WEBSITE: Sidan Toys
LOCATION: Taiwan
ACCESSORIES AVAILABLE VIA:
A Minifig.Cat’s Store on Bricklink,
A Minifig.Cat’s Store Direct
GALLERY: flickr
PRICE: reasonable
SHIPPING: $5 flat rate (tracked & registered). Shipping over $100 is FREE.
SHIPPING TIME TO USA: 8-10 days
Sidan Toys is a Taiwan based company, manufacturing little plastic toy-figures with lots of different accessories. Sidan Toys figures are quite different from LEGO’s minifigs; they have 13 moveable joints, and can be posed in many different ways.
Although the figures differ from LEGO minifigures, their accessories are compatible with LEGO minifigs. Some of the accessories may need a little modification to fit, but most of them are a perfect match as they are and need no additional adjustment.
Sidan Toys accessories belong to two main categories; samurai & ninja, and modern combat. If you want to get accessories only for your LEGO minifigs, they are available through A Minifig.Cat’s Store, also located in Taiwan (see link to their store above).
I have been ordering only from the traditional line of accessories; helmets, weapons and armor pieces for my ninja and samurai, and accessories for my little monk. However I know other satisfied LEGO-fans who use Sidan Toys modern accessories and weaponry as well.
QUALITY: The overall quality of the custom LEGO pieces is excellent and they are perfectly compatible with LEGO. (I write more in detail about specific pieces as I work with them, so please see my other post in this category.) The plastic has a slightly different feel to it than that of LEGO pieces. I’m not sure exactly what the difference in the chemical composition is, but the plastic feels a bit harder, lighter, and more rigid – at least that’s how I would put it. This is a very minor difference though.
MOLD DETAIL: Sidan Toys elements have the same simple, yet elegant style as LEGO; clean lines, with just enough detail to give each piece a realistic look. Therefore they blend into your LEGO creations perfectly.
COLORS: (Please note that there are a lot more colors Sidan Toys carry, these are just the ones I have received and had a chance to personally review.)
- Black, white and red are a perfect match to LEGO’s colors.
- Yellow is slightly lighter and a tad more orangish than LEGO’s yellow.
- Brown is an almost exact match to LEGO’s old brown.
- Dark gray is an almost exact match to LEGO’s old dark gray.
- Dark brown is slightly darker than LEGO’s dark brown.
- Dark red is quite different from LEGO’s dark red. It is more like a candy-apple/crimson color.
- Pink is different than any of LEGO’s pinks, it is closest to and lighter than LEGO’s bright pink.
- Pearl gold is the same as LEGO’s pearl gold.
- Metallig speckle silver is a pretty close match to LEGO’s pearl dark gray (but with speckles).
(You may click on any of the thumbnails below for a larger view.)
SUMMARY: If you would like to equip your LEGO minifigs with some unique custom LEGO accessories, I highly recommend Sidan Toys. Some of the accessories (especially body-wear) may need slight adjustment but most of them are a perfect match to LEGO minifigs, and fit like a glove. (You can check out my detailed reviews on the Sidan Toys Samurai Helmet, Vest and Quiver by clicking on the blue links.)
A Minifig.Cat’s Store is an excellent store with fast processing and shipping. So far I have placed 3 orders with them and had a very pleasant experience. The store has detailed pictures and description of each custom LEGO product. And if you have any question or doubt about any of the Sidan Toys products they carry just email them. They usually respond very fast.
As you may notice at the top of this post, A Minifig.Cat’s Store has both a direct store and a store on Bricklink. It seems they have most of the products at both stores, but some are listed in only one of the two locations. In my experience the Bricklink store has the larger selection, but you may want to check both to make sure you see everything available. 😉
Sidan certainly have some nice stuff! Their tactical vest is a real win! Also the gunbelts. The quality is not as good as Lego, but it is good enough, and they certainly add great options for customizers! I like them for sure!
Sidan’s weapons are awesome! Also their tactical vests and other stuff! And they are not very expensive.
Do the Sidan hair pieces fit on a regular Lego minifig?
Darren, yes they do fit. I would say a good rule-of-tumb is to check out A Minifig.Cat’s Bricklink Store, because there the only items listed are the ones that are compatible with LEGO or need only minor modification to be compatible.
Please see here: A Minifig.Cat’s Bricklink Store, and search under Minifig Headgear.
If you go to A Minifig.Cat’s direct store (listed at the top of the post) there will be some items that are not compatible with LEGO or would need some major modification.
Hope this helps! 😉
Sidan is great! I really like their samurai stuff! And the combat stuff is great too! the plastic is not as nice as Lego, but pretty close. And they have a great variety!
Be careful if you buy any and then decide to resell any of these on eBay. Sidan will tell eBay that you are selling copies and get you kicked off.
Lyn, as far as I know you can certainly resell any item you legitimately bought and own. No company can bar you from reselling their product. That’s what eBay and the free-market in general is all about. However if the item is a fake reproduction, it can be reported and eBay will likely take off the listing. You don’t “get kicked off” though just because you list an item that is not genuine. eBay will simply take off the listing and notify you. You might still able to resell the item however with the correct description.
Hi, thanks for the reply. I’m not trying to throw a spanner in the works here. The reason I commented was to stop anyone else going through the incredibly stressful time we did.We had to fight like hell to get our ebay account reinstated after listing these. We did actually get our ebay account indefinitely suspended because we listed some of these toy sets. A Rep of Sidan (who it turned out was also a big eBay seller) claimed ours weren’t legit.
It’s just a warning that people need to check that they have the proof of authenticity if they want to sell them on, that they are the real deal and that you can prove this to ebay.
Sidan accessories are brilliant though 🙂 very well detailed.
I see, that makes sense. Yeah, it is a good idea with any product to make sure that what you are buying/reselling is authentic. I have met several Minifig.Cat/Sidan resellers here who are in a good relationship with them with no problems. However they are reselling through their own websites or at LEGO conventions, not through eBay.