Top ten most valuable minifigures
Posted by Huw,
While developing the code for the random minifig of the day articles last week I took the opportunity to delve into the database to discover what the most valuable minifigures are. I was staggered to learn just how much people are willing to spend on tiny pieces of plastic!
In this article I'll take a look at some of the more interesting ones at the top of the list and explain why they cost so much.
sw0465a Yoda, NY I Heart Torso, White Hair (TRU Times Square 2013 Exclusive)
I believe this figure was available in the Times Square branch of Toys R Us around the time that a life-size model of an X-Wing was unveiled in New York in May 2013. A similar one with grey hair was also given to attendees of the New York Toy Fair in February of that year.
This white haired version recently sold for $5,200 and the cheapest one available on BrickLink at the moment is priced at just under $6,000.
According to our data a grey haired variant was sold for as little as $1,000 in the past but the only new one listed at BrickLink at the moment will set you back a cool $11,000!
The torso is the only unique part, and it's easily counterfeited so to be sure it's genuine you need to buy one still in its bag with the accompanying paperwork.
col161 Mr. Gold, Series 10
5,000 Mr Golds were distributed randomly worldwide in 2013 as part of collectable minifigures series 10. Consequently, it's the only CMF that many collectors of the series (including me) don't have and some are willing to pay for it (not me!).
The going rate at BrickLink is currently around $4,000 and that is probably the safest place to buy it if you're after one because, again, there are a lot of fakes around on other trading platforms.
sw0107 Boba Fett (Cloud City - Printed Arms & Legs)
The most expensive minifigure that could be obtained in a regular set is the popular bounty hunter from 10123 Cloud City, which was released during 2003.
The set was generally considered to be a dud and very expensive at the time ($100) so it did not sell well. Consequently, the figures in it are rare and much sought-after nowadays.
The last one to sell on BrickLink went for $1,700 and the cheapest one available at the moment is priced at £2,200.
Other exclusive minifigs in the set including sw0103 Luke Skywalker and sw0105 Lando Calrissian also command prices in the high hundreds of dollars.
sw0158 C-3PO - Chrome Gold (SW 30th Anniversary Edition)
10,000 of this figure were distributed randomly in Star Wars sets during 2007 on the occasion of the 30 anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars film.
The going rate for this at BrickLink is currently about $1,600.
I have one of these, and I certainly didn't pay that much for it back in the day!
sh027 Iron Man (Toy Fair 2012 Exclusive)
2012 was the year that Marvel Super Heroes sets were launched so to mark the occasion attendees of the New York Toy Fair that year had the opportunity to win one of 125 copies of this figure, along with sh028 Captain America (Toy Fair 2012 Exclusive).
We also gave a pair away in a video making competition. The winner still visits Brickset regularly.
Iron Man has sold in the past for $1,500 but the two available at BrickLink at the moment are priced at a staggering $14,000 and $35,000 !!!
The other superhero seems to be in slightly greater supply and sells for around $800.
sw1005 Resistance Bomber Pilot - Finch Dallow
This minifigure came in 75188 Resistance Bomber, but not all of them. Initial production runs, presumably designed before The Last Jedi was screened, featured a generic pale skinned minifigure, and it was not until very late in the product's lifecycle that it was replaced with a version more closely resembling the actor who played the pilot, Kevin Layne.
The replacement was only made in sets sold in North America, and they were not widely distributed, so you had to hunt for them.
Consequently, you can expect to pay at least $750 for the figure.
st009 Barb (Comic-Con 2019 Exclusive)
Demand for minifigures distributed exclusively at various Comic Cons always outstrips supply so they all command high prices on the secondary market.
If you're lucky you should be able to pick up Barb from Stranger Things for a mere $500 or so, although the cheapest one at BrickLink at the moment is closer to $1000.
Other expensive SDCC figures include sh137 Superman - Black Suit, sh001 Green Lantern and sh045 Spider-Man in Black Symbiote Costume.
gen118 Staff The LEGO Experience Tour
Minifigures that did not appear in any sets but were distributed internally within the LEGO company or at exclusive events like the Inside Tour are often scarce and sometimes sought after.
Many don't come to be listed at BrickLink but one that is is this one from The LEGO Experience Tour, whatever that is or was.
None have been sold there recently and the one that's available at the moment is priced at $720. You'd have to be a real hardcore minifig collector to pay that for a 'random' figure such as this!
rck006 Chief
Honestly, I have absolutely no idea why this mediocre figure from a long-extinct theme is so expensive!
Presumably, it must be because it came in one set, 3347 Mini Heroes Collection: Rock Raiders #1, that was not widely distributed but, really, are there collectors of Rock Raiders minifigs with such deep pockets?
The average it sells for at BrickLink is $430 and, surprisingly, they do sell at that price!
sw0577 Kanan Jarrus - Black Hair and Eyebrows
I'll complete my survey of valuable minifigs with this one, which came in early copies of 75053 The Ghost.
This version of Jedi Knight, with black hair and facial hair printing, appeared in the first production run of the set, before being replaced with dark brown in later production runs. The head is thus the piece that collectors are after: the black hairpiece has since appeared elsewhere.
Expect to pay around $230 for that tiny little piece of printed plastic!
The complete list of the most valuable minifigs, using data obtained from BrickLink, can now be viewed easily in our database, thanks to a couple of tweaks I've just made to the code.
How many do you have that are worth over $100? How much are you willing to pay for a rare minifig?
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112 comments on this article
Not surprising that a good amount of these minifigures are from Star Wars. Being a hardcore SW collector I can't justify any of these prices myself, but hey, if you've got the money, completing the collection ain't a bad thing. Just hoping that the scalpers don't get to profit so they can hopefully stop scalping Phase II Rex.
My most expensive minifigure is SW0845: Jango Fett (Angry, not to be confused with his happier counterpart). The only set it comes in I bought at a discount since my local store had it left over for years, and I think the price I paid was about half of what the minifig goes for now!
$430 for Chief. Snort.
Totally not thinking about it or anything.
I wanted to see that video that won the competition but it's set to private :/ @chuckp why?
