A close look at the LEGO House duck
Posted by Huw,
Attendees of the AFOL day at the LEGO House last Thursday had the opportunity to acquire an additive manufactured duck when purchasing an exclusive LEGO House minifigure. You may have seen the photos of it that we posted on social media on the day.
The piece has been produced using a technique known as selective laser sintering which enables it to be manufactured relatively easily and cheaply, and have moving parts: the beak opens and closes when it's pushed.
It's not the first part manufactured in this way that LEGO has made publicly available. 4000034 LEGO System House contained a specially-designed drafting machine piece, which you can find out more about at New Elementary.
You can get a feel for the size of the duck from the picture of it next to a minifigure above. It's about 29mm beak-to-tail and 24mm high.
As you can see it has a rough surface, which is a result of the manufacturing process used. My macro lens and bright lighting accentuates it considerably, but it doesn't look too bad when handled and when viewing at a normal distance.
The element ID 92898 appears on the front and (c) LEGO on the back.
The piece consists of five separate parts. Inside is the mechanism that makes the beak open as it's rolled along the table.
It's hard to get it to remain stationary with the beak open, so I had to hold it in place for this photo.
The 318 bar connection at the front enables it to be held by a minifigure. It feels like a slightly snugger fit than normal.
In case you're interested, these are the exclusive figures available at the House. They don't come with hair, or the 1x3 jumper plate. The AFOL DAY 2022 printed 1x3 brick was available only on the day. They cost 89DKK each. Other designs are available when the Minifigure Factory is open: it was closed on AFOL day to avoid lengthy queues.
I had the one in the middle sent to me a while ago, hence the different 1x3 print which I assume is the one normally packed with them. I've no idea why it's not a 1x4, so the figure can be positioned centrally without resorting to using an additional part.
I understand that the duck was distributed to us on the day in order to gather feedback about it prior to potentially being made available in the House shop later in the year, probably as a gift with purchase again.
My opinion is that it's interesting and an excellent example of just what's possible using a state-of-the-art SLS machine, but it's very un-LEGO-like. Nevertheless, I am glad it's been made and that I own it rather than it not be made at all.
There was a limit of one per person but despite that several have appeared on BrickLink already and can be yours for just $350/€350. Perhaps surprisingly, some have already been sold for way more than that.
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74 comments on this article
This looks incredibly interesting but seems too much like playmobil to me
These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing???
The 1x3 bricks, the style and size of font used, and the solid white torsos with plain legs and generic faces indicate these were printed with a Minifig Factory machine. They have pucks that they load with a solid white torso (with yellow hands) and a 1x3 brick before printing them. The pucks get flipped over, and the back is printed in a second pass. The reason it’s a 1x3 brick and not a 1x4 is that the brick _is_ centered on the torso. It’s attached to the neck post, not the base. For Minifig Factory, the small text is preprogrammed with the store location, and the larger text is whatever name the buyer types in when creating their torso design.
If only I'd had time to stick out the queue! Glad you managed to get one, was very interested to hear that it had any movement at all given how small it is. It's very cute, but I agree that it's not very LEGO (yet). I am interested by this experimentation with different manufacture techniques though, and wonder whether we'll see more small minifigure accessories like this in the future.
@PurpleDave said:
"The 1x3 bricks, the style and size of font used, and the solid white torsos with plain legs and generic faces indicate these were printed with a Minifig Factory machine. …"
Yes you’re correct. These minifigs were pre-printed figures. The duck was available as an accessory for the figure, but was only limited to one per person.
Cool, what else can they make?
It looks so un-LEGO-like, yet I still love it. It's too interesting.
Can a stud attach to those wheels? Looks to be around the right size.
I wonder what the sixth part is. Of the six separate parts this consists of as mentioned by Huw, I can only spot five.
@CCC said:
"Crazy prices for what looks like something that comes out of a Christmas cracker."
That sums it up nicely! If it was made by anyone else it would be instantly dismissed as rubbish.
@TheOtherMike said:
"Can a stud attach to those wheels? Looks to be around the right size."
No
@greenhorn isaid
"I wonder what the sixth part is. Of the six separate parts this consists of as mentioned by Huw, I can only spot five."
