LEGO Collectable Minifigures Future Series Rumours

[1Panda]

Sales will probably drop 50% or more but who cares they are $5 a pack and they’ll still make money off cases.

I wonder if they will put them in a specific order in the cases like the bandmates ones?
but either way I never thought the CMF line would end like this I was always hoping they’d get to like series 50 and call it good for awhile then reboot it a year or two later.

[Karalora]

30 minutes ago, leafan said:

It's being introduced in September 2023 for CMFs.

I'm not sure how an item looks on the shelf should figure into how TLG packages items, unless it's putting people off buying.

Huh. I was going off Robert8's post for the year.

As for shelf appeal, package appearance can be a huge part of it. I think all of us, all else being equal, would rather buy a LEGO set in a pristine box than one with visibly bashed-in corners and box-cutter marks on the facing side. I have literally passed on picking up a few CMFs because the display was full of creased-up bags that had obviously been worked over by bag-feelers. Besides the feeling that someone else has already been through and snagged all the desirable minifigs, there's a sense of unhygiene to it all. Who knows where those grabby hands were previously?

[Subnautica]

Personally this is probably the final nail in the coffin for the product. At $5 a piece it’s just not worth it to me, especially with series now being 12 instead of 16.

Maybe will pick the occasional one off Bricklink if they really interest me, but won’t be buying anymore sealed.

[leafan]

13 minutes ago, Karalora said:

Huh. I was going off Robert8's post for the year.

As for shelf appeal, package appearance can be a huge part of it. I think all of us, all else being equal, would rather buy a LEGO set in a pristine box than one with visibly bashed-in corners and box-cutter marks on the facing side. I have literally passed on picking up a few CMFs because the display was full of creased-up bags that had obviously been worked over by bag-feelers. Besides the feeling that someone else has already been through and snagged all the desirable minifigs, there's a sense of unhygiene to it all. Who knows where those grabby hands were previously?

I understand where you're coming from but comparing beaten-up boxes to ruffled CMF packaging isn't the same, in my opinion, as I'm not going to be keeping the CMF bags or reselling with the open bag, so it doesn't matter.

22 minutes ago, 1Panda said:

I wonder if they will put them in a specific order in the cases like the bandmates ones?

I'm not sure how bandmates worked, but these packages have holes for hangers, so it's possible the order will be thrown out when shelf-stackers take them from the box.

[karrit]

20 minutes ago, 1Panda said:

Sales will probably drop 50% or more but who cares they are $5 a pack and they’ll still make money off cases.

I wonder if they will put them in a specific order in the cases like the bandmates ones?
but either way I never thought the CMF line would end like this I was always hoping they’d get to like series 50 and call it good for awhile then reboot it a year or two later.

The Bandmates I picked up did not conform to the published order.  The ones I got were actually in the box in reverse order to what was posted buy multiple people online so I ended up with a bunch of figures I really didn't want and a few that I did.  Also with the 6 pack boxes of Muppets figures I got three boxes of the same six but the order of figures in each box was totally different.

[R0Sch]

The six-packs are known to be random figures only, but displays usually had consistent sorting if TLG did not screw up packaging, as was the case multiple times (HP, Looney Tunes, etc.). For me these dumb cardboard boxes mean the end of an enjoyable hobby. The whole fun of feeling up the packages and getting all the figures from a series is gone. Same goes for buying whole display boxes and selling the other 1-2 complete sets for the purchase price. I'm pretty sure, the new displays will not contain 2-3 complete sets because TLG will also not be able to weigh the packs precisely for consistent sorting. These new boxes can't be even unsealed to check the content without damaging/ripping them up, so it was clearly deliberately done to "force" people to buy more than they want and make completionists lives harder.

[brimbolet]

It's always good to cut down forests, so the company management can claim they're sustainable and cash on state subsidies...

Seriously I think it's the end for the CMF in the long run. They cost already half a little 10$ set. 1 figure! Not long ago the starter packs had 3-4 minifigs each + animals/vehicles.

I always buy figures I can feel for myself, family members, friends and recently even for my non AFOL neighbors, because they wanted some Muppets badly. Since I've only discovered the BAM tower in my Lego store, I rather spend my money on it in the future.

Edited June 27, 2022 by brimbolet

[Anonknee Muss]

1 hour ago, leafan said:

I'm not sure how bandmates worked, but these packages have holes for hangers, so it's possible the order will be thrown out when shelf-stackers take them from the box.

That shouldn't be too common as it wasn't with the bags and they had holes in too.

