Faded torso printing?

[ziljin]

I have recently bought over 200 minifigures from bricklink. and this has been a big problem with Crusaders. Every now and then a minfigure will have thinning printing in the center or around the edges. That is fine.

But like 10% of the crusaders I have received have heavy faded printing on their torsos. I haven't sent any complaints to the bricklink sellers because it seems to be such a common problem and I just chalk it up as the price of buying 20 year old minfigiures. And its from high positive feedback sellers. They will have a batch of multiple Crusaders and all will be fine except one or two.

EDIT: I checked and it did not occur as much as I thought. I originally posted 30% but 10% is a more accurate number.

Edited August 20, 2011 by ziljin

[Mythos]

You've been lucky its more like 10% of those figs which have not lost their torso design or its not faded to just a plain blue shield or such on their torso, my husband has hundreds of the figs that have lost some or all of their design.

[ziljin]

Wow 90% faded torsos?

Hm is it just a problem with Crusaders? Or do Black Falcons and classic castle minfigs suffer from this as well? So far my oldest used minfigs have been the peasants, forestmen, crusaders and 1 black falcon. so far only the crusaders have had this problem.

[Mythos]

Wow 90% faded torsos?

Hm is it just a problem with Crusaders? Or do Black Falcons and classic castle minfigs suffer from this as well? So far my oldest used minfigs have been the peasants, forestmen, crusaders and 1 black falcon. so far only the crusaders have had this problem.

My husband said its mostly just the Crusaders he says the lion just fades away from play wear kind of like the classic space figures losing their gold moon color.

[Magnus the Great]

I made a quick overview of my old minifigs. Percent torsos which faded beyond recognition.

Classic Castle (red/grey party per pale & blue border): 85%

Crusaders (crossed axe & lion): 75%

Falcon: 15%

Generic breastplate: 10%

Forestmen: 0%

Peasants: 0%

[ziljin]

I made a quick overview of my old minifigs. Percent torsos which faded beyond recognition.

Classic Castle (red/grey party per pale & blue border): 85%

Crusaders (crossed axe & lion): 75%

Falcon: 15%

Generic breastplate: 10%

Forestmen: 0%

Peasants: 0%

Do you happen to have a picture of your faded minfigures? some of my generic scailmail have thin printing in the center. I only have 3 Black Falcon's and they are fine. And 5 out of 25 crusaders with faded printing. but only like 3 of them are heavy faded.

Also do you know why they are faded? just the Crusader's color of printing?

Edited August 25, 2011 by ziljin

[Magnus the Great]

Do you happen to have a picture of your faded minfigures? some of my generic scailmail have thin printing in the center. I only have 3 Black Falcon's and they are fine. And 5 out of 25 crusaders with faded printing. but only like 3 of them are heavy faded.

Also do you know why they are faded? just the Crusader's color of printing?

Maybe I exaggerated when I said "faded beyond recognition". This is what I can show you. I have no idea why they fade. Maybe it's sunlight, grease or the paint itself.

Six faded torsos aren't pictured since I use them as paint racks.

Classic Castle: 13/15

Crusaders (crossed axe & lion): 27/36

Falcon: 4/28

[blueandwhite]

This is a problem with the older torsos. With the lion knights in particular, the gold paint literally rubbed off of the figures leaving the blue or black shield (crossed axes) in the background. You may notice that gold print comes off quite easily even on some newer figures. The gold lining and the golden keys on the Knights Kingdom I queen rub off quite easily as well. Even figures which are simply exposed to the air seem to suffer some torso fading. If you look at this photo from bricklink, you'll notice that the keys have become red as the gold leaf has been removed.

It sucks, but there isn't much that can be done about it. Some torsos suffer from this effect, others are just fine. The newer lion knights don't seem to experience this setback.

[ziljin]

Maybe I exaggerated when I said "faded beyond recognition". This is what I can show you. I have no idea why they fade. Maybe it's sunlight, grease or the paint itself.

Six faded torsos aren't pictured since I use them as paint racks.

Classic Castle: 13/15

Crusaders (crossed axe & lion): 27/36

Falcon: 4/28

wow that stinks.

and these are crusaders you owned long ago?

Man I am going to stop buying crusaders then. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a crusader army that is going to become faded on its own.

[Magnus the Great]

wow that stinks.

and these are crusaders you owned long ago?

Man I am going to stop buying crusaders then. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a crusader army that is going to become faded on its own.

To say the least. These are from my original collection. Bought and played with in the 80's. I have changed my behavior since then. I always wash my hands before I use my Lego and I avoid touching the print. The minifigs are stored in boxes to protect them from sunlight. They stand on plates one stud apart so the print can't be rubbed off. Hopefully, modern prints are made in better quality.

I bought a few classic castle torsos a few months ago but they were excellent. I might buy some more crusaders but only if the print still remains.