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Karnegal posted:Mime was in the first 2 packs I picked up. The Medusa is loving impossible to find. I've been to 3 Lego stores and multiple retail outlets and everyone has had all of the medusas picked out. I was in a Lego store the other day and some dude was feeling through the bags I assume trying to find figures he wanted - this is a thing I guess? Lego would be smart to sell the figures in a little container than made it impossible to feel the contents. A tiny plastic test tube which is coated from the inside. They would sell loads more of them.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:10
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Saltin posted:I was in a Lego store the other day and some dude was feeling through the bags I assume trying to find figures he wanted - this is a thing I guess? Lego would be smart to sell the figures in a little container than made it impossible to feel the contents. A tiny plastic test tube which is coated from the inside. They would sell loads more of them. That is an awful idea and you should feel bad.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:25
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Saltin posted:I was in a Lego store the other day and some dude was feeling through the bags I assume trying to find figures he wanted - this is a thing I guess? Lego would be smart to sell the figures in a little container than made it impossible to feel the contents. A tiny plastic test tube which is coated from the inside. They would sell loads more of them. Maybe, but bear in mind that the guy feeling out bags to find his centurion probably isn't going to say "welp, can't feel bags any more, time to buy ~$50 worth of bags and hope one of them is a centurion." The blind bags seem to be a pretty good deal for Lego: people looking for specific figures can get them (a huge plus from prospective consumers' point of view), but they still make mistakes or just run out of time, and not everyone is going to bother in the first place. Lego still gets a fair number of extra sales from people willing to gamble.
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Jun 25, 2013 21:27
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You know they're hardcore when they have a spreadsheet of the weight of each minifig+accessories+bag and they bring a scale into the store.. so they can avoid wrinkling the container and "reducing its value".
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Jun 25, 2013 21:35
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InfinEight posted:That is an awful idea and you should feel bad. Eh, it's just an alternative way of selling collectibles. It's not like you can feel for the Magic the Gathering card you want, and Japanese collectible figures are either marked obviously on the box or are completely blind (boxed, and with little weights packed in with the smaller figures so people can't just pick by weight). It IS really annoying when there's a chase figure that gets all picked out and you're left with boxes and boxes of chud, then even if you want to just take your chances you know the odds are stacked against you. If you're gonna make it possible to tell what you're getting, why not just sell them in clear bags so you can buy the ones you want? Bags you can't see through but can feel up are the worst of both worlds, it wastes the time of people with a specific figure in mind and fucks the distribution for the people who just want to take what comes to them. quote:Maybe, but bear in mind that the guy feeling out bags to find his centurion probably isn't going to say "welp, can't feel bags any more, time to buy ~$50 worth of bags and hope one of them is a centurion." The blind bags seem to be a pretty good deal for Lego: people looking for specific figures can get them (a huge plus from prospective consumers' point of view), but they still make mistakes or just run out of time, and not everyone is going to bother in the first place. Lego still gets a fair number of extra sales from people willing to gamble. Secondary Market. In Japan and with truly blind collectibles like trading cards, there is a ripe secondary market for people who want a particular model. Internet is one way of course, but you'd also see places like comic shops cracking a few boxes and selling the figures on. I guess there would be a markup for particularly popular figures, but I think that's fairer than leaving shops full of picked through boxes of Paris Hiltons and Mimes that no one wants, at least it's a level playing field and you're not leaving some poor kid who doesn't even think to fondle 30 bags with a glut of crappy figures. You could even do a boxed set for each series of all ten for the collectors, and the blind bags for people who just want one or two random models, they did this with the little MLP figures recently and it seemed to work out for them
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Jun 25, 2013 21:37
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xzzy posted:You know they're hardcore when they have a spreadsheet of the weight of each minifig+accessories+bag and they bring a scale into the store.. so they can avoid wrinkling the container and "reducing its value".
