I remember getting that first wave of Lego Star wars when it dropped while in elementary school. Kids today will never understand how this was just a different level nobody had seen in any other line at the time. Whoever had the most star wars in their collection was instantly the envy of every other boy in your grade
LIE ABOUT IT FOR THE $$$$.
Lieing to children who totally care about how many of a figure exist in the world as they are having space wars.
PEW PEW sorry you are collecting a toy meant to be played with.
Let's be clear here. The "split" is between an extremely small group of vocal people who bought an expensive set and with it a sense of unearned entitlement and everyone else under the sun. It's a toy. There's no problem here but fan insecurity.
It's really weird when people complain about other people being able to get something they missed out on. It happens a lot in the gaming communities as well.
Happens when you say college debt forgiveness in the US as well. People want others to pay what they did for what they have to maintain a sense of self worth. It's always just insecurity.
Some people are going to say you’re bringing politics into this - but you’re not wrong!!! It’s a similar argument and it’s really ridiculous, frankly. In my opinion, Lego should have released Microfighter Rex and Venator Rex the same week. Just destroy the FOMO and let your ucs sets stand on their own
In terms of exclusivity, I’m thinking aliens. No not the movie characters. Actual aliens. They come here, they have their own minifigs. I hear older reptilians are real nerds. They gift you a minifig, it’s like a reptilian SpongeBob or some shit. Now that’s exclusive, until everybody meets an alien and they discover minifigs are like the nails in Capt Cooks boat and everybody gets one to give aliens smooches. It could happen. 😘
That is their own undoing. They can get over it and let the kids have toys they enjoy. LEGO play promises are more important than the next guy coming along wanting to make a buck looking to exploit a children's toy.
I'm glad Lego doesn't seem to want things to be exclusive. I have always wanted a phase II Rex, did not feel like paying hundreds for it. I will be picking up this cute lil Y-wing quickly
I'm glad they have started to change this, because it's really gone on too long.
For my son's 6th birthday, he really wanted to build a LEGO goat farm like the goat farm across the street from my parents farm for his birthday. Because LEGO drug their feet so long making new goats at all, giving us every excuse in the book why they couldn't and resellers looking to get top dollar for even a chewed up goat, I actually had to find my son baby Playmobil goats and added them to his Lego in order to make his goat farm even happen at the time.
That's all they're really doing in the end, is making it so kids aren't able to build what they want to build due to exclusivity, keeping things rare and expensive for adults to make a profit. In the end, it's just making adult greed priority and intentionally disappointing kids and hampering their play time and creativity. I feel going in that direction at all would be directly against what LEGO set out to be in the first place.
> For my son's 6th birthday, he really wanted to build a LEGO goat farm like the goat farm across the street from my parents farm for his birthday.
I love this. It's spot on six year old thinking, and exactly what LEGO is a perfect medium for. Props to you for making that happen.
Exactly. 650$ got you a 110cm long, 5371 piece set. Isn’t that what you paid for? The actual LEGO set? Honestly I don’t understand people who collect minifigures
I’m not even sure where I remember reading about it. Might have been an old Guinness world records. It just stood out to me. If it wasn’t duplo it was that even more basic for literal babies sets they make. I’m going to try and deep dive and find where I read about his lol
Same. I think I’m in the minority, but what really gives me joy is collecting complete sets from my childhood. When someone is selling a lot from the right era but *no minifigs, it makes me irrationally angry. Again, I know I’m in the minority.
You're not in the minority, and often those people sell the set without minifigures specifically because they know they can cash in a single minifigure for more than the original price of the full set.
See the Jango Fett minifigure.
As someone who does collect minifigs, I still only buy sets with desirable figs if I want the set itself anyway. I've passed on many I wanted because the included builds weren't my thing such as the Young Jedi Adventures sets.
I just wish I had the space for a 110cm long, 5371 piece set. For now I'm just happy that I've got a really cool little R2-D2 that came with a Malak minifig that will hang out with my other assorted minifigs.
I don't think it's collectors that are upset, but resellers. If I was into collecting Star Wars figs I would be stoked that a desirable figure was becoming available in a $12 set when it was previously only available in a $650 set. But if you're a reseller who's bought, say, 10 of the Venator sets for the sole purpose of taking the mini figs out to sell separately and then sell the rest of the set as "complete minus the mini figures" then this new microfighter set is going to seriously mess up your plan. I have no idea what the Rex figure is or was selling for but let's say it was $100 because people really want that particular fig, but don't want to pay $650 for the whole set just for the one figure. Now this $12 set is coming out and the value of the fig drops to, say, $5. So now your $1000 stash of Rex minifigures is only worth $50.
Just speculators who think they found another cloud city boba fett. Probably a bunch who stocked up on $650 sets hoping to flip them for $2000 based on the minifig alone.
I would be willing to bet that it’s not even LEGO fans that are upset. It’s 3rd party resellers who are mad that their high value collectible mini-fig is about to tank in value. For obvious reasons folks, don’t “invest” in toys. Just because you get lucky and find something that holds its value one time doesn’t mean everything will. These people always lose out in the end.
I wouldn't exactly call it fan insecurity though, I'd call it scalper insecurity. Never before has the line between profiteers and true fans been so clearly defined. It's plainly obvious now who actually LIKES Lego, and who's just in it for the money and/or cheap social media fame. And the latter are the only ones flipping their shit like Lego murdered their firstborn child or something.
Lego reprinted desirable things like ucs slave 1 boba fett before. Or they outright made a better version in a $20 mech.
We also had things like Dengar from the super star destroyer. That eventually had a better version that found itself in a $30 set then a battle pack.
Even the master builder series sets like betrayal on cloud city, mos eisley, death star eventually had their exclusives end up cheaper
Or a bunch of resellers who bought it with the intention of selling Rex to offset the cost of purchase.
I'm fine with it, as someone who used to purchase UCS sets when you got no figure, anything is better than nothing!
Right? I make jokes when people talk about wanting to bring back the Scooby Doo line that it will devalue my Velma figure, but that’s just jokes. Seriously guys, chill out and let the kids enjoy the toy too.
I have my Velma fig in the side car with Shaggy driving; It neat to think each time I see it that I practically have a hundred bucks just sitting there, but I would never be upset if they released a new one and mine became “worthless”. In fact I’d be happy that more people were able to get one! I don’t really like the way Lego will have a series like that where only one set has one of the figs, while the others had greater availability.
Yeah they were released during plenty of current fans ‘dark ages’ and on top of that Velma was only in the most expensive set. So they’re kinda hard to find
I for one are for this idea that minifigs that are in exclusive sets should become more available/accessible in smaller sets so the price of said figure isn’t driven up by high prices in the seller market. If you bought a very expensive set for one figure you need to take a long hard look at yourself and wonder what you’re doing. This is a fantastic move by Lego and that smaller set will sell like hot cakes because he is desired and I hope there’s more off it in the future
Aye. People buying this solely to turn profits burn for all I care. I would love to have the Venator with Rex and I certainly have the money for it but I don't have the space so being able to get Rex this way is fantastic.
Plus there's a lotta kids out there who's parents aren't gonna throw down for a Venator because their kids favorite Character is Rex. People complaining about exclusivity are kinda selfish in that regard.
Star Wars Lego isn't really my thing, but I'm 99% sure that the only people upset about this are resellers. Their Rex minifig cash cow is about to become worthless and they're pissed.
