Collectible Minifigure (CMF) Prices Going Up?

Yellowcastle

Though we haven't yet seen an increase in RRP here in the States, the LEGO Movie CMF are apparently £2.49 in the UK, up from the standard £1.99. Additionally, Brickset has the Simpsons Minifigures preloaded at $3.99, up from the standard $2.99. Do we think this is just a licensing thing or are there storm clouds coming?

There were a few recent comments in the LEGO Movie Merchandise thread about CMF pricing so I've brought them over here.

andhe

Saw these in my local Lego store... but at £2.49, I think i'll be passing. Or at least waiting for a voucher when they turn up in WHS, TRU, Tesco etc. Or a 2-4-1 in Argos.

Any idea why the price hike? A fiver for 2 figs seems a bit steep.

CCC

^ They are licensed.

I'm also waiting - probably for a 3 for 2 at Argos.

andhe

^Licensed from themselves? I appreciate it's a WB movie (I think) but surely TLG should have ironed out a deal that involved them being able to sell their own products and a normal cost.

CCC

Apparently not. It also means they will not sell the parts for the minifigs or the kitty via replacement parts.

LegoMom1

andhe said:

Saw these in my local Lego store... but at £2.49, I think i'll be passing. Or at least waiting for a voucher when they turn up in WHS, TRU, Tesco etc. Or a 2-4-1 in Argos.

Any idea why the price hike? A fiver for 2 figs seems a bit steep.

Interesting you report a price hike . I was surprised to find these at my local (US) TRU for less than their ususal RRP. No sale at the time either. They usually sell for $3.19, but had a sticker on the box for $2.99. Go figure.

Hardrada

Yeah, it's pretty weird that the price went up in the UK. Over here the RRP dropped from 2.5 EUR (Series 11) to 2.3 EUR (Lego Movie series).

Yellowcastle

Sigh...

TheLoneTensor

That's one way to wean people off them.

I guess this now belongs in the "LEGO Pricing Becoming Prohibitive to Collecting?" thread.

ACWWGal2011

Do we think this is just a licensing thing or are there storm clouds coming?

Gotta be lego becoming money hungry. there's no reason that Chinese plastic figures should cost that much;.

And no, it's not just a licensing thing since I saw someone post and image of series 12 as being 3.99.

I am jumping off the "SS minifigure".

pharmjod

Yeah, I won't continue buying a full set of 16 if they go to $4 a figure. That is just insane. I suspect many of the general public will feel the same.

margot

Polybag prices seem to be going way up as well, definitely not a good trend

rancorbait

^ Everything is going up, its called inflation ;o) indeed, definitely not a good trend!

pharmjod

This is not inflation. A 33% rise in MSRP is called gouging.

ACWWGal2011

rancorbait said:

^ Everything is going up, its called inflation ;o) indeed, definitely not a good trend!

prices rising by a LITTLE bit is inflation, lego friend bakery 28 piece polys w/ only a couple unusual parts being 5.60 when they should be about $3.50 and CMFs jumping by an entire dollar is lego being money hungry.

If they keep this up, you might see more people becoming clone brand buyers.

I already have plans of checking out 2 megablok things later in the year. This kind of rock em sock robot type things and spongebob sets that actually look good.

AdeelZubair

At Argos the Lego Movie ones are £2.29 and £2.29 for The Simpsons.

I have seen that Lego has rasied the price of the Build-A-Minifigure in Lego Stores; Normally £1.25 each or three for £3.50, now it's £1.99 each or three for £4.99. I'm not sure if the licensed parts in Build-A-Minifigure are making that price as Lego had Back to the Future minifigures in my Lego Store.

CCC

It wouldn't be so bad if they went for a more level distribution - if there were three complete sets per box.

I'd still get the ones I want, but I haven't paid £1.99 (previous RRP) for them in ages anyway. Argos 3for2, £5 off £12 at WHS, £1 sales to dump them. Stores make them cheap enough if they don't sell. And these are hardly ever going to become exclusive to the lego store, so lego cannot do price restrictions on them.

FoxyA19

They are £2.27 in my local Asda, I'd still prefer them to be £1.99!

TheLoneTensor

ACWWGal2011 said:

Do we think this is just a licensing thing or are there storm clouds coming?

Gotta be lego becoming money hungry. there's no reason that Chinese plastic figures should cost that much;.

And no, it's not just a licensing thing since I saw someone post and image of series 12 as being 3.99.

I am jumping off the "SS minifigure".

The best thing about this was the "since I saw someone post and image of series 12 as being 3.99..." part - @Yellowcastle's image was only two posts above yours, heh. Ok, the second part I liked was the "SS minifigure," which for a brief moment, made me think Lego was going in a WHOLE new direction with minifigures.