It's five: I miscounted. The body, two axles/wheels, the lever and the beak.
@thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Someone who expects to be able to sell it for 1100 USD
It reminds me lot like those highly customized pieces designed to create very specs of molds in LEGO Star Wars. I hope someone knows what I’m talking about.
@thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
You underestimate how truly wealthy some AFOLs are.
Looks like something out of a random 3D printer to me.
WHERE CAN I BUY THIS?!?!
Wait, does that say 1000 dollars? Well, say goodbye to my lifes savings.
(This post was 98% a joke)
@thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Once I got a sprue in a set instead of a 10x1 brick. I posted about it on a fan FB page and I received offers less than 5 minutes after. You would not believe what people are ready to pay for unique LEGO items...
@Jack_Rizzo:
There may be at least one more 3D printed part in the pipeline. For those who got in on the book project that was voted on so long ago, one of the reward tiers offered an exclusive part. I would be surprised if it’s not 3D printed like this.
@HoodedOne:
I think you’re confused about what I was saying. Minifig Factory is a program where you can custom design a minifig torso that will be printed for you in a LEGO Store, while you pick out the head/hair/legs/accessory from a Build-a-Minifig tower that contains no torsos (because they’re printing the one you designed). It uses factory-made white torsos, so not 3D printed like this duck, but they arrive with no printing on them. You use a touch-screen computer to design a torso, combining stock torso designs (including the Classic Space logo, and several location-specific or seasonal designs). When they clear you to submit it, it gets sent to a large printer in the middle of the store. At least 20 pucks containing torsos and 1x3 bricks can be loaded into this machine, which works like an inkjet printer, but produces results that look very much like it was pad-printed in a factory. These could easily have been printed on site, based on demand, so they didn’t run out or end up with boxes of event-exclusive prints. It would also save them from having to make special printing pads for a one-time design. The ducks could also have been printed on-site, I suppose. If either of these were, in all likelihood they would have set up the machines in an area that wasn’t accessible to the public, so you wouldn’t have even known they were there.
@CHARIZORDO said:
"WHERE CAN I BUY THIS?!?!"
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=92898c01&name=Minifigure,%20Utensil%20Pull-Along%20Duck%20
I kinda wish Lego would spend less time obsessing over the duck and more time remembering what the duck story was meant to mean.
@Norikins said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
You underestimate how truly wealthy some AFOLs are."
But NOT wealthy from collecting LEGO!
If anything, our beloved hobby makes many of us poor! ;)
(at least financially - rich in other ways!)
Is AFOL day at Lego House a special ticketed event? Or could anyone go that had booked to be there that day? I’ve seen the 1 day Lego Fan Tour on their ‘what’s on’ page but wasn’t sure if this was the same thing or not. I almost booked to go last week so just wondered if I need to kick myself or really kick myself.
Hasn't anyone moaned about "rEgIoNaL eXcLuSiVeS!!!1!" yet?
That crew will usually take any bait they can get.
@eiffel006 said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Once I got a sprue in a set instead of a 10x1 brick. I posted about it on a fan FB page and I received offers less than 5 minutes after. You would not believe what people are ready to pay for unique LEGO items... "
I am not surprised about astounding amount of money people invest in lego. But here you can clearly see much lower prices on BL (I mean much lower than 1000$) and yet some people decided to get if for the highest price possible. That triggers my inner Spock!
@thor96 said:
" @eiffel006 said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Once I got a sprue in a set instead of a 10x1 brick. I posted about it on a fan FB page and I received offers less than 5 minutes after. You would not believe what people are ready to pay for unique LEGO items... "
I am not surprised about astounding amount of money people invest in lego. But here you can clearly see much lower prices on BL (I mean much lower than 1000$) and yet some people decided to get if for the highest price possible. That triggers my inner Spock!"
Cheapest options might not be available in their countries, who knows? I for one would not be able to get the cheapest ones. I’d have to settle for $560 and up…
That's really cool! Too bad it's so limited!
