latest lego quality standards

[Gray Gear]

Cada does not source from GoBricks. And there were no color issues with this type of connector in red I got from GoBricks.

[Vectormatic]

The parts breaking around axle holes is new to me, even the pushrod suspension on my 42000, which puts a LOT of stress on some axle holes is still tip-top

 

But yeah, the colour variations are utterly dissapointing, and lego's stance on it even more so, if you charge premium prices, you need to back that up with premium quality. And while it is possible to make some mistakes and ship a batch of sub-standard product, the real test is how you as a company then handle that. And by acknowledging this as an accepted issue, not remedying it, and shipping off customers with some minor pinhole/w/axle thingy is just not on par.

Im happy i havent bought the Sian, and while i absolutely loved the Ducati, the Sian's issues, along with others, have seriously pushed me away from lego. At a time when legitimate competition like CADA is improving by leaps and bounds, lego seem to be losing their magic touch, yet still spiral further down the high partcount, higher price vortex.

Barring perhaps a magic rabbit pulled from the H2 hat (which i doubt), i think this is the first year since 2014 where i havent felt like buying anything from the new lineup.

[therealjustin]

I purchased the Defender last month and the color variation has been mostly nonexistent. That is, until I got to the power dome on the hood.

 

It looks even worse in person, and the LEGO rep on the phone was a bit snarky about it. For such a visible area I expect better quality.

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by therealjustin

[Mantarri]

I had problems with almost every 1x5 thin liftarm from my 42094 tracked loader. I purchased it early 2019, and after leaving it assembled for awhile, I finally went to dissassemble the bogies for use in MOCs, and 6, or so, out of the 8 aformentioned liftarms had broken at the axle holes some way, inlucing a couple that were so bad that the whole outer-half of the axle hole broke off in the middle.
I've also had two separate PF motors fail recently. The first was a few months ago; a medium motor from my CLAAS I purchased in 2018; the motor only works if the cable is in certain orientations. I contacted support, and they sent me a replacement.

Second failure was a Large motor from my Arocs, which unlike my CLAAS (which I bought new from Amazon), I bought used off Bricklink in 2016. After testing out a MOC I had been working on a week-or-so ago, I noticed that the cable's sleeve was essentially disintegrating; random bits break into cracks. It was dangerously close to being able to short-circuit! Luckily I caught it, and LEGO still had L motors in stock for replacement part purposes, so I'm now just waiting on it to be delivered. I haven't had any problems with the sleeves on any of the motors from my older 9398 Crawler I bought off Bricklink, but these two instances definitely have me worried about my motor wires.

And I'm not rough with things either, I'm very careful with my parts, and they are stored in my storage system, which isn't very humid at all, I only have the parts in sunlight when I'm playing with a MOC outside, or if I'm building it, which only lasts a few weeks, tops.

[paul_delahaye]

I too am seeing this more and more, I got around to builiding the 2019 technic set 42092 Rescue Helecopter the other week.  I was quite disappointed to find the white panels in the set a different colour.  Both the Panel 1 were a milky white (I assume they changed the colour on the molding machine, but did not flush the old colour out before starting production, and both the panel 2 were bright normal white.  

I do need to contact Lego customer services, but I almost feel like I'm contacting them too often at the moment, it's at least once or twice a year.  The last time, I was building the Big red flagship crane from the other year, and one of the bag 4's was completely missing from the set, but I had 2 of another of the bag 4's.  

It's awful to say, but you think they won't believe you when you contact them too often.  but when you buy a lot of sets, it's definately noticable how many more issues there are now days.

Posting this has just encouraged me to report to Lego ;-)

Edited January 24, 2021 by paul_delahaye

[Maaboo the Witch]

It's possible that these two sets of parts come from different assembly lines. I have noticed that some white parts look yellower than others.

[syclone]

On 1/22/2021 at 11:35 AM, vectormatic said:

The parts breaking around axle holes is new to me, even the pushrod suspension on my 42000, which puts a LOT of stress on some axle holes is still tip-top

*snip*

Welp, have already thrown out quite a number of liftarms, these are going into the bin as well. Honestly susrprised the suspension in 42000 is still alive. The connectors are basically all like that until they disintegrate.

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by syclone

[Vectormatic]

@syclone wow, those thin 3x3s i can understand, but the twisted 1x2 connector breaking like that? I dont even understand how that would happen, never mind how Lego QC is bad enough to make this happen this much.

 

Personally i havent had part breakages since the flags and mini robot arms from the early 90s, im really curious if perhaps this has something to do with different factories etc..

