Minifigure factory opens in the LEGO House
Posted by Huw,
Tomorrow, The LEGO House in Billund will have a custom 'Minifigure factory' printing machine installed.
The machine, which can also be found in the Berlin, Orlando and Amsterdam stores [*], allows you to design your own torso, or pick from a range of pre-selected ones, which in Billund include some exclusive LEGO House ones.
The printer itself is likely to be a Roland UV printer, similar to that used by most minifig customisers, so the quality of the print won't be the same as that on minifigures in sets.
The question I have for you, then, do you think minifigs printed in the store count as 'official' LEGO figures?
You'll find the press release after the break.
[*] And in others not mentioned in the press release, it seems...
The LEGO Minifigure Factory lets you customise and personalise your own minifigure torso by adding text, decorations and even drawings on it. All done on a computer and a few minutes later - a freshly printed personal minifigure is ready just for you!
Guests will be able to pick between a few pre-selected designs to start with, but it is also possible to create a new design by drawing and adding text to the minifigure torso. Furthermore, guests will be able to pick among approximately 20 exclusive LEGO House prints like the LEGO House logo, a Play Agent torso, the house drawn in drone perspective, the dinosaurs and many more iconic illustrations from the house.
Store Manager, Thomas Jensen is super excited about the new retail experience and especially the exclusive LEGO House decorations are dear to him: “The most fantastic part of having this new retail experience is the possibility for our guests to personalise and create their unique LEGO minifigure. With the exclusive LEGO House decorations they get the possibility to create their very own piece of souvenir from their visit and in that way bring home a little piece of LEGO House. In the store we look very much forward to creating lots of minifigures together with our guests and feel the creative and playful atmosphere even more.”
This unique experience is available in LEGO Stores in, and now also in LEGO House, Billund.
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47 comments on this article
Hope they roll them out in LEGO shops worldwide!
...notice though that they're not brave enough to print light colours on a dark plastic... :-D
Too bad I don’t have a place with one of these near me. They’re awesome!
I want one of those life size printed tiles that are on the base of the machines
...or are they stickers?
They look pretty official to me! But there can be infinite variations (if I understand correctly, even without considering the name), so I think it should probably count as one single item.
I hope that you will eventually be able to upload your own designs...
Need a perfect chest piece for the imperial flametrooper?
BAM!
Now they just need an option for me to create completely custom designs for not just the torso...
Any idea on price?
The Nippers tried this out in Leicester Square about a week ago. They might need to think about how to manage the queues as it takes a fair while to use the machine, and everyone has to queue outside regardless of interest in the machine. Once inside the store we waited well over half an hour to use it, but when we left the store the queue outside had trebled.
That said the experience was excellent because of the fantastic support of the staff. They were incredibly patient and friendly and my children were so proud of what they came away with thanks to them.
@ Your_Future_President
I recently had one made in Amsterdam. It was € 11.95 if I remember well. You get to choose one accessory, and it comes with a 1 x 3 brick with "LEGO Amsterdam" on one side, and a text of choice on the other side. And a nice box.
It would be great if uploadable pictures were possible indeed. Now it's only the torso using predefined pictures, patterns and colours.
There's one in the Dusseldorf-store as well.
Also, as there will be infinite variations, dreamt up by people themselves, I don't consider them to be "official" figs - just as other customs by different printers.
What I don't get is that they don't give you a 1x4 brick to put the fig on... Now it's not even!
Or even a printed 4x3 plate as per the collectables?
It's a nice concept, but since even the closest LEGO brand store is an hour away I'd like to see this online as part of shop.lego.com.
@Jackthenipper what did they charge for the custom minifigure?
tbh I would be more interested if we could print on lego heads... I need light blue head printed
torso too, but the head I need the most
Interesting. I hope I can have one near me sometime soon.
I'd like to create a minifig. But, no, I wouldn't count them as 'official'.
If they are official your data base will be rather incomplete. There will be so many figures out in the wild that will be uncounted for by these printers.
I really wna to make my own figure, but it doesn't seem possible given the situation in the world. As for the question, I would count the LEGO House prints as official,but anything custom isn't IMO
Isn't there one in Leicester Square now? I thought I saw Graham from Brick Fanatics review it.
