Were the 2013 SDCC Minifigure Raffles "rigged"?

[Darthpunk]

Ackbar was pretty cool. Did you join the Star Wars club? I can't remember all you got but I still have the patch that says revenger of the Jedi. And I love the idea of collecting UPC codes for offers, I remember doing that as a child. Seems like a much better way to give away exclusives and encourages more buying all at the same time.

[ExoBro94]

Marketing is all about perception. And it's people's perception that TLG is really blowing it with their exclusives. Making these things so exclusive and pretty much impossible to get only ends up catering to those with deep pockets. I could care less about mr peanut(gold) because I'm not going to waste time getting to the store first and hope the employees didn't already rifle through them. If the average person believes they have 0% chance to get something then the exclusive ends up only having very limited appeal and hardly benefits the main base of lego which is supposed to be children.

But who says TLG is "blowing it" besides people on LEGO fourms? Add to that, the only people who seem vocal about this are the ones who didn't get the figures/refuse to pay the price to acquire them. We make up a very small percentage of LEGO users. And frankly, the people here who seem to be complaining, I would not call true "collectors". The complainers seem to be hobbyists.

And besides, of all places to complain about this stuff a LEGO investing site is not the one. Do you know why prices increase on LEGO? Because people open their boxes or sets are not produced in mass quantities. Scarcity = profit. If you call yourself an investor, especially in this scene, you should not be complaining about people pricing these extraordinarily rare figs accordingly...

[ExoBro94]

True collectors know that collecting something takes patience AND money.

[matt1147]

Seems like a case of unorganized chaos, not any targeted or rigged set up. If they only wanted kids to get them, which is fine btw, then just amend the raffle to only include "every child 10 and under." Why go thru the trouble and potential PR mess of rigging a raffle?

[comicblast]

I think that the raffle was rigged. I'm not saying it was ethical or honest, but it most likely was. The author of the email said himself, "Lego loves kids and kids love Lego". After all, almost all of their products are geared towards pre-teens and adolescents. There's a reason why boxes read "Ages 7-12" and not "Ages 28-42". LEGO definitely could have dealt with the situation better though. For one, don't let people get more than one raffle ticket and get in line twice. Also, the whole "fiasco" of activity around the drawing being rigged is partially caused by Lego "raffling" minifigures off in blocks of 50+. 

 

 

If they only wanted kids to get them, which is fine btw, then just amend the raffle to only include "every child 10 and under." Why go thru the trouble and potential PR mess of rigging a raffle?

Matt1147 brings up a great point. If they only wanted kids to get the raffled items, then only open it up to kids. I'm guessing that the raffles were also geared towards adults. No 10 year old kid I know cares for a Superman minifigure in a black suit. They just don't. They want the Superman with a red Speedo. I doubt that many of them know who Green Arrow is. If LEGO wanted kids to get all of the prizes, then they would have different minifigures. LEGO Club Max, Darth Vader, Yoda to advertise for the Yoda Chronicles, which would have been equally great choices. 

[comicblast]

Part 2 of the FBTB article is up, this time from the perspective of a dad with 2 kids. He got

four each of the Black Suit Superman and Green Arrow minifigs... the Spider-Woman he won on Thursday and The Amazing Spider-Man he won on Friday

His son also got the Azog minifigure after playing at the LEGO booth for 2 hours. He sold it for $200 to some guy later on.

[matt1147]

I think it's great to focus the giveaways on the kids but it's unfortunate that one family could walk away with that many

[ExoBro94]

Matt1147 brings up a great point. If they only wanted kids to get the raffled items, then only open it up to kids. I'm guessing that the raffles were also geared towards adults. No 10 year old kid I know cares for a Superman minifigure in a black suit. They just don't. They want the Superman with a red Speedo. I doubt that many of them know who Green Arrow is. If LEGO wanted kids to get all of the prizes, then they would have different minifigures. LEGO Club Max, Darth Vader, Yoda to advertise for the Yoda Chronicles, which would have been equally great choices.

