Flick Fire missiles are probably the greatest feature of any set. My only disappointment is that LEGO does not include more of them in each theme! The realism of these projectiles astounds me. Just take a look at Attack on Weathertop! Those missiles are classic LOTR. Remember when they used those missiles in the movie? No set is complete without several of these accurate and easy to shoot weapons. Can you imagine if they had included this kind of advanced technology with Cafe Corner? Its value on the secondary market would probably "skyrocket." Flick Fire Missiles- How did we ever live without them?

 

sar

Actually, KRE-O has these super-awesome missiles that are much more intuitive than the flick missiles.

 

There's a PDF example of them here.

 

They work by the missile clipping into a horizontal clip, and a slanted piece on top of the brick housing the missile pushes the missile outward when pressure is applied, shooting the missile out of the clip using the same principals as a flick missile.

 

To bring the topic to a serious discussion....

Maybe lego legos waiting for the kreo patent to run out. Kreo has a MUCH better missile system.

There was a fairly in-depth approach to flick-fire missiles. http://community.brickpicker.com/topic/3163-does-anyone-like-flick-fire-missiles/?hl=flick+fire#entry95402

 

A lot of it was hating on it, mainly about them not really working for their intended purposes.

Yeah, aside from Sabrejimmy's very clever way of saying they don't always make sense for the theme. LEGO has the ability to make smaller spring-click missiles. Not sure what's stopping them.

 

Maybe lego legos waiting for the kreo patent to run out. Kreo has a MUCH better missile system.

 

As for this, is it even something they can patent? Isn't the reason the KRE-O brand is even in existence due to the LEGO patent's inability to be renewed, as it was ruled a "technical function"?

I'm sure their inclusion is a result of some sort of kids focus group at TLG headquarters or something.  You just know some little kids mentioned "and missiles! the sets need more missiles so I can shoot stuff!"

Flick missiles hurt my fingers, and don't' always fire. They're miserable.

 

The actual technic pin piece, however, is infinitely useful.

I built the Pirate Ship Ambush today, and almost created a thread that wasn't at all sarcastic... just my complete and utter frustration with what is flick missiles.