CMF Series 29 dropped on May 1st and it is genuinely one of the best lineups LEGO has put out in years. Twelve figures, tons of variety, incredible accessories, and two absolute standout characters that every collector, every Bionicle fan, and every Ninjago kid on the planet wants immediately.
Which means, of course, that some guy with no life and a bathroom full of LEGO blind boxes he bought at 7am is currently listing them on eBay for $20 a pop.
Congratulations, scalper community. You’ve done it again.
First, Let’s Talk About What Makes Series 29 Special
Before we get into full rage mode, let’s give credit where it’s due. This series is legitimately excellent. Twelve figures that cover a wide range of interests — a Tuba Player with a brand new instrument mold, a Marine Biologist with a clownfish, a Trash Monster, a Cute Witch, a Chocolatier with a tiny chocolate dragon. There is something for basically everyone here.
But two figures absolutely tower above the rest in terms of community hype, and those are the ones that are already impossible to find at retail. So let’s talk about them.
The Mysterious Ronin (A.K.A. Lloyd. It’s Definitely Lloyd.)
The “Mysterious Ronin.” Totally not Lloyd. Definitely mysterious.
LEGO is calling this one the “Mysterious Ronin.” A mysterious ninja. In a green gi. With green eyes. Golden shurikens. A golden katana. A brown scabbard. An alternate future version of someone from Ninjago.
Truly a mystery for the ages.
It’s Lloyd. The Green Ninja. The face of Ninjago, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2026. LEGO snuck him into a general CMF series as a little anniversary gift to the fanbase, disguised as a “ronin from the future” so they could keep a straight face about it. The community saw through it in approximately four seconds and loves it anyway.
According to the LEGO design team, the idea was to revisit the character down a different path — a more mature, alternate-future version of Lloyd that blends elements from three different eras of the character into one figure. New hood element, shoulder armor, detailed torso and leg printing. It is a genuinely beautiful figure.
Ninjago fans want this one bad. Which means it was targeted by scalpers the moment the boxes hit shelves.
Retail price: $4.99.
Current eBay price: ~$20.
Difference: The cost of someone else’s moral bankruptcy.
The Bionicle Cosplayer (This One Is a Really Big Deal)
Tahu. In minifigure form. After 16 years of waiting. And scalpers got there first.
This is the one that sent the LEGO community into genuine orbit.
Bionicle is one of the most beloved themes in LEGO history. In the early 2000s it was a cultural phenomenon, a toyline phenomenon, and genuinely one of the things that saved LEGO from bankruptcy. It was cancelled in 2010 and the fanbase never fully let go. They have been asking, begging, and petitioning for a return ever since.
LEGO hasn’t brought Bionicle back. But with Series 29, they did the next best thing. They included a minifigure version of Tahu, the Toa Mata of Fire, arguably the most iconic Bionicle character ever made. He is dressed as a cosplayer, which gives LEGO plausible deniability, but the execution is spectacular. The Kanohi Hau mask is perfectly translated into minifigure form. The back of the figure has printed Bionicle gear details. There is even a tiny Bionicle canister as an accessory. It is fan service done exactly right.
Fans knew this one was going to be a chase figure the second it was revealed. The Bionicle community is passionate and large, and they came ready. They showed up early. They used scanner apps. They bought multiples.
And so did the scalpers.
Same story. $4.99 retail. ~$20 on eBay. A 300% markup on a tiny piece of plastic that should be sitting in a kid’s collection right now.
The Blind Box Problem (And Why It Makes Scalping Worse)
Here is the part that makes all of this extra frustrating.
CMF figures come in mystery blind boxes. You do not know what you are getting. Most stores sell them individually, so if you want a specific figure you are either feeling the box (there are guides online that show you what to feel for), using a scanner app that reads the QR code on the box, or just getting lucky.
LEGO does sell full boxes of 36 on their website, and a full box theoretically contains three complete sets of all 12 figures. That means if you buy two boxes, you should in theory get all 12 characters with some duplicates. That is $179.64 before tax, which is a big swing for a complete set of blind bag figures.
And even then it is not guaranteed. Distribution is not always perfectly even. You might hit two full sets and a messy third. You could end up with the figures you wanted, or you could end up with four Tuba Players and zero Bionicle Cosplayers.
