Collectable minifig barcode decoder

 

  • Collectable minifig barcode decoder

    Posted by Huw, 21 Apr 2010 14:26. Filed under New sets.

    8683: LEGO Minifigures Series 1 {Random bag}
    Collectable Minifigures/Series 1, 2010
    More details...
    ©2010 LEGO Group

    Further to our article last week about being able to find out what's inside the bag before you buy,  the German website bricks.inof.de has posted information showing which barcode relates to which minifig.

    There's still some uncertainty as to which countries the information presented relates to, but my guess is that there will be two types of packaging: North American and everywhere else. The NA packets will have barcodes on the right, as shown on the Eurobricks picture, and everywhere else will have them on the left. The information at the link above is for left-barcoded packets.

    Update: It's now confirmed that the information at inof.de does also relate to the packets that will be available in the UK, and the barcodes on the US packets are different.

    (via the rather good The Ugly Duckling at BrickLink minifig blog)


    37 comments, latest one posted 37 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by Xiaolong in Belgium, 21 Apr 2010 15:15

Thank you very much Huw and Germany people.

Posted by knuclear200x in United States, 21 Apr 2010 15:27

i Didnt really understand the website, are those Europe codes or US codes?

Posted by JamesBenjamin in United States, 21 Apr 2010 15:36

@knuclear200x: He's saying that this works for European codes, but the important thing is as soon as someone gets a case of them at retail, they're likely to make a list like this for the US market. YAY!

Posted by Greyface in United States, 21 Apr 2010 16:01

Are they released in US stores yet?

Posted by Tommyo3000 in United States, 21 Apr 2010 16:27

Well I don't know about you guys but I'm just going to feel the bag to see whats inside! :-)

Posted by inof in Germany, 21 Apr 2010 16:38

The codes of the US packets are definitely different. You posted a picture of the back of a US packet of the Spaceman (figure no. 13) here:
http://uglyduck-bricklink.blogspot.com/2010/04/collectible-minifigures-can-be.html
The barcode is clearly different from mine (I've got the European one).

Posted by r2d2qa in United States, 21 Apr 2010 17:38

I've got a strategy, why not just keep track of the barcodes numbers once you buy one so you can collect them all without duplicates! I'm saying this to all of the US folks like me who want to collect 'em all.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 21 Apr 2010 17:42

@r2d2qa, because the barcode which identifies the contents doesn't have a number under it...

@inof, thanks for the clarification.

Posted by legofanatic2414 in United States, 21 Apr 2010 18:16

How are people getting them so early?

Posted by Martin in United Kingdom, 21 Apr 2010 20:08

I've checked the details on bricks.inof.de and the barcodes are the same as the ones I have. Mine are all item number 4559116 with barcodes on the left of the rear of the pack. I have the following minifigures: Zombie, Caveman, Robin Hood, Astronaut, Diver, Crash Test Dummy, Magician and Wrestler and my barcodes exactly match the ones printed on those PDFs. Therefore the only thing that's wrong on that site is the suggestion that UK barcodes are different; they're not.

Posted by fubuki in Japan, 21 Apr 2010 21:14

Hey, does anyone know if these figs are available yet in Japan? I just moved (lovin it!) - but now I need to relearn the Lego landscape! Thanks!!

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 21 Apr 2010 23:27

Using the barcode app on my android phone I was able to scan the spaceman package and it gave me a barcode# of 14471416 now while this is deffinatly different form the european barcodes this does give us the opportunity to cheat a bit, provided that someone has a barcode scanner on them and someone else posts the barcode #'s on the web such as oh say a website, wink wink nudge nudge. oh and on a totally unrelated subject there opening up a lego store in Miami soon! yeah!

for those interested the european barcode # for spaceman is 673419133807

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 22 Apr 2010 01:43

My Lego Brand Store says the release date is May 1. She said they would sell them by the case but so many people have asked her about the mini's that she doubts she will be able to sell them as cases since their first priority is for the kids and these will likely sell out within the first few days. I would check online for sites that allow pre-orde and start fishing around at Target and Wal-marts for inventory.

