An Open Letter to The LEGO Group: SDCC Exclusive Minifigures

[agoodfella77]

one thing I didn't mention on here before was that a lot of the SDCC exclusives had leg printing and even boot printing when so many SH figs have needed them but didn't get them, it bothers me that it looks like more effort has gone in these figs than the ones in sets

This is a great point.

The Spider-Man SDCC fig is a perfect example of this. IMO it's the nicest printed Super Hero figure TLG has put out to date.

Meanwhile the normal Spider-Man fig has no leg printing and we are now into our 8th set / release with the same Spider-Man figure.

[Blondie-Wan]

I think its good that LEGO has exclusive figures. The figures offer a reward for getting to go to the event

Getting to go to the event is already its own reward. Why should people get rewarded for being rewarded? "Oh, you won a million dollars? That's awesome! Here, take another million for being so awesome!"

Even I, as someone who looks upon these with some dismay, freely concede there are legitimate promotional reasons for having the convention exclusives. Rewarding people for already being lucky isn't a good one. Now, rewarding people for making the effort, scrounging up the money, making sacrifices, etc. to be able to go might be a good reason, but just rewarding people for getting to go certainly isn't.

[Sam892]

Getting to go to the event is already its own reward. Why should people get rewarded for being rewarded? "Oh, you won a million dollars? That's awesome! Here, take another million for being so awesome!"

Even I, as someone who looks upon these with some dismay, freely concede there are legitimate promotional reasons for having the convention exclusives. Rewarding people for already being lucky isn't a good one. Now, rewarding people for making the effort, scrounging up the money, making sacrifices, etc. to be able to go might be a good reason, but just rewarding people for getting to go certainly isn't.

Agreed, attending Comic Con should be a reward in itself. The fact that you have the opportunity to see what big companies, like DC and Marvel have planned for the next few years is already a reward.

[Paul Boratko]

Getting to go to the event is already its own reward. Why should people get rewarded for being rewarded? "Oh, you won a million dollars? That's awesome! Here, take another million for being so awesome!"

Even I, as someone who looks upon these with some dismay, freely concede there are legitimate promotional reasons for having the convention exclusives. Rewarding people for already being lucky isn't a good one. Now, rewarding people for making the effort, scrounging up the money, making sacrifices, etc. to be able to go might be a good reason, but just rewarding people for getting to go certainly isn't.

It's part of the incentive to draw people there to make money at the door... If companies didn't give out/sell exclusives, they probably wouldn't get the crowd numbers that they do... The attendence numbers went from 50,000 in 2000 to over 130,000 by 2012, mostly because of the Ebay/scalping boom...

[SMC]

It's part of the incentive to draw people there to make money at the door... If companies didn't give out/sell exclusives, they probably wouldn't get the crowd numbers that they do... The attendence numbers went from 50,000 in 2000 to over 130,000 by 2012, mostly because of the Ebay/scalping boom...

but it sells out now in minutes don't think they need to give people a reason to go

[Paul Boratko]

but it sells out now in minutes don't think they need to give people a reason to go

Maybe the Lego related stuff is gone in minutes, but not everything sells out there even after the duration of the entire event... There is a TON of SDCC exclusive items besides Lego...

[SMC]

Maybe the Lego related stuff is gone in minutes, but not everything sells out there even after the duration of the entire event... There is a TON of SDCC exclusive items besides Lego...

I meant SDCC sells out it does not need exclusive lego to sell tickets

[Paul Boratko]

It sells out because of all of the exclusive items that attract fans as well as scalpers... Sure Lego doesnt have to be part of it, but considering that they have licenses for most of the things that are the primary focus of the event, they would be silly not to be part of it.. It's great advertisement for them... If everyone else is selling items, what does it hurt if Lego sells and gives away items..? They are a business just like these other toy companies..

I don't mind having to pay $100 for a SDCC G.I.Joe figure that soemone at the show paid $16 for... It would have cost me several thousand dollars to attend that same show to get one...

[Lyichir]

It's part of the incentive to draw people there to make money at the door... If companies didn't give out/sell exclusives, they probably wouldn't get the crowd numbers that they do... The attendence numbers went from 50,000 in 2000 to over 130,000 by 2012, mostly because of the Ebay/scalping boom...

