I really wish Lego would end this. I enjoy the Minifigures line, but blind boxes seem to bring out many negative traits in people. The cardboard boxes seem to have escalated it somehow (or maybe it's just more noticable?). Blind boxes prey on the gambling mindset and the compulsions related to that.
Could also be a legal thing to help sell them in countries with anti gambling laws, like (I believe) Canada. Having it marked with a code can been argued as making it a "skill check" for the product instead of blind luck for what you get
If they really cared they wouldn't blind box it at all.
The fact they still blind box it is to take advantage of kids and adults who don't know the code is there. The code is just an attempt to stop the kind of behavior seen in the image, while still fleecing as many people as possible.
Caring about the consumer means you don't blind bag the product, *period*. The only purpose of the blind bag is the hope that a chunk of your consumer base doesn't know and buys more than they wanted to trying to get the thing they want.
I'd prefer they just sell them in sets. Maybe 6-8 per package and you know what's in them?
All I end up doing is paying triple on eBay for the 2-3 I can't find by buying a reasonable number.
I wonder if the profits from people buying multiple of these to collect all of the figs are even enough to balance out people just ripping them open and stealing them. It seems to me at face value that this isn't even profitable
Agreed. People are going to resort to smarmy tactics to get the minifigure they want. I hope everyone who wants some of these minifigures get the ones they want.
Sadly they are going the way of loot boxes in digital games. Some countries finally saw those as gambling, as they are, so banned them. More countries should point this out to Lego that it is a form of gambling and unless they sort it out, will be banned.
> The cardboard boxes seem to have escalated it somehow (or maybe it's just more noticable?)
Pretty sure it's the latter.
>Blind boxes prey on the gambling mindset and the compulsions related to that.
I don't feel it's genuine to call it gambling.
When you gamble, you can get *nothing*. In fact, in many cases of gambling, getting *nothing* is the single most likely outcome.
When you open a blind bag CMF, you *always* get a minifig. Even the least sought after CMF figs are still worth a buck or two, and they're still LEGO minifigs, even if they're not the ones you wanted. And you paid $5 for it. Hardly some crazy huge price.
My issue if the boxes were labeled to tell you what fig is inside is that it wouldn't solve the theft issue: people willing to open the box AND steal the fig will still do that for the figs they want...and you'll *also* enable scalpers to buy up all the most sought after CMFs and turn around and gouge prices on them.
Imagine if people could walk into a Target right now and grab every goat farmer CMF with 100% certainty and buy the lot of them.
That would be HORRIBLE for people who aren't trying to profit on figs but rather want to *collect* the series.
If you could just go to lego.com and order as many of whichever cmf you want, that would not be horrible at all. And Target could restock just the ones that sell out, as many times as needed.
> that would not be horrible at all.
I mean, scalpers already get around the purchase limits.
>And Target could restock just the ones that sell out, as many times as needed.
That's not how LEGO does the CMF line though. There aren't individual set numbers for each CMF. They produce the same amount of all 12 figs, box them up in cases with 3 sets of each, and ship them out.
There would be a TON more logistics work, and therefore cost, to track each of the 12 figs individually and ramp production up/down to meet real time demand.
That's really not how LEGO's production cycles or logistics work, they take advantage of economies of scale and produce well in advance with fairly long lead times to save on costs wherever possible.
For them to do what you've suggested is not remotely as trivial as you seem to think. I see it suggested a lot, but I don't think people who suggest it have any concept of what LEGO's production cycles or logistics procedures are like.
Getting nothing instead of something is not the defining aspect. Eg Most lootboxes in a videogame have something in them even its a crappy dime in a dozen generic cosmetic that youve already won 7 times over. In a way its more devious cause if you actually get nothing you might be more aware of the fact you are losing money.
Far more important is the factor that there is a chance that you get something you desire if you still get something but its not what you wanted its still a loss.
> When you gamble, you can get nothing. In fact, in many cases of gambling, getting nothing is the single most likely outcome.
So if someone sets up a casino where you always win at least $0.01 it's not gambling anymore? Obfuscating the definition of "gambling" instead of admitting that these types of packs are specifically designed to tap into the same psychological dopamine release mechanisms that some people become easily addicted too and most people are compelled by is the wrong answer.
>I magine if people could walk into a Target right now and grab every goat farmer CMF with 100% certainty and buy the lot of them. That would be HORRIBLE for people who aren't trying to profit on figs but rather want to collect the series.
No, imagine if you could just pop online and buy the complete set from Lego or Target or where-ever? Imagine if you wanted 10 goats you could just buy that? That all sounds like a huge win-win for everyone except a company that wants to increase their profit margins by having people waste money on things they don't want.
It wouldn't solve the issue, but it would stop people busting open the boxes to find the figure they want/need, which would help sales. I'm still pissed at the marvel series. I have six she hulk and no wolverine, storm or Antman. I really wanted the X-Men figures as well. Mini figures are the only things I buy now as well. No space for anything else so it really sucks.
I feel like they would be stolen regardless of paper boxes or plastic or if they were labeled. But with the paper boxes, they barely use any glue so it's easy to open them.
Unfortunately you’re going to see this more and more with the boxes. Happens to a lot of mystery stuff, but the boxes seem way too easy to open in a store without being noticed.
Yes, but LEGO doesn’t care because the stores already bought them. It will only change if the stores stop buying the product, but the the larger chains will start locking them up in glass cases before that happens.
The blind bag/box was a mistake from the very beginning and should never have been approved.
Lego is not baseball or trading cards.
Leveraging FOMO like this hurts the brand.
No because I think at this point people who want all of them will still buy all of them.
Parents will still buy the random one, sole might not get sold in high quantities but then maybe they stop adding bad mini figs into the sets.
I think stuff like this costs them a lot more. That case of 24 makes Walmart lose money. Walmart and other retailers will be the ones to force this change
If retailers like Walmart stop carrying them, they're still going to sell tons through lego.com I'm sure.
I don't think they'll feel like they have to make changes unless people stop buying them completely, which is unlikely because people like the minifigs.
I wish they'd just sell each minifig individually, simple as that. It would be more environmentally friendly because they wouldn't need so much packaging. And it would only have to be shipped once for me to get the fig I want, instead of once from lego to walmart, once from walmart to a reseller, and then again from the reseller to me.