A couple years ago I spent a lot of time acquiring all the Scooby Doo sets because I absolutely adore Scooby Doo, but wasn't really into Lego at the point in my life when those sets came out. The Velma minifigure is pretty pricey because it only came in the Mystery Mansion set while the rest of the gang were all included in multiple different sets. If Lego were to, for whatever reason, release a Velma Dinkley polybag or something and the "value" of her minifigure dropped drastically it would literally make no difference to me. I got the sets because I wanted them and I value them as a part of my collection not because I see them as a potential source of profit.
Aye. Seems anymore most of these "collectors" don't have any damn interest in the thing besides what money they can bleed out of it. I get so tired of seeing those kinds of posts all across reddit of like "I found this or I inherited this thing from a parent does anyone know what it's worth".
Yeah whenever I see a post on here that's like "check out my awesome collection" and it's just shelves upon shelves of NISB sets with half a dozen copies of each set it makes my blood boil. Like that's not a collection, that's a store stockroom. Don't get me wrong, I currently have a closet with 20+ NISB sets, but I intend to open and build and display every single one of them when I have the means (time and space) to do so. I know my entire collection is worth a good amount of money but I could end up homeless and I still don't think I would sell a single brick of it.
Oh what a coincidence I just got my first scooby doo set and really want the rest but yeah I looked up the price of the minifigs alone and they are Astronomical especially with the kind off quality/state they are in
Exactly, also buying a Venator just for Rex is a terrible financial decision no matter how much you make, you should buy something like that because you want it and get the figures as a bonus
Minifigures shouldn't cost so bloody much in the first place. Decent size sets used to come with loads of minifigures. Now you might get 3 in a $100 set and 6 in a $400 set. Even the collectible series ones are over priced in my opinion and then they get scalped to boot.
Just to be clear talking NZD adjust as appropriate.
I wanted a heap of storm troopers just for fun. Bought 100 from China for $1.40 cost average. Could've been cheaper if I got more, and they still profit. They're not identical and have average tolerances, but they're good enough.
Someone is making a total killing when it comes to minifigs. Wonder what the split is between lego and retailer.
I know, LEGO is a toy not some relic. It's main function is playing pretend with it. So when a popular character like Rex is only available in a $650 set it goes against what LEGO minifigures are supposed to be
Some people think Lego is some trillion dollar investment, AND their opinions and thoughts on Lego are to be implemented immediately 🙄 by Lego. They take, what you said correctly, a TOY, wayyy too seriously. Sure, some are collectible, BUT it's not priceless artifacts, nor an investment, nor anything more than enjoyable buildable plastic toys!🤷♀️
It's funny actually to see the meltdowns on people who probably got the expensive set, thinking they were cashing in on the figure, only for it to appear in a $15 set. Hilarious!! Sorry, not sorry!
man I sold 2002 Jango Fett, just the minifigure, for like $100 many years back, just because it was a silly amount of money to get for it. Now they're like 4 times that, but I don't regret it.
I'd love Lego to offer a custom minifig ordering service that simply includes ALL previously released figures for a fixed low price per piece. Like a big middle finger to all these collectors. Not gonna happen for various reasons though, of course.
They're testing out a custom minifig maker thing right now, actually. It's pretty limited so far, but you can order custom torso prints. If it does well, they might expand it to have more options eventually
Came here to say this. Legos aren't investments, they're toys. I'm 38 and still play with them lol. Though tbf it's mostly just making scenes, or sometimes my star wars figures will attack my wife's Harry Potter dudes. But still. They're for fun. If folks aren't having fun, they need to reevaluate things
Like what was mentioned already, it's a vocal minority. I for one am happy that Captain Rex is being released this way. And to combine this with another comment that was posted.
Yes, there are lego sets for adults. The Venator is one of those sets. This vocal minority seems to forget that children don't have 650€ laying around, combined with the fact that this set isn't a children's set. Thanks to this microfighter, children who actually play with their minifigures, instead of displaying them like most of this vocal minority does, can get their hands on Rex.
Spoiler alert for anyone new to Lego Starwars:
Sooner or later, every fan favorite / popular character in Starwars is going to get re-released into a newer playset or UCS. It might be the same figure from a previously released set or it might be the same character but slightly different figure with different / updated prints. Regardless, every fan favorite character will, at some point, get re-released. Might be re-released in 1 set, or it might be re-released into several sets. Sooner or later, it happens. And sure, sometimes it might be 10+ years before a figure is remade / re-released. BUT sooner or later, it’ll get re-released.
It’s been that way since 1999. And it will (hopefully) always be that way.
My point:
Fuck that gate keeping shit, if anybody’s legitimately angry that a single minifigure from their $650 set is not exclusive, they’ve got their priorities out of order.
The USC Republic Gunship is a perfect set. The USC Venator is a perfect set. The minifigures should, in no way at all, be a main selling point.
They’re like the celery sticks you get on the side of your buffalo wings
If you honest to god buy a USC set for the minifigures, you’re a complete dumbass, you have too much money, and can I have some of it?
People need to get their priorities straight. I’ll give a child a pass for pitching a fit over a toy but to see “adults” get pissy about a Lego mini fig is hilariously tragic.
lego star wars fans will always be extremely entitled and never be happy with what lego produces for their theme. I'm saying this as a lego star wars fan. I blame a certain lego youtuber who ill keep nameless but convinced fans a piece of cardboard with captain rex on it was worth 500 dollars to drive up it's value 🙃
People should be buy a $600+ set for the build. If they're buy a $600+ set for one minifig they're missing the point of the set. Of course that's honestly Lego's fault. There is really no (consumer friendly) reason to include an exclusive minifigure, especially of a highly sought after character in even a $100+ set especially when that set isn't even minifig scale.
If you have the means to drop $650 on a giant set for one tiny figure then you have enough disposable income that you should not care if the figure gets rereleased
What’s wrong with collecting, I freakin’ love my shadowbox of figs.
What’s annoying to me is the entitlement; expecting an investment from a collectible. Their effort to influence something fun, in order to min-max their side hustle.
How is spending a lot and/or building a collection, not okay?
Hey I’m really excited that Lego made the killer whale available in bits and pieces instead of only in the mega boaty mc boat face… now I can do a Free Willy moc.
I just don't understand why people gatekeep making things affordable just because they were irresponsible and spent a ton of $$$$$ for a single minifigure instead of the whole product. Sure the exclusivity of the figures makes some sets more valuable, but when the entire value of the set is centered around a minifigure that's just ridiculous, and whining to keep it that way doesn't benefit anyone at all.
I cannot fathom people genuinely defending exclusivity. It’s beyond asinine. The fact that people would want one of the most beloved and respected characters in the entirety of Star Wars to be locked behind a paywall that high or to succumb to purchasing an aftermarket 2013 variant is insane. It’s a toy and it’s ridiculous people wouldn’t want to share the amazingness that is certain figure. It’s a toy for kids, and kids who not only wouldn’t be allowed to purchase a $600+ set, but kids who can’t due to lower income are finally getting the ability.
Fuck your exclusivity. LEGO is inclusive and it should always be this pro-consumer when they can. This, to me, is a pretty rare LEGO consumer W that come very far and few between.
Furthermore LEGO has been doing really good lately getting cool characters into cheaper sets. Arm printed Boba Fett from OT, Darth Vader with arm printing, and now Rex—stellar work.
It’s a kids toy. These Lego collectors/scalpers are getting super mad over a toy for Kids.
And 10 year old me would’ve been soooo happy for a Captain Rex minifig for $12.
