Kim Thomsen from CEE explains: "Feedback can range from touch and feel to usability and play value. All is valid, we want the negative and positive feedback. The purpose is to supply LEGO Quality with valuable insights on the soft hair elements from high affinity consumers (that's YOU - our experts)."
So this is your chance to tell them what you think about such elements. The deadline is by end of play this coming Monday, 12 January 2015.
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I never could figure out WHY they are rubber, but as long as it's new hair styles in new colors that fit on regular minifig heads, I have no problem with 'em!
ReplyDeleteI find these come off much more than the harder plastic hairpieces.
ReplyDeleteI like the soft hair pieces for a number of reasons. For one, I just like the way they feel. For another, they actually LOOK softer than the plastic hair pieces, which helps avert the "ken doll effect". Also, the flexibility gives some of the mini-dolls like Stephanie a bit more of a range of motion than they'd have with rigid hair pieces.
ReplyDeleteAnd finally, I know part of the reason for using rubber for certain pieces is to allow thin, crisp details like the sharp points on the hair from the Exo-Force theme or Yoda's ears from LEGO Star Wars. I'd hate to lose the potential for that kind of crispness of detail just so LEGO hair could be "more consistent".
I haven't encountered any issues with the rubber hair pieces coming off too easily or anything like that. But of course, I only have a couple LEGO Friends sets.
One thing I haven't yet tested with the hair is its potential for customization. I have plans to try painting some LEGO Friends hair in order to create my own custom mini-dolls, but I don't know how well the paint will hold.
I don't like em
ReplyDeleteand the print on rubber never stays long .flash ,yoda and dobby are all ruined by this. I much prefer abs in any situation
DeleteI haven't minded rubber hairpieces ever since they first appeared in the Exo-Force theme. While they may come off more easily than solid ABS hairpieces, this can be a boon, especially for long hair like Friends uses. And from what I understand about the molding process, the rubbery material allows for more unique shaping than ABS would.
ReplyDeleteOne concern I have about the rubber hairpieces is that they don't seem to be able to be printed or painted as easily as traditional ABS hair. This means that Friends hair can't have streaks like Wyldstyle's hair from the Lego movie (as far as I'm aware), and moreover means that it's harder for an end user to customize. The latter concern is probably near the bottom of TLG's priorities list, though.
A slightly bigger concern is that not all Friends hairpieces are designed to be compatible with standard figs. The boxy shoulders of traditional minifigs can sometimes collide with longer Friends hairpieces, rendering some of the most unique and interesting Friends hair unusable in other themes.
I prefer hairpieces from plastic because
ReplyDelete- Plastic hairpieces look better with standard minifigs because they are the same material & reflect light in the same way.
- Rubbery hairpieces come off more easily.
- Some rubbery hairpieces do not fit onto standard heads.
I do like the holes to add accessories though.
In the end, it all comes down to compatibility with normal minifigs. As long as they fit I don't care about the material too much.
I am indifferent about them. Everyone above makes good point for why they are good and not as good. Printing is an issue on the rubber heads in Star Wars, so that's no good, but the unprinted ones are perfectly fine. They do come off a bit easily, but I only have two Friends minidolls and I don't ever use them. With the pieces being rubber, it is able to get some higher details that you couldn't get with the regular ABS. I think for me, the biggest problem I have is that with other rubber pieces I have, they collect a bit of dust and never let it go. You can't easily get rid of any dirt or dust or whatever gets stuck to them.
ReplyDeleteI don't feel like they need to go, but I think they may need a bit of tweeking. I'm not overly knowledgeable about them, like I said, only have two of those minidolls. The rest of rubber elements I have the most experience with is Star Wars, and Eeth Koth is the best example of a slightly sturdier rubber head attachment becuase it is part hard plastic and rubber so that the ends of it can flex a little. So if they were to change anything, it would be to make something similar to that.
Personally, I prefer plastic.
ReplyDeleteI don't own any Friends sets, but I have plenty of other rubber pieces that attract dust and dirt as they age and they're difficult to keep clean. I fear the same may happen in a few years when everyone has old Friends hair lying around.
ReplyDeleteI much prefer ABS. They look and feel nicer and fit in (both visually and physically) with other parts better than rubber. Rubber parts also fail to age well, collecting dust/dirt a whole lot more easily than standard plastic parts. Finally, as others have mentioned, printing on rubber has never lasted long, which definitely limits the ability to use such parts.
