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Having just gotten back into LEGO this year, I noticed that the flags in my new sets are mirrored from all the flags I used to have. On the left is a green flag from 4162 FreeStyle Multibox from 1995, and on the right is a red flag from 10404 Ocean's Bottom from this year — notice that they flow in opposite directions:

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According to BrickLink, this change was made in 2008, and the original mold stopped appearing in sets in 2010.

What was the reason for this change?

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    Maybe a radical change in the flag mold policy?
    – Metalbeard
    Dec 15, 2018 at 19:39
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    An informed answer seems unlikely, uninformed guesses are legion. My guess is the molding tool designer was thinking a flag is a flag just make it wave, It will be 8 years before any asks about it on Stack Exchange.
    – Dan1138
    Dec 15, 2018 at 20:22

1 Answer 1

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I asked them over chat and the answer was :

There's no a special reason, it's due to the mold. I know, it's not very romantic!

enter image description here

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  • Nice one! However, I would have liked to see more speculations about flag directions. Which chat did you use to contact LEGO employees?
    – Metalbeard
    Dec 17, 2018 at 14:29
  • @Aziraphale lego.com support section
    – Ankit Sharma
    Dec 17, 2018 at 14:30
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    Oh, it's that simple!? Actually, the LEGO answer is no answer at all. The shape of the piece is due to the mold. But WHY did they change it? That is the big mystery. Maybe a struggle between left-wing and right-wing politicians in the LEGO hierarchy?
    – Metalbeard
    Dec 17, 2018 at 14:41
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    Yeah, no, like @Aziraphale said, that doesn't answer my question at all. The shape coming from the mold is obvious - it should be pretty clear that I'm asking why they changed the mold. If they don't have an answer to that, they can say so and I can roll with that, but as it is right now it just looks like they didn't understand my question at all. Having said that, I'm not in the business of shooting the messenger so I won't downvote this answer - I'll abstain from voting instead. I'll assume the 3 upvotes are for your taking the trouble.
    – LegoSonicBoy
    Dec 18, 2018 at 5:09
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    @LegoSonicBoy I am fine with that and my digging is still not stopped to get more
    – Ankit Sharma
    Dec 18, 2018 at 5:17

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