Opinions needed on an idea

[Bluesecrets]

Hey all...with the Fall/Winter Jambalaya approaching the end...I had this idea of an all fig/fig accessory jambalaya. By this I mean...any fig or fig accessory, not limited to castle. I mean...most of us build in other themes. It would keep be box smaller but full of happy joyful things. But I think it could be pretty darn fun.

Any thoughts? I'm good for it to be a no. I'm good to hear any ideas for it. Just trying to increase the fun.

[Lil_Curt]

I think it would be a creative idea. I know we are doing something simmilar over on merlins beard, but it hasent been decided as to if it is going to be a direct swap or jambalaya style. Though I think we are all leaning towards the latter.

I am looking forward to the holiday figure trade here But would be open to what ever you decide it could be fun, one thing to consider though is do you allow third party accessories or purist? This would also allow those who cant afford to participate in a regular jam due to price of shipping, or size of ones collection. The shipping of 3 to 5 figures is only a couple dollars

Also a thing to consider is what types of figures do you allow. Yes this is mainly a castle forum, but it can cross with pirates. Some build in space, some in city. I know I keep some star wars figs for fun in castle scenes, etc... but it will be something to consider.

[Bluesecrets]

Oh the Christmas fig exchange is still happening. This is something completely different. No worries there.

I thought about it being a great box but much smaller, which is something that I think is good sometimes.

I didn't want to restrict the figs...people build in all kinds of categories. You never know when you need/want a chima fig...all of the sudden I find myself in need of several and I never thought I would say that. But I'm listening. We'll see what everyone else says and go with the majority.

Who knows, people may think this isn't a fun or good idea.

[soccerkid6]

I think an all fig jambalaya would be neat

[Azaghal]

You can count me as another vote for "sounds like fun".

. . . You never know when you need/want a chima fig...all of the sudden I find myself in need of several and I never thought I would say that.

Yeah, there's some surprisingly useful stuff in some of those. I think it sounds more fun to have a wide variety of stuff to look through - you never know what might strike an interesting idea!

[Bluesecrets]

I'm tossing back and forth the idea of how many figs. I think if it is going to not be limited to castle, then I think I'd want to see more than 5 figs. Figs aren't so big, so we could restrict it to fit in a padded envelope which would bring the shipping cost down, but then I worry something fierce about those padded envelopes sometimes. I've had some arrive partially open, partially destroyed, and I've had one come in with all the parts destroyed. I guess this is more rare than not, but I wouldn't want a jambalaya showing up at my house like that...I'd feel horrible. Then if it goes international, it seems like I hear that they get destroyed more so in that case.

I'm totally good with discussing every single part of this idea so we all can have fun. With that we need to discuss the age requirements. I went 16 last time due to an age issue. Because I know there are several members who are not comfortable trading with underage members. Sorry anyone under 18, but it is a legitimate concern for adults. If you want an explanation about that, the concern is that a minor is sharing their address with an adult. If your parent/guardian wanted to pursue a legal action, the adult will be the one legally in trouble, not you for you are a minor and legally not old enough to make such decisions. And that is truly a legitimate reason to be leery and worry about participating in activities were addresses are shared. This isn't something not a lot of people think much about because we all want to live in the land of happy and don't think of that kind of thing, but it has been thought of and brought to me. I figured 16 was a good compromise that allowed both groups to participate. Like I said, we probably should discuss this.

Next questions:
1) Figs only? Fig accessories okay? What about animals?
2) When should we start? CCC is coming. As well as the Christmas Fig Exchange
3) Should we limit to 10 or 15 people?
4) Are there any figs we should decide are not allowed, like those huge technic ones, Fabuland, etc? I'm torn on that. I love Fabuland but really don't want to end up with any of those Jack Stone figs. I like the Friends figs, but I know most of you won't want them.

[AK_Brickster]

Hi Blue,

I don't want to hijack your idea, but I have started a castle-themed minifig jam over on Merlin's Beard which I think is very similar to what you have in mind. I'll post the link here and people are welcome to join up, or feel free to pirate some of my ideas and incorporate them into your own jam over here!

The package for our jam is getting mailed to recipient #1 tomorrow, but people can still jump in as it will likely take a while to get to the last person on the current list. http://merlins-beard.com/thread/718/min ... alaya-2014



(If you don't want me to cross-post stuff like this, let me know. I figured we are basically "sister sites", so any similar crossover is more than welcome on our end )

[rogue27]

I was actually reading about the minifig Jambalaya on Merlin's Beard earlier today and I thought it was a an interesting idea. I doubt I'll have time to participate, but I'm curious to see how it turns out.


I think there are a lot of challenges to make a non-themed minifig jambalaya work. You could seed the initial package with dozens of unwanted minifigures, and possibly get nothing you want in return due to the large variety of available mini figures. It's also possible that people would look through the package and not find a figure they like.

The problem is that most people who like Castle also like to dabble in other themes as well. However, it's rarely the same other themes.

One person might like Castle and Blacktron, another person might like Castle and Ultra Agents, Castle and Monster Hunters, Castle and Chima, etc. So if there aren't any blacktron figures in the package, maybe the blacktron guy is disappointed. Then the blacktron guy adds some extra non-blacktron space stuff, but the package goes to the Ultra Agents fan who doesn't care about any of the space figures, etc. There are just so many different themes and figures out there now, it would be tough to keep people happy if you're straying outside of the common theme we all enjoy.

Keeping it focused on a theme reduces this problem. On the other hand, I'd personally enjoy getting odd figures from a variety of themes, so I can see the appeal to having more variety. I think the multi-themed Jambalaya could work if the number of figures was high. Maybe 100, but then shipping costs are a problem. You can get away with much smaller numbers if you keep it focused on a theme everybody involved has a common interest in.

As for the questions:

1. Accessories seem reasonable if they are in a ziplock with the figs they belong to.
2. 2015
3. Probably, otherwise it can take a long time.
4. It might be wise to disallow anything other than standard mini figures. (Anything with the standard minifigure torso.) No friends, technic, jack stone, 70s homemaker figures, etc.

Another question to answer is if the figures are to remain intact. Like, could a person take a torso from one and a head from another, or must the figures in the assortment be taken as a whole? If it's the latter, it might be wise to put each of the figures into a 2x3 ziplock bag like you can find in craft stores (or the craft section of Wal-Mart) to protect them from scratching and keep all of the parts for a figure together in case things pop off during shipping.


All that said, I'm not sure if it's a good idea or that I would want to participate. I'm tossing some thoughts out there because I think it is an interesting idea, but I am not sure if it is practical to do this without being themed. Seems more like the sort of thing people could do when meeting up at a convention or a LUG meeting.

[AK_Brickster]

In the interest of making it easier to stick with "fair value exchanging of figs", over at MB we've decided to go with the "fig and accessories must be individually bagged and selected as a single lot" as opposed to picking and choosing your favorite parts from several figs.

We then have a "loose parts" ziplock that has some random weapons and accessories that can be exchanged freely apart from the fig exchange part of the jam.