New LEGO Oriented Toy Magazine Debut in China with Free Gift from Gobricks

The rise of digital media had seen the demise of many print publication. Many LEGO fan magazine in the West had gone digital to go with the trend. A online LEGO oriented toy blog in China Kuwanchao had decided to launch a print magazine. It’s a bold move as many printed media these day barely make money. The first edition of Kuwanchao will feature articles written by themselves and contribution from LEGO blogger in China as well as translated articles from the West. The first edition will have 116 pages printed on gloss paper. It is sold for CNY 69 or equal to USD 10.70. The only way to subscribe to the magazine is through the Wechat shop.

The magazine will be shipped in cardboard box to protect it.

Close up look at the Kuwanchao magazine. It will feature history on Ninjago, interviews and LEGO sets review.

Free gift of “Flappy Bee” with parts to build it. You could download the free instruction from JK Brickworks.

Product shot on “Flappy Bee” and the authorization from JK Brickworks. Logos of the contributors including well known bloggers such as the Brother Bricks and Brickset from the West.

The magazine claimed JK Brickworks had authorized the use of the free design. Interestingly the Flappy Bee will be built using Gobricks instead of genuine LEGO parts. We contacted JK Brickworks and he said he didn’t recall giving consent nor aware of his design would be built using non-LEGO bricks. Gobricks is the well known third party supplier of parts to Sembo, Mould King, Super 18K, Happy Build, Viggi, just to name a few.

Below are some screen shot of the contents of the magazine.

The magazine is having 100% LEGO related contents and yet the free gift is supplied by Gobricks. For LEGO purist, this would be hard to swallow. The new LEGO fan magazine in China is testing the boundary here. The magazine won’t sale if they were to do it in the West. Perhaps this would be the new normal that we would have to accept, in which LEGO MOCer design be sourced and built using non-LEGO parts. Often the interlocking plastic brick toys are referred as “LEGO” but not necessarily meant it’s made by the Danish manufacturer. We hope to see more from Kuwanchao in the future.