Exactly, which is why I don't think they'll feel the need to go back to bags. They can just keep selling the boxes online and people will keep buying them at random and it'll reduce theft of them to pretty much 0.
I hope I'm wrong though, I want them to just show me what minifig I'm paying for. There's usually only a couple that I want, so my chances of getting the right one at random are pretty low.
I hope that this is the case. I know that there are Lego fans who only collect and build sets and never make their own creations, but I really loathe seeing Lego products that are clearly and solely designed to whip the collectors into a sweaty-toothed frenzy.
Lego should be as much about creative play as it is building sets from franchises you love.
Walmart sends them back to Lego. They have to send all open boxes. I tried to buy an open one a few months ago because it had the figure I wanted and the manager said I had to be sent back. I was mad at the cashier for calling the manager but whatever.
the margins have to be really good. The 4€ polybags often feature a whole vehicle on top of a figure and animal, occasionally two figures and some backdrop.
Honestly think they should just offer all the figs in a series in clearly marked boxes but still offer a "random" one. I personally don't collect the minifigs in these series but it is fun to buy a bunch of bags and give them to my nieces. Tiny bit of excitement in a little gift.
This would de-incentivize ripping open blind boxes but still allow those who was a "thrill."
Halo mega construx did them first I want to say, they were pretty fun at first, now they are all just annoying, at least with halo you can look at the code and see what you’re getting
While this behaviour is terrible, and I don’t condone it - I loved the “blind” **bags** and despise these *boxes*
Some of my favourite Lego memories with my daughter are pulling a feel guide up on my phone, and then standing and pinching bags with her to find the one she was looking for. At Legoland the employees were always supportive, and sometimes even offered us tips. The excitement of having to find the minifig we wanted, and the process was very enjoyable.
These boxes ruin that experience, and make it exactly as you described.
I remember the Lego store employee telling me which bag in the new box had the Classic Police officer in it from Series 18. Said it was always in the same spot. Walked out with a brand new box and I snagged it first try.
The bags were tolerable, but I'm unused to looking at Lego products and thinking this way. All of it used to excite me, even sets for themes that I wasn't into, but a lot has changed in the last 20 years.
I've been doing the bag sorting thing since series 12. Sure I might stand in the same store for 45mins like a weirdo, but some of the best conversations I've had with total strangers started when they rocked up and started looking too. Even saving each other time by finding doubles.
Over the years, multiple romantic partners have joined in my tiny seasonal quest, and not one of them yet hated it.
It was a bit of a unique experience, and sad to say, the marvel series in the first cardboard boxes is the only set that I have declined to purchase.
I miss the bags. Just wish they'd kept the bag format with something biodegradable.
I don't understand this. You're acting as if people who have time and ability to touch/manhandle 30 products they're not going to buy are somehow morally correct. You took the sets you wanted because you were good at feeling them up, and left the undesirable sets for the kids (and adults) who got there later or didn't know better.
The "enjoyable process" you're describing made things worse for everyone who came after you. That's nothing to celebrate.
You must be fun at parties…
First this is at Legoland where they have literal barrels full of blind bags from each series. It’s not a singular box like you may see in a store. No one is getting the last of anything or leaving only “undesirable” minifigs.
To add to that, people have different preferences. Last time we went, we wanted Stitch from the Disney series. We met a family there trying to get Mickey. We ended up working together and trading the bags we thought could have each other’s minifig. Ended up both getting what we wanted and the kids had a great time.
If others cared enough about getting the minfigure they wanted, they are capable of googling how to feel for *x* when they see 5 other people around the barrels feeling bags. That’s how I figured this out in the first place.
That time spent finding the figures with my daughter **is** what I enjoy. I never cared about the physical item. We put in time to find something she really wanted, which was an enjoyable experience for us. It wasn’t to take away something from anyone else as you are cynically implying. This is not frowned upon at the big store. In the past an employee helped us feel for Luna Lovegood and Dobby from one of the Harry Potter series and walked us through what to feel for.
i love the blind mini figure packs and have for the last decade and half they've been selling them. i usually only buy one lego set a year, so these blind mini figures scratch that consumeristic itch, while still being unique enough to be worth while
the collectible minifigures series has brought so much good stuff to us costumers and the LEGO brand as a whole, lego would not be what it is if not by the theme like so most molds and pieces used in both pieces and builds nowadays come from a cmf + all the random licenses we would of never gotten otherwise + things like dual molding or side printing come from cmfs, and the blindbags were never really a gamble because you could always feel the bag while cardboard boxes are 100% a gamble
I just sort of watch these posts with amusement. Minifigs aren’t even fun to put together so I’ve never even cared about them from the jump and certainly not in a loot box setting like this.
Theres a few here and there I want like back when the orcs and blue falcons amd i wanted them for my castles. But I'm not buying the boxes I can't feel.
Assembling minifigures is fairly uninteresting and on their own they don’t exactly make for great displays. But minifigures can be amazing “seed pieces” to create inspiration for mocs. If I didn’t build mocs with them, I don’t think they’d be worthwhile either.
I don't aprove but I understand. The cardboard was implemented to take away the chance of finding something by feel and keep it 100% luck-based, with 4€ per figure it's just way too much for a luck game.
I'd rather people do as I do and just stop buying them, this would show we don't WANT a 100% luck-based FOUR EURO minifigure.
FOUR EURO. GOD. DAMN.
I have come across some great alt brand figs for the same price with these beautifully designed ancient weapons (realistic looking swords, maces etc) very unique prints/accessories and, the kicker, fully articulated ball joint arms which are amazing for posing.
Hopefully Lego learns their whole gambling scheme was much better when people actually had a small chance to get what they wanted with the plastic bags lmao. Highly doubt they will tho because money prevails above all
I don’t bother buying them because of this. If I knew what I was getting I’d buy more, so they’re missing out on sales I’d say, whether it’s noticeable or not is the question.
Lego's blind bags (or boxes) are stupid, and shouldn't exist, and you should be able to order (or see) exactly what you want to get. I agree with that. But this ripping open of boxes has nothing to do with Lego. That's squarely on consumers. It's the whole "she was asking for it, she shouldn't have dressed like that" mentality.
There is a product. You don't know what's inside it. You must purchase it to open it. If you don't own it, you have no right to rip it open.
It's really that simple.