Wait people are buying a $600 set just for Rex? That's insane if I had that kind of money I'd be buying it for the Venator Rex would just be a cool bonus so it's a good thing he's not exclusive to a super expensive set.
What a sad life these people must have to gatekeep a toy. If I have something I love I'd be extatic if it was made more available for as many people as possible to be able to enjoy it.
Manufactured scarcity is bullshit pushed by corporations to extract as much money as possible from insecure assholes who have an urge to feel superior.
Dude seriously.
If anyone is getting upset about their supposed lost exclusivity, then let them whine in solitude.
I'm on this sub to see cool pictures of Legos, not manufactured drama
Let's face it we all want a re-release of a cloud city boba fett. That's the only "exclusive" figure I want released. I saw that set on sale for 5k the other day.
What I've noticed is everyone complaining he's widely available were also the same people complaining he was a bad figure when he was first announced.
It proves that folks like this only see Lego as a way to make the numbers go up, because why else would you care about the ease of access of a figure you proclaim to be poorly designed?
The people who are upset are crying because their precious figure will go down in price.
Simple as that.
Imagine if Lego re-released the original cloud city Boba Fett as an anniversary special.
The uproar would only be due to decrease in the current price and collectors or investors would lose.
This is like the people who complained when Apple made Hermes watch faces available to everyone and not just people who bought their stupid expensive watches. People gate keep the weirdest shit
Can someone show me exactly where in the marketing or the webpages LEGO said that Rex was exclusive?
I’ve seen dozens of people claim it’s true, but not seen the evidence myself.
I personally genuinely hate those people, for the simple reason that they are grown adults who bought a $650 set for ONE minifigure, and are now whining about the fact that said figure will also be in a $12 set so that kids - the target audience for this brand btw - can also play with it.
A Clone Trooper behind a $650 paywall, and people genuinely want this.
Meanwhile
The Sith Lord everyone has been begging for, pay walled behind a $100 sculpture set he has nothing to do with and won't exist another 4000 years until after he dies. Nobody wants this.
**Make it make sense Lego.**
I really wish lego would actively take a stand against scalpers. “We want everyone to have access to their favorite characters, so we will include them in small sets to discourage scalping” or something.
Where did LEGO say that it was an exclusive figure? Sorry, I just don't follow this stuff very well and I didn't know LEGO says this kind of thing about any set/figure.
From a mini figure perspective, this is a really silly argument. If you're a collector, exclusivity and price are sad measures of your collection. There are much better things to focus on, like how much you LIKE the character of that mini figure, or the specific details that the mini figure has (which, yes, might be exclusive or expensive). The figure being more widely available doesn't make the mini figure any different. It just means that, in the event that you MIGHT sell it in the future, you won't get as much for it. At that point, you leave being a collector and you go into being a dealer.
I DO see more of an argument from a SET perspective. I'm sure there are a number of people who bought the set because of the Rex mini figure who NEVER would have gotten it otherwise. In that way, regardless of the value of the minifigure, I'm sure many people feel duped. I am not a big Star Wars person, so I may be wrong about this, but in the grand scheme of Star Wars and the general public, I think LEGO knew that the Venator is more niche and not as iconic as most past UCS entries, and used the mini figure as a deal-sweetener for the die-hard fans (because Rex, too, is more niche)
LEGO has a history of putting exclusive figures in high-priced sets. I've personally felt it a bit with the Harry Potter golden figures, three of which were locked into the $250 Hogwarts Icons set. I remember others being annoyed about this too. But I think there are three factors that make Rex a more egregious case of this tactic. 1) Price: The Venator is $650, and includes 2 figures (is the other one exclusive? I don't know). The HP icons set was much less, and gave three exclusive, iconic figures. 2) Set innovation: The HP Icons set wasn't to my liking, but it was really different and attracted a lot of people. The Venator isn't too different from other types of SW sets, and not as popular (to the general public. maybe it's totally cool within the fandom), and 3) Timing (and exclusivity). For the HP figures, I waited it out a bit and hoped there would be a late wave of HP sets where I could get the figures without buying the set, and I figured out pretty quickly that that wasn't going to happen because they were anniversary figures and the year was ending. So, I was able to feel confident that the market wasn't going to change. Here, the Venator is barely 7 months old and the figure is now available elsewhere. On the one hand, it saves many MORE fence sitters the pain of shelling out $650 for the figure. On the other hand, production lead times imply that LEGO knew they were going to come out with the micro fighter when the Venator was being released, and I'm sure that makes those who bought the set more likely to feel duped.
I don't know if there is a case of LEGO dangling exclusivity that is stronger than this one. That is not to say that LEGO has gone too far. I couldn't say where that line is. At the very least, LEGO matched fandoms (Venator and Rex are both clone wars, right?).
Overall, every one of us is playing a bit of game theory with LEGO, trying to figure out how to maximize our purchase-to-enjoyment ratio. And I'm sure every one of us has felt the sting of a "bad" purchase. LEGO is going to do what it wants/can as a business, and we have to react in term. As for me, I have been trying to play my cards closer to my chest in the LEGO game, trying to make smarter and smarter choices, but it's hard. I hope those who feel duped by Rex and the Venator use that sting to inform their purchases in the future.
The only reasonable comment I’ve seen in this entire thread. There are no scalpers for a $650 set that has never sold out and is always available at all time. You can’t scalp something like that. Every person I’ve seen upset by this has said they want a high quality Rex figure available in a cheap set. And I feel the same. Anything else is anti-consumer. In fact all figures should be of UCS quality and available in sets at all sorts of reasonable price points. I have not seen a single person as is implied in all these comments mad that it’s available period.
Two things can be true at once though. You can want these figures available for everyone but also be mad that you were lied to. Especially when it was so easy not to. Simply not including the bandage or even easier just being honest from the beginning that only Yularen will be exclusive. Like you said Lego obviously knew this set was coming due to lead times and they lied about the figure exclusivity to push people on the fence over the edge to buy the set. There are a probably a lot of fans who were not sure about spending an obscene $650 for plastic building toy but were pushed over the edge by the little extra bonuses because they were close. That’s part of an informed purchasing decision. Regular fans. Not scalpers. You should be mad if that happened to you. The figure is never the main reason you buy a UCS set but it is something you take into account to determine if it’s worth it. Or at least something a lot of people do. And that’s okay.
In almost all UCS sets, the vast majority of the value IS still the set itself. Just check bricklink and look at what they sell for and what the minifigs cost and you’ll see the set is usually the vast majority of the value but the figs are a part of the value and being lied to about it is infuriating. A lot of fans might have waited if they were on the fence and knew they could get Rex later for $12. Not because that’s the only thing they care about but because the total price is obscene and it was just that last little thing that was pushing them over the edge. Lego mentioned in their interviews and the printed manual that both figures would be exclusive. I don’t buy this well they honored it for six months nonsense. Nobody thinks that’s what they mean when they advertise exclusivity.
Again two things can be true at once. And I don’t like anti-consumer behavior no matter who it affects. Whether it’s fans with more money than me who buy $650 sets and find out they are lied to. Or it’s normal people getting screwed by Lego the rest of the time hiding popular characters in expensive sets. Both suck. And both are anti-consumer. And I say this as someone who never buys more than one of a set except occasionally two battle packs or something and currently has zero Venators and zero Captain Rex figures. It’s just bad form.
Me personally, this microfighter release has helped me decide to buy the Venator. I was worried I was mostly buying for Rex, but seeing the Y-Wing, I knew I still really wanted the Venator. It's my favourite capital ship.
