The Walmart Blind Bag Caper

Some of you who know me may have heard this story before, but please read on as I do have some things I didn't say as part of the tale. This goes for those who may not know what happened, so it's a treat for everyone! Yeah, I made that last part up, but anyway, on with the show.

So yesterday I was at Walmart, checking out some of the Lego stock that they had, when I noticed they had a display of Lego Movie Blind Bag figures. For those who don't know, Lego usually has series of blind bag minifigures which are usually generic characters you can't get in a standard set. They made a series to promote The Lego Movie, which has characters both major and minor to collect, from Emmet in his hard hat and Bad Cop with a scribble face or minor characters like Where are my Pants Guy or Larry the Barista. Not to get off track, but they finally had a display out, but beyond the initial excitement then came disappointment as the only two visible packets were opened, and nothing was inside either aside from the black baseplate these figures come with and a leaflet showing every character you can get. I only managed to find one unopened Bad Cop, which was tucked away behind some Star Wars sets.

Lego wasn't the only blind bag compromised, but also the My Little Pony blind bags were opened, though the ponies I saw were still inside their bags, aside from a few. It was a sight that you had to see to believe, and strangely enough most of the other blind package figures were not messed with (Mega Bloks Halo and K-Nex Mario Kart/Angry Birds for instance)

You may be laughing at me because I'm expressing my disgust over toys, but bare in mind these are all collectibles and even if they weren't, kids still like the surprise of which minifig or pony they got, even if they have 1,000 Emmets or 20,000 Pinkie Pies. Just put yourself in a child's perspective: You go to the store and you want to buy a Lego, but you can only get something cheap. You see the blind bag minifigures and think one or two of those would be fine, since they're easy on the wallet and you still get the satisfaction of populating your Lego town. However, you see the display's empty aside from some littered bags. The disappointment is overwhelming for a kid. For someone like me, I can just as easily go to another store or buy any figure I want online, even if it's more expensive to do, but a kid doesn't have that luxury without bugging their parents.

That and kids don't know there are ways to check which figure's inside. Lego has the feel method that everyone knows, but they also have a little imprint on the bottom of the bag which is a code for which figure's inside, and there's databases online which show which code corresponds to which figure. Same for the MLP blind bags, which have a serial code which corresponds to the pony inside, but again, kids don't know these and collectors do, which raises the question: Who would have opened the packages like savages? Why would they have to open the package to see inside if they can feel the packet or use a code/serial number? It's baffling, but this isn't the first time this happened.

Back at Christmas, I was given a Lord of the Rings set for Christmas; the Mines of Moria if memory serves me right. However, the figures, every last one, as well as their accessories, were missing. The damning thing was the fact that there were no signs of forced entry and the bags looked sealed. I had to make a report to Lego's customer service to get my figures replaced, which they did with gusto (Side note, but Lego has impeccable customer service), but the fact that I had to deal with them was disappointing. This occurrence is all to common, where a set is bought, the person pilfers the minifigures, and sends the set back for a refund while either selling the figs online or keeping them in a collection. Again, take the perspective of a child who got a big set like the Batcave, but notices that Batman, Robin, Bane, Poison Ivy, etc. are all missing. Not very happy is it? Didn't think so.

So now you know why I mainly stick to online blind bag purchases. The surprise is gone, and it may cost more thanks to shipping, but it's worth it to have the peace of mind where your merchandise is not tampered with and often factory direct.