BEWARE: Collectable Minifigures US Online Purchases

[legitimatealex]

There is currently a problem in shipping in the US where the warehouse is sending out the same minifigure in each order. They are not random at all: you will receive all the same minifigure.

I contacted LEGO Shipping over this and the representative I spoke to didn't attempt to hide the problem. The warehouse that all the items ship out from is putting 5 of the same bags in each order. This representative said she had had the same conversation with 10 other people today who were calling to question the 'randomness' of the packages. She said I could return them for my money back or trade them but LEGO couldn't do anything besides that.

So this is a warning: unless you want 5 of the same minifigure, right now do NOT order collectable minifigures online in the US from LEGO.com.

[meschepers]

That's odd, I got a S@H order today that had 5 of the minifigs in it and they were all different (forestman, cave man, space man -no legs!-, magician, and nurse). These are the first 5 I have been able to get since I haven't found them in a store around my home yet. Hopefully LEGO gets this little problem sorted out soon.

[legitimatealex]

I'm glad it worked out for you. Here is my crop of 5 crash test dummies.

They might all be smiling and happy, but my mood is more like this guy over here...

[The Green Brick Giant]

This whole minifigure thing is a complete and utter mess. LEGO should do one series a year and make the minifigures for 6 months that way you can order 50 if you want instead of 5. Five at a time is a joke, more so if they are all the same!

[Front]

I'm sorry to hear you had a problem. So will you return them to LEGO or just live with it ? Why not ask LEGO to send four bags which is not Demolitian Dummy (although they might not know that they can check which figure it is).

[AFOL SF]

I placed 2 separate orders for the minifigs (5 per order). Both orders will be arriving most likely next week. Will keep you posted on the first 5 I get... Cross my fingers!

I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma. Anybody else who has the same experience with S@H? Let's hear it here.

[Big Cam]

This whole minifigure thing is a complete and utter mess. LEGO should do one series a year and make the minifigures for 6 months that way you can order 50 if you want instead of 5. Five at a time is a joke, more so if they are all the same!

Exactly, Lego is making this way too hard for the average consumer, if this doesn't get better, I may not buy a single one, and I want a box of series 1 and 2.

[Commodore Hornbricker]

My experiences trying to buy these things so far has been terrible. I was about to order some online but now that sounds like a bad idea... Total wreck! I don't understand why Lego won't sell the whole case or a complete set online for whatever the cost?

[meschepers]

To my knowledge there is not a store within 100 miles of where I live that sells these. I live in the second largest city in my state and have not seen a single one except for the ones I got in the mail today. I have tried Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target and even K-Mart but have not found a store that stocks these. It's getting frustrating to me. I think I will have to resort to buying them from bricklink so I can get the ones I want specifically instead of just hoping I get them through S@H.

Is there anyone in Oklahoma (out side of the Oklahoma City metro area) that knows anywhere that stocks these? Toys R Us has them on their website (always sold out) but the stores in my city don't have any at all from what I can tell.

[WhiteFang]

This sounds serious.

I will move this over to the General Discussion.

[legitimatealex]

I'm sorry to hear you had a problem. So will you return them to LEGO or just live with it ? Why not ask LEGO to send four bags which is not Demolitian Dummy (although they might not know that they can check which figure it is).

I'm going to live with it. I can give them or trade with some friends. LEGO 'doesn't know what figure is in the bag when they send them' is the story I got from the rep. When I pointed out the barcodes are all different, and that they obviously knew they were sending the same 5 if multiple people have had this problem she admitted it was just company policy that they had to sell them like this.

Exactly, Lego is making this way too hard for the average consumer, if this doesn't get better, I may not buy a single one, and I want a box of series 1 and 2.

I was hoping for at least 3 different minifigures with my order. My mother and brother were over and I gave them each a bag to open and when it dawned that we all had crash test dummies my mood hit rock bottom.

To my knowledge there is not a store within 100 miles of where I live that sells these. I live in the second largest city in my state and have not seen a single one except for the ones I got in the mail today. I have tried Toys R Us, Wal-Mart, Target and even K-Mart but have not found a store that stocks these. It's getting frustrating to me. I think I will have to resort to buying them from bricklink so I can get the ones I want specifically instead of just hoping I get them through S@H.

I have a Toys R Us 40 mins away but I called and they're sold out. They say they had three cases and they were gone on day one. These are my first minifigures that I have because they're the first minifigures I could find. The worst part is my girlfriend ordered me another 5 for my birthday about 2 days after I ordered mine. I hope they don't come out with another 5 of the same minifigure, especially not 5 more crash test dummies...I always joked to myself that I could just buy 100 of the same fig and make my own clone army but I never wanted to be serious

[Enilder]

I'm glad it worked out for you. Here is my crop of 5 crash test dummies.

They might all be smiling and happy, but my mood is more like this guy over here...

man that sucks :( this is exactly the reason why i am not buying these. not that i have a huge interest in minifigs but i only want specific minifigs. not 5 test dummies.

[Hewman]

There is a review on shop at home where someone said they bought 30 and got 30 skaters (not sure if this is someone from US or not, were purchases always limited to 5 figs?). I guess those that are getting all cheerleaders or zombies are keeping quiet for fear of having divers and crash test dummies thrown at them.

[tiggerkiddo]

Here's hoping that if they get enough complaints, they'll try to randomize it.

