LEGO Collectable Minifigures Future Series Rumours

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

If Lego does switch to blind boxes for CMFs as they did with Vidiyo, I am wondering how sales will be affected. On the one hand, those who are interested in the theme who are mostly after a few figures might decide to skip series altogether. On the other hand, people who buy bags until they find the figures they want (not recommended; see the coupon collector's problem) might give Lego some extra revenue.

[Anonknee Muss]

23 hours ago, BrickHat said:

If Lego does switch to blind boxes for CMFs as they did with Vidiyo, I am wondering how sales will be affected. On the one hand, those who are interested in the theme who are mostly after a few figures might decide to skip series altogether. On the other hand, people who buy bags until they find the figures they want (not recommended; see the coupon collector's problem) might give Lego some extra revenue.

This is really fascinating, thanks for sharing! With 3 minifigure series a year with each series having 16 minifigures, someone who buys without feeling is expected to buy 155 minifigures before completing an annual set of 48. 5 series of 12 would make 190 minifigures bought to complete a set of 60.

[Fuppylodders]

Strangely, I can see the (potentially) blind boxes for cmf's pushing the prices of them up on the secondary market overall. Imagine not wanting to randomly buy to get the full set. Well, you can't go out and feel for yourself. So, you have to resort to one of 2 options. Buy a full unopened box, open them all, have your set and sell the rest, or... Buy a set from someone who did the former. You're after just a single minifig and not a whole set? You're doubtful of buying an entire box of them. So, either randomly buy until you get lucky, or... Pay the premium of someone else having bought the full box and found one for you. 

 

For me, blind boxes will severely limit/reduce my impulse purchasing for cmf's. 

[AquaSazers]

Same here, blind boxes would definitely limit what I would buy.

[TheLegoDr]

I understand and don't understand this logic:  Blind bags are designed to hopefully sell a lot of variety of figures with the collect them all mentality, right? So you may end up spending more than you originally were going to and that helps the company. So blind boxes would still create that variance. For a lot of us, we will just buy less (or none). While others will still want a certain number of them, but maybe not a full set. 

While keeping it blind packaging, it sells more. If it were exposed to what would be inside each package, that would tell the company which product design is a better seller and which isn't. Maybe that could then curtail their process and create more of what is "wanted" the next time around. There'd be a lot of figures waiting on shelves because very few wanted them. But that seems silly that they would spend time and money on producing figures that aren't good sellers (yet there are always a few duds that aren't as popular in each series).

Where is the line? I don't know. But moving forward, it sounds like blind packaging in a box may be a limiting factor for a lot, especially since the price is so much higher than it used to be.

[BigGuy4U]

1 hour ago, TheLegoDr said:

I understand and don't understand this logic:  Blind bags are designed to hopefully sell a lot of variety of figures with the collect them all mentality, right? So you may end up spending more than you originally were going to and that helps the company. So blind boxes would still create that variance. For a lot of us, we will just buy less (or none). While others will still want a certain number of them, but maybe not a full set. 

While keeping it blind packaging, it sells more. If it were exposed to what would be inside each package, that would tell the company which product design is a better seller and which isn't. Maybe that could then curtail their process and create more of what is "wanted" the next time around. There'd be a lot of figures waiting on shelves because very few wanted them. But that seems silly that they would spend time and money on producing figures that aren't good sellers (yet there are always a few duds that aren't as popular in each series).

Where is the line? I don't know. But moving forward, it sounds like blind packaging in a box may be a limiting factor for a lot, especially since the price is so much higher than it used to be.

I can only think of three possible reasons why Lego would do this:

1. For environmental reasons
2. To make it harder or impossible to find out what you're getting without buying it
3. They didn't think this through and it's a completely arbitrary change

We can probably rule out #3, so it's probably either #1 or #2 or a combination of the two.