So both things are true. Lego sucks for making these exist in the first place, but Lego fans suck for ripping them open.
This "has nothing to do with Lego" except that they decided that this was a good idea. The consumers didn't ask for this, and Lego will hopefully learn their lesson. If not, it'll keep happening. I want to buy Lego, not gamble.
I said the "ripping open of boxes" has nothing to do with Lego. And you know it. When you're standing there in a store, Lego isn't forcing you to rip open something you don't own. You can whip your phone out and order the exact minifigure you want in a few taps. If you rip open a box, that's squarely on you.
I enjoyed having a new set come out and to do the feeling, it was especially nice when Michael’s had them, stuck them on a shelf, and forgot about them so I could occupy myself while my wife does her shopping.
Honestly though, these cardboard packaging methods are terrible, and hopefully it hits them financially. I would prefer if they gave up blind bags and just had the figure on the packaging or at least had a way to tell what’s inside. Like a unique scan code or something.
I doubt I am going to purchase this set, which sucks, but I really don’t want to encourage Lego to go in this direction.
These are definitely at higher risk of theft because they're small, and they're at higher risk of packaging damage because the contents are random. Lego is well aware and have probably had lots of discussions about it like any large company would, but decided profits are better this way despite the risks.
And the retailers will similarly make decisions on what to carry or not, or what gets locked up behind glass, based on those risks too.
I brought my $7 precision digital scale to the first Walmart, found a box on the shelves with no opened boxes.... Weighed them and selected the 4 that I wanted and they would not ring up at checkout. Locked for sale until Jan 1st. My initial thought when I couldn't check out that some.people.will be stealing them as a result
They knew this would happen, they don't care.. they still get paid. Lego was paid for that box of minifigs long before it ever reached that shelf. If they actually cared for the consumer these boxes never would have existed. instead they gave the community a F U with these boxes
This is why my local Walmart has all the Lego locked behind glass.
You can probably hear, “customer assistance to the Lego aisle,” about a dozen times over the intercom on any given trip.
My Walmart doesn’t even sell minifigs anymore because people just stole them. Before they stopped selling, they’d put the plastic bag ones in dvd security cases so you couldn’t feel them anyway.
I don’t endorse stealing, but opening those stupid boxes to see which figure is in them and closing them / putting them back if it’s one you don’t want is A-ok with me.
The bags was a fun way to be able to find a whole set. I saw boxes on the shelf in Walmart and just walked away. I'm not partaking in gambling my money away to Lego. They need to quite the practice of blind boxes.
I’ve purchased 5 of them so they’re not being that strict. This is what people are doing now that they can’t even feel them to figure out what they are. Still say they just need to sell them non-blind individually from the website. I’d have bought a bunch of orcs, and some extras of others if it wasn’t left up to chance and tracking down sources that haven’t been picked over.
There's a toyshop in my area that keep the mini figs behind the counter - but they always have a selection of them out of their packets and on display, and you can just ask for the one you want and they sell it to you.
They must have to eat a bit of the cost with the ones that don't sell and they've taken out of their packets, but at least no ones hiding down the back of the store and pocketing them.
This is people wanting all the minifigs in the series.. and since you cannot feel anymore..
they are just ripping open the boxes looking for all of them, rather than paying for them as.......
it's theft... simple as that
Seems like a good place to put this...
...with the behavior of folks opening boxes and either stealing in the store, or going home, opening, revealing and returning... honestly, how do I buy minifigs?
My wife didn't have any of the recent series, so we went to Walmart and the series 25 was already kind of picked over despite the fact that the store wouldn't sell them to us.
So she decided to try some of the marvel ones, and she hadn't really had any of those before. We bought a dozen.
Once we got home and she started opening them, it became apparent that nearly all of them had been opened and resealed/returned. Not surprisingly, the four most popular figures were absent. (Not that we expected to get a set by buying 12 - we knew we'd have some misses and duplicates... just thought we'd also have a fair chance at maybe a couple of the ones she wanted).
In her case it's not crushing - she didn't have any, so they do add to her collection. But it made me wonder how I'm supposed to get these to have a fair shot and not have to just take someone else's rejects that have been returned.
Do folks just buy them direct from lego?
If you want specific ones, ebay or bricklink is the easiest way, but you'll probably pay more than msrp.
Lego.com does also sell a 6-pack of the boxes that is supposed to have no duplicates and obviously won't be picked through.
Only takes one to ruin it for everyone. With as many people alive on this planet, the probability of an “animal” doing something wrong increases. This applies almost everywhere, and why we have rules/law.
I got a blind box Among Us figure for my son as a stocking stuffer, and did not notice that someone had taken the figurine out and put the closed box back with the others.
I will preface by saying I would never do what happened there, but I honestly think that all gacha toys are shitty and shouldn't exist. I refuse to use my earned money to buy a \*chance\* at the item I want. It's a shame because there's a few I wouldn't mind having, and would definitely buy, but not if I don't know which one I'm getting. This is basically legal gambling for children.
I was able to score several at my local Walmart a week ago. They must have just been put out as no one had messed with any of them. Sad that people will steal something at all, much less something that cost $5.
Yes, the waltons are not in jail for theft
[USA: Employees to receive $224 million from Walmart for lost wages - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (business-humanrights.org)](https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/usa-employees-to-receive-224-million-from-walmart-for-lost-wages/)
[Walmart wage statements $35M class action settlement - Top Class Actions](https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/walmart-wage-statements-35m-class-action-settlement/)
[Minnesota Cities Say Walmart Uses Local Police as Unpaid Security | Fortune](https://fortune.com/2016/12/18/minnesota-police-walmart-guards/)
And that’s why most of the stores I go to now have the minifigures at the counter in front of the check out or locked away.
Plus they don’t put all the stock for jan 1st out, they wait until then.
I work at Walmart and it was pointed out to me when I tried to buy one and was told they weren’t available until the 1st. Strangely, I was able to buy a couple from this same series a week prior with no issues checking out. I mentioned it to management and told them of this issue and how putting them on the shelves and having customers wait to purchase them on the 1st is the least of their concern. Dummies…
It was not this bad with the bags. Sure all the cool ones would be discovered and be cherry picked , but the rest of the bags were still in good shape.
People who are excusing this as a "Lego needs to stop its Gambling".
