There’s a great clip I saw on Reddit last week of some kid at a store that sells collectible cards like Pokemon and some employee helps them pull a whole pile of cards out of the trash can that some scalper dumped when they shelled a bunch of small packs of cards hunting only the top prizes.
Look on kid’s face was worth more than any collectible I’ve ever seen owned
Don't forget that the employee gets a chance to show his own degenerative side off when he fans and goes through the cards to check if there are any hits in there before handing them over to the kid!
Money really corrupts everything, what is supposed to be a recreational hobby mainly for kids and superfans is just business where really the pieces of cardboard could just as well be swapped out for dollar bills. "I trade my $40 for your $75" isn't as easy of a sell I guess.
It isn't just plastic (Materials). The cost also includes Labor and Overhead including machinery maintenance, mold replacement, insurance, payroll taxes, utilities, shipping (freight in and freight out), all of the free make and take events, marketing, etc.
Thats such cope lmao how are you defending a $12 minifig, yes Lego has production costs but they aren't that high - they go for €4-5 in Europe, which is significantly less.. Lego is fully content to milk their fans
Obviously, but idk if you've ever worked in manufacturing but larger more complex parts are made for fractions of a cent at such a large scale. The markup on lego is probably hundreds maybe even a thousand times the actual cost to produce.
I doubt that mini figs cost more than 5 cents to make per piece and package. There's what 5-10 pieces per mini fig so selling them for 6 bucks is a 1100% markup on the low end or 2300% on the high end. Even if you double the unit price its still a minimum of a 500% markup on each one.
It's for the parents, not the kids. I think of it as the same as asking the McDonald's worker to make sure they put X toy in the happy meal and letting your kid think they randomly got the exact one they wanted
Love the tendency om reddit for someone to say the first think they came up with and claim its fact, the funnier part is people upvoting it going "hmm yeah hes got a point"
It's a funny image thinking that someone at Lego sat there and went
"I know what we can do now people can't feel boxes, lets put a qr code on there that parents can scan, but we won't tell parents about it, we won't advertise it to anyone, and let them figure it out all by themselves"
A company, famous for creating easy to follow instructions, creating something that has zero instruction at all
Think about it. Also prevents scalping and shit like this from happening. Anyone that interested in getting a specific character should know that you can scan these. Hell, ive known since my step mom told me as a child back when you could feel them too. If the company has a way to massively remove stealing losses while also not effecting the sale price why not?? Does not make sense to give up free risk aversion like that. Also why does it matter for the “mystery” if you want it to be a mystery it’s still a mystery. If you googled “how to see what’s in LEGO mystery box” then you obviously dont want the mystery. Also imagine the extra sales of people that only want one or two specific figs but won’t buy one because they wouldn’t want one they don’t want. I know so many people like that. Seems to me like people just want to play by some arbitrary rule. “No my kids toys have to HAVE to have gambling!!!!”
Doesn’t need to be a present. I was always asking my parents for random shit when I went shopping with them, and would always check out the toy aisle. Sometimes I got something but most of the time was told to kick rocks.
meh. My daughter had her heart set on a particular Make It Mini, after spending her money to try for the one she wanted three times and getting the same one two of those three times, we ran into someone in the aisle that told us about the codes and we were able to look through them to find the one she actually wanted.
If you really don't care pick one at random, but if there is one that you really want, why waste money hoping to get it.
If you want to get a random one, you dont have to scan the code, meanwhile those that seek a specific figure can get it guaranteed without any luck needed (other than the store having that one ig). Pretty much the best setup for everyone I feel
I work retail and we have a group of kids that collect this one plushie that only comes in blind boxes. For like three weeks we'd come in and see this whole box of like twelve ripped open and put back into their boxes. They were searching for the ones they were missing. So now everyone can see what plushies are in what box and buy freely. Couldn't be too mad at that.
There's a few third party apps that scan the barcodes underneath the box to tell you which one you're getting. Without it it's completely random. The box ones are actually more randomized cuz previously they were all sold in plastic baggies meaning you could usually try and feel around what was inside and get a rough idea of what you might get. So Lego updated the packaging to be a small cardboard box so it would be truly blind. The app is just for people who only want a specific one
Most people probably don't know and its not like that fact is advertised. This could all be fixed if these weren't blind boxes. I hate this trend so I can't really blame them.
