Ten Things in Ten Years - Collectable Minifigures
Posted by CapnRex101,
Minifigures have maintained great significance since their introduction during 1978 and I think their prominence has only increased across the present decade. Collectable Minifigures may have become the most important factor in that interesting development.
This celebrated range was launched in 2010 and more than thirty series have been released since then. These occupy an entry level price point which was not served to the same extent historically and have allowed LEGO to reach the valuable collectables market in recent years.
Blind bag collectables have existed for many years but they have become particularly popular during this decade. I think the Collectable Minifigures played some role in that growth, inspiring other brands to create their own collectable toys which, in turn, further increased their broader popularity. For those reasons, LEGO is potentially responsible for expanding the whole collectable toy market.
Smaller collectables appeal to children for various reasons and their comparatively low price is vitally important. That seems particularly apparent for LEGO which usually focuses upon higher price points and the Collectable Minifigures have therefore diversified this product range fairly dramatically, further broadening LEGO's prospective market.
Furthermore, the Collectable Minifigures theme has expanded the range of minifigure components to an unprecedented extent. Countless brand new elements have been introduced since 2010, including many which have subsequently affected characters from other themes. Medium legs, for instance, are available in 75810 The Upside Down, Star Wars and Disney sets but they were initially created for the Wizarding World Collectable Minifigures.
Collectable Minifigures have also provided numerous characters that would not otherwise have been available. They most commonly originate from licensed themes, such as Disney or DC Super Heroes, but various unusual minifigures from standard series have been produced too. From mighty Spartans and intergalactic warriors to delightful costumed characters and clowns, Collectable Minifigures really offer something for everyone!
While greater marketing opportunities and potential revenue are undoubtedly important for LEGO, my favourite aspect of the Collectable Minifigures range is definitely its outstanding breadth of characters. On that basis, I hope this wonderful theme will continue for many years to come and that its focus will expand even further during the next decade.
Have you enjoyed the Collectable Minifigures range and how long do you think it will continue? Let us know in the comments.
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A Star War Collectable Minifigures edition is missing! The Cantina alone has lots of not-yet-represented characters: Dr. Evazan, Ponda Baba, Dannik Jerriko, BoShek, Takeel, Tonnika sisters, Nabrun Leids, Elis Helrot, Bom Vimdin, Melas, Myo, Hem Dazon, Kabe...
There's also Beru Lars, and Garindan, and that's only for Episode IV!
Any others, anyone?
Did LEGO ask Brickset to write this fluff piece to soften the blow from the increase price?
@The_Green_Brick_Giant
What u mean by increased prices ?
Have they gone up in price?
According to some sites the minifigure blind bags are due to increase in price next year.
Pretty sure I bought Series 1 minifigures back in the summer of 2010, not 2011. Still, a decade-defining theme.
I gave them a serious try on launch in 2010 due to how novel the characters were compared to the ordinary lot found in sets at the time. The individual barcodes helped a lot in picking up just the ones I liked. I was immediately dismayed, however, to find the quality of the parts "different" from that of a regular minifigure. Legs and hands had less clutch power, bright colors seemed to verge on translucency, and even the inside of the bags had a "funny" smell I attributed to air contained from the point of manufacture: the "glorious" "People's" Republic of China! It was a shock, to be sure. I had never seen or imagine LEGO sets of any kind being made in China. Back then, that was reserved for knock-off brands and inferior toys.
That realization definitely halted my buying of any more series 1 minifigures. Series 2, however, hooked me with the Spartan warrior, and I bought 3 of him, part quality be darned (I really just wanted the helmet pieces, which still seemed to have good quality). I bought a few more token figures from Series 2, but that was the last one with the identifying barcodes. Series 3 did away with that, and I bought even less from that series. The part quality (or lack therof) was still apparent, and with the upcoming price hikes, I abandoned collecting the Collectible Minifigures.