I would like to see this, but with non licensing theme
I have a Vader with a light up saber. Apparently worth over £100. Never knew.
Also Boba Fett from the UCS Slave I. But I knew that was kinda rare already.
I remember when the Winter Soldier polybag given away with the Helicarrier was rather expensive. Not so expensive any more...
I don't collect minifigs, but my most expensive is the Yuletide pilot, followed by Grima Wormtongue.
I did used to have a sealed Darth Revan, but sold it a few months later, when the going rate went up to a lofty £25..... oops ?????
I’ll admit now, I had a Mr Gold and sold it straight away for £360. Little did I realise what it would be worth today!!
Apparently there is a a thriving fanbase of Rock Raiders. They're just not nearly as overt about it as Star Wars or Bionicle fans and from what I've heard they're pretty chill. The prices for Chief might be due to them, as the character is quite focal in the tie-in video game and he's the only one missing from the complete team.
At least, the Youtuber R.R. Slugger is one such fan.
The Rock Raiders Chief was advertised in the Lego LEGO.com catalog, and even there he wasn't a very good value compared to the other minifigure collections. Really, in the USA we didn't have Lego Stores anywhere except the major theme parks in California to market them. Mostly, he was probably low on parental or fan purchasing priority.
“The set was generally considered to be a dud and very expensive at the time ($100) so it did not sell well.”
That’s not my recollection. At the time was well received. Lower sales are because it was an exclusive set.
I already start to balk if I see a minifig on Bricklink start to approach $20.
That Harley Quinn minifig from the Apocalysburg will be on this list eventually
The most expensive minifigs in my collection also come mostly from Star Wars, the top one being SW0053 Jango Fett from set 7153 .
Oddly enough I got this set as a present during my dark ages, even though I was not even interested in Star Wars back then, let alone in the Slave I. Weird. Nowadays of course I am happy to own both this rare version of the ship as well as the minifigs that come with it. It's also, oddly enough, the only set from that long ago where I have kept the plastic bags the parts came in, and the original packaging.
Wait, why is the Solid Gold C-3PO not here, that fig was awarded as a prize for Lego Magazine?
There are only 5 in existence, and only 2 have been known to have been sold in the last 10 years.
The value on those 5 is far, far beyond any of the ones that are mentioned here.
I have two of the chrome gold C3PO, and I didn't pay anything at all for them. It's insane that people would pay those prices! I'm considering selling one of them for a charity.
@Harmonious_Building said:
"I already start to balk if I see a minifig on Bricklink start to approach $20. "
I already start to balk if I see a minifig on Bricklink start to approach $5!
That Mr Gold was a mistake (and I think it was telling that the executive of Topps trading cards ran the scheme?). But Lego have repeated the mistake again with that April Fool's Horse and the inevitable demand for that set now.
At least the Lego comics are now used as a source to reduce the secondary market.
I got Phase II Rex and the original Commander Wolffe off off my friend in a bulk Star Wars lot he didn't want anymore for roughly 80 bucks. It also included 2 of the newer shock troopers. Had no idea they were all worth so much, I was completely floored when I saw what they were going for.
I got Davy Jones in the Black Pearl set towards it's retirement when I was a kid. I loved Pirates of The Carribean and especially Davy Jones so I always loved that figure.
Harley Quinn in the apocalypseburg set I got for my birthday is apparently also exremely valuable now.
I have 2 Finch Dallows. I just bought the pieces directly from Lego because I thought he looked cool. I had no idea he would be so valuable at the time
Unsurprised to see that my most valuable minifig is SW0053: Jango Fett. I remember back when I got it, it seemed like the height of minifigs getting valuable, when it was being sold for like $50 (hey, I never said I was *correct* in thinking that). I at least managed to get the complete set for I think $150.
I'm not overly fond of minifigs these days, and I hate that part of me will always know how valuable they can get, and be tempted to buy sets Im otherwise not interested in specifically because I know the figs will get valuable
My most valuable would be SH445: Disco Batman, from the Joker Manor set, not because it is rare or anything, but because it was only made for that high price-point set.
My all-time favourite minifigure is probably also my most valuable one: Queen Amidala.
I saw her in a Facebook advert about 3 years ago - sitting atop a bulk LEGO lot for sale! - and somehow convinced the lady to sell it to me for the equivalent of around US$10, including postage! She arrived in mint condition!
I then found a Davy Jones (POTC) in mint condition, minus the hat (which I subsequently purchased) in another bulk purchase - no Black Pearl in that one, or any of the other minifigs, unfortunately - just the wonderful Mr Jones!
It's figures like this that cause me to resort to cheap off brand figures, I bought 2 Mr Golds for £10 and they looked pretty much the same as the genuine one. Just wish Lego would make it easier to own some of the exclusive figures as paying over £100 for a tiny piece of plastic is hard to justify to non lego fans :)
I have a Finch Dallow. I’m a big TLJ fan — kinda got me out of dark ages — so I wanted him to complete my collection.
Got the helmet from TLG, but they had run out of heads at that point, so I ended up buying one for a nasty $50 at the time. Had no idea his value would skyrocket the way it did.
I had a CC Boba Fett up until 2 years ago. Sold him for $350 for what I thought was highway robbery for whoever wanted him, but I needed the money fresh out of undergrad and didn’t think he would skyrocket in value either. Wish I’d held on now because he could fuel a lot of the LEGO buying I’m planning on doing later in the year.
@TheSoundOfWhiteNoise said:
"Wait, why is the Solid Gold C-3PO not here, that fig was awarded as a prize for Lego Magazine?
There are only 5 in existence, and only 2 have been known to have been sold in the last 10 years.
The value on those 5 is far, far beyond any of the ones that are mentioned here."
They are not listed at BrickLink.
My minifigure with highest value is CAS319 Forestwoman, from 6071, a great fun set I got as a kid. The green is still a striking color. I did not have any of the other classic castle civilian type minifigures at the time, so she was transported to 6267, given hair, and became friends with her red counterpart PI056 !
SW0485: Princess Leia - Slave Outfit is right now the most valuable minifig from my collection, according to this.