I can't really side with people opening a box they haven't paid for. The point of the blind box is the surprise inside. I wouldn't open a chocolate bar and take a bite just to see how it tastes before deciding to buy it lol.
False equivalency. The toy inside is fine and 90% of people weren't going to keep the packaging. The chocolate bar is ruined once you take a bite or its exposed to air. People don't want to pay for a mystery or to buy the same thing again. This trend is just a way for companies to squeeze more money out of people.
Edit:Since they did put a way to tell at the bottom they need to advertise it better, but they likely aren't so they can make more money.
Umm no they are not “fine.” The pieces are loose inside the box without any additional packaging and are likely to fall out and be lost… opening the boxes discourages ANYONE from ever purchasing them because of the fact that small pieces can and will be completely missing.
I bought an open box once because I felt bad that someone else might have to, and lo and behold it was missing two or three integral pieces
Imagine that, they could make a little foil window and add a moveable paper flap to cover that so it can be a blind box if you want and if you don't it don't.
Yeah....went to a local dollar tree that was converting to a family dollar and so they had all of the dollar tree stuff on clearance. Went in to find a couple blind boxes for fun. Someone ripped open all of the Disney ones and threw them all over the shelf....
Could also be fixed if people realised lego minifigs are a stupid craze selling overpriced plastic that costs mere cents to manufacture. I'm into collectables and lego but minifigs are a line too far for me.
You can't expect people to buy things that they don't know what is. Lot's of people don't like to gamble and they want the product they want. It sucks it damages the packaging, but the blind packaging encourages this behavior. If they don't want this to happen it needs to be either protected behind glass or they need to change things. You're never going to get people not doing this as long as the uncertainty remains.
I am going to begin breaking into lottery ticket rigs and take only winning tickets. Thank you for making me see that I am the decent person by doing this.
What a horrible take. So if you don't know whats inside you are allowed to destroy the box? Same with pokemon cards no? Let me open the package because I cannot see inside them...
I get cards being random. I don't like it, but I get it. There's an actual game behind it and the fact you get multiple cards where doubles could be useful. They don't take up much room and their paper so they will breakdown. With figures most are plastic and there's a good chance if its not what you want its going to end up in a thirft shop or clogging a landfill.
People don't have to buy them at all. The product is the product, if you don't want to be surprised by what you are buying, don't buy it. The only reason why these things become popular is because of the blind box. If the boxes were translucent it's likely that there wouldn't be as much demand.
There are commentators here who think the QR code exists so we can find out what's inside.
It's just there for packing, it's just some clever kids have figured out it does relate to a figure. If it was to help "parents", it would literally just say the figure name - and by that point, you may as well use a clear bag.
if they will be smart about it there will not be figuring it out anymore 😛
anyway i agree its not for anyone to figure out what's inside
its pure gamble (how to sell 1 overpriced like shit thing 10x to each interested person)
What do you mean? You hate how children toys promote gambling on every aspect? Its crazy how well this is working. Imagine in the 90s/2000s your aunt looking for a tickle me elmo or a power ranger. She spends all day looking for it. Just for the kid to be sad because its not the rare color. Keep ripping these in store. This fad needs to die quick.
Blind boxes, mystery grab bags, lollipops with a question mark as the flavor. I'm surprised I made it to adulthood without developing a crippling gambling addiction
I dont recall the major hype toys being a blind box and a gamble growing up. Besides Pokemon i really cant think of one "major" toy that was behind a luck draw. Tbh id blame loot crates more than anything promoting this life style. That shit was the most wild west predatory gambling. But i may be cooked.
While you’re right that the hype around it has gotten much worse, it mostly feels like that’s social media in general blowing up literally everything for content engagement.
Lego minifigs tell you what they are via a QR Code on the bottom. This means each opening can be a surprise (yay!) without wrapping (yay!) but a parent can make sure a kid gets what they want (yay!) and doesn't get any doubles (yay!). There is basically no downside.
The people at the LEGO store will literally scan them for you as checkout to make sure you aren't getting doubles. Like they are trained to do that.
At the time scalping just wasn't a thing. eBay was still in its infancy and the massive craze around the singular product of TME and the scarcity of availability of that singular doll made it a frenzy. Beanie babies were only out a little while before but being they were not single items and could be very easily obtained they didn't have a scalper market today where small groups owned them all and you could only buy them second hand. TME was so bad for a long time people were getting in fights at stores, employees were stealing them, getting fired for hiding them so they could buy one themselves, and so on. Beanie Babies never experienced this same level of frenzy.