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Jun 25, 2013 22:19
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Fatkraken posted:If you're gonna make it possible to tell what you're getting, why not just sell them in clear bags so you can buy the ones you want? Bags you can't see through but can feel up are the worst of both worlds, it wastes the time of people with a specific figure in mind and fucks the distribution for the people who just want to take what comes to them. You must be great fun at parties. (Oh wait I just saw your avatar,  ) It's actually the best of both worlds. If you want to be surprised you just grab a couple and check out. If you're looking for certain ones then you can find them with minimal effort. Plus feeling the bags is fun, like a treasure hunt. Your second option doesn't even make sense. If the person wants a random figure, they'll get one?xzzy posted:You know they're hardcore when they have a spreadsheet of the weight of each minifig+accessories+bag and they bring a scale into the store.. so they can avoid wrinkling the container and "reducing its value". Please tell me you made this scenario up completely. Please. Edit: Ahhh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3gHL93QuoM you weren't joking. ChesterJT fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 22:57
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ChesterJT posted:
Share that spreadsheet with me, please.
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Jun 25, 2013 22:59
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Fatkraken posted:Eh, it's just an alternative way of selling collectibles. It's not like you can feel for the Magic the Gathering card you want, and Japanese collectible figures are either marked obviously on the box or are completely blind (boxed, and with little weights packed in with the smaller figures so people can't just pick by weight). It IS really annoying when there's a chase figure that gets all picked out and you're left with boxes and boxes of chud, then even if you want to just take your chances you know the odds are stacked against you. As a Magic player, this is why no serious player buys booster packs. They buy singles. If you made minifigs unable to be felt by touch, a lot of collectors would just buy them on the secondary market, which doesn't sell more packs. Japan is a strange land and not really analogous to the US. Americans would never pay $80 for a recent Blu-Ray, for example.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:06
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ChesterJT posted:If the person wants a random figure, they'll get one? No, they'll get a mime or a Paris Hilton, because all the cool figures have already been snaffled up by the collectors. Picking a figure blind with a 1/50 chance of getting a cool one is a very different thing than picking one blind with a 1/3 chance of getting a cool one, the odds are stacked against them by the pickers. If I was gonna buy a figure on a whim, and was waiting behind a guy who felt through the box and picked out a bunch of figures, I'd be much less likely to take a punt. Basically, being able to pick figures means if you see a box with half the figures in it, you can no longer be sure that you even have a CHANCE of getting the models you like. At least with blind boxes, there's the same chance for everyone. Fatkraken fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 23:09
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I tried feeling some bags and I guess I'm not a hardcore lego collector cause I couldnt really tell any apart. plus none of the minifigs are put together so feeling certain 'parts' doesnt make much sense anyways, it could be anything. Only huge parts like Medusa I could see.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:11
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youracrybabypah posted:I tried feeling some bags and I guess I'm not a hardcore lego collector cause I couldnt really tell any apart. plus none of the minifigs are put together so feeling certain 'parts' doesnt make much sense anyways, it could be anything. Only huge parts like Medusa I could see. How wrong you are. Get educated on Lego, boy.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:13
