What happened to impulse sets?

[adotnamedstud]

Hey! Somewhere around 2011-2012 Impulse sets just vanished from the LEGO market. Thinking about it earlier today, was it a good idea for LEGO to do that? I think that the loss of $3-$9 dollar sets all around the board other than City is very sad. I think they missed LOTS of chances for money with that move. I could come up with dozens of ideas for great impulse sets that people would buy without a doubt. (ex. Superheroes sets) So, what are your thoughts on this?

[Tereglith]

Basically, money ain't worth what it used to be. People won't buy a set without minifigures; minifigures are expensive to produce. But if a set has too little in it besides a minifigure, people feel like they're getting ripped off. Inflation and people's expectation that same-sized sets will always cost the same amount is always squeezing Lego designers from both sides, but the effect is most pronounced on the smallest sets, where the margins were smallest and could evaporate the quickest. That's why the lowest price point for most lines has crept up from $10 to $13 over the past few years, and why sets smaller than that have been eliminated almost entirely - you can only choose two of including a minifigure, making it big enough that people feel the model is worth it, and actually making a profit.

Lego has done a pretty admirable job filling the gap with new product categories that aren't traditional sets - I often see polybags that don't include minifigures on sale as impulse buys at Target checkout lines. The Mixels are totally impulse buys to me, at the $5 price point. And, of course, the collectible minifigures, which can exist because there's no expectation that they also include a model.

[klinton]

There's still little polybag sets, Mixles, the minifig collections, Creator sets....

I'm not quite sure what it is you're asking for? There are quite a few options in the 5$ and under category.

[rollermonkey]

Microfighters?

[SweetiePie88]

HUGE problem with the polybag mention though. Those things, unlike most lego sets, are a major pain in the rear for some people to track down. Walmarts where i live almost never get polys and other stores are a hit or miss to the max. Not counting lego mixels, minifigures, or friends animals which are a gray area on if they are polys or not heres how it breaks down around where i am:

One has some friends picnic sets that have been stuffed in an endcap for MONTHS, one has 3 sets on clips in the lego aisle that have been there for MONTHS(Friends picnic, the pump car TLR, and some SW set), Target CO lanes stay the same for MONTHS w/o no rotation, and TRU is getting to as bad around here. About all they really have lately are the Geoffrey giraffe thing, the rocking horse, turkey, and witch from last year, and maybe a couple of random pickings on the rare occasion.

[klinton]

That kinda sucks. My TRU seems pretty good about stocking the polybags. They don't get tonnes in, and they sell out pretty quickly but they've had the most current ones when I've gone to look for them.

The Lego Store has, of course, a full array of current product.

I've never seen them at Walmart or Target though. Like, ever.

They seem to get a single case of the minifigs and/or Mixels at my Walmart, so unless you're there the day they're put out you'd never know.

Target is rubbish for stocking new product, I've found. Their toy section is dissapointing nine of ten visits (whatever I'm looking for).

[Clone OPatra]

People won't buy a set without minifigures; minifigures are expensive to produce. But if a set has too little in it besides a minifigure, people feel like they're getting ripped off.

Neither of these arguments ring true to me. Mixels disproves the 'sets must have mini figures argument.' Mixels actually are the current impulse sets I suppose, and they're probably doing well.

As for the second argument, I'm not sure how people would feel ripped off paying a very low price for a minifig and tiny build. The Castle line had that excellent Impulse set with just a knight and weapons rack; Pirates had similar sets. It's a perfect small package - a generic fig to fill out the ranks, and a little build that makes sense for the figure. Maybe it was unprofitable for LEGO in some way, but nobody should ripped off paying 3.50 for a nice little fig and a few parts.

[BrickG]

Because they sucked.

What's true has already been said :P. A lot of people don't want to buy things without minifigures (unless it's a really good build and the appeal of the tiny builds is limited). But those minifigure impulse buys feel overpriced. I think the market talked. They could make more money elsewhere.

[jonwil]

They used to do a range of sets like this one:

http://brickset.com/sets/7566-1/Farmer

Multiple themes got them (Pirates, Space Police III, City, Castle, Mars Mission and Atlantis all had these sets) but they have now vanished. As others have said, they were probably not as attractive to kids as either the CMFs or sets like this years police motorbike (which is the current bottom-of-the-range set in the City line). That and because of the fixed costs of production of a set like that, packaging, distribution etc etc (costs that aren't as high with the CMFs) the sets did feel like they weren't as good value as some of the next sets up in the ranges they were in.

Personally I liked the impulse sets and bought the entire line (every set that LEGO made that came in that size of box that I was actually able to buy) but I can see why they replaced them with the CMFs (and made the next size up of set the lowest price point they would do for regular-release themes)

[Blondie-Wan]

HUGE problem with the polybag mention though. Those things, unlike most lego sets, are a major pain in the rear for some people to track down. Walmarts where i live almost never get polys and other stores are a hit or miss to the max. Not counting lego mixels, minifigures, or friends animals which are a gray area on if they are polys or not heres how it breaks down around where i am:

One has some friends picnic sets that have been stuffed in an endcap for MONTHS, one has 3 sets on clips in the lego aisle that have been there for MONTHS(Friends picnic, the pump car TLR, and some SW set), Target CO lanes stay the same for MONTHS w/o no rotation, and TRU is getting to as bad around here. About all they really have lately are the Geoffrey giraffe thing, the rocking horse, turkey, and witch from last year, and maybe a couple of random pickings on the rare occasion.

Wow, gosh, whole MONTHS?

