LEGO magnet-sets have been a wonderful way to acquire minifigs without having to buy a whole expensive set. Unfortunately the good times are over. From 2011 all magnet sets are being glued! 🙁
The minifig’s legs are glued to the magnet base. In addition, the torso/legs assembly is glued to the torso. The minifig’s heads are removable from the torso, and any crown, hair or other headgear is also removable. Weapons and other accessories are separate and removable. Because the figs are glued to the magnet-base they are no longer useful for much more than as refrigerator décor.
The LEGO Ambassador for Bricklink contacted LEGO about this and she received the following reply from a LEGO-rep:
“All Extended Line minifigure magnet sets will as of Jan 1st 2011 be glued. Based on new requirements, the magnet base and the minifigures will have to be permanently fixed together on LEGO Star Wars magnet sets.
To ensure a consistent consumer experience across all LEGO minifigure magnet sets we have chosen to permanently fix the minifigure to the magnet base on all magnet sets moving forward from Jan 1st 2011 (incl. Pharaoh’s Quest launching Dec 1st).
This decision has been carefully considered and was not taken easily as we know that many consumers will obviously not like this change.”
Of course LEGO-fans are not at all happy about this change and have been trying to rescue their figs from their magnet shackles. So far I have seen people trying to pry off figs with a hobby-knife or chisel. This method will separate the minifig from the magnet base, but unfortunately it also tends to break the back of the legs.
I decided to spend a bit of time myself trying to find a solution that is both safe for the minifig and the person using the method. (Please read our Tutorials Disclaimer for your safety here.) I will start with the process that I found working, and below that I will list my failed attempts for your further amusement (and horror!). 😉
1. THE HOT WATER PROCESS – this works!: Originally I thought LEGO is using some kind of strong glue, like Superglue, and tried methods that I knew could work for glue. However none of these worked. (See failed attempts.) Then I did a little research on the methods LEGO used to glue parts.
I have discovered that LEGO is not using glue at all, but a solvent, that actually loosens the surface of the ABS plastic and allows the molecules to combine. Once the solvent evaporates, it leaves behind a cleanly fused surface with no residue at all.
Reading further on the subject, I found that LEGO has been using two types of solvents. One is called MEK (methyl-ethyl-ketone) and at some point they switched to GBL (gamma-butyrolactone). I’m no chemist, so I had no idea what these are, but I read that both of them are water soluble at certain temperatures. So, I thought to try loosening the seal between the minifig and the magnet by hot water.
The challenge is that ABS plastic itself has a melting point, which is 176 Fahrenheit (80 Celsius). So, I had to make sure I don’t cross over that temperature.
TOOLS NEEDED:
• Stove
• Medium size pot with water (for heating)
• Strainer
• Cooking Thermometer
• Cold water (for cooling)
• Watch (for measuring time)
• Kitchen mitts or cloth (to keep your hands from burning)
PREPARE MINIFIG:
Remove minifig accessories (tools/weapons, headgear and head)
Bend minifig at the waist so it is in a sitting position (this gives the best angle for the hot bath, and also helps to lift it out of the water)
Lift minifigs hands up, like it is reaching out for something (this also assures the correct angle)
PROCESS:
1. Fill pot with water
2. Place strainer on top of the pot
3. Make sure the water level is above the strainer by about an inch
4. Place Cooking Thermometer in pot
5. Heat water to 160 Fahrenheit (71 Celsius) (I found this to be a perfect temperature for the process. Not too hot to damage the plastic, but hot enough to loosen the seal.)
6. Turn off heat (if you have an electric stove, it is best to take the pot off the burner)
7. Place minifig in hot water and leave it there for 5 minutes
8. Remove minifig from hot water (just grabbing it by the neck-stud works great; the water is really not that hot)
9. Hold minifig/magnet assembly in kitchen-mitts with one hand and bend the torso straight back as much as you can (but gently!) to see if the seal is starting to loosen. WARNING! Do not try to wiggle the torso left and right! This will loosen the leg-pins and you will have a fig with very loose legs! ONLY bend the torso straight back!
10. As you bend the torso backwards against the extension plate on the magnet you will see the seal getting loose. At this point the fig may pop right off.
11. If it doesn’t, DO NOT force the fig to come off! Just put it back in the hot water and leave it there for another couple of minutes.
12. Take the fig out again and bend the torso backwards. By this time the fig should either pop right off, or the seal should be very loose.
13. If the fig doesn’t pop off, but the seal is very loose, gently insert a kitchen-knife in the gap between the back of the fig’s legs and the magnet-base. (The fig is fused ONLY at the back of the legs to the studs on the magnet. NOT at the bottom of the feet.)
14. Once the fig is off, run it under cold water to cool it off. WARNING! Don’t move the legs and arms until the fig is completely cooled! You can damage the joints and they will become very loose!
15. DONE! 🙂
NOTES:
• This method DOES NOT damage the plastic, as we are staying below its melting point. It also won’t damage the print on the minifig.
• Once the minifig is off, on the back of the legs you will see where the fig was fused to the magnet is kind of rough. There is not much we can do about that. But at least we have rescued the minifig from its bondage! (I would not recommend sanding this area to smooth it as I have read that the fusing process makes the ABS plastic more brittle. The back of the legs are already very thin, so smoothing them down may weaken them further.)
• This process may also release the bond between the torso and the leg-assembly. On one of my figs the torso just slipped right off. On another it became loose but didn’t fully come off. I didn’t want to push my luck. 😉
NOW THE HORROR STORIES FOR YOUR EDUCATION AND AMUSEMENT! (In each method listed below I note the process, time elapsed, and the result.)
2. THE GOO-GONE PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room temp.
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
3. THE VINEGAR PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room temp.
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
4. THE ALCOHOL PROCESS – fail!:
(Isopropyl Alcohol 50% by Volume)
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
5. THE SOAPY WATER PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: warm water
Time: overnight (8 hours)
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
6. 
THE MINERAL OIL PROCESS – fail!:
(Baby Oil)
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
7. THE LEMON-JUICE PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
8. THE EUCALYPTUS OIL PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
9. THE WD-40 PROCESS – fail!:
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Time: 1 hour
Results: NONE
Adverse effects on plastic: NONE VISIBLE
Adverse effects on print: NONE VISIBLE
10. 
THE ACETONE PROCESS – badly fail!:
(Regular Nail Polish Remover by Equate)
Method: full immersion
Temperature: normal room
Results: PLASTIC MELTED, BUT MINIFIG/MAGNET SEAL INTACT
Adverse effects on plastic: MELTED
Adverse effects on print: MELTED/CAME OFF (See below:)
In summary, I would hope that LEGO will come up with another solution besides fusing minifigs to magnets to meet licensing regulations. In the meantime you can give your minifigs a nice hot bath! And if you come up with something better feel free to share it here! Oh, and while you are at it, you may also want to read about removing LEGO minifigs from keychains.
I have also written a guide with a list of all glued and non-glued magnet sets to help shoppers identify them easier. Read here: Guide to Glued & Non-Glued Magnet Minifigs! Hope this helps! 😉
I’d like to thank you spending your time and money to find a method to de-glue the magnets
Thanks! I hope my research helps someone else! 😉
Great! Thanks for that!
Does the water technique work with keychains too? My Rex’s head is glued inside the helmet, and I want it out!
I assume it would work as the hot water loosens the seal (assuming that LEGO uses the same solvents for keychains).
