Minifigures and their Secondary Market Value

cloaked7

samiam391 said:

You have to know when to strike at a price, what the meniscus is of the selling graduated cylinder. Bite early, you'll get burned. Bite to late, you'll get burned. Buy at the right time, you'll reap rewards.

"meniscus is of the selling graduated cylinder" What does tearing your knee cartlidge while roller blading have to do with this? Shoot, now I have to get out my dictionary. :-)

BrickDancer

@cloaked7 It's a principal from Chemistry 101. When a graduated cylinder is filled to a specified volume, the liquid inside is not perfectly flat in line but instead a 'U' shape, since liquids tend to adhere to glass surfaces. Thus creating a slight +/- of say ~5% which is referred to as the meniscus. Similar to the prices of the Superhero exclusives on the market now, observe the meniscus to get it at the lowest point possible or else you'll end up picking the high point next to the glass wall. =)

cloaked7

Thanks. And, my wife tells me reading this thread is a waste of time.

Now, where is my graduated cylinder? The big one. Oh yeah, I was drinking out of it earlier. Does any type of liquid work? :-)

HarryPotterLover

It really all depends on how bad some people want it to dish out a certain amount of $$$, personally, if I'm ever paying 2500$ for a set, it better have 25,000 pieces with it :)

CCC

^^ no. If you were drinking mercury then the meniscus goes the other way. And then you'd need yo buy at the start or much later, but not in the middle.

geographybee2012

What about Chrome darth vader vs white boba fett? I'm going to buy one or the other soon, and I'd like some 3rd party opinions on the purchase. Do you think he or white Boba fett are going to go up in value more (and/or more quickly)? Vader is more expensive, but I'm leaning towards him more because I feel like he's going to go up in value a lot faster than Boba, and I'd like to get him while he's still in my price range (he went up in value $50 on average on BrickLink since last year; now he's between $60 and $80).

BrickDancer

^I bought my Chrome Vader just over a year ago and it was about $50 new while White Boba was $35 new. Now the prices are hovering around $85 and $65 respectively. So they are appreciating at roughly the same pace, albeit White Boba is moving just a bit faster than Vader.

Brick_Obsession

You pretty much said what I wold have said. Get Vader first before there is another jump in price before he falls outside of your comfort zone. I have not seen too many big jumps in Boba. You can wait on him until you have got Vader. That being said, I would not wait an eternity to get Boba either.

BoiseState

Both are going up pretty quickly. Wonder what the next one to jump high will be.

BrickDancer

So in order of the Top 20 most expensive minifigs (based on today's approximate market price):

Toy Fair Iron Man = $1,000+
Toy Fair Captain America = $1,000+
Mr. Gold = $750
NYCC Superman = $750
SDCC Green Arrow = $575
SDCC Black-Suit Superman = $550
SDCC Spider-Man = $500
SDCC Spider Woman = $500
The Kraang = $400
Shadow Leonardo = $400
Gold C-3PO = $375
I<3NY Yoda = $350
CC Boba Fett = $275
NYCC Green Lantern = $250
NYCC Batman = $250
SDCC Bizarro = $250
SDCC Shazam = $225
Smooth Hair Leia = $200
SDCC Venom = $150
SDCC Phoenix = $150

samiam391

^Go ahead and add Azog to that list near the top:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313.TR9.TRC1.A0.Xlego+azo&_nkw=lego+azog&_sacat=0&_from=R40

I'd switch Smooth Hair Leia to more around $125-$150. A recent eBay auction ended at $112.50.

Obviously, it's just a rough list... and I'm being picky :o)

BrickDancer

^Yup, missed the new contender Azog. He's in 3rd position right now, just after the Toy Fair Pair. For Smooth Hair Leia, i'd budge it down to $150 - $175 range as an average of sale price. But that one fluctuates quite a bit, especially if its a bid auction. The obvious outlier here is Mr. Gold who does not warrant his current market price in relation to all the others on that list in terms of rareness.

MathBuilder

CCC said:

^^ no. If you were drinking mercury then the meniscus goes the other way. And then you'd need yo buy at the start or much later, but not in the middle.

You would also die! (Or at least require a very unpleasant hospital intervention). :p

piratemania7

And here I am trying to find a deal for a great admiral broadside...

sweetness34

Does SDCC Green Lantern and SDCC Batman not make the list?

Geddes

@brickdancer this list is great :) good idea!

cloaked7

The @brickdancer top 20 list roughly totaled $10K!!! And, Azog isn't on it. An average price of $500 a minifig. My head is starting to spin. :-)

Would be very interesting to see the same list 2 years from now and see what the figures are valued at then. As has been mentioned, unless the bottom drops out of the genre the prices should be higher. Course, if a drop does occur it will most likely be huge and we'll all be too depressed to create a new list.

