Series 1 Minifigures Now SOLD OUT at LEGOshop.com

 

  • Series 1 Minifigures Now SOLD OUT at LEGOshop.com

    Posted by yellowcastle, 16 Jun 2010 18:47. Filed under Shopping (USA).

    8683: LEGO Minifigures Series 1 {Random bag}
    Collectable Minifigures/Series 1, 2010
    More details...
    ©2010 LEGO Group

    The Series 1 Collectible Minifigures are now sold out at LEGOshop.com.  Just to be sure, I called LEGO Customer Service and they have unfortunately confirmed it.  Though we've had no word yet on Walmart or Target, the minifigures have been sporadically available at Toys R Us, LEGO Brand Stores, and recently at Borders Books.

    Other SOLD OUT sets of note:

    • 8962 – Crystal King
    • 7199 – Temple of Doom
    • 7079 – Drawbridge Defense
    • 7097 – Trolls' Mountain Fortress
    • 7675 – AT-TE Walker
    • 7676 – Republic Attack Gunship
    • 5612 – Police Officer
    • 8398 – BBQ Stand

     

    Please note that most of these sets can still be found in stores, but don't wait too long!  :o)


    120 comments, latest one posted 35 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 16 Jun 2010 19:28

Uh oh... i had a feeling the good star wars stuff was headed for a summer death. I am stunned that the minifigs made a quick exit. Looks like they will be worth there weight in gold now.

Posted by Mr. Football in United States, 17 Jun 2010 02:42

Surprised they took both the AT-TE and Republic Gunship off the market. Both excellent kits. Both two of the most iconic ships from the hit Clone Wars series that's going into its 3rd Season. Demand for these sets will remain high. Expect those two sets to rise in value quick. Pick'em up while you can.

Posted by Dlakii in Australia, 17 Jun 2010 05:38

Hm, I wouldn't have purchased them from S@H anyway, but it's kind of a bummer to see the only vague confirmation that the LAAT/i and AT-TE are still being sold be cancelled. Not that I've seen them anywhere around here in recent times. Gah, why couldn't my interest in Star Wars have been rekindled in 2008? D=

Posted by DrathMaul1997 in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 05:53

Lol, will lego make any more of them or is this it now?

Posted by legobob in United States, 17 Jun 2010 06:10

@DrathMaul1997 they will probably make more... I really hope they do

Posted by Topsy Cret in Sweden, 17 Jun 2010 06:39

Thank goodness I managed to get all the figures I wanted at the local toy store. Although they still have some there...

Posted by earl9371 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 07:08

All of the TRU stores here in the Louisville area received another case of the minifigs late yesterday. Needed 7 to complete the collection - picked up 31 of the little dudes thinking there was no way I wouldn't get everything I needed. Brought them home, scanned them (thanks Brickset!), and only got three of the ones I was looking for! Definitely not buying lottery tickets today.

Posted by bader in United States, 17 Jun 2010 07:42

I was planning on buying boxes of the minifigs, diddn't work out so well. Brand Retail got 2 more cases in (have to buy 5/day though) so did TRU, gona try to get a case or two over there. Sounds as if series 2 is already on the way to stores- or so says my insider?

Posted by BioFreak877 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 08:48

Grrrrrrr...... i'll have toask my nan if she'll get some for me in Britain. I waited too long to get them.

Posted by UKver2.0 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 08:50

I called S@H. They said they removed the "limit 5" restriction because of all the complaints then sold-out within hours.

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 17 Jun 2010 09:29

People complain too much!
Ruin it for everyone.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 17 Jun 2010 09:59

In my opinion, this was a no-win situation for LEGO once demand for these figures skyrocketed. Since there are 16 different figures, it was silly to limit people to 5 per household. But what was the alternative? Between collectors, AFOLs, and investors buying everything in sight, these figures likely missed a majority of their target audience. I have had good success so far, though, finding these at our Lego Brand stores, TRU's, and even a Borders last night. Just note that you're paying 50% more at Borders. They had 2 mostly full boxes last night and I even got permission from the wife to get a box but I was good and limited myself to just a few. Still holding out hope for Walmart and Target, though. :o)

Posted by legojango in United States, 17 Jun 2010 10:12

I bought 30 today, but I didn't get any spacemen, cavemen, or wrestlers! I have to get them!

Posted by Zacherano in United States, 17 Jun 2010 10:41

I just got my first shipment of first collectable minifigures in the mail yesterday, and I feel really bad for those that were not able to order them in the limited time margin that they were available online and in major stores. My advice: call your local small stores, and ask them to call you if and when they receive these minifigures.

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 17 Jun 2010 11:04

Yellowcastle - are these available on the Borders website? If they are, and they aren't in store, I could order them online and have them shipped to the store for free.

Posted by Morgan19 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 11:07

I don't think LEGO has ever been available via their website (except stuff like the Brickmaster books). When they advertise sets on sale in email blasts, there's always an "only available in-store" disclaimer as well.

Posted by durins in United States, 17 Jun 2010 11:24

I just put in an order at Lego.com on Tuesday for 5 since I haven't been able to find them in stores anywhere. I sure hope they show up!

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 17 Jun 2010 11:44

@Brickmatt - no luck with finding these online at Borders. For me, it's been mostly calling around to local stores and trying not to sound too crazy. With Target and Walmart not yet (or at all) in the game, I would imagine that you only have a couple of days max before all of the Borders have been raided by us LEGO maniacs. (Am I the only who remembers those commercials?)

Posted by weerwoefski in Belgium, 17 Jun 2010 12:01

Luckily I managed to get the whole set of 16, thanks to the barcode decoders!