Posted by inof in Germany, 22 Apr 2010 03:58

@Martin: Thanks for clarification! I'll correct the description on my site ASAP.

@mrdennings: Are you sure about your barcode number? These barcodes are so-called EAN codes that should have 12 digits, and they should all begin with 673419 (the vendor code assigned to LEGO). Maybe your barcode app didn't recognize the code completely? Note that the very left part of it is obscured by that "flap" of the bag, so be sure to move it out of the way.

By the way, I would be willing to create a PDF for the US barcodes, just like one I did for the European ones. This would be pretty easy because I already have all the software in place. I just need some help to collect the barcodes. So, if you're in the US and got one of these minifig bags with the barcode on the right (the smaller barcode without numbers beneath!), please mail a photo of it to inof@inof.de ... It doesn't have to be high quality, but if your camera has a macro mode, please use it. Of course, if you have a scanner, you can use that, too (300 dpi should be perfect). And if you're able to decode the barcode yourself, you can just mail me the EAN number, of course.

Posted by voypro in United States, 22 Apr 2010 08:29

Just a few thoughts this poly bag mini-fig release.
-Count on the bar codes being removed in future releases.
-look forward:
- to series dedicated to type (like castle release, space, city)
-Licensed series (Star Wars, Harry potter,etc)

Further, this poly bag concept lends itself to the “chase figure”, we see that with baseball cards, pokemon.

As a toy dealer for years I think this will be a long term good investment, putting back a sealed (very important) box or two, will likely serve you well in the long term; as series 2, 3, 4…. Come out traditionally people seek to fill their collection with prior releases.

One other trick companies do to increase sales, is to produce the “accidental” color or printing variation.

Also, consider keeping your poly bags, I have seen many situations where in lieu of a chase figure companies will run a reward program like “send in xx proof of purchases barcodes and receive your special…”

I guess we'll all see pretty soon.

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 22 Apr 2010 08:42

@inof it is verry possible that i got a bad read off of the barcode, I was just using the picture of the back of the bag from the above link for the scan and it took a while do get it to take, so I have no problem admitting that I may have been wrong. If someone doesn't beat me to it, when I get home tonight I'll scan the barcodes and email you the #'s but heres the thing, the way the barcode scanner works on my phone is that it will read the barcode and then give me the option to search the web for that #. For a typical barcode someone has posted it online usually with the hopes of selling said scanned item so, wham, bam I have a price comparison in hand. I am all for creating a PDF database however to one up this process (short of someone making an app for it) I'd like to see these barcodes and figures posted online in a way that will allow a google search to find it and display it when scanned. This may be simply creating a flicker gallery with each figure labled with the barcode # or it may be more difficult than that I'm sorry to say thats a bit beyond my knolwedge base.

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 22 Apr 2010 09:00

Does anyone have any Idea as to what scale lego is producing these collections? are they aiming to fuel a secondary market with limited releases or will they be saturating the market with a Gianormious production run?

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 22 Apr 2010 10:34

This first collection will be available until September: buy them while you can, or pay inflated BrickLink prices afterwards!

Posted by voypro in United States, 22 Apr 2010 14:32

Re: mrdennings question:

"Does anyone have any Idea as to what scale lego is producing these collections? are they aiming to fuel a secondary market with limited releases or will they be saturating the market with a Gianormious production run?"

Lego does few things on a small scale. Priority one is to make money. I think the question is will / can these end up in smaller stores (like comic book shops)

I think the what will answer this question will be: Are these mini-figs going to be available throught Diamond Comic Distribution. DCD supplies comic / collectible toys to ALL comic shops and many speciality shops.

In fact, if they are available via the secondary market like comic shops, etc. they might fuel a fire under them.

Fact is, if you act fast you're going to be better off on this product. What is 16 figures going to cost anyway... $32 USA. Be smart and get em fast.