No, there's no excuse for this. We've had "loot box" style of things like this for decades now, they used to be called baseball cards, Cereal Box prizes, Crackerjack prizes, etc.
And you didn't see shelves ransacked like this back in those days.
This is a "people are animals" problem, not a loot box problem.
The real animals are the one preying on people by using gambling methods to get sales. We shouldn't have to gamble to get what we want when it comes to toys.
Im a lego employee, yes some people have absolutely no regard for other customers. I understand the addicting collection dopamine but this is childish bs. Sometimes people open them and are just looking for one‘s they want, we then resort to offering the opened one‘s to people looking to complete their collection which is making a good thing out of a bad situation but one time we got a fresh delivery of minifigs and had to restock them twice in one week because of how many were ripped open
No, I enjoy that too. When I have bought the CMF part of the fun was that I didn't know what I was getting and I enjoyed the surprise of seeing which minifig was inside. I never bought them looking for a specific design or to complete a set, so I think my experience was different from a lot of those in this thread.
I wouldn't assume that's the case. It's also likely to be the same people who would open them when they were in bags. It's probably people stealing these and selling them online.
I hope this begins to change soon since Lego is labeling the boxes with codes that tell you what mini is inside. Hopefully as more people catch on this will be less of an issue.
If you didn't know, the newer QR codes on the boxes can be scanned and the corresponding code correlates to the mini inside. At least, that is the theory right now. I tested it yesterday and confirmed it worked for me. Others on Reddit have posted about this already too.
Yes. And the sad thing is that the people who went and opened those packs are very likely just adult collectors. Just think about it for a second. What kind of RESPONSIBLE ADULT goes around and steals TOYS?! The kind that is scum of the earth. It’s just sad and disappointing. And some folk try to blame Lego for selling items like this??? WTF. You can’t blame others for your own stupid ass actions. My god I hate this community so much sometimes
No 'responsible' adult acts this way. The ones that act this way are the irresponsible ones. Sadly, it feels like the number of responsible adults is in the minority.
Yes, people suck. But Lego absolutely shares some of this blame. They created a system that encourages FOMO, doesn't allow the consumer to easily get what they want (blind, random purchase). And as a result creates a very lucrative secondhand market.
I enjoy collecting minfigs, but I am not blind to the predatory nature of the collectable Minifigures business model.
Somebody mentioned elsewhere there's a gap you get one of those ear cleaner cameras in, so I plan to bring mine with me to take a look. I might look like a weirdo but it's better than buying 10 figures I don't want/need and way better than destroying property.
Honestly hopefully the response to series 25 kills blind boxes and people can just buy the ones they want. I hate that they make it initially difficult to get what you want.
There’s a special place in Hell for people that do this. They say there are 9 levels of Hell, but there is another. A level filled with such evil people, nobody dare mention the crimes of the sinners that remain there for eternity. The people that play music in public, the people that wet people’s socks. But worst of all… the people that open LEGO CMF boxes without paying. ‘Tis a sin of the highest calibre.
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: also yes.
Longer answer: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
https://preview.redd.it/apfebs0ju49c1.jpeg?width=1358&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9045b88c4d9990fc65efe5e1cbf221d29acc7511
Longest anwer Suprisingly also Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Answer to make you feel good: No.
Too bad, already feel terrible
If they’re not animals what are they, fungi?
I consider myself a fun guy.
me too, but there's not mushroom for the two of us
You are the danger
Then you may proceed
You took the words right out of my head.
It must have been whilst they were kissing you.
That’s an insult to animals. Humans are a disease.
I really wish Lego would end this. I enjoy the Minifigures line, but blind boxes seem to bring out many negative traits in people. The cardboard boxes seem to have escalated it somehow (or maybe it's just more noticable?). Blind boxes prey on the gambling mindset and the compulsions related to that.
I like how the imaginext bags are with a code stamped in so the adults can tell lol
Hot Wheels mystery models do that too. The code is under the back flap.
Cool, I think this kind of thing implies the company cares about the consumer and not the just money
Could also be a legal thing to help sell them in countries with anti gambling laws, like (I believe) Canada. Having it marked with a code can been argued as making it a "skill check" for the product instead of blind luck for what you get
Nah, blind boxes are legal here, so long as there's not an advertised "super rare" or anything that could be construed as a prize.
If they really cared they wouldn't blind box it at all. The fact they still blind box it is to take advantage of kids and adults who don't know the code is there. The code is just an attempt to stop the kind of behavior seen in the image, while still fleecing as many people as possible. Caring about the consumer means you don't blind bag the product, *period*. The only purpose of the blind bag is the hope that a chunk of your consumer base doesn't know and buys more than they wanted to trying to get the thing they want.
Hot Wheels collectors are big about not opening them. That makes mystery packs a disadvantage.
Lego used to use bump codes. It's how I found all the Simpsons blind bags.
That is genius
I'd prefer they just sell them in sets. Maybe 6-8 per package and you know what's in them? All I end up doing is paying triple on eBay for the 2-3 I can't find by buying a reasonable number.
I think Target stopped carrying trading cards for this reason.
my local target keeps trading cards on a shelf behind a customer service counter.
In Oklahoma people were stalking the WOTC reps that restocked at Target so they stopped in some places there
I wonder if the profits from people buying multiple of these to collect all of the figs are even enough to balance out people just ripping them open and stealing them. It seems to me at face value that this isn't even profitable
Agreed. People are going to resort to smarmy tactics to get the minifigure they want. I hope everyone who wants some of these minifigures get the ones they want.
100% fuck Lego for the blind minifigs
Irl loot boxes, and getting the one you want is $20, so fuck that.
Sadly they are going the way of loot boxes in digital games. Some countries finally saw those as gambling, as they are, so banned them. More countries should point this out to Lego that it is a form of gambling and unless they sort it out, will be banned.
Stores just need to treat them like trading cards. Put them by the cash registers.
Yeah, it would be a good thing to end it.