And I agree that the concept of 2 sets per box blows. If you don't perfect feeling, you're now going to be $4 on the hook for every Bad Cop/Mountain Climber/Skydiver you are saddled with.

Hardrada

I can sort of live with an inflated price on the Simpsons series. Unique heads, licence and all. And I'm not even interested in them so don't really care.

However 4 USD for a regular series that probably translates into 3-4 EUR in European prices is quite a bit insane. Even at the former price increase from 2 to 2.5 EUR the amount they sell seems to have taken a huge hit. In my country a lot fewer places did stock Series 6 and onwards (and even these stores ordered less) than Series 3 to 5. Right now Tesco over here sells Series 11 at 4 EUR (probably a pricing fluke as everyone else is selling at 2.3 to 2.5 EUR). And they are virtually selling none, it just sits there on the shelves untouched. At the 4 EUR price it's not even worth it for the rarer / more sought after figures.

Bumblepants

$4 is silly for a single minifigure. I already struggle with being willing to pay $3. I bet Mixels Series 2 will cost $5.99 each and 3 will be $6.99...

RomanticWarrior

So, is Series 12 The Simpsons? If so, the price hike makes sense. If not, maybe they are spreading the brunt of the cost of new molds for the Simpsons Series across all CMF series now.

ACWWGal2011

Stores make them cheap enough if they don't sell

it's a big time YMMV case. where I live, the majority of figures either sit around until they sell out, people steal the figures/open them up(rare but I have seen opened packets, or the figures are pulled and probably sent back. Sale prices are pretty much non-existent except for TRU sales.

CCC

RomanticWarrior said:

So, is Series 12 The Simpsons?

No

TheLoneTensor

RomanticWarrior said:

So, is Series 12 The Simpsons? If so, the price hike makes sense. If not, maybe they are spreading the brunt of the cost of new molds for the Simpsons Series across all CMF series now.

A 33% price hike for the Simpsons's series alone would be enough to take care of any new molds. No, that massive price gouge for Series 12 and beyond is pretty much all greed.

Though perhaps Series 12 will turn out to be some licensed theme, in which case it's still way too much of a hike. At least something like $3.19 would be understandable, I guess, but all the way to $4? forget that.

DavidBrickley

Maybe CMF and beyond, if not licensed themes, will have more accessory pieces...not saying it'd be worth the hike, but it'd be something.

FenrisAkashi

On the flipside of this if the price increase kills sales there will be more of these around come clearance time...And likely a change of attitude from Lego as the the price increase.

If the market will bear 3.99 however, then Lego is just doing what money making companies do.

pharmjod

I could be wrong, but no way the market will bear $3.99 a piece for standard CMF. Licensed themes perhaps. I could see super heroes doing well even at $3.99 (assuming there aren't 3-4 variations of Spider-Man/batman/superman in each series).

Places like Walmart and target and Kmart know how these sell at current prices. I suspect they will just order much less at the new price. Walmart already seems to do that. After the over abundance or series 5, I haven't seen more than a case or two of any series at Walmart.

FenrisAkashi

Considering at all the big box stores I come across these are almost always sold out I would be inclined to disagree.

But we are both going off of anecdotal evidence so only time will tell.

DrLegOBrick

I'm not going to buy the CMF figs for that price in the UK, it's a nice series and all but I refuse to pay that much for a figure. Marvel, yes, I have and would pay more on eBay etc for figures I'm missing or Marvel CMF's, but I'll completely pass on The Simpsons figs, and get the movie figs in bulk off eBay later in the year.

CCC

I know a couple of kids that would love multiple variations of batman / spiderman etc in a cmf series.

andhe

CCC said:

I know a couple of kids that would love multiple variations of batman / spiderman etc in a cmf series.

Variations yes. Identical Spider-man army... not so much.

mathew

To be fair, the other brick manufacturer polybag minifigs are subpar and they are priced at $3. My son likes the Halo minifigs, but aside from the articulation they don't feel worth $3 a piece. With that said, $4 for a CMF is overpriced.

The_Mad_Vulcan

I have paid $4 for the minifigs at the Walgreens by my house. Mainly because the other stores sold out quick or at least have been thinned down to the commons and also because I can simply feel for the one I want.

I'd happily pay $4 if I could see what I was buying - I'd probably save money that way.

Rainstorm26

I would be willing to pay $4 if they would be higher quality.

Basta

Interestingly we have been paying $5 ($4.49 USD/£2.70/€3.27) for as long as I can remember, series 4 onwards at least.

They seem to sell fine at that price, although I have always waited for at least 20% off sales or preferably 3 for 2.

