LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 20. Rumors and discussion

[TonyFelix]

19 hours ago, knight_40k said:

I ordered 2 cases from a local shop which were completely sealed in the outer brown box and had an interesting find in regards to box distribution. Note I am basing quantity of each figure from just2good's review and box analysis.

The first box I went through had incorrect numbers of the following... 7 Piñata Boys, 4 Vikings, 2 80s Musician, 5 Pirates, 3 Martial Arts Boy, and 0 Space Fans.
The second box also had incorrect numbers of the following... 7 Piñata Boys, 3 Peapods, 5 Drone Boy and 0 Space Fans.

I would be curious to hear from others if your box distributions were off as well.

I sure did! I posted my issues earlier in the thread but I was out different figures then you. I can't believe you got 0 Space Fans in TWO boxes. That's just rotten. I'm also in Canada. Calgary for what its worth.

[vermontcathy]

You guys had me very nervous that the distribution in my case was off - but luckily the sealed border between Canada and VT kept your grubby incorrect-distribution boxes north of the border. :) Mine was just right. I was very nervous when one of you got zero space fans because that's what I wanted the most.

[knight_40k]

21 hours ago, TonyFelix said:

I sure did! I posted my issues earlier in the thread but I was out different figures then you. I can't believe you got 0 Space Fans in TWO boxes. That's just rotten. I'm also in Canada. Calgary for what its worth.

I could not believe it either, though I will not complain about getting an extra Viking or Pirate. Must be an error of some sort in one of their warehouses. I see we are neighbors, Vancouver here.

5 hours ago, vermontcathy said:

You guys had me very nervous that the distribution in my case was off - but luckily the sealed border between Canada and VT kept your grubby incorrect-distribution boxes north of the border. :) Mine was just right. I was very nervous when one of you got zero space fans because that's what I wanted the most.

In the past I have bought sealed cases of Series 18 and Harry Potter without figure distribution issues. I am not sure why this series is messed up, not to mention TWO of my boxes were this way. Once the stores reopen I will be on the search for those Space Fans, though I am glad to hear not every box has incorrect-distribution.

[N8thanAshley2]

Birds eye view of the Series 20 Retail Box Distribution. Some VERY interesting placements...

Edited May 14, 2020 by N8thanAshley2

[DarrellBricker]

Hi Vermont Cathy! I grew up on the New York side of the Vermont/NY border, near Rutland Vt. Now living in the Finger Lakes region of New York! Welcome to the community!

[Darth Shadowthrone]

22 hours ago, N8thanAshley2 said:

Birds eye view of the Series 20 Retail Box Distribution. Some VERY interesting placements...

Is that the same for all boxes? If so that's going to be very useful for getting a few Knights and Vikings once I can leave the house!

[sunhuntin]

Went and did some feeling after work. Was in a hurry, so my normal 100% was slightly off. Missed the athlete and ranger, doubled on knight and viking i think. Not too bad for being a hurry. Shortest feel time i have had, lol.

[N8thanAshley2]

On 5/14/2020 at 6:02 PM, Darth Shadowthrone said:

Is that the same for all boxes? If so that's going to be very useful for getting a few Knights and Vikings once I can leave the house!

You’re welcome. I am VERY confident it will be. (May alter by region?) There are too many OBVIOUS patterns for it to be coincidental, and it matches exactly with what I had been told prior to purchase.

Just now, N8thanAshley2 said:

You’re welcome. I am VERY confident it will be. (May alter by region?) There are too many OBVIOUS patterns for it to be coincidental, and it matches exactly with what I had been told prior to purchase.

Three knights in the middle column, three vikings along the front

[Alexander The Great]

The box at my store had the same placement. Though I didn't feel through the whole set, I only picked the ones I was interested in.

[Coopa182]

I got my first dud box. I’ve gotten dozens of sealed boxes over the years and never had anything wrong. This series, I got two extra Peapod Costume and two short of the Pirate. Luckily she isn’t rare or too hard to identify, but still a little disappointing.

[Fuppylodders]

Any idea when this series is going to be discontinued? 

I don't really want to be getting a full box, just one of each and maybe extra knights, but nowhere is open where I can feel the bags. Supermarkets here have them in plastic cases now :(

[leafan]

9 minutes ago, Fuppylodders said:

Any idea when this series is going to be discontinued? 

I don't really want to be getting a full box, just one of each and maybe extra knights, but nowhere is open where I can feel the bags. Supermarkets here have them in plastic cases now :(

I feel the same worry. I'm hoping that Lego will make an exeption and keep this one out for a while, but we know Harry Potter 2 is coming up and I imagine that they'll want that in stores asap.

I wasn't going to pay the new price of £3.50, but with the current situation, that might be the safe thing to do to avoid missing out. You can get them on Amazon or at the Lego Store online.

[koalayummies]

Ditch the blind bags. They've always been sleazy but now they're potentially dangerous as well.

[vermontcathy]

Edit: No selling

Edited May 24, 2020 by Jim
Removed sales post

[Vindicare]

On 5/23/2020 at 8:06 AM, Fuppylodders said:

Any idea when this series is going to be discontinued? 

I don't really want to be getting a full box, just one of each and maybe extra knights, but nowhere is open where I can feel the bags. Supermarkets here have them in plastic cases now :(

I’m with you. When they were first released I saw a bunch at Target, then later about half a cases worth at Walmart. Target hasn’t had anything since...and I’m still looking for a few. The alternative is hoping they aren’t too pricey online. 

