Minifigures and their Secondary Market Value

chuxtoybox

I was wondering if anyone knows exactly what it costs for LEGO to make one minifigure? If you do know,  please answer in American currency. :) Thanx.

SumoLego

It'll be ironic when the three zombie figures are undesirable and selling below their RRP - in contrast with Series 1 Zombie, which is the most sought-after.

(And I love that this topic was brought back to life...)

Additionally, my guess is that the Tiger Lady will probably be the more sought-after "costumed" character, when it should really be the Skeleton Guy.  Reminds me of the Hot Dog Guy vs. Unicorn Girl for Series 13.  Aren't both technically costumed?

By the way, was this thread active when the Target Exclusive Blue-Coat Bilbo was exponentially increasing in price?  I wouldn't have tossed him into the abyss of kids' miscellaneous pieces!

I haven't checked, but are the weird polybag Dr. Wus from JW seeing a similar disproportionate increase in value?

Pitfall69

chuxtoybox said:

I was wondering if anyone knows exactly what it costs for LEGO to make one minifigure? If you do know,  please answer in American currency. :) Thanx.

That's a great question; I am sure everyone wants to know how much is costs to make a minifigure. I would imagine the costs are different depending on how many of the particular minifigure they are making and if they have to make a specific mold for that minifigure. I would think that CMF's cost more to make than minifigures put into sets.

Another thing to consider is that I think most toy retailers have a gross margin of around 40-45% , but don't hold me to that.

BrickDancer

Whoa, just tallying up my collection's value and realized the SDCC 2013 Spider-man is hitting ridiculous numbers. Is it really at $900 now?!? Spider-woman is quite high too but still at $650 only.

Shib

chuxtoybox said:

I was wondering if anyone knows exactly what it costs for LEGO to make one minifigure? If you do know,  please answer in American currency. :) Thanx.

if you are just talking cost of production of parts for one generic minifigure it won't be a lot. If you add into it the cost of graphic design for prints, R&D for any new moulds and market research time, a single minifigure would be ridiculously expensive.

VorpalRyu

Considering the cost of some polybags, CMFs, etc... I'd hazard a guess at somewhere around US$0.05-0.25 per unit, keeping in mind that the individual design would likely be reproduced a couple of million times. The more they use a new design, the cheaper, from a R & D point of view, the new parts/prints become.

TheLoneTensor

Agreed, there are many good ones in this series, very few can go wrong.  Note: I'm kinda going against Lego's descriptions of things because in some cases, it just doesn't jibe.  Lego says the plant ate the guy; I just don't see it, etc.

Previous sets have shown that costumes do well, so I would expect the Tiger Lady to do well, maybe even the best.  The Plant Guy is also a costume guy, but he's not a happy guy, which is something the other successful costumes have been.

A few other things to consider when it comes to valuation:

• The Witch has the only black cat Lego currently makes, and it's very cute
  
• The Werewolf is an interesting concept with it (99%) being a callback to the Lumberjack CMF
• The Spectre is the first CMF with a glow in the dark part (though the face print...ugh)
• The Scientist has a unique flask, and pairs with the Fly Guy
  
• the Skeleton Guy has a unique (and ubiquitous) trick-or-treat pail, which I can see being desirable in mass quantities
• The Spider Lady has the only plastic cape in the CMF line, and because of the slope, arguably the easiest to identify
  

There's simply no Hot Dog guy in this one, but my top three for value would be Tiger Lady, Witch and the Skeleton Guy.

pharmjod

Skeleton guy is what, 4 or 5 to a case? Not sure about him as investment but I love him.

chuxtoybox

Diggydoes said:

Time to ressurect this thread again;)
I wonder how the overwhelming supply of fake Minifigures (and they become even harder to identify as fakes) will hurt the value of Minifigures in general, but especially those rarer/more expensive ones? 
I´ve almost bought a lot of fake POTC Figures which included a Davy Jones which looked exactly like the real deal! From now you can never be sure when buying lots of off Ebay that it doesn´t contain any fake figures!

