have liked to see a “Legend of Shama”, that would be pretty funny…

    • admin April 25, 2013, 11:38 AM

      Hakan, I assure you they are not legal. If the sole purpose of creating a product is to confuse the consumer it can definitely be challenged in court. The issue is that there is so many of these clones all over China that even if you defeat one, ten others will pop up. It jsut doesn’t make financial sense to fight them all.

      LEGO is not the only brand that has this issue. Every name brand that has a factory in China has to deal with this. And what seems to be the standard course of action is instead of fighting them individually within China, just make strong rules to keep off the international market. So usually you can only find these products within China itself, and sometimes other parts of Asia – although they do make it to eBay and other online venues frequently, those listings get shut down fairly fast.

  • ninjanut April 25, 2013, 10:28 AM

    The white jay’s storm fighter is such ripoff though i like those speeders in the last picture

    • ninja of stealth April 25, 2013, 12:35 PM

      yeah I saw that too!

    • lego trooper 91 April 25, 2013, 9:24 PM

      i no that is the funniest thin i have ever heard i meen chim and gima AND THE SAMURAI MECTH lol i can not belive this por lego 🙁 i meen they think of awesome thins and oter people steel them 🙂 i wish they would try to be smart and do ther own thin 😉 like doctor who (well that wuld only be good if lego did it 🙂 )

  • ninjanut April 25, 2013, 10:30 AM

    Oh, and nya is inside the Lion(Samurai)Mech LOL!!!!

    • random guy March 31, 2014, 4:50 PM

      Yeah, I saw that too. LOL!

  • Brian of London April 25, 2013, 10:53 AM

    My child was given a fake Ninjago character after a themed birthday party. It is only by handling the fake stuff one comes to understand the astonishing quality of LEGO. There are mould seam lines, the pieces do not go together or pull apart with even force and the printing is highly substandard. We’ve thrown it in the bin already.

    • admin April 25, 2013, 11:40 AM

      Brian, thanks for sharing that. Yes, when you have the (un)fortune to handle fakes you really start to appreciate LEGO. 🙂

  • Eric at a LEGO a Day April 25, 2013, 11:18 AM

    This is only going to get worse when they open a factory in China. WAY worse.

    • admin April 25, 2013, 11:42 AM

      Eric, I totally agree. The Chinese are expert at this and do it with every name brand – not just LEGO. Having LEGO’s factory there is just going to make it so much easier for them to produce knock-offs and even run a few extra batches of the products on LEGO’s own machines off the books and sell them on the black-market. It is already happening in Mexico and the Chinese are way better at it. 🙁

      • Fikko3107 April 26, 2013, 2:41 AM

        I shall repeat what I commented on Brickset…

        NNNNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

        • admin April 26, 2013, 9:19 AM

          Yeah, my thoughts exactly. 😕

  • legostuff71 April 25, 2013, 11:45 AM

    Yeah, the best way to stop the knock- offs, is to warn others and just don’t buy them.

  • Natalie April 25, 2013, 12:22 PM

    I think the fake ones look kind of neat but I would worry more about the paint on them coming out of China unless the figurine is all plastic. The printing on the characters would probably also come off easily unlikely with a regular lego figurine. I am a big lego fan and would buy even the knock offs if they were in superior condition. i actually just got an old set from lego speed racer to add to my collection.

    • admin April 25, 2013, 1:54 PM

      Natalie, they are not painted. They are made of cheap imitation LEGO elements. These are usually made of brittle plastic pieces that don’t fit together very well and have awful colors. I’m not sure about the quality of the printing of these particular knock-offs as I haven’t seen them personally, but I have seen others and the printing usually looks very weak and faded and they often don’t have gold and silver printing as that’s more expensive to produce. The only LEGO-like brand I know of that is very high quality is Oxford Toys, as I mentioned in the article.

