Questions and Concerns for TLG

[The Rancor]

There should be a Lego Store somewhere in the South West of the UK!

I've never travelled to any of the other (only) 3 because there are all further East or North!

[iamded]

I have a quick question regarding the change in flags. I've noticed in some sets that the flag pieces are reversed, or 'mirrored', with the wavy pattern going the opposite way. I was really just wondering if this was accidental, or if it was done on purpose by TLC to add some diversity in the flags.

~Peace

Edited July 22, 2008 by iamded

[Tenorikuma]

I have two quality complaints from my last Lego purchase.

One is from 7771 Angler Ambush, which I just bought. The set itself is terrific, but both 1 x 2 bricks with two technic holes have very obvious seams running down the sides, and the 75° 1 x 2 x 3 slope piece has an obvious dimple in the back where the plastic was injected. All these flaws are visible in the final model as built.

My other complaint is with 7335 Blue Bucket. One of the white 1 x 2 bricks was discoloured due to a good amount of green pigment being mixed in (or left over in the mold). I'll probably just get Lego to replace that piece though.

In all fairness, though, in all my years of Lego (more than two decades), this is the first time I've had a discoloured piece.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Tenorikuma

[Justin2224]

Well a LEGO Retail Store would be nice in the Dallas area. Or better yet, Killeen.

[tin7_creations]

YEAH! I'd like a Lego retail store too. In Vancouver.

[xzanfr]

Hi, Copmike - Thanks for taking the time to listen to our moans!!

I've had a few problems with the quality of the door frames.

I bought the 7744 police station and had a lot of trouble getting the frames to 'seat' properly on to other bricks - this has become more apparent when building MOC's where the doorframes are used structurally. Upon investigation, I found the bottom of the frame to be defective and badly moulded. In the past few weeks I've bought several of the 6117 doors and windows and the problem seems to have been rectified (presumably by 'shaking up' the factories producing the parts) but It'll be interesting to hear if this quality issue is still present in other copies of the police station.

More inportantly, I'm also quite disappointed by the 'bullet holes' that appear in the clear panels that fit in to the above-mentioned frames. I appreciate that it is produced by the moulding tools but it is very unsightly. Presumably Lego have looked in to injecting the plastic from the bottom / top and found that it interferes with the small pegs that fit in to the frames but I'm sure that a better solution could be found. I feel it ruins the appearance of shop windows but is covered up when frames with the 2 horizontal bars are used.

I'd be very interested to hear Legos' comments on this.

Thanks!

Gary

[CopMike]

Hi everyone!

You have been great with all the questions and activity in the Embassy ! I have tons of Q for TLG but not so many answers.

That depends on a couple of things:

* It´s been (& still is!) vacation time

* The amount of Q´s & requests coming in from a lot of people goes to a few who also need to find out information. So far this process isn´t really working.

* One of the projects for the Ambassadors is to finetune this process.

So what I´m saying is that all your input is highly appriciated, but it will take a while for the answers to get back to you.

Please put up with this and don´t lose faith in all of the TLG people & Ambassadors in trying to do great things happen !

CopMike

[Kalman]

Dear CopMike,

I had an experience today that could be edifying for TLG too. I bought the set 4894 "Mythical Creatures" and when I opened the box I noticed that one of the bigger pieces that are not packed into plastic bags (the optical fiber) was missing. The box is the simple modern one that opens by tearing up the end. The box has a "try me" hole for the light brick and on one side of the box the gluing is a bit loose. Both openings are big enough for this thin piece to fall out. I returned it to the store where they luckily had an other box. To my great surprise the packing was very different. This box has folded openings sealed with tape and a tray inside. The "try me" hole is on the bottom of the tray and it is much better covered than in the previous box. Moreover within this much more secure packing the bigger pieces are also packed into a plastic bag. After seeing these different packings of the same set I decided to write to you.