[Robert8]

On 5/23/2020 at 11:07 AM, koalayummies said:

Ditch the blind bags. They've always been sleazy but now they're potentially dangerous as well.

Agree

As much as I love the CMFs, I wont be getting any of these for now. 

[Karalora]

On 5/23/2020 at 10:07 AM, koalayummies said:

Ditch the blind bags. They've always been sleazy but now they're potentially dangerous as well.

Your mileage may vary as to whether blind packaging constitutes an ethical business model, but I've always wished LEGO would use boxes instead of bags. To an extent, I enjoy the surprise factor of picking up a few and seeing what I get. You know what I don't enjoy? Going to the LEGO Store or a Target endcap display and seeing a bunch of crumpled, picked-over bags from people spending hours manhandling them to find the telltale parts of the figures they're after. I don't enjoy knowing that I'm almost certainly not going to get the figure I wanted because it's a popular one and other people have gotten there before me and bought them all up after scouring every bag.

And all that was true before the world became a viral pit trap.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

On 5/29/2020 at 8:45 AM, Robert8 said:

Agree

As much as I love the CMFs, I wont be getting any of these for now. 

I echo these worries. This also makes me wonder if S20 sales might take a hit from concerned parents.

[Vindicare]

On 5/29/2020 at 6:51 AM, Karalora said:

Your mileage may vary as to whether blind packaging constitutes an ethical business model, but I've always wished LEGO would use boxes instead of bags. To an extent, I enjoy the surprise factor of picking up a few and seeing what I get. You know what I don't enjoy? Going to the LEGO Store or a Target endcap display and seeing a bunch of crumpled, picked-over bags from people spending hours manhandling them to find the telltale parts of the figures they're after. I don't enjoy knowing that I'm almost certainly not going to get the figure I wanted because it's a popular one and other people have gotten there before me and bought them all up after scouring every bag.

And all that was true before the world became a viral pit trap.

I would bet you’re okay in the popularity department. At this point in the series, I don’t think there’s that one or two really sought after minifig. Early on when we had so few, absolutely. People’s wants & likes vary so much with these suckers these days. 

[AmperZand]

I wish LEGO did the same thing for future series as it did for S1 and S2, that is, have a non-obvious identifier on the backs of the packets. That way, if you want to know what’s inside, you can. But if you prefer it to be a secret, you can still buy them blind.

[greenalfonzo]

I noticed Hot wheels blind bags have a clear patch the size of a paper punch on a back lower corner of the bag, so if you really want to, you can see what car is in it.  

[Ashleybricks]

On 5/31/2020 at 8:36 AM, AmperZand said:

I wish LEGO did the same thing for future series as it did for S1 and S2, that is, have a non-obvious identifier on the backs of the packets. That way, if you want to know what’s inside, you can. But if you prefer it to be a secret, you can still buy them blind.

I completely agree

[MAB]

On 5/31/2020 at 4:36 PM, AmperZand said:

I wish LEGO did the same thing for future series as it did for S1 and S2, that is, have a non-obvious identifier on the backs of the packets. That way, if you want to know what’s inside, you can. But if you prefer it to be a secret, you can still buy them blind.

One of the problems even then was that you couldn't really buy them blind, as other people knew what was in them and took out the popular ones. Buying blind really means buying blind from the ones left over. I remember using an app to scan the bar-codes to try to get multiples of the ones I wanted, the problem was often that someone else had already done it. I even learnt the last few bars in the barcode for some of them as it was quicker than scanning, and I still remember some of the dot codes for popular figures introduced after they removed the bar codes.

So it wasn't really any better than now. The main difference now is that the packets get crumpled.

[leafan]

They could sell 2 types.

1. As it currently is. A parent can pick up a random figure for their kid and be happy (although I do believe that they're pricing themselves out of that market now).

and 2. They sell a 'set' of the complete series at a slight discount to buying individually, for those wanting to just complete their collection and be done with it.

[AmperZand]

9 hours ago, MAB said:

One of the problems even then was that you couldn't really buy them blind, as other people knew what was in them and took out the popular ones. Buying blind really means buying blind from the ones left over. I remember using an app to scan the bar-codes to try to get multiples of the ones I wanted, the problem was often that someone else had already done it. I even learnt the last few bars in the barcode for some of them as it was quicker than scanning, and I still remember some of the dot codes for popular figures introduced after they removed the bar codes.

So it wasn't really any better than now. The main difference now is that the packets get crumpled.

If, like me, you want to make an informed purchasing decision, it was a lot better than now. You could save yourself the huge amount of time required to feel packets. For S1 and S2, I learnt the bar codes of the ones I wanted, went into shops and quickly got them. I did get funny looks from shop staff when I told them I could read bar codes, but that is balanced by the funny looks I got up to S19 from other shoppers as I stood there feeling packets.

I suspect that the vast majority of purchases are made by those who are happy to buy blind, i.e. kids or adults buying for kids. Of the rest, I suspect that most AFOLs prefer to know exactly what they are getting. I reckon that the proportion of buyers who are AFOLs who in an ideal world would hope to get blindly a mix of popular and unpopular CMFs (e.g. in boxed packaging, not bags) is very small. 

Edited June 4, 2020 by AmperZand