This gives me all the more reason to suspect it WASN'T rigged. Also, OP never said he got a figure or not. I also know that when I was shopping around, 100% of the sellers I talked to we're adults and had waited in line themselves. I personally asked each seller I contacted to rehash the events that landed them a fig.

[ExoBro94]

The winners of the raffles were presented in blocks. For example tickets

22-45 were winners. If that kid an his family were all in like and all got tickets its easy to see how they got that many.

[weakside]

Very true comicblast.  If really geared towards kids they could of had TMNT Turtles as give-aways too.  Lego can do whatever they want as a private company...personally I am not a collector so would never pay more than $10-$20 for a minifig but to each their own.  Lining up for a long time would really suck unless you had a chance to actually buy the thing.  Why doesn't Lego do draws based on people's badge numbers?  All attendees have #'s and it's in the system already...all they had to do was draw from that as random as possible...computer generated or live manual draws by Darth Vader/Turtles/SuperHeroes actors.

 

Or do a live auction, highest bidder at the conference gets the promo...I would love to see that.  All proceeds goes towards charity for kids. 

 

In some ways, Lego enjoys this type of hype.  Sure some people are upset but there will still be a line up next year.        

[Darthpunk]

You seem confused. My response was as a parent. And I am also looking at it from the perspective of a business owner not having to do with Legos. I was also responding to the fact of tlg using exclusivves as a way to keep up interest. not about your profits. the world is not black and white. Do you hand out the "true" collector badges?

Plus, "true" imvestors would worry about events like sdcc having a negative impact on Legos image. A "true" investor wants not only for their profits to grow but the buying base to expand. The health of TLG affects us all. Maybe when you get to college you can take a basic marketing class.

[ExoBro94]

You seem confused. My response was as a parent. And I am also looking at it from the perspective of a business owner not having to do with Legos. I was also responding to the fact of tlg using exclusivves as a way to keep up interest. not about your profits. the world is not black and white. Do you hand out the "true" collector badges?

Plus, "true" imvestors would worry about events like sdcc having a negative impact on Legos image. A "true" investor wants not only for their profits to grow but the buying base to expand. The health of TLG affects us all. Maybe when you get to college you can take a basic marketing class.

No need to get pushy now, notice that nothing I said was aimed at YOU. Discussion is about opinion. Listen if we all share the same feelings/thoughts nothing will ever be learned or accomplished. Also, I'm in college already. I have been. So, yeah, there's that... Lol.

[ExoBro94]

You seem confused. My response was as a parent. And I am also looking at it from the perspective of a business owner not having to do with Legos. I was also responding to the fact of tlg using exclusivves as a way to keep up interest. not about your profits. the world is not black and white. Do you hand out the "true" collector badges?

Plus, "true" imvestors would worry about events like sdcc having a negative impact on Legos image. A "true" investor wants not only for their profits to grow but the buying base to expand. The health of TLG affects us all. Maybe when you get to college you can take a basic marketing class.

Also, my point in its most basic form was that SDCC does not affect the opinions of the "average" consumer. Only the thoughts of the already informed (ie. us).

EDIT: Also, I would highly doubt you or anybody else forms all opinions based on 2 unconfirmed sources.

[Mos_Eisley]

I was at SDCC and got a whole set of Super Heroes. I believe, without question, that the raffle was rigged. I don't think they only gave them to kids, but it was kid-heavy and they were intentionally trying to prevent groups from getting multiples. The whole process was very fishy. If they want to hand them to kids, fine, do that. But don't have a fake raffle. Not to mention the fact that SDCC is an adult event if they want to promote the product to kids, do it a place where the children are in mass.

[zak001]

I was there and highly doubt the raffle was rigged. Never assume malice when incompetence will do, and there was a lot of collective incompetence on display at SDCC early on when it came to line management. (On the first day, there were a lot of people clustering for raffle tickets, but security wouldn't allow them to be distributed until people dispersed. Hmm, what might encourage dispersal in a large group of people waiting to be handed a ticket?) Yes, there were a couple of groups who all got figures, but a lot of families with multiple kids got skunked; a lazy shuffle in the early going can easily account for that kind of distribution.