I understand and agree that complicated packing of lego set of the previous century were expensive and largely pointless. I guess what I just met with is TLG still experimenting with the simplification of the packing. I would recommend as a middle-of-the road solution, that within a simple "tear up" box all the parts and stickers are packed into bags.

Please, if you have the opportunity, draw the attention of the liable person to this issue and help so we could buy simply packed but complete sets in the future!

Best wishes

Kalman

[The Rancor]

Could Lego Find a solution to bent sticker sheets?

Maybe they could be fitted inside the instructions at least so then they would stay flat!

Distorted stickers always end up coming off my models faster and considering I collect a lot of Star wars and Clone Wars, there are a lot to peel themseleves off eventually.

[Zarkan]

Could Lego Find a solution to bent sticker sheets?

Maybe they could be fitted inside the instructions at least so then they would stay flat!

Distorted stickers always end up coming off my models faster and considering I collect a lot of Star wars and Clone Wars, there are a lot to peel themseleves off eventually.

Well, that would be a good solution - if the instruction manuals didn't get bent a lot too! Although that isn't as big an issue as other problems, it still needs to be adressed eventually.

[jonwil]

With regards to packaging, I notice that some large sets come in boxes where the top flap opens upwards (such as the dwarves mine) and some large sets come in boxes that open from the side (such as the town plan). I would like to see all large sets come in the former style where the top part of the box is hinged.

[Big Pete]

Another Question (hope this hasn't been asked already)

Why can't Brickmaster be made available outside of the USA ? I would gladly pay a similar price a year to receive a magazine and those exclusive sets. I don't believe it's ever been available in Europe or anywhere else non USA ... so why not ? What about doing a trial to see if it's successful ?

Also, do UK Lego Brand Stores have "double stamp days" like the US ones do ? If not, why not ?

[chris_austin]

Edit: Answer found!

Edited August 23, 2008 by chris_austin

[Hinckley]

Hey buddy, can you look into the rumors that the Castle Advent Calendar won't be available in the States? Thanks so much.

[voxel]

Hi!

With regards to packaging, I notice that some large sets come in boxes where the top flap opens upwards (such as the dwarves mine) and some large sets come in boxes that open from the side (such as the town plan). I would like to see all large sets come in the former style where the top part of the box is hinged.

I second that motion,

I ditch boxes of the latter kind (after having opened them, they are entirely useless to me), whereas boxes of the former kind are great for brick sorting prior/during building of that particular model.

[Norrington]

I have a question: On S@H, why is it that not all sets of a line are not avalible at once, i.e. The Batcave set is still avaible in the Lego Stores and most other stores, but is not avalible on S@H. It bothers me as I'd like to buy the sets I want all at once.

I'd also like to know why most set boxes have more then twice the space needed to hold the set they contain.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Norrington

[gvd314]

This past summer I visited LEGO stores in Orlando and Chicago, hoping to purchase a large quantity of bricks from the Pick-A-Brick wall. In the past these stores had large green, rectangular tubs which could be filled with bricks for ~ $100. This summer however, I was told that those containers no longer existed and that the only cup sizes for the Pick-A-Brick wall were the two sizes of round cups which sell for $8 and $13 (if I remember correctly).

I would like to buy many more bricks than these containers hold, but do not want to fill up several small containers. I hope LEGO stores decide to once again offer considerably larger containers for their Pick-A-Brick walls. If price is the issue, I would gladly pay more than $100 (within reason) for the green tubs.

[brickzone]

Could Lego Find a solution to bent sticker sheets?

Maybe they could be fitted inside the instructions at least so then they would stay flat!

There was some major set recently that I purchased which had the sticker sheet inside the instructions, and I think a couple of smaller sets have had also (Agents?).

It certainly does work better. I've had instructions bent a small bit, but only slightly curled, rather than the crumpling I've once or twice had with loose sticker sheets.

Of course, I would prefer certain parts to be printed, and only have stickers for added detailing. The main logos or features of sets should be printed in my opinion - like Agents tailplanes, or Recycle Truck panels, or Indy temple panels. Keep the stickers just for added detail - fair enough there are individual decorations which are one-offs that are reasonable to use small stickers for.

