LEGO Collectable Minifigures General Discussion

[Scrib]

As of right now, entertainmentearth.com has full display boxes in stock for $119.99, US shipping only. Just a heads up.

Wow, thanks a lot! Ordered!

Let's hope they haven't repackaged boxes with like 20 divers and 20 spacemen or anything unscrupulous like that...

However, if this works out, they may be my go-to site for Series 2.

[dhaas06]

As of right now, entertainmentearth.com has full display boxes in stock for $119.99, US shipping only. Just a heads up.

Thank you so much! I made it just in time, as there was only 1 box left in stock. I hope this doesn't turn out too good to be true!

[blueandwhite]

4 to a case means only 2 to a box which would be less then what some are reporting, also i'm not the only one I've heard with 4 Cheerleaders in a box, and yes visually verified the barcode on the figs in the 2 sealed boxs I bought, (they never hit the sales floor).

from what I can tell so far 80% of reported boxes have 3 per box and 20% has 4 per box, heard a wild tale of someone finding 5 cheerleaders in a box, but nothing else heard on that, I imagine 3 per box is the average with 4 in a box being rare until more pop up, might have been a certain production period on the boxs not sure though.

That's cool. Sorry about the whole case/box thing. I'm not really all that informed when it comes to the whole collectable retail thing.

[natelite]

My box of 60 (which arrived from S@H today) had the following:

5 ninjas

5 divers

5 crash test dummies

4 forestmen

4 magicians

4 cowboys

4 spacemen

4 cavemen

4 robots

3 wrestlers

3 clowns

3 cheerleaders

3 nurses

3 skaters

3 tribal hunters

3 zombies

Edit: So, the same contents as the European boxes.

Agreed. others can say 4 or 5 cheerleaders but the above have been the composition of every single box i went through. 10 box is a lot. 80/20? riggghhttt.... i don't think so. i have 10 more coming from EE (pre-ordered), and i can bet the composition is EXACTLY the same as above.

[not-in-use-anymore]

I just have a small question, why do people say that there are boxes seen at a store then buy them?

[Edmond Dantes]

Agreed. others can say 4 or 5 cheerleaders but the above have been the composition of every single box i went through. 10 box is a lot. 80/20? riggghhttt.... i don't think so. i have 10 more coming from EE (pre-ordered), and i can bet the composition is EXACTLY the same as above.

Yes, I agree completely. Consider the source of differing information and previous posts (which I'm sure you have).

EE is sold out and I doubt they will have more in stock, so congrats on your successful pre-order (interested in selling one of those?)!

Interestingly enough, I did not get an actual sealed "box" in my shipment. There were 60 individual packages thrown into the shipping box, however the breakdown is listed above and as it is EXACTLY the same as the European boxes and the 10 you've gone through, it's obvious the S@H employee who packed it opened a sealed box and dumped in the minifigs. The odds against this are incalculable. Again, this is directly in contradiction to the "S@H grabs from a huge pile of minifigs for orders". I was 100% confident I would receive the breakdown listed and indeed I did.

[Scrib]

Yes, I agree completely. Consider the source of differing information and previous posts (which I'm sure you have).

EE is sold out and I doubt they will have more in stock, so congrats on your successful pre-order (interested in selling one of those?)!

Interestingly enough, I did not get an actual sealed "box" in my shipment. There were 60 individual packages thrown into the shipping box, however the breakdown is listed above and as it is EXACTLY the same as the European boxes and the 10 you've gone through, it's obvious the S@H employee who packed it opened a sealed box and dumped in the minifigs. The odds against this are incalculable. Again, this is directly in contradiction to the "S@H grabs from a huge pile of minifigs for orders". I was 100% confident I would receive the breakdown listed and indeed I did.

Congrats on getting a "box!" I didn't order from S@H for the reasons I stated previously, i.e. the rep I spoke with couldn't guarantee me the full contents of a box of 60. It doesn't really matter now that I have a box on order from Entertainment Earth, as long as my order isn't cancelled or the box's contents are rearranged...

[dhaas06]

The story is true that S@H dumped figures in a common receptacle, because I too ordered 60 when the limit was removed. Instead of getting a box (or the dumped-out contents of a box) I received 60 loose figures, including 7 divers, no cowboys, no wrestlers. Beyond those, the spread was ok, but definitely not the same numbers reported of the sealed boxes. Some figures had 6, others had 1 or 2. Let's just speculate that S@H dumped a good portion of their stock into a common receptacle, but not all of it. Some orders were filled from there, others were filled with their own cases (with or without the actual box).