@thor96 said:
" @eiffel006 said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Once I got a sprue in a set instead of a 10x1 brick. I posted about it on a fan FB page and I received offers less than 5 minutes after. You would not believe what people are ready to pay for unique LEGO items... "
I am not surprised about astounding amount of money people invest in lego. But here you can clearly see much lower prices on BL (I mean much lower than 1000$) and yet some people decided to get if for the highest price possible. That triggers my inner Spock!"
At least it doesn’t trigger your inner spork.
@thor96:
FOMO. There was a year when they packaged Bard the Bowman from The Hobbit to give out at SDCC. That same year, someone was randomly handed a minifig that had not been announced. In the same style packaging, it had an Azog. Azog hadn’t even been announced, much less released, and someone got a massive case of the FOMOs and threw $2000 at it, just to make sure their collection stayed complete. However, like Bard, it turned out Azog was never a real SDCC exclusive. Only the packaging was exclusive to the event.
@PurpleDave said:
" @thor96 :
FOMO. There was a year when they packaged Bard the Bowman from The Hobbit to give out at SDCC. That same year, someone was randomly handed a minifig that had not been announced. In the same style packaging, it had an Azog. Azog hadn’t even been announced, much less released, and someone got a massive case of the FOMOs and threw $2000 at it, just to make sure their collection stayed complete. However, like Bard, it turned out Azog was never a real SDCC exclusive. Only the packaging was exclusive to the event."
*sad trombone noises*
Does this "someone" happen to be you, or someone you know, @PurpleDave ? ;-)
I will make it to Lego House someday.
It will have to wait until my son is old enough to handle travel to Europe and old enough to remember the trip, but I will make it there!
@lemish34 said:
" @Norikins said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
You underestimate how truly wealthy some AFOLs are."
But NOT wealthy from collecting LEGO!
If anything, our beloved hobby makes many of us poor! ;)
(at least financially - rich in other ways!)
"
My friend, God gave us two kidneys for a reason - and that reason is several hundred thousand dollars provided you find the right buyer.
Perhaps the red one was the prototype to get feedback, hopefully some future ones planned and maybe in different colours and we can all get hold of one! Maybe some more duck like colours for the next runs.
Perfect for a Lego City advent calendar. Other than that, a novelty item for sure but not very useful and/or desirable - to each his/her own!
The production technique is neat though.
@GBP_Chris said:
" @lemish34 said:
" @Norikins said:
" @thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
You underestimate how truly wealthy some AFOLs are."
But NOT wealthy from collecting LEGO!
If anything, our beloved hobby makes many of us poor! ;)
(at least financially - rich in other ways!)
"
My friend, God gave us two kidneys for a reason - and that reason is several hundred thousand dollars provided you find the right buyer."
Wow
@Murdoch17:
Heck, no! If I was ever going to drop that kind of cash on something rare, it’d be from Batman. I don’t remember the specifics of _how_ we learned about this, but I believe this was during the year that FBTB did a 3-part article exposing how rigged the SDCC giveaway system was at the time. What I do remember is that this involved a parent and kid just hanging out between events, and someone walked up and handed the kid an Azog. As often happens at SDCC, anything the kid receives, the parent confiscates to sell on eBay. I don’t remember any other reports of Azog being handed out that year, but more copies have been listed for sale. None reached 4-figure bids, though.
@CCC:
There was some sort of Frodo minifig that was also given out in pieces at a convention, so they’d need that, too. And the SDCC microscale Bag-End. Still infinitely more obtainable than a 100% complete LEGO Star Wars collection…
@MisterBrickster said:
"I kinda wish Lego would spend less time obsessing over the duck and more time remembering what the duck story was meant to mean."
This, 100%.
For those who don't know, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen Once had to paint the ducks. It turned out he painted a batch with two layers of paint. He told his father Ole Kirk Kristiansen proudly that he had saved on paint this way.
But Ole told him off and had him get them back from the train statio for their third layer of paint. Because "only the best is good enough"!
Current day LEGO:
'Oops, the torso print does not match the flesh tone of the rest of the figure. White on a black surface? Nope, no sufficient layer of white under there. Too bad, that's normal. As is the color matching of stickers and parts. And the color matching of parts with other parts (e.g.: dark red)...
Here's our Nth model for the wooden duck, Exclusive! Historic! So lego!