 

Neither I nor my brother got anything, but I know a single, childless obvious reseller who got two figures, one by luck on Friday, one by cycling the line on Saturday. And though the margin of error would be very large, a few of us got together and did the math on what we knew about the number of tickets distributed and found that our results were well in line with the expected value from a fair raffle.

 

TLG did burn some goodwill with a lot of people; the number of raffled exclusives in years previous has been such that a dedicated fan could stand a fair chance to get one (or buy one at a not unreasonable price from someone luckier), but they cut the numbers available by around 75% this year, which is why the aftermarket is so crazy and people are so willing to assume nefarious shenanigans. 

[sadowsk1]

Does Lego really have a track record of doing unscrupulous things along those lines in the past?  While there is a first time for everything it seems out of character for their company profile. 

[Damnation666]

This is much ado about nothing.  The regular Lego consumer knows or cares very little about what happens at the SDCC,  Giving these to kids is a great idea.  The losers who waste all day on line only to get stiffed have my sympathies.

[matt1147]

Honestly, why not ramp up production and give out way more of these figs (or give them out as a teaser, only to be released for sale later)?  Because on some level, TLG actually enjoys the frenzy that results - "can you believe the xxx figures are going for $500-$1000??"  "Was the raffle rigged?"  "Lego hates investors!" "Lego hates AFOLS!"  "Lego caters to investors!" "Lego caters to kids!"    

[lowillsw]

This is much ado about nothing.  The regular Lego consumer knows or cares very little about what happens at the SDCC,  Giving these to kids is a great idea.  The losers who waste all day on line only to get stiffed have my sympathies.

 

Ditto on the regular consumer care little about these exclusives.  It's for hardcore comic book fans,  Lego collectors, and flippers who would knows about these exclusives. 

 

The price of 500-1500 is justified if you have to fly into SD from long distance and going through all the trouble of booking accomodations and lining up to be in the lottery.

 

Lesson learn if it was really rigged, save your plane ticket money and buy them on ebay or if you want to show up bring a kid!!!

[ExoBro94]

I gladly purchased the superman fig online. If you want the figure and have the money nothing is stopping you from getting said fig. It comes down to your priorities and your ability at any point in time.

[spener90]

EDIT: Also, I would highly doubt you or anybody else forms all opinions based on 2 unconfirmed sources.

No, I don't think he is involved with politics? haha

[JoshTX]

I guess they figured no one's life is going to be significantly impacted enough to where they needed to worry about being "moral" in regards to distribution. That is, assuming this article is true, which it may very well not be.

[cohens714]

The only reason Lego has to do anything to limit who gets any set or minifig is because of people like us. If the sets only sold to people that wanted to play with them none of this would be necessary. My guess is they wanted to at least get some of these in the hands of people who would be super excited to open and play with them and not just make a quick buck. We all resell a product Lego makes and whatever they decide to do to limit who gets them is completely within their rights. Again there would be no need to limit any Lego product if everyone just played with the sets instead of trying to sell them. The restrictions are in place because of people like us which also includes myself. I choose not to complain about any of this because I am making money on the backs of their hard work and creativity.

[Mos_Eisley]

Does Lego really have a track record of doing unscrupulous things along those lines in the past?  While there is a first time for everything it seems out of character for their company profile.

People will believe or not believe that the raffle was fixed, but I have seen first hand when a LEGO store hasn't properly handled a contest they were running. The contest involved filling out a postcard to be randomly selected to win a prize ( I don't remember the prize) and there was one winner per store. The prize was still in the store years later as they never picked a winner. Now is this a big deal? Not really, but at the same time it isn't cool to advertise some prize and then never actually give the prize away.

[Anakinisvader]

If my kids would have won one of the minifigures and I told them how much they are selling for on EBAY, they would look at me and say:  SHOW ME THE MONEY    and use the funds to buy sealed LEGO sets and candy.  They don't care that its a limited edition.