LEGO Minifigures Series 13 - check the details from the new catalog

bobabricks

I'm amazed at how much these series 13 CMFs are worth on BrickLink. Even the most common ones like the Goblin are worth over $5. The unicorn girl is currently $11!

Kralaskan

How could they be worth more than $3.99? I can find all I want locally for that. If someone wants to give me $11 for unicorns deal, I have like 20 of them and can go get more for $3.99.
Is it just supply and demand for areas that don't have them?

VaderX

^^
The price is due to people like you how go buy out whole store at a time then just hoard them. Why would you need 160 figs if not for resale?

Kralaskan

I guess but I've never sold any. I give them away to my kids, grandkids and as gifts later.
Some i keep and trade later for older ones that iI don't have.
From what I've seen there isnt a shortage. Every store here has them and no we didn't buy them all. Many stores have many cases of 13s, 12s and Simpsons. I would buy more when they go on sale but that hardly ever happens. One store has 12 cases of Simpsons and 6 12s
They have had them for a long time and they don't seem to be selling at all.

waynegg

@Kralaskan‌
It's a simple matter if supply and demand, and the philosophy of never sell anything for less than you paid for it. Subsequently, you aren't paying $3.99 for them either; more like $4.30 each cause you're paying tax as well. Seventy cents is nothing. Then the ones with less per box, such as the Unicorns and Hot Dogs, get bought up first leaving you to go from store to store trying to find the handful you're missing. Time and gas are then expenses on top of the retail price. To add to that, many people can't feel the difference between a Goblin and a Hot Dog and a King and a etc. It's then easy to see how for some it's more cost effective, and much less of a hassle, to pay the relatively small extra premium to the kind person who's already done all that work for you.

That's the complete reason why things are worth what they are worth, and not just in minifigures but in life in general.

CCC

VaderX said:

^^
The price is due to people like you how go buy out whole store at a time then just hoard them. Why would you need 160 figs if not for resale?

To army build the ones you want to, and trade the others for previous CMFs.

paul88

Repercussions of people feeling the packs in this series: I found a snake charmer where the tongue of the snake was almost broke off (twisted and stress mark) and a samurai girl where the top thin armor pieces in front had horrible white stress marks from people feeling the packs. I really wish lego would go back to coding these. At least it would cut down on some of the damage being done to the more delicate parts :(

waynegg

It's not even necessary to feel that hard. You get the best results without even wrinkling the bag.

matticus_bricks

dannyrww said:

I have never had a problem feeling bags at the Lego store and if its not too busy the staff even helps out.

I was at a LEGO store once when it was nearly empty and this guy had a whole bunch of series 12 figs laid out across the counter behind the register with sticky notes on them. The staff didn't seem to mind, and after he had selected the ones he wanted, he gave me all the spares he had that had already been identified. I trusted his judgement, and ended up completing my collection this way! If this guy is a Bricksetter, thank you!

paul88

waynegg said:

It's not even necessary to feel that hard. You get the best results without even wrinkling the bag.

Yeah, tell that to the person who ruined the ones I found. I understand what you are saying, but I'm sure the people that are manhandling the bags far outweigh the people who are trying not to do damage. It's just an unavoidable situation due to the nature of the blind bags.

madforLEGO

Chubbles said:

Does the lego store frown on bag feelers? I just want hot dog guy.

Quite the contrary, they used to help feel to find certain figures for customers (until LEGO asked them to stop) But I have, and seen many others, search for the packs wanted. I think as long as you do not see pushing and shoving or see someone try to take a load of the packs to another location in the store to search them, they will allow it.

dannyrww said:

Hot Dog guy has been the hardest to find for us... I bought one for my wife and then spent about a week trying to find one for myself.

I cannot image hot dog guy can be that hard to find. Feel for the giant hotdog.

I tried to find more series 13 at Targets, as my GF wants a set, but it appears cherry pickers are in overdrive and buying all the stock right now to weed out the rares. Really disappointing and I hope something stores stop simply by reporting the CMF packs can no longer be returned once purchased.

margot

My Target has not received these yet. (or foul play has occurred) Bizarre.

BombTec

I guess my town was off the distro list. None of the Targets have 13s and TRU only has 12s. Drove up to the Denver Lego Store to get the set and still can't find the King or Unicorn. :o(

CircleK

I used to have the run of my town when it came to CMF. Those days are over now though. I have at least one heavy feeler in my area that strips out the rares and he or she has been beating me to the displays. I was kind of p!ssed with S13 b/c I could tell the packs had already been manhandled less than two hours after the display was brought out. I bought a wizard and his cape was completely mangled. So much so that it is slightly discolored where it had been folded over. The number of figs I get with scratches now has increased as well.

Just one more reason to stop collecting them.