(That said, nothing against the set designers and part designers etc.)
this piece looks cool it will probably skyrocket in price on bricklink
It's making me hungry. I want to eat it.
@Binnekamp said:
"For those who don't know, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen Once had to paint the ducks. It turned out he painted a batch with two layers of paint. He told his father Ole Kirk Kristiansen proudly that he had saved on paint this way.
But Ole told him off and had him get them back from the train statio for their third layer of paint. Because "only the best is good enough"!
Current day LEGO:
'Oops, the torso print does not match the flesh tone of the rest of the figure. White on a black surface? Nope, no sufficient layer of white under there. Too bad, that's normal. As is the color matching of stickers and parts. And the color matching of parts with other parts (e.g.: dark red)...
Here's our Nth model for the wooden duck, Exclusive! Historic! So lego!
(That said, nothing against the set designers and part designers etc.)"
One could say that when it comes to the legacy of this particularly infamous toy, Lego's current design strategy is "no ducks given" ...
Yes, LEGO un-like. It reminds me more of a Kinder Surprise Egg toy.
@Binnekamp said:
" @MisterBrickster said:
"I kinda wish Lego would spend less time obsessing over the duck and more time remembering what the duck story was meant to mean."
This, 100%.
For those who don't know, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen Once had to paint the ducks. It turned out he painted a batch with two layers of paint. He told his father Ole Kirk Kristiansen proudly that he had saved on paint this way.
But Ole told him off and had him get them back from the train statio for their third layer of paint. Because "only the best is good enough"!
Current day LEGO:
'Oops, the torso print does not match the flesh tone of the rest of the figure. White on a black surface? Nope, no sufficient layer of white under there. Too bad, that's normal. As is the color matching of stickers and parts. And the color matching of parts with other parts (e.g.: dark red)...
Here's our Nth model for the wooden duck, Exclusive! Historic! So lego!
(That said, nothing against the set designers and part designers etc.)"
I wonder if the people who complain about this supposed lack of commitment to quality would be content with the inevitable set delays it would result in to throw out a full batch of parts and start from scratch. The wooden duck story is heartwarming but rather quaint compared to the much more complex logistics of a company with Lego's current size and reach.
Down the road I bet these ducks will be made available in some set or a CMF line.
They're very cute, and I want one!!! ;)
I hate the prints/graphics on the figs. Looks cheap.
I had one of those made recently from lego.com. Most of it looked ok, but the black printed grey and you can see the lines, roller printer lines through it too. Looks like cheap knock off stuff.
If you zoom in all the way on the first photo that shows the MF holding the duck, you can see a bit of the red plastic that has come off on the bottom of the MF's hand. That tells me all I need to know about that new part.
@crazylegoman said:
"If you zoom in all the way on the first photo that shows the MF holding the duck, you can see a bit of the red plastic that has come off on the bottom of the MF's hand. That tells me all I need to know about that new part."
agreed. It's not a good sign that it's doing that!
@Milo_Hilo_26: Well, it is getting roasted in some of the comments here. Mmm, roast duck...
@thor96 said:
"These transactions on BL for this piece look super suspicious. Who pays 1000 usd for such thing??? "
Would you pay $10 for it? Are there people out there with 100 times more wealth than you? Are some of them LEGO collectors? Probably all "yes."
If they can 3d print a duck with rolling wheels linked to a moving beak, what is stopping them from 3d printing some new goats?
Makes you wonder what other surprising things LEGO can make with the machine (imagine the SW Droid and other things).
@crazylegoman:
@Murdoch17:
From that one picture alone, it's impossible to tell if the bits of red were just clingers on the surface of the duck, or if they were the result of abrasion on the surface of the duck itself. I could see it going either way. If the 3D printing process allows even a tiny bit of static charge to build up on the printed part, little tufts of plastic are unavoidable, short of either washing them or using compressed air to blow stray particles off. Additionally, they may have to clip and file off some sort of bracing that keeps the various components from collapsing during the printing process. There's a reason this technology was developed for rapid prototyping, not mass production.
@BrickTeller:
Time. At some point it's both cheaper and faster to cut a high-quality mold and super-harden the surface to make the mold last longer. 3D printing can take a long time just to produce a single part. The smoother you want the surface, the sloooooooweeeeeeer you need the print head to go.