Honestly, if i had had this happen in that amount, i wouldve noped out of lego years ago

[Maaboo the Witch]

The part (actually, two parts) I have most problems with is this:

and this:

Seriously, it takes this thing less than a month to start grinding and squeaking. I took 42094 apart and built the B; after rebuilding the A, the cab wouldn't turn properly! I remember @Bartybum saying something about the one on his 42043 seizing up as well.

[Jurss]

1 hour ago, vectormatic said:

but the twisted 1x2 connector breaking like that?

there is really thin plastic, it is really no surprise, that there are cracks.

[Mantarri]

5 hours ago, Jurss said:

there is really thin plastic, it is really no surprise, that there are cracks.

I have the same problem with most of those connectors I have; and I have quite a few. The black ones seem to be a bit more resilient, and the LBG are the worst. Same goes for the twisted 1x3 connectors.

Edited January 27, 2021 by MisteryMan
Typo

[syclone]

8 hours ago, vectormatic said:

wow, those thin 3x3s i can understand, but the twisted 1x2 connector breaking like that? I dont even understand how that would happen, never mind how Lego QC is bad enough to make this happen this much.

Personally i havent had part breakages since the flags and mini robot arms from the early 90s, im really curious if perhaps this has something to do with different factories etc..

Honestly, if i had had this happen in that amount, i wouldve noped out of lego years ago

Hahah, considering my bad gatcha luck the different factories version would seem likely  Though can agree with Jurss - same issue on the bushes and the perpendicular connectors with that shape, maybe changing to red was one of the ways to improve that (cannot confirm as never used that color besides a couple times for visual purposes). 

As far as noping out of the hobby... yeah might as well do, parts break, sets no longer catch my eye, prices still as high. Luckily found something else of interest for collecting/displaying, just too emotionally attached to these bricks somehow, and selling off a collection seems a complex matter to pull off. 

[Gray Gear]

Luckily there are other ways to source Bricks. If I had to pay LEGO prices for all my bricks I wouldn't be able to afford this hobby...

[brunojj1]

17 minutes ago, Gray Gear said:

Luckily there are other ways to source Bricks. If I had to pay LEGO prices for all my bricks I wouldn't be able to afford this hobby...

How dare you to confuse your Bricks with LEGO(R)? The easter bunnies will come after you soon for THE PURGE! Cheers  !

[thekoRngear]

The only part that  bothers me in terms of color variation (aside from #42115's lime issues) is the Red Technic Axle Pin 3L with friction ridges. A 70% of them are in acceptable red while the rest are maroon-ish in my 42110. It is also present to a lesser extent in the 42115.

[Andman]

Make sure you all contact Lego about issues with parts. I's seems no one does this because every time I contact them they tell me that they for example never heard of color issues and issues with the bevel gear. So please report your findings! Premium prices deserve premium quality!

[nicjasno]

On 1/22/2021 at 11:35 AM, vectormatic said:

The parts breaking around axle holes is new to me, even the pushrod suspension on my 42000, which puts a LOT of stress on some axle holes is still tip-top

That problem is with us since the dawn of technic.

[Jurss]

29 minutes ago, Andman said:

Make sure you all contact Lego about issues with parts. I

As You can see from first post, I contacted them, they offered to send me just one type of connector from that siān. But that is really not a problem.

I also read reviews on lego.com, there are lot of them about panels an beams not matching, but they don't care - those are all correct colors, even for top level set.

[Vectormatic]

11 hours ago, syclone said:

As far as noping out of the hobby... yeah might as well do, parts break, sets no longer catch my eye, prices still as high. Luckily found something else of interest for collecting/displaying, just too emotionally attached to these bricks somehow, and selling off a collection seems a complex matter to pull off.  

Yeah, im not selling my stuff either, i might consider getting rid of one or two sets which im never gonna put back on display, but sets like 42056 and 42083 are gonna stay with me for a looooong time. That said, selling stuff second hand is always a massive pain in the backside, i posted the creator F40 for sale on a forum which has plenty of lego enthusiasts, zero interest... and no way im delving into the cesspit that are general public selling sites...

 

1 hour ago, nicjasno said:

That problem is with us since the dawn of technic. 

True, ive broken my share of those old toothed half thickness axle rings, or the connectors which couple with them.

[Lipko]

1 hour ago, nicjasno said:

That problem is with us since the dawn of technic.

This. Also the old technic connectors, U-joints and half bushes or anything with those small teeth fractured all the time.

One thing that bothers me most is that the friction of this part   greatly increases in some cases. This causes hard or impossible to operate functions (mostly doors and hoods) in models that have been assembled for a long time. In one case this lead to part breaking on more occasions until I realized that the pin was the root cause of breaking.