[HumanPackMule]

wow, thanks for bringing this issue to light. Good thing I'll be going to Georgia's Lego store in late August/Early September to be able to make sure I get different figs.

[jdebitjr]

I received 2 crash dummies--the other 3 were different (but received a robot with no head). Placed order for replacement head.

I was told only 5 PER HOUSEHOLD. I didn't think I could place another order because my "household" already got its 5?

[legitimatealex]

I received 2 crash dummies--the other 3 were different (but received a robot with no head). Placed order for replacement head.

I was told only 5 PER HOUSEHOLD. I didn't think I could place another order because my "household" already got its 5?

I have another 5 ordered. I guess its not per household, its per order.

[CP5670]

I had already decided long ago that I wouldn't be buying any of these minifigs blindly in their original packs. They have been quite reasonably priced on Bricklink, so it's better to just go there for specific minifigs unless you want to amass an army of one kind.

[blueandwhite]

I had already decided long ago that I wouldn't be buying any of these minifigs blindly in their original packs. They have been quite reasonably priced on Bricklink, so it's better to just go there for specific minifigs unless you want to amass an army of one kind.

Honestly, the barcode check is the best way to go. No secondary market inflation and you can pretty much guarantee you get the figures you want. I just hope that distribution improves so that everybody here can get their paws on these guys. It's a shame that LEGO is sending people five duplicates of the same figure (or that they are limiting people to five in the first place). Here's hoping that they become available locally for everybody.

[FelixTheCat]

Honestly, the barcode check is the best way to go. No secondary market inflation and you can pretty much guarantee you get the figures you want. I just hope that distribution improves so that everybody here can get their paws on these guys. It's a shame that LEGO is sending people five duplicates of the same figure (or that they are limiting people to five in the first place). Here's hoping that they become available locally for everybody.

The problem with that is that there are a lot of places where you cannot find a shop with them. I live in the capital city of Australia and haven't found any in a shop yet. I know a couple shops that did have them, but only 3 boxes or so and all sold out quick. I did notice that certain ones like the cheerleader were fetching up to $15 on ebay from sellers who had a ton listed and were obviously making a lot of money from the box or so they managed to pick up.

[jonwil]

Don't know which city you are in but I am in Perth and have had zero problems obtaining all the figures I wanted in 3 different lots from 3 different stores.

[Blondie-Wan]

There is currently a problem in shipping in the US where the warehouse is sending out the same minifigure in each order. They are not random at all: you will receive all the same minifigure.

I contacted LEGO Shipping over this and the representative I spoke to didn't attempt to hide the problem. The warehouse that all the items ship out from is putting 5 of the same bags in each order. This representative said she had had the same conversation with 10 other people today who were calling to question the 'randomness' of the packages. She said I could return them for my money back or trade them but LEGO couldn't do anything besides that.

So this is a warning: unless you want 5 of the same minifigure, right now do NOT order collectable minifigures online in the US from LEGO.com.

How unfortunate. I know it must be very annoying to have been able to buy just five of these things so far and then have all of them turn out to be the same. Given your experience, perhaps it's just as well there's currently a limit of five per order, though I know that's not much consolation for someone trying to get either a larger number of figures, a greater variety of them, or both...

As far as the general lack of availability goes, I think part of it is just the fact that they're still new; I imagine TRU has gotten them simply because TRU is TRU, and is often the first to get new LEGO items. I was at the LEGO Store in Orlando the morning of Sunday, May 23, just before returning home from a weekend Disney trip, and a LEGO Store rep told me the minifigures were supposed to be out June 21st; the very next day, after getting back home, I found the figures freshly stocked at my local TRU. I think the figures are still considered to be in the "rolling out" period, and that they'll be more widely available in a week or three. I do know a couple small independent toy stores in my area are expecting the minifigures in the near future and simply haven't gotten them yet.

I'm waiting on a Shop at Home order that includes two of the minifigures; I expect it to arrive today. I'll be sure to post here if they're the same as one another. In the meantime, I do have a full set plus one additional zombie I cherry-picked at TRU, and I'm planning on getting most of my additional minifigures from the two stores I mentioned once they get them in. I hope everyone who's interested in them eventually manages to get all the ones they want.

[vexorian]

imho beyond the original mistake which I guess is probably fixed since people are reporting to get different figs, this is probably good news. It means that they intentionally check the bar codes. I think it is likely that buying 5 figs from S@H will always give you 5 different figs. This increases chances to complete a set when you have few options of purchase and S@H is the main one. This would also explain the 5 units limit.

[Blondie-Wan]

Now, there is one other issue I've seen reported more than once with the new minifigs - more than once in this thread, in fact, even though it's not the primary topic of the thread:

That's odd, I got a S@H order today that had 5 of the minifigs in it and they were all different (forestman, cave man, space man -no legs!-, magician, and nurse).

I received 2 crash dummies--the other 3 were different (but received a robot with no head). Placed order for replacement head.

(bolding added for emphasis)

This is a bit troubling. It seems to me I've seen an unusually high number of posts in EB about figs with missing or mismatched elements. Does anyone know how much of a problem this is? I haven't had any issues with any of the seventeen figs I've opened, but...

Edited June 10, 2010 by Blondie-Wan

[The Green Brick Giant]

This is what happens when LEGO starts making pieces in China, they don't even check the weight of the minifigures!