@ChicoCheco said:
"Yes, LEGO un-like. It reminds me more of a Kinder Surprise Egg toy."
I see this comment flying over the heads of Bricksetters in the US where Kinder Eggs are banned.
@Lordmoral: Which SW Droid? There have been a few, if you didn't notice.
@Zander: I know of them, and we do have something here in the US called Kinder Surprise, don't know how they're different from the Eggs.
@Zander:
They made a version that complies with US regulations regarding the hiding of choking hazards in candy. It's a plastic egg molded in two halves. One half has the toy, and the other has a peel-back seal with the chocolate stuff underneath.
@TheOtherMike:
I don't know how the original European version was packaged, but I know it consists of a hollow chocolate egg that contains a toy (aka choking hazard). It's the concealed toy within that got them banned here.
What I find most interesting is that all five parts of this little moving duck were likely made in a single step in the SLS machine (in other words, they didn't need to be assembled afterwards). Maybe Huw can confirm if it looks like the parts could even have been assembled, or if it had to be made all in one shot (e.g. if the axles could have been inserted into the holes, etc).
I have designed such a 'preassembled' mechanism once before and had it selective laser sintered, but not at this tiny scale. It's not easy to get it right, because the gaps between the parts (such as axles and holes) have to be large enouch so that the parts don't fuse together during the SLS process (= they will just bind, no motion). But the gaps should also not be too large, otherwise the mechanism will wobble excessively.
Now if Lego would release the 3D file for this little duck, everyone with access to a 3D printer could try to print one for themselves, instead of paying $1000! (I bet it would require a high-end 3D printer, though, for it to have a smooth functional motion.)
@Aurium said:
"Is AFOL day at Lego House a special ticketed event? Or could anyone go that had booked to be there that day? I’ve seen the 1 day Lego Fan Tour on their ‘what’s on’ page but wasn’t sure if this was the same thing or not. I almost booked to go last week so just wondered if I need to kick myself or really kick myself."
@Huw
Would you be able to advise how someone could attend AFOL day next year?
@Ridgeheart said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"No."
Still no.
It's ugly, I hate the cheap texture, it looks nothing like genuine Lego and it prompts people to go absolutely guano-insane with after-market prices. I resent this thing on every possible level. Don't gift me one of these ridiculous things, just insult my mother instead or something."
Weird request but okay.
Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!
@BrickTeller said:
"If they can 3d print a duck with rolling wheels linked to a moving beak, what is stopping them from 3d printing some new goats? "
Would you want a goat with the surface texture of the duck in those photos?
@Aurium said:
" @Huw
Would you be able to advise how someone could attend AFOL day next year?"
It occurs on the last Thursday of September just before Skaerbaek fan weekend, but you don't have to attend the latter to attend it.
It can be booked via the LEGO House website. I will try and remember to post something in good time next year.
@Huw said:
" @Aurium said:
" @Huw
Would you be able to advise how someone could attend AFOL day next year?"
It occurs on the last Thursday of September just before Skaerbaek fan weekend, but you don't have to attend the latter to attend it.
It can be booked via the LEGO House website. I will try and remember to post something in good time next year.
"
To be strict (sorry @Huw ), it's not the last Thursday of September. It's the last Thursday before the last complete weekend of September, when Skaerbaek Fanweekend takes place.
For more information visit http://www.fanweekend.dk
@Ridgeheart said:
" @audaver said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
" @Ridgeheart said:
"No."
Still no.
It's ugly, I hate the cheap texture, it looks nothing like genuine Lego and it prompts people to go absolutely guano-insane with after-market prices. I resent this thing on every possible level. Don't gift me one of these ridiculous things, just insult my mother instead or something."
Weird request but okay.
Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"
DOROTHY RIDGEHEART IS A SAINT!"
LOL!
@CCC:
If you really want a clean print, it takes three passes to print white on black. Two passes to make the white cover up the black, and a third pass in black to put a sharp edge on it. It’s almost impossible to stack two layers of print without any misalignment giving you a fuzzy edge, so you print bigger than you need, and trim it back down to what you want.
