I’ve been a huge fan of the Collectible Minifigures or CMFs as we’ve abbreviated them ever since Series 10. Before that I thought it was a crazy idea to buy individual minifigures. Then I bought a few from Series 10 and I was hooked. I enjoy the non-licensed ones where they come from a range of themes and can go with various existing sets or MOCs. I’m okay with the Licensed themes for the most part.

I have purchased CMFs so far up to the DC Super Heroes series. I’m not a big fan of the DC or Marvel lines to begin with so that might be part of it, but the increase in price from $3.99 to $4.99 in the US finally caused me to stop. I don’t want to sit and feel for the minifigures at the store (especially now with COVID-19) so I usually just buy a bunch from Shop @ Home or Amazon.com. I’ve waited for sales from the last few CMFs to make it even more worth my while, but I have yet to see any deals posted yet.

The downside to buying a bunch at random… you get doubles quite often. It takes a few orders to get the full amount. As someone with a Bricklink store (that will be open again in a few years), I don’t mind selling the extras, but I don’t want to pay $5 for doubles, triples, or quadruples.

I happen to have access to a loophole. I can purchase LEGO in the US or in Germany. The current price in Deutschland is 3,99€. I placed an order this past weekend for 14 of the Series 20 minifigures and it worked out to $4.34 each after the exchange rate took effect.. Still not a great price, but for a purchase of 50€ or more, it came with a Speed Champions polybag (#30342-1 shown below, going for $5 in the US at places like Walmart). We’ll see how many of the 14 are duplicates (or more).

So LEGO Company, here’s what I propose…

1 - Instead of having people going to stores and feeling up packaging during a global pandemic, sell the packages with labeling or provide a way for consumers to select the ones they want. That way we can get what we want and it would be worth paying the $5 each for what we want.

2 - Produce similar amounts of each figure. Instead of having extras of the ones we don’t want and a few of the ones we do want, just produce the same amounts of each. This should help with concerns about doubles/triples.

3 - During the initial sales period (before the next CMF set comes out), place limits in Brand Stores and on Shop @ Home for the number of minifigures you can purchase. Perhaps one or two of each. Then later on when you are looking to get rid of inventory, sell them unmarked and at a lower price. Perhaps even discounts for those who buy in bulk. Perhaps sales at partner stores can continue as they are now, but at a lower price since packages would be unmarked.

Okay, those are my thoughts. What are yours? How should LEGO adjust sales to provide a better experience to consumers while ensuring the value of the product matches expectations?

Thanks for your thoughts and Happy Building!