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The most I've ever spent on a single piece

bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
in Collecting
The title is a bit of a lie, I've spent more on parts before, but it was for investment to complete/sell a set. This is the most expensive and smallest piece I've purchased, just to add to my collection as a single part...




I just purchased a pair of trans clear hands from Germany for $50 USD each, $100 total. Seems a bit absurd to spend $100 on a pair of hands, even if they are rare test strike/special colored parts, but there is nostalgic reasoning behind it.

Ever since I started collecting Lego when I was very young, I've always wanted a fully transparent minifig. That dream still lives on today and with transparent legs, heads and arms able to be found in regular retail sets, the dream is so close to complete. Hands, hips and torsos are among the few missing, hands of which I thought I would NEVER see as a reality. After seeing trans clear hands at the BrickLink store I usually go to for special colored parts, I was ecstatic! I bought a pair almost instantly without thought. Now the life long dream is almost complete, and all I need to wait for are hips and torsos. One day hopefully, patience is a virtue...


If anybody is interested, I'll link the store I got these from below, he seems to only have one pair left, but there is another store in Germany that has another pair for slightly more money.

http://www.bricklink.com/store/home.page?_refreshrnd=193931&p=MAGICBRICKS&itemID=86756094#/shop?o={"sort":9,"desc":1,"itemType":"P","catID":"20"}

pharmjodSprinkleOtterkiki180703ricecakePitfall69SumoLegostevecook132GothamConstructionCostluxmustang69catwranglerDontcopythatfloppychuckpAllBrickTheMaker37Legoboy
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Comments

  • GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Member Posts: 599
    edited August 2016
    No judgement from me at all. I love it when someone gets that little bit closer to their dream coming true. I hope that someday soon you'll be able to get those missing pieces and complete your trans clear minifig.
    bobabrickskiki180703
  • tallblocktootallblocktoo Member Posts: 497
    Pricey min fig but certainly not the priciest I am sure.  Be cool if you could complete it!
    bobabrickskiki180703
  • fourstudfourstud Member Posts: 1,370
    $100? Wow. 

    Very cool! 
    bobabrickskiki180703
  • SprinkleOtterSprinkleOtter Member Posts: 2,779
    Any explanation as to how/why these were made?
  • kiki180703kiki180703 Member Posts: 1,063
    Very cool! At least, it won't be more expensive than Mr. Gold... (I hope ;)
  • AanchirAanchir Member Posts: 3,037
    SprinkleOtter said:
    Any explanation as to how/why these were made?
    Probably just as a test to determine how well the part performed in this material. Even though LEGO has never released a fully transparent minifigure, that doesn't mean they've never tried it out internally.

    I wonder if this was struck from the same mold as opaque minifigure hands, or if they created a test mold specifically for use with this type of plastic.
  • MynattMynatt Member Posts: 631
    Is there any chance that you would be willing to share the transparent figure in progress?
  • bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
    @Mynatt I could, still need to pick up a pair of trans neon green legs and rub the print off, I'm pretty sure there's a pair in a Ninjago polybag.

    @Aanchir It costs quite a bit of money to make a new mold, so my guess is that these were done in the same mold. Lots of pieces are done in test colors, with how often Lego tests colors, it wouldn't be feasible to make new molds all the time. 
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    I have (fake, Chinese, bootleg, ...) a couple of transparent Batman figures that are now about one year old and have been left assembled all that time. I assume polycarbonate. I just tried taking one apart, it was stiff but I don't think any stiffer than when first assembled. Clutch is often a little tight or a little loose with the knockoffs (although the same seems to be true for Lego these days too). The arms also move as freely as regular minifigs. The cowl comes off easy enough. I doubt they made a new mould just for this transparent fig so presumably it is the same size as the regular knockoffs.
  • bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
    edited August 2016
    @CCC well when I receive my real hands in a couple of weeks, I'll see what the friction is like on both opaque and transparent arms...
  • paul_mertonpaul_merton Member Posts: 2,967
    I don't think I could ever bring myself to spent $50 on a single piece like that. I'd be too worried that Lego might actually produce such an item in a future set, which would make it instantly worthless!
    BumblepantsLuLegogmonkey76kiki180703DontcopythatfloppyMasterBeefyAllBrick
  • mpfirnhabermpfirnhaber Member Posts: 65
    I am pretty certain all the parts have been made in trans-clear, I remember seeing a photo and hearing of how a new Lego employee found the fig in a desk drawer during his first few days at work. Good luck finding the rest though :)

