Have your Ghostbusters instructions fallen apart?

My DeLorean instructions have the same problem.

I have the same problem with Eiffel Tower :(

I have had the same experience with my Ghost-busters instructions - they fell apart before I completed the build. I too have requested a new set of instructions.

I have not experienced this with other ideas or architecture sets (let's hope I don't now!)

Same problem here.
Up front I was using the digital instructions, however, some colors were not good to be seen on the digital instructions --> looked into the real instructions --> detached.

same problem, will request another manual as well.

If the issue is in the manual, requesting a new copy should also have the same problem? Unless you just keep it and have no intention to open it at all.

I think you guys should just go and ring-bind the problematic instructions.

I spotted that this would happen before I started building, so I downloaded the instructions.

The same issue occurs with the MBA sets, another expensive premium product

I have had this many times with graphic novels, if you feel like repairing this; timber-glue is a great glue to fix this. Just apply sparingly to the binding and then keep manual pressed together ( for about a day under a heavy book) and it should hold a lot better.

Mine fell to pieces too. I asked customer services to send a new one that won't break. They did want the manufacturing code from the box and a code from the booklet, I guess they want to know if the bad ones come from some particular plant.

i didnt have the problem when i built mine, but i know one of my friends did.

I'd read and seen a few reviews, before the release date, that made comment to the instructions coming apart, so I knew to be extra gentle when handling the booklet. I just about got away with it, even with the wife carefully holding the booklet throughout the build (she normally passes me the parts), a few of the pages were just starting to come away from the spine.
Watch 'the brick show' review on youtube to see how bad their book was. This is not good quality from LEGO.

Mine fell apart
Should be raise a blanket complaint with Lego?

I've had this with a couple of the Architecture sets. Pretty poor in my opinion but what can you do.

I've always found the only quality issues I've had have been with the instruction manuals from various sets. The modula firestation instructions were missing the number of each piece required throughout the booklets and most recently R2-D2 had a book that half way through went back to the beginning again and then missed out a whole chunk of stages. Lego have always replaced them (quite slowly I might add), but it does seem to be a weak link in the production process for them and something that is most likely farmed out to thrid party printers. Now if only I could convince them to stop using TNT for deliveries (every order, and most are over £100, has been left unsigned for on my doorstep free for any would be thief to help themselves to!!). I did complain about it to Lego and they said they would pass it on to TNT but that "some of the delivery drivers will not be responsive to negative feedback"!!

I've built the set 3 days ago. Because of the reviews mentioning the problem with the instructions, I planned to build the set using only the pdf instructions. So I left the paper version in the box. But, for some parts in the pdf (because of it's black background) I could not decide which color to use, so I picked up the paper booklet. Even though I handled the booklet VERY careful, and did not bend over pages very much, I can see that at least 3 pages are "in the process of falling off". Definitely bad quality of the (binding of the) booklet... Could have been MUCH better!

I don't have this set but my Eiffel Tower instructions fell apart, I think its all these "better quality" instruction manuals, because there all just glued together rather than stapled

Mine did not do this but I made extra care not to fully open the book when building. I used a LEGO piece to hold the page because I let the book close every time I was going to add a piece to the build. They should re-do the books with the standard binding.

Just to clarify, what is binding the book together?

I generally worry about damaging my art books and comic books. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold the book open without seriously bending and creasing it. So, I used online instructions instead. Know I hear about this issue, and I'm glad I used online instructions.

@aleydita
Complain with Lego at lego.com and ask for a new instruction book. The more people do this, the more chance there is Lego will take note for future Idea sets.

Built my Ghostbusters set yesterday and didn't notice any issue with the instruction book.

just called lego. they will be sending me a new instruction manual from Denmark. however, they are now out-of-stock. maybe a "fix" is on the way? i was told maybe a 4 week wait and not the typical 2 week one.

Built mine yesterday and noticed when closing the book that some pages were sticking out as they'd started to come out of the binding. Didn't have this problem with DeLorean or any of the Architecture sets... Worth getting a replacement now or holding out a few weeks until they fix the problem?

Wow! That just looks bad! I was not aware of the problem and built my Ecto-1 as usual (from the instructions). I haven't noticed pages falling out, but I will be extra careful handling it from now on.

I have all of the LEGO MBA sets that someone mentioned above as also falling apart, but I never had a problem with those even though I open them fully. Maybe it depends on the printing company they use and perhaps they use different ones for different batches or regions?

Since the MBA sets are only available in the US, I'd have expected them to all use the same source for the instruction booklets. I've collected the books from as many of those sets as I could afford and read them eagerly, but don't recall having any fall apart (even though most of mine are second-hand). This is a common issue with perfect binding of slick-surfaced paper, and there may not be much Lego can do about it. Stapling isn't an option with such thick manuals, I suspect, and separating the content into separate booklets for the build and background material wouldn't be as interesting as the current layout.