Another ones that I holded were selled in the past. Now their price follow growing... :-(
Finch Dallow will always be one of the strangest Lego decisions ever made in my opinion. I just don’t understand why they bothered when the set had been out for so long.
I mean, I have Tarkin from 75159 who sells for a meager 80 USD.
Omg I have that cloud city set (thought it was awesome actually!), but have no interest in minifigs at all. Gonna search for them and make some $$$. BEST ARTICLE EVER!!!
Oh, hey, I was not expecting to own a minifigure on this list. Wow.
I mean, I love my minifigure of Chief, I do. I'm a Rock Raiders fan through and through, and I'm very happy to have him in my collection; and I know that the minifigure pack he was in was very rare, only available directly from Lego in an era when Lego stores were nowhere near as common as they are now, so it wouldn't have surprised me if he was a *little* on the expensive side.
((Also contributing to that are the fact that he was a major character in the video game, which itself has a dedicated fanbase, and the only one not to appear in any other sets... and the way that, until 2018, he was the only source for a minifigure arm in teal might have had something to do with demand for him, too.))
But I paid like £3 for him from Legoland back in the day. Over 100x that price is wild.
My most valuable is Harley Quinn from apocalypsburg, worth about what I paid for the set, I believe!
The one that annoys me slightly is Admiral Thrawn, as that was in a small set, I considered at the time buying a few as I thought the price would go up, but didn't get around to it. Oh well, Lego is for playing with, not for financial speculating!
.. interesting that the purple space figure from the Chinese new year parade is listed at 55 AUD, based on my current location. I bought the set today for 128 AUD, I wonder how long it will be for the price of the figure to reach that? Maybe I should buy a few more and lay the spacemen aside....
@Binnekamp said:
"Apparently there is a a thriving fanbase of Rock Raiders. They're just not nearly as overt about it as Star Wars or Bionicle fans and from what I've heard they're pretty chill. The prices for Chief might be due to them, as the character is quite focal in the tie-in video game and he's the only one missing from the complete team.
At least, the Youtuber R.R. Slugger is one such fan."
Those fans are more underground than the Bionicle folks.
How about the top ten least valuable figures?
My most expensive fig is absolutely random: CAS102 from 6057. It is more expensive than a black Classic Space astronaut in new condition, the orange Classic Space astronaut, Akita from 70678, Princess Harumi from 70643, Zuckuss from 75243, Rio Durant from 75219, Hela from 76084... Even among Castle figs, it beats the Fright Knights' Witch and the Bat Lord.
Speaking of the most valuable, list completely inflated by the SDCC exclusive figs, dreadful thing that I hope have ended for once. Quite ridiculous from Lego to say that "no sets will be exclusive to a certain country" and then do this for such long time (though there's still other examples like Monkie Kid being hard to find outside of China and not even being sold locally here in Brazil...)
@kdu2814 said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Apparently there is a a thriving fanbase of Rock Raiders. They're just not nearly as overt about it as Star Wars or Bionicle fans and from what I've heard they're pretty chill. The prices for Chief might be due to them, as the character is quite focal in the tie-in video game and he's the only one missing from the complete team.
At least, the Youtuber R.R. Slugger is one such fan."
Those fans are more underground than the Bionicle folks.
How about the top ten least valuable figures?"
I saw a Town minifigure, HOR010 from 6370, in the list and seems like it ranges from $148.00 to just $1.60
@jsworpin said:
"“The set was generally considered to be a dud and very expensive at the time ($100) so it did not sell well.”
That’s not my recollection. At the time was well received. Lower sales are because it was an exclusive set."
This was the same view in the United States. 10123 was heavily advertised in the Lego Catalog and I think was the cover/back of one issue. It wasn’t a great value on the surface (698pcs for $99.99) but the reality was the set used a lot of large pieces that brought the price up, as well as the special printing on most of the figures. Nowadays this wouldn’t cut it with arm/hip printing being the standard.
Here in the US, the only way to source the set was directly through Lego. There were only a handful of Lego stores in the US at the time (maybe Orlando, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, and San Diego). Online shopping was just starting to become a thing. The mail-in-catalog was also an option that I remember convincing my parents to do only once, so I’m not really sure how popular it was among other households.
My brother and I made a website dedicated to the 2003 Cloud City with interesting facts about exclusive parts, figures, and it’s features. Just a note: the website was made in 2019. Back then, you could get the Boba Fett for between $200-$300……
https://johntrupiano.wixsite.com/project10123
My most expensive mini-figs are Queen Amidala and Max Rebo. Love them and am not ever getting rid of them.
I know we think of detailed torso printing as more of a modern thing but damn, Chief there sure has a lot going on on his. Also, is that teal arm of his supposed to be robotic, with the metal panels and battery pack around it?
I was exactly the right age to be a huge Rock Raiders fan growing up. A large part of that was indeed the videogame, which I played for hours, and I still have a dedicated Windows XP computer that I keep alive so I can go back and play Rock Raiders, LEGO Island, etc. occasionally for nostalgia.
As others have said. Chief was a major character in the game (he was fully voiced and gave you mission briefings), and he wasn’t available in any regular sets.
Rock Raiders was my holy grail for a long time. When I got old enough to have a disposable income, I hunted around online to finally complete the theme. The unique parts, color scheme (including teal), sci-fi theme, story, game, and nostalgia make it one of my favorite themes of all time. It’s really cool seeing the community of avid Rock Raider fans… but I’m also glad it’s not a bigger community, because its small size means the resale prices on the sets aren’t out of this world!
For a long time (like, 15+ years after release, which is nuts) there was (and possibly is) an active modding community for the game. It’s like a very small version of Skyrim for a very specific group, including myself!
@Brickalili said:
"I know we think of detailed torso printing as more of a modern thing but damn, Chief there sure has a lot going on on his. Also, is that teal arm of his supposed to be robotic, with the metal panels and battery pack around it?"
LORE TIME!
Yes indeed… Chief had a robotic arm installed after losing his arm to a Rock Monster years earlier, under circumstances he never discussed. Rock Monsters were the main antagonistic force of the theme, as they coveted (and ate) the crystals Rock Raiders team were after. They primarily lived on Planet X, however, so how Chief encountered one prior to the Rock Raiders team crash landing there was a mystery.