  • ninja of stealth April 25, 2013, 12:33 PM

    did anyone notice be fore the samurai mech was the storm fighter/ storm glider. (what is it called anyway?) and then the rip off chima sets show the set and then little minifigures at the bottom so people think. ”I get them too! awesome!” and then the spinner set they only changed the name to ”ninja” I guess that’s why you have to pay attention. like the time my mom meant t0 buy fudge bars but instead bought chocolate dipped ice-cream! ( that ice cream is still in our freezer! 😀

    • admin April 25, 2013, 1:54 PM

      You can send me over that ice-cream. 🙄

  • obi-wanfan2282 April 25, 2013, 1:16 PM

    Why would you mix Chima with Ninjago?!?!?! 😛

  • Rin Kagamine April 25, 2013, 2:21 PM

    >>>.Um Is it weird to want these? Wait ppor quality painting and barely work… Ok forget what I said…>>>>>

  • JAY THE ULTIMATE NINJA April 25, 2013, 3:13 PM

    this is totally not cool!!!! that is jays storm fighter and nyas mech from NINJAGO!!!!

  • awesome April 25, 2013, 3:50 PM

    the white plane IS SUCH A FREAKING (i don’t think that’s a bad word but sorry if i’m wrong)RIP OFF OF JAY’S STORM FIGHTER! WHAT THE HECK!!!!????? I WILL NEVER BUY “NINJA”,”CHIM” OR GHIMA!!!
    sorry,i just got angry.

  • Strider April 25, 2013, 4:54 PM

    Have these people lost their sense of dignity? How they ever found it in themselves to stoop so low, I don’t know, but those Chima sets, (0r should I say Ghima) are complete nonsense. And what a mean thing to do. Now I know that their are a lot of people in the world who do not care about right and wrong to get money, but the lengths these marketers go to is surprising. But it made for a very amusing post 🙂

    • admin April 25, 2013, 9:25 PM

      Strider, I feel very much like you do. It is just a bad and very discouraging feeling when you work so hard to make something and someone just outright steals it like this. It is not right, and it is not fair. But unfortunately things like this go on in the world – it happens to artists, musicians, writers, and also products. Unfortunately China is a place where things like this are an everyday occurence. 😕

      • NINJAGORULES July 3, 2014, 10:06 PM

        I can’t imagine having a job in China to rip-off LEGO products. That would be horrifying!

        • admin July 3, 2014, 10:22 PM

          People have different mentalities in different countries. I know this is really strange for us, but in China it is the norm. I remember reading on the official LEGO blog that in China it is actually considered flattery if someone tries to copy your product. Yeah, that’s quite different…

  • Bug April 25, 2013, 5:49 PM

    I didn’t know there where Lego clones! I always thought the closest clone was Megablocks and stuff like that. Guess I will need to double check Lego boxes from now on. By the way the Samuri Mech looks pretty coll in those colors!

    • admin April 25, 2013, 9:28 PM

      Bug, yes, it is always a good idea to double check the product to make sure it is authentic. If you live in the USA, Canada, Europe, and Australia it is unlikely you will run into rip-off products like this as they are not allowed in stores. But if you shop at places like eBay, fleamarkets and Craig’s List, it is a good idea to check as clones can and will sneak in there. 👿

  • René April 25, 2013, 5:49 PM

    Those “bikes” in the last picture are the same as those in the Kre-o Transformer sets (well… Optimus prime).
    And this brand is also a rip-off (or at least a poor copy) of Lego (it fits horribly by the way).

  • Frank April 25, 2013, 6:09 PM

    Heh, I thought there was something-or somethings-like this. Quite absurd.

  • Legolander April 25, 2013, 6:54 PM

    Rme of M.A.R.S and its lame Transformers rip-offs.

  • Legolander April 25, 2013, 6:55 PM

    Oops, meant to say “reminds me”.

  • D.B. Bricks April 25, 2013, 7:28 PM

    Hey it’s ninjanut with my new account!

  • gid617 April 25, 2013, 7:54 PM

    That “Samurai Mech” is really funny, the color-scheme is actually pretty neat though the fact that lions are fighting it is quite odd. The white storm fighter is so bizarre though; it looks like Chim just took Ninjago and gave it a Chima recolor! I wonder how much LEGO looses from the knock-offs though? I mean, most of those who do buy the knock offs wouldn’t be likely to buy LEGO anyways (due to cost) right?

