Is Lego still a quality product?

[CNH1974]

Happy New Year All Well the answer is 'yes' of course but...... A possibly sacrilegious thought for this site, but at the risk of Ed & Jeff throwing large objects over the Atlantic

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Happy New Year All

Well the answer is 'yes' of course but......

A possibly sacrilegious thought for this site, but at the risk of Ed & Jeff throwing large objects over the Atlantic

[CNH1974]

Yes I agree about the mini figure arm problem. I still have my original Lego from the 80's and many of them have cracked arms. It does seem to be a bit pot luck though. Older pieces can go a bit brittle. But I can perceive a change in texture and color. Maybe it is the 'softness' you mentioned. The new colors seem slightly muted, compare a yellow brick of today with a 1990's version. I am wondering if it is to do with the Grey/Bley contraversy of the early 2000's. As well as this, did they change the chemical formula of the bricks and therefore subtly the colors. They do not seem to be quite a vibrant as they used to be.

[StarCityBrickCompany]

While some color changes have been made, it is more likely due to light exposure. Also, the newer ones do have that nice oily sheen that the older bricks had less of (which also affects their appearance). The old brittle arms thing is a pain, especially with unique arms. By the way, if anyone is interested in buying a bunch of defective Greedo arms :)

[jjsrt8]

I worked in a plastic injection molding plant and see these little bumps that is because that is the point of where the plastic is injected and then removed from the mold. Lego does a good job of making it hardly noticeable I have seen way worse in my plant. Lego keeps the quality the same and maintained pretty well and probably have the best mold repair technicians and inspectors especially for the amount of parts they put out.

[Ed Mack]

I have seen this topic discussed before and this site is as good of place to do it as any...maybe more so. If LEGO quality is indeed slipping as some people say it is, then we are all in very serious trouble in the investment portion of the LEGO hobby. LEGO quality control is a main reason why LEGO sets are so popular and have been so for decades. If the quality of LEGO bricks begins to decline, then so will sales and profits. That being said, I haven't noticed anything myself, but there are others who have much more building experience than me that might have noticed a change in quality. The quality, to me at least, still looks impeccable. There might be an occasional misprint on a minifigure, but overall, I think LEGO bricks are still top notch.

[TheOrcKing]

Parts wise, everything seems to be the same as it was. If anything the bricks just 'feel' better in my hands. Some of the really old bricks seem stiffer but brittle. Then again plastic doesn't exactly age well by any means. I think the minifigures are the BIGGEST improvement from before. The amount of detail in the printing is insane! It's become almost a standard practice with having 'double sided' headpieces, printing on both the front AND back of the torso, and even printing on the legs as well. There are a few mess ups everynow and then, plus it seems most minifigs are being made in China. (Take that however you want.) I have the Rebel Pilot minifig from the "Tattoine" PLANET set, and the one from the "Rebel Trooper Battle Pack" (8083). Now the printing on the entire torso (front & back) is the same, however, the white stripes on the PLANET set Rebel Pilot is faded with the orange 'bleeding' through! I really like the little PLANET set so this really urks me. The Rebel Pilot from the PLANET set was made in China. I don't think the Battle Pack one was but I can not confirm that currently. So is LEGO still a quality product? For me, that's a resounding yes. Let's just hope that they always remember their own motto and it continues to be.

[CNH1974]

Of course it may just be me. I had a similar argument with my local car dealer a few years; I said the shade of yellow on the 2005 Mini models was different to the shade of yellow on the 2007 onwards models. He said it was the same. Of course I could be color blind. Getting back to the lego, I am working on two bulk lots at the moment, one from the early 1980's and another from the late 90's/early to mid 00's. Igoring the wear and tear, dents, fading/discoloration & teeth mark etc... the 80's bits do feel brittle and are duller. Around 1986 they did change the design of the internals on some of the bricks, the 2x4 brick gained some internal structs. I also think these bricks are shinyer and have sharper edges. This may have lasted until the Grey/ Bley change of the early 00's when the bricks become what they are now; slightly duller with less sharp edges. I would say the yellow of today is paler than 10-15 years ago. Of course this could be Old Man syndrome (can this start in your 30's?); that is " things were better in my day". Music definiately was. :)

[StarCityBrickCompany]

Of course this could be Old Man syndrome (can this start in your 30's?); that is " things were better in my day". Music definiately was.

