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I can get the arms off my LEGO minifigs, however, will doing so repeatedly wear them out?

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6 Answers

up vote 25 down vote accepted

No, they are not meant to come off (and neither are their hands) and I imagine that doing so repeatedly will cause them to become loose, as is the case with hands.

I have noticed that the hands come off a lot easier nowadays compared to 1970s/1980s vintage Lego, but I'm rarely sadistic enough to rip their arms off :)

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up vote 7 down vote

I did it regularly as a kid and, while it takes some effort, it had to be done a considerable amount of times for any damage to appear.

Removing arms allows for more variety in your minifigs, but also to use these elements separately for other purposes (never underestimate the usefullness of a single hand, or the architectural value of a torso).

Also, note that other arms have been produced (mechanical arm in the Agents theme, rock arms in Power Miners), so you can have interesting minifigs by using these. Same for boxing gloves recently released in the collectible minifigs serie.

One last thing - some minifigs are produced in China (for magnets, for example, or minifig collections) and there are some concerns about their quality, so you may want to be careful with these. Note that while the fact that they are produced in China (you can recognize them at the rectangle engraved in the arms) is a certainty, the fact that the quality is less good is subject for debate.

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What's the evidence for the Collection quality? I see it asserted on other sites but no proof. – Erik Olson Nov 8 '11 at 17:53
I'll reword that part of my answer, as it's too simplified. Thanks for pointing that. – Joubarc♦ Nov 8 '11 at 18:26
I can't add much more in the answer without really going off the topic of the question; I guess this topic should be a question fo its own. That said, LEGO has its own quality standards to maintain and they will sure want them enforced by all their partners. I think the main issue with these minifigs was that some were slightly translucent, but LEGO has had the exact same problem with regular bricks (when they started mixing the ABS and color themselves instead of buying colored ABS), so maybe the Chinese aren't to blame if they followed the LEGO recipe to the letter. – Joubarc♦ Nov 8 '11 at 18:33
up vote 6 down vote

From my experience: Normally No! But you can yank them out softly. If you do it to often they'll become loose.

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up vote 2 down vote

The only arms you can legally take off are found on Mos Eisley cantina aliens. Use the blue light saber to take them off cleanly.

By the same logic, you can only swap hands on certain Luke Skywalker minifigs. Or pirates. This is also true now for certain Anakin Skywalker minifigs.

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The arms of skeletons also come off easily. – Philippe Nov 9 '11 at 12:08
up vote 0 down vote

Also, I have received several minifigures from various boxes that had no hands mounted to their arms from the factory, which indicate it is a "legal operation".

I don't think they aren't ment to be ripped off often, but if doing so gently, they shouldn't break.

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1  
Question was about arms. What factory set specifically are you thinking of? Also, insertion once had to happen at birth, removal is the point. – Erik Olson Nov 8 '11 at 17:52
I don't recall the exact product number of the boxes. But my point is, if you get to assemble it, I guess it is meant to be disassembled too. – Tagger Nov 11 '11 at 9:36
up vote -1 down vote

I don't often do it, once a minifigure is created. But my kid often change minifigures' weapons and hats and I'm afraid that they'll become loose by time.

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