Misprints and Other LEGO Production Oddities

[Brickity]

From my 4483 AT-AT

Both are from the same piece.

A stud won't fit in the hole.

I think you should order a replacement for the first piece, it's still available in their inventory (I just checked haha, I'm bored)

http://us.service.lego.com/en-US/replacementparts/default.aspx

Edited January 8, 2012 by Otherworld

[CP5670]

Another oddity is this fellow:

I acquired him a bag of minifigs and bits a couple of years back. All the others in there were 1980's classic face, this guy however has a sad version, is the only one I have ever seen and I have yet to track down if this was an official release and if so from what set.

This totally wins the thread. I can just imagine a 1980s Lego city full of the classic smiley figures and this one evil guy unexpectedly showing up among them. It's certainly a misprint.

[TheLegoDr]

This totally wins the thread. I can just imagine a 1980s Lego city full of the classic smiley figures and this one evil guy unexpectedly showing up among them. It's certainly a misprint.

This is awesome! I wish I had a frowney face

[Matthammer]

Just been uploading some stuff to BL and have spent some time checking my eyes and the light etc wondering why i couldnt find this 4249 brick. I know sometimes BL refuses to show up right so i checked Peeron as my backup and even that couldn't help. I found the brick via BL using description search instead and was surprised to see it was 6249.

I have 4 of these bricks. 3 correctly show the number as 6249, but typically the one i used to check number has 4249.

Bit random hehe

[Lyichir]

I managed to find this Part with red splodges rather than the red stripes

also I decided to ask Lego whether they would consider selling misprinted or mismoulded parts and got this email in reply

I don't think the "splodges" are really a misprint; that piece actually has two different plastic colors blended together, and that almost always causes some variation. Before LEGO started doing this deliberately for some parts (like the one you posted), parts that got more than one color in the mix were known as "flame" colored, and were much sought after.

[just2good]

From my 4483 AT-AT

A stud won't fit in the hole.

That actually happened to me with this piece, which came in the Town Plan. I ordered a replacement for it.

[Orson Zedd]

I got this out of a series five booster back in December. I was so glad that I'd found a cavewoman, and I was not only sure of it, I was right. Then I got to my car and opened it and found this... interesting hair piece. The sad thing is, it isn't actually usable. If the antistud were fully formed it'd make a nice hair piece in its own right, but it's not.

Correcting this error took forever, you've no idea. They tried sending me another booster, but it was Detective instead of Cavewoman. So then they decided they'd just give me a five dollar whatever, and I could find it on Bricklink.

I've also gotten a Ben 10 tail from a Jetray set that's axle was twisted off by a machine, apparently. I have no idea what colors these sets used, so I'm not sure what color it was.

More recently, my brother's LEGO Challenge game came with a bunch of defective 2 x 16 plates. You could try to put them together like the instructions said, but invariably, they'd end up pointed upwards.

One of these days I'd like to get a useful error piece.

[LEGOman273]

I got this out of a series five booster back in December. I was so glad that I'd found a cavewoman, and I was not only sure of it, I was right. Then I got to my car and opened it and found this... interesting hair piece. The sad thing is, it isn't actually usable. If the antistud were fully formed it'd make a nice hair piece in its own right, but it's not.

Correcting this error took forever, you've no idea. They tried sending me another booster, but it was Detective instead of Cavewoman. So then they decided they'd just give me a five dollar whatever, and I could find it on Bricklink.

I've also gotten a Ben 10 tail from a Jetray set that's axle was twisted off by a machine, apparently. I have no idea what colors these sets used, so I'm not sure what color it was.

More recently, my brother's LEGO Challenge game came with a bunch of defective 2 x 16 plates. You could try to put them together like the instructions said, but invariably, they'd end up pointed upwards.

One of these days I'd like to get a useful error piece.

Could you post pics of the pieces?

[SoupOrFishOil]

I can't think of any intersting misprints I have (only a couple smudges on a few minifigures).

I do have an off blue 2x4 brick though, it's pretty close to normal blue (like the EB logo), just a little duller. I actually like the shade, but since I only have one, it's not too useful.

I'm not sure if it's a mismold, but I also have a 1x2 black brick which has one stud and one tube (kind of like the bottom of a 1x1 brick) on the top rather than two studs. I got it in a bag of loose LEGO, so I have no idea where it came from.

[Storel]

I discovered this evening that one of the BURPS from "King's Castle Siege" is ever so slightly misaligned on the back, so that and another BURP won't fit flush against each other if placed back to back.

Vaguely annoying, but meh.

