Collectible Minifigure Quality

[LegoDrake]

!Warning Rant Alert!

I, like most of you, am an avid collector of LEGO's Collectible Minifigure line. However, I recently purchased three of Series 10 (Mohawk Indian,The Roman Commander,and Medusa) only to find that they contained scratches along the torso, distorting the printing. When I emailed LEGO about the problem, they responded with this:

Dear Hiram,

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

Congratulations on getting some of the Series 10 Minifigures. They have been sold out everywhere I go, and there are some I was not able to get.

We are delighted to hear that you are interested in our LEGO® Collectable Minifigures series. Each series is made up of 16 different figures. LEGO Collectable Minifigures use a blind purchase principle. This means that the minifigures are packed in non-transparent bags and our LEGO fans won't know for sure before opening the bags which minifigure they actually purchased.

To stay true to this surprise principle we came to the decision not to offer any replacement parts as these were especially created for our collectable minifigures.

Thanks again for getting in touch. We're always pleased to receive feedback from LEGO fans! If you could take a moment to complete a four question survey by going to the link below, it will help us make sure we are providing the best customer service to you.

As elegant as this response was it still doesn't explain why the parts can not be replaced (as it is just printing on a torso not an exclusive piece) or why I spent 3 dollars on a mistake that cannot be fixed. I expect more from LEGO .

Has anything like this happened before to you? What do you think of the quality of the Collectible Minifigures? Is there any thing I can do to get replacements? I apologize if I come off as a bit cross, I just feel strongly about this matter.

!Rant Over!

Edited November 23, 2013 by LegoDrake

[Freddy Bricker]

Yikes, I haven't to this day bought a scratched up collectible minifigure. However some of my minifigures (specifically the Viking Woman, the Galaxy Patrol, and the Downhill skier) have gotten scratched up faces, only the skier's face got replaced and that's because I had a duplicate of hers.

I can see why TLG don't want to replace parts, I mean... the figs must stay as collectible and pure as they once were right?

[Yooha]

I 've got the CM7 bagpipe player without his kilt. They didn't send one for the same reason, but sent two random CM6 minifigs instead! (why not CM7, who knows). That's a customer service! Didn't they offer such thing to you?

[LegoDrake]

No, I haven't been offered anything. (Yet)

[MKJoshA]

I've never gotten a scratched minifig, but I know the quality is pretty bad. I heard that it's because they come from the China end of Lego and not the traditional factories. I picked up the Roman Commander and took the arms off to replace them with different ones. The arms I took out are now so loose they are useless to use on any minifigure. I took the hands out to try to at least salvage those and they won't fit right in any arm. I haven't complained to Lego because I still got the torso I wanted, but it's pretty bad publicity for Lego to keep selling sub-standard minifigs, even if they are amazing new designs.

[TheLegoDr]

I've received scratched figures before and the roller skates wouldn't fit in the most recent waitress. They would just fall out immediately. I emailed customer service and they told me the same thing, "there is nothing we can do." They didn't offer any replacement packs either to make up for it. I assumed they would have just to add a positive spin to it all, but they basically said, nothing we can do except for allow you to buy more from us because we want all of your money... That was the impression I got anyway. So I quit buying multiples because they have enough of my money.

[Blondie-Wan]

I haven't had any Minifigures get scratched up. The only thing I'd consider a quality issue is the translucency and softness of the dark reddish plastic used for a couple figures, such as the S3 Samurai and the S8 Conquistador. But that's just a couple figures out of over a hundred, now, and only a particular plastic.

I've never gotten a scratched minifig, but I know the quality is pretty bad. I heard that it's because they come from the China end of Lego and not the traditional factories. I picked up the Roman Commander and took the arms off to replace them with different ones. The arms I took out are now so loose they are useless to use on any minifigure. I took the hands out to try to at least salvage those and they won't fit right in any arm. I haven't complained to Lego because I still got the torso I wanted, but it's pretty bad publicity for Lego to keep selling sub-standard minifigs, even if they are amazing new designs.

