Athos

I'd go with this one, as it is the only post-yellow castle era castle set I'm missing. Steve

They're referenced by the movie they're in, rather than the princess. Maybe I should change that... Steve

So my daughter got a white board with some Disney princesses decorating one side. And, while I drew pictures for her and she erased them, I thought that it would be pretty easy to learn to draw the princesses. Shortly thereafter, another better idea struck: I could miniland the princesses. Here are the results: The photo is a link to the flickr gallery. You can also see them individually: Snow White: I think this is one of the best figures: easily recognizable and a fairly sophisticated (if I do say so myself) miniland figure. Cinderella: I wish the glass slippers were more obvious. This one was a little tough, as I have most of my medium blue SNOT pieces used in my Alice figure, who, while not a princess is still my favorite figure. Aurora: easily the weakest figure, both structurally and aesthetically; Lego really needs to make more pink parts. Its kind of hard to tell, but she has a gold crown too. Ariel: the tail took some thought and I'm not sure about the seashell bra design, but purple and dark green are tough colors with which to build. I still think she turned out quite nice. Belle: too much yellow for my taste and her right arm is a bit stiff. I'm still pretty pleased with this one too. Lots of plates and slopes in that dress, which was initially too long, so she towered over her friends. Jasmine: She's got kind of a funny pose, but it was the only way to get the pants right and still have her able to stand. And I've just about used up all my blue slopes and SNOT pieces. Steve Edit by Rufus I've posted a larger picture here for those too lazy to go to flickr...

I think an animal rescue / safari there would be a great line. Steve

Love the deer. I think the gorilla guy from the collectable figures is a great stand-in for a real gorilla (just don't look at his back). And don't forget the chimp from the CMFs too. Here's my top five: 1. Sheep 2. Deer/Elk 3. Lion 4. Boar 5. Beaver/Fox/Some smaller mammal Steve

I've thought for quite a while that SLC would be a great location. It seems like the kind of city that would have a lot of Lego fans, both AFOLs and children. And I there is the Utah LUG too. Las Vegas, I think would be another good location. With all the tourists, they could do up a touristy shop, like the one at the Disney mall. Steve

The moonstone will make a nice Egyptian artifact. Steve

What? No weird eyes on the tree this time out? Steve

Yes it is subjective. Any kind of ranking like this is going to be. It was kind of fun to systematically try to do it. I didn't put the figures you mentioned in poor, because the Ringmaster had the new colored whip, the Viking had the new print on the shield, the pilot had the new colored backpack and the explorer, because I thought he was cool. Steve

I see your point. The price increase, however, really impacted by purchasing habits. That's interesting, I think he was one of the worst of the all the CMFs. It is very subjective and based on personal opinion. I wonder if a better way to do it would be to factor in a unique elements census. Wish I'd thought of doing it that way... If I take out the price factor, 7 comes in with a 3 way tie for first. The artist was one I should not have missed. The mechanic and fitness instructor are be pretty forgettable figures. I fixed it now. Steve