Posted by Jonny 2 Scarves in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 12:12

Do we think that the Temple of Doom may sell out in the UK? I was thinking about waiting to see if they put all of the remaining Indy sets on sale, maybe in the big sales after Christmas, but I dont want to leave it too late and miss out!
Thanks.

Posted by dutchtreat in Netherlands, 17 Jun 2010 12:15

Strange, when I look at the Legoshop the following items are not stated as sold out:
8962 – Crystal King
7199 – Temple of Doom
7079 – Drawbridge Defense
7097 – Trolls' Mountain Fortress
5612 – Police Officer
8398 – BBQ Stand

No sign of the below whatshowever:
7675 – AT-TE Walker
7676 – Republic Attack Gunship

Can't find the Minifigures online, but there are loads for sale in the Netherlands (all big toyshops, but also Blokker)

Posted by mo123567 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 12:15

They should keep making them if they are selling so well. I there are people willing to pay $120 for a case, Lego should be willing to sell them a case.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 17 Jun 2010 12:17

FBTB has people reporting finding the CMFs at Fred Meyer Stores, also, so there IS hope... if you have a Fred Meyer nearby. I don't know where they are, myself.

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 12:29

@yellowcastle...zack, zack, he's a lego maniac! yes I have vivid memories of that commercial. To this day, I blame Lego for planting that seed of obsession in the minds of childrens. Then you wonder why 20 years later we destroy inventories of Lego toys, gobbeling up collectable minifigs like pac-man dots, you gotta love the 80's. That is an interesting parallel though, the 80's was the birth of the modern minifig and now we can't live without them. the circle is complete

Posted by ry66 in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 12:34

I thought that borders had closed down!

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 17 Jun 2010 12:49

@Dutchtreat - It is my understanding that SOLD OUT status at LEGOshop.com is region specific. The update above was only in regards to the U.S.

@Jonny 2 Scarves - I too have been waiting for a sale to buy this set. I think I'm going to risk waiting, though.

@Everyone - On a tangent, I have always wondered which sets are approaching end of life but have never been great at guessing. Additionally, I've tried asking Lego Store employees but it's been hit or miss there too. For those of us who have to pace our Lego purchases, it certainly helps to know how long we have before it's too late. For example, I ended up buying the motorized At-At and Dwarves' Mine long before they would be discontinued but was then too late for the tan creator house, castle chess, castle tic tac toe, and castle army builder sets. Does anyone else struggle with this and are there any good strategies out there?

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 17 Jun 2010 12:55

A set being on sale on Lego.com can indicate that a set may be on the way out - both the Eiffel Tower and the Taj Mahal were put on sale before being discontinued.

EDIT - Well, maybe not every time - I just checked my facts and the Taj Mahal is still available at regular price! So, being on sale indicates that a set may be discontinued, but not definitely.

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:00

Anyone wish to speculate on the Possibility of Lego doing a second production run of the 1st series? I know that they are probably well into producing the 2nd series by now and while these figs are limited edition things but nothing says that they have to be limited to only one production run.

Posted by AZFIREWOLF in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:07

Your only hope to find them is to call Legoland in CA. My source says they still had some but very very few. sure glad I got my three collections.

Posted by lego8x8 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:12

It seems absolutely ridiculous that LEGO would be sold out of the minifigures. What good would it be to have the minifigures in the summer catalogue if they were sold out now. In addition, the "real" launching is not supposed to be until next week.

The launching of the first wave of minigufures series 1 may have been marketing test. LEGO is there to make money and this is a good way of making lots of it.

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 17 Jun 2010 13:19

i called to complain because i got five crash dummies and they told me they were sold out. My local toys r us never had any while walmart sold out already. im thinking of going to a toy store that is offering trades.
Too bad with the gunship really wanted it....

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:28

@lego8x8 - I haven't seen the Summer catalog yet. The calendar says it will be available around July 1. In regards to the minfigs date, perhaps the target date is actually the TARGET date? ;o)

Posted by AZFIREWOLF in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:36

August 2010 is the release date for the next series.

Posted by lego8x8 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:37

If I'm not mistaken, the minifigures were advertised to be out in June in the last Lego Club magazine. Last weekend I was at the LEGO store at Disney Downtown and I was told that they were waiting for a shipment from the LEGO co. An employee at TRU in Louisiana told me that they had unknown content boxes which were not supposed to be open until 5:00 am until the last week in June.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 17 Jun 2010 13:51

Hopefully they did this Just to create demand for the series.. Hopefully they will have a second wave of the first series.. If they don't the first series minfigs will be worth more than $10 a piece.. I can see them selling for $20..

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 14:00

A few things to think about -
* the CMFs are a new concept for Lego and an experiment to see if it would work;
* the production run for the first release was limited in size, based on the pre-orders that they received from retailers & distributors. Our understanding is that they didn't get a huge demand; based on the economic environment many retailers simply weren't prepared to take a risk;
* from Lego's perspective, I doubt they've made a lot of money off of this; the aim was largely promotional, to get kids in to stores to buy the CMFs (and some other Lego while they are at it), to trade them between each other to build up a collection, to basically generate some excitement and enthusiasm about Lego's products.
* Lego's products have rarely been considered 'collectable' in the same way as Hot Wheels, Pokemon cards, Magic, etc., so they can be excused for being a little naive with the CMFs - I doubt they expected many people to try to buy whole boxes at a time, and as for the 2nd bar-code ... they were very innocent to not realise that would be exploited. But they are learning, and quickly. (sure, there are many Lego 'collectors', but that's not the same as the product itself being designed to be 'collectable').
* Lego & the retailers have all been surprised at the demand; we understand that stock was diverted from the Lego Brand stores to go to other retailers in preference. I think the orders from the retailers for series 2 will have been much higher. It will be interesting to see how much of the demand was due to novelty, speculation, greed & the relative ease of completing a set using the 'barcode method'.
* Much as there is demand for it, I doubt there will be another production run of series 1, but it would be great to be proved wrong ;-) Commercially, it makes more sense to concentrate on the 2nd, 3rd & subsequent series. Maybe there will be a 'CMF Classics' series in a year or two ... that's what I'd do.

