Taking Advantage of the Minifigure Craze

I have a confession, I just do not understand the obsession with minifigures that has taken hold in the last 10 years.  Before Star Wars came on the scene in 1999 minifigures were what I still consider them to be: necessary utilities.  A plane needs a pilot, a castle needs guards and a pirate ship must have a crew of scalawags, these are the roles and purposes of minifigures.  Necessary, absolutely, but the reason you bought a set, not a chance.  That is still my mindset which makes the concept of a minifigure being the primary reason one buys a set, or as of late even a collectors item, impossible for me to grasp. 

Lego has taken full advantage of this craze.  As Star Wars led to more and more licensed themes more and more figures patterned after famous characters, and then each of those characters in specific scenes, emerged.  Lego realized as time went on that people were buying these sets as much for the figures as the ships or locales.  The phenomenon has slowly bled out into the non licensed themes and therefore now pervades essentially all of Legos product line.  The end result is that sets are more expensive then similar sized models from just a few years ago all because they contain "exclusive" minifigures.  For those of us who do not get caught up in a euphoric experience upon finally having that elusive figure in our hands swallowing some of the new prices can be a difficult pill. 

Recently however, I found a way for a collector like me who really doesn't care all that much about minifigures to take advantage of the craze.  I found on Bricklink.com a seller who purchases brand new sets, removes the figures and weapons and then sells them and the rest of the set separately.  Since he can sell each figure at a price anywhere from $5 to $20 based on their "exclusivity", and the market is all abuzz for figures, he in turn can sell the rest of the set for upwards of 50%-%60 off MSRP.  For a person like me who already has more than enough figures to make up the difference this is a fantastic opportunity.  I picked up 7189 Mill Village Raid for $30.00 and the discontinued 7097 Troll's Mountain Fortress for $45.00.  Brand new together those would have cost $170.00 and I picked them up for $75.00.  Now this would not work for someone looking to start building a collection but if yours is well established it can be a great opportunity!

I fully recognize that for many collecting minifigures is a joyful part of their Lego experience.  If that is you fantastic no condemnation here.  In this department I am squarely old school and it just doesn't do anything for me.  To each their own!  But as long as the craze continues I will happily buy brand new sets at greatly reduced prices and populate them with some of my many smily faced minifigures!

Happy Building

The Lego Chronicler   

How to Buy Second Hand Legos

Over the years I have bought a lot of Legos.  I have bought them from stores, online, at garage sales and from friends.  I have bought sets, individual pieces and mixes of both.  And through it all I have found a simple truth to be pretty much universal: there is no way or place to get Legos cheap.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have seen Legos on clearance.  Second hand sites such as bricklink.com while amazing and wonderful (especially if you are looking for individual pieces for a specific project or need to replace parts missing from a set), are still not cheap (though they are significantly cheaper than buying parts off Lego's website!).  The best deals I have found through the years come from two sources: Pick-a-Brick walls at Lego stores (provided you take the time to really pack the containers tight, it usually takes me a minimum of 45 minutes per container... yes trips to the Lego store with me are incredibly boring for my companions, hence why I usually go alone) and the right kind of eBay sale.

I recently scored a great purchase on eBay which was the inspiration for this entry.  Buying Legos on eBay can be a tricky business.  Individual sets (especially those that are discontinued) are almost never a good deal, and many of the multiple set lots are priced by people who know the value of what they are selling which also precludes a good deal. 

There is, however, a sweet spot so to speak right between these two.  What you are looking for is someone who is selling a small collection who has not taken the time to go through and inventory the individual sets.  These are usually listed by pound (titled something like boxed 10lbs of Legos or something similar, the key search word is pounds or lbs).  These are usually moms who are cleaning out a kid’s closet in preparation for a move or as the kid is getting ready to go to college and is simply looking to free up space, not make money, by getting rid of a now outgrown Lego collection. 

The picture below of my recent purchase illustrates exactly the type of listing I am talking about. 

I paid $60 for this lot and it contains no less than $400 worth of sets.  Some of them are missing pieces but that is easily mended with a few bricklink.com purchases if you are looking for sets and that isn't even necessary if you are, as I was in this case, looking to get a bunch of pieces. 

Three quick warnings.  First, the great danger of buying unsorted lots such as this is that the mom usually doesn't know anything about Legos.  As such they are not (normally) going to be able to tell you what sets are in the collection so you are going to have to identify them yourself from the picture which takes a bit of knowledge (my trained eye could see at least 6 sets from the pictures on this one so I knew I was getting a good deal).  The second danger is that if the child to whom the collection belonged was not a purest, the Legos may be mixed with a variety of cheap substitutes such as Megablocks.  Look for some sort of statement that they are all Legos or check the picture, large amounts of bricks other than Legos will be obvious by their colors or shapes.  Lastly be aware that often these lots do not usually come with any instructions.  Lego has digital instructions from sets available in the last few years on their website but if the sets are too old you will need to go to a fan site that has instruction scans such as peeron.com. 

Buying Legos at a good deal can be difficult but it is also incredibly rewarding.  I love going through a huge box of new pieces and finding all the treasures contained inside.  Buying lots by the pound on eBay is a great way to make that happen!

Happy Building

The Lego Chronicler