Lego should do Star Wars collectible mini figures

[Jimalaya]

Lego should do collectible mini figures for Star Wars. They would be great for The Mandalorian or other Star Wars. Do you agree. You can have your say right here.

 

[JintaiZ]

I agree. I believe it would sell well

[deraven]

Sure, but the fact that they haven't yet probably means they've run the numbers and it doesn't make business sense.  I think the minifigs are a big reason people buy some of the sets in the first place, and with licensing and such a Star Wars CMF line might be in the $6/fig range which could be too far outside the curve for that marketing model.  Not to mention folks would be irritated with the "average" characters that they'd be paying way too much for, and Lego would probably do some Mr. Gold-style special figs to try to keep interest up which would then cause all kinds of angst with a certain segment of the market... yeah... I dunno if I'd want them to or not.   

You know, what I think would be more interesting is if they sold more "battle pack" style sets but bent a little more towards the CMF character selection.  For instance, if they were going to do a CMF line, instead do 4 packs of 4 or 3 packs of 5-6 minifigs that all had a similar theme (Bespin pack, Sith pack, Rebels pack, or whatever) along with a few accessories and then price it appropriately.  If folks know what they're getting they'll still pay the higher per-minfig equivalent price but would get rid of some of the negative aspects of doing it as a CMF line.  Not to mention that they'd sell a ton of those on top of the CMFs and not have to use one of their CMF production & marketing "slots" for a SW line.

[Archer]

It is speculated that the deals between Disney/ Lego and Disney/ Hasbro may have just changed, but until now it is VERY well documented that Lego was not allowed to sell individual minifigs of Star Wars figures outright. They attempted in 2000 and were quickly shut down because it breached the agreement Hasbro had to exclusively sell "action figures". Microfighters, GWPs, BPs, the Planets Series have all been in certain ways clever workarounds to these rules. Basically even if the deals have been altered it is probably a bit early for them to have any extensive analysis on a potential product that has been off the table for 20 years.

The last several comments in the 2021 news thread are directly related to this subject.

[JintaiZ]

2 hours ago, Archer said:

It is speculated that the deals between Disney/ Lego and Disney/ Hasbro may have just changed, but until now it is VERY well documented that Lego was not allowed to sell individual minifigs of Star Wars figures outright. They attempted in 2000 and were quickly shut down because it breached the agreement Hasbro had to exclusively sell "action figures". Microfighters, GWPs, BPs, the Planets Series have all been in certain ways clever workarounds to these rules. Basically even if the deals have been altered it is probably a bit early for them to have any extensive analysis on a potential product that has been off the table for 20 years.

The last several comments in the 2021 news thread are directly related to this subject.

And if it comes out, I don't think it will last very long

[Kit Figsto]

3 hours ago, deraven said:

Sure, but the fact that they haven't yet probably means they've run the numbers and it doesn't make business sense.  I think the minifigs are a big reason people buy some of the sets in the first place, and with licensing and such a Star Wars CMF line might be in the $6/fig range which could be too far outside the curve for that marketing model.  Not to mention folks would be irritated with the "average" characters that they'd be paying way too much for, and Lego would probably do some Mr. Gold-style special figs to try to keep interest up which would then cause all kinds of angst with a certain segment of the market... yeah... I dunno if I'd want them to or not.   

You know, what I think would be more interesting is if they sold more "battle pack" style sets but bent a little more towards the CMF character selection.  For instance, if they were going to do a CMF line, instead do 4 packs of 4 or 3 packs of 5-6 minifigs that all had a similar theme (Bespin pack, Sith pack, Rebels pack, or whatever) along with a few accessories and then price it appropriately.  If folks know what they're getting they'll still pay the higher per-minfig equivalent price but would get rid of some of the negative aspects of doing it as a CMF line.  Not to mention that they'd sell a ton of those on top of the CMFs and not have to use one of their CMF production & marketing "slots" for a SW line.