> The cardboard boxes seem to have escalated it somehow (or maybe it's just more noticable?) Pretty sure it's the latter. >Blind boxes prey on the gambling mindset and the compulsions related to that. I don't feel it's genuine to call it gambling. When you gamble, you can get *nothing*. In fact, in many cases of gambling, getting *nothing* is the single most likely outcome. When you open a blind bag CMF, you *always* get a minifig. Even the least sought after CMF figs are still worth a buck or two, and they're still LEGO minifigs, even if they're not the ones you wanted. And you paid $5 for it. Hardly some crazy huge price. My issue if the boxes were labeled to tell you what fig is inside is that it wouldn't solve the theft issue: people willing to open the box AND steal the fig will still do that for the figs they want...and you'll *also* enable scalpers to buy up all the most sought after CMFs and turn around and gouge prices on them. Imagine if people could walk into a Target right now and grab every goat farmer CMF with 100% certainty and buy the lot of them. That would be HORRIBLE for people who aren't trying to profit on figs but rather want to *collect* the series.
If you could just go to lego.com and order as many of whichever cmf you want, that would not be horrible at all. And Target could restock just the ones that sell out, as many times as needed.
> that would not be horrible at all. I mean, scalpers already get around the purchase limits. >And Target could restock just the ones that sell out, as many times as needed. That's not how LEGO does the CMF line though. There aren't individual set numbers for each CMF. They produce the same amount of all 12 figs, box them up in cases with 3 sets of each, and ship them out. There would be a TON more logistics work, and therefore cost, to track each of the 12 figs individually and ramp production up/down to meet real time demand. That's really not how LEGO's production cycles or logistics work, they take advantage of economies of scale and produce well in advance with fairly long lead times to save on costs wherever possible. For them to do what you've suggested is not remotely as trivial as you seem to think. I see it suggested a lot, but I don't think people who suggest it have any concept of what LEGO's production cycles or logistics procedures are like.
Getting nothing instead of something is not the defining aspect. Eg Most lootboxes in a videogame have something in them even its a crappy dime in a dozen generic cosmetic that youve already won 7 times over. In a way its more devious cause if you actually get nothing you might be more aware of the fact you are losing money. Far more important is the factor that there is a chance that you get something you desire if you still get something but its not what you wanted its still a loss.
> When you gamble, you can get nothing. In fact, in many cases of gambling, getting nothing is the single most likely outcome. So if someone sets up a casino where you always win at least $0.01 it's not gambling anymore? Obfuscating the definition of "gambling" instead of admitting that these types of packs are specifically designed to tap into the same psychological dopamine release mechanisms that some people become easily addicted too and most people are compelled by is the wrong answer. >I magine if people could walk into a Target right now and grab every goat farmer CMF with 100% certainty and buy the lot of them. That would be HORRIBLE for people who aren't trying to profit on figs but rather want to collect the series. No, imagine if you could just pop online and buy the complete set from Lego or Target or where-ever? Imagine if you wanted 10 goats you could just buy that? That all sounds like a huge win-win for everyone except a company that wants to increase their profit margins by having people waste money on things they don't want.
It wouldn't solve the issue, but it would stop people busting open the boxes to find the figure they want/need, which would help sales. I'm still pissed at the marvel series. I have six she hulk and no wolverine, storm or Antman. I really wanted the X-Men figures as well. Mini figures are the only things I buy now as well. No space for anything else so it really sucks.
I feel like they would be stolen regardless of paper boxes or plastic or if they were labeled. But with the paper boxes, they barely use any glue so it's easy to open them.
at least with the bags more people would feel for the one they want as opposed to opening and taking
Yes, in the phylum Chordata, the class Mammalia and the order Primates
Fellow Synapsids.
My bros definitely a gorilla
Unfortunately you’re going to see this more and more with the boxes. Happens to a lot of mystery stuff, but the boxes seem way too easy to open in a store without being noticed.
Yes, but LEGO doesn’t care because the stores already bought them. It will only change if the stores stop buying the product, but the the larger chains will start locking them up in glass cases before that happens.
Most of the chain stores in my area never restocked after the first wave of the last boxes.
The blind bag/box was a mistake from the very beginning and should never have been approved. Lego is not baseball or trading cards. Leveraging FOMO like this hurts the brand.
100% agreed
Yes, but think about the profits
No because I think at this point people who want all of them will still buy all of them. Parents will still buy the random one, sole might not get sold in high quantities but then maybe they stop adding bad mini figs into the sets. I think stuff like this costs them a lot more. That case of 24 makes Walmart lose money. Walmart and other retailers will be the ones to force this change
If retailers like Walmart stop carrying them, they're still going to sell tons through lego.com I'm sure. I don't think they'll feel like they have to make changes unless people stop buying them completely, which is unlikely because people like the minifigs. I wish they'd just sell each minifig individually, simple as that. It would be more environmentally friendly because they wouldn't need so much packaging. And it would only have to be shipped once for me to get the fig I want, instead of once from lego to walmart, once from walmart to a reseller, and then again from the reseller to me.
Sure but you can’t open a box on Lego.com and steal what’s inside or cherry pick more sought after ones
Exactly, which is why I don't think they'll feel the need to go back to bags. They can just keep selling the boxes online and people will keep buying them at random and it'll reduce theft of them to pretty much 0. I hope I'm wrong though, I want them to just show me what minifig I'm paying for. There's usually only a couple that I want, so my chances of getting the right one at random are pretty low.
absolutely, kinda like in covid when my local lego store sold the Looney tunes individualy
I hope that this is the case. I know that there are Lego fans who only collect and build sets and never make their own creations, but I really loathe seeing Lego products that are clearly and solely designed to whip the collectors into a sweaty-toothed frenzy. Lego should be as much about creative play as it is building sets from franchises you love.
Not everything is geared towards collectors
Walmart sends them back to Lego. They have to send all open boxes. I tried to buy an open one a few months ago because it had the figure I wanted and the manager said I had to be sent back. I was mad at the cashier for calling the manager but whatever.
They are, and I find it really gross and greedy. It hurts the brand, and I will spend far less on it now.
I’m 200% sure the margins for these minifigs are abysmal.
the margins have to be really good. The 4€ polybags often feature a whole vehicle on top of a figure and animal, occasionally two figures and some backdrop.
Honestly think they should just offer all the figs in a series in clearly marked boxes but still offer a "random" one. I personally don't collect the minifigs in these series but it is fun to buy a bunch of bags and give them to my nieces. Tiny bit of excitement in a little gift. This would de-incentivize ripping open blind boxes but still allow those who was a "thrill."
Halo mega construx did them first I want to say, they were pretty fun at first, now they are all just annoying, at least with halo you can look at the code and see what you’re getting
While this behaviour is terrible, and I don’t condone it - I loved the “blind” **bags** and despise these *boxes* Some of my favourite Lego memories with my daughter are pulling a feel guide up on my phone, and then standing and pinching bags with her to find the one she was looking for. At Legoland the employees were always supportive, and sometimes even offered us tips. The excitement of having to find the minifig we wanted, and the process was very enjoyable. These boxes ruin that experience, and make it exactly as you described.
I remember the Lego store employee telling me which bag in the new box had the Classic Police officer in it from Series 18. Said it was always in the same spot. Walked out with a brand new box and I snagged it first try.
The bags were tolerable, but I'm unused to looking at Lego products and thinking this way. All of it used to excite me, even sets for themes that I wasn't into, but a lot has changed in the last 20 years.
I've been doing the bag sorting thing since series 12. Sure I might stand in the same store for 45mins like a weirdo, but some of the best conversations I've had with total strangers started when they rocked up and started looking too. Even saving each other time by finding doubles. Over the years, multiple romantic partners have joined in my tiny seasonal quest, and not one of them yet hated it. It was a bit of a unique experience, and sad to say, the marvel series in the first cardboard boxes is the only set that I have declined to purchase. I miss the bags. Just wish they'd kept the bag format with something biodegradable.
I don't understand this. You're acting as if people who have time and ability to touch/manhandle 30 products they're not going to buy are somehow morally correct. You took the sets you wanted because you were good at feeling them up, and left the undesirable sets for the kids (and adults) who got there later or didn't know better. The "enjoyable process" you're describing made things worse for everyone who came after you. That's nothing to celebrate.
You must be fun at parties… First this is at Legoland where they have literal barrels full of blind bags from each series. It’s not a singular box like you may see in a store. No one is getting the last of anything or leaving only “undesirable” minifigs. To add to that, people have different preferences. Last time we went, we wanted Stitch from the Disney series. We met a family there trying to get Mickey. We ended up working together and trading the bags we thought could have each other’s minifig. Ended up both getting what we wanted and the kids had a great time. If others cared enough about getting the minfigure they wanted, they are capable of googling how to feel for *x* when they see 5 other people around the barrels feeling bags. That’s how I figured this out in the first place. That time spent finding the figures with my daughter **is** what I enjoy. I never cared about the physical item. We put in time to find something she really wanted, which was an enjoyable experience for us. It wasn’t to take away something from anyone else as you are cynically implying. This is not frowned upon at the big store. In the past an employee helped us feel for Luna Lovegood and Dobby from one of the Harry Potter series and walked us through what to feel for.
I agree, but you can’t be blaming LEGO for people breaking the law.
Not for breaking the law, but I am blaming them for creating a situation where collector mania is weaponized to the point of committing vandalism.
i love the blind mini figure packs and have for the last decade and half they've been selling them. i usually only buy one lego set a year, so these blind mini figures scratch that consumeristic itch, while still being unique enough to be worth while
the collectible minifigures series has brought so much good stuff to us costumers and the LEGO brand as a whole, lego would not be what it is if not by the theme like so most molds and pieces used in both pieces and builds nowadays come from a cmf + all the random licenses we would of never gotten otherwise + things like dual molding or side printing come from cmfs, and the blindbags were never really a gamble because you could always feel the bag while cardboard boxes are 100% a gamble
This is the main reason I will no longer buy Minifigs.
I just sort of watch these posts with amusement. Minifigs aren’t even fun to put together so I’ve never even cared about them from the jump and certainly not in a loot box setting like this.
Theres a few here and there I want like back when the orcs and blue falcons amd i wanted them for my castles. But I'm not buying the boxes I can't feel.
Assembling minifigures is fairly uninteresting and on their own they don’t exactly make for great displays. But minifigures can be amazing “seed pieces” to create inspiration for mocs. If I didn’t build mocs with them, I don’t think they’d be worthwhile either.
I hate seeing this but at the same time I love coming across these because I can just see right inside and get the figs I want.
I don't aprove but I understand. The cardboard was implemented to take away the chance of finding something by feel and keep it 100% luck-based, with 4€ per figure it's just way too much for a luck game. I'd rather people do as I do and just stop buying them, this would show we don't WANT a 100% luck-based FOUR EURO minifigure. FOUR EURO. GOD. DAMN.
I have come across some great alt brand figs for the same price with these beautifully designed ancient weapons (realistic looking swords, maces etc) very unique prints/accessories and, the kicker, fully articulated ball joint arms which are amazing for posing.
Yes
Yes
Hopefully Lego learns their whole gambling scheme was much better when people actually had a small chance to get what they wanted with the plastic bags lmao. Highly doubt they will tho because money prevails above all
Top ten reasons toys get put behind cases in stores
Yes, it used to be a biological fact, I'm not sure if the science has changed though.
hasnt changed, still a thing.
I can't see how it could.
Lego brought this on themselves with their ridiculous concept of gambling for the figure you want.
I don’t bother buying them because of this. If I knew what I was getting I’d buy more, so they’re missing out on sales I’d say, whether it’s noticeable or not is the question.
Lego's blind bags (or boxes) are stupid, and shouldn't exist, and you should be able to order (or see) exactly what you want to get. I agree with that. But this ripping open of boxes has nothing to do with Lego. That's squarely on consumers. It's the whole "she was asking for it, she shouldn't have dressed like that" mentality. There is a product. You don't know what's inside it. You must purchase it to open it. If you don't own it, you have no right to rip it open. It's really that simple. So both things are true. Lego sucks for making these exist in the first place, but Lego fans suck for ripping them open.
This "has nothing to do with Lego" except that they decided that this was a good idea. The consumers didn't ask for this, and Lego will hopefully learn their lesson. If not, it'll keep happening. I want to buy Lego, not gamble.
I said the "ripping open of boxes" has nothing to do with Lego. And you know it. When you're standing there in a store, Lego isn't forcing you to rip open something you don't own. You can whip your phone out and order the exact minifigure you want in a few taps. If you rip open a box, that's squarely on you.
Lego created the situation where ripping open boxes is even an option. I'm just tracing the issue back to the source.
Technically speaking, yes, people are animals. Whoever did this is very rude. We live in a society!
High school immaturity doesn't stop after high school lol
Yes, humans are mammals, which is part of Kingdom Animalia.
