Quality of pieces in the LOTR series?

ludzik

I am sorta bummed today.... I picked up yesterday #9471 and today I discovered that one of the clips on the saddle is cracked. Talk about a major dissapointment! I have filled out the online form with Lego and requested a replacement piece... but still, that was a major bummer :( I compared the saddle to some of my older saddles and have decided that the material is softer which means less brittle BUT it seems to be weaker at the same time... so is it a case in manufacturing of damned if you do and damned if you don't or did I just get a bum piece?

binaryeye

In my experience, the quality of pieces in the LoTR sets isn't any different than other current sets.

How old are the saddles you were comparing to? LEGO bricks apparently get more brittle with age. But I also don't recall the bricks having quite as much flex when I was a kid (in the mid 80s) as they do now.

ludzik

I compared the new one to two saddles. One was nearly 20 years old and one was about 5

ludzik

I compared the new one to two saddles. One was nearly 20 years old and one was about 5

CCC

I have heard of other people complain about the saddle clips breaking, although I haven't experienced it myself.

NeilJam

A couple of my saddle pieces have broken clips. Has anyone heard of this happening to barding? Finding the broken saddles has made me extra careful with those just in case.

Zathras

I have a Tauntaun saddle that one of the fingers broke just by taking out the blaster from the clip. I had built the 7749 Hoth set the day I bought it new and it sat on my display shelf untouched (well I dusted it a few times) for close to 2 years. So it wasn’t any sort of rough play that broke it.

I think I've posted in another saddle thread that Lego desperately needs to redesign the saddle to have a recessed hollow stud (like the headlight bricks) on both sides. Not only would it make replacing a broken finger brick easy, it would also open up all sorts of MOC/MOD options for the piece.

ludzik

Zathras said:

I think I've posted in another saddle thread that Lego desperately needs to redesign the saddle to have a recessed hollow stud (like the headlight bricks) on both sides. Not only would it make replacing a broken finger brick easy, it would also open up all sorts of MOC/MOD options for the piece.

That is actually a pretty good idea. Sadly it probably won't happen anytime soon :(

binaryeye

Zathras said:

I think I've posted in another saddle thread that Lego desperately needs to redesign the saddle to have a recessed hollow stud (like the headlight bricks) on both sides.

I wouldn't be surprised if LEGO has tried this and it didn't test well with kids. Using a clip plate on a stud means the clip plate would come off with whatever weapon was attached unless the clip plate were held firmly in place. Clip plates aren't particularly easy to apply pressure to because there isn't much flat area outside the clip.