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Karnegal posted:If you made minifigs unable to be felt by touch, a lot of collectors would just buy them on the secondary market, which doesn't sell more packs. doesn't it? If a collector wants 20 centurions, and feels for 20 centurions, LEGO sells 20 packs. They also risk selling fewer random packs to people who want to find cool by buying random packs, because they see the picked through boxes and know they're probably poo poo out of luck on the most popular figures and don't buy anything. If he wants 20 centurions but can't feel for them so buys them on ebay, someone somewhere has bought those 20 packs. In fact they've bought way more than that, they've bought enough BOXES of packs to get 20 centurions to sell on ebay, so they've actually bought like 500 packs. I dunno. I don't even buy the loving things. I just feel for that hypothetical little kid whose mother lets him spend his allowance on a minifig each week and when the series goes out of circulation he has 20 of the same three models because some guy at the supermarket picked through the boxes and got all the minotaurs, godzillas and space robots and left him with the office worker, the soccer mom and the taxi driver quote:^^^ The people who are buying random packs are parents and kids who are oblivious to the pickers. It's not like they're saying, "oh this case is picked" they don't even know it's happening. As I say in my edit, until they actually look at the selection they get after buying a bunch of packs and wonder why they're so unlucky that they never get the fun models. Fatkraken fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 23:14
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^^^ The people who are buying random packs are parents and kids who are oblivious to the pickers. It's not like they're saying, "oh this case is picked" they don't even know it's happening.youracrybabypah posted:I tried feeling some bags and I guess I'm not a hardcore lego collector cause I couldnt really tell any apart. plus none of the minifigs are put together so feeling certain 'parts' doesnt make much sense anyways, it could be anything. Only huge parts like Medusa I could see. It's pretty easy if you know what figures are in the set. There are very few figures that are that hard to pick out. Things like dress bottoms or the medusa tail are super easy, but almost every figure has some distinctive feature.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:15
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The mystery minifigs are good for stocking stuffers.. they were pretty popular this past year with my family. Gives a little bit of a mystery thrill I guess. Literally the only reason I would put money down for the things though.. while I do admit I really like the godzilla minifig, for the most part I find the designs lame and boring. But enough people out there go bonkers for minifigs I'm glad lego is doing it.. if it helps keeps them in business I'm all for it.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:28
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Fatkraken posted:doesn't it? If a collector wants 20 centurions, and feels for 20 centurions, LEGO sells 20 packs. They also risk selling fewer random packs to people who want to find cool by buying random packs, because they see the picked through boxes and know they're probably poo poo out of luck on the most popular figures and don't buy anything. And in this scenario, the centurions are ~$40 apiece and basically nobody but that collector is going to be able to afford them. You're setting up scenarios where scalpers are buying the majority of the boxes and making up the costs on the two or three hot figures in every set. Store employees are going to get wise to this and get in on the action. You want Little Johnny Lego to get what he wants but basically no matter how it plays out the odds are stacked against him. There are certain figures that everybody is going to want a ton of - soldiers, aliens, zombies, etc. "Army builders" are what people call them. You're never going to change that by adding detritus to packaging or making them impossible to feel up. These things are sold in Wal-Marts and Targets, people are going to be more likely to just open the drat things rather than buy fifty blind boxed figures in the hope of getting what they want. edit: And for me, I feel up minifig packages, because I don't have a lot of money to spend on Lego. I'm a 31-year old man but I bet there's a lot of kids who get bigger allowances than I do. I just want a drat Medusa. I don't pick over entire cases, I've helped kids on many occasions find what they were after or tell them what parts to look for while squeezing. purple death ray fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 23:28
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Fatkraken posted:No, they'll get a mime or a Paris Hilton, because all the cool figures have already been snaffled up by the collectors. Picking a figure blind with a 1/50 chance of getting a cool one is a very different thing than picking one blind with a 1/3 chance of getting a cool one, the odds are stacked against them by the pickers. If I was gonna buy a figure on a whim, and was waiting behind a guy who felt through the box and picked out a bunch of figures, I'd be much less likely to take a punt. Uhh excuse me, the mime is pretty awesome.  But like was mentioned above, the people picking blind have no idea what is a "hot" figure or not or how many come of each come in a box and probably don't care either. If they did they'd take 5 seconds to feel the bag. Edit: VVV I go there and feel up bags with my kids because we all think it's fun and each have different ones we're after. To each their own I guess! 