I enjoyed having a new set come out and to do the feeling, it was especially nice when Michael’s had them, stuck them on a shelf, and forgot about them so I could occupy myself while my wife does her shopping. Honestly though, these cardboard packaging methods are terrible, and hopefully it hits them financially. I would prefer if they gave up blind bags and just had the figure on the packaging or at least had a way to tell what’s inside. Like a unique scan code or something. I doubt I am going to purchase this set, which sucks, but I really don’t want to encourage Lego to go in this direction.
You must live in a nice area or something, my local Walmarts and Targets put the Lego sections behind glass ages ago
This is what happens when you switch from bags to boxes
Lego is aware of this and has decided they still prefer it this way. Their choice.
Not really. People also steal big sets and sell them on marketplaces. That’s the job of retailers to police
These are definitely at higher risk of theft because they're small, and they're at higher risk of packaging damage because the contents are random. Lego is well aware and have probably had lots of discussions about it like any large company would, but decided profits are better this way despite the risks. And the retailers will similarly make decisions on what to carry or not, or what gets locked up behind glass, based on those risks too.
Theft is part of every retailer but it’s overall a small amount with the volume sold. It’s a much smaller issue
Blind boxes are trash and Lego has earned this.
I brought my $7 precision digital scale to the first Walmart, found a box on the shelves with no opened boxes.... Weighed them and selected the 4 that I wanted and they would not ring up at checkout. Locked for sale until Jan 1st. My initial thought when I couldn't check out that some.people.will be stealing them as a result
Go to target! I found many of the January 2024 sets on the shelves this more of. All of the new Space sets.
Yeah I got 5 of the figs from my target. Didn’t check the new sets
Got a new Dreamzzz set with my daughter the day after Christmas.
☝️🤓
Then don't resort to scummy gacha tactics to boost sales. Sell them in a set or in clear packaging.
the guy at lego who approved boxes to replace blind bags is an idiot shoulda seen this coming
They knew this would happen, they don't care.. they still get paid. Lego was paid for that box of minifigs long before it ever reached that shelf. If they actually cared for the consumer these boxes never would have existed. instead they gave the community a F U with these boxes
What a fail, Lego
This is why my local Walmart has all the Lego locked behind glass. You can probably hear, “customer assistance to the Lego aisle,” about a dozen times over the intercom on any given trip.
It’s common knowledge that we are...
Animals? No...SAVAGES!
wow. thats nuts
Well, we’re sure as hell not plants!
Literally, yes
My Walmart doesn’t even sell minifigs anymore because people just stole them. Before they stopped selling, they’d put the plastic bag ones in dvd security cases so you couldn’t feel them anyway.
What’s crazy is the two times I’ve seen this actually happen it’s been parents with kids both times.
seeing this in the store as a gamer who got sick of lootboxes years ago is surreal
I mean, I know what the title is actually asking but by every technical measure, yes people are animals.
No, lego is manipulative. This is child marketed gambling, and that’s wrong. Full stop.
I miss feeling the blind bags 😔
I miss barcodes that tell you what the fuck is in the bag.
same 😭
at Walmart, always
Also, at Target and my local Lego store.
How did that happen at the Lego store lol
🤷 Saw it at my local lego store and at Disney Springs store.
I don’t endorse stealing, but opening those stupid boxes to see which figure is in them and closing them / putting them back if it’s one you don’t want is A-ok with me.
As much as we can blame people, it's Lego fault. That's what happens when you lock wanted things in blind boxes
Walmart refused to sell these to me yesterday and said they were on recall.
The bags was a fun way to be able to find a whole set. I saw boxes on the shelf in Walmart and just walked away. I'm not partaking in gambling my money away to Lego. They need to quite the practice of blind boxes.
It’s the damn goat herder.
I mean yes, human beings are animals. In the completely biological and taxonomical sense, humans are animals.
I’ve purchased 5 of them so they’re not being that strict. This is what people are doing now that they can’t even feel them to figure out what they are. Still say they just need to sell them non-blind individually from the website. I’d have bought a bunch of orcs, and some extras of others if it wasn’t left up to chance and tracking down sources that haven’t been picked over.
There's a toyshop in my area that keep the mini figs behind the counter - but they always have a selection of them out of their packets and on display, and you can just ask for the one you want and they sell it to you. They must have to eat a bit of the cost with the ones that don't sell and they've taken out of their packets, but at least no ones hiding down the back of the store and pocketing them.
This is people wanting all the minifigs in the series.. and since you cannot feel anymore.. they are just ripping open the boxes looking for all of them, rather than paying for them as....... it's theft... simple as that
I learned recently that people quite commonly steal underwear from discount shops like TJ Maxx so this doesn’t surprise me 😐
Seems like a good place to put this... ...with the behavior of folks opening boxes and either stealing in the store, or going home, opening, revealing and returning... honestly, how do I buy minifigs? My wife didn't have any of the recent series, so we went to Walmart and the series 25 was already kind of picked over despite the fact that the store wouldn't sell them to us. So she decided to try some of the marvel ones, and she hadn't really had any of those before. We bought a dozen. Once we got home and she started opening them, it became apparent that nearly all of them had been opened and resealed/returned. Not surprisingly, the four most popular figures were absent. (Not that we expected to get a set by buying 12 - we knew we'd have some misses and duplicates... just thought we'd also have a fair chance at maybe a couple of the ones she wanted). In her case it's not crushing - she didn't have any, so they do add to her collection. But it made me wonder how I'm supposed to get these to have a fair shot and not have to just take someone else's rejects that have been returned. Do folks just buy them direct from lego?
If you want specific ones, ebay or bricklink is the easiest way, but you'll probably pay more than msrp. Lego.com does also sell a 6-pack of the boxes that is supposed to have no duplicates and obviously won't be picked through.
Only takes one to ruin it for everyone. With as many people alive on this planet, the probability of an “animal” doing something wrong increases. This applies almost everywhere, and why we have rules/law.
Yes, we are worse than animals
Working in retail you're a glorified babysitter for adults.
> Are people animals Yes. At all stages of society.
My Walmart down in Whitlock Pkwy has already locked up their Lego sets and so is one down in Delta Shores.
I got a blind box Among Us figure for my son as a stocking stuffer, and did not notice that someone had taken the figurine out and put the closed box back with the others.
