Brick Search’s minifigure scanner stops boxes being ruined in-store, LEGO fans say

LEGO’s move to putting Collectible Minifigures in cardboard boxes was commendable from an environmental point of view, recyclable packaging being much better than one-use foil bags, but it did create issues for minifigure hunters.

Feeling the shape of the minifigure pieces inside the bag wasn’t 100% accurate, but it was the best way of finding out what was inside the bag before you bought it. Obviously that was impossible with the cardboard boxes brought in with Marvel Series 2, so intrepid LEGO lovers found other ways.

Weighing boxes was one method – and people had weighed foil bags before. Another was prying open a corner of a box and using a small camera to see what was inside. Innovative, but not ideal for taking to a local LEGO retailer and difficult if not impossible to do quickly.

There was one other approach, pre-Brick Search’s minifigure scanner, which some people tried and this one went beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable in a retail store: opening the box in-store, without buying it first, and leaving the tattered remnants on the shelves if it didn’t have the desired minifigure inside.

It’s one thing to carefully work a small camera into a corner of a box, use your mobile device to see what’s inside and withdraw the camera with equal care. Taking a scale into a store and weighing the box is a little strange, but ultimately harmless. But ripping open a box you don’t own and dumping it back where you got it is, frankly, disgraceful; it’s one of the reasons many retailers now keep Collectible Minifigure boxes behind the tills or, in some cases, in locked cabinets.

Brick Search’s minifigure scanner wasn’t explicitly created to counter this unwelcome phenomenon, but we’re honestly happy that it does. Not only does our minifigure scanner make it easier and cheaper to find the minifigures you want, it removes any semblance of an excuse for this kind of behaviour.

And that’s according to a whopping 73% of the LEGO fans who responded to our Collectible Minifigures 2024 survey earlier this year. We asked if the introduction of minifigure scanners helped prevent boxes being opened in-store and left on the shelves, and they responded overwhelmingly that they did.

So Brick Search’s best-ever minifigure scanner is not just a useful tool to help you find the minifigures you’re looking for – it’s a tool that makes the experience of collecting LEGO CMFs better in general.

If you want to take advantage of Brick Search Plus’s best-ever minifigure scanner – or know the kind of person who would rip open a box they haven’t bought and want to curb that behaviour – you can download Brick Search for iOS devices here, or for Android devices here.

Once downloaded, become a Brick Search Plus member by opening the My Account page, as shown below:

Brick Search Plus members get unlimited use of the best-ever minifigure scanner, which can scan box codes without internet connection and scan multiple codes at once. An annual Brick Search Plus membership is £19.99 / $29.99, and annual members also get access to the Brick Search Plus Discord server and newsletter, as well as a £30 voucher to use at The Minifigure Store (UK & Europe only; terms and conditions apply).