Strange things happening to minifigures...

plasmodium

Just recently, I have noticed several quality issues with some extended product line minifigures (a Captain Rex keyring http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=852356-1 and a train driver magnet from http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=852012-1). Now, the strange thing is that both are too old for me to blame it on them being 'Chinese'. The first thing was that both of the keyring's legs broke off (the pegs themselves snapped off with the legs). Now, this could be wear and tear, but I had another keyring which was much older, in similar circumstances, which is still fine. Is this common, or was poor Captain Rex defective? The other thing is that one of the train driver's legs from the magnet set has faded to a different colour than the other. Has anyone seen this before, and if so, can anyone guess at why?

davee123

Well, I know Chinese manufacturing started in 2008 or before-- not sure if it was in 2007. So Captain Rex could certainly be Chinese plastic. You can check to see by looking for the little "squares" on the inside of their arms.

The color fading is a long-standing issue with pretty much is unpredictable. Individual batches of parts are differently susceptible to color fading, even in Danish-produced ABS elements, and is generally observed most frequently in white, gray, dark-gray and blue.

DaveE

Lovaquero

It is basically accepted that the keychain and magnet MF's are not made to the same quality, not by the same process as the "normal" MF's. I haven't been able to confirm/deny that, but my experience is that the keychains and magnet figs are simply not made from the same stuff as the normal...

plasmodium

Even ones pre-'Chinese'? I had wondered whether that was the case, though.