[romdam]

I have this. Can not find any info on it. It is not in the Bricklink catalog, only as red or blue. I label it is a production oddity as I can not find it listed as existing.

[BigRedGoat]

I found a very misaligned M:Tron printed tile while sorting through my extra parts today:

[happymark]

I got some Friends figures from an oversea friend. (it does include some non-Friends (aka normal) minifig)

i notice that some pieces were not printed properly? just a quality problem?

Edited September 18, 2012 by happymark

[Bilbo Baggins]

Which set are those parts from?

[Aanchir]

Ironically, it looks like the steak piece was never printed in the first place. Where did your overseas friend get them from? If he also got them second-hand, then they could maybe originate from rejects in a production facility.

Printing problems do of course exist, but I have never seen an example like the legs on the left where the "crotch" print is present but the waist print isn't there at all. And while printing can be removed from things like that steak piece, the fact that it originates from the same bunch as those legs (and that they are both collectible minifigures parts) suggests the problems might have a common origin.

To Bilbo's question, the legs are from the Collectible Minifigures Series 2 Spartan Warrior, while the steak is from the Collectible Minifigures Series 6 Butcher.

[Haltiamieli]

To Bilbo's question, the legs are from the Collectible Minifigures Series 2 Spartan Warrior, while the steak is from the Collectible Minifigures Series 6 Butcher.

The legs are from Series 6 Roman Soldier. The Spartan had quite similar but a little bit simpler legs design.

[Aanchir]

The legs are from Series 6 Roman Soldier. The Spartan had quite similar but a little bit simpler legs design.

Oh, OK. My mistake.

[happymark]

Thank you very much for the reply Aanchir. yeah. these were from China second-hand market.

so it is possible these pieces were produced in China factory and discarded because of the quality then leaked into market?

it let me recall an old US ebay seller (ebuyazonline) used to sell NEW lego pieces by pounds (only $5 per pounds shipped).

were they from factory too?

Ironically, it looks like the steak piece was never printed in the first place. Where did your overseas friend get them from? If he also got them second-hand, then they could maybe originate from rejects in a production facility.

Printing problems do of course exist, but I have never seen an example like the legs on the left where the "crotch" print is present but the waist print isn't there at all. And while printing can be removed from things like that steak piece, the fact that it originates from the same bunch as those legs (and that they are both collectible minifigures parts) suggests the problems might have a common origin.

To Bilbo's question, the legs are from the Collectible Minifigures Series 2 Spartan Warrior, while the steak is from the Collectible Minifigures Series 6 Butcher.

[BigRedGoat]

Thank you very much for the reply Aanchir. yeah. these were from China second-hand market.

so it is possible these pieces were produced in China factory and discarded because of the quality then leaked into market?

I've seen a bunch of ebay auctions that are similar, all originating from China. Many of them are friends figures, with either ninjago, or CMF misprinted headgear and hats. I assume someone who works at the factory is getting the misprints for cheap (or just taking them) and reselling them online.

Here's one example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-2012-6-PCS-Lego-Friends-Mini-Olivia-Emma-stephanie-Girl-Mia-Marie-Toys-388-/221116796329?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337b968da9

Edited September 20, 2012 by BigRedGoat

[Yatkuu]

What is truly incredible in this thread is that Aanchir managed to confuse 2 collectible Minifigures!

[Aanchir]

What is truly incredible in this thread is that Aanchir managed to confuse 2 collectible Minifigures!

I'm not infallible. To be perfectly honest I should have looked up the figures before trying to answer that question, since I didn't have my own collectible minifigures on hand to consult. Very often the difference between looking intelligent and looking stupid is just knowing where to look something up!

[Diaaabo]

C3-PO with funky eyes por Guilherme Fadista, no Flickr

My C3-PO has got this funky eyes. Anyone else has got one like this?

[tomdobs55]

*SNIP*

C3-PO with funky eyes por Guilherme Fadista, no Flickr

My C3-PO has got this funky eyes. Anyone else has got one like this?

That's downright creepy.

[Bioslayer]

http://www.eurobrick...attach_id=10978I got this in a pab cup. On the left is the error, and the right is how it should look. I love two tone bricks. Edited June 12, 2013 by Bioslayer

[Lyichir]

http://www.eurobrick...attach_id=10978I got this in a pab cup. On the left is the error, and the right is how it should look. I love two tone bricks.

That's awesome! Unlike a lot of older two-tone bricks, which usually occured when a mold was switched over to a new color, it almost looks like what happened here was that the mixing of the dye with the plastic was uneven, resulting in part of the brick getting substantially more dye. I can't honestly say I've seen that before (especially with a transparent part, which makes it especially noticeable).