I'm more curious as to how and where you found these on clearance already? They're all full price where I've looked.

 

UK

That's pretty crazy. Where I live, they're still trying to unload series 12 at regular price. I've hardly seen any 13 after the initial release.

LEGOLAND California still has Simpsons Series 1 along with Series 12 and 13

I think I may have figured out the potential back story behind the Alien Trooper's appearance as to why his gear bears a curious while slight resemblance to the Alien Defense Unit or ADU soldiers from Alien Conquest a few years ago.

 

Remember the little clingers (brain slugs) the invaders had with a nasty habit of latching onto the humans heads?

 

Well what would happen say if an ADU soldier had one forcibly attached during combat but could not remove it in time? Maybe that brain slug would then assimilate into the soldier's body becoming one with his or her very being to form a new entity which turns out to be the Alien Trooper. Of course his (it's?) duds are not the same as the ADU force but is a little reminiscent of them in color and form plus that green Cthulhu head fits with the invaders.

Probably an odd load of bupkis but what the hey it sounded cool. Besides we do know how LEGO likes to make friendly nods towards older lines so why not.

I am wondering if this Hotdog man resale value will be as high as the animal mascots in the near future.

 

The animal mascots are really overrated.

 

What are your thoughts guys?

 

Found this funny link for we to laugh at

 

http://jaysbrickblog.com/2015/01/24/lego-officially-recognizes-hot-dog-guy-as-legal-tender/

They seem to rise in price every Halloween so I dont see why this one wouldnt do the same.  Pick them up now when the price has dropped to under 10 shipped.

They seem to rise in price every Halloween so I dont see why this one wouldnt do the same.  Pick them up now when the price has dropped to under 10 shipped.

 

Totally agree with you. Should I get a few dozenof hotdog men for investment purpose...hmmm

I guess the Hot Dog Guys didn't like Burger King stepping his way into their territory.

Hotdogs and burgers don't mix.... by BrickTrip

The hot dog guy is the easiest to find by far. I picked up 9 after going through 4 boxes on my lunch break yesterday. if you can find a newly opened box give it a shot. Way cheaper than buying on ebay.

The hot dog guy is the easiest to find by far. I picked up 9 after going through 4 boxes on my lunch break yesterday. if you can find a newly opened box give it a shot. Way cheaper than buying on ebay.

That's awesome.

I have 24 hotdog men so far...still searching for more

I went through a box at Wal-Mart last night that I'd already grabbed the Hot Dog Guys out of a couple days earlier.  I still needed the Lady Cyclops and the Fencer.  I did finally feel out a Lady Cyclops, but had a heck of a time trying to feel for the Fencer foil (I know there were a few in there).  I was going through them really quick, since the wife and kids were waiting on dinner.  I only spent about 10 minutes going through the box and ended up ordering the Fencer on EBay last night.  I did feel out 2 more Girl Unicorns in the process.

Now this is one fast weenie!

The Rod Dog by street.pop.barbecue

I went through a box at Wal-Mart last night that I'd already grabbed the Hot Dog Guys out of a couple days earlier.  I still needed the Lady Cyclops and the Fencer.  I did finally feel out a Lady Cyclops, but had a heck of a time trying to feel for the Fencer foil (I know there were a few in there).  I was going through them really quick, since the wife and kids were waiting on dinner.  I only spent about 10 minutes going through the box and ended up ordering the Fencer on EBay last night.  I did feel out 2 more Girl Unicorns in the process.

​That sounds so wrong, on so many levels. 

Seriously though this smooshing mallarky is tough, I must not have the knack, cause I just can't figure out what I have.

Is there any difference price wise between opening them and selling them or selling them unopened? Not being able to figure out what I have makes it pretty tricky to sell them unopened.

 

​That sounds so wrong, on so many levels. 

Seriously though this smooshing mallarky is tough, I must not have the knack, cause I just can't figure out what I have.

Is there any difference price wise between opening them and selling them or selling them unopened? Not being able to figure out what I have makes it pretty tricky to sell them unopened.

 

​

smooshing "malarky" is easy. just figure out what accessory you need to look for. all small loose parts fall to one end of the bag so figure out what makes each fig unique. hot dog is obviously easy. fencer has the foil with a round ball at the end, so look for that. unicorn has the horn, etc.. its a lot easier than it sounds.