ReplyDeleteIf TLG is thinking about stopping the production of rubber parts, I would accept the change instantly. Perhaps another material, like a more flexible plastic, could be used for pieces that traditionally don't work well with ABS.
(PicnicBasketSam)
ReplyDeleteI HATE the rubber hair. I've got Mia's hair right in front of me the feel is not LEGO at all, and it's harder to take on and off a figure's head. They're good shapes, just not rubber parts.
The Lego Friends figures are different shapes than the other minifigures. So for me it makes sense that their hair is different. I think my daughters like the rubber hair better, but they wish it was longer. My girls like the longer hair that drapes down in front and back of the figure, similar to the minifigure mermaid hair. They like the long tresses.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a problem with them so I don't really care.
ReplyDeleteNo big issues so far, but am worried about the lighter-coloured rubbery hair getting dusty and scuffed over time.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the rubbery hair, i think it looks ok on the minidolls but the problem is that with the exception of maybe 2 hair pieces, i can't really find anything that looks good on minifigures and i use minifigures a lot more then minidolls.
ReplyDeleteFor mini-dolls, me and my child only like rubber hair which are made especially for them. We don't like at all mini-dolls with abs hair, like Natasha and Charlotte. They fit perfectly and we don't have any attachment problems.
ReplyDelete(I clearly don't understand why people talk about Yoda and others. I understand that LEGO ask only for the rubber hair used in Friends and Disney Princess, and I don't want that the hair used in these 2 themes could be changed because of HS answers)
I like them both. The new rubber hair elements introduced new shapes of hair and in new colours, moreover they also fit in the traditional minifigs and have holes allowing add accessories.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the material I prefer the plastic ones instead of rubber because they age well, whereas the rubber ones become dirty with dust and use, like the tyres and these are very hard/impossible to clean.
I also understand that the rubber material can allow producing a lot more shapes and details that plastic ones don't, they are safer to children because they can have sharp ends and won't hurt when touching them. Despite this fact the plastic elements are better to print patterns or details which is a very nice feature.
Finally, with time and usability, the plastic elements performs better than the rubber ones in terms of "clutch-power".
I would rather not have rubber hair. I find they tend to fall off more. My wife dislikes the rubber hair (with her experience coming exclusively from Friends sets), as they hair does not as easily align on the head, making it difficult to attach the hair.
ReplyDelete'Have no problems with rubber.
ReplyDelete- It looks good that these hair not reflect as plastic in the same way.
- It allows to fit something between shoulder an hair.
- The material maybe fits better to heads. Have some new minifigures from promobags. If you try to pick up them by the helmet you often pick up only the helmet. btw older headgears fits good.
I wish I had more of them, as they give a lot of variety where before there never really was much. I have also had many plastic hairpieces come off easily (Cardio Carrie, for example), but never the rubbery ones, and that includes not just my experience with Friends but also with hair pieces from the Lone Ranger sets, etc. I like the look and feel of the texture and how they can create detail in molding that rivals the strides minifig printing has made.
ReplyDeleteThough I think that I tend to like ABS hair pieces better, I've never found myself complaining when getting soft hair with a Collectable Minifig or a Friends'set (the latter mainly purchased for its special pieces/colours). So I must admit that I like these soft pieces as much as the others. Moreover, I dream of getting these soft hair pieces in real adult size! Imagine how exciting it would be to turn one's had into a Lego had, just like Manga rubber wigs allow it. ;-) A new market perspective for Lego...
ReplyDeleteI see a few people talking about the ease at which hair comes off from the friends figures. I have a few friends sets and yes the hair falls off but I have to say the issue is not as bad as a lot of ABS hair. I have so many figs that have one of two issues. The head won't separate from their hair or hat (son has a batman and the head/helmet will not come apart) and, in more cases, the hair/hats/helmets just fall off. These are often new figures and have seen the problem largely with CMFs, city and a battle pack I got for the Alien conquest theme (figures would barely stand up the legs were so loose but that's a different issue) but is by no means limited to these themes.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever had problems with the soft/rubber hair and I love the detail and how they fit and just look right on regular minifigs. Can't fault them.
As for the friends line, I don't think they would look the same with ABS hair - there is a kind of non-shiny softness that the rubber hair adds to the figures and they look great although the actual figures are a bit supermodelly - they need to be a little wider around the hips and waist.