Parts brittleness

mithridate

I was wondering whether there are any known periods during which parts were especially brittle.

What made me wonder is:
- new (personally bought from store back in the day) 2011 PotC Whitecap Bay set had several of its completely unused (I think reddish brown) plates break apart;
- used (just bought off craigslist), seemingly used for display purposes only, 2012-13 LotR Pirate Ambush Ship and Attack of the Wargs sets have had several brown (dark and reddish) plates chip part when disassembling, and several boat hull parts studs break during washing.

I just thought "wow, but meh" when it first happened to me several years ago, but after handling these recent acquisitions, I'm wondering whether it was an era of especially disappointing QC'ing.

Rainstorm26

Recent brown pieces are known for problems like you are describing. 

catwrangler

Yes, unfortunately it's been a bit of a saga: http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/22448/quality-issues-broken-parts/p1