Collectable Minifigures: Feeling the Packets

[Kryne]

I Found a surfer girl today that had been opened, but i figured my gain as i needed one but thought to check the contents first and someone had stolen the head then badly resealed the bag. So i took it to front counter and what did i see, they resealed it and sent it back out onto the shelf. This was after i said there was a peice missing too.

[Brickdoctor]

I Found a surfer girl today that had been opened, but i figured my gain as i needed one but thought to check the contents first and someone had stolen the head then badly resealed the bag. So i took it to front counter and what did i see, they resealed it and sent it back out onto the shelf. This was after i said there was a peice missing too.

What store was this at?

[Kryne]

What store was this at?

It was a Kmart store in australia

[Vindice]

That's shocking. I had a pack with some broken bits in it to be fair, that was probably down to overly aggressive fondling.

[lostboy1]

There are always torn open bags at my local big stores, but if someone has the nerve to open a bag, it seems doubtful they are going to go and pay for the fig anyway i.e.(searching for the fig they want to steal).

But at $4.50AUS each, i would rather buy them on bricklink in the quantities i want, sometimes up to 40%/50% cheaper, depending on how sought after the fig is and how many a seller wants to sell quickly.

[Stardusty]

Hah! Why would I possible care for a kiddie who wants the CMs I want to buy.

I've bought a bunch of Gladiators until now (15-18) and sold them on forums.

I can't see anything wrong with feeling what's in the bags. If I want the fig, I'll get it.

I don't want to spend a fortune to get all 16 figs from the series.

Oh, by the way, I need 15 minutes to search through the whole box.

When I'm searching for easy recognisable figs like Gladiator I need less than 7 minutes.

So yes, I've practiced a lot and employees at local stores already know what to do when I come in.

Get all the CM5 boxes out.

But opening the bag before buying it... That's so unfair.

[CptMugwash]

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with fondling the bags, the only downside is looking like a weirdo whilst you're doing it in a store, fortunately my local toy store is nice but in a large supermarket or somewhere the staff and customers are nowhere near as understanding. Opening the bags or feeling too rough is too extreme, but I think it's the kids who do that, I can't imagine a respectable AFOL doing something that mad. And I don't see a problem with collecting for armies.

[Walter]

I have to confess, I feel the packets very often.

I just try to make sure I don't feel 'too' hard. The idea of accidentally breaking or bending a piece scares me, even if it's not one I'm buying. Wouldn't want some kid to buy one and find it was broken.

[Stardusty]

...only downside is looking like a weirdo whilst you're doing it in a store...

You're wrong. No one thinks you're wierd. They're just jealous because they can't find out what's in the

bag without opening it. An they all want those figs...

[sharky]

I also once helped a kid at Target find a couple of the figs he wanted and told his mom about the dot codes. They were in a rush so I suggested that she simply buy 20 or so packages, take them home to figure out what they are, and then return the unopened unwanted figs the next time she came back to the store. She thought that was a brilliant idea and bought a bunch of them.

And if the kid knows what he's doing he'll open all the packs before his mom can return them.

[Thea Neotera]

I feel my figs out all of the time. I don't want a lot of them. I'm not a collector of all minifigs, so I definitely only get the ones I am looking for. I came home with 3 Egyptian Queens from a local Walgreens shortly after they were released. Now one is waiting for her MOC, one has been made into a keychain, and the last is sealed... still deciding on what to do with her.

[President of Brick Town]

Series 1&2 I felt the packets and is not aware of the barcode method. I say it's a good way to get these little men. Series 3 I used the dot code but now I use finger feel. There are not many KFOLs in my area, probably just a FEW AFOLs, since I can't get my Space Villain minifig from S3 and they are good for modern Blacktron MOCs.

[LauraC]

Thanks for all the helpful tips, i'm a new Lego addict and have bought a few packets but never even thought to feel them to find out whats in them! Wish i'd seen this sooner, I bought 6 packets on Friday hoping to get different figures and managed to get 3 sailors! Guessing he's a common figure then! Shall try and feel them in future, though slightly worried about looking like a crazy woman or a shoplifter! Alas my local WHSmiths keeps them behind the counter so no chance to feel them there.