All in all, I have 29 of the suckers, making it one of the most-collected themes for me this decade. A lot has changed since then. I guess we're all cool with Chinese manufacture now, as many Lego sets include China in the list of countries where the contents are made. In retrospect, I'm glad I gave the series a chance, but am glad I got out of it when I did. I see how AFOLs go completely bonkers over it now and it is just ridiculous. Worse, it seems like Lego has seen the success of these guys and gone all-in on the concept of the Minifigure as central to what LEGO is, not the Brick. And you can easily point out that LEGO is still churning out amazing sets that feature little to no minifigure presence, but that's mainly because of how big and diverse LEGO product offerings have gotten over the decade. Minifigures universally rule the day. They even dominate fan discussion of sets (look at how all the Brickset reviews begin with overly-detailed looks at each minifigure before even addressing the set). Whether we like it or not, Collectible Minifigures have changed LEGO a lot over the past ten years. Whether that is a good or bad thing is subjective. I would bet however that many fans of Lego that were made over the past ten years got interested not by a set, but rather by a minifigure.
@The_Green_Brick_Giant - No, LEGO has not asked that we write anything. This article series encompasses notable developments during the last decade of LEGO and Collectable Minifigures are certainly among them.
I would obviously be opposed to increased prices for any LEGO product, although I recognise that is sometimes inevitable based upon inflation.
Still hoping there will be more Simpsons special editions, and definitely looking forward to the DC set coming in 2020! But truthfully, the non-licensed sets have been, IMO, the most enjoyable, with the variety of characters. Just wish I would have begun buying these from the start; it would have saved a lot more money than having to get them from the secondary market.
And it's a heck of a lot of fun to hunt through the bags and figure out the individual minifigures! One of the best aspects of having a LEGO Store nearby (for a little more than a year now) is to have patient, understanding store staff who will put up with the touch-finders like me, instead of getting the weird looks in Target or Walmart!
I really enjoy the CMF series. I've been collecting them since Series 4 and love the challenge of completing the set!
But if they increase the price again . . . I think I'm officially done.
These really should be $2 . . . selling a single minifig for $4 is already way too much. And $5 would be impossible to justify.
I like many of the CMF figures from years past. But two things have made me stop buying them. For one the over-reliance on licensed characters. Secondly the insane price increases. 2 Euro was a justifiable price and the fact that during the end of a series run even TLG themselves reduce them to that price shows that that is what they are actually worth. 3 Euro was OK if the fig contained cool parts as accessories. But the last increase to 4 Euro was too much. Paying as much for a single fig as for an entire polybag is insane. And hearing that now they want to increase the price even further to 5 Euro makes me question their sanity even more, especially as they intend to start this new price with a series as undesirable as Superheros. But as I am out at that price point anyway I don't even care and wish them good luck. I'll rather buy a small set for that price
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca, have you bought any recently? The manufacturing quality has improved dramatically since those first few waves. I remember in 2010 it was super easy to identify a China made figure vs a higher quality Denmark or Mexico manufactured figure. Now in 2019 its difficult to tell the difference. I think the Chinese figures still feel slightly different, but the opacity is the same now and many of the weird molding and print errors the early series had aren't as visible anymore.
I adore the CMFs, I have tried my hardest to get as many as I can in recent years, having every CMF released since Simpsons series 2 (excluding the DFB) plus I have the original Simpsons series.
So I have all of, Series 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 (almost done with series 19), Batman series 1 & 2, LEGO Movie 2, Simpsons series 1 & 2, Wizarding World, Disney series 1 & 2, LEGO Ninjago Movie.
There was a big price increase in many countries, at least.
Here, one CMF of Series 1 to 11 cost CHF 2.90.
Then, the next Series were CHF 3.90 each. And then, less then one more year later, the price was increased again to CHF 4.90, which is the price today.
That’s an increase of almost 70% which is definitely not the inflation. ;-)
I don’t buy any CMFs anymore due to this, with the only exception of adding one to the basket to reach a certain threshold for free shipping or a GWP.
I love them. I started with Season 1, and have collected every single figure since. I have the London Olympics, the Batman Movie, Lego Movie, Simpson’s, Ninjago Movie, Harry Potter, German Football Team. Literally the only one figure I regrettably never got in my collection was Mr Gold. I’ve resigned myself to the fact I probably never will. I even have the full first set as Chinese copies, which are individually boxed, just for curiosity’s sake.