    • admin April 25, 2013, 9:31 PM

      It is likely that LEGO is not loosing much right now as most of these clones are contained within China and some other Asian countries due to strick international trades laws. However I just read it recently that LEGO is planning to move into China, not just to open a factory, but also to cather to the Chinese market. And that is going to be opening a can of worms. 😡

      • lego trooper 91 April 26, 2013, 6:54 AM

        more like a open can of snakes 😉 and black widows and bombs big bombs like atomic bomds yah atomic BOMBS that shure wuld be bad for lego 😉

        • NINJAGORULES July 3, 2014, 10:09 PM

          WHAT IF THE NINJAGO TV SHOW WAS MADE IN CHINA?
          AHHHHHHHHHH!

  • NRG PYTHOR April 25, 2013, 8:19 PM

    this is the most pathetic thing I’ve seen. The box art is terrible for the Chima nockoffs. I feel sorry for who ever gets stuck with one 🙁

  • lego trooper 91 April 25, 2013, 9:34 PM

    i will never buy a dum thin like that i meen whats this wold coming to beware of the lego rip ofs (that shuld be the name of a book) but they arint even lego 😉

  • Fikko3107 April 26, 2013, 2:40 AM

    Ah, yes knockoffs… You can find these outside Asia? In here it’s so common… Why, It’s possibly even more common than the real thing!

    There was a time when I thought they weren’t so bad. I got like, 3 fake Bionicle sets. Worst. Toy. Ever. Well, Chima fakes haven’t popped up here yet though.

  • darkon April 26, 2013, 4:25 PM

    The only building theme I know that can actually compete with Lego is Kre-o. All these rip-off themes are just sad. Even Mega Blocks has the decency to make themes like Halo and Skylanders instead of copying Lego. I’ve seen some of these rip-offs at stores like Dollar General, and they are just sad looking. 🙁 If you can’t match Lego’s quallity then you shouldn’t try ripping them off.

    • admin April 26, 2013, 8:56 PM

      Darkon, yep, that’s a great summary. I didn’t know they are available at Dollar General. Actually, now that I think about it, I have never been to a Dollar General store. Do they have lots of clones? 😐

  • That is just so sad that it makes me mad. 🙁 👿

  • Agent Coolz April 28, 2013, 3:45 AM

    what website made this?

    • admin April 28, 2013, 9:05 AM

      I’m not sure what you mean by what website made them. These are clone-brands – they are not made by a website. They are made by Chinese manufacturers. The link to the auction site where I found them is in the article towards the end, links are also written right across the pictures to the individual auction stores. 😉

  • Meneldur son of Garamar May 6, 2013, 2:13 PM

    You can’t buy these can you?

    • admin May 6, 2013, 4:40 PM

      Yes, you can! At the auction site mentioned in the article. 😉

  • Rossy May 15, 2013, 11:49 AM

    Well, first of all alibaba.com is not ebay “ripoff” – it has started off as a website for manufacturers to get clients and companies to find manufacturers. As for Lego, they create great sets at sometimes ridiculous prices. I agree the imitators are profiting from Legos hard work but also from their greed. If a department store as Walmart, Toys’r’us or others can sell the sets at 80% off and still make money then prices are too high. That said, it’s Lego’s right to set their prices and policies and with that comes the dangers of getting loads of “fakes” same as for any other luxury brand. Not all fakes are bad quality and not in all cases we as consumers need and demand the highest quality. If my 4yr old wants a Chima set but barely knows the characteristics of the real characters and he doesn’t care if the colors are wrong then it’s certainly not a huge deal to me to choose Chim or Ghima sets . I would take an original set but frankly I do think they are way overpriced.