AdeelZubair

I was told by an employee at Stratford that they had 13 or 30 boxes and they sold out within 4 days...

I hate resellers, let someone who actually want the set to purchase it and not snatch them away from the kids :/

LostInTranslation

^ As the Lego stores don't sell CMFs by the box I highly doubt it was resellers buying them up. More likely kids with Christmas/pocket money burning a hole in their purses or Afols who have been waiting (im)patiently for the next series to come out.

I've got about half of Series 13 now, going to try and trade away my spares from previous series to get the rest.

Kralaskan

I will trade 13s, I need some 1s, 7 and 8s. I also have 11s for trade

Sethro3

Definitely supply and demand. I have seen ONE endcap at a Target here that was picked clean other than 10. I grabbed the 10 without feeling and left. I have yet to see them at any other store near me (including 2 other Targets, 4 wal-marts, a TRU). I just don't think they are released here yet. So while it may be tempting to overpay on ebay or bricklink, I'll continue to wait. If I don't get what I want, then I guess I don't really care enough about this series. I'd at least want to get a hot dog guy and unicorn for my daughter since those are two she really wants..but needless to say, someone else will cherry pick all of them.

waynegg

paul88 said:

waynegg said:

It's not even necessary to feel that hard. You get the best results without even wrinkling the bag.

Yeah, tell that to the person who ruined the ones I found. I understand what you are saying, but I'm sure the people that are manhandling the bags far outweigh the people who are trying not to do damage. It's just an unavoidable situation due to the nature of the blind bags.

I do. Every collector, or whatever, I run into at the store I help them find what they're looking for and show them if they don't already know how to feel lightly for better results. But, even all the people I've helped with this is but a small drop in the bucket of all the people out there mashing bags. The best part about it is I've made several good friends and trading partners in the process. You should try it. People talk to each other far too little these days.

Mojoest

Found them stocked in my local independent toy store today and they had the loyalty card offer that they had a couple of series ago too (buy 5 and get the 6th free). So preferring to support an independent and with the offer with would have been rude not to snap them all up as a treat for the last day of my Christmas holidays. The owner was happy for me to go through the packs to id them and I've managed to get them all first time as well as a couple of extra carpenters to put to work on my modular scene now that the winter village is being packed up.

yys4u

As someone who has sold off extra CMFs, remember its very hard to make a pofit on these. First its the price of the pack, 3.99 + sales tax, then there's shipping, around 2 bucks + cost of mailing envelop, maybe 50 cents. Then ebay fees which are 10% and they even take 10% of the cost you charge for shipping. Finally we move onto paypal fees, which is an automatic 30 cents transaction fee, and then 2.9%.

That's around $7.88 just to break even! Not to mention how much you value your time feeling the packs or the shipping it, and gas driving around. So anyone thinking of buying packs to resell, I hope you think twice :)

graphite

^ Thats assuming you're only selling those and selling on ebay. I had a Bricklink order yesterday for 9 figs for $64 + shipping internationally. Buyer paid shipping. I paid ~$34 for them and after packing materials and fees I made ~$24. Even if they sold for $6 a piece I still would have made $17 which is 50% for doing nothing more than I would have already done.

Sethro3

It really depends on situations like that. I've sold some individual figures and you really can barely break even on them. But times where you can sell more than one, it helps out with the shipping.

I used to buy extra to sell, then when I was barely breaking even, I quit. I'd rather enjoy the hobby than worry about if I made a profit/loss on some sale.

CCC

That's one of the good things about trading here. In the UK you can send six figures for about $1.20, and no fees for trading with other members. Or selling, for those that prefer to sell.

ryjay

Actually $5-6 for the mini figure you want is not bad at all, even if there are plenty at retail. At least you get the one you want. Blind packs suck!! You spend more on doubles then you would if you just paid the $5-6 in the first place.

ryjay

BTW, has anyone ever tried setting up a Saturday morning mini figure trade and swap session at their local TRU? Don't know if these have ever been done, but TRU has done some promos mornings with different things.

I'm sure Lego would not support it, since we wouldn't be "blindly" buying more figures then we need just to find the ones we want....this way we'd just trade and swap them!

starfire2

ryjay said:

BTW, has anyone ever tried setting up a Saturday morning mini figure trade and swap session at their local TRU? Don't know if these have ever been done, but TRU has done some promos mornings with different things.

I'm sure Lego would not support it, since we wouldn't be "blindly" buying more figures then we need just to find the ones we want....this way we'd just trade and swap them!

Lego actually supports trading mini figures.

dannyrww

The discovery centers make a big deal about trade weekends when new series come out and actually stock their employees up with new minifigures.

ryjay

starfire2 said:

ryjay said:

BTW, has anyone ever tried setting up a Saturday morning mini figure trade and swap session at their local TRU? Don't know if these have ever been done, but TRU has done some promos mornings with different things.

