You may know I dig LEGO. I find it a relaxing hobby, & a carryover from my youth when it was definitely my favorite toy. These days, shelf real estate is low and big sets are expensive… but more & more competitors are popping up. They’re all over the place quality-wise.

I remember having Tyco blocks back in the day, getting my son some of the He-Man Mega Bloks/Mega Construx sets, and I may have purchased a set or two from AliExpress. Those little Zuru Max sets are awesome.

I guess I don’t really blog about it (save for our LEGOLAND trip!), but it’s peppered on my Instagram.

Recently I saw & picked up two different fLEGO bat themed Halloween decoration sets. I thought I’d share my take.

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Built some not-quite-LEGO bat sets. They are cheap as in affordable, but are they cheap as in quality?

Block Tech (from Five Below) Shadow Bat 🦇 This set was pretty neat to build. The pieces don’t clasp & hold together as well as “leading brick brands,” but was fun for the money. The cage piece seemed out of place… but it works, and this used some pretty unconventional pieces in neat ways. I feel like the wings are repurposed sword blades or something? Not sure how they get away with outright cloning real LEGO pieces. This set retails for $6.00, which is decidedly off brand for Five Below. (Yes, I know.)

Brickcraft Hanging Bat 72741 🦇 This set snapped together a little better, and had wildly fun building techniques, but you can see through the gaps in the bricks which usually does not happen with the “other name brands” mentioned on the box. The poseable wings are awesome and the printed pieces instead of stickers are a big win. This set is $9.99 online. If LEGO can learn anything here, it’s printed bricks over stickers all day every day.

All-in-all, they were both fun sets and neat builds. They didn’t take long, they didn’t break the bank, and they’ll look neat as part of Halloween decor. I’d suggest building both while rocking a Halloween playlist on random.

Do you stick to LEGO or do you think outside the blocks™?

I really like the little Zuru Max sets, and I am super curious about Lumibricks and some other brands like Pantasy or just the generic stuff from AliExpress or Temu that seems to be creeping into Amazon. I also have a few Snap & Switch sets form Five Below.

I recently got the X-Files LEGO set & the Bricklink Antique Collection set. The quality and little build details on LEGO sets are incredible and worth the price.

Hit me up with your takes on LEGO and not-quite-LEGO or fLEGO bricks!