    I've spent over $100 on a single 2x4 brick before. And I've seen parts go for over $500 for prototype bits. Stupid plastic pieces.
  • YodaliciousYodalicious Member Posts: 1,366
    ^ By stupid you actually mean glorious, right? RIGHT?!?
    MattsWhatkiki180703stlux
  • GeordiePaulGeordiePaul Member Posts: 599
    ^^^^ What a bargain! I was thinking of offering $1000 but I'd feel like I was ripping you off :-)
    SprinkleOtterkiki180703
  • catwranglercatwrangler Member Posts: 1,894
    bobabricks said:
    @CCC well when I receive my real hands in a couple of weeks, I'll see what the friction is like on both opaque and transparent arms...
    Now I'm imagining your actual flesh hands showing up in the post! :D
    PeteMbobabrickskiki180703stlux
  • bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
    @1974 it's good to know that hips exist, do you know if torsos are out there?
  • BrickDancerBrickDancer Member Posts: 3,639
    ^That's amazing looking!!
  • legogallegogal Member Posts: 754
    OMG! That is just gorgeous! Could they release this as a $5. polybag invisible man set so the rest of us get a chance at collecting a clear monochrome minifig? Although I finally have accepted life without a Mr. Gold in my house, I have been dreaming of a fig like this for at least ten years. What a beauty!  LEGO, we are waiting with our mouths wide open, but you already emptied our bank accounts. 
  • legogallegogal Member Posts: 754
    Oh, while I am at it....in my special order, I would also like this lil fellow/gal in all the transparent colors, okay? I am certain that there is an audience for these guys. And it surely does beat the crap out of the recent TRU exclusive minifig sets shown recently on here. Any other takers out there?
  • davee123davee123 Member Posts: 854
    Pretty sure we got those in April 2003.  One of our members still has that figure, although I don't recall who.

    I think we were told at one point that you're not terribly likely to see a fully transparent minifigure in a set because the plastic used for transparent pieces often "binds" to itself more than ABS plastic elements do.  ABS/ABS joints are fine, and ABS/Trans joints are fine, but Trans/Trans is tricky.  Hence, the arms and legs are probably a bit stiff on the 'fig shown above.

    DaveE
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    Can't you try them (and report back to Lego!)
  • datsunrobbiedatsunrobbie Member Posts: 1,818
    I get the feeling part of the appeal of monochrome minifigures is that LEGO does not sell them, so AFOLs search for bits to create them. For somebody who has not gone through the process of assembling them, the idea of buying them at retail sounds great, but I cannot help but think it would really upset some folks that spend massive amounts of money creating them from rare parts. That cool collection of monochromes is not as cool when everybody can get them.
  • davee123davee123 Member Posts: 854
    datsunrobbie said:
    I get the feeling part of the appeal of monochrome minifigures is that LEGO does not sell them, so AFOLs search for bits to create them.
    Yeah, I wouldn't think that clear minifigs or otherwise monochrome figures would be all that appealing to most non-rabid hobbyists.

    What I'd love to see is LEGO be able to sell test runs.  That is, right now, if LEGO churned out a swath of trans-glitter-purple hair elements for testing, they won't sell them.  They're for prototypes, and haven't been tested through QA, etc, etc.  So some of them make their way among internal folks at LEGO, and occasionally (through some sort of backdoor shenanigans) out to BrickLink sellers like Magic Bricks.

    But what would be cool is if they sold leftover boxes of prototype stuff to fans to distribute for resale, or to be given away at events (or what-have-you).  IE, some sort of more "approved" process to get them into the hands of fans.

    As it stands, I don't know how many of these things are floating around at LEGO, unloved.  I'm not sure when "Sea-Tron" was being developed, but I know that the batch of cool stuff we got in 2003 included a Sea-Tron figure, which must have been lying around LEGO's offices for at least 15 years.  Is there a box somewhere full of them?  Are they just here in drips and drabs?  I'm not sure.  But it'd be neat to see them get out legitimately.