 

you can also go LED light on the MF's, but its a lot more time consuming.

Edited April 22, 201510 yr by jerryherb

​Is there any difference price wise between opening them and selling them or selling them unopened?

Sort of.... ​Usually unopened CMFs will sell for slightly higher than opened, but it's not a hard and fast rule and demand for a particular figure will play into the price difference. The rarer they are, the more they are worth unopened. The common ones are essentially no difference in price. Personally, since I've always bought them as "gifts" (my partner and son do all the building) when I bought from older series I always picked the sealed ones first. If I couldn't find sealed, I bought "bag cut open then taped shut" since that was enough to fool my son and lastly I had to get a couple that were "new in sealed baggie."

If you don't feel comfortable smooshing, then slicing them open and taping them shut is your next best bet.

Sort of.... ​Usually unopened CMFs will sell for slightly higher than opened, but it's not a hard and fast rule and demand for a particular figure will play into the price difference. The rarer they are, the more they are worth unopened. The common ones are essentially no difference in price. Personally, since I've always bought them as "gifts" (my partner and son do all the building) when I bought from older series I always picked the sealed ones first. If I couldn't find sealed, I bought "bag cut open then taped shut" since that was enough to fool my son and lastly I had to get a couple that were "new in sealed baggie."

If you don't feel comfortable smooshing, then slicing them open and taping them shut is your next best bet.

​It's not about being comfortable, as much as just being crap at it.

I bought three at lunch and have spent ages back at my desk trying to figure out what they are. I think I've got an Unicorn Girl, Snake Charmer and the third I'm struggling with might be the space trooper. I have an LED torch at home, I'll have to see whether that will shed any light on matters. And yes that was an intentional pun, what you going to do about it

I can get a box of these for €147, does that sound like a sound investment? I'm only starting out so it would be handy to increase my feedback on ebay.

 

​It's not about being comfortable, as much as just being crap at it.

I bought three at lunch and have spent ages back at my desk trying to figure out what they are. I think I've got an Unicorn Girl, Snake Charmer and the third I'm struggling with might be the space trooper. I have an LED torch at home, I'll have to see whether that will shed any light on matters. And yes that was an intentional pun, what you going to do about it

I can get a box of these for €147, does that sound like a sound investment? I'm only starting out so it would be handy to increase my feedback on ebay.

 

​unicorn has a ribbed horn (separate from the head) and if you get good at it you can figure out the horse head and the tail. snake charmer has a soft rubber cobra and the flute (round stick). space trooper would have two guns. the items in bold is what i look for. use your nails for item surface analysis.

if you have a good/expensive scale (.01g), you can probably figure out what you have by weighing, though i have not tried that method.

Edited April 22, 201510 yr by jerryherb

none but quick smooshing method are advisable to be used in a store setting. even then you will sometimes get some weird looks from the patrons and the employees, not that i have every been approached with any comments/complaints.

Edited April 22, 201510 yr by jerryherb

​It's not about being comfortable, as much as just being crap at it.

I bought three at lunch and have spent ages back at my desk trying to figure out what they are. I think I've got an Unicorn Girl, Snake Charmer and the third I'm struggling with might be the space trooper. I have an LED torch at home, I'll have to see whether that will shed any light on matters. And yes that was an intentional pun, what you going to do about it

I can get a box of these for €147, does that sound like a sound investment? I'm only starting out so it would be handy to increase my feedback on ebay.

 

You need to develop some techniques that work for you... Smooshing isn't hard for the majority of the figures but there can be one or two in each series that are harder. This is what I do:

1. Give a quick smoosh - say 2 seconds - to see if it can be quickly identified. Some are so unique like the carpenter guy in Series 13 who was the only one with a 1x4 tile that usually you can quickly tell.
2. If I can't figure it out quickly but think it has promise, I put them in a pile.
3. If I figure it out right away, if I want it I throw it in my to keep pile and then resort them at home (good luck trying to keep them sorted during checkout :)).
4. If I haven't found what I want, I'll go back to the "promise pile" and try again.
   1. First find a big piece, push it to a corner and then squeeze it.
   2. Shake the bag gently so the small pieces fall to the bottom. Shaking too hard just means everything falls ..
   3. Try to identify the smallest pieces... 1x2 tiles, unique pieces like the snake, unicorn horn or swords.