I know people swap hands and arms out all the time, but FWIW I think they're still not officially considered to be removable. I certainly wouldn't take apart pieces that aren't designed to be taken apart and then fault the parts for the damage they suffer.

[Brickity]

The flower print on the hair from the series 3 hula girl faded easily with a slight scratch, and also the skater from series 1 had his face printed with a strange paint... it looks very opaque and grainy, don't know how to explain it. Also, this didn't happen with collectible minifigs, but I once bought 5 keychains from the lego store, two of them were females and had the same face print (the standard one that was released around 2007 in the Castle theme) I left them in the LEGO bag in the car, when I came back a couple of hours later, the white paint from the pupils disappeared COMPLETELY when I touched them with my fingers! It was horrible! I won't forget that day, in that moment I felt like my LEGO hobby was over.

[fred67]

I have every single regular CMF, most in multiples - some in many multiples. Off the top of my head, that means 176 on display alone, plus at least that many opened for mocs and play... I have seen the translucent reds when holding them up to bright light, but have never gotten a scratched one.

Maybe it's because I usually get a case now, and don't have to deal with ones that have been violently felt up in stores, although I still get plenty at retail, too. I have to think that if you get three scratched ones in one purchase, then some complete jerk was really rough feeling up the packs.

I get why they can't give specific replacements, but might send you a random pack. They might think someone is fishing for free Lego by complaining about three "defects" all in one purchase... the likelihood must be infinitesimal to be production defects on three different figures in the same purchase.

[LegoDrake]

I get why they can't give specific replacements, but might send you a random pack. They might think someone is fishing for free Lego by complaining about three "defects" all in one purchase... the likelihood must be infinitesimal to be production defects on three different figures in the same purchase.

I can understand that it sounds highly improbable to get 3 damaged figures in on purchase,but it really happened. I thing someone must have seriously ruffed up the minifigs before I bought them.

Edited November 24, 2013 by LegoDrake

[TheLazyChicken]

I get why they can't give specific replacements, but might send you a random pack. They might think someone is fishing for free Lego by complaining about three "defects" all in one purchase... the likelihood must be infinitesimal to be production defects on three different figures in the same purchase.

But peaple could also buy the pieces through the buy section in customer service, though a lot of peaple would just try to get pieces for free, just like I saw a kid on youtube do it.

[Lyichir]

It does sound like someone was feeling the packages a bit too roughly, as I can't otherwise understand how you could get three figs at a time with an uncommon defect.

Lego doesn't provide replacement parts for the CMFs because of how they originate in the Chinese production facility. It's a sad fact, and if there is a problem like a missing piece in one of your figs they often can send a replacement (although not necessarily of the same fig). The reason you didn't get this offer could be that they thought you were trying to con them, or maybe they just came to the same conclusion I did, that the fig damage happened after production and thus wasn't their responsibility.

In any case, I hope you can get a replacement, either the whole fig or just the damaged parts through Bricklink or another seller. I came into this thread expecting another rant on "cheap Chinese plastic" (a meme that has gotten far too much play in the AFOL community, and confuses a dyeing problem for a plastic quality problem), so I was relieved to find that you had an issue that was both genuine and, from all appearances, rare.

[Junpei]

The flower print on the hair from the series 3 hula girl faded easily with a slight scratch, and also the skater from series 1 had his face printed with a strange paint... it looks very opaque and grainy, don't know how to explain it. Also, this didn't happen with collectible minifigs, but I once bought 5 keychains from the lego store, two of them were females and had the same face print (the standard one that was released around 2007 in the Castle theme) I left them in the LEGO bag in the car, when I came back a couple of hours later, the white paint from the pupils disappeared COMPLETELY when I touched them with my fingers! It was horrible! I won't forget that day, in that moment I felt like my LEGO hobby was over.

I have the same kind of experience with keychains, part of the torso print rubbed off almost immediately, and the quality of them is terrible, you can literally almost see through them! I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same quality (or lower!) as M3g@b!ock$.

[Ridge Montante]

Would they be scratched from people trying to feel the bags maybe? And having the pieces rub and scratch against each other.