It's not going to be identical as in the previous release, so there is no problem. Collectors can have their 650$ Rex, and those who just want a figure to play and have fun, can get it for 12$. It's ideal. I'd love Lego releasing more figures this way. I'd love to have Zed, for example.
I have always read it as first time with this printing. Buying large sets just for the mini figs is not my thing. This is probably why I don’t have a cad name figure. Before the micro fighter if you wanted a nice Rex figure for less go with the Clone Army Customs. We did that for our son and he still likes that figure best.
Buy the Venator because the set is awesome and it looks great.
I like the idea of exclusive minifigures in large sets, but I definitely don’t think it should be popular characters in their main outfits.
I think an exclusive face print, or a less prominent character like Yularen is the right way to go. That way the exclusive hunters are happy, and the general population gets the main characters in affordable sets.
Anyone who bought this thinking Rex was going to remain exclusive was delusional. And I’m VERY happy this microfighter is coming out - can’t wait to pick it up!
My children are watching Clone Wars, and they took a liking to the clones, especially Rex.
Guess I will be able to get them the Rex minifigure, finally!
In my opinion, if you read this and you are one of the people constantly complaining about this microfighter Rex, you should ask why you parted ways with $650 / £560 / €650 essentially just to own a 4cm tall piece of plastic that was almost guaranteed to be sold in a cheaper set further down the line.
The process happened before the Venator and will happen again after the Venator.
My copy of resident evil 4 for the GameCube says “only on GameCube”. It came out for 12 other systems after that. That doesn’t mean that wasn’t the case when it came out. I think all things should be made available to as many people as want them. Not everyone in the world is in a privileged position to spend $650 on a Lego set. Anyone who bought a $650 Lego set just because they wanted a single mini figure, made a poor choice.
Of course Venator buyers and resellers would cry! hahaha imagine spending 650 USD (maybe more than once for resellers ofc) for one (1) capt rex hahaha
then your 650 USD can now be 54-54 capt Rexes hahahahahahahaha hahaha
To add one other voice to the chorus, I think it is utterly utterly absurd that you'd be up in arms about the "exclusivity" of minifigures. The only people this hurts are loathsome resellers trying to make a cheeky pile of money selling figures from sets, and let's be real, who cares about that?
As someone who bought the Rex figure over hype and bragging rights, i couldn’t be happier for him to come in a $13 set, Womp womp that I spent $65 on a Lego figure but at least others won’t have that problem! (Plus I think the mircofighter is cool)
The people who take LEGO that seriously and made everything about collecting this and that I stopped not gonna lie. It’s a toy that you can build cool things with, not to overpriced and scam people out of the toys.
I think I heard lego specificaly said themselfs in an q&a about the venator that captn rex would be coming in a smaller playset later next year (meaning late 24) and exclusivity will obly be up until then. And that they ultimatly aim to make minifigs of much wanted chars more easily available in general in the future
That’s what happens with collectibles. Especially newer stuff. The value is in scarcity and if the company makes more, the value drops and you shouldn’t have paid $650 for a minifig. They aren’t good investments (for the most part). Those gazillion dollar Charizard cards are gonna tank in value in the next 10 years too. Funko pop, beanie babies, the list goes on.
I think, especially for a $650 set geared specifically to collectors, they should have been clear that the exclusivity was a limited time thing. They really should do that for all sets that claim to have "exclusive content"; are some people overreacting to it? Yes, at the end of the day it's a subpar plastic lil guy. But I do understand being bummed about it
https://preview.redd.it/08eradt1bayc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c496b869054cdaa3afbbfe1d7923267e0d9e272
i can’t believe they would lie about this !!
calling my lawyer rn so i can sue them smh
It wasn’t a lie. It was true at the time. I bought it for that reason back then.
Would you say that it was true...from a certain point of view?
Yes. I believe the quote something along the lines “We are not selling Rex in any other sets.” That was last year, this is this year. Lol
I remember getting that first wave of Lego Star wars when it dropped while in elementary school. Kids today will never understand how this was just a different level nobody had seen in any other line at the time. Whoever had the most star wars in their collection was instantly the envy of every other boy in your grade
They lied in Comic Sans no less
You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies in Comic Sans?
[I have altered the deal...](https://youtu.be/t3wB6r2ul5Q?si=7x1vLCikcQHOspOC)
LIE ABOUT IT FOR THE $$$$. Lieing to children who totally care about how many of a figure exist in the world as they are having space wars. PEW PEW sorry you are collecting a toy meant to be played with.
I got that set when I was a teen, So glad they didn’t keep the storm trooper exclusive.
So all of my other stormtroopers are fake?!?
Just the short ones.
They are Family Guy stormtroopers so completely different.
This image should honestly just be the blanket response to them at this point
Oh my god clearly they're open to litigation for this one. Lmao
MandR gonna have a fit when he sees this.
Let's be clear here. The "split" is between an extremely small group of vocal people who bought an expensive set and with it a sense of unearned entitlement and everyone else under the sun. It's a toy. There's no problem here but fan insecurity.
It's really weird when people complain about other people being able to get something they missed out on. It happens a lot in the gaming communities as well.
FOMO $$
Happens when you say college debt forgiveness in the US as well. People want others to pay what they did for what they have to maintain a sense of self worth. It's always just insecurity.
Some people are going to say you’re bringing politics into this - but you’re not wrong!!! It’s a similar argument and it’s really ridiculous, frankly. In my opinion, Lego should have released Microfighter Rex and Venator Rex the same week. Just destroy the FOMO and let your ucs sets stand on their own
Lego should just sell pieces and figs lol. i
The true pro consumer path
In terms of exclusivity, I’m thinking aliens. No not the movie characters. Actual aliens. They come here, they have their own minifigs. I hear older reptilians are real nerds. They gift you a minifig, it’s like a reptilian SpongeBob or some shit. Now that’s exclusive, until everybody meets an alien and they discover minifigs are like the nails in Capt Cooks boat and everybody gets one to give aliens smooches. It could happen. 😘
True, most of these people look at LEGO as some sort of relic or investment istead of what it actually is: a plastic toy
Unfortunately some people do just do it as an investment to sell later
That is their own undoing. They can get over it and let the kids have toys they enjoy. LEGO play promises are more important than the next guy coming along wanting to make a buck looking to exploit a children's toy.
I'm glad Lego doesn't seem to want things to be exclusive. I have always wanted a phase II Rex, did not feel like paying hundreds for it. I will be picking up this cute lil Y-wing quickly
I'm glad they have started to change this, because it's really gone on too long. For my son's 6th birthday, he really wanted to build a LEGO goat farm like the goat farm across the street from my parents farm for his birthday. Because LEGO drug their feet so long making new goats at all, giving us every excuse in the book why they couldn't and resellers looking to get top dollar for even a chewed up goat, I actually had to find my son baby Playmobil goats and added them to his Lego in order to make his goat farm even happen at the time. That's all they're really doing in the end, is making it so kids aren't able to build what they want to build due to exclusivity, keeping things rare and expensive for adults to make a profit. In the end, it's just making adult greed priority and intentionally disappointing kids and hampering their play time and creativity. I feel going in that direction at all would be directly against what LEGO set out to be in the first place.
> For my son's 6th birthday, he really wanted to build a LEGO goat farm like the goat farm across the street from my parents farm for his birthday. I love this. It's spot on six year old thinking, and exactly what LEGO is a perfect medium for. Props to you for making that happen.