[koalayummies]

42 minutes ago, BigGuy4U said:

I can only think of three possible reasons why Lego would do this:

4: Or the change is temporary due to the risk of fomites/disease transfer and they'll return to the sticky-and-oily-booger-finger food-grease-covered gropey-bags in due time... until Ebolavirus or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy zoonosis/antigenic shift.

[Gorilla94]

2 hours ago, BigGuy4U said:

I can only think of three possible reasons why Lego would do this:

1. For environmental reasons
2. To make it harder or impossible to find out what you're getting without buying it
3. They didn't think this through and it's a completely arbitrary change

We can probably rule out #3, so it's probably either #1 or #2 or a combination of the two.

I dare to say we can rule out #1, too. If Lego would care at all, they would not have started to put a second plastic bag into the cmf-bags with the series for TLM2. If Lego switches to paper boxes it is 100% of #2 with a PR dude giving a greenwashing speech. It was also said the stickers are used because children like it sooooo much to put them on the models... sure. The Ghostbusters HQ is the kind of sets many children play with... while 4+ sets have prints.

1 hour ago, koalayummies said:

4: Or the change is temporary due to the risk of fomites/disease transfer and they'll return to the sticky-and-oily-booger-finger food-grease-covered gropey-bags in due time... until Ebolavirus or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy zoonosis/antigenic shift.

Same like #1. Of course there will be an announcement how much Lego cares about their customers and wants to protect them from disease transfer. But the idea of paper boxes was there long before Covid (there are leaks of cmf19 blind boxes). If they go back to bags - and I say they will more likely stop the cmf line completely "because the market isn´t interested in the concept anymore" than to go back) it will be because of nobody buying the boxes and not because of the pandemic being over.

For my part Lego already failed. They already made me stop collecting complete serieses a while ago. As long as there were still really, really good ones I would have bought some of them (Viking of series 20, Aztec of series 21) until they reach the price of 5€ for non-licenced figures. Now I am really thinking about getting a new hobby comepletely, because I don´t want to support this company at all anymore. If there is no way to see what you are buying, this becomes gambling targeted towards chilrden with prices higher than poker games I played with adults. This is evil and I despise the person behind the decision of the bandmates-series being packed in blind boxes.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Gorilla94

[TheLegoDr]

^you make a good point about stickers vs printed in 4+ sets... I hadn't thought of that. Yes, kids like stickers. But it is interesting that those cheaper KID directed sets don't always have stickers. I understand some pieces not being printed, but sometimes the extent of sticker use is a bit out of hand.

And also CDC said surface is hard to transfer the current stuff, so packaging shouldn't be much concern. But either way, I'm sure it is an "environment" thing. And maybe in the long run it will be better for our surroundings, but not on our collections. I don't know.

I think the extra bag in TLM2 was because they came from different factories so this was the way to keep it all packaged together? I don't know. But I also heard they have the plastic bag inside these new VIDIYO sets with the boxes, so that doesn't make it better for the earth yet if there is still plastic in the box...

[gedren_y]

I think the worry that Vidiyo's blind boxes extending to the CMF line is just borrowing trouble. If Lego were going to make such a drastic change to an established theme's format there would have been some kind of announcement. At minimum retailers would need to be informed because it would affect the display format. If Vidiyo's format were going to be applied to all blind purchase items, such information would have leaked from a retailer long before now.

[Alexandrina]

31 minutes ago, Gorilla94 said:

If Lego would care at all, they would not have started to put a second plastic bag into the cmf-bags with the series for TLM2

Is this a regional quirk or am I just incredibly unobservant? I have never noticed a second bag in CMFs, and I've certainly bought plenty in the last year or so! 

[Fuppylodders]

44 minutes ago, Alexandrina said:

Is this a regional quirk or am I just incredibly unobservant? I have never noticed a second bag in CMFs, and I've certainly bought plenty in the last year or so! 

There are plastic bags inside the current cmf series. It's not all of them, but it is some. Can't remember which ones though. 

