LEGO Store "Build a Minifigure"

[RaincloudDustbin]

I have found 'gold' before- including Dracula heads(series 2)plus bows and arrows ( not rare but I only had 1 at the time). Metal detectors, Studios doctor torso, red coat torsos, Ninja head (series 1) and loads more!

[Blondie-Wan]

The Minifigures shop at LEGOLAND Florida has a BAM station; unfortunately it offers only four parts per figure, not five (head, hair/headwear, torso, legs - no accessories). That said, each time I've been there (twice in October, when it opened, then again once in December - so, not in the last four months) they've had a bunch of Series 2 parts (headgear, heads, torsos and legs for the witch, pop star, pharaoh, disco dude, etc.). In fact, at least late last year, they had hardly anything else - nearly all the parts I saw were from Series 2 Minifigures.

[Rufus]

To avoid topic duplication, I'm going to close this thread and merge it into the other Build A Minifigure thread. Please use that one for Questions and Answers related to BaM.

Thanks!

[Napoleon53]

At the Virginia store, the parts stank miserably, and they seemed like those cheap Chinese torsos with the stamps on the arms. So common it horrified me.

At the Chicago one, though, Woodbridge Mall or whatever it was called, they had, brace yourselves: 1990's parts. I'm talking old school, bro, like Cedric the Bull parts, Fright Knights, original Star Wars, adventurers, really old motorcycle helmets, and an infinite variety really. Sadly, I was already picking up some other stuff and had run out of money. I regret it to this day. I mean c'mon, where did they get those parts?!

Edited April 28, 2012 by Napoleon53

[Praiter Yed]

I nipped into the Lego shop in Liverpool a fortnight ago and thought I'd give the BAM a try as I needed loads of parts for a custom minifig project. This was the first time I'd ever looked at the BAM section and I was pleasantly surprised, I managed to get almost everything on my list (3 x Light Flesh 'Patrick' legs, black afro style hair, 2 x brown female braided hair and various coloured torsos which I'll brasso off the print) all for £3.50, massively cheaper than if I'd used BL. I was most pleased about one of the accessories I picked up - although I don't know if I'll ever need it ... complete turkey assembly - which sells for around £5 on BL!

I spotted quite a few CMS parts in the mix; wrestler head & legs, witch head and hat, mime head, cheerleader legs, tennis girl torso, rapper legs, tribal hunter hair, pop star torso & legs... that's all I can remember.

Liverpool has suddenly become my favourite city for family days out .

Edited April 28, 2012 by Praiter Yed

[The Blue Brick]

At the Virginia store, the parts stank miserably, and they seemed like those cheap Chinese torsos with the stamps on the arms. So common it horrified me.

At the Chicago one, though, Woodbridge Mall or whatever it was called, they had, brace yourselves: 1990's parts. I'm talking old school, bro, like Cedric the Bull parts, Fright Knights, original Star Wars, adventurers, really old motorcycle helmets, and an infinite variety really. Sadly, I was already picking up some other stuff and had run out of money. I regret it to this day. I mean c'mon, where did they get those parts?!

That seems very interesting. I have never heard of that. I have been to about six different Lego stores in the U.S and have never came across that.

Edited April 28, 2012 by The Blue Brick

[Aanchir]

At the Virginia store, the parts stank miserably, and they seemed like those cheap Chinese torsos with the stamps on the arms. So common it horrified me.

At the Chicago one, though, Woodbridge Mall or whatever it was called, they had, brace yourselves: 1990's parts. I'm talking old school, bro, like Cedric the Bull parts, Fright Knights, original Star Wars, adventurers, really old motorcycle helmets, and an infinite variety really. Sadly, I was already picking up some other stuff and had run out of money. I regret it to this day. I mean c'mon, where did they get those parts?!

Most of the older parts I've seen in Build-A-Mini stations were Chinese-made parts from the Vintage Minifigure Collections. If they had actual classic minifigure parts, I'm extremely surprised, simply because I wouldn't expect TLG to have those in any meaningful quantity of those for sending out shipments.

I don't see why Chinese parts at the Build-A-Mini stations would be a problem, though, since unlike parts that come in a set you can actually see if there are any real quality issues in the Build-A-Mini parts before you buy them. I've had plenty of Chinese-made minifigure parts that were wonderful quality, such as the torso of my Minifigures Series 3 Hula Dancer. So unless you're averse to Chinese-made parts for some ethical/ideological reason rather than just a quality-related reason, the Build-A-Mini stations are a great opportunity to get the lovely Chinese-made part designs without the risk inherent in, say, the Collectible Minifigures.

[Napoleon53]

I actually was at the store with old parts before the vintage figs came out. They were real. And awesome.

The reason I hate Chinese parts are that the arms and hands are basically incompatible with normal torsos, and they're translucent. The leg printing on my CMF Cavewoman was horrible; her tan skirt was practically yellow because of poor printing. That's the same for the Virginia LEGO store BAMs. I like my figs to be good ol' thick plastic. I wouldn't care they were Chinese if they had better quality control.

[TrumpetKing]

I actually was at the store with old parts before the vintage figs came out. They were real. And awesome.

The reason I hate Chinese parts are that the arms and hands are basically incompatible with normal torsos, and they're translucent. The leg printing on my CMF Cavewoman was horrible; her tan skirt was practically yellow because of poor printing. That's the same for the Virginia LEGO store BAMs. I like my figs to be good ol' thick plastic. I wouldn't care they were Chinese if they had better quality control.

Really? My Cavewoman was perfectly fine...

[Napoleon53]

Really? My Cavewoman was perfectly fine...

Not to get off-topic, but yes. I've had other... unfortunate... occurrences with Chinese parts...

[Blondie-Wan]

I actually was at the store with old parts before the vintage figs came out. They were real. And awesome.

The reason I hate Chinese parts are that the arms and hands are basically incompatible with normal torsos

"Incompatible"? What does that even mean? Surely you don't mean that the hands and arms aren't attached and came loose in the packet, and won't connect to each other or to the torso...

and they're translucent. The leg printing on my CMF Cavewoman was horrible; her tan skirt was practically yellow because of poor printing. That's the same for the Virginia LEGO store BAMs. I like my figs to be good ol' thick plastic. I wouldn't care they were Chinese if they had better quality control.

I haven't seen any significant difference in the thickness of the plastic between the minifigures of the Minifigures line and those in other sets. How are you measuring the thickness?

All of my cavewomen have fine printing, but I do know people get bad prints from time to time (in all themes, not just this one). Could you post a picture of yours?

[Napoleon53]

Lol, no, fortunately. I meant the BAM CMF arms and hands, and board game and battlepack ones, are loose when you swap them with normal torsos, thus ruining compatibility. Chinese parts are also translucent when light hits them, and the colors aren't close to being as bright. The BAM and CMF figs yellow heads themselves are a different shade from regular figs. Look closely at yours and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50275

The reason people are upset is because a lot of the alternate plastic parts fit quite poorly in the hands of minifigures (case and point are the Kingdoms battle pack in which the figures had difficulty grippinf the weapons and accessories).

The collectible minifigures look good, but they aren't as high-gloss as the normal ABS plastic, so there is a noticeable difference especially when you lay out unprinted parts next to regular Lego parts. (Just look at the legs piece in black, like the Gorilla in Series 3 and compare it with a regular set of black legs to see what I mean)

I also have a lot of trouble posing the collectible minifigure hands as they don't like to rotate in a smooth 360 degrees fashion, and seem to jump and get stuck in certain position until you apply a lot of force. People worry about this because Lego has always been synonymous with quality, and for their plastic to be so poorly molded that it cannot fit other pieces is a nightmare. I must say, although I'm OK with a few printed parts like shields, headgear and masks to come in a little baggie and be "Chinese plastic", but if the entire figure and accessories are made of it, I do get upset, especially if we have no way of knowing in advance., (Kind of like in NinjaGo )

It's an old argument, but scary nonetheless. I don't want to see my favorite hobby destroyed by cheap plastic. A pair of my plain black CMF legs looked almost pearl black it was so different from Europe's black.

As for posting a picture: my cavewoman's legs brown stitch printing looked okay, but the tan was basically yellow, making her look like she was wearing brown rope instead of a skirt.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Napoleon53

[Blondie-Wan]

Lol, no, fortunately. I meant the BAM CMF arms and hands, and board game and battlepack ones, are loose when you swap them with normal torsos, thus ruining compatibility.

I thought you might mean something like that. Pfft. Considering the arms and hands aren't meant to be removed anyway, I can't really get concerned about that - if an arm or a hand comes off, to me that means the piece is broken, and the compatibility of broken parts with other broken parts isn't much of a concern.

Chinese parts are also translucent when light hits them, and the colors aren't close to being as bright. The BAM and CMF figs yellow heads themselves are a different shade from regular figs. Look closely at yours and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=50275

I've seen the discussions before, and I've noticed the translucency of certain parts, but it really doesn't affect everything in the line.

The yellow heads in BAM may indeed vary (slightly) depending upon origin, sure, but it really depends upon the part. Generally I find that certain prints / patterns available in a BAM kiosk at a given moment will apparently be from one plant, while other prints and patterns are from others, so that the exact yellow(s) one gets with one's BAM minifigure heads depends upon what face prints one gets.