Unfortunately I do not have any keychains so I cannot try it out. Maybe you can try and let us know? 😉
I think the challenge would be how to grab the head and pull it out of the helmet. You would have to wiggle it out somehow.
nice investigation & discovery!! you’re the best!! 🙂
Thanks, fff! Also, thanks for the link to your blog! 😉
The best way to remove key chain pins from minifigures is to carefully heat up the tips of a pair of needle nose pliers over a gas flame, grab the pin with the pliers and carefully pull. You might need to try a couple of times until the pliers are just the right temperature, but the pin will eventually come off without any damage to the minifigure – except of course for the hole for the pin…
Thanks for that tip! I’m planning to write a post about removing pins from magnet figs and I haven’t heard of your method before. Unfortunately I don’t have any magnet figs now, but as soon as I get one I will try your suggestion. Thanks again! 🙂
I had a few keychains I just pulled with a regular pliers & the pin came out very easily. MY question has anyone tried melting or found some substance to make it look like it was never there?
Thanks for the info on the freedom of magnets.
GREAT WORK!!
I’m ordering some keychains right now to do some experiments! (I like to try things myself, so I know it works, how it works, and what challenges can come up.) The question you raised about making the hole “disappear” is great, and I will try to address that.
Personally I would not try melting the plastic. What I have seen people do is using putty or even glue to fill the hole and then paint it. You can achieve amazing results with a little paint! 😉
a lot of woodburning sets have a point tool of some kind. That works fabulously. You don’t have to be strong. My kids don’t care about the holes, so I haven’t tried to patch them, but I’d be excited to try someone’s solution.
Wow! Fantastically thorough article. Your approach is admirably methodical, and the acetone punchline was hilarious. Thanks. I’m going to have to try this.
I used to work in a model shop where the same type of solvent was used. We called it “juice” but I don’t know what it was really called. I’ve never heard of a counter to it. From my experience removing keychain minifig headgear from heads, it’s the same stuff, and it doesn’t respond well to force.
Thanks to Max&Otto for their tip, as well.
Thanks for telling us about the “juice”! Interesting!
BTW, someone just sent me this video about removing keychain pins. It is similar to Max&Otto’s method. looks super easy! See it here: Minifig Keychain Pin Removal
Excellent! Tried it this afternoon on two of the Pharaoh’s Quest figures and it worked! Thanks so much for the tip. I wasn’t able to get the torsos off though. But, hey, I’ll take having the figures free. I was so dismayed to hear that Lego had decided to start doing this. I’m so tired of having to resort to eBay and paying $$$ for some of the more rare minifigures. Now that I know this works I’ll definitely use this method again. Cool tip about the keychain figures too. I have only been able to get the rod out of one with pliers so I can take the head off. I’ll have to see about trying this way next time. Thanks again for doing all the research!
Yay! More minifigs liberated! I’m happy for your success! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
As far as the torso coming off, I found that sometimes it just slips right off, sometimes it doesn’t. I didn’t want to force it either.
I’m getting some keychains right now to try the methods recommend in the video and by Max&Otto. I will do a post on it to report back with the result.
While I’ve been removing the pins from keychain minifigures for years now, I have had no success whatsoever removing the torsos from the legs.
Unfortunately, the 160 degrees method didn’t seem to make any difference for me. That being said, I’d love to see if you have any tricks up your sleeve on the subject.
Hi – This is a great post. I passed it along to the guys (and those few gals) in our local LUG – TwinLUG.
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TwinLUG/info
I’m thinking I want to try this. All I need to do is go get a strainer and some mini-magnets.
garth
Garth, give it a try! Your minifigs will appreciate being freed! 😉
If you, or anyone in your LUG have a question about the process just let me know. But it is pretty easy. 😀
You rock! I just liberated three Pharaoh’s Quest minifigs for my son. Your instructions were spot on and there is virtually no damage to the figure. The only thing I did different was to put them in the refrigerator to cool them down thinking it might help to keep the joints nice and tight. Thanks!
Yay! More minifigs liberated! Great idea about sticking them in the fridge to cool! I haven’t thought of that! 😉
Thanks for the magnet tip…my son loves the figures, and I thought that it would be easy to disassemble those expensive magnets to get the guys he wanted. Poor kids wanted the magnet removed, and it was clear that they didn’t pop off. Found your site and followed your chemistry experiment, and pop, off they came !! Thanks so much !
Thanks for sharing, Chris! I’m glad your son got the figs he wanted! 😀
Hej Maxx,
very great job you did. I bought the first Magnet set’s for my son this week (2. Feb 2011) and read after the buy there terrible things about THE GLUE. After I wake up after the shock I looked for a solution what to do. I found on “1000steine.de” the link to your site. Really great job! But I hope that I’ll get the older Star Wars sets that are not glued.
I’m an “old man” but I’ll tell my son that and what I found at your page. He sall tell his friens and their parents.
FREEDOM FOR LEGO-MINIFIGs 😉
Greetz – ice.box
oh my god – some mistakes in writing. Sorry but I can’t edit the written things 🙁 Typing is not as easy as it seems 🙂 ….
No problem about the typos! 😉
I’m glad I could help you guys! If you bought a magnet set (I assume online), and it is a 2010 release, then you will be good. They won’t be glued.
BTW, this post was not written by Maxx. Maxx is the resident color guru, so he will cover colors for me. 😀
And yes, spread the word! We gotta liberate those poor figs! 🙂
I just replicated the glue removal process for the Atlantis Magnet Set (853087) with partial success. The heating process did very little overall to loosen the plastic and the knife was required to free all three minifigures. This worked fine with the caveat that using a very sharp knife can lead to unintended consequences of cutting off the pips on the back of the magnet and getting them stuck inside of the legs. I would recommend using a dull knife for this step of the process.
Chris, thanks for sharing your results! 🙂
Is it possible that the figs may have not stayed in the water long enough, or the temperature was not hot enough?
I have tried the method on several of my magnet figs and it always worked. But I have not tried any of the Atlantis figs.
Perhaps LEGO changed the solvent to fuse the figs to the magnets? Or perhaps they use different solvents at different locations? These are questions to ponder. 😉
I’m not using the knife to cut away the figs at all. I’m only using it to give a little nudge to a fig that won’t fall off by itself. Any other thin object would work just as well. It doesn’t have to be sharp.
I’m glad though that you were able to free your figs one way or an other! 😀
Thanks for all the effort spent on researching the best way to separate the minifigures from the the magnet. For an idea of what ended up going wrong with the Crab Warrior due to the use of a very sharp knife, I took pictures at most steps along the way that can be seen here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/wiredforsound23/tags/853087/
Chris, looks like you did a good job at the end! But yep, that’s a big ol’ knife you got there! 😀
BTW, I love your Mandalorians photo! 😉
I am having trouble with the atlantis minifigs as well. I got them off the bases, but the torso will not separate. Any ideas?
Steve, as I mentioned in the tutorial, the torso may or may not slip off depending on how much solvent is used. The inside of the torso has so many attachment points that if the solvent got deep into the plastic the torso may not separate. I would suggest not to force it as you can damage the internal support system of the torso making it pretty much useless after you separate it. If it comes off great, if not, just let it be. 😉
COOL! This is so cool!!! I was like ‘WHAT!?’ when i heard and saw the new glued minifigures on those magnets. Your efforts are greatly appreciated by Lego fans! I’m definitely disappointed by the ‘scars’ left behind after rescuing those minifigures, but well, its better than nothing right? I haven’t try using this method so, i’m curious about this matter, does the scar affect those holes at the hind of the legs and the bottom? Like maybe, not allowing studs to enter the holes of the leg of those minifigs and hold there just like a normal minifig?
Thanks!
Wilson, yep, I think this was a bad move from LEGO! Once fans realize the magnets are glued they just won’t buy them. Expect them to be on sale soon! 😀
The “scars” on the legs depend on how much solvent LEGO injected to “glue” the fig. On some figs there will be more, on some less. It basically just makes the surface of the legs a bit rough and unfinished looking, and probably also makes the plastic weaker.
It seems like the “scars” show up most on black legs the most because the shiny-ness of the black surface. On lighter colored legs it is hardly noticable.
I have not noticed it effecting the usability of the holes.
Also, please note that the solvent is injected behind the legs, not under the feet. So the feet of the figs are not glued, therefore not effected.
If I really-really want a fig in perfect condition, I would just buy the set, or get the fig from Bricklink, even if it is more expensive. Removing the figs from magnets however gives you some cheap figs great for play! 😉
Awesome! The hot water trick worked like a charm. 6 minutes and a little prying with a thin knife!!! Thank you soooo much. Really appreciate your research!! Hope LEGO doesnt make it harder eventually!
Yay! More minifigs liberated! Thanks for sharing your results! 😀
who knows if this works for the atlantis (2011) magnets?
Bob, they should be the same. 😉
I just tried it with the new star wars minifigures. I used a thermometer to be sure about the temp. The first 5 minutes, it didn’t even look like anything was happening. I put it in another 5. I still had to use a flat butter knife to get them to pop off, but they came off just fine.
Thanks for the help!
Carla, thanks for sharing yoru experiment! I think how easily the figs pop off depends on how much solvents LEGO uses. I have seen some figs have barely any, and some has quite a bit.
It should not be a problem to keep the figs in the water a few minutes longer. The important thing is to keep the temperature below the ABS melting point. 😉
I have found that on most of the figs I have to use a knife also to give them that final gentle nudge. 😀
Thanks. we appreciate the tip. trying it now.
Brody & Brock, good luck with your project! Let me and other readers know how it went! 😉
Absolutely worked! Went to the new opening of Legoland Discovery in Grapevine and $200 later, lots of hot water and a fingernail file (hey we are stuck in a hotel…I had to use what was available) they totally popped off! Thank you SO much!
Hey, Betsi, thanks for sharing your adventures un-gluing you figs at a hotel! LOL! It must have been interesting! 😀
And nail-file, eh? I would not have thought of that! But whatever works! 😉
Thanks for the great blog! I tried using pliers to pull the posts from key chains but could not do it. I guess I’m not strong enough. I tried to think of a way build a mechanical tool and found a decent way to do it buy taking apart a chalking gun. I attach the pin to one end using wires and I tie the head/body to the other end of the gun. Pulling the trigger a few times frees the pin ! Good luck. Andy
Andy, LOL! That is ingenious! 😀
Thanks for the tip. The figures all came of the magnets easily, but the torsos wouldn’t budge. Tried soaking them for 10 extra minutes, raising the temp of the water a bit, but no luck. At least they are off of the magnets and my son can play with them! Thanks so much for your experiment and blog.
JJ, thanks for sharing your results! While some of the legs just slipped off for me, most of them wouldn’t budge. I think it depends on how much solvent was used. I didn’t mind it so much though, so I just let them have their legs. 😉
THANKS!!! My 7 year old was crushed when he bought the robbers magnet set to play with and couldn’t get them off the magnet. They are now free. At least until he apprehends them and puts them in Lego jail. 😉
LOL! Yeah, after all, they are robbers on the run! Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to let them go free! 😉
Hi, Just got the Yoda, Mace and Dooku set and realized that they were bonded onto the magnet, at first I got in a bit of a flap and went straight to Eurobricks, where someone gave me the reference to you, I just read through it all and I think I’m gonna try it, So I’ll add another comment when I’m done, (Really want yoda to be free from 2011 evil plan!)
Oh, Do you know if it would work with yoda, because it’s his feet that are stuck not the back of his legs (I think they changed him because of his height)
Robert, yes, Yoda has the shorter legs, so he is placed on two small bricks and the bottom of his feet is stuck to those. I do not have a Yoda magnet, but I’m pretty sure the process would work the same way. In fact, it should be easier as Yoda’s legs are more sturdy then regular LEGO legs (no joints to worry about).
The hot water should loosen the solvent, and the minifig should come off. You may need to use a sharp flat object (like a knife) to pop it off, but instead of inserting it behind the minifig, you would need to do it under the feet.
Just be patient. Do not jerk the fig to try to get it off, but let it sit in the hot water, even put it back if necessary, and let the solvent loosen before taking the fig off.
Let me me know how it went! 😉
Hey there,
“New requirements” as in “Lego want people to spend £30 – £280 on spaceships because they *know* kids really love the figures, and they’ll be doing themselves out of a ton of money if they sell them separately”, I’m guessing.
I bought several sets of minifigures at Legoland yesterday and didn’t spot the minute line of copy on the backs of the packets informing me that they’re glued to the bases now. Cue one very frustrated and upset 7 year-old who just wanted to play with his new toys during the journey home.
But now they’ve all been liberated after a few minutes in a recently-boiled kettle. So thanks a million (and I mean a million) from both of us!
Rick & Harvey, thanks for the report! I’m glad it worked for you too! 😀
My understanding is that the reason LEGO started gluing the magnets has to do with a licensing issue with the Star Wars frenchise and an other toy manufacturer.
This other toy company (I believe it is Hasbro – if not, someone can correct me) has the license for making Star Wars action figures, and LEGO has the license for Star Wars building toys. This other toy manufacturer argued that the LEGO magnet sets are not building toys and crossed the line into their territory; action figures.
As a response, instead of just completely stopping to make magnet sets, LEGO responded by gluing the figs to the magnets, this way making them decorative/gift items, instead of action figures.
And because now they glued the Star Wars figs, to avoid confusion amongst their fans, they started gluing all magnet figs even where there is no licensing issue (like the city robbers Stephanie mentioned above).
Anyhow, that’s a little bit of the history behind this madness. 😉
Wow! It worked, I got all of them off perfectly, One of their legs got a big rough but as you said, Theres not much we can do about it, But now I’ve got them I’m really happy, the Yoda came off even easier than the other two, Before I came here this morning, I was actually considering either selling or binning them! Thank you so much for finding a good solution to Lego’s, rather annoying new system,
Thanks again,
Robert
You are welcome, Robert! I’m glad it worked for you! 🙂
Thank You so much, got some of these for my sons birthday, only one pack detached from magnets [ the one packed in white packaging ], my son was extremely disappointed that the blue packaged magnets did not detach, a quick google check led me to your solution. thank so much you saved a six years olds birthday [ and made his father look like a hero ]
You are welcome, Jim! And happy birthday to your son! I bet he will always remember that his Dad saved his minifigs! 🙂
Thank you for your advice. It was very helpfull to get the minifig of the magnet, but i keep struggeling with the legs. I don’t get them comming of the torso. Can you give me advice hot to get it off the torso. I really think Lego made a uge mistake, because of people creating army’s off the minifigs. That doesn’t work anymore… I am very very dissapointet in Lego.
Peter, I know what you mean; I also had some figs where the legs didn’t separate from the torso. I just left them as they are. You can experiment with keeping the figs in the water longer, or raising the temperature, just make sure you don’t get too close to the melting point of plastic (176 F / 80 C), as I mention in my post.
Also, I have found that as the temperature gets closer to the melting point, even though the plastic may not melt, still the joints of the minifigs get loose. That is why I recommend doing the process at 160 F. I have found this is the lowest temperature to loosen the bond between the legs and the magnet, without damaging the joints.
I’m an army-builder myself, so I feel your pain. I recommend that for army building you get the battle-packs, or army building packs (available in almost any LEGO theme) rather than the magnets. It would be a lot less work, and you can mix and match the legs and torsos any way you want.
And if there are some minifig parts you can’t find in battle packs, shop for them on Bricklink. If I can help you with finding the torsos/legs, etc. you want on Bricklink just let me know. The site is very robust and it takes a bit of learning to figure out how to find what you need.
Hope this helps some! 😉
Big thank you for this info – what a shocker it was to find my new minifigs glued on. Lego have to milk us for every penny and I guess by glueing the minifigs onto the base we can no longer bypass purchasing more expensive sets (that some of us cannot afford Lego suits!!)
LozBee, I’m glad the info helped! 😛
Please see my response to Peter above, the change is not entirely LEGO’s fault, however I strongly believe they should use different packaging, and clearly mark these minifigs as MAGNETS.
Like Jim mentioned above; he actually got one set that was glued and one that wasn’t for his son’s BD. There was no clear and obvious way to tell the difference. That is just WRONG! 🙁
Totally complete explanation. I was so disappointed when I saw new review coming out about these magnets. If I decide to buy a set, I’ll give this whirl. I did share your link on my site, as well, for other moms to read.
Erin, yes, this has been a very disappointing development. Thanks for helping to spread the word! 😉
Exactly! Because they have to phase out the old stock while introducing the new ones so it’s so confusing! And most parent collectors (the ones who buy for their kids) won’t think to look for that tiny print saying that they aren’t detachable. LEGO needs to be more open about this change. Especially when parents are buying direct at the LEGO Stores – those employees are very in-the-know about this change but aren’t being forthright in telling consumers who are making purchases.
I am starting to think the timing of introducing the Lego Minigures Series was spot-on with when they made the decision to change the magnets to non-detachable pieces. So I am glad there is still a way to semi-affordably collect minifigures. But the magnets were always a nice way to add to figures to their Star Wars, Atlantis and Toy Story sets. !!!
I am so annoyed. But your tutorial was spot-on and it really might come in handy for me and other parents who unknowingly buy the NEW Lego magnet sets.
Happy Buzzing (and Building)
Thank you, thank you! The Easter Bunny left some new star wars magnets in my son’s basket. I don’t think he knew about the new solvent on them! Followed your awesome tutorial and we now have three liberated figures and one happy boy!
Bridget, glad that my tutorial helped out the Bunny! 😉
Thanks so very much. My 5 year old was in tears after his dad gave him the gift of 3 magnets and he found them stuck while his brothers were not glued. We read and followed your process and all three are released with minimal residue. In fact, I did one at a time lengthening the soak to up to an hour and twenty minutes and increasing the temp of the water to 170 degrees F. Absolutely no damage occurred and I think the higher temp and longer soak made the last two come off a little easier with less residue. Again, thanks! You saved my mother’s day.
Lauren, thanks for sharing your results! You were brave with that temperature! 😀
Didn’t it make the minifig’s joints a bit loose?
Always interesting to hear the results of others! Always learn something new! 😉
You have been SUPERMOM for Mother’s Day! LOL!
My sons just bought a bunch of these at the Disneyland Lego shop yesterday. Some of them came off easily. Those must have been old packaging (the packages were different, but I have no idea why). Then there was trouble. I just broke the back of Ahsoka’s leg trying to get it off the magnet! This was before looking it up online and seeing your article. Thanks for the information. I’ll give it a try. Luckily, my 4-year-old Ahsoka-lover is okay with the figure. He says it “still works”. Whew!
LOL! Little kids can be so sweet and so forgiving! Thanks for sharing! 😉
I’m about to give it a try.
I’ll let you know what the results are..
We’ve got to free are minifigures!
One is safed!
Just slightly vissible damage.
Now, 14 more to go, all at once in a very big pot..
I bought 5 magnet sets, only to find, they were glued..
So you’re my savior!
Yeah, your method safed another 15 lego figures!
Nothing got broken, only bit loser attachments.
The legs never got lose of the torso, so I guess you were indeed lucky.
That glue-stuff smellsXD.
To get it working i had tempeture above 71 oC, even up to 78 oC.
Could be the thermometer though, cheap crap..from a cristmass turkey .
Figures where in there for 5-15minutes. Those atlantis figures are the hardest, they have an extra 2×1 plate at their feet.
I do have a quetion, where’s the strainer for?
Thx for liberating my lego figures, they will remember your kindness!
Bart, nice work! Yes, there is some leeway in the temperature and how long the figs need to be in the water. With the temperature you just want to find that sweetspot (depending on your thermometer) where the water is just hot enough that the legs pop off. Cooler temperature = easier on the figs. At the same time you do need to heat the water to a temperature where the solvent would melt. It just takes a little practice. 😉
It seems that most commonly the torso will not separate from the legs. I would not force it too much. On my figs I just give them a little nudge and tug and see if the torso would come off. If it slips off fine, if not I let it be. I did force the torso to come off once, but my effort damaged those little internal posts inside the torso. (If you do give the torso a tug, make sure it is straight out! Don’t wigle it side-to-side as this movement will damage the delicate leg pegs and the legs will get loose.) I don’t force the issue; if the fig wants to keep his pants on, fine with me. 😆
I use the strainer for two reasons: one is so that the minifigs won’t touch the side of the pot and melt from the heat of the metal as they are swimming around in the water. Two, it is easier to take them out without burning my fingers. 8)
That’s smart!
The magets were stuck to the bottom of my pot, due to magnetization. That workts just as good. I used a spaghetti tang to get them out, if that’s even correct english..I don’t know how else to call it.
When there’s a problem there usually is more than one solution.
Thx again!
LOL! Whatever works! 😉
It totally totally worked!!!! Thank you so very much for the step by step instructions, it really helped. Was also fun to read all the other things you tried….I would have tried those as well if you hadn’t advised. Kudos to you!!!
Thanks for the report, Holly! Yeah, I tried those other methods because I was curious. Then I decided to post them because I knew other folks would be curious too. This way only one minifig got tortured!
what happen to the lego?
Drake, what do you mean? 🙄
big like! – thanks .
Great technique – just freed up 3 Star Wars figures for my son – he was ecstatic. The only thing I did differently was to let them soak for 6-8m, then used a 1.5″ metal putty knife straight down between the legs and the magnet backing, all the way to the pins. That loosens the figure, then I used a dull kitchen knife (butter knife) and with a quick twist, the figure pops off. No need to bend the torso backwards and/or risk loosening any joints, and two of the 3 came off VERY clean (no rough plastic). Thanks!
Thanks, Jeff! Those are great tips! I’m glad you were able to free your figs! 😉
Thanks. I love collecting the minifigs and i was horrified when i heard they were glueing them to the magnets. Im going to the lego store this weekend and ill be sure to pick up some magnets to try your method. I hope they dont catch on and change the glue on us.
Hew, if you are a minifig collector you may not be completely happy with this solution as the legs will have some marks from the solvent. Just sayin’. 😉
Also, please note that many LEGO stores still sell some of the older non-glued magnets. Of course it depends on which figs you want, but if you are building an army or something and you are not so choicy, you may consider picking up those.
Please note that it DOES say somewhere on the package if the magnets are glued. I can’t remember where it was saying that on my packages (front or back) and unfortunately I did not keep the packaging materials, but if someone can provide a picture of where exactly it would be great.
I’m also working on putting together a list for glued and non-glued magnet sets. I will try to to finish it this week. Stay tuned. 🙂
UPDATE: I have put together a guide to differentiate glued and non-glued versions of current LEGO minifig magnet sets. I thought this would be helpful for shoppers.
This includes a list of all newly released magnet sets as well as re-releases currently available at LEGO and other retail stores. There are also guidelines on how to identify them. Check it out and let me know what you think! 😉
Here is the link: Guide to Glued & Non-Glued LEGO Magnets
But wanna say that this is invaluable , Thanks for taking your time to write this.
You are welcome, Wendell! 🙂
Can we demonstrate outside a lego shop about this? Lego have let us down badly.
Shpoppy, I have found that the best way to commmunicate with LEGO is to call their customer service. They actually do listen and try to solve customer problems. The more people call about the magnet issue, the better.
And of course as a last resort, we could set up big boiling pots of water in front of LEGO stores and throw in all the magnet figs! They would probably get the point! 😈
This worked like a charm… You made my little guy very very happy!
zACH, I’m glad it worked for ya! Enjoy your freed minifigs! 😉
Thank you so much! It was really helpful. So far, we have only tried the magnets. We can’t wait to try the key chains! I wanted a Minifigure, and I couldn’t wait to play with it, but when I opened it, it was stuck! I was sad. So we googled it, and there it was! A way to un-stick the minifig from the magnet. I was so glad we found it.
Thanks! From two kids.
You are welcome! 😉
Nice article!!! Water method worked wonders. What I did was boil water and take it off the stove then submerged the sitting minifigs just to where the legas and stand connect. Then I used a palette knife and the minifigs were liberated!!!
Thanks for doing all the legwork!!!
Sorry about that, Cid! Your comment got stuck in my spam-filter, just got it approved! 😉
Nice article!!! Water method worked wonders. What I did was boil water and take it off the stove then submerged the sitting minifigs just to where the legs and stand connect. Then I used a palette knife and the minifigs were liberated!!!
Then I have a glass full of ice water to cool them off and save the joints from loosening.
Thanks for doing all the legwork!!!
Thanks for sharing your results, Cid! Yes, submerging the figs in ice-water is a good idea to cool them off! I put mine in the fridge! 🙂
thanks sooo much , i just had 2 magnet packs sent over from london and i was sooo unhappy that they were glued because i really needed these figres for a lego display!!! ps i am going to try it later this week and i really hope it works!
Good luck with your minifigs, brickboy! Jsut read the instructions carefully, and you should be fine! 🙂
Also, some readers here added little tweeks that might be useful for you, so you might want to read some of their comments. 😉
Fantastic! Thanks – worked like a charm -except ón Master yoda. He is still stucked on to small LEGO bricks under his feet. But thanks anyway count duko was liberated.
Cheers Sanne
Sanne, I’m glad your Count Doku is liberated! I would suggest you give Yoda an other bath. The little bricks should come off from his feet with no problem. 😉
Thanks I will try that ;o) And I will try liberate our keychane figures as well.
Sanne, there is a comment a good bit above yours, from a reader named Robert (from April 11th, 2011), who says that for him the easies minifig to remove was Yoda. So there is great hope for your Yoda fig! 😉
Yoda is glued at the bottom of his feet, so once you place him back in hot water and let him soak a bit, you may use a thin and rigid object (like a knife) to pop him off. May the Force be with you! 😛
Thanks so much for this tip ~ my 10 year old son was so disappointed today when he found out he couldn’t play with his new figures..one pan of hot water later and he has his Lego Ninja’s ready for action (instead of being glued to their sodding magnets)
Diane, I’m glad your son is happy with his liberated minifigs! Also, I suggest to keep the magnets! They are still great to display his figs on metal-surfaces like a refrigerator or metal-shelf. 😉
Wish we’d seen this earlier!!! Actually I think I did, but it looked to hard and we are not patient folks! I ended up prying them off with an awl (and got myself a coupla holes in my fingers in the process-NOT recommended method!) Last year we got a Star Wars set with Boba and were so happy they came off base. This year so unhappy to find them glued, and I felt so bad because I’d told a lady in the store they come off! Oops! Anyway our new set had an Ewok who has short legs and my method didn’t work. Instead of breaking it, we have been freezing it cuz I thought that would unhinge the glue. Now we will try this since I read the whole thing and see how easy it is –for adults–
thanks
Yes, the process is very easy. As you see from the comments plenty of people have done it with great success. And it is also fun! Part playing with LEGO, part evil scientist experiment! 😈
Let me know how it went! And watch out! Don’t hurt yourself! 😉
Thanks for the tip guys, my son is delighted!
You are welcome, Nathan! 😀
Thanks sooo much! My little boy and I have been wanting the minifigs without the magnets.
You are welcome, K! Enjoy your minifigs! 😉
The clerk at our Lego store told us some sets were glued on (If it says magnets on the front in 3 different languages, then they are glued on.). He confirmed the Hasbro/patent issue and the decision to glue all the minifigure sets (and mentioned the hot water method). He was very helpful, so either we got lucky or Lego decided to let customers know before buying. I was delighted to find your instructions, so we will pick up a set (already on sale) and give it a try. A better choice for the patent issue: either ditch the magnets for small building sets with the same characters OR put a small building/platform in with the magnets (They did this with Santa), so the magnets qualify as a building set :). I dislike buying a large set to get 3 characters. Aside from the cost, we have tons of bricks already and the kids just want the figures.
This is amazing! LEGO-employees actually suggest the hot-water method???!!! 😯
Your suggestion is excellent about releasing some small sets rather than having to deal with the whole building toy vs. action figure issue with the magnets! I would strongly suggest to contact LEGO with your idea! They do, in fact, listen! 😉
I just sent them a message with the idea. Here’s hoping!
Wishing you the best! Let me know what response you get! We are all holding our breath and crossing our fingers and toes! 😉
Here is the reply:
“Thanks for getting in touch with us.
We can understand your disappointment about hearing that our magnet sets are now glued. As a company, we partner with other companies that allow us to use their licensed images for our sets. It is important that we respect these licensing agreements and not resell minifigures that are not included in the original sets. We want to provide the most consistent experience possible to our consumers. In order to do this, we have decided to glue all of the magnet sets we sell. Our magnet sets still continue to be popular items and it’s a great way to add some LEGO fun to mundane areas such as a kitchen refrigerator where you display your child’s artwork or good grades.
As always we appreciate you taking the time to contact us in regard to this matter. Your opinion is very important to us and I will be sure to pass along your comments to the team in charge of Marketing and Development for the magnet sets for future consideration.
There are many other ways to get mini figures though! We’ve just launched our own line of exclusive mini figures that you can collect or trade with friends! Also, lots of the smaller sets include mini figures. Just go to http://www.LEGOshop.com – the biggest LEGO shop in the world – and check out the ‘Themes’ section. You can also ask for a catalog to be mailed to you, or it’s free to call one of our experts at 1-800-835-4386 (Monday to Friday, 8am – 10pm or Saturday to Sunday 10am – 6pm) to find out more. Once again I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Happy Building!”
Hm…nice reply…and it was fast too! Thanks for sharing! The more LEGO-fans write them about this the better! 😉
Yes, people are still buying magnet-sets because they are not aware the magnets are now glued! I know because I hear from them all the time! I believe the magnet’s popularity will die soon enough as shoppers learn about the change. On the other hand it is true that LEGO has been making great efforts to satisfy our minifig infatuation with small impulse-sets, collectible minifigures, etc. 😆
So let’s see what the future brings as far as the magnets…
I just came into a lego police station sales floor display. The one currently on display in stores. It appears to be glued together (the few pieces i’ve seperated have chunks of clear residue inside). I’m wondering if it’s known what glue this is and what the solvent counter might be? I don’t want to ruin the stickers with hot water immersion, so is the a safe way of removing the stickers first also?
Ash, I would suggest to check the glue closely. Does it look like a solvent (no build-up, but the bricks you are able to separate look rough where the solvent “melted” them together). Or does it have globs of opaque or clear color glue?
It is is a solvent it is best to leave the model alone as the bricks will show some damage even if you can separate them. it is just not worth it. If it is actual glue, you would have better luck separating them without damage. But it will take some work. Let me know what you see and I can give you some ideas if it is glue.
As far as stickers, unfortunately stickers start to show signs of damage as soon as you take them off the first time. They will show some wrinkles and creases, and will have less stickiness next time you apply them. So, if at all possible best is to leave them alone, or if you absolutely need to remove them I would suggest to just buy a new set of stickers on Bricklink. I don’t know which police set you have, but if it is a current set, the sticker-sheet should not be very expensive.
Actually, I recommend buying extra sticker-sheets for all sets that you really like, while the set is still in production. It is so hard and so expensive to try to replace them later, and they definitely don’t last forewer. 🙁
Thanks for this! I noticed in the latest LEGO Club magazine that they are giving out magnets during Bricktober. The forester is one of my favorite minifigures, and i wanted find out how to get them off in advance. Thanks for the way to free them!