1 hour ago, Gorilla94 said:

 If there is no way to see what you are buying, this becomes gambling targeted towards chilrden with prices higher than poker games I played with adults. This is evil and I despise the person behind the decision of the bandmates-series being packed in blind boxes.

Woah... You know what. I'd never even considered that. Actually pretty much true too (from my perspective). I can't think of a reasonable counter point. At least with bags you could feel and potentially get what you want with a minimal chance at being wrong depending how good you are at feeling. With boxes? Nah. Full blown gamble there. 

Anyone else have thoughts on that? 

[doomguy]

2 hours ago, BigGuy4U said:

I can only think of three possible reasons why Lego would do this:

1. For environmental reasons
2. To make it harder or impossible to find out what you're getting without buying it
3. They didn't think this through and it's a completely arbitrary change

We can probably rule out #3, so it's probably either #1 or #2 or a combination of the two.

Might be a response to the pandemic, maybe they don't want people feeling bags and whatnot, but I think the reason is money most likely.

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, Gorilla94 said:

But the idea of paper boxes was there long before Covid (there are leaks of cmf19 blind boxes).

CMF19? The product is designed far in advance so the series that came out during the pandemic were well into production. They could have done paper boxes before but there wasn't really as serious a threat before and its entirely plausible that with the new knowledge regarding physical transfer that it alarmed those at the company knowing that kids touch the packaging with a fervor and aren't as aware of the need for proper hand washing before touching their faces. Its another possible theory as to the change, one that falls under health and not environmental packaging concerns like the Greenpeace protests. Nothing definitive, especially there being only 3 possible explanations. All of the 'sky is falling' talk is of no interest to me though so that's why I didn't quote it and where I leave the discussion.

[jonwil]

LEGO have themselves said they plan to make all their packaging going forward out of green sustainable materials. The packaging they are using for the CMFs is most definitely NOT green and sustainable so switching to boxes will help with that goal.

Given how far in advance products are designed and the fact that LEGO have been testing the idea of box packaging for CMFs since before Covid, the most likely answer to why they are moving boxes would be the environmental one.

 

[Gorilla94]

9 hours ago, koalayummies said:

CMF19? The product is designed far in advance so the series that came out during the pandemic were well into production. They could have done paper boxes before but there wasn't really as serious a threat before and its entirely plausible that with the new knowledge regarding physical transfer that it alarmed those at the company knowing that kids touch the packaging with a fervor and aren't as aware of the need for proper hand washing before touching their faces. Its another possible theory as to the change, one that falls under health and not environmental packaging concerns like the Greenpeace protests. Nothing definitive, especially there being only 3 possible explanations. All of the 'sky is falling' talk is of no interest to me though so that's why I didn't quote it and where I leave the discussion.

Ok ... first of all: the development of a series takes a year. The leak was before the pandemic started. If Lego isn't much better at predicting the future than any medical company or goverment this wasn't an Idea born by the pandemic. Every word about the Intention to stop Covid from spreading with it is PR talk.

At the point where a company ships a product's parts alone while producing it multible times because it is cheaper to burn fuel than to pay local workers like human beings it should just stop talking about its efforts to be enviromental friendly. I am no "Friday for future"-protestor, but it is insulting to expect me doing standing ovations for greenwashing.

At best this sick concept of bringing gambling to children was rejected at a medium/late stage of production, when someone suddenly realised what they were doing there... of course just in best intentions to make it more enviromental friendly ... and now the box-concept is pulled unchanged out of the dumbster just because it could help in the pandemic. I am not the creative type of guy. I need your help to explain the strategy of these altruistic modern heroes behind the raised price to 5€ while being one of the few companies doing fine during the pandemic and the decision not to offer the option to buy directly what you want for a few extra bucks (reducing the gampbling part at least a bit) like the panini blindback sticker albums had 20 years ago. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Gorilla94

[gedren_y]

It is entirely possible that the leaked image of blind boxes with Series 19 printed on them could have been an early box test for Vidiyo. Working out how display might have to differ from the other blind purchase products. There are a number of reasons why Lego might have used in-house imagery for this, especially if they needed work with outside interests for this testing.