It's an old argument, but scary nonetheless. I don't want to see my favorite hobby destroyed by cheap plastic. A pair of my plain black CMF legs looked almost pearl black it was so different from Europe's black.

As for posting a picture: my cavewoman's legs brown stitch printing looked okay, but the tan was basically yellow, making her look like she was wearing brown rope instead of a skirt.

That sounds like just a plain, flat-out print error affecting your specific cavewoman, I have to say, rather than a flaw affecting all of them. Have you compared yours to the photos here of other people's cavewomen?

[Rufus]

Not to get off-topic, but yes. I've had other... unfortunate... occurrences with Chinese parts...

It's gone decidedly off-topic.

The Chinese-part quality argument has been done to death. No more talk of this, please!

[Napoleon53]

It's gone decidedly off-topic.

The Chinese-part quality argument has been done to death. No more talk of this, please!

Yes, I know; very sorry. I wasn't around on here to debate it originally. Dropping.

[Flobnomdob]

I was at the BAM area in Cardiff recently, and was pleasantly surprised to find-

trans-pink chef hats

S1 astronaut torsos, legs and heads

laptops

S2 Dracula and Mime torsos

red sausages

printed shakos and Imperial guard torsos

S2 Witch's legpeice

Chrome gold crowns and greatswords

Also, on impulse I bought 114 black scorpions from the PAB wall

No idea what I'll do with them though...

[Aanchir]

My main point regarding the Chinese parts is that the Build-A-Mini stations are the best way to get them-- you can see the quality (or lack thereof) of the parts before you buy them, unlike most sets where you will only be able to see quality problems when you open the packaging. I didn't mean for it to get into a debate of whether they are/aren't good quality, but it's be a great privilege to get to see any parts with a reputation for inconsistency before you buy them. But if you want to avoid Chinese parts in general so as not to encourage TLG to keep using them, then I guess you wouldn't want to buy them anywhere including a Build-A-Mini station.

One problem I've always had with Build-A-Mini is that I can never seem to find interesting minifigure accessories there. Last time I bought from one, I ended up getting a reddish brown push broom, a dark stone grey cutlass, and a pair of medium stone grey handcuffs. I would love to see chrome swords, laptops, and sausages. It's been a while since I've been to a LEGO store so perhaps I ought to make a trip out to one at some point soon and see if the selection at my nearest store has improved.

[Blondie-Wan]

One problem I've always had with Build-A-Mini is that I can never seem to find interesting minifigure accessories there. Last time I bought from one, I ended up getting a reddish brown push broom, a dark stone grey cutlass, and a pair of medium stone grey handcuffs. I would love to see chrome swords, laptops, and sausages. It's been a while since I've been to a LEGO store so perhaps I ought to make a trip out to one at some point soon and see if the selection at my nearest store has improved.

That's the usual problem I have, as well. I tend to find a lot of mostly the same accessories over and over - power saws (!), walkie-talkies, coffee mugs, pickaxes, push brooms and armor, mostly, IIRC. I've occasionally found other items, but not as different types or as often as I'd like. I did once find a flintlock pistol, which was great, but only one out of several trips to BAM stations. And as I think I've noted before, the Minifigures shop at LEGOLAND Florida has a BAM station that doesn't even offer accessories at all - just heads, torsos, hips/legs and hair/headwear. It's still $9.99, but one gets just twelve parts rather than fifteen.

I certainly wouldn't expect to find anything chromed in BAM (or PAB) these days, but perhaps laptops and sausages might happen sometime.

As it happens, I'll be at the Orlando LEGO Store at Downtown Disney this weekend, and I'll be sure to check the BAM stations; I'll try to report whatever interesting elements I find there.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Blondie-Wan

[Rufus]

One problem I've always had with Build-A-Mini is that I can never seem to find interesting minifigure accessories there. Last time I bought from one, I ended up getting a reddish brown push broom, a dark stone grey cutlass, and a pair of medium stone grey handcuffs. I would love to see chrome swords, laptops, and sausages. It's been a while since I've been to a LEGO store so perhaps I ought to make a trip out to one at some point soon and see if the selection at my nearest store has improved.

About six months ago I spent an extortionate amount on laptops via Bricklink. Last week they had them at the BaM station in the LEGO store. They also had trans-pink mugs and trans-neon green wands (the ones with stars).