This is indeed great. Not only its fun but it also provides a cool memorabilia
^^ I thought so too. I'm not sure why the press release didn't mention all the locations of the machines, then.
Great idea, would be nice to mailorder custom minifigs from the nearest printer! Also would like to see the program process portrait photos into minifig style if you want your own sigfig.
Personally, I wouldn't count custom minifigs as official. That would benefit collectors greatly ;)
^^ There are dozens of companies that produce customised figures the same quality as those that this machine will produce, like https://fab-bricks.com, where I get my Brickset torsos printed.
There’s definitely one in Leicester square as well now, and staff said it’s permanent rather than last year’s trial run.
Isn't that the perfect way to get filthy rich? Design a custom torso, print it in a few copies, advertise your design for some small Lego event (like a video channel, a raffle, anything really), and then resell them to those who'd do anything to collect all the minifigures ever produced...
@Hybryda said:
"tbh I would be more interested if we could print on lego heads... I need light blue head printed
torso too, but the head I need the most"
What for ?
They aren't official minifigs clearly, it would be impossible to register all of them into the database if it was. But it's a step above pure homemade.
I'd say it's like in a videogame, when they let you draw your own custom car paint, or a custom avatar, or something like that. The basic "canvas", in this case the printable minifig parts, is official. As well as the ability and method of customization, including all pre-made stencil images that are available to customize with. What comes after that is officially sanctioned "user content".
Basically I'd say all individual parts are eligible to categorize into the database as official Lego, if at all possible. But not the combinations or custom drawings.
@huw I've heard there's one in the Liverpool (UK) store as well
I saw the machine in the Amsterdam store at the start of 2020, but the price was pretty steep. (€11,99) , so didn't really look into it much.
Build-a-Minifigure cost €6,99 for 3 "normal" figures so could almost get 6 figures for the price of 1 custom printed.
But for a truly unique figure via "official" means , I can see the minfigure Factory still a nice option / souvenir.
Also since the prints seem different per location, that makes them somewhat unique depending on where it's made.
They may not be official collectible minifigs, but they are a minifig that is from official LEGO pieces. Is there a way to track custom minifigs now? If not, it would be helpful if there was at least a generic minifig item called custom minifig (or something like that), available to at least keep track of how many custom minifigs I have from BAM.
@datsunrobbie said:
"It's a nice concept, but since even the closest LEGO brand store is an hour away I'd like to see this online as part of shop.lego.com.
@Jackthenipper what did they charge for the custom minifigure? "
£10.99 each - and they used their own pocket money! I thought it a bit steep at the time, but as an experience it was worth it... but that really came down to how helpful the London staff were... they certainly had their work cut out with my little girl! They were so patient and encouraging they made it a highlight of the summer!
@bananaworld:
With UV printing it wouldn't be a problem. Rather than applying a thin layer of liquid to the surface, it's actually bonding material that leaves a visibly raised texture. A single layer prints so think that, color-wise, you can't tell the difference between black printed on white and white printed on black.
@Laz:
Bricklink will probably inventory each stock print, but make you list anything else as a custom item. Base color is variable, but can be selected accordingly when listing the item. There's less point (and probably more headache) to incorporating them into Brickset's database, and the custom print would just be a generic entry.
@Jackthenipper:
They probably should have delayed this until after the pandemic is safely behind us. In my state, they've imposed limits on how many people can be in a store based on total square footage, including the staff. They have to keep the front door locked and let you in and out to manage this, and if you walk up when the store is at capacity, they'll ask you to wait outside. Add in a line of people trying to get their hands on a machine that everyone before them has touched, and I'm sure the mall (or the governor) would have something to say about it.
Nice albeit quite expensive souvenirs, but not "official" figures.
Hmm, would it be prohibited to sell these on Bricklink, for the customized parts clause (and probably don't meet LEGO quality standards if the Roland UV is used)?
I believe the pre-selected pattern made of official LEGO inks and discovered office LEGO House logos have to be counted as official ones
Sadly Billund is far away from my location. Hope someone will help me to get all of those 20 exclusive ones
I just have Leicester's exclusive torsos, a friend helped me to grab a few. Now I am into Berlin, Dusseldorf, Amsterdam and Orlando. Not sure if Stockholm is still available
@SpaceCadet01 said:
" @huw I've heard there's one in the Liverpool (UK) store as well"
There is I was in the store tonight :-)
Yes, I count them as official ones. Different process or not, they are still printed by Lego. :)
There are numerous official smaller run sets that have printed (and stickered) pieces that go through a different process. To say nothing of last years Inside Tour set (4000034) that had an actual 3D printed piece in it (and it was given a proper part number!).
