No, that wasn't extremely friendly. Oh, well, that was only once. We haven't had one like that since.

For pete's sake people, we're talking about plastic toys; let's keep it fun.



Agreed. Stuff like pocket electronics and printers are known for that. It's corrupt, but we need the items and everyone makes them like that, so watcha gonna do?

What was wrong with them? I thought they were fine.

In this case I think it'd be best to start a new company that builds things more durable than everyone else. People would flock to that because they don't want to deal with fragile products anymore.

I think you misunderstood: I meant that we should keep this topic friendly. I was warning us of a repeat of the USSR discussion.

Now I have a question for you Nap, are you having -any- problems with newer pieces that may have been made in China? Are torsos and arms cracking? Is the plastic giving off a pungent chemical smell?

-Omi

Yes.

If they didn't, I wouldn't complain at all.

The Chinese-made knights have small cracks in the arms, loosening the hands to the point that they just swivel like Hades, making 'em useless. The heads' printing isn't the best quality, and all the colors are wrong, even black, and are somewhat translucent. Plus, the minifigure arms and hands can't be placed on real European torsos and hands. The arms that have the infamous stamp on them will simply not work on regular torsos. Very sad.

Well see the problem is that the figs made in China are a bit tighter, hence the cracking.

And that is a common problem among regular figs made in Billund. :P

As for colors not matching, that is with all Lego as well. Not only did Lego change up their formula (I can't remember exactly, but I know it is different now than it was, say, 5 years ago), Lego pieces are like snowflakes. You won't get 2 that are the same, regardless of molding. One piece will end up a darker shade than the other (take purple as a PRIME example). I can try to match a red piece made now and a red piece 2 years ago. There will be differences. I once made a guide on BZPower about spotting real and fake misprints, and I mentioned color being one issue to know about, since members there would have a "darker" Tan mask when they are usually "lighter" Tan, when it is really just Tan regardless.

And head printing, well I know Lego doesn't use strong ink on all the heads they make both in Billund and anywhere else.

-Omi

That and the sides of the toros crack(where the legs attach) the feet crack, and the stuff you said excpet the stamp because I don't know what you're talking about on that one. Of course, this may just be Lego over all as the cracks seem to only happen to new figs.

Actually, Omi, I know of the color change, and I have both old colors and new. This isn't that. This is just plain made wrong. Buy the battlepacks and get back to me. For instance, the unprinted Chinese gray torsos from the Castle TTT don't match either shades. And I can understand and have pieces that aren't exactly the same color. However, none of those are semi translucent or look like Mega Bloks. That never happens with Euro parts. Only with Chinese ones. Another example of poor quality by China? The recent Kingdoms battlepacks; they're all the wrong torsos. Prints meant to be on gray torsos are on that cheap, translucent red plastic, likely leftovers from the redcoat pirate battlepacks. Ya can't argue with that being disappointing. And it's not so much an error as it is the deliberate cheapening of the product by using that mandatory government plastic in China. And it ain't just me: I've seen rants against the Chinese products on all LEGO fan sites. usually met with applause by people frustrated with the low quality, off-colored figs.



The "arm stamp" is a dreaded "LEGO" indented logo on the inside of the arm. Trust me, it's a mark synonymous with "Made in China."

I've only had one actual Euro torso crack. One plain brown one from Mistlands Tower. That's the only one. This is the fault of China, you can count on that. And believe me, my torsos are separated from the legs daily, so if anyone would have abundant cracks, it'd be me.

the problem is Omi when you have 4 or more shades of Dark Bley on the same part type in the same LEGO set somethings wrong.

Hey, at least they're not using lead paint in them.