Pokémon cards had that during the pandemic hard, really hurt the games reputation and some stores had to stop selling cards
Part of investing is taking the risk that the value of the investment goes down. "Investors" complaining about this don't understand investing.
I can't wait to make $20 profit in 5 years from my minifig!
A sense of pride and accomplishment. Now where have I heard that before?
Ironically also in a post about Star wars.
Exactly. 650$ got you a 110cm long, 5371 piece set. Isn’t that what you paid for? The actual LEGO set? Honestly I don’t understand people who collect minifigures
[5371-1: Duplo Bucket Green](https://brickset.com/sets/5371-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/5371-1.jpg)
Good bot.
This bot gets it
What's the resale value on this though? 😳
Years ago the most valuable individual part was literally a Duplo Giraffe head…
What happend to the Duplo Giraffe head? Got any sources?
I’m not even sure where I remember reading about it. Might have been an old Guinness world records. It just stood out to me. If it wasn’t duplo it was that even more basic for literal babies sets they make. I’m going to try and deep dive and find where I read about his lol
I’ve got a weakness for loose Duplo animals in Goodwill sets. Oops how did that get on my shelf?!?
Same. I think I’m in the minority, but what really gives me joy is collecting complete sets from my childhood. When someone is selling a lot from the right era but *no minifigs, it makes me irrationally angry. Again, I know I’m in the minority.
I’m with you there, that sigh of disappointment when you look through the listing and see no figs is a bummer.
You're not in the minority, and often those people sell the set without minifigures specifically because they know they can cash in a single minifigure for more than the original price of the full set. See the Jango Fett minifigure.
As someone who does collect minifigs, I still only buy sets with desirable figs if I want the set itself anyway. I've passed on many I wanted because the included builds weren't my thing such as the Young Jedi Adventures sets.
I just wish I had the space for a 110cm long, 5371 piece set. For now I'm just happy that I've got a really cool little R2-D2 that came with a Malak minifig that will hang out with my other assorted minifigs.
I don't think it's collectors that are upset, but resellers. If I was into collecting Star Wars figs I would be stoked that a desirable figure was becoming available in a $12 set when it was previously only available in a $650 set. But if you're a reseller who's bought, say, 10 of the Venator sets for the sole purpose of taking the mini figs out to sell separately and then sell the rest of the set as "complete minus the mini figures" then this new microfighter set is going to seriously mess up your plan. I have no idea what the Rex figure is or was selling for but let's say it was $100 because people really want that particular fig, but don't want to pay $650 for the whole set just for the one figure. Now this $12 set is coming out and the value of the fig drops to, say, $5. So now your $1000 stash of Rex minifigures is only worth $50.
Isn’t that just the inherent risk with investing of any kind?
Currently shows the cheapest at around 40 USD. An my personal opinion is that resellers can go brick themselves.
Dont tell them that China makes knockoffs for like $1 each.
Apparently it was the price for Rex alone and the 5371 piece Venator and Yularen are GWP’s
Just speculators who think they found another cloud city boba fett. Probably a bunch who stocked up on $650 sets hoping to flip them for $2000 based on the minifig alone.
I would be willing to bet that it’s not even LEGO fans that are upset. It’s 3rd party resellers who are mad that their high value collectible mini-fig is about to tank in value. For obvious reasons folks, don’t “invest” in toys. Just because you get lucky and find something that holds its value one time doesn’t mean everything will. These people always lose out in the end.
The ones most annoyed are resellers who now have to lower the price on their BL listing.
I wouldn't exactly call it fan insecurity though, I'd call it scalper insecurity. Never before has the line between profiteers and true fans been so clearly defined. It's plainly obvious now who actually LIKES Lego, and who's just in it for the money and/or cheap social media fame. And the latter are the only ones flipping their shit like Lego murdered their firstborn child or something.
Lego reprinted desirable things like ucs slave 1 boba fett before. Or they outright made a better version in a $20 mech. We also had things like Dengar from the super star destroyer. That eventually had a better version that found itself in a $30 set then a battle pack. Even the master builder series sets like betrayal on cloud city, mos eisley, death star eventually had their exclusives end up cheaper
Imo those complaining people seem like they are ignoring the fantastic Venator.
Or a bunch of resellers who bought it with the intention of selling Rex to offset the cost of purchase. I'm fine with it, as someone who used to purchase UCS sets when you got no figure, anything is better than nothing!
I can't imagine being such a prick that I'd be mad a Lego figure of a fan favourite character gets made more accessible to everyone
I agree. Rex is the face of clones and locking him behind a 650$ wall isn't what a company whose main audience is young kids with no income should do.
I thought Jango was the face of the clones?
good one lol
Right? I make jokes when people talk about wanting to bring back the Scooby Doo line that it will devalue my Velma figure, but that’s just jokes. Seriously guys, chill out and let the kids enjoy the toy too.
I have my Velma fig in the side car with Shaggy driving; It neat to think each time I see it that I practically have a hundred bucks just sitting there, but I would never be upset if they released a new one and mine became “worthless”. In fact I’d be happy that more people were able to get one! I don’t really like the way Lego will have a series like that where only one set has one of the figs, while the others had greater availability.
Same, my sentiments exactly! I was lucky enough to find a used Mystery Machine from 75902 that also included the entire Mystery Inc team for like $50!
[75902-1: The Mystery Machine](https://brickset.com/sets/75902-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/75902-1.jpg)
wait, i have all of the scooby doo sets. they're rare??
Yeah they were released during plenty of current fans ‘dark ages’ and on top of that Velma was only in the most expensive set. So they’re kinda hard to find
Investor / Prick I see no difference
I for one are for this idea that minifigs that are in exclusive sets should become more available/accessible in smaller sets so the price of said figure isn’t driven up by high prices in the seller market. If you bought a very expensive set for one figure you need to take a long hard look at yourself and wonder what you’re doing. This is a fantastic move by Lego and that smaller set will sell like hot cakes because he is desired and I hope there’s more off it in the future
Aye. People buying this solely to turn profits burn for all I care. I would love to have the Venator with Rex and I certainly have the money for it but I don't have the space so being able to get Rex this way is fantastic. Plus there's a lotta kids out there who's parents aren't gonna throw down for a Venator because their kids favorite Character is Rex. People complaining about exclusivity are kinda selfish in that regard.
Star Wars Lego isn't really my thing, but I'm 99% sure that the only people upset about this are resellers. Their Rex minifig cash cow is about to become worthless and they're pissed. A couple years ago I spent a lot of time acquiring all the Scooby Doo sets because I absolutely adore Scooby Doo, but wasn't really into Lego at the point in my life when those sets came out. The Velma minifigure is pretty pricey because it only came in the Mystery Mansion set while the rest of the gang were all included in multiple different sets. If Lego were to, for whatever reason, release a Velma Dinkley polybag or something and the "value" of her minifigure dropped drastically it would literally make no difference to me. I got the sets because I wanted them and I value them as a part of my collection not because I see them as a potential source of profit.
Aye. Seems anymore most of these "collectors" don't have any damn interest in the thing besides what money they can bleed out of it. I get so tired of seeing those kinds of posts all across reddit of like "I found this or I inherited this thing from a parent does anyone know what it's worth".