1 hour ago, R0Sch said:

The six-packs are known to be random figures only, but displays usually had consistent sorting if TLG did not screw up packaging, as was the case multiple times (HP, Looney Tunes, etc.). For me these dumb cardboard boxes mean the end of an enjoyable hobby. The whole fun of feeling up the packages and getting all the figures from a series is gone. Same goes for buying whole display boxes and selling the other 1-2 complete sets for the purchase price. I'm pretty sure, the new displays will not contain 2-3 complete sets because TLG will also not be able to weigh the packs precisely for consistent sorting. These new boxes can't be even unsealed to check the content without damaging/ripping them up, so it was clearly deliberately done to "force" people to buy more than they want and make completionists lives harder.

LEGO has officially said there will be 3 full sets in each box still. LEGO will come to regret the decision when they realise that families don't have the spare income to waste on minifigures they don't want. Who knows maybe the economy will clear up by September 2023.

[Accio Lego]

25 minutes ago, Anonknee Muss said:

That shouldn't be too common as it wasn't with the bags and they had holes in too.

I’ve seen CMFs on hangers in check out lines multiple times at Target. I got 75% of Harry Potter series 2 from target checkouts (thank goodness they weren’t being used when I wanted to stand there feeling bags). 
 

It’s definitely disappointing that the days of bag feeling are coming to an end. I strongly suspect this will either kill the Minifigures theme or lego will end up backtracking on the decision within a year or two, but who knows, maybe there will be enough resellers buying whole cases to keep it going. Certainly, a reseller is the only way I’ll be getting any figures once the changeover occurs. 

[BlueberryWaffles]

End of an era. I knew this was always a possibility, but it's still disappointing to see it happen. Guess it's Bricklink only for me from now on.

[Karalora]

3 hours ago, leafan said:

I understand where you're coming from but comparing beaten-up boxes to ruffled CMF packaging isn't the same, in my opinion, as I'm not going to be keeping the CMF bags or reselling with the open bag, so it doesn't matter.

I did point out that it's not just about the appearance of the packaging. Would you want a set that had some kid's snot smeared all over the box? You could just wipe it off... Would you want one that looked like it had been opened and then taped shut with Scotch tape, or would you suspect that some of its contents had gone missing in the interim?

I understand people's disappointment in no longer being able to feel for the minifigure they want, but I have always viewed that as, well, cheating. It's meant to be a gamble. Feelable packaging favors people who have the ability to be at the store when a new box is set out and spend as much time as they want inspecting the bags. With unfeelable packaging, everyone is on the same footing--you select a package and take your chances.

[Borex]

Only Muppets series two or a Marvel comic series will get me to buy boxes (but probably i’ll ask a reseller)

[SirBlake]

3 minutes ago, Karalora said:

It's meant to be a gamble.

And here we have the philosophical divide. There are many (most?) of us that feel that gambling has no place in children's/collectible toys. Company makes product people want, people give money for product. That's simple math. If I want to gamble I'll go to a casino (where children aren't allowed, I wonder why that is). I don't like gambling, so I don't go to casinos.

At least with the ability to feel the bags, you can side-step the nefarious gambling aspect.

[Borex]

5 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

And here we have the philosophical divide. There are many (most?) of us that feel that gambling has no place in children's/collectible toys. Company makes product people want, people give money for product. That's simple math. If I want to gamble I'll go to a casino (where children aren't allowed, I wonder why that is). I don't like gambling, so I don't go to casinos.

At least with the ability to feel the bags, you can side-step the nefarious gambling aspect.

I am with you. That whole gambling aspect is just evil marketing.

[Robert8]

14 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

And here we have the philosophical divide. There are many (most?) of us that feel that gambling has no place in children's/collectible toys. Company makes product people want, people give money for product. That's simple math. If I want to gamble I'll go to a casino (where children aren't allowed, I wonder why that is). I don't like gambling, so I don't go to casinos.

At least with the ability to feel the bags, you can side-step the nefarious gambling aspect.

Agree 100%

[Chedder_chandlure]

3 hours ago, R0Sch said:

it was clearly deliberately done to "force" people to buy more than they want and make completionists lives harder.

I have to agree, this decision really does show a lack of respect for the consumer.

I just want the li' snowman dude 

[Karalora]

3 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

And here we have the philosophical divide. There are many (most?) of us that feel that gambling has no place in children's/collectible toys. Company makes product people want, people give money for product. That's simple math. If I want to gamble I'll go to a casino (where children aren't allowed, I wonder why that is). I don't like gambling, so I don't go to casinos.

At least with the ability to feel the bags, you can side-step the nefarious gambling aspect.

