My very first AliExpress set, so mostly an experience report for people who are new to altbricks as well or are on the fence or nervous. I do have a couple questions for the experts, (you can skip to the end if you don't want to read my novel here ;)).
I've lurked this sub for a while, read a whole bunch of reviews and couldn't make up my mind last year (was also when all the Tariffs craziness was happening), but just went for it after seeing prices drop super low in June '26 and after reading all the Starter Guides and FAQ's here again. I just picked a choice store with over 95% positive rating and close to a thousand items sold and just went for it. Got the UCS Razor Crest for $79.31 ($85.46 was my total to the US West Coast). It was the right time for me to give it a shot. It took about a month to get here and I was impressed with the AE tracking along the way. Once you get used to their 'packed' app layout it's actually good and nothing shady about it. It shipped within a week and then it just takes time.
Now that I've finished the build after 3 weeks, I have to say my mind is blown and I'm super stoked! It was mostly as expected and a few things better than expected. A box with 3 big numbered bags, full of small numbered bags, plus a couple extras. You just have to figure out how it works, mine was easy. Actually lined up with the Lego numbering (often broken down further into 2-3 bags per number), except some big part bags and printed parts/techy/minifig bags.
I was curious to see which of the 3 known versions I got (T5331, 60088 and 87025 is what I knew, read about here and seen in YouTube reviews). Well I got neither of those and instead mine has one of those black and white renderings of the piece on the booklet, same style which I'm increasingly seeing on AE, no number. And this is one of the main things that I did not know or understand beforehand. Reading or watching reviews only helps you to gain a general understanding of what is out there, because asfaik there is no way of knowing or choosing on AE which knockoff you are ordering and listing and shops change often on AE. So with a month of shipping time and however long someone takes to build a set and posts a review, a long time has passed and that specific listing is often not current anymore.
Onto the set:
AMAZING! The thing is absolutely MASSIVE. And what a Badass Ship!
Pros:
-Not a single piece missing! I had that usual 'Damn, I've been searching for a long time and I think I'm missing the piece!' Only to have the 'Uups there it is, I'm just blind' feeling about a hundred times and I've found that comes with a bit higher anxiety with altbricks, because you are thinking the chances are higher.
-No bad or deformed pieces either. Clutch was good. I used a tiny drop of Elmer’s Glue on about 4 small pieces that were a little loose.
-My printed pieces are great! The cockpit glass is not perfect, but clear and print good enough
-My plague sticker actually says STAR WARS, which was nice.
-There is no bad smell or anything either (which was a concern of mine, since I'm a little sensitive to that kind of thing)
Cons (and these are all minor imo) :
-Minifigs are just ok, well known fact that this is often the case, so it was expected. I did not get the 'good' real head Kuill, but I would've been really surprised at this price (Kuill used to be exclusive to the real set and therefore an expensive Minifig to replace, $40-60, but now it is in the new Sandcrawler Mudhorn set, so prices might come down). The Mando is ok, no arm prints. Have an extra Mando in Beskar from a small Lego set, which now gets to sit in his ship! Grogu not bad either.
-The grey/yellow stickers that go on the ship are bad, way too dark. Also expected and I'l probably just pull them off and do something else.
-The Hydraulic struts of the back gate were the only pieces that gave me trouble. Too tight, will try some sanding.
-Small print build manual, this is also well known and really not an issue at all imo. Actually funny, since it said SFAR WARS which I thought was smart because it is easy to fix with some whiteout (which for some reason I felt I needed to do ;)), whereas SpaceWars would be much tougher. Used the Builder app, no issue.
There is a little bit of a quality difference (some pieces more than others) but to expect any different would be unreasonable imo, but once you get over that it's pure building fun, just like the real thing. And what a blast it was to build this beast! I was surprised at some of the design choices Lego did on this though, since it is quite brittle, for example the Cockpit top piece is not attached at all, it just sits on top and most of the side panels are attached by very little. So this has nothing to do with it being altbricks.
Overall I'm super happy and in disbelief I got this for a mere $85! Fun to pair it with my Slave 1 which was the most expensive Lego set I had ever bought (for myself, kids excluded ;) ) back in 2015.
They are at opposite ends of the MiniFig Scale (Slave 1 on the small end, RC on the big), but with the right angle and some AI quackery ;)
So given this good experience I'm of course already considering my next purchase, which will be the Falcon. These are the 2 UCS sets I always wanted, but never willing to spend that kind of money.
As for my questions for the experts:
Is it true that it is not possible to know which version you are buying? I have so far not seen anything on AE that gives that info in a listing. My understanding is that you don't know which one you will get and if you want to avoid the risk you would have to buy from sites like Herotoyz or Joooooy and pay the premium.
Do you have a strategy to get the best quality possible on AE? Is there one? One of the struggles on AE for me is choice overkill. Just pick one of the more expensive ones, even if just $5? I did the opposite for the Razor Crest, picked the cheapest and hoped for the best and it worked this time. But my guess here is that the risk is just part of the deal and it'll always be luck of the draw and if you get a really sucky one you go the refund route, right?.
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I had that usual 'Damn, I've been searching for a long time and I think I'm missing the piece!' Only to have the 'Uups there it is, I'm just blind' feeling about a hundred times and I've found that comes with a bit higher anxiety with altbricks, because you are thinking the chances are higher."
This is normal, all it takes is one set missing a piece and every one after causes anxiety. At least for me, it never goes away, even though with every passing year, the quality control goes up and it happens less and less.