Posted by dan_lego in United States, 17 Jun 2010 14:41

Just missed it again. Like many of you, I have been trying to find these minifigs for the past month. I think I'm something like 0 for 12 in calls and visits to TRU (and the TRUs in my area are not very close). I was going to try again this week and if not, buy some off of S@H this weekend. Oh well.

These are great minifigs. I was excited to get a few choice ones for my 5, 3, & 1 yr old girls (especially clown, nurse, forestman) and then let them pick packs at "random."

I did manage to find an empty box at one TRU a few weeks ago and they let me keep. I wonder if I am the only one who zero figs, but does have a box.

Posted by ScarVader in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 14:43

LEGO has now discontinued the 7675 AT-TE Walker and 7676 Republic Attack Gunship. Good Job I got them both before they discontinued.

Posted by Xiaolong in Belgium, 17 Jun 2010 14:45

@weerwoefski: Where did you get them? I've never seen these CMF in Belgium. I went to two toy stores today and they never heard of them.
@other Belgians: Has anyone seen them anywhere???

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:17

Series 1 Minifigs in Sets?

I haven't seen any posts (I apologize if I missed this) on the thought that TLG would start to make small sets for each Series 1 minifig. It would be cool to see a Crash Test Dummy lab; or a Clown Circus set; etc...

Posted by Orange Lemons in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:20

I'm glad I found these a while back and got all I wanted except the Caveman. Unfortunately, the last two trips to TRU turned up nothing even though they said they expected a shipment that day. I am disappointed at their production of these minifigures because if LEGO had looked online after announcing and revealing these, they would have seen all the potential customers and taken advantage of these minifigures that could have dominated their market while, as previously stated, this would also make people buy other sets with these. This would cause a larger customer base that would constantly come back for more unless people noticed the use of cheaper plastic turning people away, making this "experiment" a double-edged sword.

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 17 Jun 2010 15:24

@paulrevere: that would be neat but it would be really random....
And if you want a crash dummy, i got five and is willing to trade...contact me

Posted by redsoxfan1997 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:29

The Starwars Sets Are gone now the gunship and atte r off the usa website

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:42

@ceroknight...thanks for the offer. I've got a bunch. Wouldn't mind some zombies. I've got about 3-5 of each one.

Posted by brccoins in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:53

If they don't do a 2nd wave of the 1st series that would be lame with all the demand. People would order hundreds of these if they would just lift the limits and increase production. I'm tired of driving 20 miles to TRU to get my limit of 5 only to be dissapointed every time by not getting the clown or zombie. Lego needs to make about 20X as many of these from now on.

Posted by YoungHov62 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 15:53

Check your local Borders book stores!! The up here in upstate NYS had 59 when I was shopping early today....the staff there said they don't get any one asking for them....and were surprised at my interest. Please note, they don't have 59 of them anymore. I was 1 for 2 in the local TRU's, the more popular one around here was sold out and didn't expect any more, and the non-popular one had 19 left.

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 17 Jun 2010 16:00

@brccoins - I think TLG intentionally limited production to get a buzz going from all ends of adult and kid collectors alike. It's like AT&T and Apple conspiracing to crash phone systems for the buzz of Iphone 4 just to make a spectacle of it.

Series 2 will be hotly sought after, TLG can have a slightly higher production run and run this engine for a long time.

Posted by Agreenbrick in Sweden, 17 Jun 2010 16:16

To bad they're sold out, but I never shop muck from S@H because the delivery is EXTREMELY slow! It took me like five months to get the jabbas sail barge I ordered, and now that I ordered lego universe, the twelve days of delivery they promised has already gone, and I haven't recieved it so far... But since no one else from sweden complained about that, I must have some kind of evil legoshopping curse upon me...

Posted by bluemoose in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 16:37

@Agreenbrick - Lego Universe is only on pre-order at this time; the game itself won't ship until October.

Posted by vynsane in United States, 17 Jun 2010 16:45

@YoungHov62 - where in upstate NY? I'm in the hudson valley area, the closest TRU is in Poughkeepsie and Borders is in Wappinger's Falls. I actually called the TRU today to see if they had more, but no dice. They didn't seem to think it was out of the realm of possibility they could get more, though.

In terms of a second wave, perhaps the buzz and demand will lead LEGO to do a cost benefit analysis of producing another run, but it's doubtful.

Posted by brccoins in United States, 17 Jun 2010 17:15

@PaulRevere: As a business owner myself I just don't understand why you wouldn't keep your supplies up with the demand. Before these went on sale I wanted the same number of figs for my collection regardless of limited or unlimited quantites. I am not convinced in any way that limiting these will prove more profitable for lego in the long run, especially since they are upsetting so many loyal customers. I don't see how any of this is good for business. Lego already has a top notch product and there is no need to further convince any of us with cheap marketing gimmicks.

PS: My Borders has never had any of these and they're actually getting annoyed with all the calls.