I also usually don't stare at the bag and use my Jedi senses to feel instead. hahaha Seriously, when I stare at the bag it just makes me want to move onto the next bag in my peripheral vision.

You need to develop some techniques that work for you... Smooshing isn't hard for the majority of the figures but there can be one or two in each series that are harder. This is what I do:

1. Give a quick smoosh - say 2 seconds - to see if it can be quickly identified. Some are so unique like the carpenter guy in Series 13 who was the only one with a 1x4 tile that usually you can quickly tell.
2. If I can't figure it out quickly but think it has promise, I put them in a pile.
3. If I figure it out right away, if I want it I throw it in my to keep pile and then resort them at home (good luck trying to keep them sorted during checkout :)).
4. If I haven't found what I want, I'll go back to the "promise pile" and try again.
   1. First find a big piece, push it to a corner and then squeeze it.
   2. Shake the bag gently so the small pieces fall to the bottom. Shaking too hard just means everything falls ..
   3. Try to identify the smallest pieces... 1x2 tiles, unique pieces like the snake, unicorn horn or swords.

I also usually don't stare at the bag and use my Jedi senses to feel instead. hahaha Seriously, when I stare at the bag it just makes me want to move onto the next bag in my peripheral vision.

​Ok, so having read all that, I'm going to need to resort to jedi mind tricks. Excellent

What, you mean that's not what I was supposed to take from the above, aw shucks

 

I would practice smooshing the easy CMF packs first, like the Simpsons series 2 coming up on May 1st.  The pieces are bigger and pretty unique.

However, some fingers are just not built for smooshings so it may be more efficient / convenient to buy / trade from people like me  

The whole smooshing thing just drives me nuts but finally I took advantage of it yesterday.  There was a guy sitting at one of the tables for little kids with all the series 13 boxes and 2 shopping baskets.  He would put the ones he wanted in one basket and then the rest in the other basket.  I figured two could play this game so I put my little girl next to him and said we were looking for Hot Dog guys.  He said we could look after him he was done.  In the process he bumped my 2 year old which was game over for his ass.  I got one of the tru employees to come over and he started to argue that he never touched anyone.  My little girl walked off with the basket of 5 Hot Dog guys like a champ.  He was like those are mine in which I gave him my basket with 5 random packs and said have a nice day.  Finally smooshing worked in my favor.  Totally made my week.

The whole smooshing thing just drives me nuts but finally I took advantage of it yesterday.  There was a guy sitting at one of the tables for little kids with all the series 13 boxes and 2 shopping baskets.  He would put the ones he wanted in one basket and then the rest in the other basket.  I figured two could play this game so I put my little girl next to him and said we were looking for Hot Dog guys.  He said we could look after him he was done.  In the process he bumped my 2 year old which was game over for his ass.  I got one of the tru employees to come over and he started to argue that he never touched anyone.  My little girl walked off with the basket of 5 Hot Dog guys like a champ.  He was like those are mine in which I gave him my basket with 5 random packs and said have a nice day.  Finally smooshing worked in my favor.  Totally made my week.

​Waiting for a post from someone who spent an hour at TRU smooshing 5 Hot Dog guys out of 2 boxes of CMF 13, only to be taken down by a man and his daughter  

​Waiting for a post from someone who spent an hour at TRU smooshing 5 Hot Dog guys out of 2 boxes of CMF 13, only to be taken down by a man and his daughter  

​yeah, me too. on the other hand, if one spends more than 5 minutes per box one deserves it. what a tool, should have been more discrete.

Edited April 22, 201510 yr by jerryherb

​Waiting for a post from someone who spent an hour at TRU smooshing 5 Hot Dog guys out of 2 boxes of CMF 13, only to be taken down by a man and his daughter

​Haha, yeah me too. It can take a while to smoosh properly but there is no reason to bogart the whole thing just for yourself. I will step to the side when a kid comes up trying to look through the Minifigure shelf stand at Target. A couple times I asked if they were looking for a specific character and if I already found one earlier, I will just hand it to them. I don't see why not really.