When the Finch Dallow figure was released I was able to acquire 3 of them. Promptly sold them at their market rate for 70 dollars each, thinking they likely wouldn't go higher than 100 anytime soon. Never underestimate the stupid obsession of star wars fanatics!
@Huw said:
" @TheSoundOfWhiteNoise said:
"Wait, why is the Solid Gold C-3PO not here, that fig was awarded as a prize for Lego Magazine?
There are only 5 in existence, and only 2 have been known to have been sold in the last 10 years.
The value on those 5 is far, far beyond any of the ones that are mentioned here."
They are not listed at BrickLink."
Why aren't they?
And why is that a reason to exclude that fig, because that list is definitely inaccurate by excluding that fig.
Because they easily go for over $300.000.
I just recently put my entire LEGO collection on Bricklink, and just for fun decided to check the value of the minifigs for each set. I was just surprised to see how expensive Grima Wormtongue, Velma Dinkley and Dutch Vader from the 2nd UCS Y-Wing had bcecome. But the most surprising to me was to see how expensive 5 out of the 10 minifigs in the Joker Manor set had become. Disco Batman, Disco Batgirl, Disco Joker, Disco Robin and Nightwing together would set you back more than 400 USD on Bricklink.
Edit, and on a complete other note, I was surprised to see how expensive the Tie Fighter Pilot helmet from 2020 has become. It regularly goes for 200 USD or more on BL, and close to 300 USD is not an exception on Ebay. And it seems to keep rising in price the fewer MISB copies are available on the secondary market. I still have two of them MISB: bought one to build and never did, and bought the other just because I had a hunch this one would become sought after. Seems I was right.
I suspect that Rock Raiders benefited from the fact that the people who enjoyed the theme as children would have been born around the late 1980s or so, since the theme existed in 1999-2000. That would make them in their early-to-mid-thirties right now, which is the age that many people have a decent amount of disposable income and are starting to revisit their childhoods. So the popularity might be ephemeral?
@TheSoundOfWhiteNoise said:
" @Huw said:
" @TheSoundOfWhiteNoise said:
"Wait, why is the Solid Gold C-3PO not here, that fig was awarded as a prize for Lego Magazine?
There are only 5 in existence, and only 2 have been known to have been sold in the last 10 years.
The value on those 5 is far, far beyond any of the ones that are mentioned here."
They are not listed at BrickLink."
Why aren't they?
And why is that a reason to exclude that fig, because that list is definitely inaccurate by excluding that fig.
Because they easily go for over $300.000."
They're not on Bricklink because you have to own an item to add it to the catalog. Apparently none of the ~5 owners want to pitch in.
Also this list is just for fun, not really accurate at all because it's only going off of Bricklink prices. Prices which only go back 6 months and don't always represent genuine sales. Not to mention Bricklink doesn't have the truly rarest figures and elements listed in its catalog.
Basic city/town figs will do the trick, I still have hundress leftover that are worth $0,50 if I try to sell them.
@ao_ka said:
" @kdu2814 said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Apparently there is a a thriving fanbase of Rock Raiders. They're just not nearly as overt about it as Star Wars or Bionicle fans and from what I've heard they're pretty chill. The prices for Chief might be due to them, as the character is quite focal in the tie-in video game and he's the only one missing from the complete team.
At least, the Youtuber R.R. Slugger is one such fan."
Those fans are more underground than the Bionicle folks.
How about the top ten least valuable figures?"
I saw a Town minifigure, HOR010 from 6370, in the list and seems like it ranges from $148.00 to just $1.60"
That torso isn't rare so the 2nd hand version has low value, you only need to give her white arms and red hair.
http://peeron.com/inv/parts/973p1d
I’ve been sitting on a gold mine as they rise in value over time. I attended San Diego Comic Con from 2011 to 2012 and I was able to obtain the 2011 Green Lantern figure (based of the Ryan Reynolds movie) and all four of the Marvel/DC figures from 2012 (Phoenix, Black Suit Spider-Man, Bizarro, and Shazam.) Each one of those figures regularly sells for well over 1k on Ebay and are still priced egregiously. I also have two DC Fandome Supergirl figures from I think 2020 (based on the CW Supergirl show) and they also regularly sell for 1k or more. It’s always mind boggling to see their value go up so much over the years but also weirdly fun too. I’m treating them as family heirlooms now and I will pass them down to my kids, if I ever get to have any.
@Elite_1 said:
"I’ve been sitting on a gold mine as they rise in value over time. I attended San Diego Comic Con from 2011 to 2012 and I was able to obtain the 2011 Green Lantern figure (based of the Ryan Reynolds movie) and all four of the Marvel/DC figures from 2012 (Phoenix, Black Suit Spider-Man, Bizarro, and Shazam.) Each one of those figures regularly sells for well over 1k on Ebay and are still priced egregiously. I also have two DC Fandome Supergirl figures from I think 2020 (based on the CW Supergirl show) and they also regularly sell for 1k or more. It’s always mind boggling to see their value go up so much over the years but also weirdly fun too. I’m treating them as family heirlooms now and I will pass them down to my kids, if I ever get to have any."
I have to say I am extremely jealous with you (and also a bit pissed off :)). I understand that doing ltd editions (not only minifigs, but also Brickheadz that have become stupidly expensive) at these comic cons is a thing, but basically anyone who is not from the US or even close to the con location had zero chance to get one. I am actually kind of happy that LEGO decided to stop this practice.
One of my most valuable owned figures is https://brickset.com/minifigs/sw0059/zam-wesell (just behind Grima, and phase 1 Rex and Fox, surprised to see Fox ahead of Rex, would have thought the latter more popular, and remember Fox being in a relatively small set).
Anyway, Zam.