Edited February 23, 2021 by gedren_y

[jonwil]

Leaks are out of a Porky Pig torso which seems to confirm the Looney Toons CMF rumor and also suggest that its not going to just be a Space Jam licensed series or something.

 

[Anonknee Muss]

1 hour ago, gedren_y said:

It is entirely possible that the leaked image of blind boxes with Series 19 printed on them could have been an early box test for Vidiyo.

That’s exactly what it was.

14 hours ago, koalayummies said:

4: Or the change is temporary due to the risk of fomites/disease transfer and they'll return to the sticky-and-oily-booger-finger food-grease-covered gropey-bags in due time... until Ebolavirus or transmissible spongiform encephalopathy zoonosis/antigenic shift.

If that was true, Series 21 would have been in boxes too but it wasn’t so it isn’t an issue. No one has ever caught a disease from touching LEGO packaging, LEGO stores even sort which packets are which minifigures and give you the one you want as well.

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, Anonknee Muss said:

If that was true, Series 21 would have been in boxes too but it wasn’t so it isn’t an issue. No one has ever caught a disease from touching LEGO packaging, LEGO stores even sort which packets are which minifigures and give you the one you want as well. 

Well if what others have said is true and the product is finalized a year out (reading all the replies to the discussion in context helps) then 21 would have been at some stage of production already. Never saw them sorting the packages out (I'll take your word for it) but why were they doing that? Its a non-issue to you but that sounds like someone somewhere at the company had a little concern.

-

Anyway I'm out and I'll just concede to all the replies that the packaging change definitely wasn't something less sinister, which is all that theory was; a less gloomy, less 'this is the end of the CMF' theory. So now being upset at the thought of the change can be the dominant point of discussion with the focus being speculation that it's greed or getting kids to gamble since that's where the discussion is being steered.

[AmperZand]

Don't know if this is OT, but according to Brick Fanatics, the order of the Vidiyo minifigures in each display box is:

      BACK

1. Werewolf
2. Red Panda
3. Discowboy
4. Cheetah
5. Samurapper
6. Shark
7. Banshee
8. Cheerleader
9. Genie
10. Alien
11. Bunny
12. Ice Cream

     FRONT

In the display box, there are two side-by-side columns of 12 minifigures each as laid out above, for a total of 24 minifigures per display box.

It is unknown whether the order above will be consistent across markets and over time. If you have acquired a display box, please let us know.

If you're after specific minifigures, this method of identifying them has the additional problem that it only works with a fresh display box.  

 

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

6 hours ago, jonwil said:

Leaks are out of a Porky Pig torso which seems to confirm the Looney Toons CMF rumor and also suggest that its not going to just be a Space Jam licensed series or something.

 

Yeah I saw that and was wondering if it came from a reliable source. Does this seem like a legit leak? Don't want to get excited prematurely.

[Legochaek]

On 2/22/2021 at 12:32 AM, Anonknee Muss said:

This is really fascinating, thanks for sharing! With 3 minifigure series a year with each series having 16 minifigures, someone who buys without feeling is expected to buy 155 minifigures before completing an annual set of 48. 5 series of 12 would make 190 minifigures bought to complete a set of 60.

(Deleted)

 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Lego-fire

[jonwil]

Marvin the Martian has now leaked and looks great.

 

[cosmic]

On 2/22/2021 at 6:04 PM, Alexandrina said:

Is this a regional quirk or am I just incredibly unobservant? I have never noticed a second bag in CMFs, and I've certainly bought plenty in the last year or so! 

I recently noticed this and thought it was odd. All the mini figures in the DC Series came within other bags and I was confused. I thought I somehow got a knock off brand? I didn’t realize when Lego began to do this and thought it only made sense for like cape pieces maybe.