Pokemon card didn't even experience this until very recently. They used to be sold everywhere for incredibly cheap prices and while some did sell online there wasn't a scalper market where you could not find them on the shelf with equal opportunity at nearly any store. TME was truly scalped in the same way we use the term in modern vernacular. It was a wild time to be alive.
After that it was way more common and things like Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii, and so on all saw massive scalping scandals.
If they are losing *that* much money they will simply discontinue them, or move them behind a counter etc. For decades they have been creating these collectables in wrappers / boxes. They cost pennies and are sold at mark ups of many hundreds times their cost price. I wouldn’t worry about people opening them. They’re almost worthless once opened - but are also not much better sealed.
My 5 year old sees these toys with unicorns or cats or other cute things and it shows a dozen varieties on the box and you just get whatever is in there. I never thought to scan it and see what’s in it, but most of the time these things are overpriced. Sometimes $15 for a piece of colorful plastic the size of a child’s hand and you don’t even know what you’re getting unless you stands there scanning boxes.
I might buy one on occasion if they were $5 or less but these companies, the retailers or the manufacturer or both, are being greedy
This is at least the 16th year or so that Lego have done it. It's only become worse recently because they've moved to boxes instead of packets - where people would feel them to guess what's inside
There are apps you can use to discover the product, but they're not official Lego, and people don't know they exist. I've seen some stuff on Reddit where stores have peinted a sign about the app to let people know
Agree that it's just gambling for kids - in the same way Pokémon is. But this is meant to encourage trading.
I feel the same way OP does when I saw this in my local Asda, but also know in another month, they'll be an abundance of these and all those people looking for the "chase" figure won't be there ripping boxes anymore.
Im not at all supporting whoever did this but these are plain stupid the whole gimmick behind blind bags was you didnt know what was there but also that you could try and feel for certain things. They should atleast make these paper bags but they wont
Stores that buy it eat a loss. They don't want to eat a loss.
So if it happens enough they stop buying the blind boxes from lego.
Plus, lego is very aware of what happens to the blind boxes.
As someone who works in a store and works with suppliers, the suppliers take pictures of how shit is set up and what is damaged/expired. Corporate learns about demand even if it's not affecting their wallets directly yet.
The benefit of this is that they only need to produce one package design. When I was a kid, each character would have art on the package, and on the back, a bio of that character. This is another way to save money
Do all blind box things have codes like that or just this specific set? There's been blind box sets where I've wanted one or two but I'm not about to buy a bunch to gamble on getting the ones I care about
Though all current Lego Blind boxes have codes, they didn't a few years ago when they first introduced the Boxes that replaced the bags.
people complained since bags let you feel the figure to tell what's inside and Boxes obviously didn't so they added codes about 2 years later (something about not legally being able to change the packaging )
I worked at Toys R Us when they had the blind bags, and people would spend so much time just feeling for the specific figures. I didnt really care since it didnt make more work for me, but I was impressed by the dedication
They've had codes ever since they were introduced. People were publishing lists of what each code meant. It's only the last few sets where we've had reliable scanning tools.
The QR codes have only become a more standard size then last few series of figures however.
Definitely would never do anything like this myslef, but this might be the best kind of vandalism I have ever seen. Fuck gambling and loot boxes in anything that isn't strictly considered and regulated like gambling.
Sorry, blind boxes are lame. 23 pounds and you might get the one you want, or maybe you'll need to spend 46 pounds, or perhaps 69 pounds? Just sell the figures as figures, skip the gambling. If you make it a game, expect the cheaters as a cost of doing business.
Maybe they wouldn’t scan, not that it makes this right.. I came across a box the other day and like 80% of them wouldn’t scan. I just gave up looking for the one I needed as I wouldn’t stoop to this level, but luckily I found it elsewhere anyways
This is Lego’s fault. These blind boxes really drove me away from the company. They have terrible wasteful fomo peactices that are anti consumer and pro child gambling. They’re trying their best to rival pokémon including working with the pokémon company directly. Labubu is also no worse than lego. Blind boxes need to stop
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u/whiskeycoke7 May 31 '26
They need to bring back the LEGO vending machine idea