Found her in a craft shop of all places, in almost mint condition, the only issue is the owner had drilled through the helmet to make it in to a necklace. still, absolute steal for a fiver,
@Rimefang said:
"The Rock Raiders Chief was advertised in the Lego LEGO.com catalog, and even there he wasn't a very good value compared to the other minifigure collections. Really, in the USA we didn't have Lego Stores anywhere except the major theme parks in California to market them. Mostly, he was probably low on parental or fan purchasing priority. "
I got one as a kid at Legoland California, so this checks out. I remember being surprised to see it since I loved the game and had had no idea that there was a real life Chief figure. That might have been the only place I'd seen the minifigure collections outside of the catalogs.
I had no idea it was so rare/expensive these days!
According to this list, I have 17 figures that are over $100 in new condition...a few of mine weren't new when I got them, but all are in excellent condition (a few still sealed).
I do still have a sealed set that could potentially have a Chrome C-3PO in it. I should probably crack the seals and find out haha. Odds are against it, but you never know.
These are the $100+ figures I have...happy to say I didn't pay any significant premium for them.
Mace Windu - Light-Up Saber
Bilbo Baggins - Blue Coat
Anakin - Light-Up Saber
Davey Jones
Luminara - Light-Up Saber
Darth Vader - Light-Up Saber
Jedi Knight (sw0057) - Jedi Bob
Jedi Knight (sw0500)
Grima Wormtongue
Obi-Wan - Light-Up Saber
Boba Fett (sw0610)
Kashyyyk Trooper (sw0131)
Velma Dinkley
Princess Leia - Slave Outfit (sw0485)
Max Rebo
Chrome Stromtrooper
TC-14
Not sure what I'd be willing to pay. Full value, not likely more than $20, maybe $25. I don't think I've currently paid over $20 for a figure. Now if there's a great deal, sure I'd pay $100 for a $500 figure or something like that.
Apparently Apocalypseburg Harley Quinn is worth a lot of money now. I won't be selling her so as to keep the set intact, but it's still good to know. I also didn't realize that Yoda had two variants; I'd be happy with either one as I wouldn't be getting him as an investment, but just to have him.
I guess I’m in the minority as I loved the CMF Series 10 chase figure and had almost as much fun looking for him as I do (did) engineering a PAB cup. :o)
No Chrome Black Vader? Surprising.
Isn’t there a violet Jango that is pretty pricey too?
@abri123 said:
"I don't collect minifigs, but my most expensive is the Yuletide pilot, followed by Grima Wormtongue.
I did used to have a sealed Darth Revan, but sold it a few months later, when the going rate went up to a lofty £25..... oops ?????"
My son decided it was a great idea to open my sealed revan polybag :(
I'm pretty sure my most valuable minifig is Harley Quinn from the Apocalypseburg set (TLM134) which I picked up new - my first big purchase after I got back into LEGO.
I had the 7153 with its respective figures until I had to sell it recently. I got a Finch Dallow for only a couple dollars, I got the head and helmet from Lego's customer service and bought the body on bricklink
I don't buy individual minifigures unless they've got a chain screwed into their head! So, unsurprisingly, the only one I've got that would apparently trouble double figures is Batman, from the App Controlled Batmobile.
@thor96 said:
" I wanted to see that video that won the competition but it's set to private :/ @chuckp why?"
Sorry about that, it's back to public now.
@Brickalili said:
"I know we think of detailed torso printing as more of a modern thing but damn, Chief there sure has a lot going on on his. Also, is that teal arm of his supposed to be robotic, with the metal panels and battery pack around it?"
It's a plasma cannon.
But what the most expensive minidoll?
@Huw:
Oh, it’s cute that you think counterfeits aren’t sold on Bricklink…
The reason NYTF Cap is easier to obtain than NYTF Iron Man is that a lot of people targeted the latter to add to their Hall of Armor MOCs, which just drove the price higher each time.
I’m surprised that a Smooth Hair Leia didn’t show up on that list, but Bricklink remains falsely convinced that it’s just the result of a bad production run, and not an unfinished mold being put into use. And one that probably should be on the list, except that Bricklink refuses to even acknowledge it, is the AT-AT driver with two different helmet prints. One of these is super common, and the other is so extraordinarily rare that it’s usually the last piece people try to collect when attempting to complete their collection of SW minifigs. All the ones on your list are known quantities, and all you have to do is foot the bill. The AT-AT Driver takes a lot of legwork to even locate, and not a lot of people even know it exists.
@Torrent_Studios:
That’s not scalping. Scalping is buying up a chunk of the supply when it first hits the market, with the intention of immediately flipping it for profit. Sports and concert tickets are common targets, but we also saw a lot of this with the launch of 75192, as people were trying to get their hands on a VIP Black card before the offer expired.
If the set had a normal release window, and has since retired, it’s no longer scalping. It’s just simple supply and demand economics at that point.
@jsworpin:
Lower sales were definitely because it was a LEGO Direct set. With rare exceptions, you had to order through their catalog service at a time when debit cards were still fairly uncommon, and ATM cards were still a thing. If you didn’t have a credit card, you’d probably have to mail in a paper order form with a check or money order. The only store I remember seeing LEGO Direct sets at was TRU in Times Square, other than one or two sets that ended up getting a wider release. Even NYC didn’t have a LEGO Store at that time (though if you actually lived there, I believe there was one within a reasonable driving distance…assuming you also had access to a car).
@AustinPowers:
https://brickshelf.com/gallery/PurpleDave/Batman/Minifigs/1952-05_firefly_front.jpg
I made Firefly from The New Batman Adventures with a Jango minifig I got for free. No regrets.
@TheSoundOfWhiteNoise:
No price data, would be my guess. And they’re not listed because Bricklink requires a photo before they’ll list something in the catalog. There was a huge conflict involving Mr. Gold. Someone wanted to list their copy, but Bricklink catmins were refusing to do so until someone submitted a photo of the loose, assembled minifig. He had opened the outer packet, but the parts were all contained in a clear inner bag (turns out identifying one would have been super easy, BTW), and he didn’t want to open it or assemble the minifig, because that would devalue it.
@Jesse_S_T:
Nowadays, there’s still only one other set that got full arm and leg printing on Boba Fett, and that’s 75060.
@Biggie_Bricks:
No, you have to own something to list it for sale. Anyone with a quality photo of the item in question can submit it to get the catalog listing created. But they want actual photos of the item, not pictures of print advertisements.