This is a growing concern I've been having lately. This seems to be a thread primarily for resellers, but as a collector it's getting to the point where I'd rather save $90 to get the minifigures I want and buy a set in person at WM or direct from LEGO than risk $20 on getting one loose figure that turns out to be a  fake.

Of course all the talk about counterfeit LEGO lately could just be making me paranoid and it's not as bad as it seems. 

SumoLego

I very rarely buy lone minifigures - even off of Bricklink.  I end up with lots of pieces for sets I have no interest in, but I can sleep well knowing all of my stuff is authentic.

Shib

TheLoneTensor said:

A few other things to consider when it comes to valuation:

• The Witch has the only black cat Lego currently makes, and it's very cute
  
• The Werewolf is an interesting concept with it (99%) being a callback to the Lumberjack CMF
• The Spectre is the first CMF with a glow in the dark part (though the face print...ugh)
• The Scientist has a unique flask, and pairs with the Fly Guy
  
• the Skeleton Guy has a unique (and ubiquitous) trick-or-treat pail, which I can see being desirable in mass quantities
• The Spider Lady has the only plastic cape in the CMF line, and because of the slope, arguably the easiest to identify

To add to this;

 the Gargoyle could be useful for adding character to buildings (and therein appeals in multiples)

People making zombie scenes like to have masses of zombies - obviously there are a lot more different zombie mini figures out there since the series 1 zombie so they don't have the same level of appeal but I'm sure zombie fans love them

The Plant guy (though odd in the context of the minifigure is really useful for the parts for forest/jungle builds.


Honestly I think series 14 is a really strong series, I've got multiples of several already for planned builds - a couple of gargoyles for buildings, an extra fly guy to act as an alien for a spaceship, extra witches for the cats. The two weakest ones in my opinion are the scientist (as LEGO have previously done this character better) and the Monster Rocker (again it's not really an improvement on existing figs - except for acting out the monster mash maybe) but even those two can be useful for their parts. To me this is why there is not "Hot Dog Guy" one to look for as a potential valuable one in the future, they all have something good going for them, even if it's just as parts.

I think anyone who holds onto a case of them will find that this time of year, each year, the interest (and value) of series 14 will spike.

VorpalRyu

^ The Skeleton guy, also could be used for a Karate Kid MOC, the Cobra Kai kids...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1DmdgOdHgw

I agree 100%, the gargoyles are a great one for MOCs, we're looking to get at least eight to use a future gothic style building...

andhe

@VorpalRyu

And indeed they have! Not my MOC.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/79145132@N06/21146065070/in/dateposted/

EDIT: Would have posted the image but I can't remember how to do it.

VorpalRyu

@andhe, the link works. As soon as I saw that figure in the Series 14 line-up, I wondered if someone would end up doing one & there it is.

CCC

Look like the Batman microfig (85863pb101) is going to skyrocket in price. All the available stock (except one Indonesian seller that only ships to Indonesia) on bricklink has sold.

andhe

CCC said:

Look like the Batman microfig (85863pb101) is going to skyrocket in price. All the available stock (except one Indonesian seller that only ships to Indonesia) on bricklink has sold.

Payday! I've been (figuratively) sitting on two copies of the game that I've never got round to opening...

black_towr

I have 10+ of each series 14 minifigure. Such a strong series and will be extremely popular.

MasterBeefy

VorpalRyu said:

^ The Skeleton guy, also could be used for a Karate Kid MOC, the Cobra Kai kids...

Good call, I was planning on turning mine into Donnie Darko. Just waiting on a creepier recoloring of the bunny costume. 

Farmer_John

Does anyone know if Lego minifig heads all are "vented" (have holes) in the top? I have two Catwoman heads; the first from set #6858 and the second from a BL order. The one from set #6858 is "vented" inside the hole on top, and the one from BL is not (solid). All the parts (including the head) say "@LEGO" inside of them or on them somewhere. Just trying to determine if I was sent a counterfeit Lego Catwoman.