This is very depressing because I plan to keep my Ghostbusters set sealed, at least for a while, so if there's a bad batch of manuals I won't know if I have one.

Built my Ghostbusters set last night, book held up fine, but will check it when I get home today now that I've heard of others having the issue.

I just built mine last night and didn't have an issue, though I could see how it might happen. It's a thick booklet and has a tendency to close up without either weighing down the side with less pages (the technique I used while building the DeLorean) or pushing down on the binding (which is the route I chose this time around). I'd think the pages would have detached last night, if they were going to, but I'll be sure to be careful in the future if I disassemble/reassemble it.

I did not have these issues with any of the MBA manuals, either, FWIW.

nope, my ghostbusters booklet stayed bound like it should be...

I had the same issue with my Eiffel Tower set

@iancam33
I did the same thing, but not with a LEGO... essentially it's a bookmark. And I do have to reopen the book every step, Spiral binding would be great, or many multiple books that are staple bound.

Spiral binding sounds like a great idea.

I got this set for Father's Day, but haven't opened it yet. I have seen this issue in multiple reviews though. Even at New Elementary had the same issue. Everyone "hopes" it is an isolated issue, but obviously it is pretty widespread.

I will be contacting them tonight about getting a new one. I assume they will ask for the code also? Otherwise, I would do it right now.

I encountered this problem for the first time with Trevi Fountain, which I received last week.
I called customer service and the instructions will be replaced as soon as more are in stock.

My Ecto-1 is underway, I'm skeptical the instructions will be ok. The woman at CS (Stefanie, you were great!) certainly knew of the problem with the Ghostbuster set, and said LEGO was very aware of the problem, apparently there was a bad batch produced.

But after reading about all the other sets with the same problem, it seems more like the production of these manuals hasn't been up to standards as they should be.

This certainly needs to be fixed for 'Premium sets' such as the architecture line, and all others as well. Certainly not good advertising for LEGO!

I don't own the set, and don't plan to buy it, but it's kind of strange that (from the sound of it) that premium instructions aren't necessarily premium, but normal instructions are working fine for the most part (with very occasional crumpled up ones). I'm not saying all premium instructions are bad quality, though. My MBA Space Designer book is fine, according to my memory (I should double check now, though).

The architecture series instructions are NOT fine. My UN Headquarters booklet fell apart on first build. It was impossible to open the pages wide enough to read without them detaching themselves from the book.

Like sharky above, I ended up building from the online instructions not the book, but not because I was worried about incidental damage as much as the fact that you can't lie the perfect-bound instructions flat without breaking the spine, which I'd rather not do. The alternative is to build with one hand holding the book open, which is as tricky as you'd expect.

I can see why Lego think these thicker books are a good selling point, but personally I'd much rather have something stapled or spiral bound that I can easily read from during construction.

Mine are fine, but I handled them very carefully after reading the review...

Mine were fine. With the special book binding, great care must be taken. Bend the page, not the binding.

just my 2 cents worth... but i have all (well almost all) of the black box sets and i have never had any problems with any of my books. i hope that everyone will get replacement books that are ok. i hope that in the future lego will consider an alternative to the problem of books that can not be fully opened and pages falling out.

My DeLorean manual was OK. I have just ordered the Ghostbuster Ecto-1. I get it tomorrow.
Nice to know what to do if manual falls apart :-)

same problem with DeLorean, Eiffel Tower, and Idea House, but I didn't think they might be connected until seeing this article.

I had the same issue.

This looks to be a widespread issue...

Here is the same issue!

I actually find the Architecture series instruction booklets really annoying. They are a bit too 'stiff' and so don't stay open on their own unless you really push down on them, which presumably can lead to damage.

The "perfect bound" books sure do look nice, but even when they don't fall apart they are a royal pain to use. Like paulmison I end up using the pdf instructions on my iPad for every one of the black box sets since the instruction books are so difficult to use. Perhaps Lego considers these books a collector’s item and something that should be kept for looks and not functionality?

If they really intended to put out a premium product then, as many others have noted, spiral binding would certainly be the way to go. My two favorite manuals that I have ever used are the ones for 10179 and 10221, both are very large spiral bound books. Those are what I would consider “premium”.

Has anyone had this issue with the new Sandcrawler manual? I believe it's bound in the same fashion but so far no one has had posted any complaints. I did actually use the Sea Cow manual since it was large and heavy enough for the pages to stay open on their own, and it faired ok throughout the build.

