I just got started on LEGO set 7915 (Imerial V-Wing Starfighter) and I notice problem with the sticker sheet. 2 (one small square black/grey and one long one) are loose and almost about off, and one (other small black and grey square) was missing. The missing sticker is stuck inside the box.

It's bad enough that LEGO can't pack the sticker sheet (and manual) so it doesn't get mangled but this is bad. Either bring back internal tray from ages ago or make it requirement to have all stickers and manual inside bag with cardboard backing.

/rant off

Edited June 2, 201113 yr by Lego Otaku

I just got started on LEGO set 7915 (Imerial V-Wing Starfighter) and I notice problem with the sticker sheet. 2 (one small square black/grey and one long one) are loose and almost about off, and one (other small black and grey square) was missing. The missing sticker is stuck inside the box.

It's bad enough that LEGO can't pack the sticker sheet (and manual) so it doesn't get mangled but this is bad. Either bring back internal tray from ages ago or make it requirement to have all stickers and manual inside bag with cardboard backing.

/rant off

Yeah I had the same problem with my Bounty Hunter Gunship set, the stickers were bent and peeling

...which is why TLG is implementing the 'instructions and stickers wrapped in plastic with cardboard' feature in some sets and expanding the number of sets it's in.

The stickers for the 7915 are notoriously bad. I know there's been at least one thread on here complaining about it, and on my V-Wing, the stickers have almost completely peeled off the ship (the stickers were already starting to peel off the sheet in the box).

So, with all the griping about stickers(myself included, somewhat). Would you(Eurobrickers) be willing to pay a markup on all Lego if all stickered pieces were printed ones? I don't mind stickers, except when I lay them and see they're noticeably crooked. but, I'd be willing to shell out more in order to eliminate stickers.

Would you(Eurobrickers) be willing to pay a markup on all Lego if all stickered pieces were printed ones? I don't mind stickers, except when I lay them and see they're noticeably crooked. but, I'd be willing to shell out more in order to eliminate stickers.

I have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion stickers are the best way to go. There are a lot of parts where I would rather not have the sticker print applied since I need the piece for a MOC. If it were printed I would have to find a way to remove it. Stickers give the end user the ability to decide whether or not to apply the decal.

I have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion stickers are the best way to go. There are a lot of parts where I would rather not have the sticker print applied since I need the piece for a MOC. If it were printed I would have to find a way to remove it. Stickers give the end user the ability to decide whether or not to apply the decal.

As much as I hate stickers, I agree with this. That and sometimes I want the print as a sticker to use on a different part. For example, on my T-16, I would've loved to have a sticker of the racing decal, but there is none since that was printed onto a slope in the official set.

In general, I tend to have a positive view of stickers. That doesn't mean that they don't come with their share of problems, though. There are certain parts that it's just impractical to decorate with stickers (for instance, stickers come off of any 1x1 round part and many 2x2 round parts easily, and any surface that can't be "flattened out", such as many minifigure animals or other specialized parts, is completely impractical for stickers to be applied to). Stickers across multiple pieces (STAMPs) are a problem any time they appear, even though my dad never had difficulty with those-- his policy is always to apply the sticker and then go over the seam between the pieces with an X-Acto knife. And of course there is absolutely no getting around how much of a problem it is if the stickers are in some way defective when you get them out of the package, as has happened in your case.

I'm sure if you tell LEGO Customer Service that you got a brand-new, unopened set with the stickers peeling away they can both replace the sticker sheet for you and work on solutions to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. It won't lead to stickers being eliminated completely, I'm sure, but it could encourage TLG to be smarter with how sticker sheets are packaged, even in somewhat small sets like the Imperial V-Wing Starfighter.

Luckily, I haven't gotten any sets with STAMPs yet, and I've bought a lot of the 2011 sets so far.I hope they don't have any.

Luckily, I haven't gotten any sets with STAMPs yet, and I've bought a lot of the 2011 sets so far.I hope they don't have any.

You probably jinxed yourself by that comment. The next set you buy will have a huge STAMP across 50 pieces, and it happens to be too good to not apply or keep ;)

You probably jinxed yourself by that comment. The next set you buy will have a huge STAMP across 50 pieces, and it happens to be too good to not apply or keep ;)

Great! Now you probably jinxed me, by pointing out that I jinxed myself. Now were both jinxed!

