Upcoming Lego magnets feature rare minifigures [News]
Have you ever wanted to get that certain minifig but don’t want to pay for the full set? Once again, many of your prayers are answered with these two upcoming minifigure packs, featuring Chancellor Palpatine, Nute Gunray, Onaconda Farr, Han Solo, Paploo, and scout trooper. I forgot to mention that the magnets are just part of the packaging :)
Update: in addition, you can get three of your favorite Toy Story characters as well :)
February 25th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Are they real minifigs, or the glued-together kind which only have a few salvageable bits?
February 25th, 2010 at 11:28 am
They’re real minifigs, although the quality could be lower than that of the figs from the sets.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:33 am
I love it when TLG kicks the collectors in the balls.
February 25th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Here’s hoping, again, that these are not the low-quality figs from previous magnet sets. i heard from an ambassador that problem was ‘solved,’ but who knows if these are part of that solution…
February 25th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
“I love it when TLG kicks the collectors in the balls”
Agreed. What was the problem with the previous magnet figs?
February 25th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Fixed that for you. :)
February 25th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Umm, no you twat, you just fixed that for you. I said what I wanted to say, you just changed it to what you wanted it to say.
Yay outdated and pointless internet word memes.
February 25th, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Now Richard, I could be totally wrong, but I think you missed the point of what Catsy was trying to say. These are good news for collectors. Finally we don’t need to pay scalper prices to have cool figs. The speculators, the ones who were banking on selling the originals for big bucks, are the ones who are screwed.
February 25th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Marc, in the past these minifigures were Chinese garbage. Supposedly they fix that.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
i didnt have a problem with the minfigs off the magnets…looked fine to me.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:04 pm
I would hardly say the speculators are screwed. Does this offering by LEGO increase the time in which any return could be realized on the investment? Absolutely. Does the increased quantity that will be on the street hurt current values for those items? Sure, during the time they are being produced. Will TLG produce those figures indefinitely? No.
It’s well known that the typical shelf life of any in-production set is about 6-12 months (obviously there are exceptions….6212 X-Wing anyone?) but that is the norm. If history is any gauge, and I think it is we can expect these magnet sets to last about as long as the last ones.
BTW, market value can be defined as the price someone is willing to pay for a certain good/product/service and can be influenced at a very personal, subjective level. I’m just going to use this as an example:
$500 White Boba Fett minifigure. Demand for a limited product has driven that price, not “gougers.”
I’ll be over here with my fire extinguisher, and like many others, I hope they solved the poor quality issues of the 8xxxxxx series products.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:22 pm
I think we need some perspective here. BrickLink store owners provide a valuable service. By parting out sets, they allow those who only want certain parts (figs are just special parts after all), to pay for those parts at fair market prices. You want people to buy sets, part them out, and sell the most desirous parts for next to nothing? Remember, in an open marketplace like BrickLink it is the buyer that determines the price, not the seller. And don’t fool yourself into thinking that BrickLink sellers don’t buy magnet sets and sell the figs – some people only want to buy *one* fig, not all three!
Disclaimer: I occasionally use the “BrickLink discount” on sets I want for the parts – i.e. I buy the set for the parts, and sell the figs, and end up getting the parts at a nice discount. The buyer got the figs they wanted for a price they were willing to pay (Usually the cheapest on BL since I price them to move), and I got the parts I wanted.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Lift waistband. Remove sand. Buy sense of humor.
What got into the water this week?
February 25th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
I am totally offended that the Ewok is standing on a cut down, modified brick.
Sorry I can’t resist with all the drama this week.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
^But he is compensated with a longer weapon ;)
February 25th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
…hey, I wonder if we can remove and use that cut-down brick. It looks like a 1×2 headlight brick, almost.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:22 pm
Oh maybe those are headlights….
But, in my mind they are old grey vs bley. it’s a match between good and evil. the Ewok is laughing! His long shaft er, spear held up in jest! Doesn’t look like he’s laughing, does it??? But I see it. Lego has hell to pay I tell you HELL!
February 25th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
I don’t understand why the shorter figures are on platforms. Just so they fit the packaging I suppose?
And why wouldn’t Woody be in the middle?
February 25th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
@ legomason:
The shorter figures are on headlight bricks because of how the magnet setup works. The magnet brick has a small outcrop with two studs – minifig legs attach to those studs. But the short minifig legs do not have a stud connection, thus the headlight bricks!
February 25th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
Yes, what Brad said. Yoda, in the last batch, was on the same kind of setup. The stubby legs can’t attach to things like the regular legs can.
February 25th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I learned today that using dirty words makes you sound more intelligent.
I also learned that it’s not a good idea to get into… comparison contests with Ewoks.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
Suddenly glad I didn’t buy the separatist shuttle to get an unusual minifig part.
February 26th, 2010 at 9:15 am
SO: after that giant (somewhat blown-out-of-proportion) INTARNET ARGUMENT, I am still not entirely sure whether you can use these minifigs as not-magnets.
Are the minifigures (crippled ones or good ones) attached permanently to the *magnet base* via glue or can you simply take it off like any good Lego creation? Thanks!
February 26th, 2010 at 10:14 am
^They can come off the magnets. They are normal minifigs and are not glued. There is a possibility that the pieces are made with an inferior plastic, but Lego says that issue has been resolved. We will have to wait and see on that.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:20 am
meh, I have never found any interest in these magnet sets. Especially these ones
February 26th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Any initial excitement I had is tempered by the realization that in most cases I’d be much better off buying the full sets that these come in and getting all the pieces to build with, given the relative high cost for these magnets. I suspect this is true for most of the builders who view this blog.
March 1st, 2010 at 4:20 pm
I plan to either just wait the re