[Edmond Dantes]

The story is true that S@H dumped figures in a common receptacle, because I too ordered 60 when the limit was removed. Instead of getting a box (or the dumped-out contents of a box) I received 60 loose figures, including 7 divers, no cowboys, no wrestlers. Beyond those, the spread was ok, but definitely not the same numbers reported of the sealed boxes. Some figures had 6, others had 1 or 2. Let's just speculate that S@H dumped a good portion of their stock into a common receptacle, but not all of it. Some orders were filled from there, others were filled with their own cases (with or without the actual box).

I withdraw my accusations then. I got lucky and I assume your speculation is correct.

I complained a few times regarding my displayed (not actual) VIP points balance being stuck at 0 now for almost two weeks - it's possible someone took pity on me.

[Asterios]

Agreed. others can say 4 or 5 cheerleaders but the above have been the composition of every single box i went through. 10 box is a lot. 80/20? riggghhttt.... i don't think so. i have 10 more coming from EE (pre-ordered), and i can bet the composition is EXACTLY the same as above.

As I said before it probably all depended on when you got your boxs, since they might have had a differant distribution of minifigs at differant times to throw the whole concept off, just like other collectibles, they don't use the same distribution all the time but will throw in variations from time to time, but over all I would have to agree 3 cheerleaders is the average per box with other numbers being differant.

me personally don't give a fig since didn't keep boxs since they were for something else, me I have a complete set with a couple of extras and thats good enough for me, since if i'm going to army build will wait till these come out in sets (which you know they will).

[Dunjohn]

I dunno, a lot of these don't make sense in sets. I can't imagine what the Zombie would come in, for example. He looks too realistic to be an actor. Some of these may receive wider release, but deffo not all of them.

[Asterios]

I dunno, a lot of these don't make sense in sets. I can't imagine what the Zombie would come in, for example. He looks too realistic to be an actor. Some of these may receive wider release, but deffo not all of them.

does the Vampire the wolfman and frankenstein come to mind? they were in LEGO sets.

[blueandwhite]

does the Vampire the wolfman and frankenstein come to mind? they were in LEGO sets.

Sorry, but I agree with Dunjohn. I can't imagine any of the collectable figures showing up in sets. Sure, there may be a similar figure at some point in the future however I don't think LEGO is simply going to repackage this line in everyday sets as it would surely irritate the hardcore collectors out there. Heck, you'd need a new line (or to resurrect the long defunct studios line) to even justify the inclusion of the zombie minifigure.

Sure, it is possible taht we may see a cheerleader or a new forestman in some future set. Still, in all likelihood she will be a different cheerleader with different leg and torso printing and the forestman will be as different as the collectables forestman is to the earlier line.

[Asterios]

Sorry, but I agree with Dunjohn. I can't imagine any of the collectable figures showing up in sets. Sure, there may be a similar figure at some point in the future however I don't think LEGO is simply going to repackage this line in everyday sets as it would surely irritate the hardcore collectors out there. Heck, you'd need a new line (or to resurrect the long defunct studios line) to even justify the inclusion of the zombie minifigure.

Sure, it is possible taht we may see a cheerleader or a new forestman in some future set. Still, in all likelihood she will be a different cheerleader with different leg and torso printing and the forestman will be as different as the collectables forestman is to the earlier line.

I'd disagree I can see Zombie sets coming out in an Adventurers themed set like the mummy did and such, remember LEGO is not known for making one shot items and while we may have differant types of cheerleaders we may still see the same one, since LEGO is also not known to cater to "Collectors" only if at all, remember the gold plated C3PO's only supposed to be 10,000 of those but ended up being alot more with what they gave out at some shows and such.

[Mos_Eisley]

Sorry, but I agree with Dunjohn. I can't imagine any of the collectable figures showing up in sets. Sure, there may be a similar figure at some point in the future however I don't think LEGO is simply going to repackage this line in everyday sets as it would surely irritate the hardcore collectors out there. Heck, you'd need a new line (or to resurrect the long defunct studios line) to even justify the inclusion of the zombie minifigure.

Sure, it is possible taht we may see a cheerleader or a new forestman in some future set. Still, in all likelihood she will be a different cheerleader with different leg and torso printing and the forestman will be as different as the collectables forestman is to the earlier line.

