Welcome to Part 2!
In case you missed it, you can read
Part 1 HERE.
So back to the story of my journey
into LEGO…
Star Wars ‘Planet Sets’
Just browsing through some of the
Star Wars stuff in another of my trips through the LEGO shop, I noticed these
little series of minikits. They consist of a plastic planet or a moon (or in
one case the Death Star - “that’s no
moon!”) within which you get a small model of a Star Wars vehicle to
construct, a minifigure and a little plaque that gives the name of each piece.
You can see one such example below:
For someone who likes the idea of
simple little models and cant afford/don't have space/cant be bothered to
purchase a full blown LEGO kit, this was an appealing purchase. LEGO you
clever, clever marketers, you!
So I bought 2 of these: AT-ST (9679) and the TIE Interceptor (9676). You can see
them here, chilling on my shelf:
I’m not sure what people usually do with the planet thingees after they
are emptied (baubles for a Star Wars themed Christmas tree?), but I’ve kept
them anyway as one of them is used to hold some spare LEGO parts.
Now these belong in a series, with
3 model kits in each one. Series 4 has just been released which means there are
now 12. I’m not a fan of the ‘prequel’ Star Wars films (save for Darth Maul –
he was a badass) so a few of the sets I’m straight up not interested in. But
the others? I just had to get them.
So next I picked up the X-Wing (9677) and the TIE Bomber (75008) – two iconic
spacecrafts from the Star Wars universe at a reasonable price. The Twin-Pod
Cloud Car from Bespin I’m not too bothered about, but Series 4 is looking good
with a Hoth Snowspeeder (75009), B-Wing Starfighter (75010) and Tantive IV (75011) (for those of you that don't know, that’s the ship you see
being chased by the Star Destroyer right at the very beginning of Star Wars). I
haven’t picked them up yet but I will once they've been out for a bit and the
price drops (for some reason they initially retail at a slightly higher price than
the other sets).
Why is all this important? Well,
these are perfect ‘gateway’ sets. They give you a small sample of the simple
yet satisfying construction of LEGO that you probably haven’t experienced since
childhood. Everyone loves building stuff - in the LEGO store, adults seem to play with
the blocks and ‘build your own minifigure’ just as much as the children do.
Building and creating stuff is just plain fun.
If you are a fan of Star Wars and you want affordable, minimal commitment and
nice display pieces, these ‘Planet Sets’ are perfect for you.
Although you do also get a
minifigure inside each of these sets, it wasn't really these that started my
minifigure collecting madness.
It was actually…
Collectible Series
Minifigures
Since 2010, LEGO have been
releasing various series of collectible minifigures, with 16 figures per
series. They only sell one series at a time so once they are gone from shops,
that's it - they're gone. We are currently on Series 10 (Series 11 is out in September)
and so as you can imagine, earlier series are becoming more of a rarity and can
be fairly expensive on ebay, especially if you are looking for that one figure
that you just have to have for your collection.
Here’s how it works: you pay £2
for a small foil packet containing one minifigure. You don't know which one
will be inside (of the possible 16 of the particular series) so as well as the
rush of excitement and the unknown, this setup allows for increased
collectability and to encourage trading and multiple purchases. Again, a smart
move on LEGO’s part.
16 minifgs x 10 series… that’s 160
available minifigures to date. The designs are exceptionally good - varied
too. You have historical characters, various professions and hobbyists,
mythical creatures, science fiction… there is something for everybody. Whether
you are a crazed collector that needs to get them all or a casual buyer who
might pick up the odd one, £2 is a great price for an excellently designed and
quality built minifigure.
I personally don't have the desire
to collect all of them (some designs I’m not too bothered about), but there are
many collectors out there who buy whole boxes of these packets every time a new
series comes out just to ensure that they get every single one. Presumably they
trade or sell the inevitable duplicates.
There is a good market for these
on eBay, as there you often don't have to buy a blind packet. You can get the
specific minifig you want from any series – and as a lot of sellers combine
postage, it’s always tempting to buy a few at a time. Obviously, the older
series and more rare ones will cost you a bit more. For example, the Zombie from
Series 1 goes for a minimum of £25!
You think that’s ridiculous?
That’s nothing compared to Mr. Gold…
Mr. Gold
When Series 10 came out there was
a special 17th minifigure available to collect, aside from the
regular 16.
Now this guy is super rare. As in, only 5000 of his exist in the
entire world. Collectors have gone mad over trying to find him, with stories of
people bulk buying entire boxes of packets just to have a bigger chance of
finding him. There have been some stories of LEGO/warehouse employees rifling
through entire boxes using the feel method (more on this later) before they hit
the shelves. Some want him just because they are completists, others because they
know his rarity will fetch a pretty penny – eBay currently lists him for sale
between £500 and £1000!
Some in the community have
criticised LEGO for this as it has caused a bit of mass hysteria amongst buyers
as well as the inevitable slew of fakes appearing (there are many ‘custom’ Mr. Gold’s
available for eBay) and despite each genuine Mr. Gold coming with a serial
number, it’s still no guarantee that you wont be duped by some unscrupulous
opportunists.
Personally I’m not too fussed – I
don’t think he is that great a design anyway and I’m certainly not a completist
trying to collect every single of the 161 available collectable minigs.
It’s just a piece of plastic after
all.
Ridiculous, right?
Well what if I told you that that’s not even the most
expensive minifigure out there right now? A Comic-Con 2013 exclusive ‘Azog’ minifigure from The Hobbit currently goes for around £1,291 on eBay. Or you can
get a set of all 5 exclusive Comic-Con figures for a princely sum of £3746. Just wow…
Feeling Packets
Ok, touching down to earth once
again.
Say if you are in a shop and you
want a particular minifig for your collection. How can you identify what’s in a
specific foil packet? Well it was first discovered (in the earliest series)
that reading/scanning the barcode on the back of the packet would let you know
what the packet contained.
In later series, this changed to
feeling for the little ‘dimples’ on the bottom ridge of the packet to identify
the contents. Once again, LEGO got wise to this and now for the most recent
series, the only reliable method of knowing what minifigure is in a packet is through
the ‘feel method’ – the old fashioned squeezing and squishing of the contents
inside to make an educated guess at what it could be.
If you know what you are looking
for, it’s not as a hard as it sounds. The shape of certain accessories or
unique headgears are usually good identifiers. Most collectors are familiar
with what each available character in the current series looks like and also
they are usually on display (in LEGO shops at least) so you can always use that
as a point of reference.
In fact, LEGO shop employees are
usually very skilled at identifying the contents of a packet and, if you ask
nicely, will usually find you the one you want. I’m often in there chatting
with the staff so they have no problem in helping me out in that regard, which
has undoubtedly saved on many ‘blind’ purchases.
Thinking of starting your collection
of LEGO minifigures? You’d better hurry as Series 11 goes on sale at the
beginning of September. Once that happens, Series 10 will only be available on
eBay and other such traders (The Minifigure Store is another good place to buy). See below for a peak at
what Series 11 has in store:
Click HERE to be taken to Part 3!
13th August 2013
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