Hmm. That's really too bad. I would think that LEGO would know how to make the books better. Because some seem to be doing this and some don't, is there anywhere on the book that would identify a factory or something where it came from, to help isolate the problem?

I had read that this was happening so worked around it by using a paper weight to keep the book open to the page I was on, so I didn't have to flatten it down too much and crack the binding..I didn't have any problems using it that way.

I stapled the instruction booklet together before building so it holds.

Same problem here.
A new manual is in backorder (2 weeks). No worry's.

I have the DeLorean and I only used it once; and no problems.

I ordered the ECTO-1, it should be posted in the middle of this week; hopefully it won't rip, I'll take care of the manual.

I think you just need to take care of it; I use the box to hold the pages (not using force too hold it down.)

I too had the same issue. I contacted Lego Customer Services and told of my disgust that such a "PREMIUM" set should have such a bad instruction manual. In the past months I've spent a lot of money on Lego and this left a sour taste in my mouth.

Lego got back to me after a week and said that there stocks of replacement manuals for the Ghostbusters kit is out of stock and they will send me on out once in stock.. I think a follow up email will be in order after two weeks.

BTW: I didn't even apply any pressure to the pages and wanted it to be near-perfect once I built my set..

I use my iPad for builds.

I've got a 3 year old son that loves LEGO but I tend to keep instruction books and any stickers in the boxes of sets when I open them - saves getting bits of biscuit and juice drink stuck on them!!

However, I haven't built set 4000010 yet and that's the same type of book and there's no instructions pdf via the usual channels.

Just put mine together yesterday (Happy Father's Day to me).

My instructions held together just fine.

Yes I had the exact same problem with my Back to The Future instructions. They pages seemed to be slowly peeling apart from each other whilst I was building the set. I'm just glad to hear I'm not the only one. It seems to be they way the pages are poorly bound together and the extra thickness of the black pages causes it to bust.

Mine has fallen apart.. The DeLorean was ok though.

Just built ECTO-1 yesterday and even with just partially opening pages and holding it with hands (far from being flat on the ground), they just fell apart.

My Delorean was fine too, so maybe just newer batches are bad.

This really makes LEGO look bad. I mean, Its such an expensive and top quality product, but they spoil everything with those instructions.

My 21108 instruction is falling apart too and I didn't even build it yet, I just opened instruction to see it inside.

Of course, I also had the same problem with the instructions, good gift on my birthday, too bad this little note, either by the costumer service if you replace the manual.

See You ¡¡¡¡

Ouch. This is not "premium" at all. I can think of a way to completely forgo this problem altogether: spiral-bind the Ideas and Architecture booklets. They've done it before. Or, just do an all-black regular manual that won't fall apart at the slightest touch.

Hopefully, by the time I get 21108, this issue will have been resolved!

I heard about the issue and just pulled up the instructions online when I did my build. Though, I pretty much do that with all of my sets these days; hardly ever use the actual instructions.

I got the Ecto-1 set on release and the whole booklet disintegrated. Haven't looked on here for a while so I'm glad it's not just me. Shocking really.

REAL AFOLs shouldn't need instructions. The pictures on the box should be enough.

Besides, these products aren't meant to be OPENED... They are meant for collectibility in sealed plastic boxes.

My delorean instructions are fine but my ghostbusters instruction manual has also fallen apart. I watched the brickshow's review of the ghostbusters set and they also said their instruction manual fell apart.

I built my Ecto1 a few weeks ago and didn't notice any issues. But I built it in one sitting and I'm always carful not to bend these type of pages back too far. The booklet was immediately closed and put away and I still haven't noticed any loose pages. I recommend just being extra carful and not leaving the booklet open for extended periods when not building. And it may be a bit of a pain to build with the book not creased open, but it will save the books binding from this problem.

I have the problem with my White House Architecture set. My other Architecture or perfect-bound sets seem fine.

I had this issue with the instructions for the United Nations architecture set, so it sounds like it's a widespread problem. I complained to customer service and they sent me a replacement.

Reading the comments here, it sounds like LEGO have been receiving complaints for sets with this kind of instructions for some time. It's disappointing that they continue to manufacture instructions using the same binding process despite being aware of this issue.

I got an email the other day stating my replacement Ghostbusters Manual has been dispatched. It will take 7-10 days to arrive.

If you haven't already, complain to Lego Customer Services and ask for a replacement.

I am glad that I read this post before opening my Ghostbusters manual. I just downloaded the instructions from Brickset and used the PDF version. I had to clight open the manual about 3 times to confirm which reddish brown pieces to use, since they were not very visible on the PDF.

My instructions seem to have stayed intact, but 1 page was smeared and very difficult to read. Calling LEGO for a replacement tomorrow. Very sad, considering the amount that we payed.