Pin blind boxes coming soonish

sirmrej

TLDR: Soon (by PAX East, I believe) you will be able to buy a box from PA with one (or more) pins in it. You will not know what the pins are. It could be a Broodax Gabe or an Aus Kemper or whatever. The pins in these boxes are the ones people have traded with staff.

Longer explanation:
I've been thinking about and waiting for PA Pinny blind boxes for a while, and so was shocked when people in the PAX Prime Pinny Trading Event line didn't know about them. If you follow Disney pins at all, you know that you can buy boxes with unknown pins in them. Usually it's two pins out of an eight pin set (Muppets, for example). So you could get Beaker and Fozzie, or you could get two Fozzies. Etc.

So, at some point, we asked PA about what they were going to do with all of the pins that people traded with them. I know, for example, that a lot of Aus people traded away their Aus pins for Gabe and Tycho pins (CTS and Zombie). So there's a good number of Aus pins at the PA office, just waiting for loving homes. And, at some point, I was told that they would do blind boxes like what Disney has. Which is very exciting

At Prime 2014, I actually saw the blind boxes. Anyone who did the Pin Trading Event did. They had Merch on them, and Merch had a blindfold on (get it? blind box). Gabe was even doing a Blind Box challenge (put down a pin for trade, and get whatever pin was in the box). I got a CTS from that. I asked if I could have the box, but they said no

So, sometime soon, my Pinny people, we will be able to buy blind boxes of pins. I, for one, will be purchasing a few and hoping that I get Aus pins Prepare your wallets.

orthancstone

The Fruit Fucker balloon will not live in vain!

miker525

I was talking to Jerry about the blind boxes at PAX East and he told me it would likely start as boxes of 4 sold at the usual $30 a box. Then later on they may do other boxes with more or less. Not sure how much of that is still valid, but as of East 14 this was Jerry's understanding of the situation. He also said they would likely be out after Prime and before South so should be within the next few months assuming everything he told me is still accurate.

Qumaden

Edit: I can not read.

Nefily

That sounds really cute! ill be getting a few of them

Qumaden

One of the specific concerns addressed by Brian was the sterilization process they plan to have set up for the pins that have been traded to the staff that will go into blind boxes. He assured me that they already had that well addressed. So fear not germ-a-phobes, your blind box pins will be safe from microorganisms!

akl3in

I'll for sure pick one or two up. They probably have some awesome pins in them, and even if you get a fodder pin you can just trade it away

redfield85

Maybe if they make an actual sets out of blind boxes, but for most here I feel like the blind boxes are pointless (seeing as most everyone here is insane and has 12 of every pin).

Ayefkay

Id definitely be more inclined to buy them if theres a blindbox set, otherwise im worried its going to be 80% full of lookouts kids

PedroAsani

Ayefkay wrote: »

Id definitely be more inclined to buy them if theres a blindbox set, otherwise im worried its going to be 80% full of lookouts kids

Depends on the price point. At $20 a Blind box would be perfect for trade fodder. At $30 I would hope for more variation, but it would still make a welcome change from ordering a dozen Lookouts Sets.

TheAggroCraig

$30 is too much for a blind box considering they're pretty much all used...$20 for 4 seems like a better option IMO.

But hey they can do what they want, I just won't get them if they're $30.

darkinfero

https://twitter.com/darkinfero/status/505562898882904065

Ya blind boxes photos that I shared on twitter days ago.

Ayefkay

so why were they there anyway? you couldnt buy them, did they just put them out to tease us? because that is just mean if thats the case...

darkinfero

Ayefkay wrote: »

so why were they there anyway? you couldnt buy them, did they just put them out to tease us? because that is just mean if thats the case...

The staff was randomly showing it off. It was near info booth Saturday and they would randomly bring it out to see if people would notice.

redfield85

I mean they are a good idea so they can hopefully cut down on all of their inventory of traded-back pins. There are bound to be tons of people, whether new to pins or insane veterans, that will buy them.

PedroAsani

Ayefkay wrote: »

so why were they there anyway? you couldnt buy them, did they just put them out to tease us? because that is just mean if thats the case...

The boxes were prototypes, and so everyone seeing them got to know they were Soon To Be A Thing. Plus at the Pin Trading event, they were using them for their own version of Khoo Roulette.

Jerry and Kenneth had a simple "trade one for the contents of The Box" which I did twice. I can't help it, mystery boxes do it for me.

Khoo had 4 boxes, each player put down a Pin for one. Roll a D20, 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 to each person. The number that came up allowed that person to swap a box before opening.

Erika had 4 boxes, roll a D8 to choose which you trade for.

Spokane_SnowMan

PedroAsani wrote: »

Jerry and Kenneth had a simple "trade one for the contents of The Box" which I did twice. I can't help it, mystery boxes do it for me.

Erika had 4 boxes, roll a D8 to choose which you trade for.

Mike was doing the trade for a blind box as well. Friend of mine traded an Age of Empires for a blind Age of Empires. /eyeroll

I traded an Age of Empires for a dice roll with Erika and pulled a 15 year pin.

Edit: And that would be my biggest fear as far as these blind boxes, because they end up with THOUSANDS of the crap/easy pins like the Age of Empires was. I alone picked up and traded away at LEAST 20 of those pins this year. Traded one for every crew members pin and much more at the give a pin take a pin deals.

Sammy.Sam

While we're just hypothesizing on the distribution model, I would caution that this is likely going to be a slot machine-esque type of scenario. A few people are going to get something super rare, some are going to get something marginally better than fodder, and most will essentially end up paying the standard $30 price tag for a set of 4 fodder pins.

