I've been a fan of Lego since my first Space set back in the 70's - One little space dude, a steering wheel and two little wings put together - not sure where the fuel came from....
I also have a keen eye for picking Megabloks out of the pile - contamination! You could tell just by the feel of the plastic that it was different AND inferior. I'm also not a fan of knockoff bricks that copy the lego sets, wherever those are coming from.
Not too long ago I walked into a hobby store and my jaw dropped when I saw the COBI line. Actually, it was the USS Enterprise in the window display that caused the lockjaw. Inside I discovered the tanks and aircraft. Importantly, they had a tank sitting out that I could pick up - one of the "little" 1:48's and I was amazed at the detail and the tracks and the quality of the plastic.
To build a tank in Lego is a monumental task of collecting the right colour pieces and buying 3rd party custom tracks that will set you back more than the 35 bucks that the little COBI tanks cost in their entirety. Look at the aircraft and big tanks and you'll see all the custom parts that COBI makes for these models. Just incomparable to what Lego produces.
COBI has found a fantastic niche here - producing the same quality bricks in the EU, printing images on them (stickers are history) and continually updating their models.
All this is good news for COBI and Lego, they fit together and complement each other. If I want to build a town for my COBI tanks or a detailed airfield or naval base, I'll build them with Lego - but the Armour and Battleships will be COBI...
what scenes have you put together?
Craig