Is a Star Wars CMF line viable?

[Kman860]

I would absolutely love a Star Wars CMF series - would definitely give a way for Lego to release non-CW versions of clones and Jedi. Unfortunately, as others have said, I can't really see it happening. Occasional polybags are different as they aren't sold.

I hear lots of stories of stores selling them though. Also, I wonder if the Disney line might be a trial run to see if making new molds for a CMF line is viable.

[Calanon]

I hear lots of stories of stores selling them though. Also, I wonder if the Disney line might be a trial run to see if making new molds for a CMF line is viable.

Stores may sell them, but doesn't mean they are officially sold. I'm pretty sure they're not meant to actually sell them.

Although yeah, if the Disney line is successful (which it seems to be so far) I hope they diversify it and expand it to Star Wars. There are certainly enough minifigures to last several series.

I would love more minifigs from Rebels, e.g. Minister Tua and Vizago.

[Kman860]

Stores may sell them, but doesn't mean they are officially sold. I'm pretty sure they're not meant to actually sell them.

That's kind of what I figured, but TLG must hear about some of it right?

Although yeah, if the Disney line is successful (which it seems to be so far) I hope they diversify it and expand it to Star Wars. There are certainly enough minifigures to last several series.

I just hope they don't mix Disney and Star Wars, I don't want 30 Mickey's before I get a Stormtrooper with leg printing.

[Calanon]

That's kind of what I figured, but TLG must hear about some of it right?

Most likely, but if it's in small enough amounts they probably let it slide. Still different from officially selling it.

I just hope they don't mix Disney and Star Wars, I don't want 30 Mickey's before I get a Stormtrooper with leg printing.

I hope not either, but we'll see. Stormtroopers have leg printing now anyway.

[Kman860]

Most likely, but if it's in small enough amounts they probably let it slide. Still different from officially selling it.

I hope not either, but we'll see. Stormtroopers have leg printing now anyway.

Yeah, that's probably true. What I meant is to get an extra stormie with leg printing.

[gotoAndLego]

Lego has the rights to Star Wars construction sets, not action figures, so no, not unless they are done as small vignettes.

Edited May 1, 2016 by gotoAndLego

[Kman860]

Lego has the rights to Star Wars construction sets, not action figures, so no, not unless they are done as small vignettes.

But again, are the constraction figures not action figures?

[gotoAndLego]

No because they are a construction sets, which is why a CMF line would need to have vignettes to meet the construction-set requirement of the license. Standalone figs are not part of the license.

We've had how many years of CMFs? If it were possible for Lego to release even a Series 1 of SW figs they would have.

I don;t think the people who want SW CMFs are referring to the big figures; they want minifigs.

Edited May 1, 2016 by gotoAndLego

[Fenom]

But again, are the constraction figures not action figures?

You assemble them, so they're technically still construction sets. IIRC, there needs to be X number of pieces before it's acceptable and a minifigure line wouldn't meet that criteria

[Kman860]

You assemble them, so they're technically still construction sets. IIRC, there needs to be X number of pieces before it's acceptable and a minifigure line wouldn't meet that criteria

Well, I see 2 workarounds on that. 1-Wait until Hasbro's contract is up and renegotiate something with them, or 2-sell about 5-6 minifigs in one bag

[gotoAndLego]

Well, I see 2 workarounds on that. 1-Wait until Hasbro's contract is up and renegotiate something with them, or 2-sell about 5-6 minifigs in one bag

1. Hasbro is never letting that cash cow get away.

2. If they could do that SW Battlepacks would just be figs.

[DarthHank]

Yeah, I've always heard that Habro is the problem, but I've never seen a clear explanation of where their territory ends. Like everyone says, if LEGO could do it, they would have years ago, and Hasbro isn't going anywhere. For reference, look at the dark bucket project from LEGO Cuusoo: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/2674/official_comments

I do wish we could have better battle packs, though. I'm so tired of getting a dozen crappy speeders.

One nice thing TLG could do for us would be to give us a small base with a ton of troopers. That I would buy. It's infuriating to get a set like 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT walker, which has space for around 20 clones, and to only get 8 instead.

[BrickJagger]

A Star Wars CMF line is not viable because Disney wouldn't allow it.

[Kman860]

Yeah, I've always heard that Habro is the problem, but I've never seen a clear explanation of where their territory ends. Like everyone says, if LEGO could do it, they would have years ago, and Hasbro isn't going anywhere. For reference, look at the dark bucket project from LEGO Cuusoo: https://ideas.lego.c...ficial_comments

I do wish we could have better battle packs, though. I'm so tired of getting a dozen crappy speeders.

One nice thing TLG could do for us would be to give us a small base with a ton of troopers. That I would buy. It's infuriating to get a set like 10195 Republic Dropship with AT-OT walker, which has space for around 20 clones, and to only get 8 instead.

That really sounds to me like it's Hasbro getting in the way (I'm actually getting really frustrated with them about other things but that's not related to this forum), but I agree with your last sentence 100%.

