Brick Quality

[willy_poodle]

I have the buildings from Medieval Market Village built up for a long time (about 1 - 1.5 year) and A LOT of the bricks are cracked now only because of standing on the shelf, maybe even 1/3!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOO disappointed, that I may stop buying ever again!

Edited July 12, 2010 by willy_poodle

[Follows Closely]

I have the buildings from Medieval Market Village built up for a long time (about 1 - 1.5 year) and A LOT of the bricks are cracked now only because of standing on the shelf, maybe even 1/3!

I'm SOOOOOOOOOO disappointed, that I may stop buying ever again!

Are you saying 1/3 of the bricks cracked? NO WAY!

[Carbohydrates]

One of the large black plates from green Grocer came warped/melted on one corner to the point of being completely unusable. I've also cracked a few of the old 1x1 cones trying to get a bar out of them - they latch on HARD, and god help you if you push one to the stud end of a 4L antenna.

[Henchmen4Hire]

After not buying legos for over a decade, the first thing I bought was the Lunar Limo, and I have to admit some of the pieces felt "cheap". For example, the 2x4 black tiles are almost see-through, the bricks feel lighter too, but at least they still connect firmly and flushly (that's a fun word :) ).

Also, one of the yellow cones that go on the rods in front is now permanently stuck because the rod had a ridge I didn't see from a thick mold-line.

Edited July 12, 2010 by DrNightmare

[willy_poodle]

Are you saying 1/3 of the bricks cracked? NO WAY!

Well, without dismantling the 2 buildings of MMV I can see 42 cracked bricks, so I'm afraid I'll find many more after dismantling :(

Thay are light grey, brown, tan, dark tan, black, full height 1x1, 1x2, arches, flat 1x2, 1x1 slopes...

At this point I can't only see cracked light blue, maybe it's more dense or something.

I have to dismantle my Green Grocer quickly, it's been on the shelf for a few months already.

And what now? Will go back to the dark age? I'm not willing to pay for single-use bricks.

[vexorian]

Well, without dismantling the 2 buildings of MMV I can see 42 cracked bricks, so I'm afraid I'll find many more after dismantling :(

Thay are light grey, brown, tan, dark tan, black, full height 1x1, 1x2, arches, flat 1x2, 1x1 slopes...

At this point I can't only see cracked light blue, maybe it's more dense or something.

I have to dismantle my Green Grocer quickly, it's been on the shelf for a few months already.

And what now? Will go back to the dark age? I'm not willing to pay for single-use bricks.

Although quality has been decreasing, your story is hard to believe. Were the bricks on extreme weather conditions? Were the village buildings used as support for your chair? Post pics also, and I'd try complaining to customer service. Plus verifying authenticity. It is a very extreme case.

[lightningtiger]

I find long periods of mild heat seem to stress some bricks, panels and plates, but not all.

Could it be that all these stressed parts come from a poor batch or just overall bad design/manufacture !

I'm a conformist! !

[willy_poodle]

Although quality has been decreasing, your story is hard to believe. Were the bricks on extreme weather conditions? Were the village buildings used as support for your chair? Post pics also, and I'd try complaining to customer service. Plus verifying authenticity. It is a very extreme case.

They've been only standing built up on the shelf in my room for a long time as far as I know, I don't know what gnomes/goblins/brownies do with them when I'm out. I guess it's the pressure of the studs to the other brick, but making them more loose wouldn't be the solution, because everything would fall apart.

I'll post some pics as soon as I charge the battery.

On the latest survey I saw someone pointed that out, so I checked and unfortunately had to confirm. Before that I only saw that the chimney falls out because of the crack, but I thought maybe it was knocked.

Could it be that all these stressed parts come from a poor batch

I hope so. I just got the Lego obsession and don't want to lose it this way.

Here are the PICTURES

Edited July 13, 2010 by willy_poodle

[Paul B Technic]

I did a total sort clean out and re-sort of my collection the other day and found maybe 20 broken pieces, this was for around 20 Technic sets of various sizes and ages.

Paul

[jonwil]

I recently took my Lamborghini Polizia apart and have noticed that there is a blue 1 x 2 plate that has split along one of the short ends with the split going from the bottom edge all the way to the stud.

Its only noticeable if you REALLY look for it though.

I also have other parts with similar small imperceptible splits (none of which affect the actual use of the part)

I want to see LEGO go back to making quality of EVERY part they sell #1

[Follows Closely]

...

Here are the PICTURES

Can you upload one here, since it is not yet public?

[willy_poodle]

Can you upload one here, since it is not yet public?

I can't create my album in the gallery.

OK, it's public now.

PICTURES

Edited July 13, 2010 by willy_poodle

[vexorian]

It is pretty bad, those pieces are not holding any weight, it seems like it is just the single use. Either the molds are wrong and the studs are slightly larger than they should be or they didn't do a procedure of the plastic production correctly. Somehow we have reports from 2009-2010 sets only so I really wonder if it is because of a failed batch.