Posted by rainstorm26 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 17:15

I have seen sets say sold out before and then come back on. Case in point were the dwarves mine set (7036), and the land speeder (8092). So I would take the sold out notification with a grain of salt. If you really are interested, call lego and ask. They have told me in the past that they would be re-listing them in a certain period of time.

Posted by momentaneously in United States, 17 Jun 2010 17:29

It seems to me like these figures were meant to be trade-able from the beginning (otherwise they wouldn’t be random). Does anyone know of a website or forum were people are trading CMFs? Brickset already has the “want” and “have” database, a minifig trading post would be a nice feature.

Posted by UKver2.0 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 17:34

Negative: The "limit five" policy meant I was only able to get 10 of the figures from my local Lego store.
Positive: The "limit five" policy meant there were still some left when I made it to my local Lego store.

Negative: Because of the barcodes I was unable to get a zombie from the heavily picked over supply at TRU.
Positive: Because of the barcodes I didn't buy any duplicates while trying to get a zombie from the supply at TRU.

Posted by Shijima in United Kingdom, 17 Jun 2010 17:57

Ive visted my local TRU at least 2-3 times a week for the last month. Ive been told once a week, that the CMF's are coming in the next shipment.

This is pretty frustrating as an AFOL, since all I want to do is collect one full set. If I cant manage to collect a full set of series 1, whats the point in trying to collect a full set of series 2 or 3?

Posted by stevenli in United States, 17 Jun 2010 18:02

Next time when that happens, make an order with each visit. You'll get free shipping out of it each time from S@H when purchased at the store.

I would think that it'll be exempted from the limit 5 too....but I'm just guessing there..

Posted by Ypres in Canada, 17 Jun 2010 18:48

Minifigs aren't such a big deal, sure they're new, but Lego always makes unique minifigs when they release new sets. I remember the days we all used to talk about sets on these forums.... Besides, I don't see the catch of these things! I shop Denmark!!!

I am starting to get a little tired of all this minifig news... for those of us who don't care (or at least cared a month ago) why don't the moderators do another "C.Minifig Fact sum up" topic like what Huw (I think it was him) did?!

Posted by ch5412 in United States, 17 Jun 2010 19:02

NOOOOOO!!! i was planning to get some because i have to go to toys r us on the day they get there trunks in because when i went the day after they got there truck they were out.

Posted by jefferson in United States, 17 Jun 2010 19:16

I think i was the last one to get the lego minifigures because i buoght one than i went to get another but it saied " sorry please check for ability" i refreshed it and than it said SOLD OUT i was mad See Series 2 Lego minifigures it looks AWESOME

Posted by graymattr in United States, 17 Jun 2010 19:36

If you check your local Borders store, the minifigures are hanging on pegs near the cashiers with a bunch of "Under $10" items. That was my experience.

Posted by shootvolio in United States, 17 Jun 2010 20:03

Metro Detroit update: TRU in Madison Heights, and Borders @ Oakland Mall and Borders on Woodward Ave in Birmingham all HAD 1 case come in 2-3 days ago. Someone came in since then and bought them all. TRU had them priced @ $1.99 but with no limit. So I missed my opportunity again. Has any one heard of any delayed shipments to stores after the first case comes and goes?

Posted by doodlebird in United States, 17 Jun 2010 21:49

austin, tx - borders down by the south Central Market had two boxes earlier today. but they're $2.99. cheaper than ebay or bricklink i guess. i got a few more robots and spacemen... planning a space MOC.

there are currently 8,000 + available on bricklink.
43,000+ have already been sold there!

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogPG.asp?S=8683-1

Posted by wildcherryp3psi in United States, 17 Jun 2010 21:52

Yay, I finally got my Dummy and Tribal warrior to finish my collection!
TRU in Mesa AZ is awesome, I went today on a spur of the moment visit and they had 1 full case...one thing to note, they now display a five per person limit like the brand stores say.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 18 Jun 2010 00:25

here is another brick link area to pick which ones you want....
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=M&catString=746

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 18 Jun 2010 00:29

@legowomen...cant get accessories with them though I think

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 18 Jun 2010 01:07

I just bought a wrestler for a decent price.. I love shopping on bricklink.. you always find parts that you know you don't need, but decide to add them to the order just to get some extras...

I could always use some of these and a couple of those.. and maybe some more of them...

I unfortunately bought way too many Zombies because I know they would be valuable, Cheerleaders because you could never have too many of them when your role playing competitions and Clowns. Why would I buy lots of clowns???? For their Red Berry Like hair..... It's a new food element never seen before...

I am a hoarder.... One of those frisky Devil's... I unfortunately didn't buy even 1 complete set. I went to the Lego store near me twice a week and would bring along my little sister and my husband for the ride and to get their 5 worth ... The key to hoarding is to bring lots of people with you and make them get five... this way... you don't get five.. you get multipliers of 5...

will be trading at http://www.brickworld.us

Posted by lego8x8 in United States, 18 Jun 2010 02:44

There have been many times when items are SOLD OUT at LEGO.com and the company makes items available on a particular date. We all know the "back orders accepted, will ship by"...etc. Who says they won't do this again? We are thinking in terms of "how many" they have sold, while LEGO directors think of "how much Profit" they are making. If this is profitable for the company, they will make more. Just take a look at the "LEGO leyends" set re-launched a few years ago, and boxes with 5 minifigures for $17.

We also have to consider the "playability factor". More minifigures mean more options and building time (playtime) for children. The mathematical permutations and combinations of inmense of 16 minifigures with their individual characteristics are inmense. The more they play, the more lego they will need for their creations.