BrickDancer

sweetness34 said:

Does SDCC Green Lantern and SDCC Batman not make the list?

They do, but I just consider them same as NYCC for that year, so only listed once.

Geddes

I nominate @brickdancer to maintain such an awesome list for the next 2 years, and I volunteer to help as much as I can.

HarryPotterLover

Look at the Azog minifigure story on the homepage, Azog is now going for more that each of the NYTF figures

cloaked7

Is Azog the only figure limited to 100? Is it more rare? If not, I am surprised that a LOTR figure would sell for more than a super hero one of the same rarity.

Brick_Obsession

You cannot base it on one listing. What you have to do is wait for 5 or 10 to be sold to get an average range. You have one person who is trying to find someone who is panicing.

I am calling it now, Azog will settle down at $600 in the future. He is just not as popular as Superheroes.

Geddes

Azog 100 made

NY Toyfair Cap and Iron man 125 made

@brick_obsession agree completely

CupIsHalfEmpty

Azog was randomly given away to people in the crowd by lego employees. I imagine most of the Azogs went to people who have no interest in Lego and have no idea what it's worth. I predict that there will be fewer Azogs sold on ebay than the others.

TheLoneTensor

^I wonder if those people were pounced upon by those that do have interest. "Psst...Hey buddy, I'll give you $100 for it right now."

sweetness34

Everybody I saw at the con knew exactly how much the figures are worth. People were taking pictures of the items and posting to eBay as soon as they hit their hands.

cloaked7

CupIsHalfEmpty said:

Azog was randomly given away to people in the crowd by lego employees.

My goodness. Just take a minute and do the quick math. 100 $1,000 Azogs. $100K ! ! ! They were handing out the equivalent of $1,000 to those fortunate to get one. Those LEGO employees were in control of $100K ! ! ! In just Azogs. And, before that there was a relatively small box, probably kept by one employee, that had $100K of swag in it! Mind blowing when you think about it.

I can see it on the news - "LEGO employee mugged for box of minifigs!"

CCC

You need to find 100 people willing to pay $1K for one for that box to be worth $100K. A long way to go yet.

sidersdd

BrickDancer said:

sweetness34 said:

Does SDCC Green Lantern and SDCC Batman not make the list?

They do, but I just consider them same as NYCC for that year, so only listed once.

I would list them separately. Your list seems to have them identified in value with their packaging (otherwise why bother listing the NYCC Superman one). SDCC Green Lantern is distinctly different from NYCC Green Lantern from a collector's point of view, and in theory could be different in value. Don't you also then have the Toy Fair 2009 Chrome Vader in the list? It's the same fig as the Chrome Vader polybag fig, but the exclusive packaging makes the value higher.

If the list is oriented towards just the figs themselves, and doesn't include the packaging, then you can eliminate some, and reduce the prices.

BoiseState

What about most expensive minifigs from sets alone, rather than SDCC and poly's..

BrickDancer

^^ You're right @sidersdd, both NYCC & SDCC should be listed. As there is a slightly higher value for NYCC. And yes we're including packaging, since that makes a big difference. Hence TF Vader should be on the list also. This will be corrected on the next list update.

^regular figs from sets certainly qualify and should also be on the list, but which ones am I missing @boisestate?

BoiseState

I don't think you are missing any, as they don't make that list because they aren't as rare. I'm just trying to get a list that excludes Comicon/poly's. I suppose I could do it myself but I'm lazy :).

BrickDancer

^That might be a Herculean task if you include all themes. Doing SW alone might drive me mad.

BoiseState

Yep.. It would be a cool list to see, but it would take a lot of time and research.

Harry Potter seems to be-

Mad Eye Moody
Umbridge

Trelawney

Bellatrix Lestrange
Luna Lovegood
Wormtail from the graveyard set
Sirius Black


Just a rough list off the top of my head without prices.

BrickDancer

Yea I can see HP figs doing crazy numbers in a few years down the road. They're all important characters, non-army building, and small total number for a highly desirable theme. Would be a good starting place.

TheLoneTensor

cloaked7 said:

CupIsHalfEmpty said:

Azog was randomly given away to people in the crowd by lego employees.

My goodness. Just take a minute and do the quick math. 100 $1,000 Azogs. $100K ! ! ! They were handing out the equivalent of $1,000 to those fortunate to get one. Those LEGO employees were in control of $100K ! ! ! In just Azogs. And, before that there was a relatively small box, probably kept by one employee, that had $100K of swag in it! Mind blowing when you think about it.

I can see it on the news - "LEGO employee mugged for box of minifigs!"

I don't think anyone would argue that at this point, Lego has the ability to print money, and lots of it. What's stopping them from releasing a Mr. Platinum in Series 12, of which there are only 100 in the world? You want a figure that will command $1k instantly? There you go.

vitreolum

Clone Trooper Lieutenant should also make that list.