Last night, in a bout of insomnia (or perhaps AFOL-insanity) I decided to try to self-hypnotize myself to sleep, by trying to silently recite all the CMF's by series (hey, give it a try, it works). This got me thinking about the CMF lines. Personally, I have always considered series 3 to be the weakest line. But at the same time, when I split a case with another AFOL (Classic-Castle's OldRepublic, I think), I found it was hard to part with almost all the particular figures in the box. How could this be, I wondered. So I decided to look at the series individually and try to think of a way to rationally rank the series. Here is what I came up with: Methodology: Classify the figures in each series on a four level scale: excellent, good, average or poor. Give points based on each rank (2 points for excellent, 1 point for good, 0 points for average and -1 for poor) Consider the pricing (0 points for $2 figures; -1 for $3 figures) Total the scores Classification System: Excellent = a "chase figure"; army builder; something for which the AFOL community has wanted/waited a long time; lots of new parts; unusual for Lego to produce; for multiple figures desirable Good = comes with rare part or old part in new color; or useful in everyday MOCs Average = reused CMF parts; necessary counterpart to previous CMF; unique/fun/interesting but not very useful in everyday MOCs Poor = no new parts; rehash of common system figures Series 1 Analysis: Excellent = Cheerleader, Caveman, Zombie (+6) Good = Clown, Robot, Spaceman, Nurse, Cowboy (+5) Average = Skater, Crash Test Dummy, Indian, Magician, Wrestler, Robin Hood (+0) Poor = Ninja, Diver (-2) Price = $2 (-0) Total Score = 9 Series 2 Analysis: Excellent= Spartan (+2) Good = Mime, Lifeguard, DiscoMan, KarateGuy, Surfer, Mexican, Pharaoh, Singer, Weight Lifter, Skier (+10) Average = Explorer, Cop, Ringmaster, Witch, Vampire (+0) Poor = (-0) Price = $2 (-0) Total Score = 12 Series 3 Analysis: Excellent= Elf (+2) Good = Samurai, Pilot, Fisherman, Cyborg, Sumo, TennisPlayer, Baseball Player, Gorilla, HulaGirl (+9) Average = Indian, Rapper, Snowboarder (+0) Poor = Racer, Alien, Mummy (-3) Price = $3 (-1) Total Score = 7 Series 4 Analysis: Excellent= Musketeer, Viking, Sailor, HazmatGuy (+8) Good = Artist, Gnome, HockeyPlayer, MadScientist, Geisha, IceSkater (+6) Average = Rocker, Frankenstein, Soccer Player, Skater, Werewolf, Surfer (+0) Poor = (-0) Price = $3 (-1) Total Score = 13 Series 5 Analysis: Excellent= Gladiator, Guard, Cavewoman (+6) Good = Cleopatra, Graduate, Eskimo, LizardMan, ZooKeeper, Clown, Dwarf, Boxer, Detective (+9) Average = Gangster, FitnessInstructor (+0) Poor = Snowboarder, Lumberjack (-2) Price = $3 (-1) Total Score = 12 Series 6 Analysis: Excellent= Minotaur, Highlander, Roman (+6) Good = Dancer, StatueOfLiberty, ToyRobot, Butcher, SpaceGirl, Leprechaun, Genie, Alien, Bandit, SleepyHead (+10) Average = Surgeon, Mechanic (+0) Poor = Skater (-1) Price = $3 (-1) Total Score = 14 Series 7 Analysis: Excellent= Marine, Valkyrie, Aztec, BlackKnight (+8) Good = LittleRed, Tarzan, Nerd, Bride, Poseidon, Bagpiper (+6) Average = Hippie, BunnyMan, Swimmer, TennisPlayer, RockerGirl, DareDevil (+0) Poor = (-0) Price = $3 (-1) Total Score = 13 Final Rankings: 1st Place = Series 6 (14 points) 2nd Place (tie) Series 7 & 4 (13 points) 3rd Place (tie) = Series 2 & 5 (12 points) 4th Place = Series 1 (9 points) 5th Place = Series 3 (7 points) Thoughts: This confirms my thoughts about Series 3 (confirmation bias, anyone?). I'm a bit surprised that Series 1 came in so low. I would have chosen 2, 4 or 7 as my favorite series. But 6 came in on top. Some of the figures I would have personally placed higher (i.e. Mexican, Cleopatra, et al) and others I would have placed lower (i.e. RockerGirl, and many of the skater/skiers) but I tried to hew closely to the category criteria, which I attempted to base on perceived AFOL desires. I understand the categorization is highly subjective and even the category qualities is highly subjective. I wonder if I should have skewed the price penalty more; perhaps even up to a 33% cut, based on the 33% savings from series 1 and 2 figures as compared to the later figures. Is anyone still reading or have I lost you all with this inane post? I wonder if anyone else wants to give it a go. Or am I the only one who needed such a crazy diversion? Steve

I wish your photography was better. This is a great MOC. I'd love to see some more scenery around them. These were one of the things I was most interested in seeing in the FotR movie. The description in the book really captured my imagination. Steve

Simpsons, because then the figures could be yellow again. Steve

Well, to be fair, we have seen that last one before... Steve

Return to Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks: Steve

Explore Idaho in another lost adventure: The Travels of Johnny Thunder Steve

Nevada here. And I know there is at least one other who lives down in Las Vegas. Steve

Visit a under-appreciated national park, at Capitol Reef: http://www.johnny-thunder.blogspot.com/ Steve

Hope you all had a Happy Easter. Steve

Visit a dormant volcano, at Lassen National Park: The Travels of Johnny Thunder Steve

I'd like to see them do a road set, so we could have streets in front of the buildings, rather than just the sidewalk. Steve

Announcing the "Lost Adventures", a series of posts scheduled once a week for the next month, detailing all the adventures from 2011 that have not yet been blogged: The Travels of Johnny Thunder Steve

Go for it. If you don't get enough readers, so what? Its not like you have to risk anything to try. Personally, I think it might be some interesting reading... Steve

Why aren't the bullhorn looking things, just bullhorns? Steve

How low can you go? Not much lower than Death Valley: The Travels of Johnny Thunder Steve