ChesterJT fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Jun 25, 2013 |
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Jun 25, 2013 23:30
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ChesterJT posted:Uhh excuse me, the mime is pretty awesome. I've been going for full sets since Series 6. You won't catch me feeling up the bags in a store surrounded by children like some goddamn weirdo.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:33
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Travis343 posted:There are certain figures that everybody is going to want a ton of - soldiers, aliens, zombies, etc. "Army builders" are what people call them. You're never going to change that by adding detritus to packaging or making them impossible to feel up. These things are sold in Wal-Marts and Targets, people are going to be more likely to just open the drat things rather than buy fifty blind boxed figures in the hope of getting what they want. They really should do non-blind box sets of, say, ten copies of a hot army builder figure like the zombie or the alien, maybe have the set as nine regular ones identical to the blind bag and one with a different body print and face who's the leader. Charge the same per-figure as in the blind bags. If army building is a big enough problem that people are finding heavily picked over boxes, these sets would surely sell pretty well. That way the people who just want one can pick the boxes without completely denuding them, the people who want 50 can just buy the boxes and get a special figure for their loyalty, and the people who like random picking actually have a decent chance of getting any given figure.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:37
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Ville Valo posted:I've been going for full sets since Series 6. You'll never catch me feeling up the bags in a store surrounded by children like some goddamn weirdo. Go into the store when the kids are in school and the traffic is low. But now you gotta wait a few more months for that to be the case again I don't mind when people come into my store and start feeling through the bags, but what I do mind is when they leave a giant-rear end mess on the floor of all the bags that didn't have their desired figure in it. I also hate when kids come in and excitedly exclaim "I'm looking for Mr. Gold!" because I know they're going to walk out with some level of disappointment. Only one Mr. Gold was found in our store, and it was an elderly gentleman that found him. I'm sure Mr. Gold's been exhaustively discussed here, though, but my two cents is that a better solution may have been to insert coupons or golden tickets into random bags, or have a code printed on the interior which could be redeemed for a Mr. Gold. Would eliminate the ability to find him via feeling the packaging, but retain the excitement of whether or not you'd find him (or a code to redeem him.) I know hardcore collectors probably wouldn't be keen on that, but my personal opinion is that the children and parents should be the ones who take priority.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:42
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Is there still a lego mini figure trading thread going? I have extras of a few mini figures and a medusa I wouldn't mind trading off.
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Jun 25, 2013 23:53
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I have 4 Sky divers and 2 Paintball Men I'd like to trash.
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Jun 26, 2013 00:14
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Fatkraken posted:They really should do non-blind box sets of, say, ten copies of a hot army builder figure like the zombie or the alien, maybe have the set as nine regular ones identical to the blind bag and one with a different body print and face who's the leader. Charge the same per-figure as in the blind bags. If army building is a big enough problem that people are finding heavily picked over boxes, these sets would surely sell pretty well. They basically did this with the minifig packs in the 90s but stopped for some reason. I think Lego wants to be distinct from selling "action figures" as even little polybags always have some token 10-brick build along with Thor or Harry Potter or whoever. Its a real shame since the minifig packs were really awesome.
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Jun 26, 2013 00:20
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Fatkraken posted:They really should do non-blind box sets of, say, ten copies of a hot army builder figure like the zombie or the alien, maybe have the set as nine regular ones identical to the blind bag and one with a different body print and face who's the leader. Charge the same per-figure as in the blind bags. If army building is a big enough problem that people are finding heavily picked over boxes, these sets would surely sell pretty well. So what happens when they guess wrong and people actually want 150 Godzilla Men? Then you have an even worse problem. Really, the way they're doing it now is about the best way to balance the unpredictability of customer demand, randomized slot-pulls, and chase figures. Hell, every box is guaranteed at least two of the most rare figs and five or six of the most common. That's a much better spread than TCGs or even collectible gaming minis.
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Jun 26, 2013 00:24
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rickiep00h posted:So what happens when they guess wrong and people actually want 150 Godzilla Men? Then you have an even worse problem. Online polls.
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Jun 26, 2013 00:27
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I have a ton of the current series, probably repeats of every single one... except grandpa. And zero Parises Hilton or Sexies Librarian. e: I never heard from AllisonByProxy, I hope she got the last package I sent out
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Jun 26, 2013 00:31
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Fatkraken posted:Online polls. You mean like a bucket of Star Wars troopers?
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Jun 26, 2013 00:39
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rickiep00h posted:You mean like a bucket of Star Wars troopers? 10 Zombies in a clamshell is a lot different than 150 Stormtroopers (and 1 Darth Vader) in a bucket
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Jun 26, 2013 01:02
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rickiep00h posted:You mean like a bucket of Star Wars troopers? That was refused at least partly because of licensing issues. Legos star wars license presumably allows them to release "construction toys" based on the line, and a bucket of figures is considered "action figures" or "collectable figurines" or something not covered by the license. Since the blind bag figures do not include any licensed products, this would not be a problem, and there is clearly support for large collections of figures without any accompanying kibble or it wouldn't have got to 10k in the first place.
