just where have those figs pack gone?????

[kenji]

this is it!!!!!

i researched a little and found out when i was younger lego used to isuue those 5-6 minfigs pack.

and now they ain'tm doing that anymore. to get 5-6 figs you would need to buy a 60USD set. and that is super RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!

[Starwars4J]

this is it!!!!!

i researched a little and found out when i was younger lego used to isuue those 5-6 minfigs pack.

and now they ain'tm doing that anymore. to get 5-6 figs you would need to buy a 60USD set. and that is super RIP OFF!!!!!!!!!!

Or a business move so that people buy more SETS to get more cool figs or to build armies. Worked wonders with Imperial Inspection ;-)

I still remember those awesome fig packs though...and their parts packs for themes...with the pitchfork...oh man

[Berry Syedow]

to get 5-6 figs you would need to buy a 60USD set.

Not anymore, thankfully. The Battle at the Pass is available on SAH for a mere 40 USD. It contains ten mini-figs and one skeleton. The Army of Vikings with Heavy Artillery Wagon is another awsome set that includes seven mini-figs for only 30 USD.

It is a shame that TLC doesn't do that anymore, but it is a smart decision on their part. A lot of people like to collect figures (especially if you're into castle/vikings or pirates), so that means the only way to acquire them in bulk is to buy the sets. Thus adding more dough to the coffers.

If sets are well made then it doesn't matter so much. Such is the case of the Viking Line.

EDIT: Beat me to the punch, Starwars4J. ;-)

[snefroe]

to get 5-6 figs you would need to buy a 60USD set.

It is a shame that TLC doesn't do that anymore, but it is a smart decision on their part. A lot of people like to collect figures (especially if you're into castle/vikings or pirates), so that means the only way to acquire them in bulk is to buy the sets. Thus adding more dough to the coffers.

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

[Berry Syedow]

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

Pardon? Who said anything about spending 600 to 700 euro on an army? I said the only way to acquire an army is to buy sets. Again, I typed "people." There are some castle fanatics that spend way too much money on mini-fig armies, though 600 to 700 euro seems a little extreme. ;-)

[snefroe]

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

Pardon? Who said anything about spending 600 to 700 euro on an army? I said the only way to acquire an army is to buy sets. Again, I typed "people." There are some castle fanatics that spend way too much money on mini-fig armies, though 600 to 700 euro seems a little extreme. ;-)

but that's what you're implying, isn't it? you're basically saying: 'we , the lego company, we're no longer interested in producing pure minifig packs for 10 bucks so that you people can buy 10 copies of them for a 100, giving you about 50 men. we, the lego company, are willing to create a minifig pack but you'll have to take lots of extra pieces as well, cos we'll add a tower or whatever, and it will cost you about 30 bucks. Why? because it's more profitable for us than just a minifig pack.'

of course, no one is going to buy 10 copies of such a set! that's my point! that's why i seriously doubt these new viking sets we'll ever become a major sale, they're too expensive to get multiple copies, contrary to the classic minifig packs...

[Berry Syedow]

OK, we have a misunderstanding here. :-P What I'm saying is that the consumer no longer has the option to buy a mini-fig pack instead of a set if he does not like the set or only desires to have a few more mini-figs for whatever reason. In the end TLC makes more from guy Joe buying a set rather than a fig pack.

[Starwars4J]

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

Pardon? Who said anything about spending 600 to 700 euro on an army? I said the only way to acquire an army is to buy sets. Again, I typed "people." There are some castle fanatics that spend way too much money on mini-fig armies, though 600 to 700 euro seems a little extreme. ;-)

but that's what you're implying, isn't it? you're basically saying: 'we , the lego company, we're no longer interested in producing pure minifig packs for 10 bucks so that you people can buy 10 copies of them for a 100, giving you about 50 men. we, the lego company, are willing to create a minifig pack but you'll have to take lots of extra pieces as well, cos we'll add a tower or whatever, and it will cost you about 30 bucks. Why? because it's more profitable for us than just a minifig pack.'

of course, no one is going to buy 10 copies of such a set! that's my point! that's why i seriously doubt these new viking sets we'll ever become a major sale, they're too expensive to get multiple copies, contrary to the classic minifig packs...

