Bricks is a question and answer site for LEGO® and building block enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I was disassembling my LEGO set 7674. It is not new but certainly not old. It was built once. Was kept in a sealed box. No direct sunlight. In fact no light at all. Perfect storage conditions. Room temperature and humidity. While disassembling one of the parts broke in my hand twice!!! It fell apart.
First time this happens. I have thousands of sets. Have sets from the 70's and also new ones. Never saw this happen.
Any ideas?
For whatever reason, several Lego sets from 2008 are known to have had this issue. The trouble seems to be part specific. For example, the Lego Bionicle Karda Nui set 8686 Lewa Nuva that contained four Technic Beam 5 with Two Ball Sockets in FabuLime (Lego part number 4539223) often cracked upon initial assembly or disassembly. Replacement parts obtained directly from Lego exhibited the same issue.
Because of the consistent high quality of Lego manufacturing, on the rare occasion that we find a bad part, we tend to blame ourselves for the part failure. Logically, if the trouble is exhibited across the entire set (example: brittle parts) then it is probably safe to assume environmental issues like exposure to sunlight or temperature extremes. However, if the problem is only exhibited in a single piece handled with proper care, it is reasonable to assume manufacturing issues.
In my experience, Lego warranty part replacement services will never admit to or discuss known issues with Lego sets or parts. It must be against company policy. However, much to their credit, they will replace any part they have in inventory, no questions asked. So, if you have an issue like this again, contact them immediately. The catch is 'parts they have in inventory'. For older sets they might not have your part, so you would have to use a service like BrickLink.
I have thousands of Lego sets. Rarely, I have found a malformed or missing piece. The odd brittle piece problem seems to be confined to several 2008 sets. Maybe Lego was experimenting with new pigments, ABS formulations, or manufacturing processes that year?
Is it possible that the way you disassembled the set may have been hasty or under-careful? Some pieces are rather easy to snap. Perhaps include the ID of the pieces in your question to confirm this?