I agree. Wasn't it stated somewhere by TLG that these minifigures would never appear in any other sets? If they did decide to put these exact minifigures into regular sets, they may as well never produce another series of these because that is the whole point of them - minifigures that are exclusive to these series'. People won't buy these packages if the same figures will just show up later. Of course this doesn't mean they won't produce a clown or cheerleader with different prints, but then those wouldn't be the same minifigures.

I've tried to stay out of this, but, Asterios, I really don't understand why or where you come up with these things you say. First you say these are going to be everywhere and now that that hasn't happened, it's that these are just going to be thrown in future sets. If you have some hard facts to back up your statements fine, but to just keep repeating the same nonsense gets tiresome.

Next you're going to repeat that TLG has claimed limited items before. I disagree with that as well. You cited the Dwarves' Mine previously - it was well-known that the Dwarves' Mine was going to be re-released as a Target exclusive after the initial run of the sets that holiday season. Other sets that have "Limited Edition" on them only say that because they are exclusive to a certain retailer. They make no claims that these sets are produced in fewer numbers than sets that are available to all retailers. They have also never stated these these exclusive sets will never again be produced once they are retired. So when the Hoth Rebel Base, X-Wing Fighter, etc. make a return after disappearing, they have not broken any promises. The only time they did anything close to being dishonest in this regard was when they re-released the 10152 Maersk Container Ship back in '05-'06. At one point TLG claimed that the current run of Maersk ships that were already produced would be the last ones ever because the Maersk Blue color was no longer being produced and they didn't have any of it left. A few months after it was retired, they magically found more Maersk Blue and re-released another batch of 10152s. I haven't read the details on the new Maersk ship so I'm not sure what is going on with its colors (And for the record I don't count the claims of production numbers of giveaway items as being dishonest. First, it's not something you're actually paying for, it's randomly included with something else you were buying. Second, they stated 10,000 were going to be in sets, that doesn't mean they didn't make 10 million of them for other purposes).

The botttom line here is that with this product, TLG specifically said that these figures were being produced for this product only, never to be seen again. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other if we see them again, but if they say it, I believe they will keep their word. There is no reason that you should continue with your "these are going to be everywhere" campaign.

[Asterios]

The botttom line here is that with this product, TLG specifically said that these figures were being produced for this product only, never to be seen again. It doesn't matter to me one way or the other if we see them again, but if they say it, I believe they will keep their word. There is no reason that you should continue with your "these are going to be everywhere" campaign.

Thats the thing LEGO doesn't say that in fact they have already made Collectible minifig sets of minifigs from old sets, nowhere does LEGO say these new minifigs won't be used in new sets, show me that and I might believe it, but they don't.

LEGO has to recoup their costs for the Design stamps and the new product molds, and this brief run of minifigs won't do that, so this is a matter of economics, they have the design stamps and the molds so they will reuse them.

now here is what you might be thinking:

Many of the new pieces and accessories were created just for the Minifigures series and are not planned to appear in any other LEGO sets…ever!

the problem there is it only says pieces and acces. nothing about minifigs so the stands might be phased out and LEGO honors its word but like I said it says nothing about minifigs and other then the design stamp nothing new on that.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Asterios

[Carbohydrates]

Thats the thing LEGO doesn't say that in fact they have already made Collectible minifig sets of minifigs from old sets.

Yes but that is literally the exact opposite of the situation you're proposing here, and with entirely different motivation. Those were just random minifigs from older sets that certainly weren't designed from the start to be exclusive, rare items. They were just the figs that came with the sets.

LEGO has to recoup their costs for the Design stamps and the new product molds, and this brief run of minifigs won't do that, so this is a matter of economics, they have the design stamps and the molds so they will reuse them.

Maybe, maybe not. Keep in mind these were made in China, outsourced no doubt for the lower production costs. Besides that, Chinese LEGO stuff tends to not intermingle with standard LEGO fare often. Finally, it's entirely possible LEGO is using the figs to generate interest in LEGO as a whole rather than to rake in pure profit, which would mean the figs would generate indirect profit and they can allow for a smaller margin on the figs themselves.

now here is what you might be thinking:

Where's that quote from? Is that an actual quote or is it speculation? Because, if anything, I could possibly see these molds making their way into sets, just not the complete figs themselves.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Carbohydrates

[natelite]

Maybe, maybe not. Keep in mind these were made in China, outsourced no doubt for the lower production costs. Besides that, Chinese LEGO stuff tends to not intermingle with standard LEGO fare often. Finally, it's entirely possible LEGO is using the figs to generate interest in LEGO as a whole rather than to rake in pure profit, which would mean the figs would generate indirect profit and they can allow for a smaller margin on the figs themselves.

