I have a Moshi Monster related dilemma but it’s not what you’d think – I’m not about to ask you what you think about letting children on Moshi Monsters (an online game where children adopt and care for a monster) as that ship’s already sailed. Miss Frugal’s been playing on there for more than a year now and Master Frugal has just set up his own little monster so he can play online too.
My dilemma is actually about those little collectable Moshi Monster collectable figures you can buy – the ones that are £1.99 for a pack of two but you don’t know which ones you’re getting until you’ve bought the pack and opened it.
There’s loads of figures to collect and my two (and all their friends) are completely obsessed with them at the minute- they spend hours together playing with them, swapping them and generally admiring their collections and showing off when one has one that the others all want!
Miss Frugal is desperate for this little fella, an ultra rare Moshling called Blingo and every time she chooses a pack to buy she spends ages feeling them all to see if she can feel one that could possibly be the elusive Blingo, she then repeats ‘Please be Blingo. Please be Blingo. Please be Blingo’ while she opens the pack but so far, no Blingo.
As she was poorly at the end of last week, I decided to go on eBay and see if by any chance someone was selling a Blingo to cheer her up, expecting to pay a few pounds for one – after all they couldn’t possibly cost much more as they only work out to £1 each. Right? How wrong could I get – Blingo’s actually selling on eBay for upwards of £10!
Apparently there is a roaring trade going on in selling these little figures and I couldn’t resist pricing up some of the figures from the kids Moshi boxes although I wish I hadn’t now. One of Miss Frugal’s favourite Moshlings, Lady Goo Goo, was up to £17.00 with twenty minutes still to go and there are a least another five selling for between £8 and £12.
The funny looking one with the sunglasses and dummy at the front is Lady Goo Goo and the weird looking green one next to her is Dustbin Beaver who sells for around £10. I can’t believe that those two little figures could fetch around £25-£30 on eBay and I know it’s naughty but I’m seriously considering some sort of incident which would involve the disappearance of Lady Goo Goo and Dustbin Beaver – I had thought something along the lines of them running away together into the sunset and living happily ever after in the land of eBay 😉
What do you think – should Lady Goo Goo and Dustbin Beaver mysteriously disappear?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Moshi-Monsters-Moshling… link to Blingo £3.95 xx
She'd probably have catalogued and counted every single little monster of her collection…
Riveting article – thanks. I thought your post was really entertaining. I will visit again in the near future.
That's the danger when you look into things isn't it. I wouldn't do it without her knowing, but you could suggest she parts with them to be able to buy Bingo?
I know, I wish I hadn't looked now 😉 I tried suggesting that but she was horrified at the thought of getting rid of Lady Goo Goo and Dustbin Beaver – never mind it was worth a try!
No! You can't do it secretly, I know we are trying to be more frugal but some things are more important than money. I agree with the others that it needs to be your daughters decision. I have so far managed to distract my son from these Moshlings, but I'm dreading the day he wants to join in. I was in a toy shop last Saturday and there were so many kids desperately trying to guess what was in those little packets. Marketing can be so cruel.
It's a complete marketing ploy – whoever thought of it must be rolling in it now…. Avoid them for as long as you can ;-D
I agree with Ellie and Sam – don't do it secretly – explain to her that if she *really* wants to guarantee to get Blingo then maybe she could sell some of her others? then the decision / priority is hers
I mentioned it but she says she's happy to wait for Blingo to come along in one of the surprise packs – I cant believe what people pay for these things!
Tempting I know, but I would have to say NO. My daughter collects too and I know that Lady Goo Goo and Dustin Beaver are two of her favourites and she would know, straight away, if something strange had happened to them. Maybe if you 'casually' let slip how much Blingo is and 'wow, look how much you could get for …..' and left it up to her to decide what she wants to do. Or, Amazon sell them for about £8.95. Sam xx
Well I tried to get her to sell them and she was disgusted – hopefully she'll get bored of them before they stop selling so well and I could feed us all for a week on a couple of them 😉
Oh thats a "monster" of a dilemma! LOL
What would your daughter think of selling one to buy the one she wants?
I know on occasion where I've given my kids that kind of option they have surprised me with the answer – because they could decide either way and have done. Sometimes the choice can make a child decide they dont want the rare one after all.
Let us know what you do – this is a real parenting dilemma they don't tell you about in the parenting books!!
Ha ha loved your monster joke ;-D
I broached the idea and was met with absolute horror so I still have a gold mine sitting in a plastic tub ;-D
Hmmm, tempting!! Actually my daughter has a few of these too so I may have to pop on ebay tomorrow just to have a look ………
Ha ha I'm a bad influence ;-D
know what you mean husb0t's got a collection of vintage star wars figures that is upwards of 400 figures……… some of them he keeps in little boxes so they don't get damaged by light…… it would be **soooooooooooooooo** easy for a litle box to go missing wouldn't it?
And who would ever know 😉
I wouldn't tell x