It's not just about the number of attendees, either. SDCC is a very big event occupying a comparatively short period of time, and there's no way any one attendee will be able to see everything. With Lego's competitors offering exclusive products and giveaways, Lego has to have something comparable or people will just pass by the Lego booth with the knowledge that what it does have (like new set reveals) can be seen online after the show. And of course, unlike Hasbro, Lego is a building toy company, so they have to have something to offer that couldn't just be assembled with existing parts. Exclusive figs are a cheap and easy way to do that.

I recently bought this year's Comic Con Unikitty off eBay for about $80, which I figure is a fair price for an exclusive version of one of my favorite characters. I haven't opened her yet, but I figure I'll be comfortable doing so once the price of her opened climbs closer to what I paid for her MISB (which I'm sure will happen within a year or so, if past exclusives are any indication).

[Vindicare]

The person(s) we should be pointing fingers at are the people paying the ridiculous prices. I know some here have paid them, sorry you have. But, if the scalers know they can get those prices for them, then they'll stay there. If we, as a community(which won't happen...) stop paying these stupid prices for them, it will go down. It will take a lot of time, but it will.

If they can't move the product & have to keep reposting over & over, something's going to give. They're either going to take it down and give up or take less than they hoped for for it. This is more of a pipe dream sadly, because it's likely never to happen.

Now, this is definitely a "me, me, me" entitlement mindset, to a degree. Asking TLG to halt these giveaways because you can't get them and therefore won't have 100% is beyond childish. I want Phoenix & Spider-Woman. That doesn't mean I don't think they should exist because I'm not going to pay the price for it.

[MAB]

I also don't see any compelling evidence that these promos do anything to spur sales.

They do help spur sales of comic con tickets.

[fred67]

They do help spur sales of comic con tickets.

A really unnecessary spur, seeing as how SDCC, from what I understand, is typically sold out.

[Sam892]

A really unnecessary spur, seeing as how SDCC, from what I understand, is typically sold out.

Not only sold out, but currently has no way of increasing it's capacity.

[Robert8]

Maybe the SDCC minifigures could be released a couple of years later with some changes in order to protect the exclusiveness of the original ones

[agoodfella77]

Maybe the SDCC minifigures could be released a couple of years later with some changes in order to protect the exclusiveness of the original ones

This is a very reasonable solution that I have also endorsed.

[Aanchir]

Maybe the SDCC minifigures could be released a couple of years later with some changes in order to protect the exclusiveness of the original ones

I've suggested it multiple times (even if the fig always remains exclusive, there's no reason the character has to), but for some reason some people continue to insist that the SDCC versions are perfectly realized depictions of iconic versions of the characters, and any altered versions would fall short of the originals.

I personally feel like this is overstating things. The current Han Solo minifigure ostensibly depicts the same version as most previous ones, but has managed to make changes that I consider improvements. And as happy as I am with the current state of minifigure design, it would be shortsighted to assume that all of today's minifigures will always remain the pinnacle of design in hindsight.

[MAB]

A really unnecessary spur, seeing as how SDCC, from what I understand, is typically sold out.

Yes, but would lego fans still go if they were not able to get exclusives? Would lego still get the rates they pay for their stalls if they lost getting their share of the fanbase through the doors? If it was noticed by the organisers that lego didn't have lots of people around their stall (due to nothing worth getting), then maybe they would end up having to pay more as they are not attracting the fans like other companies. There is so much that none of us know about the financing of the event, so what may seem like an unwise business decision to do exclusives is not the point. If we had all the facts (which we never will), there is probably a clear financial reason why they do it.

Edited September 5, 2014 by MAB

[agoodfella77]

Yes, but would lego fans still go if they were not able to get exclusives? Would lego still get the rates they pay for their stalls if they lost getting their share of the fanbase through the doors? If it was noticed by the organisers that lego didn't have lots of people around their stall (due to nothing worth getting), then maybe they would end up having to pay more as they are not attracting the fans like other companies. There is so much that none of us know about the financing of the event, so what may seem like an unwise business decision to do exclusives is not the point. If we had all the facts (which we never will), there is probably a clear financial reason why they do it.

These are all very fair points.

Having said that, the SDCC exclusives haven't really had that much publicity (at least I haven't been really aware of it until more recently -- by that I mean the last few years). At the same time, I think with this increased awareness there has also been an increase in the criticism of this distribution system -- which is a byproduct / unintended consequence of this exclusive system. In other words, whereas these giveaways were nice little bonuses / swag for convention go-ers they were items that didn't get that much publicity or coverage.