Reports are that the printing machines are scheduled to capacity right now, so triple-printing on dark colors would need a lot of new equipment.
@PurpleDave said:
"I don't know how the original European version was packaged, but I know it consists of a hollow chocolate egg that contains a toy (aka choking hazard). It's the concealed toy within that got them banned here."
Well: https://i.imgur.com/oirUUuj.png
The "choking hazard" is inside in a pretty big bright yellow capsule that is not even that easy to open (at least for kids). Anyone (even a kid) that manages to accidentally choke on that very well deserves a Darwin Award ;-)
@WizardOfOss:
Strict adherence to the laws does not accommodate any “yeah, buts”. Certain automotive innovations take a few years (decades) to get over here because they’re technically illegal because the laws as written didn’t include any applicable loopholes.
I understand that, but that doesn't make that law in that particular form any less silly. America, the only country where Kinder Surprise eggs are considered more dangerous than guns ;-)
@Huw said:
" @Aurium said:
" @Huw
Would you be able to advise how someone could attend AFOL day next year?"
It occurs on the last Thursday of September just before Skaerbaek fan weekend, but you don't have to attend the latter to attend it.
It can be booked via the LEGO House website. I will try and remember to post something in good time next year.
"
Cheers Huw.
@lluisgib said:
" @Huw said:
" @Aurium said:
" @Huw
Would you be able to advise how someone could attend AFOL day next year?"
It occurs on the last Thursday of September just before Skaerbaek fan weekend, but you don't have to attend the latter to attend it.
It can be booked via the LEGO House website. I will try and remember to post something in good time next year.
"
To be strict (sorry @Huw ), it's not the last Thursday of September. It's the last Thursday before the last complete weekend of September, when Skaerbaek Fanweekend takes place.
For more information visit http://www.fanweekend.dk"
Thank you for that too. I’ll check that out.
@WizardOfOss:
It's an unintended consequence of phrasing. I mean, we do have some really stupid laws. My home state recently repealed an ages-old law that wives had to get their husbands' permission before getting a haircut. It wasn't enforced, but it was still awkward to have it on the books. In the case of Kinder eggs, keep in mind that we have no official language in the US. Many immigrants don't speak English, and even many English-speaking residents can't read. Warning labels only work if you know what they say. Being a fairly litigious society, it's easier to ban choking hazards in candy than to figure out a foolproof way to warn everyone. Cereal boxes and Cracker Jack get a pass because the toys aren't actually wrapped in food, and the toy packaging is large enough that it's difficult for a small child to even put in their mouth, much less swallow without noticing.
You can say that something shouldn't be a problem because it's "normal", and everyone should understand what's involved, but that falls flat when you have as many different definitions of "normal" as there are countries in the world. Importing material from foreign countries becomes a very tricky process, as there are stricter rules for imports than for domestic goods. The plastic eggs are a solution that maintains some of the aesthetic of the original candy, while being in perfect compliance with the laws regarding choking hazards in food. It probably took years for someone to figure out such a simple cheat.
The thing is, I see them in stores all the time, but I've never witness anyone actually buy or consume one. I've never seen ads for them, either. I know _someone_ has to be buying them or they would have been clearanced and removed from the stores, but I have no idea how popular they might be here.
@PurpleDave said:
"Cereal boxes and Cracker Jack get a pass because the toys aren't actually wrapped in food, and the toy packaging is large enough that it's difficult for a small child to even put in their mouth, much less swallow without noticing."
May I find this exemption extremely bizarre? I mean, from what I've seen the toys in those packages usually aren't any larger than the big bright yellow container inside a Kinder egg. And considering the way you eat cereal, to me it seems a lot more likely to accidentally get one in your bowl and eat it. Sounds more like a strong lobby of local manufacturers versus some import brand that didn't think it was worth the effort.
"The thing is, I see them in stores all the time, but I've never witness anyone actually buy or consume one. I've never seen ads for them, either. I know _someone_ has to be buying them or they would have been clearanced and removed from the stores, but I have no idea how popular they might be here."
Maybe people are still afraid they get a $1000 fine for every single one they possess? If not in one state than maybe in another? I'd be hesitant to buy them.....