I think it's more to do with licensing issues than enticing people to buy the sets.  DC got a CMF set and while there's more alternate costumes and stuff in those, those also are basically just the Lego version of action figures and make it pretty easy to amass all of the main heroes/villains without spending much on the sets.  

I'd love something of that line too, but every time they release a non-army builder one (eg: Jedi and Clones, Bounty Hunters, Tatooine) a lot of people get all up in arms for whatever reason.  Maybe it's because I don't army build, but I quite like the more unique ones like those.  Especially to complement the MBS sets, like it would've been perfect to put one out with Cloud City that came with an Ugnaught, a couple of Cloud City guards, and a citizen, or do one for the Cantina with a Jawa, Sandtrooper, and a couple of cantina patrons.

[Mountain Man]

It's a licensing issue which stops them. 

[wesker]

I welcome the notion of a Star Wars CMF series but I am dead set against it being used to distribute army building figures. I mentioned before in the other topic that its only going to become a scalper's paradise with them hoarding all the figures for resale at extortionate prices while the genuine collectors get left in the cold. The difficulty in currently obtaining the 501st battle pack and AAT has already showcased that.

[Gorilla94]

SW ist the oldest licence theme and is not going to be discontinued anytime soon as far as we know. If we got a Mandalorian with Dual mozlding and Arm printing and so on, that would be great. But I highly doubt a CMF would be a good Idea from Lego's perspective. We never got the Witchking or similar licenced characters, because "something must be saved up for the future" - I an not sure from wich interview that was, but it was said by a designer. If we get the most popular designs with Dual moulding and printed arms in a perfect version for 4€ now,  it will affect the sales of big sets in general and especially of some bad UCS ones, who have little selling points besides "having them all" and slightly improved minifigures the red stripe on Han's legs or something like that. Like it was said before: Cmfs for army builders make it a terrible experience for normal buyers, who would like to get one of two of the Stormtroopers or clones with printed arms...

[Mr. Cube]

16 hours ago, Archer said:

It is speculated that the deals between Disney/ Lego and Disney/ Hasbro may have just changed, but until now it is VERY well documented that Lego was not allowed to sell individual minifigs of Star Wars figures outright.

Hmmmm...If it´s OK to sell things like this: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/obi-wan-kenobi-minifigure-30624 then I see no problem with regular CMF line. If it would mean that the stand for minifigs will be brick-built like that instead of classic CMF plate...well I can live with that.

[Mountain Man]

2 hours ago, Mr. Cube said:

Hmmmm...If it´s OK to sell things like this: https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/obi-wan-kenobi-minifigure-30624 then I see no problem with regular CMF line. If it would mean that the stand for minifigs will be brick-built like that instead of classic CMF plate...well I can live with that.

That's a very recent one, which has provoked a debate as whether the Hasbro license recently changed the situation. 

You may see no problem, but clearly there has been one for a very long term, otherwise lego would have done it if they could.  It's hardly a new suggestion. And the Hasbro issue has been widely reported for a long time.

[Mr. Cube]

However, there must had been some exception for free promo stuff like polybags with only figure without any other parts than figure itself (+ accessories).

[TeddytheSpoon]

1 hour ago, Mr. Cube said:

However, there must had been some exception for free promo stuff like polybags with only figure without any other parts than figure itself (+ accessories).

Technically LEGO doesn't sell those, so won't make any money off them directly. I imagine that's how they get around that particular conundrum since Hasbro wanted to stop LEGO taking money out of their pocket.

[Mountain Man]

2 hours ago, Mr. Cube said:

However, there must had been some exception for free promo stuff like polybags with only figure without any other parts than figure itself (+ accessories).

A free gift isn't selling. 

[MAB]

The red arm C-3PO polybag from about four years ago was sold.

[Archer]

Toys R Us sold multiple polybags, C-3PO, FO General, A-Wing Pilot, TC-4 but I believe they were not supposed to be selling them, they were supposed to be give aways. Either way, Lego never directly sold any of those.