This is not a terrible point--the investigation into, and in some jurisdictions outlawing of, gambling elements present in online video games targeted at children is a good example of how insidious this sort of thing can be and why it shouldn't be tolerated. Of course, the truly insidious thing about the video game version is that the gaming account would be linked to a credit card, enabling a hooked child who had not developed any impulse control to just spend and spend and spend without thinking about it. At least with CMFs, a kid has to physically select a material object, and in most cases will be limited to whatever cash they have on-hand/whatever their parent is willing to spend at that moment. So the potential for damage is much less.

And I might as well bring up the fact that I have never seen children rummaging through a box of CMF bags, groping for a telltale accessory. In other words, the people most likely to be damaged by the gambling aspect aren't the ones who can most easily take advantage of methods to avoid it.

[MAB]

I wouldn't mind truly blind bags / boxes if I was interested in all the figures in a series (and multiples of them). For example, if they did a sports player series, or a warriors series, or a city style jobs series, or animal costume series, and I was interested in the theme then I'd buy blind as there are no duds that I would be disappointed with. Series I don't like (but presumably others do), I can skip. I'd probably only buy into a series every few years and that's if they went back to three unlicensed series a year.  Whereas with distributions like right now, with with 1-2 acceptable and 10-11 duds, the odds are not in my favour so I'd not buy. 

[Chedder_chandlure]

17 minutes ago, Chedder_chandlure said:

I just want the li' snowman dude

Fortunately it turns out series 23 will still use the blind bags which means it might be the last series to do so... not exactly the grandest conclusion tbh

[SirBlake]

22 minutes ago, Karalora said:

This is not a terrible point--the investigation into, and in some jurisdictions outlawing of, gambling elements present in online video games targeted at children is a good example of how insidious this sort of thing can be and why it shouldn't be tolerated. Of course, the truly insidious thing about the video game version is that the gaming account would be linked to a credit card, enabling a hooked child who had not developed any impulse control to just spend and spend and spend without thinking about it. At least with CMFs, a kid has to physically select a material object, and in most cases will be limited to whatever cash they have on-hand/whatever their parent is willing to spend at that moment. So the potential for damage is much less.

And I might as well bring up the fact that I have never seen children rummaging through a box of CMF bags, groping for a telltale accessory. In other words, the people most likely to be damaged by the gambling aspect aren't the ones who can most easily take advantage of methods to avoid it.

You deserve some credit for being able to have a constructive conversation and a willingness to consider another point of view. This forum software doesn’t have a “like” feature, but here’s your like anyway. 

[Gorilla94]

Well, this is disgusting... my money will go to customs and used flea market stuff from now on including not giving lego as present anymore or helping friends getting interesting cmfs. Congratulations, Lego. It needs quite a few sold insane 400€-castles just to compansate this.

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Gorilla94

[MicroJow]

While I'm far from thrilled with this turn of events, I'll wait and see what the reaction is from Lego before worrying about the sky falling. I hope the reaction we're seeing on this forum is indicative of what's happening on all forums and Lego notices. It's probably not financially feasible for them to indicate the enclosed character on the package because then they would need to print 12 different packages instead of one generic package but maybe they can still find a way of including a code a-la the dots on the bottom of the bags. Or perhaps, in addition to individual boxes, they'll actualy sell 12-packs that include one of each figure so anyone who wants a set can do so. We still have a few months to let Lego hear our voices and choose a helpful path.

- MJ

Edited June 27, 2022 by MicroJow

[MAB]

5 minutes ago, MicroJow said:

While I'm far from thrilled with this turn of events, I'll wait and see what the reaction is from Lego before worrying about the sky falling. I hope the reaction we're seeing on this forum is indicative of what's happening on all forums and Lego notices. It's probably not financially feasible for them to indicate the enclosed character on the package because then they would need to print 12 different packages instead of one generic package but maybe they can still find a way of including a code a-la the dots on the bottom of the bags. Or perhaps, in addition to individual boxes, they'll actualy sell 12-packs that include one of each figure so anyone who wants a set can do so. We still have a few months to let Lego hear our voices and choose a helpful path.

- MJ

One easy way to do it is to produce all character 1 in one week, then all character 2 in the next week, and so on. That way, they'd all have different manufacturing codes on the seals. But it would mean storing lots of boxes for up to three months before packaging them. 

[MicroJow]

Well, they did it somehow for the earlier series with the dot codes so there must be a way of stamping the boxes, too.

- MJ

[TeriXeri]

LEGO is merely adjusting to the current trend of lootboxes 

Edited June 27, 2022 by TeriXeri