It is a crapshoot. And scalpers know it. They buy in bulk early, scan every box, cherry-pick the chase figures, and leave the rest behind. The collectors who show up later get whatever is left. Usually a lot of Soccer Goalkeepers.
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Amazon sells a 6-pack with no duplicates, which gives you a guaranteed six different figures and a much better shot at the ones you actually want without the full box commitment.
So Why Does This Keep Happening?
This is not a new problem. CMF scalping has been going on for years. The Mr. Gold figure from Series 10 back in 2013 was one of the earliest examples of the community completely losing its mind over a rare chase figure. Only 5,000 were made globally. People paid hundreds of dollars. It was chaos.
The difference with Series 29 is that there is nothing artificially rare about the Bionicle Cosplayer or the Mysterious Ronin. They are standard figures in a standard wave. They exist in every box in the same quantities as the Tuba Player or the Football Goalkeeper. The scarcity is completely manufactured by people buying in bulk specifically to flip them.
LEGO has tried to address this with purchase limits on their website. Retailers have tried per-customer limits on boxes. None of it fully works. Scalpers adapt. They have multiple accounts. They send family members. They show up the moment a store opens and they have scanner apps running before the casual shopper has had their coffee.
And the result is that a kid who just wants the Tahu figure because they grew up watching Bionicle videos on YouTube is being asked to pay $20 for a $4.99 toy because some person decided that other people’s nostalgia was a business opportunity.
What You Can Actually Do About It
Check LEGO.com directly and keep checking. Stock fluctuates. LEGO occasionally restocks individual figures and six-packs. Set up browser alerts if you can.
Try the Amazon six-pack. No duplicates means better odds per dollar spent. It is not a guarantee but it is smarter than random blind pulls.
Check your local Target, Walmart, and toy stores on weekday mornings. Scalpers tend to hit on weekends and big release days. Restocks often happen mid-week and early. Get there before the scanner crowd.
Use a scanner app. This is not cheating. Everybody knows about them. The QR codes on the boxes can tell you which figure is inside. If scalpers are using them, you should too.
Wait. This is the hardest one but often the right call. As supply catches up over the coming weeks, eBay prices on non-limited figures tend to drop back toward sane levels. The Bionicle Cosplayer and Mysterious Ronin are not actually rare. More are being produced. Patience beats panic buying.
And if you do have a solid collection already, protect it properly. Nothing is more demoralizing than a kid accidentally scattering a hard-won minifig haul across the floor. A good display case keeps everything organized, visible, and safe.
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This highly rated display case holds up to 80 minifigures, keeps them dust free, and looks great on a shelf. StudDad approved.
The StudDad Take: I Genuinely Cannot Stand Scalpers
And I mean that broadly. Not just LEGO scalpers. All scalpers.
The PS5 launch. Sneaker drops. Concert tickets. Trading cards. And yes, blind box minifigures. Every single time there is something people genuinely want, there is a whole ecosystem of people whose entire contribution to the world is standing between the product and the person who actually wants it, and charging a toll for the privilege.
They do not build anything. They do not create anything. They find something other people love, buy as much of it as they can as fast as they can, and then present themselves as a service when they sell it back at a markup. “I took the thing you wanted and now you can pay me extra to get it.” That is not hustle. That is just being a middleman nobody asked for.
What makes it worse with LEGO is the audience. These are toys. They are $4.99 toys specifically designed to be accessible, fun, and collectable for kids and families. When a scalper buys out every Bionicle Cosplayer at a Target in a 30-mile radius, they are not inconveniencing a hedge fund. They are inconveniencing a kid who grew up watching Bionicle YouTube videos and just wanted the Tahu minifig. They are inconveniencing a parent who promised their child they would find it. They are inconveniencing the fan who has been waiting 15 years for LEGO to acknowledge Bionicle and finally got their wish in the form of a $4.99 blind box.
And the scalper’s response to all of that is: “Cool story. That’ll be $20 plus shipping.”
No thanks. StudDad will wait them out every single time. The figures are not actually rare. The price will come down. And I would rather wait two weeks and pay $4.99 than hand a scalper a single dollar they did not earn.
End of rant. Go check your local store. Maybe you get lucky.
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