@Elite_1:
Wow, Supergirl is worth that much? I stayed up the whole 24 hours, and only missed a couple entry opportunities, to ensure I got one (I did…and I also know the Grand Prize winner). I’ve bought a few SDCC minifigs, but living over halfway across the country, Supergirl is the only one I didnt have to pay for (and yes, she was produced for SDCC 2020).
That might be another reason certain minifigs are missing from the list. SDCC minifigs are usually sold as sets, not loose minifigs, and it’s hard to tell whether people are buying them for the complete package, or just because that’s the only way to get the minifig.
Minifig collecting is a whole different world, i'll stick to whatever comes in the sets I buy. I honestly prefer the simpler figs over super detailed ones
@TheOtherMike:
I believe one Yoda was given away in public, and the other was part of a sealed diorama from NYTF around the same time.
I've collected minifigures for about 11 years, although I more or less lost interest around 6 months ago. Having read this article I kind of feel as though I should offload my collection as it clearly seems to be worth a few quid (I have 28 of the top 100). I bought 2 Cloud City Bobas for £130 each back in 2015 and sold one for £260 about 6 months later, but otherwise I haven't spent more than £50 for a single figure.
@Huw
Any idea what's going on here?
https://brickset.com/minifigs/tlm081/unikitty-cutesykitty-(cutesy-kitty)
$100 for new
$4 for used
No set listed.
@FuddRuckus said:
" @Huw
Any idea what's going on here?
https://brickset.com/minifigs/tlm081/unikitty-cutesykitty-(cutesy-kitty)
$100 for new
$4 for used
No set listed."
It's a SDCC figure. Came with two heads you could swap around, both of which are exclusive.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Jesse_S_T:
Nowadays, there’s still only one other set that got full arm and leg printing on Boba Fett, and that’s 75060."
Right, but the point I was making was how rare it was 20 years ago and how it helped make up the difference in price per piece count.
@FuddRuckus:
COMCON040 came with one Unikitty body and two alternate faces. The default “minifig” is TLM080 (Cheerykitty), but the rest of the parts besides the printed faces were fairly common. Anyone who got a copy could split it, sub in some then-common parts, and sell the contents off as both TLM080 and TLM081. The latter is linked to the set as a Counterpart, which is probably not something Bricklink code is set up to check for.
@Jesse_S_T:
Well, but you also had what was at the time the only Lando minifig, and the only instances of Luke and Leia in their Bespin outfits. The reason Fett far outpaced the lot of them on the secondary market is there are alternate options for those three minifigs, but the closest equivalent for Fett is quite different. For a while, I was tempted to pick up another UCS Fett for $50, and give him the original helmet/backpack, just because I prefer that aesthetic over the supersized helmet they gave him with the redesign.
I have the Black Pearl . . . but have somehow lost Davy Jones! I’ve searched everywhere over the past few years and he’s yet to turn up :(
@PurpleDave: I don't disagree with you about the aesthetics of the original Boba, but I'm sure that for his part, he's happy to be able to look to the side now.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Jesse_S_T:
Well, but you also had what was at the time the only Lando minifig, and the only instances of Luke and Leia in their Bespin outfits. The reason Fett far outpaced the lot of them on the secondary market is there are alternate options for those three minifigs, but the closest equivalent for Fett is quite different. For a while, I was tempted to pick up another UCS Fett for $50, and give him the original helmet/backpack, just because I prefer that aesthetic over the supersized helmet they gave him with the redesign."
With all due respect, I greatly appreciate your intelligent insight but I am confused why you continue to reply to my comments with what feels like unrelated topics. I understand I’m not entitled to anything in your responses, but I don’t see how Lando, Luke, and Leia’s first Bespin appearance are in any way related to my original comment discussing the unusual price-per-piece count of 10123 when it was first launched in 2003. Of course you are totally correct about the various reasons why Boba Fett has outpaced it’s Cloud City Counterparts, but never once did I even bring up Boba Fett specifically in my comments.
I thought Spectre 1 (Kanan) was an average normal minifigure. He surprised me being there! What makes him so special?
@CCC said:
"When they did Finch Dallow, you could email customer services and complain your set didn't have him and they sent out a replacement head and helmet."
That's what I did. After a fairly short period they got wise to it and stopped sending them out, pointing out (quite fairly) that they were meant for people who were actually missing pieces.
Not my proudest moment, but I also distinctly remember not buying Chief in Legoland Windsor in 1999 so I've got that cross to bear too. Copper Komau mask pack as well. Oh, for a time machine.
@PurpleDave said:
" @Torrent_Studios:
That’s not scalping. Scalping is buying up a chunk of the supply when it first hits the market, with the intention of immediately flipping it for profit. Sports and concert tickets are common targets, but we also saw a lot of this with the launch of 75192, as people were trying to get their hands on a VIP Black card before the offer expired.
If the set had a normal release window, and has since retired, it’s no longer scalping. It’s just simple supply and demand economics at that point."
A lot of people still buy up Rex's to resell. I've seen someone who has 7 of them...
@Brickalili said:
"I know we think of detailed torso printing as more of a modern thing but damn, Chief there sure has a lot going on on his. Also, is that teal arm of his supposed to be robotic, with the metal panels and battery pack around it?"
Insectoids and UFO also had some amazing prints with gold, copper and silver metallic in it, and leg prints as well, from the same time as Rock Raiders
While 98,99 is partly known for a bad reputation , especially Town Jr, LEGO probably overbudgeted some aspects of Rock Raiders, UFO, and Insectoids, lots of special moulds, large prints, electronic light/sound elements, and chromed mining drills.
I managed to buy a Cloud City Boba Fett not that long ago for a considerable amount of money but nowhere near what he’s worth now. I guess in the case of some of these figs it’s an investment that goes up in value faster than savings in the bank, not that I intend to get rid of my Boba any time soon.
I have a very wide ranging Star Wars minifig collection but some of the rare ones I still don’t have include the New York Yoda and Chrome C-3PO. Don’t think I’m going to pay the going rates for them them though at this point. At least they weren’t in retail sets which sets my completionist mind at ease.
