San Diego Comic Con Exclusive tape issue

[into the blue]

Hi there,

Just a quick heads-up to anyone who attended the SDCC this year and managed to pick up the exclusive sets that were on sale.

I've been back in the UK for a week now and have finally got round to putting everything away, this meant moving stuff about several times.

I've just noticed that with every one of the sets I bought (I managed to pick up three all together) the tape has split, thus losing all that minty goodness.

On taking a closer look I can see why this has happened. When the box is picked up from the top all the weight of the set is on the tape, and on taking a close look it seems that the tape also has tiny perforations making it easier to open.

This hasn't just happened with me, I know another guy whose tape has split on two boxes.

I'm not really bothered by this, but I know how some people put a greater value on a sealed set and they'd probably wig out if they found their sealed box suddenly wasn't.

So, to cut a long story short, if you want to keep your exclusives sealed, don't pick 'em up by the top of the box.

http://s277.photobucket.com/user/intothebluemmr/media/tape_zps16067406.jpg.html#/user/intothebluemmr/media/tape_zps16067406.jpg.html?&_suid=1375111893987022283870091966262

[into the blue]

A quick (I say quick, it's actually been two months since the SDCC) follow-up to this, after writing to TLG to ask about the tape issue, I received this reply:

Thank you so much for being patient. I have received an answer from the quality team regarding the seals of the sets.

Again, I’m sorry the seals on your exclusive LEGO® Comic Con sets are broken. Since these sets are seen as collectibles, I can understand how this causes some disappointment. Perforated seals were used to eliminate the chance of cardboard ripping when the boxes are opened. We do understand your concerns and as promised I’ve passed your comments along to the appropriate teams to consider for future collectible releases.

We have decided to send you non-perforated seals that you can place over the broken ones to reseal your set. These will arrive from the US in about 9-14 business days.

Not sure how the new tape will fit, whether it'll be the same size, etc, but it was nice of TLG to get back to me and send out some new tape.

The irony is that this email arrived the day after I sold my spare sets on eBay.

Bloody typical.