That's exactly what happened, sne ;-)

Of course we're not talking about children anymore, we're talking about AFOLs. Children never would acquire huge armies, that's what the older collectors do. And it isn't that uncommon for people to go buy ten of a set, even a large set. Just look at bricklink! They came from somewhere

[kenji]

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

Pardon? Who said anything about spending 600 to 700 euro on an army? I said the only way to acquire an army is to buy sets. Again, I typed "people." There are some castle fanatics that spend way too much money on mini-fig armies, though 600 to 700 euro seems a little extreme. ;-)

but that's what you're implying, isn't it? you're basically saying: 'we , the lego company, we're no longer interested in producing pure minifig packs for 10 bucks so that you people can buy 10 copies of them for a 100, giving you about 50 men. we, the lego company, are willing to create a minifig pack but you'll have to take lots of extra pieces as well, cos we'll add a tower or whatever, and it will cost you about 30 bucks. Why? because it's more profitable for us than just a minifig pack.'

of course, no one is going to buy 10 copies of such a set! that's my point! that's why i seriously doubt these new viking sets we'll ever become a major sale, they're too expensive to get multiple copies, contrary to the classic minifig packs...

good, sne, very good. THIS IS MY POINT EXACTLY!

LEGO company has changed from a entertainment company to a profit maximising company...........and hey are getting greedier year by year (rising prices, less sets , poorer brick quality, great price variations between regions etc.........)

to be honest, i won't be surprised 10 years later play mobile and megablocks take over if this situation continues, it is just putting everyone off. like we would want to play lego, but we won't want to be ripped off like a pig in the mud at the same time.

[Berry Syedow]

good, sne, very good. THIS IS MY POINT EXACTLY!

LEGO company has changed from a entertainment company to a profit maximising company...........and hey are getting greedier year by year (rising prices, less sets , poorer brick quality, great price variations between regions etc.........)

to be honest, i won't be surprised 10 years later play mobile and megablocks take over if this situation continues, it is just putting everyone off. like we would want to play lego, but we won't want to be ripped off like a pig in the mud at the same time.

TLC is trying to stay in the black. They are not a money-hoarding company looking to up a huge profit by a few more bucks. Set prices are better this year than last year it would seem. Honestly, why would TLC be over taken by megabloks and playmobil? Megabloks is declining in set design quality faster than TLC was, and these last few years have given us some incredible sets. Playmobil is in a different league, beside the minor similarities to the mini-fig. As far as I'm concerned we don't have adequate evidence to support the declining quality of the LEGO brick. I have noticed things here and there, but nothing substantial enough to call TLC out on.

None of this is relevant to your original post, which complains of the absence of the mini-fig packets. Further more you failed to recognize my examples. TLC is trying to appease the masses while still remaining profitable. Maybe in a decade or two mini-fig packs will be back in all their prestigious glory? We'll just have to wait and see.

[kenji]

good, sne, very good. THIS IS MY POINT EXACTLY!

LEGO company has changed from a entertainment company to a profit maximising company...........and hey are getting greedier year by year (rising prices, less sets , poorer brick quality, great price variations between regions etc.........)

to be honest, i won't be surprised 10 years later play mobile and megablocks take over if this situation continues, it is just putting everyone off. like we would want to play lego, but we won't want to be ripped off like a pig in the mud at the same time.

TLC is trying to stay in the black. They are not a money-hoarding company looking to up a huge profit by a few more bucks. Set prices are better this year than last year it would seem. Honestly, why would TLC be over taken by megabloks and playmobil? Megabloks is declining in set design quality faster than TLC was, and these last few years have given us some incredible sets. Playmobil is in a different league, beside the minor similarities to the mini-fig. As far as I'm concerned we don't have adequate evidence to support the declining quality of the LEGO brick. I have noticed things here and there, but nothing substantial enough to call TLC out on.