    • admin May 15, 2013, 3:16 PM

      Rossy, that’s an interesting perspective. Thans for sharing. I would say that making items similar to a higher quality/ higher priced good for a different consumer-base is one thing, and ripping off someone’s intellectual property is another. When it comes to quality, durability, play-value, learning value and skill-enhancement LEGO is far beyond most toys, and is even popular as a deeply satisfying hobby for adults. I’m not sure if these rip-off Chinese brands have the same kind of commitment to their customers. It sounds like they are the ones who care about money only. As the saying goes; you get what you pay for. 😉

      • Rossy May 16, 2013, 3:24 PM

        Exactly, right now i am sure my 4 yr old does not care for the company commitment 😀 but sure cares to have captain Soto etc and as for qualities – frankly have you seen a lego of a toddler? it goes quickly from being a hippo to a zebra to shooting gun to airplane to submarine to giraffe in under 10 minutes and half the time parts of different sets find their way mixed up and mismatched, so what could be a pirate now has a crocodile head and a bicycle for legs …. I do understand and appreciate the adult hobby and even tweenies and teens into it but price point in nowadays is just as important.

    • BobMcMillan May 23, 2013, 3:47 AM

      I totally agree with you. In my country, Lego is usually 2x even sometimes 3x the price in the US or Canada.

      • Piotr November 6, 2015, 3:36 PM

        There’s a good reason for the high price- LEGO spends a great deal of time and money designing, developing and testing their sets and product lines; companies who then steal them can afford to sell at a lower price because they don’t spend anything on these R&D expenses (but nonetheless profit from them).

        • admin November 6, 2015, 7:15 PM

          Piotr, yes that’s a very good point. Thanks for sharing.

  • randomguy May 21, 2013, 6:09 AM

    i even saw a star wars one too

  • BobMcMillan May 23, 2013, 3:44 AM

    Haha I’ve seen all of them before. In fact, I recently saw fake Star Wars stuff, which I found odd because they chose the most unknown sets.

  • NinjaMelissa June 30, 2013, 9:42 PM

    Ahhh!!!!!!!!!! THAT JUST TICKS ME OFF!!!!!!!! Don’t mess with Ninjago! They copies the Samurai Mech and Jay’s Storm Fighter just with different colors!!! Grrrr….. Stupid knockoffs!

    • random guy March 31, 2014, 4:41 PM

      I know right!?

  • ChrisMasterOfLightning July 1, 2013, 11:41 AM

    I’ve seen these before and they just make me laugh! Why can’t Lego do anything about them. Or do they just choose not to?

    • admin July 1, 2013, 6:11 PM

      I think they just choose not to. You have to choose your battles. 😉

      • Rograz June 11, 2014, 2:59 PM

        Actually these chinese sets are made in teh same factories as official western lego for export

        • admin June 11, 2014, 10:04 PM

          Yeah, I was suspecting that. 😈

    • fera 8 June 21, 2014, 3:40 AM

      moi je trouve ca genial ca

  • ChrisMasterOfLightning July 7, 2013, 8:54 AM

    Makes sense!

  • Random guy ( anonymous ) August 6, 2013, 11:51 PM

    The speeders on on the fake lego chima look better than lego’s speeders.

    • admin August 7, 2013, 9:24 AM

      Hm… well, they are not really like the Speedorz in the game, so they are just different. Also, remember that the quality of these fakes are very-very low. 🙁

    • fera 8 June 21, 2014, 3:41 AM

      ceux qui dise non sont des cétins zinzin!

  • killedbynoob September 30, 2013, 6:22 AM

    hahahha CHIM …!!

  • danny November 5, 2013, 7:19 AM

    you should know what chim means in korean
    It means spit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Majestic Kai Fan December 6, 2013, 9:04 PM

    I almost bought one fake product, a fake Ice Dragon. I’m just glad I didn’t

  • hal February 1, 2014, 4:52 PM

    You can find these in 99cent and up stores and bodegas.
    Yes super low quality, but no you are never fooled that it is lego or whatever it’s a knock off of.
    Sometimes its worth it to have disopsable toys for the park.

    • admin February 2, 2014, 10:26 AM

      Hal, good point about have some cheap toys for playing outdoors. 🙂

  • Leander March 4, 2014, 7:18 AM

    I live in china and i know where they are available i recently bought a couple and their price transfers to about 50 cents of american dollars. I told the clerk this is illegal but he didn’t seem to care, so he was innocent.
    I left the packs inside the boxes, i opened one and the pieces were in little baggies. I can’t believe china is making non-licensed products, it is just unbelievable!