I don't think that there will be much debate that "Music is no longer a quality product".

[CNH1974]

Yeah it stopped around 1995

[Ed Mack]

Of course it may just be me. I had a similar argument with my local car dealer a few years; I said the shade of yellow on the 2005 Mini models was different to the shade of yellow on the 2007 onwards models. He said it was the same. Of course I could be color blind.

Getting back to the lego, I am working on two bulk lots at the moment, one from the early 1980's and another from the late 90's/early to mid 00's. Igoring the wear and tear, dents, fading/discoloration & teeth mark etc... the 80's bits do feel brittle and are duller. Around 1986 they did change the design of the internals on some of the bricks, the 2x4 brick gained some internal structs. I also think these bricks are shinyer and have sharper edges. This may have lasted until the Grey/ Bley change of the early 00's when the bricks become what they are now; slightly duller with less sharp edges. I would say the yellow of today is paler than 10-15 years ago.

Of course this could be Old Man syndrome (can this start in your 30's?); that is " things were better in my day". Music definiately was.

Teeth marks...LOLOLOL No doubt.

[CNH1974]

You never used this method when you were a kid? I don't think they had the idea of the brick separator until around 1990.

[Ed Mack]

You never used this method when you were a kid?

I don't think they had the idea of the brick separator until around 1990.

Oh, I did and still do...That's why I was laughing.

[TheOrcKing]

Of course this could be Old Man syndrome (can this start in your 30's?); that is " things were better in my day". Music definiately was.

Hell, I wasn't even 20 and I found myself giving the "when I was age" speech to some kid talking about the current video game console. And younger still when I got my first white hair. Nope, not gray. Freakin' WHITE! Oh well, whatever.

I agree about the bit with music. Not completely, there are some good tunes every now and then, but I do enjoy classics from the likes of Billy Joel or The Doors. (Always loved The Doors since I was born. Literally.) I don't care for rap or 'teen' music (that stuff bores me to no end). Stick in a cd of Ed Roth anyday over Justin Bieber or whatever the heck her name is.

[CNH1974]

You are 'old' if you say or think the phrase "I remember when...". You are right, there is an occassional good song, although I have note really listened to the radio since 2001. But I do prefer to be able to understand at least most of the words. NB: for anything released by Nirvana you need to get their acoustic album to be able to do this :)

[TheOrcKing]

You are right, there is an occassional good song, although I have not really listened to the radio since 2001. But I do prefer to be able to understand at least most of the words.

Same here. I can't remember the last time I actually listened to the radio. Seems to become more of people bs'ing or ads galore more than actual music. And what was played was usually the same tune over and over again. Like you, I prefer to understand what the heck he or she is singing about. Not neccessarily make sense, just clearly hear what is being said.

[Blackjack]

The newer bricks scratch more easily and it is more noticable because of the glossy surface. :(

[joelfinch]

Recently I've built Ghost Train, Red Cargo Train, the yellow Cargo Train, Passenger Train, Horizon Express, Grand Emporium, Fire Brigade, and in Technic: Unimog, Helicopter, Tow Truck, Logging Truck, plus a bunch of smaller sets in CITY, Dino, Creator, etc. My impression is that the "clutch" power of bricks in the recent sets is less than it was - the Ghost Train in particular I found to fall apart easily (it is a lot of fiddly bits, but they don't seem to hang on very tightly). It may be partly due to set design as well, but the bricks don't seem to make exactly the same tight "creaking" sound under pressure that I remember from older sets. They seem slightly more slippery somehow. The Technic sets are fine however - I guess the pin system doesn't depend on friction grip as much as the bricks do. I do think LEGO is still a quality product, but I think they need to crank the "clutch" of the bricks back up a few notches.