BrickLink Discussion Forum

You just said it has two arms, but it doesn't unless you are counting the
unattached robot arm and claw.

981 Arm, Left
Parts: Minifigure, Body Part

62691 Arm Mechanical
Parts: Minifigure, Body Part

I make that two arms.

The catalog picture for a minifigure shows the
minifigure assembled. Most catalog pictures for sets show the set assembled.
But your customers are not expecting you to take what Lego supplied and assemble
it for them like the picture.

I agree. Most customers buying new parts expect me to take the new parts as supplied
by LEGO and send those. They do not expect me to assemble them. But I cannot
sell the parts that LEGO supplied here, I have to sell either a combination of
them or pull them apart. There is no option to sell it as it was originally supplied.

It is the inconsistency that is a problem. Going back to the sprues, LEGO did
not intend them to be used according to the pictures of the sets. But BL catalogues
these parts as coming on a sprue. They are listed as coming that way in the set,
whether or not all the parts are needed. There is an option to sell the parts
connected to a sprue (or in a bag) as supplied or sell the parts individually.
Whereas here, they are not listed as they come in the set. There is no option
to sell the parts as supplied.

Author:

axaday

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 09:06

Subject:

Re: Benny's torso 973pb1652c02

Viewed:

38 times

Topic:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

It is what lego supplied. It has two arms, just no robot arm / claw extension.
I don't know if there is a market for it, as it cannot be sold that way.

Isn't what Lego supplies what is in the picture, just not all put together?
You just said it has two arms, but it doesn't unless you are counting the
unattached robot arm and claw. The catalog picture for a minifigure shows the
minifigure assembled. Most catalog pictures for sets show the set assembled.
But your customers are not expecting you to take what Lego supplied and assemble
it for them like the picture.

And there are plenty of listings for torsos without arms, whether there is a
market for them or not. They all get catalogued even though this is not how lego
supply them. Yet these pieces don't get listed as they are supplied - but
do get catalogued if you either add another part or remove some parts.

Yes, there are listings for EVERY torso with arms. While Lego never supplied
them with no arms and the market for unattached torsos varies greaty among them,
the point of having every torso in the catalog is that every torso is a discrete
Lego element. The catalog tries to contain every discrete Lego element, but
has always been cautious about having listings for combinations of pieces. A
full minifig, yes. Some big figs and brickbuilt animals now, yes. Combined
turntables that sometimes came assembled in sets, yes. Some combinations that
are hard to take back apart without damage, yes. But some minifig parts in an
obviously incomplete assembly because Lego supplied them? I don't see the
point and it opens a giant can of worms. Did you know that through the 80s and
90s, minifig torsos usually came with their heads attached? Should we have a
listing for each of those head/torso combinations because Lego supplied them
that way? Does anyone really want a head and torso with no hat or legs? Or
a torso with 1 arm and 1 hand? I doubt it unless the price is very low.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 09:03

Subject:

Re: What sets could I build from my inventory

Viewed:

44 times

Topic:

Inventories

In Inventories, szellandor writes:

Hey guys,
Is there a listing option here to check which complete sets could I be able to
build using the parts in my inventory? If the answer is yes, can I exclude the
parts from my inventory that belong to a complete set I wouldn't want to
take apart for the purpose? I have a crazy amount of spare parts, I'd like
to check wether they could add up to some nice, complete sets

https://rebrickable.com/

Author:

BRICKcycling

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 09:02

Subject:

What sets could I build from my inventory

Viewed:

64 times

Topic:

Inventories

Status:

Open

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 08:44

Subject:

Re: Benny's torso 973pb1652c02

Viewed:

28 times

Topic:

In Catalog, axaday writes:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

Do you really want to sell a torso with 1 arm? Is there is a market for that?

It is what lego supplied. It has two arms, just no robot arm / claw extension.
I don't know if there is a market for it, as it cannot be sold that way.

And there are plenty of listings for torsos without arms, whether there is a
market for them or not. They all get catalogued even though this is not how lego
supply them. Yet these pieces don't get listed as they are supplied - but
do get catalogued if you either add another part or remove some parts.

Author:

axaday

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 08:12

Subject:

Re: Benny's torso 973pb1652c02

Viewed:

31 times

Topic:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

Do you really want to sell a torso with 1 arm? Is there is a market for that?

It implies you have to either add the arm to the torso, or bag them separately
to keep them together, or store them unattached but need to remember to add the
robot arm, and hope the buyer finds the robot arm before complaining that it
is missing the arm.

If you attach the arm one time, it is still new according to the rules. That
option is on the table. Bagging them separately and together are both on the
table, together being probably preferable if you are afraid the buyer will not
find the arm.

Author:

62Bricks

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 07:41

Subject:

Re: Benny's torso 973pb1652c02

Viewed:

35 times

Topic:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

In Catalog, axaday writes:

In Catalog, yorbrick writes:

Precedence.

All of the other torsos that use

62691 Arm Mechanical
Parts: Minifigure, Body Part

are handled the same way.

OK, so it's historical. Will this ever be changed to reflect what is actually
received in a set rather than what is needed for a set, like the debate about
the sprued parts now being the whole sprue rather than the required parts only?

If parting these out it is necessary to assemble them, and I don't want to
assemble them if they later become the individual parts.

Please don't assemble ANY of the minifig parts if you are selling it to me.
Why would this imply that anyone wanted you to do that?

Because at Bricklink you cannot sell the torso assembly as it is supplied by
LEGO. There is not a catalogue entry for the torso, arm and hand and robot arm
without the claw, as supplied by LEGO. To match the catalogue entry, you need
to add the robot arm.

It implies you have to either add the arm to the torso, or bag them separately
to keep them together, or store them unattached but need to remember to add the
robot arm, and hope the buyer finds the robot arm before complaining that it
is missing the arm.

Another illustrative example of why the "consistency" approach doesn't work.
In cases like this, the admins have to choose which practice to be "consistent"
with, which creates inconsistency.

The way to avoid it is to have guidelines that are as simple as possible. "Define
parts based on how they are found in a sealed set" is one simple guideline. If
we always follow that guideline, then the set inventories take care of themselves
and parting out new sets works. If we make an exception, then make more exceptions
because of that first exception, then ultimately ignore the guideline because
"That's they way we've always done it," the guideline has lost its meaning.
When faced with a dilemma like this partly-assembled torso, the decision should
be made in favor of the more basic principle, not later exceptions.

I think it is clear that many of the inconsistencies in the catalog are the result
of implementing ever-more complicated "rules" that are put in place to handle
exceptions rather than basing decisions on a few simple guidelines.

It should surprise nobody that people attracted to Lego are also really into
elaborate systems, but the secret to Lego's success as a system is that it
is not elaborate. Just a few rules create a very flexible system.

Author:

yorbrick

Posted:

Jul 9, 2019 06:56

Subject:

Re: Benny's torso 973pb1652c02

Viewed:

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Topic: