LEGO 10291 Queer Eye’s box art features a potentially damaging discrepancy

The LEGO Group’s new Queer Eye set has a strange discrepancy between its box and instructions, which could cause problems for its customer service department.

While the company has apparently never explicitly clarified that minifigure hands shouldn’t be removed from their arms (at least to our knowledge), there’s a reason the torso comes as a full assembly: separating the arms and limbs can cause damage to the pieces if care isn’t taken, leading to cracked elements or loss of clutch power.

However, the box art and promo pics for the newly-revealed 10291 Queer Eye – The Fab 5 Loft apparently go against that notion by displaying several minifigure torsos without their hands. These are the alternate outfits that hang in the set’s makeover studio, which recreates one of the main goals of the Netflix reality show: transforming the physical appearance of its guests.

Crack open the box, though – as we’ve already done for our review – and you’ll find that just like every other minifigure torso, these ones do actually include light nougat hands. Unsurprisingly, the instruction manual doesn’t recommend pulling them out – but if you want to recreate the set exactly as you see it on the box (as we’ve done!), that’s exactly what you’ll need to do.

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Nobody could blame you, of course, when the alternative is weirdly disembodied torsos hanging from a LEGO clothes rail. In fact, that may be exactly what the LEGO Group was hoping to avoid across the box art for a set that’s targeted towards non-AFOLs, should this discrepancy between packaging and instructions have been a deliberate choice rather than one made in error. 

But if you do decide to give it a go, you’ll run the risk of ruining your brand new Queer Eye minifigures (and they are very good minifigures) – at least over time, and with repeated removal and reinsertion of their hands.

And while most seasoned adult fans know not to constantly tamper with minifigure torso assemblies, the new-to-LEGO crowd the company is clearly aiming for with many of its 18+ sets, including 10291 Queer Eye – The Fab 5 Loft, may not be so savvy with best practices around their new minifigures.

The net result is potentially a real headache for the LEGO Group’s customer service department, which may end up fielding countless requests for replacement minifigure torso pieces in the months and years to come.

10291 Queer Eye – The Fab 5 Loft launches on October 1. For more, check out our in-depth review, or learn where the idea for the Netflix-inspired set came from.

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Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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