[AndyC]

I'd contact Lego Customer Service, that is really not normal and you shouldn't put up with something that has failed that badly after such a short time.

[CP5670]

That looks pretty bad. There was another guy a while ago complaining about getting a large number of cracked minifigs, and it reminds me of that.

I don't know if it's a bad batch of parts. There are a lot of pieces with cracks in your pictures and we would be seeing more complaints about them if they were so widespread in all the MMV sets. The 1x1 headlight brick is well known for developing cracks and has always been that way, but there are many other cracked parts there too.

The only thing I can think of some sort of unusual temperature or air conditions. (not necessarily in your house, but wherever the set has been before you got it) You should be able to get replacements from the Lego support site in any case.

[Front]

I find it hard to believe that so many bricks could develop cracks just from being built into a set and stored for a while.

Could I ask the OP (Original poster) if there might have been used deodorant spray in the room where the set was displayed ? This could be an explanation to the development of cracks in so many bricks that are really not that stressed (not if the bricks are within tolerances at least).

[willy_poodle]

Could I ask the OP (Original poster) if there might have been used deodorant spray in the room where the set was displayed ? This could be an explanation to the development of cracks in so many bricks that are really not that stressed (not if the bricks are within tolerances at least).

No, I don't think so, I don't use them. I'm still thinking what else it could have been. I wonder if at any time it was standing next to any heat source like PC or something, and I don't think so either. What's the proper temperature for it?

[Front]

No, I don't think so, I don't use them. I'm still thinking what else it could have been. I wonder if at any time it was standing next to any heat source like PC or something, and I don't think so either. What's the proper temperature for it?

Temperatures within normal ranges does not make bricks develop fractures. An assembled set will slowly lose clutch power over time if exposed to higher temperatures.

If only one type of brick had developed fractures it would be obvious to think that this one brick was outside standards with too large deviations on dimensions. But as it is several types of bricks that is not that likely. If all the fractured bricks were built on top of the same type of element, that could also be an explanation, as a two large stud could make all bricks attached to it develop fractures.

Perfumes react quite aggressive with several types of plastic, and that is why I asked about the use of deodorant. It makes the plastic brittle and prone to develope fractures although only stressed within normal values.

But please contact Costumer Service through LEGO.COM and tell them the problems you've experienced. LEGO values the input they get from the costumers.

Front aka Erland/Part Design

[willy_poodle]

But please contact Costumer Service through LEGO.COM and tell them the problems you've experienced. LEGO values the input they get from the costumers.

OK, I've done it a few days ago, but no reply yet. Or it got filtered out by e-mail provider, like it happened recently with some hotel booking confirmation.

[Carbohydrates]

I disassembled my Cafe Corner yesterday and noticed that a good number of 1 x 1 round bricks had four equally spaced cracks in the very bottom of the tube - all of them brown. I know LEGO had a bad batch of brown at the time CC was produced (just look at the color irregularity in the 1 x 6 and 1 x 8 brown bricks that make up the walls), so it can probably be chalked up to that, but it was slightly sad to see. I purchased and built Cafe Corner just after Fire Brigade was released, so it took less than a year for these cracks to appear.

[benhead]

Those lightsabre rods all have a thick and a thin side I have noticed.If you go slow and twist them sometimes they go in easier.Now getting them out is another story!If they get hot on the way in they will fuse together and never come apart again.Have a couple of the transparent red ones fused in technic 2x2`s with the cross holes.

[prateek]

I just found my only red headlight bricks cracked. So are a couple of black 1x2 grills and a couple of yellow 1x1 slopes.

Edited July 29, 2010 by prateek

[willy_poodle]

It's sad, but I haven't got any reply from customer service at all. I don't know what to think about it.

[IAmWillGibson]

First post, so here goes.

I was always under the impression that Lego was impervious to harm [except Technic... that stuff broke on me with relative frequency]. But I noticed lately that a lot of bricks seem to be splitting, far more frequently than I thought possible. I have a 1x2 flat plate from, I think, one of the Creator mini sets last year and it's split up both sides. Worse, the 1x2 brick with knobs on it from the micro crane in the Advent calender is cracked in two lines up one side, and it's only been built for 9 days [the calender makes it easy to back-date it]. They're both yellow...

Is this a colour thing? A manufacturing thing? Lowering quality? Am I doing something wrong here? It's distressing, to say the least.

Edited November 14, 2010 by IAmWillGibson

[Aanchir]

I discovered a quality issue myself just recently... I don't know when it happened, but the light bluish gray (Medium Stone Grey) arm on my Squidtron figure has a large crack in it. I got him in the Smash 'n' Grab set near the beginning of this year, and never noticed the problem until now, and have never interchanged his hands or arms (if I had, that would be an obvious explanation, since you're not technically supposed to do that-- it damages the piece and weakens the connection).

It's a very visible crack, but the hand is still firm in its socket and can rotate without becoming loose. I haven't seen any similar reports so I think this is an isolated incident, but please correct me if I'm wrong and you've encountered this problem yourself.