captainsamus

1. Sunday Best Homer ( Blue Suit, Angry Expression Head, Tall Foam Cup piece with Krustyburger printing, 1x1 tile with Krustyburger wrapper print) 2. Sunday Best Marge ( Dark Green Dress, Worried Expression Head, Snowball II) 3. Sunday Best Lisa ( Pink Dress, Nervous Expression Head, Santa's Little Helper) 4. Sunday Best Bart ( Blue Suit, Slicked Church Hair Head, New Mold "Slingshot" Accessory) 5. Skinner ( w/ Microphone and 2x2 Tile with "Bart Simpson's Permanent Record" decoration) 6. Tim Lovejoy (His more casual shirt and tie outfit with no religious references. 2x2 Tile with "Mrs. Lovejoy Photo" printing and book piece with "Model Trains" printing") 7. Barney (With new mold fat stomach piece that attaches over the neck like a front-facing backpack and alternate "BURP" head) 8. Comic Book Guy ( w/ same fat stomach piece as above in blue, 2x2 tile with "Poochie #1 comic" printing) 9. Otto (with red guitar) 10. Mrs. Krabappel (With apple and lipstick from the Friends line) 11. Carl ( With coffee mug featuring "Isotope" printing and 1x1 round title with "unfrosted doughnut" piece) 12. Lenny (With new tall transparent mug mold and 1x2 tile with "Cellphone With Carl Calling" print) 13. Moe ( Same new mug mold as above but with a "grimy/brown" tint and a shotgun) 14. Smithers ( w/ 1x2 tile with "Malibu Stacy: Now With New Hat!" printing and marge's purse piece in dark brown) 15. Jimbo ( w/ head of Jebediah Springfield) 16. Kirk Van Houten (with "Dignity" 2x2 tile and 1x2 "Can I Borrow A Feeling?" cassette tile.) Bonus Crazy Suggestion: Lard Lad with Big Doughnut piece.

Well hey...I was half right at least. I guessed wrong with new ghost/imp/goblin but the Manbat does qualify as a monster! And one that is practically plucked straight from Monster Fighters to boot, only in a new black color scheme (which is what I had hoped for with the ghost). I don't really think of him as a "Classic Monster" you'd see often in old Hollywood B-movies however, so I'll admit that I was a bit wrong there as well. With that out of the way, I'm actually pleasantly surprised now that I see these. I don't think it qualifies as one of the best series we've gotten, but the retreads aren't nearly as bad as I would have thought. And most of the brand new figures are great!

Well, I wouldn't have bought the Ghost Train JUST for the figures. I like the set as a whole, plus it has three ghosts (I don't have any of the old smiling ghosts) and a bunch of nice GITD pieces. I'll definitely pick up one or two of the polybagged ghosts if I have a chance, but it doesn't have legs like the ones included with the Ghost Train which is a bit of a negative. Plus we don't know the availability of that set, so there's a chance it may not be readily available.

Well, they did put a Mummy in Series 3 which was released at nearly the exact same time as the Mummy-centric PQ line. And the S3 Alien that came out right during the last wave of Space Police 3 that used the same head mold as one of the SP3 aliens. In general I don't think TLG really makes their choices for CMF figs based on what else is already out/coming out. I'm not saying your points aren't valid, though. The monsters were a lot more prevalent in the first four lines (though in my head I classify the Grey Alien from S6 as a "classic monster" though obviously it fits better with the Sci-Fi/Space figures that have been featured in CMF line as well). But the absence might mean we're due for a monster of some kind in Series 8! ;-)

Well one of the weird things about the Ghost Train is that there aren't any stickers in the set either, so the cardboard backing is there specifically to protect the instruction booklets. Very unexpected for a standard LEGO set. In addition to the brick seperator, you also get two extra train wheels. I wasn't sure why at first, but looking at the parts list in the back of the instructions it seems to be because LEGO considers three wheels as one part (two of the wheels you use, one you don't - one each side) so don't be alarmed if you have two extra wheels while building the set. I was also pleasantly surprised at how many glow in the dark parts there are. In addition to the ghosts, there are several 1x1 cones, a few rods, the printed dish on the front, and the middle of the green flame.

Now that TLG has started making ghosts again for the Monster Fighters line, I expect we'll see a ghost of some kind in the CMF line. I'm guessing it would either be molded in a different color like black or maybe non-GITD white with special printing of some kind to make it unique to the line. I'm thinking we'll probably see a Goblin or Imp of some type using the new hair/ear piece from LOTR as well. LEGO loves putting classic monster characters in the CMF line, so I think this would be a good guess at what kinds of monsters we'll see.

14) Raph's Shack (Mechanic) Entry (Build by Tommi) - 3 points

4) Butcher Entry (Build by Walt) - 3 Points

This series is close to being my favorite yet. Every one of them is great. The Flamenco Dancer is a little meh, but all the rest make up for it. Here's hoping the surgeon has a double-sided face without his mask. It'll be a whole series of different Surfers, Snowboarders, and Skateboarders. Speaking of which, there is one skateboarder in this series, so sports isn't entirely unrepresented.

Pretty odd. I remember seeing some sites mentioning Series 1 including a Knight, so maybe those two were planned and scrapped?

I think I'll be passing this year as well. I was pretty disappointed with last year's calendar, and this one seems worse in my opinion. I think the multiple day builds are nice in theory, but they just don't pan out in actuality. I much prefer what LEGO did with 2009's calendar where every 3 or so days was a theme. One minifigure, then 2 days of buildable accessories themed to go with the figure. And at $35.00, it's just too expensive. I managed to get last year's at Borders for around $25 after coupon, and that obviously isn't possible this year since they're out of business. The one bright spot in the set is the fig with the greed hood, but I'll be happy with the one in the Winter Post Office even if it doesn't have a matching torso.

Picked this up a while back, and I agree that it's a great deal if only for the two figures. The actual model if fairly basic, but it definitely gets the job done.

Congrats to the winners! I don't feel so bad losing, since there were some awesome builds that lost as well. I'll definitely try to enter the next one (assuming there is one).

Some very nice entries! I put my 3 pts to: 13) Fisherman Entry (Build by SuperBagel) Very cool shack!

Gotta go with 3 points to: 18) Wrestler, Karate Master & Sumo Wrestler Entry ( by gabe) Funny, and with a logical mix of minifigures.