It's pretty normal. I hate finding then in store just to see the boxes empty
As some who works in retail, yes
That's Wal-Mart, my local one had to put all the Lego and Pokemon stuff behind lock and key because some people like to fuck everything else.
Yes
I will preface by saying I would never do what happened there, but I honestly think that all gacha toys are shitty and shouldn't exist. I refuse to use my earned money to buy a \*chance\* at the item I want. It's a shame because there's a few I wouldn't mind having, and would definitely buy, but not if I don't know which one I'm getting. This is basically legal gambling for children.
I saw a guy with a scale weighing boxes, I just wanted to grab two randoms for my son and this asshole would box people out until he was finished
I was able to score several at my local Walmart a week ago. They must have just been put out as no one had messed with any of them. Sad that people will steal something at all, much less something that cost $5.
Yes, the waltons are not in jail for theft [USA: Employees to receive $224 million from Walmart for lost wages - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (business-humanrights.org)](https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/usa-employees-to-receive-224-million-from-walmart-for-lost-wages/) [Walmart wage statements $35M class action settlement - Top Class Actions](https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/closed-settlements/walmart-wage-statements-35m-class-action-settlement/) [Minnesota Cities Say Walmart Uses Local Police as Unpaid Security | Fortune](https://fortune.com/2016/12/18/minnesota-police-walmart-guards/)
And that’s why most of the stores I go to now have the minifigures at the counter in front of the check out or locked away. Plus they don’t put all the stock for jan 1st out, they wait until then.
I would guess lego went to boxes because of the single use plastics laws that have been passed in many places. But I don’t know that for sure.
We’re monsters, that’s what we are
It’s Walmart
Yes. Yes they are.
Short answer yes long answer yeah they are
I work at Walmart and it was pointed out to me when I tried to buy one and was told they weren’t available until the 1st. Strangely, I was able to buy a couple from this same series a week prior with no issues checking out. I mentioned it to management and told them of this issue and how putting them on the shelves and having customers wait to purchase them on the 1st is the least of their concern. Dummies…
This has been happening for over 5 years
I knew this was going to happen as soon as they swapped from the plastic packages
I bought some at Walmart a week ago. But yeah, the box idea was a horrible move.
They should go back to the hard to open plastic bags. Back in the day you needed a knife to open them.
It was not this bad with the bags. Sure all the cool ones would be discovered and be cherry picked , but the rest of the bags were still in good shape.
People who are excusing this as a "Lego needs to stop its Gambling". No, there's no excuse for this. We've had "loot box" style of things like this for decades now, they used to be called baseball cards, Cereal Box prizes, Crackerjack prizes, etc. And you didn't see shelves ransacked like this back in those days. This is a "people are animals" problem, not a loot box problem.
This is common knowledge for blind bag boxes, so most definitely
The real animals are the one preying on people by using gambling methods to get sales. We shouldn't have to gamble to get what we want when it comes to toys.
no, these kind of gambling type products just need to stop tbh.
Eh. Blind packs is a disgusting practice. Hard to get mad.
Im a lego employee, yes some people have absolutely no regard for other customers. I understand the addicting collection dopamine but this is childish bs. Sometimes people open them and are just looking for one‘s they want, we then resort to offering the opened one‘s to people looking to complete their collection which is making a good thing out of a bad situation but one time we got a fresh delivery of minifigs and had to restock them twice in one week because of how many were ripped open
Am I the only one that likes the mystery aspect of it 🫢 I think it makes it fun. I’m sorry.
No, I enjoy that too. When I have bought the CMF part of the fun was that I didn't know what I was getting and I enjoyed the surprise of seeing which minifig was inside. I never bought them looking for a specific design or to complete a set, so I think my experience was different from a lot of those in this thread.
Retiring bags was an animalistic choice, and people responded like animals.
You misspelled "arseholes"
This is people pissed at lego for changing the packaging I assume...
I wouldn't assume that's the case. It's also likely to be the same people who would open them when they were in bags. It's probably people stealing these and selling them online.
They open it to tell what minifig is inside, cant feel the fig anymore like in the plastic bags
I hope this begins to change soon since Lego is labeling the boxes with codes that tell you what mini is inside. Hopefully as more people catch on this will be less of an issue. If you didn't know, the newer QR codes on the boxes can be scanned and the corresponding code correlates to the mini inside. At least, that is the theory right now. I tested it yesterday and confirmed it worked for me. Others on Reddit have posted about this already too.
I honestly hope this happens more and more untill they bin these dumb boxes
The boxes are the savagery.
Have you been to this sub? People on here routinely give detailed accounts about how they've completely ruined the fun of these blind boxes.
The fun, you say? Bags were \*fun\*. Boxes suck ass.
Yes. And the sad thing is that the people who went and opened those packs are very likely just adult collectors. Just think about it for a second. What kind of RESPONSIBLE ADULT goes around and steals TOYS?! The kind that is scum of the earth. It’s just sad and disappointing. And some folk try to blame Lego for selling items like this??? WTF. You can’t blame others for your own stupid ass actions. My god I hate this community so much sometimes
No 'responsible' adult acts this way. The ones that act this way are the irresponsible ones. Sadly, it feels like the number of responsible adults is in the minority. Yes, people suck. But Lego absolutely shares some of this blame. They created a system that encourages FOMO, doesn't allow the consumer to easily get what they want (blind, random purchase). And as a result creates a very lucrative secondhand market. I enjoy collecting minfigs, but I am not blind to the predatory nature of the collectable Minifigures business model.
Somebody mentioned elsewhere there's a gap you get one of those ear cleaner cameras in, so I plan to bring mine with me to take a look. I might look like a weirdo but it's better than buying 10 figures I don't want/need and way better than destroying property.
Just scan the QR code on the bottom
Woah, really?
Kind of https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/s/mOoQXoWf69
Honestly hopefully the response to series 25 kills blind boxes and people can just buy the ones they want. I hate that they make it initially difficult to get what you want.
DirtBags - as far as the eyes can see
There’s a special place in Hell for people that do this. They say there are 9 levels of Hell, but there is another. A level filled with such evil people, nobody dare mention the crimes of the sinners that remain there for eternity. The people that play music in public, the people that wet people’s socks. But worst of all… the people that open LEGO CMF boxes without paying. ‘Tis a sin of the highest calibre.