Minifigs swap meet comes to Manawatu¯’s Te Manawa
Move over Bitcoin, there’s a far more fun currency in town Minifigs.
Minifigs are not dwarf varieties of Ficus carica, the common fig, it is the name applied by Danish toy giant Lego to the small plastic figurines that come in most Lego sets.
They have become something of a commodity.
Minifig collectors will get an opportunity to trade or sell figurines on Saturday, January 21 at Te Manawa’s Lego Minis Swap Day in Palmerston North.
The event is part of the current Brick Flicks exhibition at the city’s Museum of Art, Science and History.
Al Collis, from the Palmerston North branch of the Wellington Lego Users Group, or WELL-LUG, said depending on the number of lines produced, some of the figurines can be extremely valuable, with collectors using them as a form of tradeable investment.
‘‘Mr Gold, a Lego figurine made of gold, is worth about $10,000,’’ Collis said.
Other figurines are less gold and more price accessible, but a quick browse on Bricklink sites devoted to selling Lego online, and Trade Me, revealed some interesting valuations.
While many Minifigs could be bought for less than $10, others were much more expensive.
From Star Wars, a gold chrome C-3PO was selling online for $500. The silver chrome version was $129, as was a copper chrome Boba Fett.
Dropping down in price, a Kylo Ren with light sabre was a mere $68.
‘‘People buy Lego sets, take out the Minifigs [for their collections], and then resell the sets without the figurines on Trade Me,’’ Collis said. ‘‘You should never lose money on Lego.’’
Juliet Thomas, from Te Manawa, said the swap meet, on the second floor landing outside the Brick Flicks exhibition between 10am and 2pm, would have two areas - one where adult collectors could negotiate trades and prices, and swap stands for children.
Thomas said there would be supervision to make sure no children were taken advantage of during the ‘‘I’ll trade you my Spiderman for your Batman’’ swapping process.