@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @Lego_Lord_Mayorca, have you bought any recently? The manufacturing quality has improved dramatically since those first few waves. I remember in 2010 it was super easy to identify a China made figure vs a higher quality Denmark or Mexico manufactured figure. Now in 2019 its difficult to tell the difference. I think the Chinese figures still feel slightly different, but the opacity is the same now and many of the weird molding and print errors the early series had aren't as visible anymore. "
I actually have! I have Apocalypseburg Swamp Creature from The Lego Movie 2 CMF line and yes, there does seem to have been some improvements. Clutch power between the feet and studs is definitely a lot better, and the joints in the arms and legs don't seem loose. The helmet and legs, however, do still look somewhat translucent. Not as badly as the ones from nine years ago, but I notice it.
The only currently-available CMF I'm interested in is the Blacktron bounty hunter. Considering the color scheme, even if the legs were a bit translucent, it wouldn't look too bad. But the thought of trawling through a box and feeling up bags...I tried it at a local Lego Store and I just don't have the touch. Plus, my Swamp Creature's parts were in a bag inside the bag, and I read this is more common now. Definitely makes it harder to feel them out.
Are minifigures going to be $5 each in January 2020?
Ninjago for the tv show!
If they do raise the price, they'll still be struggling to get rid of them 12 months later like they are with the LEGO Movie 2 Series.
"Fluff piece"? As opposed to Brickset's typical hard-hitting investigative journalism?
This is still a LEGO fan site after all.
Back when S1 was released I made the wise desicion to complete every single series they'll ever make. Still going!
I know price increases are inevitable. It happens. I just don't understand why they can't go to, say, $4.49. Why must it be a whole dollar??? I get that research shows that people are more willing to pay $4.99 for something because of psychological biases, but that is what kills me.
@mitra said:
"A Star War Collectable Minifigures edition is missing! The Cantina alone has lots of not-yet-represented characters: Dr. Evazan, Ponda Baba, Dannik Jerriko, BoShek, Takeel, Tonnika sisters, Nabrun Leids, Elis Helrot, Bom Vimdin, Melas, Myo, Hem Dazon, Kabe...
There's also Beru Lars, and Garindan, and that's only for Episode IV!
Any others, anyone?"
Yeah, imagine the Disney and Hasbro tax.
@mitra said:
"A Star War Collectable Minifigures edition is missing! The Cantina alone has lots of not-yet-represented characters: Dr. Evazan..."
Firestar Toys has a decent minifig of him. I agree though...would love more Cantina characters.
I, unfortunately, do not have a LEGO Store within reasonable driving distance, so I must feel for the ones I want at either Walmart or Target. Annoyingly enough, every time I do so, an employee "just so happens" to walk through the LEGO isle, obviously making sure that I'm not shoplifting! While it's an understandable thing for them to do, it still makes me feel uncomfortable as a law-abiding customer.
In the end, though, I think that the special figures make it worth while.
Really excited for the DC series, and the possibility of more DC series down the pipeline
I've got a complete series 1-10 (minus Mr Gold - though I still like thinking about him languishing at the bottom of many a kids toy box). Broke the habit with all the licensed themes that I wasn't so bothered about collecting and the gradual price increase went from being a 'impulse purchase' to the price of a small set.
I used to Buy blind bags, and hated the hit and miss of it, since then I have gone online retailers that have bought a box, opening to check the contents and selling them as listed. It’s great, I have a supplier here in Ireland that offers full sets for a tiny mark up for €0.30/50 per figure, I can get a full set usually for around €60
Prices for CMF are insane and cannot be explained by inflation. For that reason I do not collect them.
Blind bags, combined with the fact I never see them in stores, is a no-go to this.
I started buying them to decorate my office, when I saw the BATMAN series 1 at WALMART at USD $0.90 last year. If the price does increase, I would definitely wait 2-3 years for them to go into the bargain bins.
