LEGO, the brand everyone has heard of, the company has been around since 1932 and there are no signs of it stopping. The quality is superior to most and the vast range of licenses they hold is staggering, such as Harry Potter, Marvel, Disney, DC to name a few.
Their annual revenue reports are just as mind blowing, especially over the last few years with a consistent rise in profits year on year. With their boost in popularity due to Covid and the many more people with time on their hands, the LEGO Group has gone from strength to strength. The price of sets has also risen, with an Adult-themed (Icons) set being anything from £100 to £700. This brings me to ask which alternative brand has the best chance to rival, or get close to, LEGO?
There are many brick brands to consider, some hold licenses whilst others create builds on subjects LEGO won’t go near, such as military. Cobi, BlueBrixx, Mega Blox, JMBricklayer and others that all offer a great selection of sets at very affordable prices. Having personally built sets from most of the above, I can say that the quality of plastic used for the bricks & pieces isn’t up to LEGO‘s standards, but there is one that could come out on top and break the ‘mould‘ so to speak. FunWhole!
Who are FunWhole?
Funwhole are a Chinese company situated in Guangdong, they pride themselves on being the world’s first brand sets that come with lights. It originates from our basic understanding of the world: the world we live in includes both the day and the indispensable wonder of night. However, the reality is that there is no such brand that can perfectly express day and night with both lights and bricks, so we create a new lighting bricks brand – FUNWHOLE which to express both beauty of the day and the wonderful bright night.
The brand name FUNWHOLE is a perfect expression of this concept: WHOLE represents the WHOLE world of both day and night; FUN stands for happiness; we hope that our brand can bring everyone the whole happiness of day and night.
The name is open to a lot of jokes and we’ve pretty much heard them all, but it’s origin is combining the Fun we all have building and it’s the Whole package, lights included. We’ve been lucky enough to build many FunWhole sets over the past year or so and can safely say they have come along away and are only getting better. The price range is great too with many larger sets being very affordable, around the $90 to $150 mark for full blown Modular Buildings. You’ll agree this is better than half the price of an equivalent LEGO set.
The very first FunWhole set I built was a Wood Cabin. What first peaked my interest was the overall look of it, I hadn’t seen anything like it from other brands and with the inclusion of the light kit I knew it was something special. Back then however there weren’t any specialised bricks to safely hide the cables in, today that has all changed and with many new moulded pieces, installing the cables and lights is straightforward and easy.
Trying new brands isn’t easy for some fans that have dedicated their hobby and life to just one, LEGO. I was the same, a ‘purest‘, I’d would turn my nose up at alternative brands. That was until the price of LEGO sets started to rise and slowly pushed me out, a fan for many years that could no longer afford to purchase the sets I wanted. This lead me to try FunWhole and now I’m hooked!
2024 is a big year for FunWhole, they have really pushed hard to get their brick quality, set designs and light kits to a standard that rivals the leading brand. If you were blindfolded and given two bricks, one FunWhole and one LEGO, you’d be stumped and couldn’t tell the difference, I know I couldn’t. The clutch-power (the joining of bricks and plates) is spot on, you don’t have to ruin your finger tips pushing them together and you don’t have to worry about them being loose. This is often the main reason used for not touching alternative brands, the brick quality and clutch-power play a big part in building so getting them right is key – and FunWhole has.
There is something FunWhole do that is currently unrivaled, not even LEGO can match it – lights! There are of course many light kit companies out there that allow you to take your pre-existing LEGO set to the next level, these are great if you don’t mind partly dismantling builds to run cables all over the place. FunWhole however has you installing them as you go, making it so much easier and most importantly, enjoyable. As mentioned earlier their specialist bricks and plates protect the cable from being squished and damaged along with hiding them from sight. Just read one of our many reviews for a better look at the parts and process used.
The fanbase is also growing and becoming more active, with many Facebook Groups being formed to chat about and appreciate FunWhole. A big YouTuber, Jang Bricks, has also shown his support for the company and made an amazing & in-depth review of a FunWhole Medieval set, check it out here.
So, going back to my original question, is there a company out there that can take on the leading brand? Yes, and it’s already here, FunWhole!
Check out FunWhole for yourself and let us know how you get on, we’d love to hear what you have to say. Use our affiliate link and code, THEBRICKPOST, to get 10% off your order. Remember to have fun and keep on building.
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But who owns Funwhole? Is this another Chinese knockoff company? There is no mention of this in your post.
Good question, they are a Chinese brand and most certainly not knockoffs. They are their own company with their own ideas. I personally love their bricks and sets.
We have many sets…. They are great quality, less expensive than lego, take longer to build due to the lighting components….service has been excellent…we screwed up on our very first set snd blew the lights(shorted them out) and Funwhole sent us a whole new light kit at no cost! All in all, we are now shopping for funwhole products before lego.
That’s great to hear, thank you for sharing your experiences
I have Lego models all over my house, because of my 3 boys, who are now in college. When I retired, I started buying Legos to fill my down time. I have become hooked and find myself daily building these models. Last year I tried other brands because they offered more than legos, and quite frankly I’ve run out of interesting Lego sets to build. Most sets were similar to legos, but the quality was not the same, but because of price and diversity they were just as much fun to build. Well, in November of 24 I stumbled onto FUNWHOLE, and WOW, did they hit the mark. I have since built the whole western & steampunk series, which is a total of about 11 models. They have far exceeded the LEGO brand! They are better in all areas, including, Outside box design and sturdiness, Inside packaging with a perfect assembly book, brick packaging and a separate lights box. There kits are so much more detailed, identical in strength to LEGO and much more enjoyable to build… plus they are more affordable than LEGO or any other brick company. My only worry is that they run out of more themed & interesting models for us adults to build. Keep up the great work FUNWHOLE and please continue to make challenging and interesting Adult Models.
That’s so great to hear! We all start off as LEGO fans, but sooner or later either run out of decent sets to buy and build or the prices get too high. I turned to FunWhole also and have never looked back. They are a brand that are definitely doing it right.
They have a Facebook group you may want to join. They sometimes post surveys for fans to complete that ask for new items etc so worth putting your ideas across.
There are tons of other sets and themes they could explore, so I don’t think they’ll be running out anytime soon. Especially when an Art Gallery and others are in the way.
Thank you for your lovely comment
Is there a place I can buy the lighting system elements, especially those channel bricks?
I love LEGO, but am also a Funwhole fan. I don’t think the brick fit is the same quality as LEGO, but it’s close. What I really like about Funwhole is that they tend to be more challenging; not just the light kit, but the build in general. I’m 63 and retired. These builds keep my brain working. And Funwhole’s customer service is great.
That’s great to hear, thank you for your comment
Where can I get those Awsome wire organising channel bricks? (3rd picture)
From most FunWhole sets
you could try Go Bricks, they make and supply FunWhole, I’m pretty sure they have like a Pick-A-Brick style facility on their website.