I hope we don't see a price rise, but I'm not holding my breath.

pharmjod

FenrisAkashi said:

Considering at all the big box stores I come across these are almost always sold out I would be inclined to disagree.

But we are both going off of anecdotal evidence so only time will tell.

I don't disagree with this observation, but I think it is as much the stores get one or two cases (60-120 figures) and that is it. I never see restocking at Walmart and rarely at Target. Toys R Us seems to be the only place that regularly has them in stock. If the RRP goes up more, I don't see this trend changing and the big boxes may not buy as many as they are even now. Only time will tell, but at some point, there will be people that just will not buy them. $3.99 a piece is right about at that point for me. If they wanted to include more pieces for a mini scene (ala polybag) I wouldn't mind so much.

FenrisAkashi

^ I would love to see mini scenes as well.
Given all we know about Series 12 maybe they are moving in that direction. One can only hope.

legodude

I am surprised a lot of people think $4 is a lot for a minifig. That is bargain basket price for me, I am used to paying more for figs sold from sets and customs. I will take it since considering 99% have zero chance of ever seeing the light of day in any other theme. I don't buy all 16, just my must haves (4-5 usually). I also only collect 2-3 themes right now, so my buying for the year is very minor.

Also remember Series 12 is the MMO one. It will have codes for use in the game that unlocks stuff. I think the price change is permanent since Funcom said every future CMF Series will include codes for game DLC.

Yellowcastle

I'm not looking to subsidize an MMO with $4 Non-Licensed CMF. If S12 is Superheroes, then I'll play. If its anything like the first 11 series, I'm out as a complete collector, let alone as an army builder. I realize that we already have it so good in the US market but I'm drawing a line in the sand for myself.

Heck, I probably wouldn't collect as much of the entire brand at some of the UK prices but they do get some nice sales from time to time to make the markets a bit more competitive.

It would not really surprise me if TLG has been actively soft testing potential price increases through TRU these past few years. But I love a good conspiracy. :o)

CCC

I cannot see S12 being superheroes. The toy fair label said S12. If it was superheroes, it would have said superheroes. TLM is not series 12, Simpsons is not series 12. I cannot see any licensed series being called S12.

CCC

And I'm also out if the price subsidizes MMO. I'll buy on the secondary market without the code but not from retail.

MMO players and minifig collectors are two different groups, with a little overlap. I hope they don't annoy the two groups just to satisfy the overlap.

tamamahm

I am already out collecting entire series. At the same time, I also do not like the concept of subsidizing a game via the CMFs. It sounds like that is what may very well be happening, though. They are adding content to the CMFs, just not physical content.

Of course, if the game is any good, I could easily see kids/parents thinking $4 is a bargain.

TheLoneTensor

It sounds like they may be taking the Skylanders/Infinity path of figures/video games.

ACWWGal2011

TheLoneTensor said:

It sounds like they may be taking the Skylanders/Infinity path of figures/video games.

that MIGHT work for people into those sort of games but my gaming spot is the animal crossing series and a few old school Mario and wario games.

DavidBrickley

Even in the first 11 series, we've seen variations of earlier figures (how many different "evil" robots will the market bear?). I'll pay the higher price if the quality, selection, and value is present (pretty much like anything else I buy), but more of the same for more of my money, I'll stick with polybag and small figure-driven sets.

tamamahm

DavidBrickley said:

Even in the first 11 series, we've seen variations of earlier figures (how many different "evil" robots will the market bear?). I'll pay the higher price if the quality, selection, and value is present (pretty much like anything else I buy), but more of the same for more of my money, I'll stick with polybag and small figure-driven sets.

The difficult part for me is how many female minfigs do we see in polybags? :-/ (Friends ladyfigs are different than minifigs.)
For us two of my three reasons for buying CMFs are for female minifigs that we just do not get in regular sets.
(Friends polys are ladyfigs...not female minifigs.)

CCC

^^ those evil robots are balanced out by nice skaters.

The_Mad_Vulcan

I'm a fan of Evil Robots, bring on more Evil Robots.

mathew

TheLoneTensor said:

It sounds like they may be taking the Skylanders/Infinity path of figures/video games.

Talk about a money pit. We've spent a couple hundred on Skylander figures. So yeah, four bucks is cheap comparatively. However, the Skylander figures have chips inside them to save data and are overall well made.

jediami65

I have stopped collection Hasbro for the most part: What TLG is doing is similar to what Hasbro has done with Star Wars and other figures price wise and figures sit on shelves for months just waiting for sales and discount. Hasbro even went to cheaper material set of figures but even those have sat on shelves. I hope TLG does not, though I suspect they might, start going to inferior plastics just because the competition is using cheaper plastics.