When they were $2.50 I would spend the time feeling through bags to collect a set. Local Walmart just rolled back series 19 and Disney 2 to $2.99, so I might try to put together another set. At the current $4 MSRP I just walk by them.
@randomly_generated My wife says the same thing when we are huddled around it. All the ones where I live are at the register so I really have no choice but still enjoy it. Have even felt and given a few to kids who have asked for certain ones if I can find them.
CMF series 2 is what brought me out of my Dark Ages...
cmf's are the children of the trade war conflict - yes the price is going up.
you should have noticed the trend with the star wars sets...
fortunately lego is moving to different plastic sources... so at least global warming will not get worse with the cmf population increase
I’ve been collecting minifigures since 1993. The CMFs contributed to and fuelled my ‘habit’.
Sometimes I get CMFs for the minifigure as sold and sometimes for parts. Not many CMFs wind up in my display collection as designed by LEGO; I usually MOC them in some way.
Here are pictures of just some of my MOCed CMFs along with thematically related minifigures from my collection: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/cmf_d2_e_small.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/cmf_d2_g_small.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/cmf_s19.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/disney_cmf_mocs.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s14_cmf_mocs.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s15_cmf_mocs_2.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s16_cmf_mocs_1.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s16_cmf_mocs_2.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s17_cmf_mocs.jpg, http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s18_cmf_carnivorous_plants_mocs.jpg , http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/AmperZand/Fantasy/s18_cmf_fantasy_mocs.jpg
I have enjoyed the CMFs. I have complete series for many of them. I stopped at the costume series. It looks like I’ll have to stop again. I love DC but I can’t justify that price for individual figures.
Negative side is I will HAVE to pay it with Harry Potter series 2, since that is my primary area of focus with Lego.
@mitra said:
"A Star War Collectable Minifigures edition is missing! The Cantina alone has lots of not-yet-represented characters: Dr. Evazan, Ponda Baba, Dannik Jerriko, BoShek, Takeel, Tonnika sisters, Nabrun Leids, Elis Helrot, Bom Vimdin, Melas, Myo, Hem Dazon, Kabe...
There's also Beru Lars, and Garindan, and that's only for Episode IV!
Any others, anyone?"
A Star Wars CMF series will not happen because Hasbro owns the rights to Star Wars action figures. And according to the rights, a Lego minifigure is considered an action figure. Same thing with a Marvel CMF line.
I feel like sometimes the CMFs are a bit lower quality, but sometimes they're not. Overall, I think they are great, because we get to see so many new molds, elements (and animals!) and people in general. A few of my favorites that I have are the Ice Fisherman, Lumberjack, Panda Guy from TLM, Fox Girl, Lizard/Dino Guy, Dog Walker, and Steamboat Willie.
I have all of the CMFs except for Mr. Gold. I keep collecting them for a sense of (almost) completion. I was a little late to Series 1 because I was initially skeptical of the concept, but I quickly came around. That was when it was easy to tell which figure was which by the labeling. That was also a time when the price in the U.S. was $1.99 per bag. The price has since doubled. Even so, I am still happy to buy extra blind bags just for the fun of it. If the price goes to $4.99, I will still likely be a sucker for completing each series, but I will cease seeking extras.
Clearly, all of us on Brickset, despite our fandom, do not buy the majority of CMFs. That written, we are likely the stronger crowd of completist crazies. My prediction is that if LEGO goes to $4.99 the impulse or episodic CMF market will withdraw, and possibly significantly. And then I remember that TLG is a sophisticated company that must do market research and likely knows their market far better than what I can only surmise.
I have collected every CMF release since Series 2, but when they were $2 a piece it was easy to justify buying many extras for some of the awesome accessories and bits the lines have featured. But at $5 I will get more choosy.
Wow. Ten years already.
I don’t really dive into collecting CMFs and have never completed a series (apart from Harry Potter), but I really like the theme in general.
I would probably get into it more if a Star Wars or Marvel series comes, but it looks like I’ll have to wait until Hasbro goes bankrupt. So it looks like I have my whole life to wait...
