LEGO from a gumball machine?

[def]

As some of you know, LEGO treats Japan as a special market. Sure, it's a massive economy and a big market, but LEGO is not priced as it is in the States, it has a premium price, often twice what it is in the States.

There are no LEGO stores, instead there is an independent specialty store, ClickBrick.

Lastly, they sell LEGO in gumball machines

These machines, known as gacha-gacha are ubiquitous. Most big stores have at least two dozen of them, but 50 wouldn't be surprising.

So, this is it:

The mini-Star Wars sets given out with the newspaper in England, with two new minis, sold for ¥400 each, about $5 U.S. They're selling An-pan-man to the right, Tomato-Farms to the bottom, and princesses all around.

You get a big ball:

Do you care about wrinkled packaging? Tough titties. You get it in a big wad, and you better like it.

And you get an 'exclusive' Japanese ad for all this stuff.

I've got four of the five sets, I need the walker. I'd be happy with a repeat STAP, since they are good army builders. Or the vulture droid, since they are good as a space army. What did I get? That crappy little speeder. Doesn't look like anything from Star Wars, and doesn't even come with a speeder bike trooper.

So, I think it's kind of crappy.

On the plus side, the auction site here has lots of these sets for ¥250 mostly from people buying piles of them as army builders or something, so I actually ordered the two minis through there for about ¥500.

Also, the price is fine for a gacha machine item, which usually costs from ¥200-400, so there is a good chance for kids to be exposed to LEGO. LEGO is not heavily featured in stores here, but gacha machines are everywhere. This is good branding. Just a pain for AFOLs.

On the downside, this is the only way to buy the collectible mini figs here, ¥300 each... randomly I bought all 16 for about ¥3600 together on Bricklink, including shipping... all 16 for ¥3600, vs randomly searching for them at a combined total of ¥4800, if you got it perfect. Nope, I won't be buying any here at all.

What do you think?

[lightningtiger]

Interesting find there 'def', I wonder if they will come available outside of Japan. These machines are a staple in the malls of Australia to fleece money from kids, parents and grandparents, but hey it's Lego....Star Wars Lego !

Brick On !

[Fugazi]

Thanks for this interesting report, def. There's no bad way of marketing Lego if it helps make it available where it wouldn't be otherwise. If the price is right and the selection is fine, then I'm all for it. I'm not too keen on the random selection though. I'd rather have a number of machines selling every polybag separately, but perhaps it wouldn't be as profitable for the sellers.

[TanTile]

my kid is always bugging me to get something from a gumball machine and for once i would be happy to throw a few coin in those machines 1) keep my kid happy 2) keep daddy happy when they get sick of it

a win win in my book

[XimenaPaulina]

Interesting report indeed, I've read about this before and it's really nice to see these LSW polybags finding its way to the Japanese gumball machines. Living in a place where LEGO is extremely expensive, I'd love to have the chance to acquire these through this means but sadly, our local gumball machines don't offer these (only Pokemon, Ben 10, and other Japanese stuff). The price of US$5 is much lower than BL's average prices, and it's much more readily accessible than waiting for your online purchase in the mail, so it's a welcome development for me if ever it finds its way here in our place.

[Peppermint_M]

Awesome! I have loved these things since I first saw some in a supermarket. DS stylus, phone charms, keyrings, figures and a whole load of other junk I grab. The comic book shop used to have Final Fantasy ones and I managed a full set (and about 6 Noojes) along with .Hack.

True they eat my money, but Lego polybags are even better than quirky things to hang off my handbag and phone. However I am unlikely to find any here selling Lego.

[Izzy]

My sister send me a picture of the minifgures like this.

I didn't ask her to buy me one, but if I was there myself, I would have gotten one just for the novelty.

I'd say the same if they started selling LEGO in such a way here in Aus. I'd do it once (regardless of the price). But only for the novelty of getting it in a different kind of package, and in a different kind of way.

[meyerc13]

I wish they had LEGO in machines like this here in the US. As a dad, I'd gladly drop some coins in a machine like this vs. the machines full of cheap junk that goes straight in the garbage when the kids aren't looking. As for the randomness... at least it gives the kids a fair shot at getting a popular set/minifig since the adults can't snatch up all of the good ones.

[Clone OPatra]

But only for the novelty of getting it in a different kind of package, and in a different kind of way.

But it's not really in a different type of package, is it? It's just the normal package smashed into the sort of ball that everything is smashed into to be sold in that type of machine.

[Big Cam]

Def, I understand where your coming from, but I actually think it's a cool idea. Especially with all those minis in one location.

[Brickdoctor]

I think this is a pretty neat idea. I have relatives who go crazy over those machines trying to collect everything in a certain series, and I think that this is a good way to market small, cheap(ish) LEGO to kids.