You are welcome, Ohaider! Yes, the forester is a sweet minifig! 😀
Thank you. My son was so excited to get two packs of star wars figures but then found that they are not exciting to use.
Really appreciate that you shared your efforts and solution. Amazing all the trials you did. Worked well. 10 mins later a happy boy.
Lego should be ashamed. I am sure like many others that have spent hundreds of dollars on big sets it’s nice to have a low cost option for a few figures to compliment these.
Niall, thanks for sharing! I’m glad your son is happy! There will be some awesome new LEGO Star Wars battle-packs coming out next year, so those would also be great to get some more SW figs! 😉
Took a few tries! Didn’t want to melt the guy, so I took it slowly. In the end, FREEDOM!
LOL! I’m glad your minfigs are free, instead of melted! 🙄
Hi,
Excellent guide! I am wondering if you’ve tried this method for removing magnets from inside lego minifigures….
Thanks
Alvin, you mean from inside the legs of the old-type of magnet figs?
Yes I do. There used to be older SW magnet figs with the magnets inside the minifigs.
Alvin, no I have never tried that. Those figs work fine as regular figs even with the magnets in their legs, so I just didn’t think of it.
But I assume the process would work, as long as there is some way to grab the magnet or pry under it to pull it out, once it is heated.
An other things I would take into consideration is that the magnet may get too hot too fast, thereby melting the plastic. So, once in the hot water, I would check if the magnet is loose more frequently.
If you are planning to experiment with this, you might want to share your results here. 😉
Apparently, this method doesn’t work for the minifigs with magnets inside of them. It seems as if the torso piece is permanently fused with the legs. TI tried submerging it in 180 degree water without success.
Do you also have a guide for how to re-stick peeling Lego stickers? What’s the best glue to use?
Alvin, removing the torso fr0m the legs of glued figs is a challenge. There are lots of little cravices for the solvent to flow into, so the bond can be very strong. IMHO, it is not worth trying to separate the torso from the legs. The torso has all these thin and delicate dividers inside that can be damaged easily.
As far as stickers, yes they can and will peel off after some time. My #1 suggestion is to always get an extra sticker-sheet, especially for valuable sets (like the Maersk Train). You can get an extra sticker-sheet at BrickLink, or even from LEGO directly. Get the extra sheet while the set is still available at stores, because later sticker-sheets can go up tremendously in price.
For re-sticking a peeling sticker I recommend ordinary school-glue or glue-stick. They will not damage the sticker, or the LEGO-piece, and is easy to apply. I do not recommend stronger bonding glues as it will be tough to take off the sticker, if you later choose to do so, and it may also damage the part.
Hope this helps! 😉
I just got a set of 3 Ninjago magnets. I knew when buying them that they were glued, but I was fairly confident I could find a removal method online. Sure enough, there you were like a beacon of hope. The method worked for the most part. However, my set is a little different than others I guess and I had a tough time.
There is an extra 1×2 piece between the back of the legs and the magnet base. I think it is there because the Ninja’s have a sword holder on the back of their hood which sticks out and without the 1×2 they would not stand up straight. Someone earlier mentioned about the Atlantis set having an extra piece too, not sure if it is in the same spot.
Well getting the magnet base off was fairly easy using your method although leaning the fig back did not work because there was too much of a gap. I pried it apart with the handle of a butter knife. Then the tougher part began: getting that 1×2 separated from the legs. The hot water loosened the glue, but there was not an easy way to grip it and pry the 2 pieces apart. I used a combination of pliers, an exacto knife, 2 butter knives and my finger nail. I finally got both removed from the fig (actually the third one in this set was a skeleton that was quite easy to remove as it doesn’t have normal legs). One of the ninja’s is perfect aside from the minor rough spot, the other is mostly good too but one of his legs got a touch bent out of shape, still fully functional but if you look closely you can notice.
On another note, I was thinking that a tiny bit of paint should mask the rough patches a fair bit, especially on black pieces. I’ve never used paint on a minifig so I could be way off base, just thought I’d offer the suggestion.
Oh forgot to mention that the 1×2 piece was destroyed for both the magnets after all the prying and squeezing I did, but the bases were both intact.
Peter, thanks again for sharing your experiments! 🙂
Peter, thanks for sharing your exprience! Although I don’t have the Ninjago magnet figs, from your description I can imagine it must have been really tough removing those 1×2 plates! I guess LEGO likes to give us a good challenge. LOL! 😐
One thing I might have tried with those 1×2 plates is the LEGO brick separator. It is a great tool for removing stuck plates, and I’m wondering if it would work in removing the 1×2 plate from the back of the minifig’s legs, once it has been loosened by the hot water. The brick separator has an excellent grab on plates, and a great angle to just pop them off. You might want to give that a try next time. 😉
I have an article about the LEGO brick separator in case some readers are not familiar with it: The LEGO Brick Separator
Hello! For me, there was no way to remove the 1×2 brick. Do you have any other ideas, maybe? Thanks!
Afonso, you can remove the 1×2 brick by just cutting it off with an X-acto knife, then popping out the remaining stud. 😉
Amazing! This worked astonishingly! Had a lego magnet giveaway and the clerk gave me 2 so i said what the hell. i decided to take them off. Amazing sir. I appreciate your time and effort into doing this.
You are welcome, Tyler! Thanks for sharing your results! 🙂
My 7 1/2 year old son says, “You’re a genious!” 🙂 Thank you!
Oh, thank you, Kristin and son! I’m always happy to make children happy! 🙂
Would be even better if his mom could spell GENIUS correctly! 😉
LOL! It’s all-right. I call that “creative spelling”! And why not? 😉
Just a heads up the Ninjago Magnets come with a 1 x 2 plate stuck between the minifig and the magnet so when you pop off the minifig the 1 x 2 plate is stuck to the minifig’s legs. And it is impossible to get the plate off without damaging the legs.
Sorry Just noticed peters comments. Nevermind about the Ninjago. I will have to try the nail file.
Anthony, good luck! 😉
My son (age 9) earns and spends his own money, and was so excited at Legoland to buy a C3PO, Leah and Admiral Akbar minifig set (all New Hope versions). We have bought magnet minifig sets at downtown Disney for years without them being glued, so this came as such a shock to the poor guy. He has the biggest case of buyer’s remorse right now, with tears and all, so this solution will make his day, thank you. But he told me even if it does work, he’s never buying magnet minfigs again. I think his whole honeymoon with Lego is drawing to a premature close over this. Lego’s loss – he’s telling all his friends to save their money!
Mark, thank you for your comment! It is so well written, echoing the so many other similar comments from disappointed LEGO fans, that I will send it to my contact person at LEGO. I encourage you to involve your son in my “secret underground black-hat process” of removing the figs. Because the process is so fun, illegal and unconventional, it wil probably make him feel a lot better! Just make sure he is safely under your supervision as the water is quite hot! 😉
You are mental! 🙂
Hi!
Here’s what I did to liberate a more difficult minifig from his bonds. For instance Barbossa and other figs with a 1×2 plate on the back of the legs.
Had to do a second hot water bath, then VERY CAREFULLY I used a razer blade to cut the plate in half between the legs (so the legs can move independently again). Second step was to VERY CAREFULLY cut the plate off each leg. This leaves a little bit of stud still inside the leg, but it was easy to stick a flag pole into the foot at an angle and pop the stud out the back.
The key here is this has to be done while the plastic is still warm and of course it has to be done carefully or you will cut the minifig (or yourself, but you will heal).