[SilentMode]

Who seriously voted that opening packets wasn't going too far?

[Ardelon]

To add my two cents to the already pretty one-sided debate, I think feeling the packets is OK.

As far as depriving others of their choice fig, any shop generally works on a "first come, first served" basis, so "the early bird gets the worm". Plus, if someone is willing to pick and buy a fig at random, without feeling the packet, they probably don’t want their chosen fig as much as those willing to put in an effort to find out if they actually found the one they're looking for.

On the other hand, taking all of a certain fig does seem unsporting to me. Although it seems the fingerers are actually helping many people to find their preferred fig, rather than depriving them of it.

And yes, I regularly feel fruit and bread before buying it, with plastic gloves.

And, as many specialists would attest, feeling your packets is good for your physical and mental well-being.

[CtotheP]

I felt the packets at the Woodfield (Schaumburg, IL) LEGO store this morning while no one else was in the store and got a Lizard guy and Battle Dwarf :)

[Brickmamba]

so ye recently i been feeling packets during some good sales and i have helped few other people pick out specific figs as Xmas presents for their children/grand kids and even picked out some snowboarder figs for the grand parent who snowboards, so just to reiterate, everyone benefits from feeling packets

[KeepLeft]

I have done it myself, I would not buy a packet without knowing what I am getting as I do not want the whole series. As for army building, I do not think it should be done in one go but is acceptable over a couple of weeks.

[raminator]

I always touch the bags to see what's in there since i just want to get some special minifigs and am not interested in collecting them all.

Last week i saw some kids opening the bags to get dwarves...that's a no go for me.

Coz if you are touching it it is garanteed that the bags are complete.

Edited December 4, 2011 by raminator

[Brickmamba]

I always touch the bags to see what's in there since i just want to get some special minifigs and am not interested in collecting them all.

Last week i saw some kids opening the bags to get dwarves...that's a no go for me.

Coz if you are touching it it is garanteed that the backs are complete.

rofl how they get away with doing that...

[raminator]

nothing happened...

I informed some guy working at that shop, but the kids were gone when he arrived at the minifig box...

[ACWWgal2011]

Yes I do figure out what is in each packet before buying! Here is my count.

The first two series I bought a box online, this trapped me into dropping a large sum of money and being stuck with all these figures I didn't want a lot of, thus keeping me from buying them in shops as I had already spent so much!

For series three I went to the shops, armed with a dot code sheet, I helped a large group of children disperse by finding the exact one they wanted and then picked out my own, over the following weeks I bought a few more on occasion, to complete the collection and get more of those which I wanted (up to 5, I like squads of five).

Series 4? Again, I went and figured out each I was getting by checking for certain parts, once again I do not have much more than 5 of any one figure.

Series 5 was the first break. I wasn't aware they were getting to shops yet when I went to a town with my sister, one we don't often visit. Popping into a WH Smiths to check if a magazine I wanted was out yet, I spied a display full of them, so I grabbed a handful and bought them. After opening and checking what I had (at home) I then completed my collection by checking the bags.

Just the other day, a colleague of my father's (we work in the sam building, me and my dad) mentioned that my ability to find the specific figures had come up in conversation. He asked if I would be able to find two aerobics instructor figures for his girls. When I went into the city, I found one in the Lego Shop (The staff joked that it was pretty hard to find and wished me luck) ans a second in John Lewis, they were kept in a box, so it was easy to sort what I had checked already from the ones that needed checking.

There is nothing wrong with finding the ones you want, but it is a little mean to take all of one figure from the box.

Actually i think there are legit cases of it being ok to get all of one figure from a box such as if there is only 1 or 2 left or the boxes aren't selling. I did buy all the evil dwarfs from a box at walmart(there was only 3 and that's what i needed) but i was in a case of there was nothing wrong with me doing so. The figures didn't really sell at full retail(maybe 1-1.5 dozens packets sold with about 7 being ones i bought) and even at clearance(1 dollar a pack) they were moving so slowly that it wasn't even funny. Between 2 previous runs, i am up to a very small army of 5 figures. Not counting the unplanned cheerleader army and cleo trio(BAM bin at lego store for cheerleaders and didn't plan on cleo trio), that is the ONLY CMF i have more then 2 of.

