Collectable Minifigures: Feeling the Packets

[Vindicare]

Recently in the series 7 topic there has been a bit of talking on the fingering of collectible minifigure packets. This is done to complete someones collection or build an army

I think it is wrong for 2 reasons

*It stops kids getting the favourite minifigure

*Would you finger an apple or other products before you by them

Don't know how I didn't notice this in the beginning. To your second point. Yes, I do "finger" an apple before I buy it. You really should check them when you buy. There's plenty of fruit you thump to see if it's firm. My dads a grocer, I know more tricks that is more than necessary.

Whether someone feels the packets or not, a kid will undoubtedly not always get the fig he wants. Even if you do it by random draw as intended, who's to say you still won't get the desired by the kid fig. I randomly grabbed a pack and ended up with a Roman. That's no different than if I stood there and felt the packet. It's always been this way(remember S1 and 2, bar codes...made it way easier to get figs, granted they were harder to find at stores in general). Sure, it sucks to not find a fig(s) you want, but 'thems the bricks', as they say.

[Fuppylodders]

I don't feel it is wrong at all. First come, first served. That's life. Sure we are all Lego collectors, but at the end of the day, its a dog eat dog world and if you want something, just get it because the chances of someone else letting you have the minifig you want, or the chances of you gettin the minifigs you want reasonably cheap while including all the extra figs u dont want, will be pretty damned high.

For the first time I felt packets today. I wanted the rock chick and the Marine. I got both. I was happy. I was also doing this while another kid next to me was looking/feeling for the exact same 2. Whether there was another of each or not, I don't know, but I do know that had I not done the same, I would have lost out because of someone else. And luck is not very often on my side, I once got 5 of the damned zookeeper. Why should I keep getting the zookeeper while other people get the decent ones they want with better luck? So, like I said, First come, First serve.

Everyone has equal chance of getting the figs they want if they put the effort into it.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Fuppylodders

[Snowspeeder Pilot]

I used this method to help some kids and mothers to complete their collection.

I do not see anything wrong with that.

[Cutty]

I admit to have developed the tactile identification method to a point where I usually reach a 100% quota of correctly identified CMFs. And for a fresh display the whole affair takes now only 20 to 35 minutes. Series 7 is very benevolent for quick scanning, as many desirable figures do come with some bulky accessories (space marine armour, aztec helmet, merman tail, she-viking dress and braided helmet...), so those are even less time consuming to go through.

Many people watching me are either appalled of my accuracy or in dire disbelief of whether I actually fake it.

On the moral aspect of tactile identification: No quarrels with me here. Everyone with access to the figs is allowed to use his or her senses to their utmost extent as long as the merchandise remains intact (packaging and contents!). Hell, most of the times the boxes look better once I'm done than before!

Whoever wants to gamble, fine, be that way. Others want to know what they carry home for their limited funds.

Stripping boxes of their "rares" is completely natural to me and apparently many others in my vicinity as I've come across completely raided shops frequently. Give and take, live and let live.

To MrLegoNinja:

Thanks for finally bringing me to awareness in terms of my ill illusions and misconceptions towards my Lego! I know now what I did wrong all those years of semi-serious and non play activities with it. All the misspend years, shame on me!

But where do I go from here? Donate all of it to charity? Furnace it in the winter for heat? Throw it in the street?! I'm completely puzzled.... Well no! Fr@KK that Shice!

You MrLegoNinja did just cross a line. You telling ME what I have to do with MY stuff?! Preposterous and absurd! What's next? You telling me how to use my kitchen? Or my clothing? Or my genitalia? For the love of peace and all that's good in this world, please refrain from ever trying to tell others their supposed wrongs, that are nothing but your prejudices based on limited perception of what something can and can not be. And Lego can be anything you want. Even in quantities.

And no, army builders are not socially impaired adults craving 15 min. of internet fame by anonymous peers. Most times they are HIGHLY social individuals with a hint of childish glee towards toys and an intrinsic affinity for collecting. Hence, pretty normal people...

...those however, taking their rants into the open without having a sane point to begin with... what would be your assessment on those? And I do mean this question serious.

At this point I want to encourage any and all CMF collectors to go about their business as they see fit, as long as the above mention limitation is being observed. And from there, it's all good!

Be well collecting you all!

Cutty

Edited May 7, 2012 by Cutty

[Itaria No Shintaku]

What's next? You telling me how to use my kitchen? Or my clothing? Or my genitalia?

Now, you put us in a dangerous situation, as now you will split the audience! Half of us eurobricker will absolutely want to read LegoNinja explaining in details how to use your genitalia. The other half would rather read a nouvelle cuisine argument than that.

Come on, MrLegoNinja, please catch this while you can. Explain Cutty how to use his own genitalia!

