Please use our links: LEGO.com • Amazon
Recent discussions • Categories • Privacy Policy • Brickset.com
Brickset.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program and the Amazon EU Associates Programme, which are affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Comments
When gambling, you have a chance of getting some random amount of money, usually none. Lootboxes are similar as you're drawing your reward from a pool of items of different assigned value, and notably, none of them have any actual value. Lego blind bags contain figures that are all of equal value in every meaningful way, so you're always getting exactly what you paid for. Furthermore, you can easily buy figures separately by other means, or even just feel the bags to get the ones you want. You can't 'feel' a poker machine to make it spit out a thousand dollars.
i'm guessing you don't want to hear about the Lego retailer selling mystery boxes each month. for $50 you get a box. it may contain 1 set or multiple sets, you won't know until you open the box.
Subscription boxes are something else entirely.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2019-08-14-this-apex-legends-axe-costs-about-gbp112-in-loot-boxes
With the games loot boxes better content is often deliberately held behind higher pay walls, which in itself is misleading and the limited times can be very restrictive - obviously CMF series only last a certain length of time, but unless local stock is particularly bad then you normally get more than a couple of weeks to pick them up.
More on topic - LEGO will continue to make them as long as they're sufficiently profitable. And while they're profitable, they can help fund less profitable lines such as Ideas and licensed themes which may be of more interest to AFOL community.
So, even if you don't like them, you might still feel the indirect benefits!
I should disclose: you're chatting with one of the very biggest fans of SDCC exclusives out there...but I won't take that personally :)
I've previously shared my thoughts on this very topic in this post, but am happy to oblige this audience, as well. The post I linked to above is directed more towards people wanting "regional exclusive" items but not having access to them, whereas you don't necessarily want them but are just flat-out opposed to their very existence, whatsoever.
Just as it is undeniable that a certain subset of LEGO collectors like to think of themselves as brand "purists" in that there must be absolutely, positively no exclusives of any kind at all, it is also undeniable there are a significant number of more progressive collectors in the world who are not only not opposed to exclusives and are not attempting to profiteer, but enjoy the pursuit and collection of these more limited items.
Clearly we are on opposing sides of the fence here, so let us jut agree to disagree, and go fly our respective kites in the park :)
We saw what happened when the comic book industry tried to do all the things and increased print runs to astronomical numbers so that everyone could have 3, or 10, of every issue. It killed the industry in just a couple of years. I think that what Lego is doing is great for them and collecting in general. But I also know that I won't participate in certain aspects of it and I won't let that ruin my day either.
Just this morning I got an email about an exclusive Funko Pop that was being released today, I even had it in my cart ready to buy, then realized that I didn't really want it, I was just caught up in the limited run, get it now, hype. I'll probably regret not getting it in a couple of years when it goes from $15 to $300, but, meh.
This is what I do. I have a big list (to me) on Bricklink and add a couple figs to an order when I can. Some day I'll have all the ones that I want. Maybe.
And try buying a new crash test dummy now - you are looking at about £10/$10. I know as I sold my spares a while back.
As for other blind-bag toys, my grandson was absolutely enchanted by these for a couple of years, thanks to You Tube videos, especially Kinder eggs. Since Kinder eggs were unavailable in the US, I was picking up lots of similar toys on clearance at Target and Walmart, typically for $0.25 each. Then I started finding them at Savers, bags full of opened Shopkins and such. I'd load them into plastic Easter eggs and he'd have just as much fun opening those up as brand new ones.
I overheard a coworker last year who really wanted to get his young daughter a Dobby from Harry Potter for Christmas as that was her favorite character. But he was really frustrated by the blind bags. I told him about bricklink, but even so he’d have to sign up, learn how it works (it can be confusing at first because it’s not like a normal online retail site, and it’s not quite like eBay either), and then look through different stores’ inventory while manually checking inconsistently worded store policy pages to try and figure out shipping costs. And often you can’t just check out and be done; you have to wait and watch for an invoice, then go back in and pay later.
”Remarkably easy” would be grabbing it in the store and checking out, or buying it in two minutes on Amazon or LEGO.com.
Dude, parents have had to hunt alternative buying opportunities for 'must have' Christmas gifts since Cabbage Patch dolls, long before the internet (with it's eBay and Bricklink "click and order" convenience) existed. I'm quite certain your friend is entirely capable of searching the word "Dobby" on Bricklink and selecting the best option for them from among the dozens of offerings that would pop up. Unless, of course, they're like yourself. Then I can see where this might be an insurmountable hurdle.
The thing is, chances are the new Dobby figure with his new molding and fancy printed accessories wouldn't even exist without the CMF line. The marketing model for the CMF series" and the sales projections thereof are what allow for the extravagance of the CMF figures, and the release of figures that would otherwise never see production. So, if you had your way, there would have been nothing for your friend to track down for his daughter anyhow. So your entire point is not only whiny AF, it's completely moot.
I really need to stop opening this thread. This whole whiny discussion just sinks to new lows every time I look. :p
I'll start using a specific font for sarcasm.
I’ve used bricklink many times. I very glad it exists and I appreciate the hardworking sellers. But that doesn’t change the fact that it does take more time and effort compared to if you were theoretically able to buy specific CMFs retail. My entire point was that those of us on this forum don’t necessarily represent the typical consumer who doesn’t even know bricklink exists. I don’t think pointing this out is “silly” or “whining”.
The OP of this thread asked for opinions on the CMF model and I gave mine. Clearly it’s the minority opinion around here. OK.
klinton said: I do concede this is an interesting theory and a good point if true. Has anyone from LEGO ever said anything to this effect? It would be interesting to know what the CMF line would look like under other sales models.
Back on topic, though - I love the blind bags, and so do my children. We have a lot of fun feeling for the ones we want, and even get a little kick out of the anticipation that we may have felt wrongly, no matter how confident we are, as we open them! My wife, who isn't a Lego fan, is surprisingly good at feeling them and I think she secretly enjoys it too.
If the higher profit margin they make on these allow them to invest in new moulds and other lines that wouldn't exist without them, then that's just the cherry on the cake. My main interest has always been Minifigures, rather than sets, though - so the CMF line and the people packs are always my favourite (but shh, don't tell Wall•E).
I love Blind Bag Minifigures. They bump up my set count without me needing to spend 150$ or more CND a month. I wouldn't have such a high set number if I didn't own 300+ Minifigures from CMF Series.
I mean honestly, who doesn't love buying tons and tons of LEGO Minifigures and watching their set count sky rocket past that 10K mark? And all for the low, low price of a fiver.
I'll start hating on them when LEGO starts charging 15$ a piece for them.
And in case you're wondering... yes... I am partly serious, but I'll leave it up to you to determine just how serious I'm being and how factious I'm being. ;)