The take away is that you are paying to gamble, so make sure that you are ok with that. I love mystery bags, but $30 will prohibit me from wanting to try more than once or twice.

And who knows, maybe they'll specifically address the concerns about a lopsided ratio of lookouts/age of empire pins in the boxes. Maybe they'll even break up rarer pins or pins from current year sets for the boxes. If we knew that in addition to whatever was in the giant "staff trades" box, they also peppered 1 out of every 4 boxes with something interesting, then I think this idea will have more traction. Or, like I think I read above, create new pins only available in the blind boxes to ensure that they're bought.

Now I'm just rambling, TL;DR - distribution is key, I hope PA makes a public announcement about that when they launch this.

Beker

Ayefkay wrote: »

so why were they there anyway? you couldn't buy them, did they just put them out to tease us? because that is just mean if thats the case...

I would imagine they brought them because we keep pestering them for every detail we can get. Maybe you would rather they stay tight lipped and don't "tease" us, but i'd rather get all the scraps of information. :-)

Far as what will be in them, keep in mind they have been collecting pins since East 2013 from all the PAXes. So while there are a bunch of Age of Empires and lookouts from this most recent, there will also be a ton of Second Sons, Christmas pins and Behemoth stuff, etc. Basically what is common and trade fodder at one PAX is very often desirable at the next. As long as they are organizing the returns in some way, and i'd be surprised if they didn't, i'm guessing they will be smart enough about it to make sure at least one of them is of reasonable value. And I don't foresee them putting any pins in there that you can buy from the store. Which if true would mean lookouts might be filtered out for future boxes, or maybe they will be pulled from the store before boxes are made available.

Qumaden

I don't see why they wouldn't just sterilize the Lookouts pins and put them right back up on the store, the same with any purchased pin like that. I certainly would.

timebeing

All they have to do is add 1 or 2 Mystery pins that you can only get in the blind box, and bam sell like hot cakes.

Frostbyte

timebeing wrote: »

All they have to do is add 1 or 2 Mystery pins that you can only get in the blind box, and bam sell like hot cakes.

SHHHHhhhhhhhh! They read these forums. NOTHING TO SEE HERE GUYS.... he's talking about something else.

Hey look, a squirrel!

akl3in

timebeing wrote: »

All they have to do is add 1 or 2 Mystery pins that you can only get in the blind box, and bam sell like hot cakes.

Oh boy, I'm sure all the hardcores would just love this. Especially if they were a really rare drop, like one in 20 boxes

Qumaden

That may be the worst thing I've ever heard.

sirmrej

OK, cool. So for the most part, it sounds like people know about these. Yay! People in line with me at the Pin Trading event had no idea, and I was very confused why seemingly no one knew.

redfield85

Frostbyte wrote: »

timebeing wrote: »

All they have to do is add 1 or 2 Mystery pins that you can only get in the blind box, and bam sell like hot cakes.

SHHHHhhhhhhhh! They read these forums. NOTHING TO SEE HERE GUYS.... he's talking about something else.

Hey look, a squirrel!

I'll let all of you insane folks buy 20 boxes each and then will trade for said rare pins (if I like them) at a future PAX or on here. Have at it.

PedroAsani

timebeing wrote: »

All they have to do is add 1 or 2 Mystery pins that you can only get in the blind box, and bam sell like hot cakes.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhut up!

orthancstone

Find one last DLC pin, put it in one random blind box, produce an initial run of 1000 boxes...

Yeah, just start handing out the holiday bonus checks right there.

pureval

I think having a special random blind box only set could be fun. Especially if I get one of the pins and @pedroasani does not. That would be great.

Cowpuppy

orthancstone wrote: »

Find one last DLC pin, put it in one random blind box, produce an initial run of 1000 boxes...

Yeah, just start handing out the holiday bonus checks right there.

This is making me feel ill. Physically ill. My stomach is churning.

Qumaden

My bathtub is prepared for the blood.

PedroAsani

pureval wrote: »

I think having a special random blind box only set could be fun. Especially if I get one of the pins and @pedroasani does not. That would be great.

And what makes you think I wouldn't just brute force the system with my wallet?

DefaultGen

.

pureval

PedroAsani wrote: »

pureval wrote: »

I think having a special random blind box only set could be fun. Especially if I get one of the pins and @pedroasani does not. That would be great.

And what makes you think I wouldn't just brute force the system with my wallet?

I just have to hope that the Force is not strong with you.

SerpicoBC

Everyone be quiet! No more talking!

Hingo

I would totally buy a few blind boxes if there were "blind box only" mystery pins available. Do you hear that, @Robert Khoo‌ ?

adambarg

"Blind" Merch would be a good place to start; they've already got the art.

pureval

A super rare brain squirrel pin!

Qumaden

I just...I hate all of you...stop giving them ideas!

00Fayt00

Qumaden wrote: »

I just...I hate all of you...stop giving them ideas!

And the 'super rare brain squirrel pin' as pureval put it...would be...a run of 300. They would sell every so quick!!! haha.
30

(^Please don't do this. ^_^ )

pureval

00Fayt00 wrote: »

Qumaden wrote: »

I just...I hate all of you...stop giving them ideas!

And the 'super rare brain squirrel pin' as pureval put it...would be...a run of 300. They would sell every so quick!!! haha.
30

(^Please don't do this. ^_^ )

300, but they would not go out all at once. Spread them out over the years.