    DaveE
    catwranglerkiki180703chuckpstlux
  • CCCCCC Member Posts: 20,526
    They could also do random lucky dip bags to buy online. Although I guess their old in store grab bags didn't work out too well.
    catwranglerkiki180703
  • catwranglercatwrangler Member Posts: 1,894
    I suppose they'd be too worried about it somehow ending up in kids' collections when it's not representative of the finished product. But it's a shame; I think a lot of us would love that...
  • gmonkey76gmonkey76 Member Posts: 1,828

    paul_merton said:
    I don't think I could ever bring myself to spent $50 on a single piece like that. I'd be too worried that Lego might actually produce such an item in a future set, which would make it instantly worthless


    if Marvel and Fox play nice with each other we could see a clear Invisible Woman Minifigure in a set.
  • FauchFauch Member Posts: 2,679
    edited August 2016
    davee123 said:
    Pretty sure we got those in April 2003.  One of our members still has that figure, although I don't recall who.

    I think we were told at one point that you're not terribly likely to see a fully transparent minifigure in a set because the plastic used for transparent pieces often "binds" to itself more than ABS plastic elements do.  ABS/ABS joints are fine, and ABS/Trans joints are fine, but Trans/Trans is tricky.  Hence, the arms and legs are probably a bit stiff on the 'fig shown above.

    DaveE
    Probably? if you have the figure it won't be hard to be sure.
    and yeah, that's what I thought, there was something like that in illegal connections.
  • madforLEGOmadforLEGO Member Posts: 10,788
    Considering what I spend on LEGO in general who am I to critique someone buying a part for whatever cost.
    Yodaliciousstluxjosekalelmldj77Goldchains
  • FauchFauch Member Posts: 2,679
    edited August 2016
    lol wait, one of the members, but not you.
    I thought you had just taken that picture.
  • davee123davee123 Member Posts: 854
    Fauch said:
    lol wait, one of the members, but not you.
    I thought you had just taken that picture.
    Nope!  I got some other oddities, including some prototype molds of battle droid arms and heads (the heads are slightly larger), and a black scimitar that has a hole in the handle rather than a stud.  Not quite as cool, but still interesting.

    If I can get a better picture at some point, I'll give it a go.  We hesitated taking pictures back then, because we were told to keep it on the down-low.  But that was 13 years ago, so we're probably good by now!

    DaveE
    bobabrickskiki180703josekalel
  • tallblocktootallblocktoo Member Posts: 497
    Certainly would be cool!  To see a better image of that figure. 
  • prevereprevere Member Posts: 2,923
    I bought a 7191 ucs xwing windscreen for $60, and the same for an orange tail for the cuusso sub before.
  • BrickDancerBrickDancer Member Posts: 3,639
    For me it was UCS Falcon parts 3-4 years ago. $80 for the radar dish, $150 for the gray boat riggings, $200 for the instructions. 
  • prevereprevere Member Posts: 2,923
    Selling and/or hunting down rare parts is also very interesting. Because many times it's only a few people in the world that need them. I need a 4209c05 in white to complete a #1518 Race Car Repair set but it's just impossible to find.
  • bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
    @mpfirnhaber check out that link I posted. That guy has lots of red stuff.
  • 19741974 Member Posts: 141
    Thats' there mpfirnhaber gets his red parts. Circle is complete ;)
  • 19741974 Member Posts: 141
    "where" .. sorry, my keyboard is acting strange :/
  • Lego_Lord_MayorcaLego_Lord_Mayorca Member Posts: 619
    I think the most I have ever spent on a part is perhaps $6 or $8 for one Kanohi mask from the original 2001 BIONICLE lineup? I was dead-set on completing my collection, so I was willing to fork over up to $10 for one mask if necessary.

    I'm reviewing mentally all the sets I've bought off eBay or other sellers for much more than MSRP (these are sets almost two decades gone from shelves, mind you), and thinking if I divided the price I paid by the number of pieces in the set, I might have paid a higher amount per piece, but then again, I've never gotten quite that extravagant.
  • kiki180703kiki180703 Member Posts: 1,063
    @mpfirnhaber You can buy this hair: 
    for the incredibly affordable price of 336 Euros!
    SumoLegobobabricks
  • mpfirnhabermpfirnhaber Member Posts: 65
    I think I'll wait for the flash sale, thanks :)
    SumoLegobobabricksstluxkiki180703
  • ChrisJThunderChrisJThunder Member Posts: 115
    Oh, all the things I learned today about strangely colored pieces! But seriously, these are super cool. No judgment to bobabricks from dropping a hundo on those hands, none whatsoever.
  • 19741974 Member Posts: 141
    bobabricks said:
    @1974 it's good to know that hips exist, do you know if torsos are out there?