[Kit Figsto]

3 hours ago, Archer said:

Toys R Us sold multiple polybags, C-3PO, FO General, A-Wing Pilot, TC-4 but I believe they were not supposed to be selling them, they were supposed to be give aways. Either way, Lego never directly sold any of those.

Come to think of it, TRU broke a lot of rules when it came to selling Lego.  I remember they'd sell pretty much all of their polybags for like $5, sometimes during the promotion and sometimes they'd wait until the promotion was over and sell the leftovers, and they were also notorious for ignoring street dates.  It was always great in December, because you could get the next year's sets early for Christmas (albeit they often had a $2-8 markup depending on the size of the set).  Man...I miss TRU sometimes.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Kit Figsto

[jdubbs]

6 hours ago, Mountain Man said:

A free gift isn't selling. 

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/obi-wan-kenobi-minifigure-30624

^^^ Looks a lot like selling to me.

[Mountain Man]

5 hours ago, jdubbs said:

https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/obi-wan-kenobi-minifigure-30624

^^^ Looks a lot like selling to me.

Yes, and it's the one that raises question over whether the licence has changed. But until that release, they have had to do battle packs ie. Include builds, or give freebies. 

The issue about Hasbro isn't a point of debate even if you think it is. Its widely reported and has been for a very long time 

[Mandalorianknight]

12 hours ago, Mountain Man said:

Yes, and it's the one that raises question over whether the licence has changed. But until that release, they have had to do battle packs ie. Include builds, or give freebies. 

The issue about Hasbro isn't a point of debate even if you think it is. Its widely reported and has been for a very long time 

I think he's just pointing out that they are selling at least one SW figure now, meaning the license may have changed. If I remember correctly there was a lot of speculation when that showed up on the site, I think some people have taken that and the lack of battle packs to mean a SW CMF might be soon. 

Which of course wouldn't be january 2021, I think the rumors are for looney toons or something to have that CMF slot.

[Samppu]

30 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I think he's just pointing out that they are selling at least one SW figure now, meaning the license may have changed. If I remember correctly there was a lot of speculation when that showed up on the site, I think some people have taken that and the lack of battle packs to mean a SW CMF might be soon. 

Which of course wouldn't be january 2021, I think the rumors are for looney toons or something to have that CMF slot.

The lack of battle packs might indeed suggest something.
However, even if Lego did CMF series and quit producing more battle packs, it would be very wise for them to keep at least some sort of ~20 e Star Wars set in the shelves all the time, because most parents buy presents for the birthday parties of the friends of theirs children with the logic "Bob likes Star Wars and it should cost 20 bugs". Regards, I worked a couple of years in a big toy store beside my studies and the best selling Lego theme was all around the year "20 bugs for Bob's birthday".

Moving to 30 e "battle packs" such as the 501st set will not fix this, because the parents do not care. Not all, but really like 90% of them just grab the first thing that satisfies the conditions the price being the most important.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Samppu

[MAB]

14 hours ago, Mountain Man said:

 

The issue about Hasbro isn't a point of debate even if you think it is. Its widely reported and has been for a very long time 

It has never been confirmed by LEGO though and of course they profit more from people buying sets for the figures rather than just buying single figures. SImilarly, they profit more by gluing magnets or going further and sticking metal bars through the magnet figures to stop them being used like minifigures.  It has been widely speculated that it is due to Hasbro but I don't think anyone has ever shown any real evidence. 

[Kit Figsto]

45 minutes ago, MAB said:

It has never been confirmed by LEGO though and of course they profit more from people buying sets for the figures rather than just buying single figures. SImilarly, they profit more by gluing magnets or going further and sticking metal bars through the magnet figures to stop them being used like minifigures.  It has been widely speculated that it is due to Hasbro but I don't think anyone has ever shown any real evidence. 