(Obviously, I'm kidding from the beginning, but you never know if someone isn't getting your joke)

[TheLegoDr]

I believe feeling the packets is the best way to go. You can guarantee (if you are talented at it) to go home with the exact figure you want as opposed to wasting your money on some figure you don't want. It would be like having every lego set with a blank box and you just hope you leave with the set you originally wanted. Feeling a pack and getting the figures you want is no different than random visits from various consumers grabbing figures by random and after x number of tries some other person tries to find the figure they want and are unable to since the previous random visits removed the exact figure they want. Might as well just buy what you want if you are able to. Blink packaging is there for a reason and I have a few neighbors/friends that prefer to buy them randomly and see what they get. Obviously every person is different and Lego is having a huge success with this theme, so whatever they are doing seems to be working.

I prefer to feel the pack and see if I can get the exact figures I want in the exact quantities I want. I've been nice before and someone said they were looking for some figure and I knew where they were in the box or had a spare in my cart and gave it to them. Doing that is a nice gesture, but doing it too often then leaves you without the figures you wanted. I don't feel bad about feeling the packs, I've actually helped people more that way than hurting their chances, so that shows good karma for me .

[Only Sinner]

Sure, it's all good, squeeze away! Sometimes I close my eyes and start squeezing and feeling the air around the display, hoping the perfect figure gently nests itself in my sweaty, anxious hands.

[Faefrost]

I don't see anything wrong with feeling the packets. At least if you are looking for one or two specific figs. So long as it is done with what is essentially a personal use purpose. Trying to get the one fig you need for your set is perfectly acceptable. Trying to get a reasonable number of a specicpfic fig for an army / moc / diorama is also reasonable in moderation. Looting every one of the specific high value figs from every box in a store so you can ebay or Bricklink them however is really rude. Find and get what you need, but leave some for others.

As for the derogatory comments on Army building? Really? How is it any different from the literally hundreds of similar hobbies that have gone before it, for hundreds of years? Toy soldiers? Model railroading, and the large dioramas they entail? Dollhouses? Adults have regularly taken part in all of those since, in some cases, the 17 th or 18th centuries. This is just another outlet of the same.

[Legofan225]

Hey guys today bought series 10 minifigure and l got the baseball champ minifigure does anyone have the Mr.Gold minifigure ??

[jluck]

Hey guys today bought series 10 minifigure and l got the baseball champ minifigure does anyone have the Mr.Gold minifigure ??

This thread is about the best way to determine what figure is in a bag. You'll find a thread for series 10 further down which includes mr. Gold finds.

[SMC]

Yes its ok to feel the packets, but is it ok for Lego to sell you something without telling you what it is. The one reason to do this is to get you to buy something you don't want.

[Legofan225]

Well l thought maiby it would be best to post it here well l just hope that when l buy a next minifigure packet l hope it's the mechanich minifigure

[Aanchir]

Yes its ok to feel the packets, but is it ok for Lego to sell you something without telling you what it is. The one reason to do this is to get you to buy something you don't want.

Not really. It also adds an element of surprise, which for kids can be a selling point in and of itself. There's something thrilling about opening something and not knowing beforehand what's inside; sort of the same reason we love unwrapping birthday and Christmas presents. As adults we tend to want to know what we're getting, but that's partly because we have a firmer understanding of the cost that results from buying set after set, and also because many of us are just that much more used to being able to take the contents of a set for granted.

Kids today, on the other hand, grow up with collectible trading cards and many other blind-packaged novelties. I collected Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards when I was a kid, and it never once occurred to me that the publishers might be swindling me by not telling me what's inside the packages. There was always at least a bit of certainty attached — for instance, every pack would have a set number of cards and at least one of those would be "rare". Any uncertainty that was left was just a part of the collecting game. I kept my cards sorted in three-ring binders but I never obsessed over completion. If I had a good number of the cards I wanted from a certain series, then I'd accept that it was "good enough" and I'd move on to a series that had lots of desirable cards that I had yet to obtain.

CMFs are a similar deal. No matter whether you know what you're getting, you're guaranteed one minifigure out of a selection of 16 with every pack you buy. And none of the minifigures are "worthless" unless you're exceedingly selective about what LEGO themes you value. From my experience, kids tend to be less selective about this kind of thing than adults, again, because they don't fully understand the cost of LEGO collecting. They might have a favorite theme that they'll gravitate towards in stores, but they won't hesitate as much as an adult might if they find themselves drawn to a set or minifigure outside the themes they normally collect.

Edited July 30, 2013 by Aanchir

[Dragonfire]

I used to just pick CMF packets randomly from a box, and I got none that I actually wanted. Once I started feeling, I always got the minifigure I was hoping to get. Feeling really helps.