No surprises here: people are already ripping open LEGO Marvel Series 2 boxes
LEGO fans seemingly frustrated by the switch to cardboard packaging for the Collectible Minifigures are reportedly ripping open 71039 Marvel Series 2 boxes in stores.
The least-desired (and presumably most-feared) outcome of moving away from flexible foil bags – which previously allowed collectors to feel out an approximate idea of their contents – has apparently already become a reality, and 71039 Marvel Series 2 hasn’t even hit its wide release date. Stores across the US and UK have put the latest series of superhero minifigures out on shelves early, and initial reports indicate things aren’t going great.
Chelsea Bowyer – a member of the Facebook group Lego Buy/Sell/Swap (U.K.) – has shared a photo of multiple opened boxes on an Asda supermarket shelf. The contents of those boxes were apparently still intact, suggesting the culprit was seeking a particular character (rather than brazenly stealing any and all minifigures), leaving behind those they weren’t interested in.
It’s a similar story in the US, where Instagram user fourstud says that one shopper had ripped into boxes of 71039 Marvel Series 2 minifigures at a Target store. “While checking out, the guy told me that in the 40 minutes it took me to get there, someone had torn open 21 of them,” fourstud wrote in a since-expired story (and has since confirmed to Brick Fanatics). “They took them off the shelves and put the remaining nine in boxes, which I purchased.”
In a Venn diagram with two circles labelled ‘regrettable’ and ‘inevitable’, this pretty much falls smack in the middle. Removing the ability to feel out specific characters in a Collectible Minifigures series was always going to frustrate some people, and there were ultimately always going to be a subset of those fans who would take things to their logical extreme.
It’s worth noting that in the two instances described here, this seems less about theft and more about an unwillingness to engage with the practice of blind purchases (or gambling, if you want to put a broader label on it). That obviously doesn’t excuse opening boxes in stores, not least for how it will actually impact other fans: as Bowyer demonstrates on Facebook, anyone finding those opened boxes is unlikely to buy them over concerns pieces might be missing.
As a result, retailers will likely either have to repackage them (as apparently happened at Target), sell them at a discount or write them off as losses – which will ultimately trickle back to the LEGO Group one way or another. How much impact that might have on the packaging of future Collectible Minifigures series remains to be seen, but these could still be isolated incidents for now. The real test will come once 71039 Marvel Series 2 debuts widely on September 1.
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I was in Sainsburys this evening, this is the first day they have gone on sale and what i found were a jumble of ripped boxes and random lego bits. Not one was unopened. So sadly I doubt i will be bothering with this series.
“fans who would take things to their logical extreme”. This is not a ‘logical’ conclusion, it’s just vandalism of property. Please don’t try and justify this behaviour as acceptable.
Why not put them in paper packets like they do on magazines now?
In places where the “social contract” has been broken, this will be common.. but.. very rare where still exists. Also away more common in big box stores and super uncommon behaviour in actual toystores and lego shops.
The same people doing the ripping will be the first people screaming and crying foul when all lego sets everywhere are locked behind glass and it takes an hour to find the guy with the keys to open it to buy the set they want. Thanks a lot. #itsallyourfault
Die Leute reißen bereits LEGO auf Marvel Boxen der Serie 2
und
Sammler Minifiguren Berichten zufolge reißen sie auf 71039 Marvel Series 2 Kisten in Geschäften.
Was ist das denn für ein Deutsch?
Bei so vielen Fehlern bekommt man ja die Kriese.
in Hong Kong, there are retailers who will open all packs, and sell each minifig priced differently depending on demand
The interesting question is, are these blind boxes the same as Loot boxes in gaming. And such is Lego inadvertently introducing children to gambling?
Well, why not just sell them the way most stores sell booster packs of trading cards or anything else? Behind the counter, take from the front, no backsies. Easy enough.
It’s no different than trading cards, which have been around for many decades.
why don’t people buy a full box between them has there is 3 full.sets per box or just buy a full box and sell 2 sets then no need to rip tye boxes open and most of the codes on the boxes are for different figured but some figures have more than just the 1 code
You wrote: “LEGO fans seemingly frustrated by the switch to cardboard packaging for the Collectible Minifigures are reportedly ripping open 71039 Marvel Series 2 boxes in stores.”
Would a true LEGO fan result to this type of behavior of vandalism?
I hope not.
If ‘yes’ they are not a true LEGO fan !
Not unexpected. It was the same with Mario – Lego have brought this on themselves
It’s a bit of a catch-22 situation here, between the need for sustainability, and the ability to spend time examining the bags for what you want. I don’t know what the answer is – my local supermarket has been putting the bags into individual anti-theft boxes for a few years now, absolutely negating people trying to find what they want, and I think this is what will happen in more and more stores now.
The answer is to tell the customer what they are getting for their money. It’s such a sustainable approach.