We were more disappointed at the lack of variety in the heads - they had some lovely piratey and castley torsos, but the only available heads had spectacles

[Blondie-Wan]

I was at the BAM area in Cardiff recently, and was pleasantly surprised to find-

trans-pink chef hats

S1 astronaut torsos, legs and heads

laptops

S2 Dracula and Mime torsos

red sausages

printed shakos and Imperial guard torsos

S2 Witch's legpeice

Chrome gold crowns and greatswords

Also, on impulse I bought 114 black scorpions from the PAB wall

No idea what I'll do with them though...

I somehow had overlooked this post when responding to Aanchir, above; I'm astounded and a little envious you were able to get sausages and chromed crowns and swords! That's very cool. I have seen printed shakos a number of times, as well as mermaid tails (the Harry Potter / Pirates ones, with Pirates printing), black fedoras, and several Series 1 & 2 Minifigures elements.

I've seen scorpions in PAB myself, and I've found them tempting, but I already have plenty of scorpions from various sets anyway (though I think I still wound up getting at least a couple PAB scorpions once). What I'd really like would be rats (they're currently available in S@H's PAB, but at $.70 apiece and in only one color), ants (the ones introduced in two of the second wave of Indiana Jones sets, from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and featured in no other sets so far, AFAIK), and snakes (ideally in multiple colors). All of these would be great for all the Indy-related projects (and, occasionally, other MOCs) I'd like to do, but so far, no luck.

Edited May 2, 2012 by Blondie-Wan

[Blondie-Wan]

As it happens, I'll be at the Orlando LEGO Store at Downtown Disney this weekend, and I'll be sure to check the BAM stations; I'll try to report whatever interesting elements I find there.

Oh, sorry for not getting back to this earlier.

I did indeed go - twice during that weekend, in fact, but I was pressed for time both visits and didn't get to spend nearly as much time at the BAM kiosks as I'd have liked, so I don't have anything remotely approaching an authoritative rundown on what parts were present.

That said, I did get the impression an awful lot of the torsos were from the Minifigures (collectible) line, including ones from Series 4 as well as earlier ones. I noticed some of the S4 Sailor and Mad Scientist torsos. I was terribly tempted to try to put together some sailors, but didn't see any sailor hats there (I'd have been fine with using different heads and accessories - it would've been my preferred way to go for BAM sailors, actually - but not being able to complete the uniform with the hat was something of a deal-killer for me). Aside from those, I noticed a lot of the Agent Trace / female pirate-style hair, white baseball-style caps (the 'regular' ones, not the more detailed element from the collectible line), motorcycle helmets, etc. I didn't see many accessories.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Blondie-Wan

[Solitary Dark]

I've just got back from the Brighton Store.

The build a minifig station was filled with parts from Minifigure series 1-4 but noticeably only certain figures, and not complete sets. You could for example build a musketeer, but there were no rapiers, Ice skaters but no skates, S4 Skateboarders but no skateboards and so on....

No sign of Hazmat gut, Elf, Fisherman or many others from Series 4. Lots of parts mixed in from earlier series, including plenty of parts still from series 1 including Specemen helmets.

They had the VIP Minifigure set on sale, and a display set that was brick based (With a Blue spacemen Minifig) that I've not seen before.

My son made a whole BAM box of Pharoah leg and Torso's but with different heads - they are the Pharoah's slaves. I snuck some parts into by PAB cup and none of the folks in the store minded, which was great, as there were some nice pieces in the accesories box of the BAM.

[Capt. Bluebeard]

As I've just received a LEGO Store voucher in the post, I'm planning to head up to Sheffield in October to go the LEGO Store there.

Just so I don't go mad with spending, I'm planning out what I buy, and I was just wondering: how much does the Build-A-Mini cost?

I saw "£3.50" and "£4.99" at the beginning of the thread, but the cost could easily have changed or vary by store, so I thought I'd ask.

Bluebeard, out-

Edited September 7, 2012 by Capt. Bluebeard

[Jaller8240]

At the Virginia store, the parts stank miserably, and they seemed like those cheap Chinese torsos with the stamps on the arms. So common it horrified me.

At the Chicago one, though, Woodbridge Mall or whatever it was called, they had, brace yourselves: 1990's parts. I'm talking old school, bro, like Cedric the Bull parts, Fright Knights, original Star Wars, adventurers, really old motorcycle helmets, and an infinite variety really. Sadly, I was already picking up some other stuff and had run out of money. I regret it to this day. I mean c'mon, where did they get those parts?!

Are you talking about wood field mall? Because Ive never seen any of those pieces.

[purpleparadox]

Are you talking about wood field mall? Because Ive never seen any of those pieces.

Keep in mind, he posted this find 5 months ago. Not to mention, pieces like that would sell out in a heartbeat!