I find it insulting that one of the most expensive figures is from The Last Jedi.
I had a chance to get that Yoda figure here in NYC.
But if I remembered right, the event was like on a school night either middle of the week or Friday when my kid was in school so we didn't go.
Dangit!!!
But I have been lucky with some NYCC exclusive figs and SDCC exclusives.
I actually bought the Cloud City set at retail back in the day. No clue if I paid Australian RRP for it or if I got it on sale but I should still have all the parts and figs from it in my collection (and the instructions)
I bought Finch Dallow for ~$90 back in 2020 and thought that was expensive. Glad I made the investment!
Holy cow! I looked at the database and actually own one of the 28th most expensive minifigure, SW0053 Jango Fett. The scary part is that I let my kids play with it!
A suggestion for Huw, add a tag to certain sets that you shouldn’t let your kids touch!
This article made my day - read it, was surprised by 10 and immediately went to my office to grab my Ghost - and whoa yes, there is a guy with black hair and black facial in the pilot's seat ;-)
@Jesse_S_T:
Okay, your first post, you said, “Nowadays this wouldn’t cut it with arm/hip printing being the standard.” I pointed out that they still don’t do the fancy printing on Fett very much, with only one other instance of arm/leg printing (I know of one other instance that had leg printing, but plain arms).
Your next post, you said that Fett helped make up the difference in terms of price per piece. I pointed out he was still only one of four highly-desired minifigs that came in that one set.
So, Boba Fett was part of what helped sell that set, but being part of an ensemble of new minifigs (at a time when they were few and far between), he wasn’t the sole reason most people wanted to buy it. On the aftermarket, he’s the one who skyrocketed in value because they never did release anything truly equivalent, and now they never will.
@Torrent_Studios:
And people buy gold and silver as an investment. That doesn’t make them scalpers. Scalpers use temporary rarity to insert themselves into the chain of ownership for a profit. At this point, those minifigs are rare and hard to come by. Supply isn’t getting any bigger, but demand is still growing. And you can’t tell just from the listings how they’re being procured. If they’re scooping up cheap listings on Bricklink and immediately relisting them with a huge markup, that’s one thing, but what if they’re pulling them from bulk lots? What if they bought several of the sets for personal use, and they’re just looking to unload the redundant named characters?
@PurpleDave said:
" @Torrent_Studios:
What if they bought several of the sets for personal use, and they’re just looking to unload the redundant named characters?"
Lmao have you seen the exorbitant prices one goes for nowadays?
Hmm, somewhere in the madness that is currently my house there is a Star Wars Bomber that I bought early on... but I have no idea which version it is.
@Torrent_Studios:
LMAO! Why do you think someone would decide to unload several redundant unique minifigs? If they were selling for $2 each, people might hang onto them. I bought a stack of the second Knight Bus just for the dark-purple parts. If I ever hear the minifigs from that set were selling for $100 each, I’d probably dig them out and try to unload what I had no use for. Would you then consider me a scalper?
@Ridgeheart:
Jean Grey didn’t ship in a blister. I think that started the following year, maybe two years later. Early SDCC minifigs (and all NYC minifigs, since they were only 2011) had a card with a 2x2 plate glued to it. The minifig legs were attached to the plate.
I’ve got half of these - all the Star Wars figs. Didn’t pay anywhere near the current market value and certainly wouldn’t. I think my most expensive minifig to date was a light-up lightsaber Darth Vader for around £250 - he’s in a sealed bag from the Nurmberg Toy Fair in 2005(ish). Think the going rate now is around £1000 for a sealed example or £50 for an opened one! (as it’s then no different to the one available in an early TIE Fighter set.
I’d really like a Barb minifig to complete my Stanger Things collection but the price is far too high :-(
@Ridgeheart said:
"Over a piece of plastic. Of artificial scarcity. And therefore, compounded artificial worth. Compounded further by region-locks, compounded further by people (man, aren't people just the worst?), who basically only follow the rules set by capitalism 101 (man, isn't capitalism great?)."
Yes, capitalism *is* great. When a commodity is scarce, having a market means anyone has equal access to the commodity if they're willing to make the trade-offs necessary to acquire it. I think that's a lot better than schemes whereby access is granted on the basis of one's political connections or luck.
It also creates pressure for producers to make scarce commodities *less* scarce. I'd much rather have widely-available bread at a market price of $1.50/loaf instead of empty shelves at a price-controlled 25¢/loaf any day. No profit = no production = privation.
The irritating thing here is that Lego has no profit motive in these rare figures, and thus no incentive to produce them. Lego makes them for advertising value, incurring negative collector goodwill as an untrackable, and thus under-recognized, business cost. So the figures are distributed on the basis of luck or political connections, instead of by a market. That's not capitalism. The solution here *is* capitalism. Unfortunately, the counterfeiters are the capitalists here, not the scalpers or Lego itself.
@Ridgeheart said:
"I think I'd mostly consider anyone a scalper if :
A) they sought to monopolise any commodity (thereby falsely creating or compounding scarcity) and then drip-feed that commodity into the community at vastly inflated, arbitrary rates"
Exactly. If the only “value” someone brings to the game is that they got to the store first, that’s scalping. Generally, scalping involves trying to scoop up copies early, when demand is highest, and supply is lowest, and bank of FOMO driving buyers to pay through the nose for something that they’ll probably find at MSRP a week or two later. This is especially true if the stock is known to be limited in quantity, like the coins or the Ulysses set.
That’s not to say it’s not possible to scalp stuff that has already retired. I’ve heard of two instances. One was a person who quietly bought up the entire supply of some rare Bionicle mask, and once new copies stopped hitting the market, they started selling them for several times what they’d been bought for (and buying any that hit the market at lower prices). And the other instance was someone who was doing the same for sticker sheets. In both cases, these people knew supply was fixed. No new copies would ever be made again, and it was really just a matter of hanging on until they’d managed to Hoover up the entire supply.
"AND/OR
B) they removed and collected the scalps of their fallen enemies"
Well…I think in this day and age, you’re increasingly unlikely to encounter someone from this category. Unintentional scalpings from industrial accidents are probably a lot more common. Anyone who still wants to get that visceral would probably just decapitate you instead.
