Unspoken Words

Prints. Most of the time. Guess it depends on the piece sometimes though, I guess.

Whether I prefer printed parts or stickers largely depends on the situation. For the two instances in G2 Bionicle where we've had stickers, I've been glad about it because the stickers are easy to reliably apply well, and are on parts that would not exist undecorated if they had been printed. I feel similarly about the printed parts, with the possible exception of the Silver Metallic chest plate used for Skull Warrior and Lewa, which so far doesn't exist in a non-printed variety (though I doubt stickering would be preferable for the complex curves of the part in question). And in a lot of other themes I like, stickers allow a greater variety of decorations than would be feasible with prints (such as the individualized numerical designations on the vehicles in Atlantis and Power Miners, none of which were shared between sets). There have been stickers I've disliked on other sets, though—for instance, 7706 Mobile Defense Tank had a sticker on the disc shooter that did not adhere well (due to the tight curve and uneven surface of the part in question). Generally I think Lego's done a good job of choosing the best method of decorating parts for the situation in recent years, and I can only think of a few stickered parts which I would prefer to be printed or vice-versa.

It depends. If I like the design and want to keep it that way, printed. If I don't care for the design and have a clean part in the specific color, then sticker. I know that is horribly wishy-washy, but still.

 

As for armor add-ons, I feel we've got more than that. Just looking on Bricklink, I can count about 15 pieces that have the two-pin connections to go over the shell pieces. Granted, most were released in 2011 and 2012, and some weren't very widespread, but there were the rocky spikes and prong spikes released in HF in 2013, and the gold curved armor from the 2014 Chima sets, so that's equal to this year's.

 

Printed all the way.  Stickers are too much pressure.  Feels like I'm defusing a bomb when I stick them on.

Neither.

My opinion: Stickers.

 

Stickers you can take off or choose not to put on.

 

Prints are there forever, and reduce the reusability of a piece by a lot. 

My opinion: Stickers.

 

Stickers you can take off or choose not to put on.

 

Prints are there forever, and reduce the reusability of a piece by a lot. 

On the other hand, who would want to put stickers on a minifigure? I mean, that's definitely not what people usually talk about when discussing stickers or prints, but still. That's at least one thing I can think of where printing is the only good choice.

Stickers, 'cus I can opt out.

 

My opinion: Stickers.

 

Stickers you can take off or choose not to put on.

 

Prints are there forever, and reduce the reusability of a piece by a lot.

On the other hand, who would want to put stickers on a minifigure? I mean, that's definitely not what people usually talk about when discussing stickers or prints, but still. That's at least one thing I can think of where printing is the only good choice.

 

Tiles meant to be held by minifigures (such as maps and the like) are another good example of parts you want printed, just because the act of putting a tile in a minifigure's hand has the potential to crinkle or dislodge stickers.

 

Come to think of it, that brings up another example in a recent set where prints might be preferable. The Temple of Airjitzu and City of Stiix sets both feature stickered tiles that represent "Ninjago trading cards". You could obviously just attach those to the top of a minifigure hand without issue, but it wouldn't look as good as them holding the cards. Of course, that's a situation where prints might not even allow for that kind of variety—instead of three distinct cards, they might just repeat the same two or even one card across both sets if they were printed, just to get their money's worth out of the element in question.