I say this as one of the few people who enjoy applying stickers - I love the challenge of getting it lined up perfectly (I've only once or twice had anything but dead perfectly aligned stickers!).

[Forenth]

Hi CopMike,

Before anything else I don't want anyone to think I don't love Lego, I do and have for many years. However, I do have problems which I hope someone can answer:

I ordered from S@H in June and the order arrived missing two sets. This is now 3 out of 8 S@H orders that have been wrong in some way. I used the website to contact them but no reply so I called the Australian contact number and they said they have nothing to do with S@H but took my details anyway. The missing sets arrived soon after in July. They came with a new invoice for a strange amount but my CC showed no new charges. Then in August TLC did charge my CC for the cost of the missing sets. Right now I'm still trying to get my double charge back from TLC. Why is S@H so bad at getting orders and charges correct and customer service so non existent? If I had a reasonable alternative I really wouldn't buy from S@H at all as I expect them to get it wrong when I do.

Why the huge price differences between the US and everywhere else. Recently S@H had the discontinued 9V train motors at $9.99 for the US and sold out in a week. They've put them on sale here to Australia at $45 (down from the usual $65). Why still 4 x the US sale price, we have only 10% sales tax. Every set here is priced well above any exchange rate or tax effects when compared to the US. I'm not hoping for preferential pricing just equal.

Finally, it would be great if TLC opened an outlet store somewhere on this side of the planet, maybe Sydney or Melbourne. I visited every west coast one in the US when I was there.

Lego is the best toy ever but sometimes TLC don't make it easy to be a fan. Only my love of the brick keeps me building :)

[furious]

Shipping costs and time to Australia.

Why are shipping cost so much?

Why does it take so long for my order to get to Australia? I ship things regularly to the USA and they take about 7 days from NSW to Texas. How come with the amount to traffic that comes out of Europe does it take 3 weeks for delivery? Do they come by ship? Or do you use the UKs Royal Mail?

[Skipper 24]

I am not sure if this has been posted but with some of the recent sets some minifig torso are cracked as well as the General Grevious heads. Also some of my recent battle droid hands have been snapping. Thanks.

[AgentRick]

I always wondered why there never was a Lego store in New York City, that might be because of the large display in the TRU in time square.

[Shakar]

What happened to the ball joints pieces in Bionicle sets? The quality has been going a bit downhill since 2006, although it was (semi) acceptable. But in 2008, with the introduction of new versions of said pieces things took a turn for the worse. Maybe Lego's idea was reinforcing them (after all the complaints about lime green pieces breaking easily)...I don't know, but the effect was the opposite one: I had to replace many joints in my Phantoka sets because the ease they break is just unbelievable. Not just by removing them and then reattaching them: some joints broke just because the sets fell a few times.

Shakar

[Fluyt]

A lot of "clip" pieces (like the viking clip-on axe or battledroid arms) seem to break extremely easily the last few years. Also a lot of bricks seem to crack really easy (even when put together once), but my old pieces usually don't have this problem. Seems like the plastic quality has really dropped a lot, I have several broken pieces of these kinds.

[Skipper 24]

What happened to the ball joints pieces in Bionicle sets? The quality has been going a bit downhill since 2006, although it was (semi) acceptable. But in 2008, with the introduction of new versions of said pieces things took a turn for the worse. Maybe Lego's idea was reinforcing them (after all the complaints about lime green pieces breaking easily)...I don't know, but the effect was the opposite one: I had to replace many joints in my Phantoka sets because the ease they break is just unbelievable. Not just by removing them and then reattaching them: some joints broke just because the sets fell a few times.

Shakar

Some of those pieces have been breaking for me although I don't get much Bionicle nowadays it is just mainly Star wars. if you have changed your plastic I think it would be a wise choice to change back because then you also wouldn't get so many replacement part orders.