It's true that people might not buy a big set if the figure was available in a CMF series, but that doesn't stop them from including exclusive figures only in the large sets.  Realistically, if you look at this wave of sets currently out (even going as far back as the January 2020 wave) - are there any truly expensive sets that contain a minifigure that someone is going to say "Yes, I'm buying this set only for that figure"?  The 501st Clones, 332nd Clone, Ahsoka, Mandalorians from the BP are all in affordable sets, the only ones in large sets that I can think of are The Child and maybe Greef Karga, and then perhaps some of the new cantina figures.

However, if they did a minifigure series, they can still put exclusive figs in high dollar sets to force people to buy them, and then use the minifigure series as a way to give us either variations on existing figures/new costumes (battle outfit Padme, for example), or figures that don't really fit well into sets (Shmi Skywalker, Saw Gerrera, extra cantina patrons, etc).  Or, say, they do give us something highly desirable, like a Captain Rex figure, well, now you're going to have more reason to buy the $30 501st set because you want to add to your clones.  

Too, if they charge $5 a figure, which I could very well see them doing, they're still in the price range where people will see them and grab one or two blind bags for their kids to open or whatever. 

And I know from personal experience, this could very attractive to non-SW collectors too - that same thing happened to me with Disney and the DC ones.  While I may be willing to spend money on a Star Wars set just to get one of the minifigures, a non-SW collector isn't.  In the same way, I wanted the Mickey and Minnie figures from the Steamboat Willie set, but I wasn't going to pay the $80 or whatever it was just for the set.  Instead, I can spend like $8 and get both of them, which is $8 they weren't going to get from me otherwise.  To hardcore Lego Star Wars collectors, it might make more sense for them to continue putting figures in high dollar sets, but thinking about casual fans or kids who aren't going to buy a $90 set just to get an exclusive figure of (insert character here), I think this would sell absurdly well.  

[jdubbs]

4 hours ago, MAB said:

It has never been confirmed by LEGO though

A few years back a LEGO representative said in a panel discussion that Hasbro's license precluded LEGO from releasing a Star Wars CMF. The discussion was recorded and is available on YouTube. No, I don't keep the link in my back pocket; I imagine if you search for it, it will come up.

That said, the rep could have been saying that just to shut down the question (which I gather gets asked a lot) or because LEGO simply didn't/doesn't want to issue a CMF for whatever reason. 

[Mandalorianknight]

8 hours ago, Samppu said:

The lack of battle packs might indeed suggest something.
However, even if Lego did CMF series and quit producing more battle packs, it would be very wise for them to keep at least some sort of ~20 e Star Wars set in the shelves all the time, because most parents buy presents for the birthday parties of the friends of theirs children with the logic "Bob likes Star Wars and it should cost 20 bugs". Regards, I worked a couple of years in a big toy store beside my studies and the best selling Lego theme was all around the year "20 bugs for Bob's birthday".

Moving to 30 e "battle packs" such as the 501st set will not fix this, because the parents do not care. Not all, but really like 90% of them just grab the first thing that satisfies the conditions the price being the most important.

I've seen people just get a few microfighters a few times (that's what I've done, too), but I agree that there need to be $20-ish star wars sets on shelves. Perhaps the set downsizings of the x-wing, TIE, and lambda will help with this. If they can make a formerly $90 x-wing at a $50 price point, they can make a $40 a wing at a $20 price point.

2 hours ago, jdubbs said:

A few years back a LEGO representative said in a panel discussion that Hasbro's license precluded LEGO from releasing a Star Wars CMF. The discussion was recorded and is available on YouTube. No, I don't keep the link in my back pocket; I imagine if you search for it, it will come up.

That said, the rep could have been saying that just to shut down the question (which I gather gets asked a lot) or because LEGO simply didn't/doesn't want to issue a CMF for whatever reason. 

 I believe the current interest comes from speculation hasbro's license has changed, although I don't know how much is true and how much is rumor.