I'm sure Lego would not support it, since we wouldn't be "blindly" buying more figures then we need just to find the ones we want....this way we'd just trade and swap them!

Lego actually supports trading mini figures.

That's good to hear!

bobabricks

ryjay said:

Actually $5-6 for the mini figure you want is not bad at all, even if there are plenty at retail. At least you get the one you want. Blind packs suck!! You spend more on doubles then you would if you just paid the $5-6 in the first place.

Unless you have a BrickLink store, then you can just sell your doubles and actually make money. :P

MrJ_NY

IMHO I doubt TRU would want the parking lot filled with people who are trading & not spending $ inside but who knows.Just wait til Lego decides to put the minifigures in small cardboard boxes so we can't feel the packs. :wink:
(shake*shake*-I think this one sounds like the Hotdog Guy)

bobabricks

I think a lot of people would stop buying if that happened, I would. :P I think TRU still makes money off of those "traders" because while there in there they may buy some Lego sets that may be on sale or Lego they just want to buy.

matticus_bricks

These still haven't shown up anywhere near me. Target still has series 12 for $1.99 though, so I have picked up a small stock of Piggy Guys and Spooky Girls for future investment purposes.

waynegg

MrJ_NY said:

IMHO I doubt TRU would want the parking lot filled with people who are trading & not spending $ inside but who knows.Just wait til Lego decides to put the minifigures in small cardboard boxes so we can't feel the packs. :wink:
(shake*shake*-I think this one sounds like the Hotdog Guy)

IMHO TRU would probably be down for just about anything to bring people into their stores for the opportunity to maybe sell them something given their financial state

Shib

Apparently the Evil Wizard hasn't put the Entertainer (UK) off of getting these - which was suspected they might because they wouldn't sell Harry Potter Lego for religious reasons.

http://www.thetoyshop.com/Lego/Lego-Minifigures/Lego-Minifigures-Series-13---71008/p/519926

Admittedly they are listed as coming soon so they could still change their mind.

Legogeek

ryjay said:

BTW, has anyone ever tried setting up a Saturday morning mini figure trade and swap session at their local TRU? Don't know if these have ever been done, but TRU has done some promos mornings with different things.

I'm sure Lego would not support it, since we wouldn't be "blindly" buying more figures then we need just to find the ones we want....this way we'd just trade and swap them!

Of course it wouldn't have to be in/at/outside TRU. It could be anywhere - a public space or a coffee shop, or restaurant.

I like the idea because I suck at feeling the bags.
Problem is I don't have overstock to trade. But if I knew of a local group that wanted to do this, I would buy a random assortment of current CMF in hopes of being able to trade for others.

Chubbles

My problem is the time spent feeling the bags let alone finding a set that hasn't already been picked clean, if it's just one figure that I want it's worth it for me to pay double and have someone else do the work.

sklamb

My technique is to buy a handful of CMFs blind when they first come out--since I order from [email protected] I assume they haven't been cherry-picked--and then pick up any others I want from BrickLink a month or so later when the initial excitement has died down a bit. I figure the slight premium for buying an identified figure is fair enough given the work of identifying it, and the only duplicates I get are the ones I bought from the store--which can sometimes be the rare ones! I have a duplicate plumber, for example, and a duplicate of the fielding baseball player, whom I'll probably keep.

Problem was, [email protected] in the US was somewhat weird with series 12--said they were sold out relatively soon, so I panicked and bought *everything* on BrickLink. Then a week or two later they reappeared on [email protected], and now they're even on sale. Oh, well, every system breaks down now and then.

Kralaskan

Just saw 6 unopened boxes of 13s, 2 12s and 12 Simpsons at one store. Most wallmarts have at least 2 boxes of 13s that ice seen. Most were not even fingered so I would think there is no shortage of 13s

The_Mad_Vulcan

Around here, the 13s all showed up around the last week of December and then evaporated by the new year. The Fred Meyer by my house has 2 unopened Series 12 and 2 opened Series 12, but no 13 left at all.

Anybody who blinked, will have to wait for the restock. Seems like a very popular series.

madforLEGO

The_Mad_Vulcan said:

Around here, the 13s all showed up around the last week of December and then evaporated by the new year. The Fred Meyer by my house has 2 unopened Series 12 and 2 opened Series 12, but no 13 left at all.

Anybody who blinked, will have to wait for the restock. Seems like a very popular series.

Series 12 was like that too. Now some Targets have boxes of 12 around. I expect 13 to be the same, as series 12 is no slouch either, but again you can find 12 still (notably at LEGO [email protected] for 2.98 per pack).

