>>9769664I bought a lepin picrel for $90 a few years ago to do exactly that, test the quality. It's a fairly complicated set, tons of minifigures, sails, soft / hard plastics, etc.
It had cloth sails similar in quality to the barracuda bay, that is to say, much thinner / shittier / cheaper feeling than the classic 90's pirate sails, but for a knockoff, that is acceptable if it is comparable to LEGOs current production.
The larger / longer parts are where the small, literally microscopic inconsistencies add up. Sometimes a large plate or brick won't stay down.
But, for 1/7th of the price, I am more than happy with it. From a distance on a shelf, you could never tell the difference.
I would NEVER mix these parts in with my general collection, but if I'm going to buy an expensive dust collector that I'm never taking apart or plan to resell... yeah, idc.
The more expensive and lamer modern lego gets, the better I feel about owning a hoard of vintage sets. It's not like those are getting cheaper or any less cool.