Perhaps they will re-launch the 1st series again without the identifying bar codes. Somebody here in this forum mentioned that minifigures could not be traded as Pokemon cards. Well, think again, children have a much broader view of what is important and will pay/trade anything to have the figures they want.

TLC provides an excelent products for people of all ages. But let's not forget that they are here to make a profit like any other company.

Posted by Renegade007cjh in United Kingdom, 18 Jun 2010 05:10

@yellowcastle - Coming back to your comments about timing your moment before taking the plunge on imminently discontinued sets... unfortunately I have a rather hit and miss affair with this, myself (and it's a bit of a personal bug-bear).

For every success story (got the "Death Star II", "General Grievous" and "Droid Ship with AT-OT" all with nice big discounts, saving about £200 combined), there are ones I missed completely and had to pay through the nose to get later (Geonosian Fighter, Republic Fighter Tank and how can anybody forget Cloud City?). Lucked out with some of the Agents sets at the beginning of the year, though.

I now take a slightly different stand-point. If it's a set that I really, REALLY want (like the forthcoming new Slave I, for example), I'll get it straight-away when it comes out, to ensure I get one. If I'm really not that fussed, I'll take the chance of waiting 'til the end of the run, or look on eBay to see if anyone is getting rid of it cheap. Anything that falls inbetween, I keep my eyes open for in the occasional 3 for 2 sales.

(Doesn't stop me checking the Indy page nearly every day at the moment!)

Posted by legowhisperer in United Kingdom, 18 Jun 2010 07:46

Hi everyone,
Just for your information Smyths toyshop in Salisbury has Four boxes of collectable minifigs (Two still sealed) . I was in there at 10 o clock and managed to find a clown which completes my collection. i also brought a couple more for my kids so they will be happy.

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 18 Jun 2010 09:30

Even if TLG doubles production for Series 2 - we're not going to know it. Those are going to sell out just as fast. I actually think they'll sell out faster, because of the Spartan and Dracula (as all the new Vampies following Twilight and such will want one).

We're going to go through the same thing come Sept. I think my TRU in the west suburbs of Cleveland only got 2 boxes in. 2 boxes! That's a rather small quantity.

Posted by legowomen1980p in United States, 18 Jun 2010 10:49

PaulRevere, back to what I said earlier, if you got kids and a wife or just a couple of room-mates. bring them along with you to your nearest Lego store; there are two in Ohio ...

7875 Montgomery Road
Cincinnati, OH 45236
(513) 791-4241

4004 Gramercy Street
Columbus, OH 43219
(614) 342-2710

I had to drive 50 miles one way to my nearest store twice a week to get my collection.. I was pulling in between 15 to 30 guys a trip.. I know gas is high and it's a far trip.. But if you really want them.. you have to do what you have to do to get them...

Posted by legomaniac in United States, 18 Jun 2010 10:58

So the demand and the people are willing to pay more? I got some duplicates I'll sell :) and use the profit to buy the ones I didnt get, hopefully not too expensive.

Posted by ncbarrett in United States, 18 Jun 2010 11:00

@legomaniac: alternatively you could trade your extras for the ones you need.

Posted by Legomaster135 in United States, 18 Jun 2010 11:26

Borders Bookstore is the best place to get the figures. Pamana City had a box of 60 come in yesterday (i picked up 54), and they got another box in today! However, they seem to have learned how valuable they are. Borders is limiting you to 20 figures, which is still much better than the alternatives. However, they are $3 instead of $2, but for 20 it is not bad. Call your local store, it is worth it!

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 18 Jun 2010 11:33

@legowomen1980p - Thanks for the ping. The C-bus store is certainly a good option. Will start planning a day to include that.

Posted by faster345 in United States, 18 Jun 2010 12:02

The Borders website doesn't list anything other than LEGO books, is it area-specific? Do all the Borders stores carry LEGO sets?

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 18 Jun 2010 12:53

@Renegade007cjh - That's the way I see things now too. I definitely didn't take a chance with the Medieval Market and Imperial Flagship but am going to wait out some of the new Summer sets. I can only procure so much without attracting the undue attention of the warden...er wife. ;o) And in the U.S., we're not too far away from Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). Lego stores give you an automatic 10% off on that day and you have a chance to possibly get 20% and even 50%.

@lego8x8 - You make a great point in that some "SOLD OUT" sets do indeed show back up in stock, the Dwarves Mine and Republic Tank being the most notorious of those. Even the Drawbridge Defense flipped back and forth earlier this week. But per LEGO Customer Service, their North American warehouse is empty in regards to the Series 1 minifigures. But who really knows? The best we can do with this info is to use it as a guide for which sets are soon approaching "End of Life". I'm not sure I'll get another Troll Fortress but I have definitely been eyeing a 2nd Drawbridge Defense.

Posted by Legohamster in United Kingdom, 18 Jun 2010 12:58

They have been sold out on LEGOshop in the UK for around a month now!

Posted by avoiceoreason in United States, 18 Jun 2010 13:51

We'll have to wait and see, but I just got back from my local Lego store and the manager said they are scheduled to get 16 boxes oF minifigs on Monday. SIXTEEN!

One of the local independent toy stores around here had them as well, and all of my local Borders seem to be well stocked too. Maybe those wishing for an additional production run have gotten their prayers answered (or maybe I just live in a lucky geography).

Granted this conflicts w/ yellowcastle's note that he has been informed that the N.A. wharehouse is empty. Like I said, we'll have to wait and see.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 18 Jun 2010 14:05

@avoiceoreason - that's great news! If I may ask, where roundabouts is this lucky geography?

Posted by UKver2.0 in United States, 18 Jun 2010 14:10

@avoiceoreason - 20 boxes at the MoA (Bloomington, MN) Lego store lasted less than two days and that was with the "limit five" restriction.