None of this is relevant to your original post, which complains of the absence of the mini-fig packets. Further more you failed to recognize my examples. TLC is trying to appease the masses while still remaining profitable. Maybe in a decade or two mini-fig packs will be back in all their prestigious glory? We'll just have to wait and see.

yea, you can wait.

but i don't know if other consumers, such as some 4 year old are going to wait with you, with such rising prices they will be switching to plamobile in no time.

[prateek]

there are magnets now *wub*

[snefroe]

good, sne, very good. THIS IS MY POINT EXACTLY!

LEGO company has changed from a entertainment company to a profit maximising company...........and hey are getting greedier year by year (rising prices, less sets , poorer brick quality, great price variations between regions etc.........)

to be honest, i won't be surprised 10 years later play mobile and megablocks take over if this situation continues, it is just putting everyone off. like we would want to play lego, but we won't want to be ripped off like a pig in the mud at the same time.

TLC is trying to stay in the black. They are not a money-hoarding company looking to up a huge profit by a few more bucks. Set prices are better this year than last year it would seem. Honestly, why would TLC be over taken by megabloks and playmobil? Megabloks is declining in set design quality faster than TLC was, and these last few years have given us some incredible sets. Playmobil is in a different league, beside the minor similarities to the mini-fig. As far as I'm concerned we don't have adequate evidence to support the declining quality of the LEGO brick. I have noticed things here and there, but nothing substantial enough to call TLC out on.

None of this is relevant to your original post, which complains of the absence of the mini-fig packets. Further more you failed to recognize my examples. TLC is trying to appease the masses while still remaining profitable. Maybe in a decade or two mini-fig packs will be back in all their prestigious glory? We'll just have to wait and see.

well there's a direct link between playmobile and lego. Lego lost 30% of her customers to playmo in the last 10 years. Megablocks isn't relevant in that regard. Playmo does have 1 minifig packs and they're selling enormously it seems... exactly... to build armies...

[Berry Syedow]

well there's a direct link between playmobile and lego. Lego lost 30% of her customers to playmo in the last 10 years. Megablocks isn't relevant in that regard. Playmo does have 1 minifig packs and they're selling enormously it seems... exactly... to build armies...

Oh, really? Yeash, stinks for TLC.

I was thinking of writing up a thread for how TLC could improve classic castle if they ever decide to discontinue Kk II :-| after I saw some of the playmobil stuff on their site. I guess it goes to show that you don't need to dumb down your sets to keep a profit.

[kenji]

fellow members, i must tell you how impressed i am by your replies.

this shows that it isn't just me, but all of you are upset and concern about the current fact that not only is lego forcing us to buy big sets to build our armies, but it is slowly but surely being taken over by its competitor.

just look at its rivals, all those amazing franchise with the movies, narnia, spiderman, fantastic four...endless

if they are still not willing to wake up from their 'get rich quick' dream then the end reuslt would be them losing an even LARGER sector of its customer.

once the lego star wars contract is over i bet they are going to lose like 30% of their net revenue and 5-10 years later i can see the company is going to be in big trouble.

[WhiteHexagon]

Happy Memories, minifig packs! I remember buying a few packs of space minifigs (6 per box) because I cound't afford the bigger sets. Now it seems like they are trying to turn minifigs into the next pokemon. Just look at the way they advertise the names of the minifigs on some of the packs. I would quite like a skelatal minifig, but it seems you have to buy a huge castle to get it.

But I'm happy with the sports set I just got, the primary reason was for the minifigs, it includes 12! Set 3420. Currently 30EUR here in DE at Kaufhof (excuse my spelling).