@quixotequest said:
"I have collected every CMF release since Series 2, but when they were $2 a piece it was easy to justify buying many extras for some of the awesome accessories and bits the lines have featured. But at $5 I will get more choosy."
Same here, LEGO became ludicrously overpriced and, considering that lego sales became common , this price inflating might have gone too far. 2$ in 2010 are 2.36$ today calculated with inflation (check on https://www.usinflationcalculator.com), having price over doubled is pure greed.
I now just buy lego second hand or with deep price cuts, can't recall last time I paid rrp.
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca
@xboxtravis7992
I think actually the manufacturing of most minifigures has moved to China, and there has been a wide decrease in quality. You can tell by some torsos having their arms to their sides with hands folded inwards in bagged sets, as well as ugly molding holes in the front of hands. It's ironic I think Lego is always finding ways to cut corners and make things cheaper to manufacture in recent years while also increasing the price.
And about the Hasbro conflict, I find evidence of hypocrisy on Hasbro's part for letting Lego make the Star Wars constraction figures because they know they will sell poorly and Lego will lose money. Hasbro is greedy, evil, and lazy so only fights Lego on minifigures because they know Lego would make money from them. I don't know why Lego is oblivious of the fact the constraction figures won't sell when Hasbro purposely lets them past their radar.
@Norikins
Minifigures are made in China, that's why you can buy cheap original minifigures in Hong Kong shops and also why Chinese bootlegs became almost identical as Lego. I have huge collection of Lego minifigures and couldn't tell difference without checking if lego tm is printed or not. Lego certainly increased profit with moving production and dropping quality but on the long run they created dangerous competition.
Regarding dropping quality, I still recall Kent/Superman minifigure that had awful quality and torso cracked after couple years just by standing on shelf.
I didn't get "hooked" on these until series 13 and the "Hot Dog Guy"!!
Have successfully managed to "backward complete" Series 5,6,7,8,9,10,11 and 12" via the secondary market and "trades" but wish I'd have started from the beginning. One of the associated costs of emerging from the dark ages! LOL
$5 does seem rather ridiculous but I'm sure they'll still sell.
@mitra:
You can give up on the Tonnika Sisters right now. Somehow their contract never included any mention of licensing rights for their likenesses, so they want way more money than any company is willing to provide. To date, the only Tonnika Sister to I'm aware of is Brea Tonnika, less than 1" tall, from Galoob's Action Fleet Battle Pack 3. On a guess, it either slipped through without anyone noticing, or it was deemed too small to actually feature the actress' likeness.
@Lego_Lord_Mayorca:
So, in order to make them in China, they had to source Chinese plastic. They _could_ have handed over their proprietary recipe for LEGO ABS...but then every company in China would have been producing knock-off LEGO bricks that looked and felt like the real thing. So they used a different blend of ABS, which clearly sucked. That improved over the next few years, but Harry Potter was also the last traditional 100% Chinese-made CMF release. Starting with Unikitty, they've been sourcing parts from all over their manufacturing base. The packets _still_ smell funky, especially if you let them sit for a few years, so that might be the packet or the insert that's causing the smell (I remember almost getting sick from the fumes coming off my 1st Edition 10179 UCS MF when I built it, and that predated the CMF theme by about three years). Chinese parts are here to stay, for the foreseeable future. Any time you see a sculpted minifig head that comes in a soft plastic bag with a tear-away strip...that's probably Chinese because it's cheaper to ship them like that to Europe where they pack the sets than it is to make them locally. The cost savings offsets the expense of tooling, which allows them to actually sculpt a lot of new minifig parts. And nobody builds large models out of mass quantities of sculpted minifig heads, so tolerance issues are less of a concern than they are with basic bricks.
As for all the comments about getting weird looks, that's a new one to me. I used to feel self-conscious about it during the single-digit series, but either nobody gives me those looks, or I'm just immune to them from all the regular-weird looks I probably get on a daily basis, or I'm just so fast sorting through the minifigs that they don't realize I'm only buying the ones I've identified as something I want (which is not to say that I always identify every minifig, if I'm hunting for something that's either really easy to identify or at least easy to rule out most of the packets).