Quote:
Originally Posted by Badgertron
I think this wouldn't be as big of a problem if stores actualy STOCKED these things regularly...the only place I've found them in Vancouver was Urban Outfitters, and they were $6...
|
The problem isn't stocking, it is the fact that most stores only recieve about three to four cases of these and that seems to be the extent they are offered for each branch... And thanks to high-demand, scalpers and billions of children who want to buy these things worldwide... Well Supply just dosen't meet demand.
Even when making these with cheap Chinese labor compared to regular LEGO sets, the Collectible Mini-Figures are just not meeting demand, but on the flip side, LEGO doesn't want to have warehouses stuffed full with these things unable to sell... Honestly, once you have all sixteen from any given set, with maybe one or two doubles of the really popular and unique figures, you are left with a ton of figures (Sumo, possibly the Diver from Series one or the Mime from Series two.) that people just don't want or aren't interested in.
So LEGO is stuck on a tightrope, on the one hand, if they make enough to meet the highly popular demand of these cheap little guys, they please the public and put a crimp on those GOD DAMN Scalpers who troll through the cases for the high ticket figures and leave you with Gorilla Suit Guys and Sumos and stuff. But on the other, they could do that and be stuck with boxes of them that just won't sell after everyone has managed to collect a full set of sixteen.
LEGO Collectible Mini-Figures is the Basbeball Cards and Bubblegum of this generation... Or to go a bit closer to some of our ages... The pogs of this generation. Only unlike Pogs I suspect they will be here for a long time to come still.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mumps
I bought 6 of these, got 4 I didn't want, 1 I was on the fence about, and I got the one I wanted most! Not bad, considering the odds. I tried the baggy-dot-method-crap, but that only worked for the Alien. A few of them, I couldn't even find the dot pattern on whatever key I was using.. I didn't try very long though, like 5min total.
Oh well, got my Alien! *walks away*
|
It is really quite simple to discern the dots from the rest of the packaging with practice. I bought about six initially and once I got them home I studied the packaging quite carefully until I figured out where the dots were likely to be and the specific patterns most of them seemed to have with visibility, the ones that were harder to make out from the ones that were clearer and so on and so forth.
Then of course there's the old tried and true method, take a quick glance and then fake it. With that method I sucessfully managed to get seventeen figures and out of all of them I got pretty much every single one I was aiming for with exception to the Hula Girl. I wasn't even trying when I got my Snowboarder and my first Elf last Saturday. (Although to be fair the Elf has so many dots in his code that it isn't too difficult to figure out you've got him when you've got him.)
Then again, this morning when I picked up the latest three I wasn't even remotely trying. I settled on one that I figured had to be an Elf, one I figured had to be something, whether it was one I needed or not was hard to tell, and in the end I wound up with the Baseball Player of all things, which really made my day. But when I got to the third one, well, I had tried desperately to avoid any packages with the double dot pattern I recognized as being part of the Sumo, and this time I thought I had succeeded because it looked like there were at least five or six dots on the dang thing... But no, dissapointment central when instead of the Pilot, Samurai or Hula Girl, or heck even a second Rapper or Cyborg, once again I get Mister Sumo.
So yeah, the Fake it til you Make it approach is a good method, but it can lead to heartache and dissapointment... Or heartburn. :lol
Re: Lego Collectible Minifigure sightings