Honestly, a few months of availability doesn't sound like a problem to me - quite the opposite, actually. I'm far more vexed by sets that last only a few months, if anything, since it makes it harder to get them. I'd be terribly frustrated if sets were available only a few weeks, and I certainly have a hard time understanding why anyone would complain that a few months (!) of availability were somehow too long (!!), rather than too short.

[Faefrost]

They used to do a range of sets like this one:

http://brickset.com/sets/7566-1/Farmer

Multiple themes got them (Pirates, Space Police III, City, Castle, Mars Mission and Atlantis all had these sets) but they have now vanished. As others have said, they were probably not as attractive to kids as either the CMFs or sets like this years police motorbike (which is the current bottom-of-the-range set in the City line). That and because of the fixed costs of production of a set like that, packaging, distribution etc etc (costs that aren't as high with the CMFs) the sets did feel like they weren't as good value as some of the next sets up in the ranges they were in.

Personally I liked the impulse sets and bought the entire line (every set that LEGO made that came in that size of box that I was actually able to buy) but I can see why they replaced them with the CMFs (and made the next size up of set the lowest price point they would do for regular-release themes)

You mean like these?

http://brickset.com/sets/60032-1/Arctic-Snowmobile

http://brickset.com/sets/60041-1/Crook-Pursuit

http://brickset.com/sets/60000-1/Fire-Motorcycle

http://brickset.com/sets/60006-1/Police-ATV

http://brickset.com/sets/60011-1/Surfer-Rescue

http://brickset.com/sets/31013-1/Red-Thunder

http://brickset.com/sets/31014-1/Power-Digger

http://brickset.com/sets/31015-1/Emerald-Express

http://brickset.com/sets/41031-1/Andrea-s-Mountain-Hut

http://brickset.com/sets/41030-1/Olivia-s-Ice-Cream-Bike

http://brickset.com/sets/41029-1/Stephanie-s-New-Born-Lamb

http://brickset.com/sets/41028-1/Emma-s-Lifeguard-Post

http://brickset.com/sets/41027-1/Mia-s-Lemonade-Stand

http://brickset.com/sets/70123-1/Lion-Legend-Beast

http://brickset.com/sets/70124-1/Eagle-Legend-Beast

http://brickset.com/sets/70125-1/Gorilla-Legend-Beast

http://brickset.com/sets/70126-1/Crocodile-Legend-Beast

http://brickset.com/sets/70127-1/Wolf-Legend-Beast

http://brickset.com/sets/75028-1/Clone-Turbo-Tank

http://brickset.com/sets/75029-1/AAT

http://brickset.com/sets/75030-1/Millennium-Falcon

http://brickset.com/sets/75031-1/TIE-Interceptor

http://brickset.com/sets/75032-1/X-Wing-Fighter

http://brickset.com/sets/75033-1/Star-Destroyer

These are just the ones currently on the shelves that would be considered "impulse" sets. Boxed sets at the `$5-$9.99 price point. This does not include Polybags such as Mixels, CMF's regular polybags, etc. Plus lets not forget Bionacle is coming back.

[just2good]

I miss impulses for their cute little boxes and consistent US prices, but polybags replaced them, at least here in the US. Impulses had a limited release, just like polybags. Polybags cost cheaper to make I presume, as they don't require a box. Plus, because of this polybags are easy to distribute, so they can be newspaper promos and what not.

[Artanis I]

What happened to impulse sets? They were retired when Collectible Mini-Figures were introduced. Simple as that.

Since that time we've also seen the introduction of Mixels & Friends series polybags.

Polybags take up less shelf space than boxes. They are most likely cheaper to produce and distribute.

You mean like these?

...

These are just the ones currently on the shelves that would be considered "impulse" sets. Boxed sets at the `$5-$9.99 price point. This does not include Polybags such as Mixels, CMF's regular polybags, etc. Plus lets not forget Bionacle is coming back.

"Impulse" sets are more like $5 and under, ie the same price point as the 3 ongoing polybag series we have at the moment. Those microfighters are $16 here, hardly an impulse buy to the non-AFOL. In US dollars, I would say $2-4 is what we're talking about.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Artanis I

[SweetiePie88]

People won't buy a set without minifigures

You kidding? Give me half a shot to by a set sans figures and it costs less then it would with figures and i'd be all over that! I have a ton of figures(577 PLUS spare parts) and outside of chima figures, creator figs, and TLM figs, there really aren't any figures that i need from modern sets.

Wow, gosh, whole MONTHS

Pretty much. I still am finding those little miner quads that have been around for probably closer to a year plus, the SW set with the black wings with blue parts that have been around for months, i'm still finding that GS walker thingy, and the Lego chima flyer set been sitting around for at least a half year now, and it's only been within the last few months that i started seeing some new sets(latest police chopper, batman vehicle, and some white SW thingy).

*looks at added post.* No i don't really count a 10 dollar set as impulse buy material in my book. At 5 or 6 bucks for impulse buy priced sets, that's one of those things that i can spring for w/o too much thought if i can actually find a decent buy these days. Problem is that i only tend to have maybe 7 or 8 bucks hanging around in the impulse fund thanks to a clone brand hobby, minor book hobby, and video game hobby on top of the lego hobby so i'm stretched thin over here and on top of that, at 10 bucks(if i have the money for it), i have to start thinking a lot more carefully about my set choice.

And on top of that, even if i'd count a 10 dollar set as impulse, i'm about out of options on that front also. I only got one animal chima set that i discovered i wasn't impressed with so that's it for me unless i need something to add to my xmas wish list, lego friends i'm only thinking about the cabin, and there isn't anything im' really interested in in the SW front.