MrJ_NY

Series 12 were 2.99 for a few months at Target near me.I completed my set & then the prices jumped back up to 3.99 & they got like one case of Series 13 for Xmas.I took an empty Series 12 display box & scanned it & it said NONE is the stockroom so I asked if I could have the empty box since they're just going to throw it out anyways.Makes a nice souvenir & I can store some figures in it that the grandkids constantly play with.

Kralaskan

Yes I'm seeing a bunch of 13s at Fred Meyer too, shit loads of Simpsons and fair amount of 12s
I scored a full box of 11s the other day at wallmart for $2.99 each. Have no clue where those came from. Got 2 complete sets for me and the wife out of it and now have some trade stock.
I'd buy some more Simpsons or 12s if the price was lower

black_towr

Kralaskan said:

Yes I'm seeing a bunch of 13s at Fred Meyer too, shit loads of Simpsons and fair amount of 12s
I scored a full box of 11s the other day at wallmart for $2.99 each. Have no clue where those came from. Got 2 complete sets for me and the wife out of it and now have some trade stock.
I'd buy some more Simpsons or 12s if the price was lower

Your one of the lucky ones who seem to be able to find series 13 wherever you go. In my neighborhood I only found series 13 one time and it was at the Target across the street from my house and that was at least 2-3 weeks ago.

khopewosin

There were about 10 opened boxes of Series 13 at my local Walmart that seemed untouched. They were selling for $3.98 each! Save a penny! Woo hoo!

3stackshs

Not sure why, maybe it's the fact the yen is down right now but these are only 355 yen after tax (about $2.97) here in japan. Looking at toys r us website here almost all Legos are at least 15% cheaper. Some sets like the high speed train ($92.63) or the bikeshop/cafe ($51.08) are way cheaper. Many more examples than this. I'm not bragging and definitely not complaining just curious why such a huge difference.

1265

Kralaskan said:

Just saw 6 unopened boxes of 13s, 2 12s and 12 Simpsons at one store. Most wallmarts have at least 2 boxes of 13s that ice seen. Most were not even fingered so I would think there is no shortage of 13s

Kralaskan said:

Yes I'm seeing a bunch of 13s at Fred Meyer too, shit loads of Simpsons and fair amount of 12s
I scored a full box of 11s the other day at wallmart for $2.99 each. Have no clue where those came from. Got 2 complete sets for me and the wife out of it and now have some trade stock.
I'd buy some more Simpsons or 12s if the price was lower

You seem to come across many great opportunities - not just in above - but in other posts with nice sets with big discounts. Curious, do you have a job that doesn't involve Lego? I'm just a bit skeptical on things you say.

Kralaskan

Don't be skeptical, I am self employed and am fortunate to have a lot more free time than most, The wife and myself have spent quite a bit of time searching he pre xmas and post xmas sales and close outs. Mostly just a seasonal seach for us, it's about all done now. Yea we have lucked out and got some amazing deals. On New Years day when everyone was hung over we got up early and hit about 8 stores. My biz is several companys, i own a machine tooling buisness making injection molds for the plastics industry, another one is a line of firearms related products i developed and we market worldwide, another arm of my work is a retail sporting goods and gunshop in soldotna alaska, and finialy several rental property's. So yes I'm busy but I don't get up and punch a time clock any more. We enjoy the hunt and thrill of finding deals and it gives us something to do in the winter. My kids are all collectors too, the wife is a huge collector.

CircleK

^ You don't need to explain yourself. His being skeptical is his problem. A lot of people on this forum find awesome deals in their area. I've never understood the rational behind questioning someone's honesty on an internet forum. Why automatically assume that someone you don't know who most likely lives in an area which you're not familiar with is being less than truthful? Anyways - like I said. It's his problem.

1265

Kralaskan said:

Don't be skeptical, I am self employed and am fortunate to have a lot more free time than most, The wife and myself have spent quite a bit of time searching he pre xmas and post xmas sales and close outs. Mostly just a seasonal seach for us, it's about all done now. Yea we have lucked out and got some amazing deals. On New Years day when everyone was hung over we got up early and hit about 8 stores. My biz is several companys, i own a machine tooling buisness making injection molds for the plastics industry, another one is a line of firearms related products i developed and we market worldwide, another arm of my work is a retail sporting goods and gunshop in soldotna alaska, and finialy several rental property's. So yes I'm busy but I don't get up and punch a time clock any more. We enjoy the hunt and thrill of finding deals and it gives us something to do in the winter. My kids are all collectors too, the wife is a huge collector.

I was somewhat taken back by you offering up an expected detailed response. Nonetheless, I apologize if I came across as mean-spirited. It's just me being me.

It's cool that you painted a picture of your life and lifestyle to a simple question. Props to you my man! Plus, I mix guns with Lego too. :)