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Adult LEGO Collectors Cry Foul Over New Plastic-Free Packaging

by Rudy Sanchez on 06/28/2022 | 2 Minute Read

LEGO Minifigures are highly collectible but, unlike traditional sets, are sold “blind bagged,” so buyers shouldn’t be able to know which minifigure (or minifig) is inside the plastic bag. 

However, clever adult LEGO collectors have taken to identifying the minifigs by touch through the thin plastic sachets. But that collecting hack will soon come to an end, as LEGO continues to eliminate plastic bags from its packaging, according to LEGO fan media site Brickset.

Brickset was given a preview of the new collectible minifigure packaging and shown earlier concepts by LEGO. The toy company had considered paper envelopes, for example, but found them too fragile for transit with too high a chance of ripping. LEGO decided on cardboard for the packaging substrate, and after considering pillow and triangle-shaped boxes, settled on a cubical design. The front panel of the new minifigure packaging can be shaped and sized differently depending on the collection. The packaging also has the side effect of making the touch hack collectors have grown accustomed to obsolete.

Many adult LEGO fans are shitting bricks over the change to more sustainable packaging, as evidenced in many of the comments on Brickset’s post on the transition. Some are already contemplating new hacks, such as weighing boxes and identifying by rattling the box. Brickset says they brought up the concern with LEGO, and the firm acknowledged the fan concerns but wouldn’t say they would address them with design changes.

The new LEGO collectible minifigure packaging hits stores in September 2023.


Image from Brickset. You can go there to see different iterations of the new packaging.