Bah humbug: LEGO fans ‘can’t unsee’ big Santa minifig’s torso mismatch

The latest up-scaled LEGO minifigure is heavy on festive spirit, but light on torso printing – much to the chagrin of those already building Santa in time for Xmas.

40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure dropped at LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores on October 1 as part of the latest wave of seasonal sets, so early adopters have already had a few weeks to go hands-on with this giant take on the regular LEGO Santa Claus minifigure. And the consensus across LEGO.com, social media channels and reviews (including our own) is generally positive… save for one thing.

The white trim around the base of Santa’s jacket is brick-built to a point, and that point is the printed tile that forms the centre of his torso. Unfortunately, the curse of the LEGO Group’s lacklustre white printing on red pieces has struck once again here, just as it did with Commander Fox in 2023’s 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship, and the result is a regrettable mismatch in colour between the tile and surrounding bricks.

It’s an issue that hasn’t gone unnoticed, either: several reviewers on LEGO.com have called attention to the torso printing, including one who describes it as their ‘first LEGO disappointment’. “It made the whole Santa figure [look] cheap,” the three-star review says. “Alignment was off as well. I cannot unsee it because it is so obvious.” Others on reddit have posted about the same problem with their copies too.

For its part, the LEGO Group has responded to one review on its official online store asking the disgruntled shopper to submit a request for a replacement piece, while redditor roguezebra reports that the customer service team honoured their request ‘because the colours didn’t match to [the LEGO Group’s] quality standard’. What’s not clear yet is whether the replacement elements will suffer from the same issues.

The level of printing also seems to fluctuate between copies of the set, as the difference in hue between the white print and white pieces appears more pronounced in photos posted on reddit and in LEGO.com reviews than in our own review copy (as one example).

Generally speaking, the LEGO Group has been steadily improving its printing processes in recent years, and light-on-dark printing is certainly nowhere near as bad as it once was (see Misako in the LEGO NINJAGO Movie range for one especially egregious example). But it’s also clearly not entirely fixed, as demonstrated by 40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure’s torso.

Still, there is recent precedent for the company taking steps to address piece-specific issues. An updated and improved version of Commander Fox’s torso found its way into late production runs of 75354 Coruscant Guard Gunship earlier this year, and customer services was obliging in sending out replacement pieces to LEGO Star Wars fans who already owned the earlier, pinker torso.

We could therefore see the same process implemented for 40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure somewhere down the line, assuming the replacement pieces the LEGO Group is currently sending out haven’t already rectified the issue – although that seems unlikely this early into the set’s life cycle.

Let us know in the comments how you get on if you end up requesting a replacement torso for Santa. Even jolly old St. Nick deserves matching clobber this Christmas…

40820 Up-Scaled Santa Minifigure is available now. Check out our review of the recent LEGO Christmas collection, including Santa, 40806 Gingerbread AT-AT Walker and more, by heading here.

Support the work that Brick Fanatics does by purchasing your LEGO using our affiliate links. Thanks!