    Yes, all parts that you need for a clear trans minifig is out there. Unfortunaly I was too late as my source had sold them all. But they used be quite common, as in certain employees could pick them up for a penny ;)

    The "secret source" that Davee123 is talking about. That's Billund. You may have heard that word before ..

  • 19741974 Member Posts: 141
    davee123 said:
    Pretty sure we got those in April 2003.  One of our members still has that figure, although I don't recall who.

    I think we were told at one point that you're not terribly likely to see a fully transparent minifigure in a set because the plastic used for transparent pieces often "binds" to itself more than ABS plastic elements do.  ABS/ABS joints are fine, and ABS/Trans joints are fine, but Trans/Trans is tricky.  Hence, the arms and legs are probably a bit stiff on the 'fig shown above.

    DaveE

    That's correct. I broke one of my prototype hands (it's a hand with a sort of glove on it - never released in any set/minfig) while stuffing it into one of trans arms .. arghh

    While I don't have any trans bodies, just sticking those trans legs into a trans brick feels VERY different compared to a normal brick. Well sticking any trans into another trans part feels the same ..

    Clear LEGO parts are some sort of polycarbonate, not ABS, and it's quite a different. Not nearly as flexible and it likes to 'bond', for lack of better words

    So until TLG finds another way to make clear parts, I don't think we'll see a clear minifig anytime soon. Allthough I did notice those fancy new spooky legs from the latets Ninjago wave don't seem to stick ... hmm
  • AanchirAanchir Member Posts: 3,037
    1974 said:
    davee123 said:
    Pretty sure we got those in April 2003.  One of our members still has that figure, although I don't recall who.

    I think we were told at one point that you're not terribly likely to see a fully transparent minifigure in a set because the plastic used for transparent pieces often "binds" to itself more than ABS plastic elements do.  ABS/ABS joints are fine, and ABS/Trans joints are fine, but Trans/Trans is tricky.  Hence, the arms and legs are probably a bit stiff on the 'fig shown above.

    DaveE

    That's correct. I broke one of my prototype hands (it's a hand with a sort of glove on it - never released in any set/minfig) while stuffing it into one of trans arms .. arghh

    While I don't have any trans bodies, just sticking those trans legs into a trans brick feels VERY different compared to a normal brick. Well sticking any trans into another trans part feels the same ..

    Clear LEGO parts are some sort of polycarbonate, not ABS, and it's quite a different. Not nearly as flexible and it likes to 'bond', for lack of better words

    So until TLG finds another way to make clear parts, I don't think we'll see a clear minifig anytime soon. Allthough I did notice those fancy new spooky legs from the latets Ninjago wave don't seem to stick ... hmm
    The tricky thing is that polycarbonate tends to bond to other polycarbonate but not to ABS. So LEGO has been very careful to make transparent legs but not transparent hips, transparent arms but not transparent hands, and transparent heads but not transparent torsos.

    This is also why a transparent 1x1 cone attached to a lightsaber blade is so difficult to get unstuck, but a solid-colored 1x1 cone attached to a lightsaber blade is fine. The former combination is two PC parts, the latter is an ABS part and a PC part. LEGO considers the former an "illegal connection" and tries to avoid it in sets, so they don't instruct kids to do something they can't undo.
    catwrangler
  • bobabricksbobabricks Member Posts: 1,842
    edited September 2016
    Aanchir said:

    This is also why a transparent 1x1 cone attached to a lightsaber blade is so difficult to get unstuck, but a solid-colored 1x1 cone attached to a lightsaber blade is fine. The former combination is two PC parts, the latter is an ABS part and a PC part. LEGO considers the former an "illegal connection" and tries to avoid it in sets, so they don't instruct kids to do something they can't undo.
    Reminds me of the presentation by Jamie Berard in August of 2006.


      



    From what this says, polycarbonate is actually a stronger plastic, I always thought it was more brittle...
    77ncaachampskiki180703
  • TigerMothTigerMoth Member Posts: 2,343
    bobabricks said:

    From what this says, polycarbonate is actually a stronger plastic, I always thought it was more brittle...
    It depends what he means by "stronger".

    Polycarbonate is second to none when it comes to the impact resistance of plastics - it doesn't need to be very thick to be bulletproof. No, a LEGO windscreen probably isn't thick enough!

    ABS isn't too far behind - but it's cheaper.

    Something that has very little resistance is acrylic, so it may come down to confusion of types of plastic.
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