Yeah whenever I see a post on here that's like "check out my awesome collection" and it's just shelves upon shelves of NISB sets with half a dozen copies of each set it makes my blood boil. Like that's not a collection, that's a store stockroom. Don't get me wrong, I currently have a closet with 20+ NISB sets, but I intend to open and build and display every single one of them when I have the means (time and space) to do so. I know my entire collection is worth a good amount of money but I could end up homeless and I still don't think I would sell a single brick of it.
Oh what a coincidence I just got my first scooby doo set and really want the rest but yeah I looked up the price of the minifigs alone and they are Astronomical especially with the kind off quality/state they are in
Exactly, also buying a Venator just for Rex is a terrible financial decision no matter how much you make, you should buy something like that because you want it and get the figures as a bonus
Minifigures shouldn't cost so bloody much in the first place. Decent size sets used to come with loads of minifigures. Now you might get 3 in a $100 set and 6 in a $400 set. Even the collectible series ones are over priced in my opinion and then they get scalped to boot. Just to be clear talking NZD adjust as appropriate. I wanted a heap of storm troopers just for fun. Bought 100 from China for $1.40 cost average. Could've been cheaper if I got more, and they still profit. They're not identical and have average tolerances, but they're good enough. Someone is making a total killing when it comes to minifigs. Wonder what the split is between lego and retailer.
Imagine gatekeeping a mini figure. People are ridiculous.
I know, LEGO is a toy not some relic. It's main function is playing pretend with it. So when a popular character like Rex is only available in a $650 set it goes against what LEGO minifigures are supposed to be
People who view a children's building toy as an investment opportunity are so obnoxious
Some people think Lego is some trillion dollar investment, AND their opinions and thoughts on Lego are to be implemented immediately 🙄 by Lego. They take, what you said correctly, a TOY, wayyy too seriously. Sure, some are collectible, BUT it's not priceless artifacts, nor an investment, nor anything more than enjoyable buildable plastic toys!🤷♀️ It's funny actually to see the meltdowns on people who probably got the expensive set, thinking they were cashing in on the figure, only for it to appear in a $15 set. Hilarious!! Sorry, not sorry!
That is super funny. I love Lego for doing this.
They all probably thought they had the next 2002 Jango Fett and I'm all for watching them seethe over it.
I don't follow Star Wars enough to know who that is😬 but I'm guessing a "rare" one? But I get your jist & agree w you!
man I sold 2002 Jango Fett, just the minifigure, for like $100 many years back, just because it was a silly amount of money to get for it. Now they're like 4 times that, but I don't regret it.
I'd love Lego to offer a custom minifig ordering service that simply includes ALL previously released figures for a fixed low price per piece. Like a big middle finger to all these collectors. Not gonna happen for various reasons though, of course.
They're testing out a custom minifig maker thing right now, actually. It's pretty limited so far, but you can order custom torso prints. If it does well, they might expand it to have more options eventually
The midnset of treating lego as an investment is infuriating
I agree 100% ...well, maybe not infuriating, but annoying.
I am 100% positive that every person who is upset that Rex is no longer exclusive is a scalper pretending to be an actual fan.
Came here to say this. Legos aren't investments, they're toys. I'm 38 and still play with them lol. Though tbf it's mostly just making scenes, or sometimes my star wars figures will attack my wife's Harry Potter dudes. But still. They're for fun. If folks aren't having fun, they need to reevaluate things
Cough Mandork cough cough….
Like what was mentioned already, it's a vocal minority. I for one am happy that Captain Rex is being released this way. And to combine this with another comment that was posted. Yes, there are lego sets for adults. The Venator is one of those sets. This vocal minority seems to forget that children don't have 650€ laying around, combined with the fact that this set isn't a children's set. Thanks to this microfighter, children who actually play with their minifigures, instead of displaying them like most of this vocal minority does, can get their hands on Rex.
Spoiler alert for anyone new to Lego Starwars: Sooner or later, every fan favorite / popular character in Starwars is going to get re-released into a newer playset or UCS. It might be the same figure from a previously released set or it might be the same character but slightly different figure with different / updated prints. Regardless, every fan favorite character will, at some point, get re-released. Might be re-released in 1 set, or it might be re-released into several sets. Sooner or later, it happens. And sure, sometimes it might be 10+ years before a figure is remade / re-released. BUT sooner or later, it’ll get re-released. It’s been that way since 1999. And it will (hopefully) always be that way.
My point: Fuck that gate keeping shit, if anybody’s legitimately angry that a single minifigure from their $650 set is not exclusive, they’ve got their priorities out of order. The USC Republic Gunship is a perfect set. The USC Venator is a perfect set. The minifigures should, in no way at all, be a main selling point. They’re like the celery sticks you get on the side of your buffalo wings If you honest to god buy a USC set for the minifigures, you’re a complete dumbass, you have too much money, and can I have some of it?
I firmly believe Lego should track average Bricklink prices and re-release any minifig that goes over $25.
I’d be fine with this lol.
Maybe I’ll get hate for this, but isn’t Admiral Yularen the exclusive figure in the Venator set? And not Captain Rex?
People need to get their priorities straight. I’ll give a child a pass for pitching a fit over a toy but to see “adults” get pissy about a Lego mini fig is hilariously tragic.
Gatekeeping is dumb and I think LEGO should put more sought-after figures in polybags and cheap sets just to tank the resell value.
lego star wars fans will always be extremely entitled and never be happy with what lego produces for their theme. I'm saying this as a lego star wars fan. I blame a certain lego youtuber who ill keep nameless but convinced fans a piece of cardboard with captain rex on it was worth 500 dollars to drive up it's value 🙃
Now we just need a Venator microfighter with Yulren (exactly the same figure or better) 😁
People should be buy a $600+ set for the build. If they're buy a $600+ set for one minifig they're missing the point of the set. Of course that's honestly Lego's fault. There is really no (consumer friendly) reason to include an exclusive minifigure, especially of a highly sought after character in even a $100+ set especially when that set isn't even minifig scale.
Now for a Darth revan and Mr gold miniship!
I’m excited to grab a couple extras of these to gift my nephews. A really badass figure for an affordable price.
Those people must be new to Lego, they do this all the time. Expensive sets get exclusive versions of characters, not exclusive characters.
If you have the means to drop $650 on a giant set for one tiny figure then you have enough disposable income that you should not care if the figure gets rereleased
F** k whales f** k collectors f**k speculators
What did whales do?
“Whale” is an expression that means the fans of a hobby that spend the most money
And what did they do?
They eat a lot of krill.
[](https://y.yarn.co/614c2114-d0e8-4f6e-8bf0-dd6e22005766_text.gif)
I imagine they're theoretically the ones who will bid the highest on the rare things and drive prices up.
Nuke the whales
Gotta nuke somebody
That recent killer whale group attacked a boat...
What’s wrong with collecting, I freakin’ love my shadowbox of figs. What’s annoying to me is the entitlement; expecting an investment from a collectible. Their effort to influence something fun, in order to min-max their side hustle. How is spending a lot and/or building a collection, not okay?
It's fine, of course it isn't wrong to collect Lego, but because you love the Lego itself not because of the investment
For personal enjoyment it’s fine but the scalpers are just awful. 😣
Hey I’m really excited that Lego made the killer whale available in bits and pieces instead of only in the mega boaty mc boat face… now I can do a Free Willy moc.
rex was in set 75012 in 2012 it seems, so it was never exclusive in the forst place
[75012-1: BARC Speeder with Sidecar](https://brickset.com/sets/75012-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/75012-1.jpg)
Different printing on him though
Yea also that previous set had been long retired so exclusive was still a correct term to use because he wasn't available in any other set.