But indeed, laws often are just weird, outdated or even downright silly. The weirdest part here however is that it is actually enforced pretty strictly. So many stories of grandparents buying a few in Canada for their grandkids, getting huge fines at the border. I should still have a picture somewhere from a shop near Vancouver that had a warning sign right next to the eggs to warn you not to take them into the US. And if you did and got a fine, don't come complaining about it to them, they warned you!
From an engineering perspective I find this extremely interesting - LEGO elements are made to pretty tight tolerances, which is not something that's normally associated with 3D printing (even SLS). I'm impressed they've considered it consistent enough to mate with LEGO elements, but I'm not sure it fits with the aesthetic of the LEGO system at large.
@WizardOfOss:
Again, the issue original Kinder Surprise eggs run into is that you have something that's not edible that's encased in food. Cereal and Cracker Jack boxes have inedible toys that are sealed in large wrappers and placed _loose_ inside a box of other stuff that is edible. They're not encased in a giant piece of food.
The law was likely not crafted in direct response to Kinder Surprise, but to prevent more extreme situations like encasing something small in a piece of candy. The specific problem with Kinder Surprise is not that there's a large capsule inside it, but that the large capsule often contins small parts (which could pop out of the capsule if you chomp down on it), and that being encased in chocolate indicates that it's being marketed to children of all ages, including those under the age of three. The US version sidesteps that issue by separating the food and the toy into separate halves of a plastic egg.
There's clearly a market for the Americanized Kinder Joy eggs, or they wouldn't still be available. However, they lost the appeal of the forbidden/dangerous, because these were clearly redesigned to meet food safety regulations. For youth, they don't have an established tradition here because they're fairly new in their American form, and it can take a while for a new candy to become established.
BTW, the stories of fines may be embellished or entirely fictional. Reports vary from $400-2500 per egg for carrying them across the border, with one Canadian couple reporting their potential fine as $300 CAD (no way would USCBP issue a fine in a foreign currency, and if you didn't have US currency to pay up, you'd have to pay a currency exchange fee to get the money to pay your fine). Punishment in one case was reported as avoidable if they ate the chocolate or simply cracked it open to remove the yellow capsule. Inconsistent application of fines like that is clear indication that either USCBP doesn't run across these often enough to make it worth clarification of how the rules should be applied, or that the people reporting these interactions aren't exactly telling the truth.
I do get it, I think it's just funny how American law in some respects can be so stupendously over-protective, while in other cases it's quite the opposite.
@WizardOfOss:
Every nation probably has stupid laws, or sensible laws that result in stupid interpretations. Is it true that, if I got engaged to someone who was born in the US, we could travel to almost any nation in the world to get married…but not The Netherlands because neither of us is Dutch? That’s not even getting into the difference between coffee shops and coffeeshops, or the reason for such a distinction.
There’s a reason behind our 2nd Amendment, and it is rooted in the founding of our nation. Even our neighbors to the north don’t understand where that comes from, because their nation formed under such different circumstances. The fact that it’s a constitutional amendment sets the bar unavoidably high to make any changes. You can’t just pass a law, because it can be ruled unconstitutional and stricken from the books.
The Kinder Surprise thing is a different issue. The perceived harm done by the law is practically nonexistent, and even those who claim to have been harmed can’t seem to agree on the details. Either they’re not all being truthful, or nobody has really pushed back against the law as written (the mandatory first step to having it repealed by the court system). Kinder Joy makes this ban on Kinder Surprise largely meaningless now, so I’d guess the odds of said pushback being a mere fraction of what they might have been previously. Anyone trying to pass a new law to repeal it will face stiff opposition from _someone_ claiming to do so will endanger children, which will be technically true. There’s just not much to be gained by trying to reverse the ban.
I like how the Duck is able to bob its beak up and down!
It's also neat that they recreated one of their first mascots, the Carpenter, on the back of the minifigure torso in the middle. And can be built with those parts too!
@PixelTheDragon said:
"It reminds me lot like those highly customized pieces designed to create very specs of molds in LEGO Star Wars. I hope someone knows what I’m talking about. "
I do actually, So You're not alone.