A tale from the development of LEGO collectible minifigures, ft. Strong Bad

[jamesster]

Mike Rayhawk, who's done a lot of stuff for LEGO, shared something pretty funny/interesting on Twitter today. I've put each tweet in this quote, since embedding the tweets themselves would be rather clunky. You can read the original threads here and here.

Quote

Just bought another pile of collectible minifigs; suddenly remembered that we pitched it with Strong Bad as the first example

We didn't say so, of course. Just "Super Wrestler." We were so bad back then, always trying to sneak stuff past legal.

(Following Lego's usual 5 or 6 years of design revision, the Super Wrestler that got released looked nothing like Strong Bad of course.)

Also remembering we couldn't photo our mockup minifigs b/c digital cameras barely existed, and film took too long. We had to use a scanner.

In the time between proposing blind-bag figs and actually releasing them, the entire field of consumer digital photography was invented

Somewhere in my decrepit hard drive archives are the grainy office scans of all those mockups. Almost all of them got made eventually.

(Another twitter user:) Is it my imagination, or aside from some Japanese blind pack models, did the whole blind-bag idea srsly BLOW UP after LEGO did it?

For sure, but it was already huge in Asian markets. My concept design partner ran a Japanese collectibles store, and she lifted the idea.

But in our pitches they were always candy-toy boxes, so you couldn't feel what was inside. Bagging them might have been original to Lego.

Now when I see every other toy company blind-bagging every kind of random crap, I feel responsible. But really it's mostly her fault.

(Another twitter user:) >can't feel what's inside
You monster. (I mean, it'd be much better from a business perspective, as I'd buy more, but still.)

I'll be honest, most of our pitches back then were meant to torment either the set designers or the AFOLs. Or both. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejPxWTCA1Ug

Wait! Found them. My first two characters pitched were Strong Bad and Blue Demon. Lego wisely opted to avoid my trademark infringements.

My idea for a two-by-four 1x4 got turned into an actual brick before the wrestlers did.

We didn't have muscle torsos yet, either. I think those first showed up in the Indiana Jones license. Mine were pretty lame in hindsight.

But the moral of the story is that now I get to have Super Wrestler on my business card. Thanks, past me

 

Edited August 24, 2017 by jamesster

[Agent Kallus]

thanks for sharing this.

[x105Black]

Good read. And the video link he posted was entertaining.

[Umbra-Manis]

I was just reading this on twitter, but thanks for archiving it here for all to see!

[Anonknee Muss]

Wow! Didn't realise how long the idea had been around for a blind series! I'm very happy with how this theme was developed though. WORTH IT.

[koalayummies]

So he's taking responsibility for the idea of blind bags for Lego? I don't have a problem with him taking that credit, but he should feel bad. Its a slimy way to sell toys to kids. I.e. kid wants a specific figure, isn't particularly good at feeling for them and neither are their parents, thinks they have the one they wanted, go home, open, disappointed, back to the toy store... again. Brilliant from a ruthless marketing perspective, rather disgusting and immoral when considering the target market (ages 5+). Having talked to both kids and parents about this, the sentiment is echoed. The kids may love the product but its the manner in which it is sold and distributed that is objectionable. 

Also does this 'Strong Bad' have anything to do with the "Homestar Runner" flash animated cartoons as its the first and most prominent thing that comes up when googling strong bad but Mike Rayhawk isn't mentioned at all in connection. 

[x105Black]

On 8/25/2017 at 0:47 PM, koalayummies said:

Also does this 'Strong Bad' have anything to do with the "Homestar Runner" flash animated cartoons

Yes, exactly. That's him.

[Artanis I]

On 26/08/2017 at 2:47 AM, koalayummies said:

Also does this 'Strong Bad' have anything to do with the "Homestar Runner" flash animated cartoons as its the first and most prominent thing that comes up when googling strong bad but Mike Rayhawk isn't mentioned at all in connection. 

Mike was a Lego employee designing CMFs and simply tried to base one on the (very cool) character Strong Bad. He has nothing to do with the cartoon/site, this just suggests that he is/was a fan and tried to incorporate that into his work.

 

 

Next we need to see a Trogdor minifig with the beefy arm coming out of the back of his neck...

[koalayummies]

On August 27, 2017 at 0:04 AM, Artanis I said:

Mike was a Lego employee designing CMFs and simply tried to base one on the (very cool) character Strong Bad. He has nothing to do with the cartoon/site

Thanks, I didn't think there was an intellectual property rights connection between this minifigure designer and the cartoon's rights owners.

The Strong Bad cartoons were pretty funny.

Back to blind bags, funny reads:

"There is a special place in hell reserved for people who put toys for kids under 12 in blind, randomized bags. They may think they’re evil marketing geniuses and joyfully contemplate their sales increases, but all it makes me want to do is never buy anything from them again. EVER. Ben doesn’t understand that randomized packs of collectibles are a great way to sell more product; he just knows that he really wants the mummy or the wizard or whatever. That’s why he has a very light piggybank and five of the race car driver Imaginext figure. Even my beloved LEGO and Playmobil have fallen to the dark side. It’s spreading. Warn the people!" http://www.mommyish.com/10-things-resent-buying-kids/

"Oh and the incredible amount of money these companies are making by a brilliant strategy I have to applaud.

Doing the math, with an average MSRP of $2.99 (some much higher of course) and a collection of at least 10 figures in a series (or more) you can see how quickly that covers the cost of a license. But then factor in the odds of getting one of each in one shot are pretty astronomical so multiplies are a given." https://jimstoybox.com/2017/02/15/blind-bags-are-evil-but-brilliant/

"They come out with a new [expletive] season every five minutes 

The evil geniuses at Moose Toys come out with a new season of Tiny Plastic Crapkins every other minute. No sooner has your preschooler pestered you to purchase 5000 blind bags in their quest for the Ultra Rare “Maxed-Out Credit Card” Shopkin, and those [expletives] have already brought out an entirely new range – just when you thought you’d finally caught up.

There are hundreds of these mofos. Literally. HUNDREDS.

BUT, the inherent and perpetually-frustrating contradiction of Shopkins is that despite there being thousands of the [expletives], no matter how many packets you buy you will keep getting multiples of the same 20 characters over and over again." https://hugzillablog.com/2016/10/10/five-reasons-why-shopkins-can-go-megabluck-themselves/

Edited August 29, 2017 by koalayummies

[Artanis I]

Haha. The rude-word-filter even affects URLs. I was buying blind packaged toys (for my young self) decades ago. It was just as evil then, but not as frustrating as it is as an AFOL. I just BL the CMFs I want now, since my long time convenient source for feeling the bags closed shop 6 months ago. Pay a few dollars more but spend much less time doing it.

Sorry to hijack the thread BTW.