Lego sets you can't build without damaging the bricks

[David Thomsen]

I'm becoming more and more aware of the amount of damage some Lego sets force you to do to their bricks.

The worst offender I can think of is the Corner Cafe, which asks you to bend a black tube 180 degrees and jam a bunch of snow shoes on it. My tube is in pretty appaling shape by now, and in fact was since the first time I used it.

But I've also begun to notice the amount of damage in my pirate sets done to soft plastics by clips. I hadn't noticed before now, but every time I've been putting a musket on a musket holder, it's been leaving a little mark. Quite a lot of my muskets have little impressions on the barrels by now.

I don't mind so much the cutlass handles, because any damage done to them by clips is going to be disguised by the clip itself, but having these marks on the muskets is very annoying.

And then there's the masts of the Brickbeard's Bounty, which are flexible tubes that have lines all along them from being jammed into the sockets.

The thing is, I want to be able to revisit these sets year by year for as long as I have enough room to store them. And I want to be able to construct them without worrying about their preservation.

Edited March 20, 2010 by David Thomsen

[Etzel]

Honestly I think you're being overly picky.

Such small scratches and marks are so tiny and insignificant that it doesn't make any difference to the function or look of the pieces IMO. I rather have bricks with scratches than just bricks sitting on display never to be played with. And flexible tubes are flexible, just bend them back to the shape you want them in, it's not that hard.

[CP5670]

I usually avoid anything that will cause damage to parts over time. Some types of pieces such as flex tubes will always get deformed when you use them and are designed for that, but some other types of assemblies could be considered illegal. In general though, TLG has become a lot more strict about this with official Lego sets than they once used to be.

But I've also begun to notice the amount of damage in my pirate sets done to soft plastics by clips. I hadn't noticed before now, but every time I've been putting a musket on a musket holder, it's been leaving a little mark. Quite a lot of my muskets have little impressions on the barrels by now.

I don't mind so much the cutlass handles, because any damage done to them by clips is going to be disguised by the clip itself, but having these marks on the muskets is very annoying.

This is a well known problem with the kind of plastic they're using for minifig accessories today. There is a description here.