Excellently done! I’m thinking of doing a separate post about this as I have been asked several times about how to remove the 1×2 plate. Would you like to write the post? And even more importantly; do you have pictures of the process? I know your post would be VERY popular! 😉
I’d love to write a post about this. I can do some photos, I just need to get another magnet figure with this issue – I’ll be making a new order on S@H next week and will add an appropriate magnet figure set in the order.. I’ve also successfully separated the torso from hips and I could include that in the same post I think. Feel free to email me.
I’m sending you a PM about this. It will be a fun project! 😉
Like so many others I wanted to thank you for this solution. You have made my 7 year old very happy. We just came back from Legoland Florida and he bought a set of magnet minifigures there. As soon as he realized they were glued, he was so shocked and frustrated, he started to cry, a bad ending to a wonderful magical day. I immediately searched for a solution and found your blog. We just finished taking the minifigures apart and my young lego fan is happy again. One of the minifigures had the extra plate on the back, but I just repeated the hot water bath and it came off. I cannot believe Lego is gluing these pieces. I actually asked a few years ago if they recommended a glue for a lego set that I wanted to preserve and they told me that gluing legos went against their philosophy, children were supposed to break things apart and create new pieces. I guess they had a change of philosophy, very disappointing.
Naibi, thanks for sharing your story! I’m glad your boy is now happy! That is very interesting what you said about LEGO’s philosophy! Maybe we should remind them? 😉
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
You just whittled down how much I’m going to have to spend on large Star Wars sets my son wants for Christmas! He really only wants them for the mini figures anyhow. : ) Thank you so much!
You are welcome, Jessie! And happy holidays! 🙂
Thank you very much! We did it. Unfortunately we didn’t know that they were glued as my son (10) bought the 3 figures today. He was so sad about it, he wanted to play the figures and not put them on the fridge door.
It worked with the hot water and the knife, and he is very happy now.
Thank you so much! Ruby
You are welcome, Ruby! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thanks for the helpful advice. I tried it out three separate times. Slave Leia gave a little in the legs and one split a slight amount (I got a little anxious), the royal guard did better (more rounds in the drink), Boba Fett came out in the best condition, more rounds of hot water seemed to work well and there was minimal damage. I ended up heating the hot water up in the microwave and then putting them in to float or propped on my thermometer. I carved at the sides of the legs to force the separate on my terms to reduce the chance of the leg splitting and that seemed to work. Thank you so much!
I usually overshot the mark on temperature on the water but once the temperature dipped down to the right level I’d plunk the figure in. The ceramic cup maintained a decent temperature.
William, thanks for sharing your results! Yes, patience is key with this process. You don’t want to submit the plastic to too high temperatures. 😉
Set my people free! I’ve been saving this trick for a while. Well, I can probably now be certified as a minifig remover too.
Tips from a scientific approach: Jesus, be gentle with the minifigs. Any knife edge used for this should only be used to pry the pieces apart.
Once you get the water temp right, it is easy. So having 3 unreliable thermometers, I heated the water to 160º and gave it a try. No go. I slowly raised the water temp until it came easily. I had the minifigs in a bath for 20 minutes before I got the temp right. (One of my thermometers said something like 198º!) Be patient, persistent and gentle.
Josh, yes, you are now an officially certified Minifig Remover! 😉
Thanks Admin, your system worked perfectly. Freed two out of 3 figures off the bases, one had the 1×2 plate on the back and we have not got it off yet. Thanks again for the tip.
I got all of the figures off. Yay!!!
Thanks for sharing your results! 🙂
This was the first hit for when i searched for the answer to this question. Tried 1 -and it was a success. Great advice – thanks!
DJ, I’m glad it worked for you too! 😉
Vielen Dank aus Deutschland !!!! Der Nikolaus hat Magnete gebracht und der Tip war super ! (Thank you so much from Germany, St. Niclaus had brought magnets and your advice saved parents from catastrophy!)
Philipp, you are welcome! I’m glad I could help St. Niclaus (and parents) a bit! 😉
I have bought Lego magnets in the past and when I first opened a newly purchased pack I thought there was a rogue Lego employee in a factory somewhere playing a joke! I then opened the other three I purchased and felt like my world came crashing down (well, not really, but I feel like being dramatic). Fortunately for me, I did the thing any sensible person does nowadays – go to Google! Thanks for figuring this out and posting! Works great!
OJ, thanks for sharing! Yes, Google to the rescue! 😀
I was at toys-r-us today and they were selling the bricktober minifigures by themselves so I went ahead and bought 10 of them. Then, of course I found out that they were all glued. Thankyou so much for finding a method but it didn’t seem work for me. I have put the same minifigure in the pot over and over and have cept on reheating it but it just doesn’t loosen up. Any idea why?
Jayko, there are certain things you may consider adjusting: have you kept the figures fully immersed in the hot water long enough? Perhaps you can try a few minutes longer. Is the water hot enough? Sometimes thermometers are not so accurate. Try slowly raising the temperature. Keep a close eye on the figs, and check them every 2-3 minutes to see if they are loose. Do not try to twist the legs off, but insert a knife between the magnet and the legs (like you see on the picture) and gently try popping the minifigure off. It takes a bit of patience, but the process works. Once you get it on the first figure, the others will be a piece of cake. So give it another try and let me know how it goes. 😉
After a bit of expirimenting it worked! And now I have been able to raise a small army of Bricktober knights. Of course, they all have their “battle scars” (Some more than others) but it was deffinately worth it. I have named their leader Sir Admin after you. Thanks again!
Jayko, LOL! Thanks! 😛
mine didn’t work at all, do the star wars magnets apply as the same as the rest of the logos?
Will, yes, the Star Wars magnets are the same. I would suggest that you give it another try. You may read through the tutorial again, and also the comments. Sometimes people needed a bit more time or a bit higher temperature depending on the accuracy of their thermometers. Once you get to the right temperature, the process is very easy. 😉
I have one with yoda, since he is smaller than regular minifigures, is the process the same?
Robert, Yoda is standing on two small bricks, that are attached to the magnet. (Yoda’s legs are glued to the small bricks and the small bricks are glued to the magnet.) Yes, the process is the same, in fact it is easier, because Yoda’s legs are more sturdy and less prone to damage.
Please note that about half way up the comments here, there is another reader named Robert who asked me the same question. Robert later came back and shared his experience. He also said that taking off Yoda was easier then the other mininifgs. So, give it a try! 😉
I found it took about 3 times longer 🙁
Robert, a lot depends on how much of the solvent actually ends up on a minifig. The solvent goes on kind of like SuperGlue, it is a liquidy, runny substance, that gets in between the parts, then melts them together. I have found minifigs with very little damage done by the solvent and they came off easily, and some where the whole back of the legs was covered by it, taking longer to snap them off. Same for separating the torso form the legs; some just slipped right off after the hot-bath treatment with hardly any sign of the solvent, some won’t come off at all, so I don’t force it. The main thing is to remove the minifigs from the magnets anyway. 😉
Thanks for your time and effort. My nephew had lost all of his Lego’s when his house burned down in October and the first thing he said to me was “Auntie, my Lego’s are gone.” I took him to the Lego store and at the recommendation of a salesperson bought a package of them, as he told me they are the same as the figures in the kits, and he was right. It wasn’t until I purchased several packages off of the Lego website that I realized they were glued. Although the back of the legs are a little rough, your method is much better than trying to pry them off with a knife. I sort of ruined Darth Vader’s legs. Thanks again.
Auntie, thanks for sharing your story! I’m really sorry to hear about your nephew! Hopefully he will be able to rebuild his LEGO collection. I’m glad that you were able to help him. 🙂
I wish I read your site before using glue remover and failed! I now have a crying 5 year old who blames me for destroying his new boba fet mini figure I gave him for his pre-birthday present. Its going to be a long night.