Edited April 15, 2012 by ACWWgal2011

[Super Goblin]

I feel the packages all the time. I've even taught my six year old how to so he can get the minifig he wants.

[Tanotrooper]

Interesting discussion, I've read through the entire thread.

First of all, opening a package is unacceptable since it's pretty much damaging the product itself.

No one seems to bother feeling but most oppose massive army building. Being an army builder myself, my view on the CMs has changed over the years. When S1 was released, I only got a complete set and some doubles. (Only exception: lots of unopened boxes still left when S2 arrived, so I got some extra cheerleaders and zombies for EB members.)

With the arrival of the Spartan, a figure which I had wanted for most of my TFOL age, I went completely overboard and hoarded lots of them. I did stop at a certain point, feeling that collecting more would just be useless. What pushed me to this? A rare figure, which I desired for a long time, a series that was limited in supply and some fellow LEGO sharks in my area which did the same... In my defence though, I did collect most of them by bike, which was A LOT of kilometers.

For a long time, I predicted to do the same if a Roman legionary would arrive. But the series came and went, and I got sick of shelling out every couple of months for a box and then selling the remaining figures, which takes a long time. I completely missed S5, and when the Roman finally arrived, I wasn't impressed with him.

I saw the S6 boxes in a shop and decided to get a few I really liked, like the genie. The boxes had been picked through for Romans, but I saw a sealed box in the stock shelf. I got two Romans out of that box and decided to leave one for a kid. When I got home, the Roman still didn't impress me. But now that I've added flesh parts to him, I finally figured out I could make a historical accurate Centuria out of them. I found two more Romans by accident (I thought they would have been picked out by this time) and now I'm looking for more.

Is it so bad for us to take all the wanted figures from a box to armybuild? That's not the question that should be posed. I would gladly buy the figures online and leave the boxes in stores full for others to enjoy. I'm just not willing to pay triple the price I would pay in stores. Sure, this can work for that one missing figure, but not for multiples.

To be honest, if LEGO would sell the minifigures on their site for €3 instead of two, but I know which I'm going to get and I can order quantities of it, I'd certainly prefer that. I enjoy the hunt during our BeLUG weekends, feeling at the packets with other AFOLs, to get a few figures and (most of the time ) help each other, but going through complete boxes by this method is stopping me from buying them. (This was different with the barcodes, it only took a few minutes but now it can take up to an hour.)

Why doesn't LEGO offer this option for LUGs for example? The minifigs I buy are for creating MOCs which can be seen on our clubweekends, which bring a lot of joy to kids and parents (and are also free promotion for LEGO. Using the CMs in layouts could lead parents to buy some for their kids in the shops). It's not like they are just sitting somewhere, waiting to make money?

The money earned by second market sellers is money that LEGO could earn by offering seperate figures in bulk to AFOLs.

In the end, my conclusion is this: I (and I suppose we as armybuilders/AFOLs) collect/hoard these minifigures because of incertainty. The Roman legionary might turn up in a theme next year, which would make the prices drop a lot or he might simply not appear ever again. It's this uncertainty that makes people buy figures at absurd prices, in fear of paying even absurder prices later on.

If LEGO doesn't provide alternatives, this game will continue untill the series are finished and prices will skyrocket afterwards. And is this game of armybuilding ethical? As a philosophy student, I think Ethics has certainly achieved some objective grounds but there's still a lot of gray zones left. And so this debate shall continue as long as we play this game but perhaps we should question the cause, not the consequences.

Cheers,

Gaetano

Edited April 15, 2012 by Tanotrooper

[just2good]

I developed my feeling powers since Series 6 was released in America, and I'm 15-0.

I only feel to get one of each figure. I think feeling for two of the same figure is okay, but higher than three of the same figure is a bit unfair, as it slims the ratio of the figures down by a lot.

Opening it is okay as long as you buy the figure. If you don't, a kid will probably steal the pieces from it, and it damages the product.

Edited April 16, 2012 by just2good