@LostInTranslation said:
"Isn't there one in Leicester Square now? I thought I saw Graham from Brick Fanatics review it. "
Yes, it's available at the Leicester's these days
Cool! We had a figure done last year when the only machine was in Orlando, and we also had one made at the Lego Store in Berlin.
I haven't yet made one in Amsterdam but that's my local store, so I'm sure I'll get one done there as well. I was at the Lego House three weeks ago: too bad they didn't have it then. But Billund is pretty close, so one of these months I'll head back there.
@alldarker said:
"Cool! We had a figure done last year when the only machine was in Orlando, and we also had one made at the Lego Store in Berlin.
I haven't yet made one in Amsterdam but that's my local store, so I'm sure I'll get one done there as well. I was at the Lego House three weeks ago: too bad they didn't have it then. But Billund is pretty close, so one of these months I'll head back there. "
I wish you can help with Amsterdam
@CCC said:
" @kwickbrick said:
"They may not be official collectible minifigs, but they are a minifig that is from official LEGO pieces. "
So is a plain figure covered in sharpie.
"
LEGO printing is not a sharpie, neither is a BAM minifig.
Fantastic news!
Really looking forward to make a unique fig with animals printed on it next time I can come to the Lego house :D
@Ethan29 said:
" @Hybryda said:
"tbh I would be more interested if we could print on lego heads... I need light blue head printed
torso too, but the head I need the most"
What for ?"
I want to give Loki some frost giant face like in the first Thor movie ;p
This is actually quite a nice idea! I think it could have some minor improvements, though, such as the ability to somehow have an application to design it at home, and send the file to the machine at the store. This would actually benefit custom builders a lot, to design and print custom torsos, because it would be hard to take 30 minutes designing it at the store. Another of my concerns is the price, as these can be rather expensive each. Hopefully these problems will be fixed but overall, this is a great product, and also makes a nice unique souvenir!
Very cool. I was disappointed that when I was in Orlando in August, they had the machine and store on lock-down. Disney World was the safest place I've felt other than my home. Disney Springs wasn't as safe (poor social distancing, poor mask wearing), but the Lego Store itself felt very safe. I was disappointed that no one in my family could make a custom figure, but we all understood. Still, disappointed.
I would not consider them official minifigures. I think the parts could be counted that way?
I do like some of the patent torsos- very meta for a fig to be wearing its design .
I am leaning towards a sort of partially official item here, with the individual non-custom torsos being unique enough to each have their own entry. As was already mentioned, if you start counting the various combinations of legs and heads you have a BAM situation. I think this is most analogous to the introduction of exclusive prints and colors in the BAM selection, and those are certainly considered official on an element-by-element basis.
Would someone mind explaining why it matters if they're official or not?
@bananaworld said:
"
Would someone mind explaining why it matters if they're official or not?"
What would you prefer legal or faked arts? Same here as custom minifigures ain't worth much as a collectable item. Only official ones give high value for collectors
Official or not question is really only an issue for the catalogging perspective, like for Brickset and Bricklink. Obviously you cannot list all the custom options (thats infinite), so it could list all the Lego House offerings or just say "cannot be inventoried."
@bananaworld:
Because the primary purpose of Brickset is not to be a news site, but to allow people to catalog their collections. Being official parts means Huw would be more likely to create listings for them. The completely custom prints, on the other hand, might merit a group entry at best (buy ten completely unique prints, list them all as 10x Custom Torso), but there's no way Huw is going to create unique entries for every new original torso print people submit to him.
The minifig question gets a bit more complicated. With so many new minifig parts, there are potentially thousands of unique minifigs that could be assembled from just the stock prints that are available through this program, before you start throwing user-designed prints into the question. This was the same problem for Build-a-Minifig. But then many stores started offering prebuilt BaM minifigs with all the new parts from each quarterly update, and the question of whether or not to include just those as official minifigs came up, because you could just walk in and pick it up without having to dig through the bins yourself.