I have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion stickers are the best way to go. There are a lot of parts where I would rather not have the sticker print applied since I need the piece for a MOC. If it were printed I would have to find a way to remove it. Stickers give the end user the ability to decide whether or not to apply the decal.

I would make a distinction between generic and more specialized patterns. Things like grill patterns, control panels, simple logos, etc. can be used in a variety of models and should be printed (and were printed in the past), especially since they usually appear on common pieces. I would certainly pay a premium for such pieces. On the other hand, many sets also include elaborate stickered patterns that only really fit that particular set, and these are better left as stickers.

I think TLG had a good sense of which patterns to print or leave as stickers around the mid 90s. In recent years, they have been all about cost cutting and it's rare to see much in the way of prints anymore.

I would make a distinction between generic and more specialized patterns. Things like grill patterns, control panels, simple logos, etc. can be used in a variety of models and should be printed (and were printed in the past), especially since they usually appear on common pieces. I would certainly pay a premium for such pieces. On the other hand, many sets also include elaborate stickered patterns that only really fit that particular set, and these are better left as stickers.

I think TLG had a good sense of which patterns to print or leave as stickers around the mid 90s. In recent years, they have been all about cost cutting and it's rare to see much in the way of prints anymore.

I largely agree with this, except the part about the mid-90s having an ideal balance of stickers and prints. Perhaps I'm a teensy bit obsessive about this, but personally even many of the prints from that era, without any logos or branding necessarily, still felt very theme-specific. I avoided using the Spyrius control console pieces for themes other than Spyrius, for example.

Likewise, many of the Castle decorations were faction-specific and thus theme-specific, even though because decorations in general were simpler then you could easily keep some of the parts from standing out to somebody oblivious to the themes they came from (a Dark Forest shield could possibly fit in even in a modern bar or tavern MOC). Pirates decorations have always been somewhat generic, but at the same time the more recent Pirates theme had far fewer sails with enormous, garish logos on them, although this could just be because there were fewer factions and sets and thus less of a need to distinguish them from each other.

Also consider the Aquazone theme, for which pretty much every print was extremely theme-specific (with a few key exceptions like the orange and silver "target" pattern on a 2x2 tile in the Hydronauts and Stingrays subthemes). Ironically, one of the themes with the least theme-specific decorations at that time was Time Cruisers, possibly because the unifying motifs of the theme couldn't be allowed to clash with the already diverse theme-specific styles that were mashed together to create the theme's distinctive design juxtapositions and anachronisms.

In general, I don't think any time period stands out as the epitome of printed parts and stickers being used in appropriate places. Every theme I can recall has had a mix of versatile prints and extremely specific ones (even Star Wars, from which many decorations were extremely versatile, had other decorated parts with obvious Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire emblems in its first year). Today, printed parts vary by theme-- Toy Story had almost no stickers, while Space Police III was practically swimming in them. And while many of today's and yesterday's stickers are fairly theme-specific, others are not-- consider the ornate, logo-free Japanese text on this sticker sheet from this year, or these stickers from a 1994 Technic set (all of which went on pieces that could have been printed at the time).

Clearly, there are other factors in whether stickers are used or parts are printed instead. Rather than just being a matter of cost effectiveness or how versatile the decoration will be in the future, factors that are considered include things such as expectations of the target audience (fans of Technic have long been expected to be skilled enough to apply stickers without difficulty), the surface the decoration will be applied to (the sides of slope bricks have almost never been printed, for whatever reason), and the type of theme-specificity involved in the decoration (note that many of the Toy Story decorations were only stylistically specific to the theme-- on the other hand, other companies' logos like on the Maersk train are never printed).

Another possible factor is how much of a gamble the theme is considered to be-- Ninjago and Toy Story, for instance, may have had extremely positive market research before their release, just as with this year's first wave of Hero Factory sets. On the other hand, the first wave of Hero Factory last year used lots of stickers and no printed parts.

In general, I'm pretty pro-sticker in most situations. This doesn't mean I don't approve of printed parts in many of those same situations, but something I've observed is that I use even the most specialized stickered parts these days with fewer misgivings than I would have had for theme-specific printed parts in my childhood.