[Nightshroud99]

Wish they had those cool machines here in the States, I've seen them in Canada at the Asian Malls though I blew some money and got some nice stuff. Not LEGO though...

[Churchill]

If these were in the US, I'd probably be standing in front of them all day putting coins in like a slot machine...

[The Cobra]

I saw one of these machines at Mirabello (Cantù) last year.

You could get a random impulse set for 4 Euros (and 50 meters away you could buy the impulse set you wanted for 3!)

[Gregorovich]

If they had those here I'd buy from them - depending on the sets and the price. If they were selling the promos that we usually only get with the free newspaper promotions once a year, I'd get it if it was one of them that I like. If it was CM's, though, I wouldn't purchase from there, seeing as you couldn't feel the bag to guess what's inside.

Thanks for reporting this!

[Brickdoctor]

Wish they had those cool machines here in the States, I've seen them in Canada at the Asian Malls though I blew some money and got some nice stuff. Not LEGO though...

They do have the machines (when I was in San Francisco, I saw them everywhere), but as far as I know they don't have LEGO in them.

[Ratshot]

I would buy Lego from a machine if the price was right. To bad they didn't sell Pick-A-Brick cups in this manner.

[Blackknight112]

It is a nce idea. But I think I rather buy them individually. Can I chose which ones I want.

[Aanchir]

I kind of disagree about this being a lame idea. After all, think of it this way: even if you don't get the set you want, it's a better deal than many types of crappy toys or jewelry people might get from this type of vending machine (at least here in the US-- I hear Japan has a lot more vending machines in general than we have, though, so it's possible that the standard of quality on these sorts of purchases is higher there).

I do think it could be way better executed, though. There's simply no excuse for how crumpled the instructions are in some of those pictures. Ideally, instead of just cramming a polybag set into a tiny container for these things, TLG could design sets to be packed directly into the containers. But that would of course depend on how successful the vending machine business model is-- if it doesn't seem profitable enough, TLG wouldn't go through that sort of trouble.

[Big Cam]

I totally agree Aanchir.

It would be easy to set up a vending machine of sorts specifically for LEGO that could keep instructions flat.

[def]

About the machine system in Japan, it is of a substantially higher quality than in the States. Canada has these machines too, but when I was a kid, they had super bouncy balls or glitter stickers or something, but it was all pretty disposable. Japanese ones often have collectible toy series, costing $4-5. The system could be done in the States, but people would have to accept paying more and aiming more for collectability than for novelty.

It's not going to happen in the current economy though

Also important to remember, Lego is contracting these out. The ad says Takara Tomy, which is a big toy maker here Also, note how crappy that ad image is:

A clone walker in space? I don't think LEGO would produce an image like that. It seems like lazy design.

[freakwave]

My sister send me a picture of the minifgures like this.

I saw those machines in Italy last year as well. It was on some Highway Service station in South Tyrol. The price for them was considerable higher as far as i remember. Must have a picture somewhere...

[Brickdoctor]

About the machine system in Japan, it is of a substantially higher quality than in the States. Canada has these machines too, but when I was a kid, they had super bouncy balls or glitter stickers or something, but it was all pretty disposable. Japanese ones often have collectible toy series, costing $4-5. The system could be done in the States, but people would have to accept paying more and aiming more for collectability than for novelty.

Yeah, the US items are the really cheap 4-quarter ones.

[Fallenangel]

I kind of disagree about this being a lame idea. After all, think of it this way: even if you don't get the set you want, it's a better deal than many types of crappy toys or jewelry people might get from this type of vending machine (at least here in the US-- I hear Japan has a lot more vending machines in general than we have, though, so it's possible that the standard of quality on these sorts of purchases is higher there).

From what I've heard you can get most anything from Japanese vending machines. Apparently there's an urban myth that in one district they vend used underwear. Is it true?

[def]

Yeah, the US items are the really cheap 4-quarter ones.

The money is probably one reason... America loves paper money. Canada has $1 and $2 coins... Japan has ¥100 and ¥500 coins. It makes the machines a lot more convenient, big money, but no electronics. I'd hate to have to put 16 quarters into a machine, it would be a pain in the megablocks.

From what I've heard you can get most anything from Japanese vending machines. Apparently there's an urban myth that in one district they vend used underwear. Is it true?

http://www.snopes.com/risque/kinky/panties.asp

Never seen it, but it's another example of Westerners taking the weirdest thing they can find in a country and holding it up as normal. I've heard about this from at least a dozen Westerners, even though most Japanese have never heard of it. It's about the equivalent of a Japanese reporter going to the New York gay pride parade and reporting back that Americans wear leather cock harnesses. Americans wear leather cock harnesses, don't they?