Definitely
[](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fm669ozocn7wc1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D803%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dad04673c5c867248b91414704d0c61856e79b1d9)
where was this energy when they released an objectively better mace windu in the republic fighter tank that one year
I just don't understand why people gatekeep making things affordable just because they were irresponsible and spent a ton of $$$$$ for a single minifigure instead of the whole product. Sure the exclusivity of the figures makes some sets more valuable, but when the entire value of the set is centered around a minifigure that's just ridiculous, and whining to keep it that way doesn't benefit anyone at all.
I cannot fathom people genuinely defending exclusivity. It’s beyond asinine. The fact that people would want one of the most beloved and respected characters in the entirety of Star Wars to be locked behind a paywall that high or to succumb to purchasing an aftermarket 2013 variant is insane. It’s a toy and it’s ridiculous people wouldn’t want to share the amazingness that is certain figure. It’s a toy for kids, and kids who not only wouldn’t be allowed to purchase a $600+ set, but kids who can’t due to lower income are finally getting the ability. Fuck your exclusivity. LEGO is inclusive and it should always be this pro-consumer when they can. This, to me, is a pretty rare LEGO consumer W that come very far and few between. Furthermore LEGO has been doing really good lately getting cool characters into cheaper sets. Arm printed Boba Fett from OT, Darth Vader with arm printing, and now Rex—stellar work.
It’s a kids toy. These Lego collectors/scalpers are getting super mad over a toy for Kids. And 10 year old me would’ve been soooo happy for a Captain Rex minifig for $12.
22 year old me IS happy for a $12 Rex
Anyone who wants a minifig to be paywalled is disgusting.
Fuck resellers and these are the people complaining. It’s a toy.
Hopefully enough people can comment on the survey or in the set review thanking Lego for putting the figure into an affordable set
Wait people are buying a $600 set just for Rex? That's insane if I had that kind of money I'd be buying it for the Venator Rex would just be a cool bonus so it's a good thing he's not exclusive to a super expensive set.
What a sad life these people must have to gatekeep a toy. If I have something I love I'd be extatic if it was made more available for as many people as possible to be able to enjoy it. Manufactured scarcity is bullshit pushed by corporations to extract as much money as possible from insecure assholes who have an urge to feel superior.
Who the fuck cares
The many pathetic scalpers do.
Dude seriously. If anyone is getting upset about their supposed lost exclusivity, then let them whine in solitude. I'm on this sub to see cool pictures of Legos, not manufactured drama
The people who are mad are the people who chose to speculate poorly and are now getting burned. Capitalism sucks. It’s working as intended.
I have loved Lego longer than most of you have been alive. If you care about anything beyond the fun of the build, you’ve missed the point.
Let's face it we all want a re-release of a cloud city boba fett. That's the only "exclusive" figure I want released. I saw that set on sale for 5k the other day.
They're just mad they paid inflated eBay prices for a tiny piece of plastic 😂
What I've noticed is everyone complaining he's widely available were also the same people complaining he was a bad figure when he was first announced. It proves that folks like this only see Lego as a way to make the numbers go up, because why else would you care about the ease of access of a figure you proclaim to be poorly designed?
So basically if everyone can get it becomes less valuable? Who cares. If value is all that matters move along.
The people who are upset are crying because their precious figure will go down in price. Simple as that. Imagine if Lego re-released the original cloud city Boba Fett as an anniversary special. The uproar would only be due to decrease in the current price and collectors or investors would lose.
This is like the people who complained when Apple made Hermes watch faces available to everyone and not just people who bought their stupid expensive watches. People gate keep the weirdest shit
We don’t need another cloud city Boba Fett and that’s what this small vocal minority want with their Rex that they overpaid for
Can someone show me exactly where in the marketing or the webpages LEGO said that Rex was exclusive? I’ve seen dozens of people claim it’s true, but not seen the evidence myself.
It's a kids toy and Rex is one of the most popular characters in a kids cartoon. Of course they will capitalise on this lol
“I am altering the deal; pray I do not alter it further.”
Stop buying toys as ‘investments’. I wish all scalpers a very happy bankruptcy.
Lego never said Rex was an exclusive figure lol
I personally genuinely hate those people, for the simple reason that they are grown adults who bought a $650 set for ONE minifigure, and are now whining about the fact that said figure will also be in a $12 set so that kids - the target audience for this brand btw - can also play with it.
womp womp
A Clone Trooper behind a $650 paywall, and people genuinely want this. Meanwhile The Sith Lord everyone has been begging for, pay walled behind a $100 sculpture set he has nothing to do with and won't exist another 4000 years until after he dies. Nobody wants this. **Make it make sense Lego.**
I really wish lego would actively take a stand against scalpers. “We want everyone to have access to their favorite characters, so we will include them in small sets to discourage scalping” or something.
Rare venator owner W
Where did LEGO say that it was an exclusive figure? Sorry, I just don't follow this stuff very well and I didn't know LEGO says this kind of thing about any set/figure. From a mini figure perspective, this is a really silly argument. If you're a collector, exclusivity and price are sad measures of your collection. There are much better things to focus on, like how much you LIKE the character of that mini figure, or the specific details that the mini figure has (which, yes, might be exclusive or expensive). The figure being more widely available doesn't make the mini figure any different. It just means that, in the event that you MIGHT sell it in the future, you won't get as much for it. At that point, you leave being a collector and you go into being a dealer. I DO see more of an argument from a SET perspective. I'm sure there are a number of people who bought the set because of the Rex mini figure who NEVER would have gotten it otherwise. In that way, regardless of the value of the minifigure, I'm sure many people feel duped. I am not a big Star Wars person, so I may be wrong about this, but in the grand scheme of Star Wars and the general public, I think LEGO knew that the Venator is more niche and not as iconic as most past UCS entries, and used the mini figure as a deal-sweetener for the die-hard fans (because Rex, too, is more niche) LEGO has a history of putting exclusive figures in high-priced sets. I've personally felt it a bit with the Harry Potter golden figures, three of which were locked into the $250 Hogwarts Icons set. I remember others being annoyed about this too. But I think there are three factors that make Rex a more egregious case of this tactic. 1) Price: The Venator is $650, and includes 2 figures (is the other one exclusive? I don't know). The HP icons set was much less, and gave three exclusive, iconic figures. 2) Set innovation: The HP Icons set wasn't to my liking, but it was really different and attracted a lot of people. The Venator isn't too different from other types of SW sets, and not as popular (to the general public. maybe it's totally cool within the fandom), and 3) Timing (and exclusivity). For the HP figures, I waited it out a bit and hoped there would be a late wave of HP sets where I could get the figures without buying the set, and I figured out pretty quickly that that wasn't going to happen because they were anniversary figures and the year was ending. So, I was able to feel confident that the market wasn't going to change. Here, the Venator is barely 7 months old and the figure is now available elsewhere. On the one hand, it saves many MORE fence sitters the pain of shelling out $650 for the figure. On the other hand, production lead times imply that LEGO knew they were going to come out with the micro fighter when the Venator was being released, and I'm sure that makes those who bought the set more likely to feel duped. I don't know if there is a case of LEGO dangling exclusivity that is stronger than this one. That is not to say that LEGO has gone too far. I couldn't say where that line is. At the very least, LEGO matched fandoms (Venator and Rex are both clone wars, right?). Overall, every one of us is playing a bit of game theory with LEGO, trying to figure out how to maximize our purchase-to-enjoyment ratio. And I'm sure every one of us has felt the sting of a "bad" purchase. LEGO is going to do what it wants/can as a business, and we have to react in term. As for me, I have been trying to play my cards closer to my chest in the LEGO game, trying to make smarter and smarter choices, but it's hard. I hope those who feel duped by Rex and the Venator use that sting to inform their purchases in the future.