As someone who does relatively little mocing, and instead keeps all their models built for display or to mess around with, I find the current onslaught of stickers in sets to be overwhelming. Since I always apply the stickers, I first back them up by scanning them. Modern stickers seem to be a lot more durable then ones in the past, but you never know what might happen to them so I always like to have a backup solution.

Stickers detract from my Lego experience for a couple of reasons. First, the application disrupts the flow of the build. I always build my sets at a nice leisurely pace to enjoy the experience, but having to stop constantly to apply sticker is annoying. Second, colours on sticker never match the bricks all that well and thus they really stick out like a sore thumb. Stickers always stand out and IMO detract from the look of the model. While I've mastered the art of perfectly applying stickers, I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for small kids (the intended age group of many sets) to apply all these sticker properly. I'll bet loads of them go on crooked, or else the application does not go well and then the stickers soon fall off. I didn't have to apply many stickers to sets in my childhood, but looking back at ones that I did makes me want to cringe - they were just so poorly applied.

Some of my favorite sets are really high on that list because of the wonderful elaborate printed parts that they contain. Take many of the original desert Adventurers sets for example, the beautiful printed pieces are part of the charm of the sets. As on the other hand, I've never found myself thinking - "Gee, these stickers sure look nice". Sure IMO the stickers enhance the aesthetics of models, but they will never replace prints in terms of looks.

Also, as you guys have covered somewhat - stickers on common parts for me is unacceptable. I understand the logistics of stickers for one time uses, but having stickers on parts that pop up in many sets is overkill.

I largely agree with this, except the part about the mid-90s having an ideal balance of stickers and prints. Perhaps I'm a teensy bit obsessive about this, but personally even many of the prints from that era, without any logos or branding necessarily, still felt very theme-specific. I avoided using the Spyrius control console pieces for themes other than Spyrius, for example.

Likewise, many of the Castle decorations were faction-specific and thus theme-specific, even though because decorations in general were simpler then you could easily keep some of the parts from standing out to somebody oblivious to the themes they came from (a Dark Forest shield could possibly fit in even in a modern bar or tavern MOC). Pirates decorations have always been somewhat generic, but at the same time the more recent Pirates theme had far fewer sails with enormous, garish logos on them, although this could just be because there were fewer factions and sets and thus less of a need to distinguish them from each other.

Also consider the Aquazone theme, for which pretty much every print was extremely theme-specific (with a few key exceptions like the orange and silver "target" pattern on a 2x2 tile in the Hydronauts and Stingrays subthemes). Ironically, one of the themes with the least theme-specific decorations at that time was Time Cruisers, possibly because the unifying motifs of the theme couldn't be allowed to clash with the already diverse theme-specific styles that were mashed together to create the theme's distinctive design juxtapositions and anachronisms.

In general, I don't think any time period stands out as the epitome of printed parts and stickers being used in appropriate places. Every theme I can recall has had a mix of versatile prints and extremely specific ones (even Star Wars, from which many decorations were extremely versatile, had other decorated parts with obvious Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire emblems in its first year). Today, printed parts vary by theme-- Toy Story had almost no stickers, while Space Police III was practically swimming in them. And while many of today's and yesterday's stickers are fairly theme-specific, others are not-- consider the ornate, logo-free Japanese text on this sticker sheet from this year, or these stickers from a 1994 Technic set (all of which went on pieces that could have been printed at the time).

Theme-specific prints are actually a good thing in my book. The control panels can be used just about anywhere, but even things like faction logo tiles and slopes are useful. I often build MOCs around official themes and use such parts regularly. The Spyrius control panels were widely used even among official sets, showing up in Unitron, Aquaraiders and even some City sets. The only kinds of prints I don't like are the ones that are very model-specific (this, for example) or those that cover less common pieces. Some of the Aquazone sets did go too far with the prints, especially on rare transparent windscreen pieces (I was thinking more of City when I said mid 90s), but I would still take that over today's situation.

Toy Story is an interesting case. The trend among modern sets is overwhelmingly in favor of stickers over prints, but this theme actually contains a lot of prints. I have a feeling that Disney may have forced TLG to make certain parts printed as part of the license agreement.

If you had not called costumer service yet, do it. They'd most likely give you a replacement.

I'm okay with stickers. Printed generic bricks are okay, but If you find a piece that is useful and then find an ugly printing on it, it can be frustrating. However, small stickers can be annoying to put on. For me at least, stickers are okay as long as TLG limits their use.