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Manchurians

by Thita (admin) on April 14, 2011

Here is my small army of Manchurians (aka. Manchus). Manchuria lies at the Northeast part of China and is has a long and fascinating history. The Qing Dynasty (also known as Manchu Dynasty) – the last ruling dynasty of Chinese emperors – originated here. (Did you see the The Last Emperor? It is one of my favorite movies, and you will learn about the Manchu emperors.) You can read more about Manchuria here: All about Manchuria.

I built this army to showcase BrickTW’s variety of weapons, shields and armor pieces. All the guys have torsos from the LEGO Prince of Persia sets, with front and back printing and really nice details. The legs are from the LEGO Collectible Minifigs Series 3 Samurai. I was very happy with this combination!

Here is an overall view of the whole army (you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view):

And here is a side view:

And here are the individual guys:

As I mention in my review on BrickTW, the helmet-ornaments are removable and interchangeable, and come in several colors. The rectangular shield is really nicely detailed, and has a detachable hande to allow LEGO minfigs to hold them in various positions. The spear is one of my favorite weapons from BrickTW.

The bow is really unique. It is perfect for elves or other fantasy warriors! And I believe the arrows are some of the most essential items from BrickTW, as the only other customizer that makes arrows is Sidan Toys. How could there be any battle with no arrows?! (Read my Guide to LEGO-Compatible Arrows.)

This guy wears a slightly different helmet than the first one. Also nicely detailed with a removable helmet ornament. The shield is a smaller, more square-ish design, also with a removable handle. The sword is the only sword from BrickTW that is not oversized (as I mention in my review on BrickTW).

The helmet on this soldier is very similar to the LEGO knight helmet with neck protector. It could easily be used for knights and other nations as well. (See my Shiny Knights here with the same helmet but in chrome gold and chrome silver). The armor is especially nice, with a carefully detailed design. The round shield perfectly fits LEGO minifigs.

The pole weapon actually comes in two parts; the pole itself and a removable tip. This weapon was used by foot-soldiers to pull horsemen off their horses. Weapons like this have been found at the site of the Terracotta Army. Hope that with all the fancy armor and weapons my Manchurians will do well in battle too! 😉

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BrickTW – Overview

by Thita (admin) on April 5, 2011

in LEGO Customizers

WEBSITE: BrickTW.com (removed)
LOCATION: Taiwan
STORE: BrickTW on BrickLink (removed)
GALLERY: tigerggyy
PRICE: totally worth the price!
SHIPPING: very reasonable
SHIPPING TIME TO USA: 8-10 days

BrickTW, run and operated by Kevin Chu, is a Taiwan-based small company, focusing on creating custom accessories for LEGO minifigs based on Oriental history. If you are a fan of the fascinating history of the East, and would like to equip your LEGO minifigs with historically accurate armor pieces and weapons, I highly recommend BrickTW. Kevin and his team are dedicated to provide excellent products and friendly and professional customer service.

BrickTW has its own manufacturing facility (I would love to hang out here!), so every step from designing, to testing, to manufacturing, to fulfilling orders is under one roof.

QUALITY: BrickTW’s custom accessories are computer designed and professionally molded from ABS plastic (the same plastic LEGO uses). The quality and feel of BrickTW’s accessories are exactly the same as LEGO’s. The finish and shine of the plastic is beautiful, and the fit on LEGO minifigs cannot be more perfect.

MOLD DETAIL: BrickTW’s custom accessories fit flawlessly with LEGO’s own designs. They have the same simple, yet subtle and beautiful details that LEGO-fans are accustomed to. BrickTW puts a lot of effort into designing each piece so that it is historically accurate, and at the same time compatible with the look and feel of LEGO.

COLORS: BrickTW makes sure that the color selection of their custom accessories is as close as possible to LEGO’s own color palette. The currently available colors are white, yellow, red, dark-pink, blue, tan, brown, dark-gray, black, chrome-silver, chrome-gold, some unique translucent colors, and my favorite; white jade!

The basic colors all match LEGO parts perfectly. Please note though that BrickTW’s brown and gray matches LEGO’s classic brown and classic gray, NOT the new reddish-brown and bluish-gray colors. BrickTW’s chrome-gold is a darker, richer color than LEGO’s chrome gold. The chrome silver however is an exact match to LEGO’s. (Please see my review on the chrome parts here: Knights in Shining Armor.)

PRODUCTS: Currently BrickTW offers Oriental armor and clothing pieces, helmet and hair pieces, shields and various weapons.

Armor & Clothing: I absolutely love BrickTW’s terracotta warrior armor! (You can see my Terracotta Army here.) The other armor pieces are also really nice. I also like the tunic and skirt pieces as they have many uses besides clothing Eastern minifigs. They are great for knights, priests, commoners, and of course female LEGO figs!

Helmet & Hair: BrickTW’s helmets are amazing! Each helmet has a hole on top and you can ad various interchangeable plumes and helmet ornaments in matching or contrasting colors. This is such a nice addition! Once you see the meticulous details of the tiny helmet ornaments you will be amazed! Although the helmets are based on Eastern designs, some of them can easily fit into other cultures as well. The hair pieces also fit LEGO minifigs nicely.

Shields: BrickTW offers various shield designs, also based on Oriental history. The shields have a removable handle-piece, so LEGO minifigs can hold them in various positions. This is a really nice detail that offers great versatility. (You can also check my Manchurian Army for the shield variations.)

Weapons: BrickTW’s weapons are designed beautifully! You really have to see them close-up to appreciate the details! And I absolutely love their bow and the various arrow designs! Those arrows are really a must! And the pole-weapons are super nice too!

I do want to ad one caution here; although most of the weapons are the minifig-scale LEGO-fans are accustomed to, some of the swords are really huge! I’m not 100% sure why this is; I do know there has been some really unusual and large weapons in the East, so perhaps these are a replica, or maybe these are intended to be more cartoonish in size. They are beautiful, but I just want to warn you that your LEGO minifigs will need to be in great shape to lift these!

SUMMARY: I cannot recommend BrickTW enough! Their products are amazing, flawless, durable and perfectly compatible with LEGO. You will not be disappointed! 😀

UPDATE: I’m sorry to say, that in early 2020, BrickTW closed their store and they no longer sell custom LEGO accessories.

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Manchurians

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