A few things have changed over the last few years, namely:

1) Coverage of SDCC (in general) has gotten much broader and much deeper

2) There are a number of reasons for this -- but in a nutshell, we are living through a kind of geek "golden age" if you will -- popquiz, what are the Top 3 grossing films this year? MARVEL's Guardians of the Galaxy, MARVEL's Captain America Winter Soldier, LEGO Movie. All three films / franchises will have very visible / strong presence at SDCC. Even no. 4 Hasbro's Transformers, No. 5 -- Disney's Malificent, No. 6 -- MARVEL's X-Men Days of Future Past and No. 8 MARVEL's Amazing Spider-Man round up 7 out of the top 10 grossing films this year. The Super Heroes genre is experiencing a kind of renaissance that a Super Hero fan like me can only dream of...

3) Why is this relevant? Because Hollywood success sits at the very apex of media / entertainment news. This is simple fact. And as topics ranging from Super Heroes to the LEGO movie dominate these headlines, SDCC coverage will naturally bask in this limelight / halo effect.

4) Finally, LEGOs participation in SDCC has also increased over the last few years.

Add all of this up? And even your casual LEGO fan who probably had never heard of SDCC probably knows about it now.

We will reach a point where the LEGO Group will begin to weight the benefits of this system vs. the cons. A lot of people make the argument that "noone has ever cared before, so why are you bringing this subject up now?" -- well, I would argue that not a lot of people cared simply because not a lot of people knew... They know now.

Edited September 5, 2014 by agoodfella

[MAB]

Before the growth of comic con, they used to do giveaways that were exclusive in packaging only (eg the 2009 SDCC SW presentation packs, cube dudes of 2010 ), but the minifigs /parts were available to all. They got discussed a bit in lego fan discussions, but not much. Most minifig collectors weren't that bothered about them as they knew they could get the figures in sets anyway. How much discussion is there (both back then and now) about sw224 Dooku for example? Bilbo and Azog went the same way, as has Bard. There was discussion at the time (both positive about the figures, and negative that they were at comic con), but it quickly died down when people knew that they were generally available. Whereas truly exclusive ones now do get discussed and remain discussed even after a few years, again there is both positive discussion about the figures and negative that they are rare/expensive.

What is financially better (for lego and SDCC)? That people discuss the figures, and know of the Holy Grail type ones, and possibly have an aspiration to someday attend SDCC to get something special, or that they are not really any different to every other superhero (or other theme) one, and are not actually any more special than say getting the Penguin in a $13 set.

Edited September 5, 2014 by MAB

[agoodfella77]

Well, lo and behold:

http://www.bricksandbloks.com/lego-rocket-raccoon-minifigure-polybag-5002145-revealed/

If I were an optimist, I would say that TLG is responding to their customers about the SDCC exclusives.

Either way, thank you!

[Lyichir]

Well, lo and behold:

http://www.bricksand...02145-revealed/

If I were an optimist, I would say that TLG is responding to their customers about the SDCC exclusives.

Either way, thank you!

I would actually think that's more a case of that figure never having been intended to be SDCC-exclusive in the first place. Normally there are three types of Comic-Con exclusives: exclusive figs (packaged on their own, never released anywhere else), preview figs (packaged on their own, but intended to be released in later sets), and exclusive sets (using available figs in a small model that's only available at the con). Rocket's Warbird was the first time we'd seemingly had an exclusive set that itself contained an exclusive fig. But it's entirely possible that that was never the intention, and they simply decided to use a version of the character intended to be released later.

In any case, it's nice that we'll be getting this fig in a wider release, especially in such a charming little polybag! Love the tiny Groot!

[Borador]

And let's not forget that Green Arrow is quite similar to his CCE figure. Same costume, slightly different print, and a different headgear. Old one is still exclusive, new one is still the same costume...

Now does anyone here doubt that Phoenix, Bizarro, Shazam, etc. won't get the same treatment eventually?

[SMC]

Well, lo and behold:

http://www.bricksandbloks.com/lego-rocket-raccoon-minifigure-polybag-5002145-revealed/

If I were an optimist, I would say that TLG is responding to their customers about the SDCC exclusives.

Either way, thank you!

Well lets hole off on the party, first that was in a sdcc set which have not had exclusives figs and so far its only shown up in Canada and is $35 on brickset and more on ebay.

[agoodfella77]

Well lets hole off on the party, first that was in a sdcc set which have not had exclusives figs and so far its only shown up in Canada and is $35 on brickset and more on ebay.

Rome wasn't built in a day. As I said, as an optimist, it's a good sign.