The only other way is to buy the silly magnet packs. I got the two batman sets at the weekend (6 minifigs), but now I'm so afraid to put them accitentaly on something magneticaly sensitive. Plus they are glued in places :(

Bring back the minifig packs!!

Peter

[Clone comander Nodra 999]

fellow members, i must tell you how impressed i am by your replies.

this shows that it isn't just me, but all of you are upset and concern about the current fact that not only is lego forcing us to buy big sets to build our armies, but it is slowly but surely being taken over by its competitor.

just look at its rivals, all those amazing franchise with the movies, narnia, spiderman, fantastic four...endless

if they are still not willing to wake up from their 'get rich quick' dream then the end reuslt would be them losing an even LARGER sector of its customer.

once the lego star wars contract is over i bet they are going to lose like 30% of their net revenue and 5-10 years later i can see the company is going to be in big trouble.

for all we know lego could have the sw liscence for ever with 2 new star wars shows in the near future, wich brings us bak to the minifig problem *vader* . Its hard to get a hold of ep3 clone troopers shoulda bought more scout walkers :-(

[mutley777]

The price of minifigs on ebay and bricklink seem to have gone up alot in the last 2 years. stormtroopers and ep2 clones were always under $5 a few years back. but the ep3 clones seem to be rarely under $8-9 *wacko* . as for spending 700-800 euro on a army i think i must be close to that with all my star wars minifig buys.

[SWMAN]

I don't know about old castle ones. But, do you remember the star wars lego figure packs about 4 years ago that had 3 figures. They had battle droids, luke, vader, and the emperor or han and boba fett. Well lego had to discontinue those because hasbro is the only company with the rights from lucas to sell lego figures, no matter how big or small, individually or in packs. I wish lego could have continued the sets, and had army sets, like clones or battle droids. But, sadly the could not.

[JINZONINGEN73]

i seriously doubt that. the budget of young people very often doesn't allow them to buy 4 big castles or ships to get a large number of minifigs, however, we can put that to the test with the viking line i guess. How many of you are going to buy ten times the new viking sets for about 60-70 euro (25euro set + 40 euro set)just to get enough vikings, meaning, who's going to spend 600-700 euro on a viking army?

I kind of know what you're saying, but I think you're overshooting it.

When I was a kid, if I had, say, 4 of any one figure, it was an army.

At worst, I could see kids merely getting mom and dad to buy 3 of any large set.

And depending on the set (like the one with 10 figures), they could potentially have a whopping 30-fig army.

Maybe they'll bring the minifig packs back. More likely, they're just allocating their budget & manufacturing resources elsewhere this year, if the high quality of the current sets is any indication.

Exciting times, these are.

[kenji]

does the LEGO manufacturing people EVER read what is being written here?????

I mean, we have again and again demanded the gunship and minifig packs,

and yet it is either they are deaf or don't care.

so dissappointing

[JINZONINGEN73]

Well, there ARE alot of Lego sites out there to listen to. We are but one.

Though I must admit, the heads of people here seem to be screwed on straighter.

[Jipay]

Well some people at TLC definitly browsed this website (or at least the frontpage) since sometimes our Lego online communities manager is informed by someone from TLC that we posted some news :-$.

Now between reading and having the power to change things, there's a lot of difference.

Though I must admit, the heads of people here seem to be screwed on straighter.

Thanks :-P

[Starwars4J]

Well, these past couple of years they HAVE been giving the fans what we want more...Sailbarge, Sandcrawler, more basic bricks, no rainbow knights, etc.

They're definitely headed in the right direction

[john cleese]

when i was a young child i never bought two of the same set, at that time i thought it was a silly thing to do. I think most kids are the same way, rather than having 2 of those viking army sets, they will go out and buy 1 as well as 1 of the new viking catapults. Then if they still have some money left, maybe an exoforce striking venom and sentai fortress becuase they saw them in the commercial. I dont think kids generally buy alot of the same thing because they are young and dont see the possible benefits in doing so. They think variety is always better.