    By the way i am not asian i just live in china.

    • admin March 4, 2014, 11:19 AM

      Leander, they are copying everything, not just LEGO. China is the land of fake products. 😕

  • Leander March 5, 2014, 6:48 AM

    Yeah it’s true. China does make a lot of fake products which are non-licensed. And I saw all these chima sets there.

  • David March 31, 2014, 4:38 PM

    I think it’s sad. Competing brands ripping-off LEGO just to make money.

    • admin March 31, 2014, 7:28 PM

      Yes, it is sad… 🙁

    • Claym0res April 14, 2014, 6:27 PM

      Sad? Please tell me your joking. Lego is reaping in tons of money. They overprice their sets a lot. Especially now since Lego is making more parts in china and has increased the price of sets. This makes Lego more greedy and not he victim. Due to that I fully suppor all knockoffs as I won’t have to waste more money for a declining quality Lego produces.

  • Rograz June 11, 2014, 2:58 PM

    I think it’s great actually. It’s very very funny! I would like to buy the Chima super samurai because it looks pretty well designed.

  • KamWinter July 6, 2014, 10:27 AM

    I JUST BOUGHT A LEGO SPIDER-MAN AND A LEGO OBI WAN KENOBI MINIFIGURE FROM SOME RANDOM STORE FOR A CHEAP PRICE and it was a fake, like that legend of Ghima thing. Made by sy, the Spider-man MINIFIGURE had its leg cut in half vertically god!

  • henry .r November 2, 2014, 10:52 AM

    alibaba is not a fake ebay

    • admin November 2, 2014, 12:45 PM

      No, just the products are! :mrgreen:

  • purci urfi December 19, 2014, 10:58 AM

    There are actually quite some original design compatible sets from numerous manufacturers on AliExpress and some of them are the same quality as LEGO, while LEGO quality is getting worse and prices getting higher. They will have to face serious competition soon, if they don’t change something.

  • jakalopekitty May 7, 2015, 5:55 PM

    I was just wondering if anyone had seen any lego friends knock-offs? There are some ridiculously low priced sets on eBay. Are there sets manufactured for the Chinese market? If so how do you tell the difference. And are the knock offs compatible with original lego sets? Thanks in advance. Lego Newbie. ( I should mention I have been checking them out as party favours for my lego crazed child.)

    • admin May 7, 2015, 8:23 PM

      Oh, yes, LEGO Friends knock-offs are very common, and yes, the are produced in China. The quality is significantly worse than LEGO brands sets. Also, since you mentioned this is for a child, I would strongly advise against getting them, as China has no regards to safety of the materials they use. This is especially important on printed parts where the ink rubs off easily.

      To make sure you are getting genuine LEGO products, you can shop directly from LEGO or at LEGO retailers. Also, always make sure that the LEGO logo is stamped on each element. In the case of LEGO Friends figures the stamp is inside the bottom of the feet. In most cases the knock-offs are compatible with LEGO, although clutch-power are usually significantly worse.

      Another thing to keep in mind is that while LEGO has a significant resale value, these fake products are worthless both short and long term. So while you may be paying a bit more for genuine LEGO products, if and when your child decides to move on to other interests, you can resell the LEGO collection for at least as much as you bought it for, if not more (as long as it is kept in decent shape). Hope this helps some. 🙂

      • jakalopekitty May 8, 2015, 11:18 AM

        Thank you!

  • Geo April 16, 2017, 10:28 AM

    on the Chim set with the raven, it’s almost exactly the same as Jay’s Storm Fighter Jet with different colors and minor changes

  • Tiger October 27, 2018, 9:51 AM

    Few days ago I just gave a chance for LEPIN and ordered a Flinx’s Ultimate Phoenix set in Of course, the quality can not be compa1ed with LEGO. The color is not the same among bricks but it’s okay with the price

  • Cragger December 6, 2023, 11:26 PM

    Why do the knockoffs all look like diving boards!?

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