you hit the nail right on the head. that's the reason for these cheap plastic figures. they were cutting cost drastically, which led me to believe these weren't suppose to be more than marketing gimmicks meant to drum up interest in lego. remember, these figures were initially created as business cards alternative. just how much does a business card cost anyway? even the most expensive kind will be at best $0.10 or so.

only later did someone from the marketing department thought to sell these as "collectibles" probably still utilizing the cheap plastics and cheaper chinese labor cost.

you should see an improvement in quality in series 4 if not series 3. not sure if there is still time to change the production process for series 3.

if you ask me, series 2 will be the most desirable...one figure in particular will be priced through the roof because it will be in 3x per box and will be sought after by historical fans and army builders. why? well, production has ended and unless TLC makes more of these essentially you can expect series 2 to be as limited as series 1... except series 2 has a figure which is extremely sought after... like 10x or even 100x the desirability of the cheerleader or zombie of series 1. expect that figure to go for $40+ (at least 10x the cheerleader)... the only thing stopping it from going higher is that you can get a close replica by going to brickarms or brickforge.

[Edmond Dantes]

I've tried to stay out of this, but, Asterios, I really don't understand why or where you come up with these things you say. First you say these are going to be everywhere and now that that hasn't happened, it's that these are just going to be thrown in future sets. If you have some hard facts to back up your statements fine, but to just keep repeating the same nonsense gets tiresome.

Next you're going to repeat that TLG has claimed limited items before. I disagree with that as well.

Asterios also claimed these would be released by Target and Walmart in the states. They haven't. He also claimed these weren't actually sold out online and there would be further shipments. Guess what? S@H no longer has them listed (http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/). Whoops - looks like the page exists, but the theme is no longer featured.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Edmond Dantes

[Asterios]

Asterios also claimed these would be released by Target and Walmart in the states. They haven't. He also claimed these weren't actually sold out online and there would be further shipments. Guess what? S@H no longer has them listed (http://shop.lego.com/ByTheme/). Whoops - looks like the page exists, but the theme is no longer featured.

Actually Target and Walmart now have them or at least by me, but they were not in the Toy department but in the collectible cards areas here, and target had them on a funky aisle too. If you don't see them in the stores scan the barcode (pricing not what the fig is) thru a store scanner and it will tell you if your store has had them or not yet, but they are now hitting the big chains so all gloves are off now.

also I never said they would be at target or Walmart, I said someone said they saw them, but now I am since I have seen them with my own eyes, now.

Where's that quote from? Is that an actual quote or is it speculation? Because, if anything, I could possibly see these molds making their way into sets, just not the complete figs themselves.

the Quote is from LEGO's own website on the minifigs, go look it up yourself, and you find where it says the minifigs will never be reproduced ok, anyway this is all pointless the figs are now popping up in Walmarts and Targets.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Asterios

[Dunjohn]

does the Vampire the wolfman and frankenstein come to mind? they were in LEGO sets.

Yes, that's why I specifically said the Zombie doesn't look like an actor. The three you mention are all smiley, happy, non-threatening people because they're not meant to be real. This guy also doesn't fit the Adventures theme wearing a business suit. However, I do agree that a different design of zombie released in a future set would be both possible and awesome. I'd love a red cheerleader and a rival wrestler too.

[Scrib]

The K-Mart in Bartlesville, OK has the Minifigs in their system, but not in stock. I took an empty bag with me and had the barcode scanned. I'll check back with them in a couple of days.

The local Wal-Mart had no record of them in their system, but they have an awful Lego selection and thus may not get them in. I can't say if it'll be the same for every Wal-Mart though.

Again, if someone finds them at a store in the US like Wal-Mart or Target, let us know!

[Apache]

Been checking Targets and Walmarts here in Phoenix, Nothing. Only have found some at Toys R' Us and then it's usually "Sold out in the first 3 hours."

Ditto on posting your finds here.

[soc399]

I haven't found any at Target or Walmart in northern Michigan, either.

[Carbohydrates]

Received my order of 60 today. It wasn't a sealed box and the numbers didn't come out as if it was - for instance, I got 8 divers but only 1 crash test dummy. Oh well, can't complain at all since I got the 'correct' number of zombies and cheerleaders (3 each) and all the 'important' stuff. I'm just sitting on a giant pile of divers and spacemen now.