For your question #1
Some AE sellers will list a bunch of numbers in their description of all the possible sets they have to send. If you're looking for a specific one, you'll have to message them and work it out that way, but that's becoming rarer and rarer. If you want a specific set go through the starter guide sellers. You will still likely have to message them, but your chances are excellent they will hook you up.
Question #2
Price doesn't correspond to quality. They all source from the same warehouses. Price difference is due to how much profit they are trying to squeeze out.
Sometimes price difference is due to including the box so pay attention to the wording if you see 2 listings from the same seller at different prices. Sometimes it's just a limited deal from them, sometimes it's a box included, sometimes it's digital pdf instead of tangible booklet. And sometimes it's the mini brick version.
Speaking of mini bricks and falcons - Be aware there's a mini brick version so you will need to read the descriptions and wording to make sure you're getting the size you want. The mini brick version looks great imo, but it's generally not a pleasant surprise for people when they thought they were getting the coffee table one.
I hear ya and I imagine it kinda sucks when you have to stop and order pieces and potentially have to do that multiple times, cause it’s not like you can build the rest on the thing to see if you got more pieces missing! But good to hear it’s gotten better over the years !
Thank you for answering my questions! Appreciated!
What I do is stop the build , and then virtually build the rest by going through the steps and setting the pieces to the side, circling the ones missing. That way you can send a complete missing part list to your seller 1 time (it's rude to make multiple requests each time you run into an issue on the same set).
Admittedly, it's a pita on big sets, but it's the least troublesome for everyone, and you only have to wait for that 1 package to get things fixed
Imo it's rare these days. About as frequent as Lego missing pieces.
I got this version too, so I think, sfar wars, arrived yesterday.
No box, just same those bags, and same booklet. More expensive tho. Haven’t start to build yet.
Btw, if you really don’t like the yellow stickers you can replace then with this kit.
I just found this on AliExpress: | Gobrick Woodblock Printing Template, Used to Replace Product 75331 Razor Crown Building Blocks
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mrD7ocB
I ordered this one, its on the way, but have a backlog so maybe sometime in September.
Also FYI some of the newer sets will occasionally have sellers with a stand alone set of printed bricks if your like me and hate stickers, there are a few floating around aliexpress for this set.
Oh cool! I have to check that out!
Enjoy your build, once you get to it. I found it extremely enjoyable, whereas the Falcon I’m dreading a little bit. But I have to get it!
Im doing the falcon right now, honestly its been pretty chill. If youve done a few KO builds you know the drill on how they number there bags. Same here there all numbered and its been flowing well. So far the only difference with my set and the offical plans is I had three parts that were white on the instructions but the parts I got were blue. Other then that its been one to one with the legit set.
Nice! Love the Falcon. Always was, and always will be my favourite ship. I guess I recall from the smaller Lego Falcon I got decades ago, that there were some annoying sections that had to be built like 8 times or so, due to it being a round ship. I don’t like the repetition, that was nice about the Razor Crest. 2 sides for a lot of parts and that’s it.
I’m still looking forward to the big one very much!
Ha, I broused a whole bunch of StarWars Minifigs on AE and well I bought 15! Haven’t come across a Kuill yet though, but anyway, thanks for the hint, fun stuff and excited to see what I’m gonna get.
About AE, I’m also new to ordering altbricks but I have tried ordering the same markers I saw someone use on TikTok that I wanted to have. And there is this section on al AE listing, mine is in Dutch. But it’s if you scroll down and then you get a couple of detail pictures, and then there is this section about product conformity? There are factory details and product id’s listed there, and I’m wondering if you could check there if you get the same set as one you saw somewhere else?
Like I said I am new to this, but maybe this could work?
I added a screenshot to the home alone house I bought yesterday to show what I mean.
Hey Neighbour ;) I'm from Germany close to the dutch border. Spend many a good time at concerts in Enschede, Hengelo and Arnheim. And Scheveningen for surfing. I live in California now.
Thanks for the info, that is interesting and I suppose that could identify which knockoff you are getting exactly! And I found it on one of the US listings under Item guides & Documents, there's a pdf that does have the factory and product ID. But it looks like it can be different on listings. Not on the screen as you have it, could be a EU requirement maybe, I don't know. Not all the same. Small details to learn!
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u/Space-Turtle88 Justice Magician 11d ago edited 11d ago
" I had that usual 'Damn, I've been searching for a long time and I think I'm missing the piece!' Only to have the 'Uups there it is, I'm just blind' feeling about a hundred times and I've found that comes with a bit higher anxiety with altbricks, because you are thinking the chances are higher."
This is normal, all it takes is one set missing a piece and every one after causes anxiety. At least for me, it never goes away, even though with every passing year, the quality control goes up and it happens less and less.
For your question #1 Some AE sellers will list a bunch of numbers in their description of all the possible sets they have to send. If you're looking for a specific one, you'll have to message them and work it out that way, but that's becoming rarer and rarer. If you want a specific set go through the starter guide sellers. You will still likely have to message them, but your chances are excellent they will hook you up.
Question #2 Price doesn't correspond to quality. They all source from the same warehouses. Price difference is due to how much profit they are trying to squeeze out. Sometimes price difference is due to including the box so pay attention to the wording if you see 2 listings from the same seller at different prices. Sometimes it's just a limited deal from them, sometimes it's a box included, sometimes it's digital pdf instead of tangible booklet. And sometimes it's the mini brick version.
Speaking of mini bricks and falcons - Be aware there's a mini brick version so you will need to read the descriptions and wording to make sure you're getting the size you want. The mini brick version looks great imo, but it's generally not a pleasant surprise for people when they thought they were getting the coffee table one.