No More Stickers...

[Athos]

I am so sick of stickers. They are showing up in every set and replacing every printed piece. How long until we have minifigs with sticker faces and torsos?

Take, for example, the latest Jedi Starfighter. Now, even though I'm pretty much done with Star Wars sets (particularly stuff that isn't seen in the movies), I was going to buy this set for the flag-tail-piece and the Anakin hair. But now, since the flag is stickered, it isn't a fancy tapestry that could be hung on a wall as a decoration (as the one from the original Star Fighter could be), instead its just a big blank useless yellow flag.

Now I know stickers are a cost saver for Lego, but there are some of us out here who can't put a sticker on straight to save our lives. Plus stickers just look and feel cheap. If I wanted to mess around with stickers all day, I'd take up scrap-booking...

Personally, I'd much rather have one or two printed parts than a dozen parts that need stickers. I leave stickers off all my sets and its a very rare occasion that the its even noticable and that the set doesn't look just fine without it.

So please stop with stickers...

Steve

[Tedward]

I'll second that motion!

Stickers make it look cheap and especially bad are the minifig torso stickers! Even worse are the stickers over assemblies. Why would I want to "glue" elements together with stickers?

The only place I don't mind stickers is the window stickers they have used in the last few years. They actually add to the look of the windows unlike other applications where the sticker is obvious and often hard to apply cleanly. My kid gets me to apply stickers for his exo-force sets because I do a better job than he does - good thing his standards are lower.

[Dr. J]

Even worse are the stickers over assemblies. Why would I want to "glue" elements together with stickers?

I beleive the term I heard for that was STAMPs; STickers Across Multiple Pieces.

Stickers did big me for a while, but now, most of the decals LEGO provides aren't that useful and I generally don't even place them on the peices because I know I'll probably need the part later, but the sticker on it won't exactly compliment the MOC.

So basicly, I'm not that torn up about them. But that's just my opinion.

[Athos]

So basicly, I'm not that torn up about them. But that's just my opinion.

I'm not usually either, only when I see a piece in a set that I think has nice printing and would be quite useful, then to find out it was just a sticker.

Steve

[Morgan19]

I see a piece in a set that I think has nice printing and would be quite useful, then to find out it was just a sticker.

Just to take the opposite stance for discussion's sake, what do you think about the opposite reaction?

"I see a piece in a set that I think has nice printing and would be quite useful, then to find out it's a sticker so I can use it anywhere and in any way I want! Woohoo!"

I understand the loathing of stickers, trust me, but I prefer to see it as stickers giving me the freedom to 1) choose whether or not to have "printed" pieces in the first place (a lot of sets look fine without the stickers) and 2) choose to use the printed piece in other ways altogether. Exo-Force, in particular, has some really great stickers that I and others have found fit wonderfully into MOCs. Neither gets around the issue if someone can't put them on straight, but I think those two reasons are still a good argument for stickers, at least.

m19

[DARKspawn]

"I see a piece in a set that I think has nice printing and would be quite useful, then to find out it's a sticker so I can use it anywhere and in any way I want! Woohoo!"

I totally agree. Yay for stickers! Why? I get the choice of not using them. I think certain elements should always be printed, minifig parts, certain tile designs, etc, but when it comes to bricks & slopes stickers are a better option. How am I going to use huge red bow "X" for the back of a dragon when it has an exoforce sticker on it?

I guess it's really a question of what you use your LEGO for, if it's for building offical models then maybe printed parts are better, but if you're into building MOCs, then stickers are great. Presonally I am grateful LEGO gives us the choice.

[Tanotrooper]

hmm... I dont like stickers but I do like the fact I can use the blank piece... But I really like printing, but hate if the piece is unusable in other MOCs...

I'll probaply prefer printed parts though.

TT

[ericgizmo]

Stickers can be annyoing if its a set with millions! of stickers

[Athos]

hmm... I dont like stickers but I do like the fact I can use the blank piece...

That is an upside to stickers, but its easy to find a particular piece that is unprinted, but its impossible to find a printed piece if its been done with a sticker.

Blank pieces should be plentiful, printed pieces rare and stickered pieces non-existant.

Steve

[wunztwice]

So basicly, I'm not that torn up about them. But that's just my opinion.

(emphasis added)


Hehe, that's an interesting word choice.
You see, that is my BIGGEST gripe with stickers. Just look at older sets that had stickers, many of them are hard to find in good condition. Put a stickered part in with some others, several periods of shifting later you have a damaged sticker and essentially then a damaged piece.

I understand the cost-cutting process, but this is really a place where we need the quality!

[Brickzone]

Stickers aren't a new thing, and I don't have an outright objection to them. However, printed parts are mostly better, and there are various examples of where Lego has gone too far. I think there should be less stickers and more printed pieces, I don't expect that there should be no stickers.

The castle for example should never have had stickers for those corner wall pieces - but rather printed corners like the old style corners.

STAMPs are *so* annoying - again, this isn't new, but it's the most annoying thing for me re: stickers.

Just looking at my Lego harbour: the stickers on the side of the ship are reasonable as someone might want a blank ship, and they are rather large. The stickers on the crane sides are OK too, as they are just small detail to a large part. The stickers on the cargo panels are also OK as they are in the concave area. The barriers, warning sign and the "City Lines" sign bricks should have been printed.

[ottoatm]

I have to agree that I'm not a big fan of the stickers - I don't like sticking bricks onto my walls, and I don't like seeing that I've put them on crooked and can't really take them off without possibly damaging the sticker later, either.

Worst, I don't like the thought that in a few years, the sticker will most likely not look nearly as nice as it does now, or as a printed wall piece would...

Please no stickers - we deserve printed bricks.

[Jacob C.]

Stickers make it look cheap and especially bad are the minifig torso stickers!

They haven't started making torso stickers, have they?
I'd be shocked!

Anyways, I agree that stickers suck.
I can make a few exceptions, for instance, the viking shield stickers weren't too bad, though I'd still prefer printed shields!

[Athos]

Stickers make it look cheap and especially bad are the minifig torso stickers!

They haven't started making torso stickers, have they?
I'd be shocked!

A long time ago they did, for some of the original yellow castle knights. Also, I think some of the soccer figures had stickers. But nothing recently or in core sets, at least that I have encountered.

Steve

[kelderic]

Personally, I do not like stickers. I think that the argument that stickers are good because you can choose to have a blank piece instead is somewhat flawed. Almost all pieces that have stickers on them also come or have come with stickers or printing. So, even if TLG had printed instead of using a sticker, a blank version could have been found. Though, you are right in that stickers give more freedom. I just don't think it is worth it.

Kelderic