BrickBuilder3213 Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 Yesterday, I bought spares of Dragon Bolt and Evo from the Brain Attack Summer Wave. One of Evo's Exo-Force arms broke when I attached it to a 3.0 paw piece and Dragon Bolt came with, get this... The fragile and outdated 2010 piece with a ball socket and three axel holes,, the two on the side and one on the top, sticking out a bit from the others. I was a little shocked, seeing as this is the 2nd time that I've gotten an Evo with a fragile Exo-Force arm. But it's the first time that I've gotten outdated pieces (seeing as I never got Jetbug). Quote
Aanchir Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 (edited) Yesterday, I bought spares of Dragon Bolt and Evo from the Brain Attack Summer Wave. One of Evo's Exo-Force arms broke when I attached it to a 3.0 paw piece and Dragon Bolt came with, get this... The fragile and outdated 2010 piece with a ball socket and three axel holes,, the two on the side and one on the top, sticking out a bit from the others. I was a little shocked, seeing as this is the 2nd time that I've gotten an Evo with a fragile Exo-Force arm. But it's the first time that I've gotten outdated pieces (seeing as I never got Jetbug). Exo-Force robot arms are sometimes fragile, though they're not as bad as they used to be from my experience, and certainly not as bad as some other LEGO robot arms have been. So many of my old Battle Droid arms broke back in the day! As for the Dragon Bolt part, that's a huge surprise to me, but hopefully it's just a fluke. I haven't gotten any of the old Y-joints in a set since 2011. There's no way that the LEGO Group is still producing the old-style Y-joints, so perhaps there are just a small number of those that were still mixed in with the new style from back when the LEGO Group was still transitioning. Tell LEGO Customer Service about this and they should be able to provide a replacement. Edited February 6, 2014 by Aanchir Quote
BrickBuilder3213 Posted February 6, 2014 Author Posted February 6, 2014 Exo-Force robot arms are sometimes fragile, though they're not as bad as they used to be from my experience, and certainly not as bad as some other LEGO robot arms have been. So many of my old Battle Droid arms broke back in the day! As for the Dragon Bolt part, that's a huge surprise to me, but hopefully it's just a fluke. I haven't gotten any of the old Y-joints in a set since 2011. There's no way that the LEGO Group is still producing the old-style Y-joints, so perhaps there are just a small number of those that were still mixed in with the new style from back when the LEGO Group was still transitioning. Tell LEGO Customer Service about this and they should be able to provide a replacement. I will do. Speaking of fragile parts... What's this about lime-green parts that I keep hearing about? I've been meaning to ask this for a while. Quote
Aanchir Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 (edited) I will do. Speaking of fragile parts... What's this about lime-green parts that I keep hearing about? I've been meaning to ask this for a while. Back in 2007, there was an issue where a number of Bright Yellowish Green parts didn't cool properly after production, and as a result any such parts with ball cups would frequently snap as a result of normal use. To make matters worse, several BIONICLE sets that year used Bright Yellowish Green parts with ball cups. Some quality issues with ball cups, particularly the 7M double ball cups, had already existed, but the issue with the Bright Yellowish Green ball cups were much worse and put such quality issues under much higher scrutiny. Ball cups between 2008 and 2010 also had quality issues, but those were apparently an issue with the parts' redesigned geometry, not a result of a production error or materials issue. Edited February 6, 2014 by Aanchir Quote
BrickBuilder3213 Posted February 6, 2014 Author Posted February 6, 2014 I see... I assume that's when the Mahri/Barakki were being released? Quote
Vinyl Scratch Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 I see... I assume that's when the Mahri/Barakki were being released? 2007, 2008 and 2009 all had faulty pieces that could be broken easily I believe. Quote
Aanchir Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 2007, 2008 and 2009 all had faulty pieces that could be broken easily I believe. Yes, but 2007 is the only year when it was specifically tied to a certain color. 2008-2010 ball cups were weaker because of design alterations. Quote
ZORK64 Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 Toa Mahri Hahli suffered from "Lime Plastic Syndrome" big time, as all of her joints were lime green. The 2008 - 2010 sets suffered from this due to the sleeker design of the new ball cups. The 2011 luckily remedy this problem due to a new design and a different material. And speaking of older parts in newer sets... I experienced it the other way around: I bought a discounted Rotor (a 2010 set) at my LEGO store back then, and his regular ball cups were all the newer 2011 ones! Quote
Aanchir Posted February 6, 2014 Posted February 6, 2014 Toa Mahri Hahli suffered from "Lime Plastic Syndrome" big time, as all of her joints were lime green. The 2008 - 2010 sets suffered from this due to the sleeker design of the new ball cups. The 2011 luckily remedy this problem due to a new design and a different material. And speaking of older parts in newer sets... I experienced it the other way around: I bought a discounted Rotor (a 2010 set) at my LEGO store back then, and his regular ball cups were all the newer 2011 ones! I don't think the material changed at all between the 2008-2010 and 2011+ designs. The newer ball cups are less shiny, but that's on account of their surface finish, not their material. I'm pretty sure all three designs use the same standard polycarbonate plastic that the LEGO Group uses for transparent parts, and any material differences over the years would just be subtle changes to the formulation that would not be tied to geometric redesigns. Quote
DraikNova Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 Their surface finish counts as a different material, doesn't it? Quote
Aanchir Posted February 7, 2014 Posted February 7, 2014 Their surface finish counts as a different material, doesn't it? No, surface finish is just a texture thing, like how the sloped portion of LEGO slope bricks has a much rougher texture than the vertical sides, or how the recessed portions on the top of Mistika Toa Tahu's mask are rougher than the other surfaces. Those are extreme examples, but there are subtler kinds of adjustments that can be made to a part's surface finish, for instance, to make a surface less reflective despite feeling the same and being made of the same material as shinier parts. Some of the LEGO Cars 2 designer videos talked about it a bit, if not in a whole lot of detail. Quote
Vraptor140 Posted February 9, 2014 Posted February 9, 2014 Yes, but 2007 is the only year when it was specifically tied to a certain color. 2008-2010 ball cups were weaker because of design alterations. Oh the lime green pieces, you cant escape them. I had thought my Ehlek and Hahli were fine since they never snapped when playing with them but after a few years on their display shelf my Ehlek's hands fell off. Turns out both of them had their joints cracked just from standing there. To this day I don't know what I can do to fix them up, if I try to buy some replacements there's no guarantee they wont snap too. Quote
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