Could not find a complete post on this topic on Dear Lego so here one is.
So I am a fan of the small Lego sets from castle (OK in truth most sized castle sets, anyways). Always have been. Siege cart, king's oarsmen, knights' arsenal, duel defender, etc. some great little sets. You get some pieces and they include minifig or two. I like the minifig sets/battlepacks as well. A nice way to add some people to an army or some creation.
While I enjoy them it seems their prices keep rising. I think the knight and troll warrior were more than I paid for the mounted black knight new. It may just be the constant inflation over the years and that is fine but maybe we could drop the price a little with other methods that will not cost TLC. While many of these small sets of the old days did come out in boxes I think perhaps a useful cost cutting solution may be a return of the polybag.
So I did a brief look here to see comments on the polybag-
search.php?keywords=polybag&terms=all&author=&fid%5B%5D=12&sc=1&sf=all&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search
Seems a great deal of us would like them back. Here are some of the main comments that caught my attention.
Packaging, as has been mentioned here before, adds a great deal to these sets. Assembly of the minifigs does as well. Why not bring back the polybag. Keep the minifigs disassembled and post the directions printed on the back of the bag or something so even less as no papers for instructions needed. You could get away with simply a bag and what everyone really wants.... the Lego-goodness inside. Cut costs all round for consumer and TLC and I'd imagine less environmental impact with waste materials and energy in production and transport weight cut down.
From what I can tell the last castle polybag set was KKII. Did these sell poorly? Seems like the minifig ones were popular from what I have heard. Are there some hidden costs I am missing? Do these polybag sets end up damaged in transport more often or on the shelf?
Some ideas I had of past sets for polybags.
Small boats, siege engines (catapults, a TLC special), individual minifigs like the knight, good wizard, troll warrior etc. maybe a farmer with a cow or something, knight on horseback. What about even larger small sets in polybags, like the crossbow attack, maybe even sets as big as the dwarf mine defender or the knight’s catapult defence
So what do you think? Would love to here CCers ideas and concepts on polybags pros and cons.
Heir of Black Falcon