Super Jumpers: neccesary damage?

[Jbricks]

Ever since the first few reviews of the new DC Justice League sets, we were aware that Super Jumpers damaged figures' legs. Many of us shunned the jumpers, wanting our minifigures to stay in good condition. I decided to try a super jumper on a pair of generic legs, just to see the effects. As expected, the legs were damaged. I, and many others, wondered, "why must it be this way?" I assumed the leg damage was an unnecessary flaw in super jumper design. One day, I accidentally stepped on a super jumper (it being clear and all). Luckily, I was wearing a shoe, so I ended up damaging the piece (poetic justice, right?). The top part, that cut into minifigure legs, was bent back. So I placed a minifigure in the damaged super jumper and launched it. The minifigure legs were not damaged at all, but the clutch power of the legs was not enough to hold it to the super jumper. It flew off the jumper, and went only about 2-3 inches in the air. I tried with other figs and got the same result. It seems that the jumpers need to be cutting into the legs in order to stay attached. So, what do you think of this? Do you think the damage is a neccesary evil? Do you think we will continue o see super jumpers in the super heroes theme? Will we ever get a BIGFIG JUMPER?

[Legocity2713]

Big Fig Jumper? Don't star giving lego any ideas now.

Also, loved the part about poetic justice.

[Sir Gareth]

I hope Super Jumpers are a once and done deal. I have like fifteen of them just sitting in a tin. It's worse than the Brick Seperator virus...

[sander1992]

Because of the super jumper we have sets with more action features (Jokerland and Rhino and Sandman Team-up).

But those actions can also be played by hand. We do not need the super jumpers, because mostly people have the imagination for those actions.

We'll see next year if TLG continues with the super jumpers.

[Sir Gareth]

I actually believe incorporating Super Jumpers into sets is affecting their structural designs with all the blowing up and self destructing play features.

I actually believe incorporating Super Jumpers into sets is affecting their structural designs with all these blowing up and self destructing play features.

Edited August 22, 2015 by Sir Gareth

[Kaanere]

The old way is better:

Just Throw the Minifigure manually

(JTtMM)

Edited August 22, 2015 by Kaanere

[Borex]

I actually believe incorporating Super Jumpers into sets is affecting their structural designs with all these blowing up and self destructing play features.

This. Superjumpers are evil. The big idea of the sandman construction site is a rather good one. The inclusion of superjumpers gave the designers no other option than to come up with stupid playfeatures and turn this promising set in a rubbish set. Until tlg comes up with something new i think we'll see those horrible superjumpers.

[Juun]

The only minifigs I have standing on a super jumper is Iron Man and Ultron. I use the translucent cylinder pieces you get with the minifigs on the super jumper and have Iron Man standing on top of those cylinder pieces. It gives him a hovering in the air effect and you don't damage the minifig this way.

[TheLegoDr]

^Actually yes you will. The translucent pieces are made from polycarbonate. They don't flex as well and actually push out the minifigure leg holes. All of my Iron Man legs were damaged because I had them displayed on those pieces. I hope yours are okay, but I've heard lots of problems involving polycarbonate and regular ABS.

But good idea using it as a floating mechanism.

As far as super jumpers go, I would say they are here to stay. If anything, they might tweak the mold, but like stickers and flickfires, they are a LEGO "tradition." Although, the new stud shooters might replace some of the flickfires.

[Ultron]

Surely Lego is aware they are damaging the figs? Guess they didn't test them out too much. But you would think that with that knowledge they'd either 1) remove them completely from the sets considering they're damaging their products and consumers are unhappy with them or 2) change them so they hmm....idk....don't damage them??

[dr_spock]

They are probably aware and may consider it acceptable wear and tear as toys tend to get beaten up when children play with them. They may see play value of jump flying figs more important than collector value for their target audience.

[Oky]

Is this really news to anyone? To me it was pretty obvious that the increased friction on these things is there so that the minifig doesn't fly off. It's not like TLG made them this way to deliberately damage their own figs. It is necessary for the play feature to work properly, and as dr_spock said, this is probably more important to TLG than preserving the minifigs which get damaged when kids play with them anyway.

The super jumpers are a total gimmick, so I expect them to stop using them eventually.

Bigfig jumpers? No, not gonna happen. Those guys are far too heavy to jump. They may incorporate play features that knock Bigfigs over in the sets like in Darkseid Invasion, but not produce a new mold for it. Besides, characters like Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd, and Green Goblin aren't exactly known for leaping through the air. Well, Hulk is, but there is no super jumper in the world that could simulate his jumping ability.

I hope Super Jumpers are a once and done deal. I have like fifteen of them just sitting in a tin. It's worse than the Brick Seperator virus...

Except the brick separators are actually useful, at least in my opinion.

Because of the super jumper we have sets with more action features (Jokerland and Rhino and Sandman Team-up).

But those actions can also be played by hand. We do not need the super jumpers, because mostly people have the imagination for those actions.

I actually believe incorporating Super Jumpers into sets is affecting their structural designs with all these blowing up and self destructing play features.

Agreed. While I like that we're getting more playsets and I like the idea of incorporating play features that simulate the collateral damage that occurs during superhero fights, it makes for some very fragile sets. I can ignore the inclusion of super jumpers, but when it's hard to play with a set without knocking something over every few seconds, it's really annoying. Now I know how Superman feels...

So yeah, let's hope that this super jumper fad will be over soon.

[Sir Gareth]

Bigfig jumpers? No, not gonna happen. Those guys are far too heavy to jump. They may incorporate play features that knock Bigfigs over in the sets like in Darkseid Invasion, but not produce a new mold for it. Besides, characters like Darkseid, Gorilla Grodd, and Green Goblin aren't exactly known for leaping through the air. Well, Hulk is, but there is no super jumper in the world that could simulate his jumping ability.

There is, it's called an arm

I completely agree with you. I had the Rhino and Sandman Super Villain Team-up on my floor, and when I bumped it, literally the whole thing fell apart.

[Mutant Orc]

^Actually yes you will. The translucent pieces are made from polycarbonate. They don't flex as well and actually push out the minifigure leg holes. All of my Iron Man legs were damaged because I had them displayed on those pieces. I hope yours are okay, but I've heard lots of problems involving polycarbonate and regular ABS.

I didn't know this! Just gone and removed them all from the figs I had on them, thanks for that info!

I personally am not fond on the superjumpers, not only because they damage the figures, but I don't really think it's that much fun to have to mess about so much just to knock these tiny things off. I think there could are more amusing features that can be incorporated into sets that are less damaging and easier to do. I'm not even very fond on the stud shooters being used so much, they're fiddly and the ammo is annoying. I much prefer the spring loaded shooter and on places like on top of the Hydra fort tower, they'd be a lot better as the added size wouldn't be so much of a bother.