Oh, dear! I’m really sorry to hear that! 🙁
I got a toy story magnet pack, since woody is bigger than regular minifigs, would it be harder to get him off
Daniel, the back of Woody’s legs are the same as regular LEGO legs, so no issues there. The only issue you will run into is that you can’t just bend the minifig back at the waist (against the back of the magnet) to pop him off, as Woody’s waist-level is higher then the back of the magnet. So you will need to work more with a thin blade to pop him off. Every few minutes tro to GENTLY insert the blade, and once it slips in you can create the leverage to pop him off. Good luck! 😉
Thanks for the Acetone tip. I’m gonna make some zombie/monster minifigs with it.
Oh, dear! 😈
Thank you! we have just freed lord VAder, Chewbacca and Obi Wan from their sockets. Only one of them snapped off, the other two I had to use the knive on, but the result is perfect. you know, it was a Lego shop employee who told us that we would find a way to do this in the internet.
Frankfurt, I’m glad your minifigs are now free! 😉
The hot water method worked wonders! Thank you very much. I have successfully “liberated” 6 minifigs yesterday.
Chris, sounds like you had a fun weekend project! 😀
Thanks so much for your help. It really works! My son was so disappointed that his new minifigs were permanently attached to their magents. I was even considering something as drastic as trying to saw them off. So glad I found your process first! Still can’t figure out why Lego is doing this, though…
Bob, I’m glad it worked for you! LEGO had a licensing issue therefore they decided to start gluing the magnets. Although to be honest I could think of at least half a dozen other solutions that would have worked better! 🙄
Hmmm, interesting. And yet, there are so many minifigs sold with full sets that are apparently not restricted by this licensing issue!
Bob, LEGO’s licensing issue was with Star Wars only; Hasbro had the license for Star Wars action figures and LEGO had the license for Star Wars buildling sets. Hasbro complained that LEGO crossed the line by the magnet sets, which were basically nothing more than action figure sets, rather than building sets. So, LEGO choose to glue the magnets to alliviate the complaint. And to be consistent across the board, and avoid consumer confusion, they have decided to now glue ALL magnet sets. However in execution this didn’t turn out so well because both LEGO and other retailers are still selling both versions of the sets almost one year after the initial change! 🙁
Ahhh, now that sheds a bit more light on the situation. I guess it’s better to avoid a big blowup with Hasbro so LEGO can continue to market the Star Wars minifigs, rather than be forced to stop making them altogether. Especially since, luckily for all of your readers, we now have this workaround that allows us to use them as we like!
Cheers!
I thought they glued it so parents will be forced to buy the $80 slave ship lego set just so their son can get their little hands on boba fett mini figure. after I ruined the Boba Fett magnet we had to take our son to the store to pick up the set. Luckily he had $50+ in birthday money saved up so our portion was minimal. I say shame on Hasbro to making a stink about it!! kids who loves lego mini figures are not going to stop buying lego mini figures and go buy star wars action figures instead!! I almost want to stop buying Hasbro stuff!!
Iichan, the toy-market is a brutally competitive field. If companies have any reason to open a case against a competitor, they will. Just surviving in this arena isn’t easy. It is unfortunate, but that’s how it works. ;(
I was removing more minifigs last night and had one which had a 2 stud plate behind it’s legs. This brought on a new challenge because the “bend back the torso” method didn’t help. I resorted to soaking the minifig in the hot water and prying a pocket knife blade between the fig and the plate all the while prying gently to free the legs. I was able to free one leg cleanly (is that a word?), but the other one ended up with a stud permanently lodged in the back of the leg. Overall I think it went well. The minifig is free and playable!
BTW, I had another minifig which had it’s arm glued in place as well. I soaked it and easily broke the bond thereby allowing the arm full movement.
I will not rest until all LEGO minifigs are FREE!
OJ, you may want to check out the comment from Darkdragon on November 5th:
“Here’s what I did to liberate a more difficult minifig from his bonds. For instance Barbossa and other figs with a 1×2 plate on the back of the legs. Had to do a second hot water bath, then VERY CAREFULLY I used a razer blade to cut the plate in half between the legs (so the legs can move independently again). Second step was to VERY CAREFULLY cut the plate off each leg. This leaves a little bit of stud still inside the leg, but it was easy to stick a flag pole into the foot at an angle and pop the stud out the back. The key here is this has to be done while the plastic is still warm and of course it has to be done carefully or you will cut the minifig (or yourself, but you will heal).”
I thought you might want to give that a try. 😉
Thanks again, it worked – see tweet / shout out http://ow.ly/i/of84
Mike that is an awesome picture! Your minifigs look very happy! 😀
We tried out the method without being able to regulate the temperature lacking a proper thermometer. Instead finger-stick-method and guessing…
It worked very good. 4 figures – 4 successes. My son is really happy
and thinks I am great…
Thank You and a happy christmas time
Kai-Uwe from Hamburg, Germany
Kumax, that is great! I guess you got a big SuperDad badge for Christmas! 😀
It’s Christmas day. Got my 6 year old some fab presents but all he kept asking abouot was minifigures. Finally unpacked the minifigures but they are the fridge magnet type – we told him we’ve heard they can be freed and would try to do it later. Tried to interest him in other toys but, no way, he just wanted to know when we can get the minifigures free. Luckily I found your page – first minifigure is free and 5 more to go. 6 year old little boy happy on Christmas day – THANK YOU – you’ve done something great!
CJ, comments like yours make my day! Merry Christmas to you and your family! 🙂
Just to let you know – all 6 came free without any problem – really so grateful that you took the time to do this. It made his Christmas day and so ours too. Merry Christmas!
CJ, thanks for the update! Merry Christmas! 🙂
Almost a year after your instructions were posted you are still changing the world one minifigure at a time! Thank you for helping me free six minifigs and making me a superhero in my son’s eyes on Christmas Day. I was worried about freeing Yoda after he had been very stubborn for many people, but ours popped off just by using a butter knife behind his legs and tipped to apply pressure to the back of his legs—no wedging under his feet was needed. As you said, every figure was different depending on how much solvent was used to adhere the base to the minifig. 160 – 165 degrees worked for us and it took 7 – 10 minutes for each in the water. Thanks again!!!
Supermom, thanks for sharing your results! Great that your Yoda was cooperative! I’m glad that my post is still helping LEGO fans a year after I originally posted it. The sad part though is that this is still an issue! I was hoping that LEGO will either totally switch over to glued magnets and make them clearly marked in a different type of packaging so people won’t be confused, or that they come up with a different solution to their licensing problem. Unfortunately neither of those happened. So, we just have to continue giving those minifigs a bath! 8)
Thank you very much for posting this! I bought a number of the magnet Star Wars characters for my 5 year old boy’s Christmas. He wanted them removed and your work saved me from mistakes and heartbreak.
I used a double boiler to control temperature. On my thermometer, I found that 170-175F yielded the best results. Also, I seemed to have the best luck wtih using knife to start the separation process and gentle pressure from the knife blade to break the seal. I separated 11 figures with excellent results. Thank you again.
Thanks so much for sharing this. Santa did not know that the figures were glued. We were able to remove ours in less than 10 minutes. You made a 5 year old Padawan very happy. Happy New Year!
Brenna, the power is strong with your young Padawan! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you very much for sharing. You made our 5 year old very happy. BTW- Yoda takes a little more work as his feet are glued instead of his back. Soak for him for alittle longer and then pry off with knife, pushing downwards. 🙂
B, thanks for sharing your epxerinece! Yes, Yoda require that we use the Force. 😉
Just wanted to drop a quick note to thank you for the work you put in and the great walk through. I had to soak mine for a bit longer and use the knife on all of them, but I was able to get all 20ish figures off the magnets and make my boys very, very happy. Thanks!
Rob, thanks for sharing! You saved a big batch of those minifigs! Lots of good karma should be coming your way! 😉
Thanks this really helped cause I found this just after I got a bunch for christmas and it really does work for those who are wondering
Thanks for sharing! I’m glad it worked for you too! 😀