Lego Minifigures biggest selling toy by value in UK

[Rumble Strike]

Hi all,

I saw this on the BBC website and thought it was very interesting:

BBC article about minifigures

It says that the collectable minifigures are "ranked by industry analysts NPD as the biggest selling toy by value in the UK in the first nine months of the year".

Personally I have seen the series fly off the shelves in supermarkets like Tesco, so I am not surprised. Their blind-bagged minifigure section has grown and grown, especially with Mega Bloks and Character Options jumping on the bandwagon with Halo/Marvel and Dr Who/Army single, blind-packed figures respectively.

Clearly, it has been a huge success for Lego and I am sure will have a knock-on effect on its popularity.

If this is best off in the Special Themes forum, can a Mod please move it

[Aanchir]

Very nice. Glad to see the quality of the LEGO Minifigures sets are recognized even outside the LEGO fan community. A'course, when the LEGO rep they talk to mentions how the blind packaging cuts down on the cost of making unique packaging for each figure, it's painfully obvious how many other motivations he's neglecting to mention (for instance, the ability to release "niche" figures whose desirability isn't as universal, the "collect-them-all" aspect mentioned elsewhere in the article, and the component of surprise that comes with any type of "mystery-pack" item).

It's interesting that the UK has been the top market for these minifigures. I wonder why that is-- is this the case with blind-packaged toys in general, is there a cultural factor involved, or does it have something to do with pricing and distribution?

[Rumble Strike]

The article links the popularity of these "pocket money" mini items to the recession, and there may well be something in that, in that money is tighter for families and these are ideally priced.

[TomRoid]

Niiiiice. And knock off effect? Megabloks, Character Building and Playmobile all now have at least two random minifigure bags.

[Vindice]

Bodes well for the future. Can't see TLG stopping them anytime soon. Wonder how many more ideas they have though, we're in a golden age for minifigs. Perhaps licensed CMF's aren't too far behind.

[Jedi master Brick]

Bodes well for the future. Can't see TLG stopping them anytime soon. Wonder how many more ideas they have though, we're in a golden age for minifigs. Perhaps licensed CMF's aren't too far behind.

I doubT so for licensed cmfs, not stairways anyway or has or will sue.

[Nikola Bathory]

I'm happy for LEGO. Hm, probably the situation in the UK is pretty bad (as it is almost everywhere btw) and cheap products are easier to sell.

[wokajablocka]

Bodes well for the future. Can't see TLG stopping them anytime soon. Wonder how many more ideas they have though, we're in a golden age for minifigs. Perhaps licensed CMF's aren't too far behind.

I could see amassive market for Star Wars collectable minifigs. Alot of SW collectors mainly want the minifigs and would make it much cheaper than buying a whole set just to get the minifigs. Although Lego would make more maony if they make you buy a $100 set to get 5 figs when CMF sell for $5 at the most, you could get 20 minifigs for that price.

Its a very interesting topic as Im sure they will run out of ideas soon as they are already reproducing certain themes already ( How may clowns, skiers and snowboarders do we need?). Its still good to see multiple figs from the same theme but are really only good to people making specific scenes.

I like the idear of the new plant sets from the Star Wars 2012 lineup. You get 1 minifig and a minibuild for around $10 which is not too bad for Star Wars Lego. You get the minifig relativly cheap and get a minibuild as well.

[Blondie-Wan]

I could see amassive market for Star Wars collectable minifigs. Alot of SW collectors mainly want the minifigs and would make it much cheaper than buying a whole set just to get the minifigs. Although Lego would make more maony if they make you buy a $100 set to get 5 figs when CMF sell for $5 at the most, you could get 20 minifigs for that price.

Its a very interesting topic as Im sure they will run out of ideas soon as they are already reproducing certain themes already ( How may clowns, skiers and snowboarders do we need?). Its still good to see multiple figs from the same theme but are really only good to people making specific scenes.

I like the idear of the new plant sets from the Star Wars 2012 lineup. You get 1 minifig and a minibuild for around $10 which is not too bad for Star Wars Lego. You get the minifig relativly cheap and get a minibuild as well.

And the planet too, don't forget.

It's generally thought that the battlepacks and other small sets (such as these upcoming Planets sets) are as close as we're going to get to minifigure packs for Star Wars (or other licenses) from this point out. TLG did in fact make some Star Wars minifigure packs in the early years of the license (and did similar sets for a number of other themes), but it's widely believed Hasbro, which has its own license for Star Wars action figures, felt TLG was getting too close to its turf.

Edited November 3, 2011 by Blondie-Wan

[Vindice]

We don't know the particulars of the agreement with Hasbro. I suspect if it was the case that there was a bit of an issue then there may have even been some sort of gentlemens agreement at the request of Lucas's people.

I can't see anyway that Hasbro could enforce this on TLG otherwise, certainly not legally anyway. there is already a massive crossover between the two and if Hasbro were to throw their toys (no pun intended) out of the pram there are plenty of other toymakers out there who would be happy to pick up the slack.

I doubt it will happen soon but when the decision is taken, I'm quite confident it won't be with any thought for how it might offend Hasbro.

[Jedi master Brick]

Star wars minifigure packs have no chance. Hasbro threatend to sue for the magnet sets unless they were glued, let alone collatible packs

[Rumble Strike]

I think the one theme that would be a good fit with the CMF concept (should it ever come to pass) would be Lord of the Rings. There would be the opportunity to create several different army builders at once (orcs, hobbits, dwarves, elves), plus they'd throw in some regular characters so the kids could get a few of the main characters.

[Blondie-Wan]

Potential legal issues aside, I think TLG just has more than enough room to do its own original minifigures without having to resort to licenses in order to fill out the line.