Posted by EarthlingJJ in United States, 22 Apr 2010 19:41

yes these are available thru Diamond. The Previews catalog solicited the first series in the April catalog page 380. Your local comic shop would have been able to order these if the deadline for ordering hasn't passed, and I believe the orders deadline for the April items has passed. I didn't go with my shop for ordering these for my own reasons. But anyone could ask at their local shop to flip thru the catalog and inquire about ordering. Be prepared to *pre-pay* and also be prepared to order a full case, most comic shops will probably require both. Watch the May 2010 Previews catalog for Series 2...

Posted by alpha 40 in United States, 22 Apr 2010 21:56

inof: I don't know if someone will get around to it before me, but as soon as they are released I am going to buy a box ang well try to email the pics.

Posted by Brickmatic in United States, 23 Apr 2010 06:04

I too am really curious as to what the strategy will be in terms of volume of production, both with this initial run as well as with future series releases. It seems this product is stirring up quite an interest. I will likely be buying extra sets in case these sets will become high demand items in the future.

Posted by EarthlingJJ in United States, 23 Apr 2010 16:32

Let me just add that I am assuming Series 2 will be solicited in the May Previews. I don't guarantee it will be there.
I'm curious to see how many retailers will be stocking these and how long they will last/ sell out...

Posted by hssky97 in United States, 23 Apr 2010 17:37

Hey Huw I hav a question, will these be available online at legoshop.com? If so then would the just send you a random one? Also when are these gonna be available in the US? I'm drooling over the pics of the minifigs there so cool! :)

Keep on Brick'n

Posted by romdam in United States, 24 Apr 2010 01:45

Woo hoo, got em preordered!

Posted by dustinmroberts in United States, 24 Apr 2010 14:18

And how did you do that?

Posted by Zacherano in United States, 24 Apr 2010 18:30

Yes, how and where did you preorder them? Are you able to choose which ones you want online, or did you order a case of 60 or more?

Posted by cjg in United States, 24 Apr 2010 21:47

Zacherano: I don't know where romdam got them, but you can preorder them here:
Single 'fig: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=LGO10082&mode=retail
Case of 60: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=LGO10083&mode=retail
"Master" case of 120: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=LGO10084&mode=retail

It says that the minifigs are random. :(

Posted by Zacherano in United States, 24 Apr 2010 22:20

@cjg - Thanks!

Posted by romdam in United States, 25 Apr 2010 02:17

Yea, that's where I got mine. I ordered a master case. I figure I should get one set out of them.

Posted by EarthlingJJ in United States, 25 Apr 2010 10:32

Strictly speaking, assuming Lego hasn't got any plans for 'rare' variants or color variants (how about a sand green Zombie?) , a factory-sealed box of 60 should yield almost four complete sets. I'm sure most of us will try to keep at least one set sealed in their packet :-) I know I'm going to try to, either by feel or watching for the 'barcode key'.

Posted by Greyface in United States, 25 Apr 2010 11:49

When are these released at TRU in the USA? Anyone know?

Posted by dustinmroberts in United States, 25 Apr 2010 15:14

Just put an order in for a case... too bad they don't ship till June

And if anybody is interested, I found them cheaper here:

10 pack: http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LG8683AAA
Case of 60: http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LG8683AA
Case of 120: http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=LG8683A

Posted by romdam in United States, 26 Apr 2010 01:05

Yea, that's actually where I got mine from too. I thought the post above was right but got them from EE for like $10 cheaper.

I'm hoping to keep a box sealed. Those bad boys are going to be HOT!

Posted by atkinsar in United Kingdom, 26 Apr 2010 14:14

Anybody know they if can be pre-ordered in the UK, and if so where from?

Posted by cjg in United States, 27 Apr 2010 22:16

dustinmroberts: Thanks! I might get a ten pk from that site.

cjg

Posted by dustinmroberts in United States, 28 Apr 2010 00:00

happy to help!

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