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 18 Jun 2010 14:14

Some on eBay is selling just the code sheet for the figs - $11 right now. Shheesh.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lego-8683-Minifigures-Series-1-CODE-SHEET-/280521888207?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41506851cf

Posted by avoiceoreason in United States, 18 Jun 2010 14:31

@yellowcastle - outside of Phildelphia, PA (remember me now from the initial Borders e-mail? ;). The local store is King of Prussia.

Now given UKver2.0's comment, the fact that I disclosed the location probably means they will all be gone on Monday within five minutes of the store opening! :)

I feel lucky to have gotten a full set early on. I was tempted to buy a whole box then (this was at TRU before they put the 5-limit on them), but didn't. And I actually bought the set (plus a few extras) for my kids. They play with them every day.

I am now in the process of trying to complete a second set just for me. 10 down, 6 to go. Wish me luck.

Posted by alexfig8 in United States, 18 Jun 2010 14:58

tru in sunset hills MO had 2 not complete cases yesterday. still need 7 of them.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 18 Jun 2010 15:11

Regarding the barcode sheet for sale on ebay, I have to imagine people think they're bidding for an actual set of figures.

I'm staring at the robot right now and wondering if I should have picked up more than just a few at Borders two days ago... :o/

Posted by PaulRevere in United States, 18 Jun 2010 15:20

When is TLG coming out with keychain versions of Series 1? That would be an easy upsell for us addicts.

Posted by Smallfryjon in United States, 18 Jun 2010 15:55

Doesn't effect me much due to the fact I buy them off Amazon.

Posted by AZFIREWOLF in United States, 18 Jun 2010 21:43

Here is an idea for all of us to think about. So we all found out about the barcodes so we could go through the boxes looking for a full set or the individual minifigs we wanted. Now TLG is saying that the barcodes are going bye bye. If we as people continue to complain about the minifigs there might be a day where TLG says bye bye to the collections.

Just a thought.

Posted by greenskull139 in United States, 19 Jun 2010 00:46

I am pretty sure target and walmart do not carry the minifigs. I checked in at my target store and they didn't even have them listed. I am not positive about walmart

Posted by Starbase372 in United States, 19 Jun 2010 04:49

??? I think the word that they are at Fred Meyer is a mistake. I have been tracking my local Fred Meyer stores(Kroegers of the NW area of the US) and nothing. There is a link online that I have followed about someone finding 2 boxes but they are refering to the minfig set in the box.

Posted by Captain Blockbeard in United States, 19 Jun 2010 17:36

@avoiceoreason - Interesting to know there's another AFOL here that lives in my region and shops at the same stores. I won't be able to shop at the Lego Store on Monday when they get this shipment in, but I hope my local Borders store has them in since I only need a duplicate Zombie to finish my desired collection. Good luck to you and anyone else shopping at King of Prussia on Monday.

Posted by ObiSeanLegobi in United States, 19 Jun 2010 17:58

@Starbase372 - call every one of your local Fred Meyer and ask them to look up the UPC barcode of the minifigs: 673419130479 . All the stores around me each got a case = 120 units. If the stores you call say zero in stock, that means either someone already bought them all, or they didn't get them. One store I called did say that this item was listed in their system as "Not Allowed At This Location", which means they will never have them. The person on the phone said that some items are listed that way because a particular store may have a smaller toy section or they are in region where such small items are often stolen. I went to my local store and picked up a sealed box, which was behind the other display box on on the shelf in the LEGO aisle, simply because I didn't have time to scan the barcodes and I wanted some multiples of certain figures for my collection. Funny thing, they accidently had put them in the system at 99 cents each, so I only had to pay $60 for my box!!! I didn't complain though :) The only pain was that the clerk had to scan the barcode on the box sixty times - their system doesn't let them scan just once and enter a quantity like WalMart does.

Posted by Starbase372 in United States, 19 Jun 2010 20:43

Thanks! I ran around town this morning hungry and sleepy and found some of the minigigs at FM. I found them at the first store I went to and then at no more. I finally asked a store employee to check the system and he found them in stock on the computer but when I went to the 2 stores he mentioned they had none. One of the stores showed 240 in stock and the other 120 so... should have been 2 full boxes at one store and 4 at the other. I wonder if they were not out on the shelf yet. In any case I was mistaken FM does have them and at the best price around as usual. Limited to some stores! Stock in their computer not very reliable!?!

Between the Lego store Toys R' Us and FM I finally think I have a nice supply. Just have to figure out how many my sisters kids are going to bleed out of me. :-)

Regarding scanning at the register: the clerk I went to said I could use the 10% off coupon so he manually entered 10% 60 times and was happy to do it. At least it was early 7:15am.

Posted by shootvolio in United States, 20 Jun 2010 00:36

@faster345 The employee at the Borders I went to tried to look up the CMF on their system. They didn't come up on the computer. She said their LEGO toy section was rather new and populated with mostly Toy Story sets. She said they get shipments twice a week and to call the store periodically to ask if they got more than the small selection they had received earlier this week. Her computer search only turned up LEGO books not the sets they had in. Borders needs to expand their site for all products they sell not just books, music and movies.

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 20 Jun 2010 00:47

Some interesting news, I went to a local Target recently and scanned a barcode I had gotten off of one of the minifigure packs and it registered in their system! upon further investigation that store, along with all of the other stores in the area did not have any in stock however it should be noted that my local Target store had the item in their system

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 20 Jun 2010 02:03

@mrdennings - that's great news. I'm kicking myself that I never thought of that before. Great idea. Here's hoping we'll see these there soon...