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Jun 26, 2013 01:10
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It isn't just adults looking for the minifigs. I've come across at least three kids, in Houston and Austin, who have been feeling the bags. One kid was giving me tips on how to find the Sailor and demonstrated the "correct" way to feel for the seagull .
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Jun 26, 2013 01:14
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VaultAggie posted:It isn't just adults looking for the minifigs. I've come across at least three kids, in Houston and Austin, who have been feeling the bags. One kid was giving me tips on how to find the Sailor and demonstrated the "correct" way to feel for the seagull . When series 10 came out I helped about a dozen kids find the minifigs they were looking for at the Lego store while finishing my set. I showed them how to feel out specific items and everyone offered any discards they had to others. So yeah, it's not just adults. Though it seemed like kids just want one or two specific ones instead of complete sets.
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Jun 26, 2013 01:21
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Fatkraken posted:Online polls. This is apparently what the polls wanted: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=850458-1
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Jun 26, 2013 01:26
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Fatkraken posted:and there is clearly support for large collections of figures without any accompanying kibble or it wouldn't have got to 10k in the first place. I think you're making a huge assumption: that it would have hit 10k without broader Star Wars fan support--people who don't give one jot about LEGO in general, but will buy anything that has Darth Vader in it. Put another way, I think you're over-estimating the number of people that actually care about the minifigs that come in their little plastic bag. Which is the third or fourth time that same basic statement has been stated in this thread. To that end, what would LEGO gain by going fully-blind or fully-visible? What would they gain by putting the time and manpower into breaking out an "army" collection and running two different product sizes for what is likely a negligible gain to a small segment of the market? Even if they made them VIP-only, they'd have to be assured that they would sell. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if even the rarity were based on production cost more than perceived demand. I have a strange feeling they just throw together some dudes/dudettes into a Series and throw them out there, because Why Not? If one has a larger demand than the others, it will get sorted out on the secondary market, like they already do.
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Jun 26, 2013 01:41
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After my bitching, I swing by a Meijer looking to replace the umbrella that got owned in today's storm, and forgot that today was stock day and there was a fresh bin of Series 10. Got a Medusa in the second pack I felt, still no Bee, but I'll call it a win. VVV Oh yeah, she's super easy to feel, but that means that she's almost always instantly picked out, which is what has thwarted me for months/weeks Karnegal fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Jun 26, 2013 |
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Jun 26, 2013 03:17
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Medusa is one of the easiest to feel out in this set, and there are like only 2 per box. So that is why they are rare. I wish they would at least make a random assortment of minifigs per box. I don't think anyone wants so many skydivers.
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Jun 26, 2013 03:25
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 Blue River Crows - Model S5 (POV) by Captain^Foo, on Flickr
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Jun 26, 2013 04:05
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There is an upper-end mall in my area with a "LEGO" kiosk (think wire head massagers, crocs, and sketchy sunglasses). They have a few star wars sets, but the majority of the stock, like 80%, are minifigs ranging from $75-$5. I just never know what to make of it.
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Jun 26, 2013 10:14
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Travis343 posted:They basically did this with the minifig packs in the 90s but stopped for some reason. I think Lego wants to be distinct from selling "action figures" as even little polybags always have some token 10-brick build along with Thor or Harry Potter or whoever. Its a real shame since the minifig packs were really awesome. They still do minfig packs, they've just gone from the $6 for 5-6 pricepoint to $15 for 4-5. 
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Jun 26, 2013 14:40
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Karnegal posted:After my bitching, I swing by a Meijer looking to replace the umbrella that got owned in today's storm, and forgot that today was stock day and there was a fresh bin of Series 10. Got a Medusa in the second pack I felt, still no Bee, but I'll call it a win. I also went to a Meijer yesterday and got the Bee, which I'm not particularly fond of. If you're interested, I can sell it to you at cost, just send me a message. Also, Meijer is putting the Monster Fighter sets on clearance, they all seemed to be about 15% cheaper with the discount.
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Jun 26, 2013 15:57
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Cloks posted:Also, Meijer is putting the Monster Fighter sets on clearance, they all seemed to be about 15% cheaper with the discount. Finally got the castle at 25% off at Meijer last week. Surprised it has taken this long actually.
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