Geddes

According to hoth bricks (brick heroes) another 100 dark turtles are set be released (won) in europe.

hoyatables

I'd love to see a list of the top value figs that were widely available on the market at first (meaning sold in a set or as CMFs). No SDCC, etc exclusives. I think promo items (e.g. figures that came with a DVD or video game purchase as well as figures that were a promo item at the LEGO store) count, because anyone could acquire them.

Second question: I know Pitfall already answered this a few pages back, but curious about current thinking. When figs are re-released, what does it do to the value of the old figs that were valuable in large part because of their rarity. I get that it probably makes the price of SDCC figs plummet (because now I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars to complete my Justice League). But what about an old yellow-faced Bespin Luke or Leia? Are there enough true collectors out there on the marketplace that will pay good money for the "original"?

(The above may all be an academic exercise, because TLG will torture me by never re-releasing Cloud City or Green Lantern.)

morezone

Do any of you hardcore minifig collectors own any of the Lego Video Game encased minifigs that are given to the staff?

Geddes

@morezone i have never heard of these? What details are there?

morezone

With each game, the staff are given what I believe is an acrylic block (a clear block of some sort anyway) which has a minifig related to the game encased in it. 2/3 of the block is inscribed/printed with the game logo/name. The other 1/3 is where the minifig sits. I know at least one is in the hands of the public but there could possibly be more.
Would be really nice to own one but they will go for crazy money.

Pitfall69

Can we add the actual GOLD C3-PO or is that so rare it doesn't make the list? Speaking of which; did that person who was selling one, get a small fortune for him or did the sale fall through?

CapnRex101

Since the gauntlet was thrown down by @BrickDancer, here is my attempt at a valuation list of the top 20 Star Wars Minifigures. These are of course average prices and I have doubtless missed a Minifigure or two out.

Chrome Gold C-3PO - £300
Boba Fett (#10123) - £180
Lando Calrissian (#10123) - £80
Princess Leia (#10123) - £50
Chrome Darth Vader - £45
Jango Fett (#7153) - £45
Watto (#7186) - £35
White Boba Fett - £35
Luke Skywalker (#10123) - £30
Protocol Droid (#10188) - £25
Admiral Piett - £25
Han Solo (#7190) - £20
Zam Wesell - £20
Shadow ARF Trooper - £20
Dengar (#10221) -
Boba Fett (#7153) - £15
Jedi Knight (#7163) - £15
Luke Skywalker (#4502) - £15
Anakin Skywalker (#7257) - £15
Obi-Wan Kenobi (#7257) - £15

BrickDancer

Wow, look at how CC figs dominate the Top 10. And how so many are the 'yellow' variety from the first years of SW. Quite surprising actually. What is the UK market prices for some of the newer pricier figs such Queen Amidala, Commander Fox, Grievous, Light-up ? (Vader, Mace, Luminari), etc and how do they compare?

You got me tempted to tackle the whole SW list @CapnRex101.

TheCableGuy

@CapnRex101 what about the Toy Fair Vader and White Bobas?

Then we've got the other solid metal minifigures such as the Bronze Bobas if we're including the gold ones.

There were also 800 501st minifigures split between various sand-troopers and stormies.

NY Yoda and the new clone Lieutenant.

Both of the chrome silver stormies would make that list.

Smooth-haired Leia.

Nuremberg Vader.

I also sure there are some more out there that we've missed.

CapnRex101

@BrickDancer - I took a look at those light-up Lightsaber Minifigures and they were all selling for around £10. Queen Amidala did not cross my mind but she is selling at between £25 and £25 so she ought to be on the list.

@TheCableGuy - NY Yoda and smooth-haired Leia are oversights, those should of course be on the list but I only counted chrome Vader and White Boba Fett once. The Clone Lieutenant will drop in price as it will doubtless be released more widely at some point so I left that one out. Chrome Stormtroopers are worth about £15 (in the UK at least) so could make the list but would be drawing with a few other Minifigures which have fallen off the bottom. Lastly, I did not count any of the metal Minifigures as we do not know the prices for them.

TheCableGuy

^ The 501st minifigures should be either at or near the top of the list as I sold 3 of those bad boys a couple of years back. Each one of them went for more than what Chrome Gold Threepio was doing at the time - the issue is that not a lot of people know about them.

Geddes

I had no idea about these 501st troopers

@Capnrex101 you have got me tempted to do a list for superheroes now.....

vitreolum

TheCableGuy said:

^ The 501st minifigures should be either at or near the top of the list as I sold 3 of those bad boys a couple of years back. Each one of them went for more than what Chrome Gold Threepio was doing at the time - the issue is that not a lot of people know about them.

Are these official MF's?