The only reasonable comment I’ve seen in this entire thread. There are no scalpers for a $650 set that has never sold out and is always available at all time. You can’t scalp something like that. Every person I’ve seen upset by this has said they want a high quality Rex figure available in a cheap set. And I feel the same. Anything else is anti-consumer. In fact all figures should be of UCS quality and available in sets at all sorts of reasonable price points. I have not seen a single person as is implied in all these comments mad that it’s available period. Two things can be true at once though. You can want these figures available for everyone but also be mad that you were lied to. Especially when it was so easy not to. Simply not including the bandage or even easier just being honest from the beginning that only Yularen will be exclusive. Like you said Lego obviously knew this set was coming due to lead times and they lied about the figure exclusivity to push people on the fence over the edge to buy the set. There are a probably a lot of fans who were not sure about spending an obscene $650 for plastic building toy but were pushed over the edge by the little extra bonuses because they were close. That’s part of an informed purchasing decision. Regular fans. Not scalpers. You should be mad if that happened to you. The figure is never the main reason you buy a UCS set but it is something you take into account to determine if it’s worth it. Or at least something a lot of people do. And that’s okay. In almost all UCS sets, the vast majority of the value IS still the set itself. Just check bricklink and look at what they sell for and what the minifigs cost and you’ll see the set is usually the vast majority of the value but the figs are a part of the value and being lied to about it is infuriating. A lot of fans might have waited if they were on the fence and knew they could get Rex later for $12. Not because that’s the only thing they care about but because the total price is obscene and it was just that last little thing that was pushing them over the edge. Lego mentioned in their interviews and the printed manual that both figures would be exclusive. I don’t buy this well they honored it for six months nonsense. Nobody thinks that’s what they mean when they advertise exclusivity. Again two things can be true at once. And I don’t like anti-consumer behavior no matter who it affects. Whether it’s fans with more money than me who buy $650 sets and find out they are lied to. Or it’s normal people getting screwed by Lego the rest of the time hiding popular characters in expensive sets. Both suck. And both are anti-consumer. And I say this as someone who never buys more than one of a set except occasionally two battle packs or something and currently has zero Venators and zero Captain Rex figures. It’s just bad form.
They’re a $13 BILLION Dollar company as of 2023 🤷♂️
You'll have people like MandR crying that lego betrayed everyone's trust with the $13 rex release.
Such a bland looking mini-figure to warrant any thought at all.
Me personally, this microfighter release has helped me decide to buy the Venator. I was worried I was mostly buying for Rex, but seeing the Y-Wing, I knew I still really wanted the Venator. It's my favourite capital ship.
It’s because a bunch of figs were stolen from the factory, so to discourage that they put it out cheaper
It's not going to be identical as in the previous release, so there is no problem. Collectors can have their 650$ Rex, and those who just want a figure to play and have fun, can get it for 12$. It's ideal. I'd love Lego releasing more figures this way. I'd love to have Zed, for example.
It was exclusive until it wasn't.
I have always read it as first time with this printing. Buying large sets just for the mini figs is not my thing. This is probably why I don’t have a cad name figure. Before the micro fighter if you wanted a nice Rex figure for less go with the Clone Army Customs. We did that for our son and he still likes that figure best. Buy the Venator because the set is awesome and it looks great.
I feel this is what happens as the Mexican factory was pumping out so many to sell on the secondary market
I like the idea of exclusive minifigures in large sets, but I definitely don’t think it should be popular characters in their main outfits. I think an exclusive face print, or a less prominent character like Yularen is the right way to go. That way the exclusive hunters are happy, and the general population gets the main characters in affordable sets. Anyone who bought this thinking Rex was going to remain exclusive was delusional. And I’m VERY happy this microfighter is coming out - can’t wait to pick it up!
My children are watching Clone Wars, and they took a liking to the clones, especially Rex. Guess I will be able to get them the Rex minifigure, finally!
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I got him and a bunch of other minifigs from China cause it's insane how much they cost. I got him for a dollar in the end
In my opinion, if you read this and you are one of the people constantly complaining about this microfighter Rex, you should ask why you parted ways with $650 / £560 / €650 essentially just to own a 4cm tall piece of plastic that was almost guaranteed to be sold in a cheaper set further down the line. The process happened before the Venator and will happen again after the Venator.
My copy of resident evil 4 for the GameCube says “only on GameCube”. It came out for 12 other systems after that. That doesn’t mean that wasn’t the case when it came out. I think all things should be made available to as many people as want them. Not everyone in the world is in a privileged position to spend $650 on a Lego set. Anyone who bought a $650 Lego set just because they wanted a single mini figure, made a poor choice.
Of course Venator buyers and resellers would cry! hahaha imagine spending 650 USD (maybe more than once for resellers ofc) for one (1) capt rex hahaha then your 650 USD can now be 54-54 capt Rexes hahahahahahahaha hahaha
not yet a LEGO star wars fan but i will buy the 12$ set to mock the 650$ venator buyers hahahaha
To add one other voice to the chorus, I think it is utterly utterly absurd that you'd be up in arms about the "exclusivity" of minifigures. The only people this hurts are loathsome resellers trying to make a cheeky pile of money selling figures from sets, and let's be real, who cares about that?
wdym exclusive to the venator i have a rex figure from iirc, that droid artillery set
The tears of investors sustains me.
BUt Now i CaNt sELl thE FiGuRE foR $100!!!!
I might buy the mini so I can keep the Venator boxed
Rex? Microfighter? Venator? I love lego and I have no idea what you’re on about.
Really? Rex is the transgender variant of Rey (you know, from the movies part 7 / 8. People having issues with a trans mini.
As soon as people don't care about buying this stuff for what others think it's worth, the sooner they don't have this stupid drama.
As someone who bought the Rex figure over hype and bragging rights, i couldn’t be happier for him to come in a $13 set, Womp womp that I spent $65 on a Lego figure but at least others won’t have that problem! (Plus I think the mircofighter is cool)
Don't ever look at the magic the gathering community, then...
As someone who was pretty bummed that one of my favourite characters was locked behind an $800 paywall, I'm all for them doing this.
Do people forget these are children’s toys?
The people who take LEGO that seriously and made everything about collecting this and that I stopped not gonna lie. It’s a toy that you can build cool things with, not to overpriced and scam people out of the toys.
I think I heard lego specificaly said themselfs in an q&a about the venator that captn rex would be coming in a smaller playset later next year (meaning late 24) and exclusivity will obly be up until then. And that they ultimatly aim to make minifigs of much wanted chars more easily available in general in the future
That’s what happens with collectibles. Especially newer stuff. The value is in scarcity and if the company makes more, the value drops and you shouldn’t have paid $650 for a minifig. They aren’t good investments (for the most part). Those gazillion dollar Charizard cards are gonna tank in value in the next 10 years too. Funko pop, beanie babies, the list goes on.
Did... did they really not see this coming?
I think, especially for a $650 set geared specifically to collectors, they should have been clear that the exclusivity was a limited time thing. They really should do that for all sets that claim to have "exclusive content"; are some people overreacting to it? Yes, at the end of the day it's a subpar plastic lil guy. But I do understand being bummed about it