Aldar Beedo?!?! Why is it $100? I'm glad that I picked a few of them up for a dollar or so as a joke when it was out.
Glad to have gotten the Cloud City set way back during the original release. Still have all the figs, all parts and the box as well.
@PurpleDave Ah, I see where your confusion came from. In my original post I never directly pointed out Fett because I was referring to ALL of the hip/arm printing in the set contributing to the set’s premium-price-per-piece. Though Fett was the only arm print, Luke and Solo were also given the rare treatment for the time of hip printing and didn’t believe Fett deserved all the credit. Your replies make sense now.
Mediocre? Excuse me, my good sir, that Cheif minifigure is magnificent.
I have (white hair) Yoda on top of my Eiffel Tower (10181) waving. My daughter bought him for me a few years ago on Christmas. Thanks again Anna!
Kanan Jarus is my most valuable figure. After him it's Thrawn whose value is less than half of Kanan. One of my most valuable ones is the classic black spaceman...and I have at least three.
Oh cool i have that Kanan minifigure from The Ghost set. No idea it was supposedly worth so much
Ha, this was interesting. Much to my surprise, I have more than a dozen minifigs that are allegedly worth more than $100!
Top of the heap is the Black VIP one, for $300. Other good ones are Darth Revan ($218), Queen Amidala ($160), Darth Malgus ($150), Grima Wormtongue ($125) and the dynamic duo of Slave Leia and Velma Dinkley ($112 each).
Thanks for this; it was fun!
I have all the Star Wars minifigures on the list. No other though. My Yoda and Boba are still in sealed bags. I think my Yoda is authentic since I bought it 10 years ago. But who knows? I bought a sealed 10123 set for $1,000 years ago and have kept bag 1 sealed.
The most expensive one I probably have is my chrome Darth Vader I managed to get with an AAT. was super surprised to get it.
@MisterBrickster said:
"Not my proudest moment, but I also distinctly remember not buying Chief in Legoland Windsor in 1999 so I've got that cross to bear too. Copper Komau mask pack as well. Oh, for a time machine."
I was so fortunate to finish my mask collecting when I did. Just before everything went from kinda pricey to stupid expensive. Wasn't so lucky with Chief, and that was my own fault. He sat at the top (alphabetically) of my bricklink wanted list for years and I never pulled the trigger until well after the fact. The aftermarket is rigged, nothing should go from 4x the price to 100x the price in a single year 20 years after its release. I miss the good old days when bricklink was a quiet place for lego lovers and MOCists, not collectors and scalpers
I have a couple dozen figures that, IF NEW, would go for more than $100. They're not new! So I don't much care what their theoretical value is. The most I've paid for a minifigure is $10.
It really struck me as a surprise that Chief was worth so much, when I looked him up a couple of years.
Back then I thought it was because of his teal arm, as the color was discontinued at the time (Sand Red Gilderoy Lockhart also seems more expensive because of this). But Chief's price increased after teal's Comeback - quite odd.
Anyways he seemingly wasn't marketed in Europe at all, not even in the Shop at Home catalogue. Only way to know of his existence (especially without Internet Access) was buying one of the Star Wars minifig Packs of the same series, as they showed him on the Back of the Box.
The category/categories of Marvel characters don’t seem to be in the database you mention.
I was looking for The Collector from Comicon 2014. That certainly used to be in the top ten.
Wow!
I am lucky enough to have two mint-condition chrome gold C-3PO minifigures. One still sealed in it's bag. I paid £80 and £99 for them. I thought that was a lot (and it was) but knew they would only increase in value.
I wish I kept my Cloud City Boba Fett now. But better minifigures with printed arms and legs were available.
@ao_ka said:
" @kdu2814 said:
" @Binnekamp said:
"Apparently there is a a thriving fanbase of Rock Raiders. They're just not nearly as overt about it as Star Wars or Bionicle fans and from what I've heard they're pretty chill. The prices for Chief might be due to them, as the character is quite focal in the tie-in video game and he's the only one missing from the complete team.
At least, the Youtuber R.R. Slugger is one such fan."
Those fans are more underground than the Bionicle folks.
How about the top ten least valuable figures?"
I saw a Town minifigure, HOR010 from 6370, in the list and seems like it ranges from $148.00 to just $1.60"
Thats just because some bricklink sellers are really greedy; nobody actually pays more than 5 for most town figures.
No mention of the white boba fett or the numerous metal star wars characters (Bronze Boba fett, gold 3po, platinum R2, etc)?
@Bobert2009 said:
"No mention of the white boba fett or the numerous metal star wars characters (Bronze Boba fett, gold 3po, platinum R2, etc)?"
They are not available on BrickLink
I love Minifigures. I collect a decent amount and have some comic con, and various others like Finch Dallow. I def think this list isn't the best it could be. If you did include all the Comic con ones it would get rid of the last few on the list. Deadpool Duck for example is way more than the Kanan Figure. In addition including Gen118 is an oversight considering it has never been sold. Just because it was listed at that price does not make it worth that amount so it shouldn't have been included. Shadow Leonardo, not included on this list, has sold prices for $2,500.
Further, your link to Barb on Bricklink was to the minifigure directly, but comic con figures come in plastic molds and most people when dealing with comic con figures sell it with the plastic mold, so you should have linked to brinklink's "comcon060-1" page(the "set" page with the plastic), which has more listings that show a more accurate price of $500-$700, and not $1000 as the Barb figure page lists. I think that if you just used brickset's sorting system, it display's inaccurate prices from BL sometimes for the much higher figures. Like Sheriff Deadpool on Brickset says it's value is $526 despite the actual sold values at closer to $1,000. So if the list was based off of the results from here it could result in this post being inaccurate.
Finally, just an opinion, how can you call that stache on Chief mediocre? I could complete a "sketchy 70s 'filmmaker'" with that look! Did someone order a large pizza, extra brick? ;)
You gotta get a minifigure fanatic to write up your figure posts! Lots of digging but figures are so cool. I'd love to type up something about the most valuable figures!