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 20 Jun 2010 13:20

As I mentioned on another article, my local TRU got their first shipment in on Tuesday the 8 and sold out the same day. I went back on Friday and picked up the last two, a diver and a robot, that had been left in the back somehow. Just this past Friday, they had two more boxes in, and I was able to get one each of the ones I wanted, plus one extra forestman. The only one I couldn't get was the Indian.

Interestingly, another customer saw me using the barcode sheet and told me that he had used his barcode scanner on his phone on the boxes and couldn't find any zombies - apparently they were in the front of the boxes, or some other brickset members got to them first. I was able to help another customer find a spaceman, though, as a Father's Day gift for her husband who liked Star Wars.

Posted by savgonzo in United States, 20 Jun 2010 18:35

Just went to my local TRU.. bought 60 minifigures.. they still had 1/2 case left.. all other local lego stores are sold out. target doesn't carry nor does borders.

Posted by cvisel in United States, 20 Jun 2010 20:41

a few weeks ago my Detroit metro TRU had one lone box, I bought 5 for $2 each pre barcode info. I got 2 dummies,robot,deep sea diver,skater. Went back to same TRU last week sold out talked to kid working there and he said some guys with iPhones spent a lot of time with the box and they could be in thursday or sunday. I stopped out friday and they had 3 boxes but I didn't have my barcode sheet. I only bought 7 cause I was low on cash. They now ring up as 2.50 a piece. Went back saturday for a lego event (which was very generous of them) and they were down to 1 box grabbed 2 more figs but didn't break out the sheet in front of everyone cause I was in a hurry. Point of the post being they are still getting in boxes or perhaps held some back for their event. And that they raised the price by %25 at my toys R'us

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 20 Jun 2010 21:54

My local tru just got them told them to reserve 10 :)

Posted by shootvolio in United States, 20 Jun 2010 23:28

@cvisel which store are you by? Madison Heights, Southfield, or Roseville or other?

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 21 Jun 2010 08:31

I don't think we've seen the last of series 1 on lego.com. Like mrdennings said, I too checked th barcode at Target (and Walmart) Target has the product in their system but NO inventory as of yet. Walmart did not register the product in their system (again, this is the U.S.) so I am not sure they will have it soon. I just got my shipment from Entertainment Earth which leads me to believe that TLC is just trying to make the rounds on all promised shipments to their committed national retailers. I think everyone will get a chance to visit Target and pick up what they need and then by August we'll see the series 1 back on lego.com.

Posted by yellowcastle in United States, 21 Jun 2010 11:40

@copperwonder96 - You make a great point and hopefully this will be the case. Just in case, though, I went ahead and completed my collection this past weekend via Borders. :o)

Posted by brickmatt in United States, 21 Jun 2010 12:47

No luck at my local Borders when I checked on Saturday - I'll keep checking back though if I can't get what I want at TRU. It certainly does look promising for Target getting these in. Since Series 2 isn't available until August or September, Series 1 should be around until then, unless the stores that ordered them go through their stock really really fast (which is a possibility, though, from what I've seen and heard).

Posted by avoiceoreason in United States, 21 Jun 2010 14:23

@Captain Blackbeard - I just swung by the KOP Lego Store and they did indeed get their shipment in today. They had just unpacked the boxes when I got there (early afternoon) and still has several unopened boxes behind the counter, so I imagine there will still be some left tomorrow. Also the Borders at KOP also still had them in stock (by the registers). Good luck finding your Zombie! I got a Zombie at Borders using a 40% off coupon to bring the cost down below MSRP from their big mark-up.

Posted by jrammer in United States, 21 Jun 2010 16:02

S@H order of 60 arrived today (placed just before sold out), and while I did not get a display box, the 60 received were identical to the box inventories posted online (3 of some, 4 of some, 5 of some)!

Posted by stevenli in United States, 21 Jun 2010 18:53

No sighting of minis at Target or Walmart locally. So much for launch day. If they WERE to get them, one would think it would have been distributed already.

Posted by ObiSeanLegobi in United States, 21 Jun 2010 19:30

Is it certain that Series 2 is not until August? I only ask because when I called TRU a few weeks ago looking for the CMFs, the woman told me that her LEGO rep had just informed her that they were not getting another shipment of them until the very end of June, AND that it was going to be Series 2.

Posted by copperwonder96 in United States, 21 Jun 2010 19:43

@obiseanlegobi...don't trust the TRU lego reps, I had to show one of them where the "extra" lego items were kept (above the shelves in the poster covered cupboards). And that same rep told me the minifigs were not due until July (i picked them up the next week) I would love to have that job by the way ;)

Posted by stevenli in United States, 21 Jun 2010 21:31

Those who ordered from Entertainment Earth are getting them shipped. Good news for those orders!

Posted by ensign_dave in United Kingdom, 22 Jun 2010 14:23

The minifigs are sold out on the UK lego site now too. Luckily I found them on sale by chance at my local Tesco Express store even though they aren't stocked in the larger Tesco Superstores.

Posted by lego8x8 in United States, 22 Jun 2010 17:49

I don't think we have seen the last of the Series 1. Besides trading the minifigures, the ultimate goal for children was to complete the series. Therefore, every child would have spent at least $32 (per complete set). Comsidering that minifigures came out and dissapeared from the market in less than 3 weeks, that would make Series 1 the best selling LEGO "set " (if we consider that people spent $32 = average low-mid size lego set) ever. Also, if we consider that every box contained 60 bags = $120, when was the last time that TLC sold any set of such small shipping dimensions for that price.

