Bionicle Brain Stems

HOW DO I GET THESE APART?

When sorting a pile of used pieces you will find some connected together.  The good things is that they were almost all designed to come apart.  Almost all.  The one that I come across the most is the Bionicle Head and Brain Stems from the original Bionicle line. 

Unlike most LEGO pieces, once these were connected they are going to stay that way. It used to be that Bricklink had no listing for the assembly and it was the way I originally wrote this. I still do list them separate and use this method to get them apart.

WARNING: DON’T USE A SHARP BLADE!!  DO ONLY UNDER ADULT SUPERVISION!!*

Find a butter knife or another non sharp object.  It needs to have a tapered handle so there is a smooth transition between the blade and handle.  Slide in the butter knife between the back of the head and the brain stalk where the axle goes in.

You can twist the blade and most of the time these will pop.  Or you can slide the assembly down to the thicker part and these pieces will be separated back into two.  I have had some that really stuck together so sliding the assembly down the butter knife was the only way to pop them apart.

Now you have two pieces. The head piece was used in other sets without the brain stalk but not the other way around. You can find directions to make devices out of pieces to separate these and they do work but if you are doing several I found this the easiest way

*(Not responsible for injuries to yourself or others)