Parting Together A Minifig?

[Zeya]

I've recently had my eye on some discontinued, pricey minifigs. I've also noticed that sometimes you'll see bits and pieces of minifigs up for sale on eBay and BL, etc. This got me thinking about how people talk about parting together discontinued sets, such as Green Grocer and Cafe Corner. And I've been wondering if anybody goes to the trouble of parting together a minifig, piece by piece.

Have you parted together a minifig over time? What fig was it, and how did it go for you? Are you still missing a key accessory or body part?

[Piranha]

I voted yes I have several times. I just recently did it for six figures but I am still waiting for the elements in the mail. I always look for "New" or like new condition elements when I do it.

I regret not parting together a chrome C-3PO recently would have been only $70 or so, I waited too long and all the parts were gone.

[Lego_Hero]

I've recently had my eye on some discontinued, pricey minifigs. I've also noticed that sometimes you'll see bits and pieces of minifigs up for sale on eBay and BL, etc. This got me thinking about how people talk about parting together discontinued sets, such as Green Grocer and Cafe Corner. And I've been wondering if anybody goes to the trouble of parting together a minifig, piece by piece.

Have you parted together a minifig over time? What fig was it, and how did it go for you? Are you still missing a key accessory or body part?

Nightwing comes to mind. I bought the torso and printed his mask and applied it to a head I already had. I think I already had the hair from Exoforce.

Buying a full minifig worth of parts would probably be close to the real cost, but I got by just spending a few bucks and using existing parts.

[CaptainCRO]

I voted yes I have several times. I just recently did it for six figures but I am still waiting for the elements in the mail. I always look for "New" or like new condition elements when I do it.

I regret not parting together a chrome C-3PO recently would have been only $70 or so, I waited too long and all the parts were gone.

I too regret this. It's probably the coolest fig ever, but it's just unafordable for me.

[andhe]

Yes I have definately done this. Mainly because when buying figs on ebay you aren't guaranteed 'original' figures. You may see a rare torso or head in one lot and have the pieces, or be able to buy the remaining pieces on bricklink cheaper than it would be to buy the whole figure.

I managed to complete both these figures this way http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=973p3bc01&in=M as they have a rare torso, but everything else is common.

You can always part out or sell the pieces in an ebay lot that you don't want!

[madoka]

I do this several thousand times a year, so I maintain a large parts collection for this very purpose. I've got over 20,000 helmets, 5,000 armor, and storage boxes filled with torsos, legs and heads. I'm ready to complete or accessorize nearly all of the minifigs I routinely collect.

[Hrw-Amen]

Yes I have done this a few times, not with anything too expensive though, main ly to get some helmets and black visors as I had a load of old Blacktron minifigs but they were without the helmets or some of them did not have the proper black visors.

[escortmad79]

I've recently had my eye on some discontinued, pricey minifigs. I've also noticed that sometimes you'll see bits and pieces of minifigs up for sale on eBay and BL, etc. This got me thinking about how people talk about parting together discontinued sets, such as Green Grocer and Cafe Corner. And I've been wondering if anybody goes to the trouble of parting together a minifig, piece by piece.

Have you parted together a minifig over time? What fig was it, and how did it go for you? Are you still missing a key accessory or body part?

Parted together a Darth Vader using Bricklink

Also priced what it would take to build Cafe Corner & it worked out cheaper

[brickmack]

No I haven't. With most sets, they get taken apart and sorted back into my drawers and boxes fairly quickly, and the same is true of most minifigs (Except rare ones, like my Blacktron II and Classic Space figs, and ones that are special for other reasons, like my sigfig). I have bought individual parts for minifigs online for use in my own MOCs, but I never bother unless I'm already ordering other parts on Bricklink.

[fyrmedhatt]

I parted together some of the minifigs for the Cafe Corner and Market Street as they are composed of common parts that together are more expensive. A problem with parting together some more expensive minifigures are that they are normally composed of unique parts that themselves are very expensive, so I can imagine you'd have to be lucky for it to be worth it.

[Oky]

Yes, I did that for the Fire Nation figs from the Avatar theme. There was no way I was going to pay the ridiculous prices for the complete figs, so I bricklinked only their heads, armor, and helmets and put them on plain black bodies with flesh hands from my own collection. I also got a black batman cowl once to modify my blue Batman into a black one using black hands and hips and a vampire cape, but I'm not sure if that counts.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

I considered parting together the Cloud City Boba Fett or Jango Fett. However, there was always a part that was not available on BL, and in the end I realised that I wasn't going to save that much more money than by buying the figs complete. In the end, I was able to find them at a good price, but I'm afraid that Jango was a bad investment; Lego is sure to re-release him. About the Cloud City Boba Fett, maybe it won't lose so much value...

[Lorentzen]

I do it sometimes.

I once bought the Skull's Eye Schooner on eBay without the rare trader (Steve) and then later found his torso for cheap in another eBay lot.

I think the idea is good - plus the actual 'hunt' is exciting :)

Also, I recently Bricklinked the Cafe Corner from different sellers. I spent 570 dollars, but including were the rarest bricks in duplicates that I am now re-selling on Bricklink with a small profit in order to reduce the final fee for the Cafe Corner. It's good fun :)

Edited February 26, 2012 by Lorentzen

[charlieboy]

I do it all the time! On every BL order I make I always check through the minifig parts listing in the store i'm buying from. I've bought hundreds of torsos, heads and headpieces from themes such as Star Wars, Harry Potter etc...and have them all stored up until I complete a full figure. After that he/she gets promoted from the parts bin to the display stands!

On many of the more expensive figures it can work out much cheaper doing it this way.