Here are my suggestions to The LEGO Company:

1) Allow pre-ordering of boxes of future Series, so everyone (children and adults collectors) have a chance to buy them. Set a maximum number of pre-ordered boxes per customer.

2) Allow a maximum of 20 bags per customer at once (at Lego.com), so kids can have extras of certain minifigures to play or trade.

3) Find a new marketing research team. They dropped the ball with Series 1. The worst that a Company can do is to fail their customers. Now there are many dissapointed children and adults who couldn't get their minifigures. Why did TLC advertised Series 1 in their magazine two months in advance when they didn't have enough for the general public?

3) Re-launch the minifigures as a complete set at a decent price. Put the 16 minifigures + a nice base plate and + few extra accessories and charge $50 (includying shipping).

or

4) Re-launch the minifigures as 4 sets of 4 figures in small plastic bag instead of boxes, that would reduce the shipping cost for TLC and therefore for the custumers.

5) Make a Xmas special box containing the best of Series 1& 2

6) Listen to your costumers!!

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 22 Jun 2010 18:51

sigh....missed my chance again....TRU were sold out in a day....
also i like lego8x8's suggestions #1,4 and 8

Posted by R4-G9 in Canada, 22 Jun 2010 22:59

ceroknight my local tru have limits of either 2 per family or 6 per family, or no limit at all, but the one with no limit will hold them for you!

Posted by legomatt in United Kingdom, 22 Jun 2010 23:08

Well, i have truly learnt my lesson for not buying an entire box when i had the chance... Instead I tried to enter the spirit of collecting a set 'blind', thinking that Lego would've maintained a steady supply of them during the summer like any other company does with such collections... oops! So, can anybody help me finish my set? I seriously don't want to put money into the hands of buy-to-sell 'prospectors' with these, as it will only encourage them to do it again. Contact me via my profile if you can.

Posted by stevenli in United States, 22 Jun 2010 23:14

In the spirit of Lego and the whole point of a collector's series is that IT"S COLLECTIBLE. Yes, they didn't get it 'right' because the retailers didn't get it 'right'. TRU and smaller retailers took the risk and benefited from it. Stores overseas saw the benefit of it and ordered accordingly.

LEGO has to stay true to this collectible billing, otherwise they'll lose all credibility on the merits of the 'collectible' status of these figures if they reproduce these sets again. What's the point if they do? It's like reprinting rookie cards the following season of a hit player or team--NOT GOOD!

Now, I would be a proponent and strong advocate to revisit the figures in another color scheme and call it Series 1 anniversary edition if this collectible series has legs in about a year Cheerleaders, divers, clowns, magician--they all can have different color outfits.

It's a shame that Lego didn't produce enough due to lack of preorders from retailers. It's really hard to blame them for doing so with a down economy and low orders from retailers.

Posted by ceroknight in Canada, 22 Jun 2010 23:30

@R4-G9: I only have one local tru and they didnt have a limit but also they wouldnt hold them for me. Oh well more money for future star wars sets!

Posted by mrdennings in United States, 23 Jun 2010 10:02

I’ve really got to wonder if LEGO ever really intended for these Items to be “Collectables” at all or if they were merely looking for a means to make an impulse item more appealing by masking it as a “collectable” Toy. Upon first seeing these things they so appear to be an item intended to bilk mom and dad out of a few more dollars in order to satiate their kid while trying to get out of the store as quickly and quietly as possible and I think that once the fervor over these things dies down and Inventories rise that is exactly what these things will become. I think what will determine whether or not we see a second production run of the series 1 figs would be the question Does Lego care about preserving the price of these items on the secondary market? I don’t see why they would, they make no money off of the secondary market, If anything with Lego constantly re-releasing Star Wars Lego sets (how many X-wings have there been?) it’s safe to say that Lego is more interested in selling toys than preserving Prices in the secondary market. Reality check even if Lego Disgraces the name of Collectables by reproducing this first series, 12 year olds will still be pestering their parents to buy these figs, The only person who will be hurt by this is the 40 year old who’s squirreled away 3 boxes of these things in his closet who’s planning on cashing in on em in a month or two when the demand has caused them to skyrocket in price and to be honest I really don’t care about him and I’m betting that any parent who is being constantly pestered by their kids to get them some of these figs and can't find them anywhere because someones bought the entire box also doesn’t care about him either!

Posted by durins in United States, 23 Jun 2010 15:08

My Lego.com order just arrived with my first 5 figures, joy! I broke out my folded up list of barcodes, just to see how easy it was to identify them, excitement! First figure, a Diver. Hmm...not on my list of those I really wanted, but four to go, whee! Next up, a robot. Ok...still not on my most wanted list, but I have three more, alright! Diver. Robot. Robot. Sigh...

Really?

I opened a robot just so I could make sure I got the guess right. I'll keep a diver and ship the others off to eBay. You win some, you lose some. At least I got the half-off Single-Drum Roller to put together when I get home from work. Not a bad day, all in all.

Posted by Crt2 in United States, 25 Jun 2010 22:49

Not Really Related but I Just wanted to say I Fanally Got a Complete set of Series 1! My TRU Finally Limited them to 5 So I Was Able to get The Ones I Wanted (Cuz No AFOLs Could Buy Boxes)! Favorites: 1.Forestman 2. Clown. 3. Magician (Cool torso) 4. Spaceman. 5. Indian 6.Cowboy. 7. Ninja. 8. Caveman. 9. Robot. 10. Diver. 11. Skater. 12. Dummy 13. Wrestler 14. Cheerleader. 15. Nurse. WORST: Zombie.

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