[Artanis I]

No, it will never happen:

Lego has the rights to Star Wars construction sets, not action figures, so no, not unless they are done as small vignettes.

But surely..?:

I dunno, seeing the amount of Star Wars polybags we have gotten with one character, could it be that the rumored "Hasbro forbids Lego from releasing single figures because they are action figures" be a bit moot? We've also got a two waves of Star Wars Constraction figures that are even MORE SO action figures than a normal Minifigure. Heck I could even point out Lego's Constraction line is competing with Hasbro's Hero Mashers (Galidor 2.0 as it should be called...).

So if Lego can realese one off figures in polybags, surely they could release 18 blind packaged figures in polybags at once and call it a Collectible Series.

No:

Occasional polybags are different as they aren't sold.

Remember the old SW magnet sets? You know why you can't get them like that anymore? Hasbro complained that it infringed on their licence. A SW CMF would never happen while Hasbro lives and breathes. And while SW lives and breathes, due to the licence, so does Hasbro.

[Kman860]

Well, lego could do a CMF of sorts if they started releasing more and better battlepacks, with figures we actually want.

[xboxtravis7992]

Um quoting our arguments and responding with just "No" is a bit confusing (and without a good explination, irritating)...

Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that we don't know the full extent of Hasbro's licensing agreement. If they can call out Lego's minifigures as licensing violation why hasn't Lego called them out for Hero Mashers which are in a sense a constructable figure? Unless the legal documents were leaked and we could read them in full, we'll have no idea what the full extent is. Of course reading the reason Lego rejected the CUUSOO Dark Bucket project supports the idea there is some form of restriction on the license.

Still, it is ultimately Disney who controls licensing. And if Lego offers a marketing plan for Collectible Mininifigures that excites Disney execs, couldn't Disney expand Lego's license? What's not to say Disney might even restrict Hasbro's powers in future contracts? Star Wars action figures may sell well, but for a while now the Lego market has been booming, and it wouldn't surprise me if more people purchase Lego Star Wars products now than they do purchase action figures. There is no way to verify this, but in a few years when contracts are periodically reworked, what's not to stop The Mouse from allowing Lego to full tap into the lucrative Minifig market?

[Raskolnikov]

Regardless of licensing issues, I just think it'd be really hard to design any Star Wars CMF line in a way that would make business sense. Lego really relies on exclusive and updated minifigures to sell sets. The CMF line would have to have only the most obscure characters. I might buy that, but I'm not sure that kids or their parents would.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Raskolnikov

[Kman860]

Regardless of licensing issues, I just think it'd be really hard to design any Star Wars CMF line in a way that would make business sense. Lego really relies on exclusive and updated minifigures to sell sets. The CMF line would have to have only the most obscure characters. I might buy that, but I'm not sure that kids or their parents would.

That's not true, like I said if they want to, say have an Ep. II Obi-wan, all they have to do is make sure he's in a wave at a time he's not in any sets.

[gotoAndLego]

Still, it is ultimately Disney who controls licensing. And if Lego offers a marketing plan for Collectible Mininifigures that excites Disney execs, couldn't Disney expand Lego's license? What's not to say Disney might even restrict Hasbro's powers in future contracts? Star Wars action figures may sell well, but for a while now the Lego market has been booming, and it wouldn't surprise me if more people purchase Lego Star Wars products now than they do purchase action figures. There is no way to verify this, but in a few years when contracts are periodically reworked, what's not to stop The Mouse from allowing Lego to full tap into the lucrative Minifig market?

Well, noncompete and exclusivity clauses stop both companies from releasing the same kind of products; these types of clauses benefit both Disney and Hasbro/Lego. So unless Disney thinks Lego can take over all action figures and do a better job than Hasbro AND make them more money Disney isn't going to do it just so Lego fans can get figs not released in regular sets.

But yes, it is possibly that Disney could change the licensing agreements in the future, but as it stands now and until the current contracts expire, SW CMFs are not going to happen.

Edited May 2, 2016 by gotoAndLego

[Raskolnikov]

That's not true, like I said if they want to, say have an Ep. II Obi-wan, all they have to do is make sure he's in a wave at a time he's not in any sets.

I think one wave could have easily have an impact on other waves, though. Ree-Yees is a complete nobody, and he helped move that Sail Barge set. He's worth like $10 now on Bricklink. If Lego came out with him in a CMF line, I just think it'd be leaving money on the table. You could straight up sell that figure for more than $4. And if he came out in a CMF line before the Sail Barge came out, then some people might not have been tipped over the edge to making that much larger purchase. Even if he hadn't come out before the Sail Barge, the very fact that people know that a character might come out in a later wave of CMF minifigures might negatively impact sales.

Considering the way Star Wars fandom is and the way even obscure characters can be worth a decent amount, I just have a hard time imagining any line of Star Wars CMF figures that wouldn't hurt overall sales in the long term.

[Kman860]

Well, I guess the best way to do this would be if they released another 2-4 battlepacks in the summer, and they could be things like Cantina patrons, Cloud city background characters, etc. About figures hurting sales, I guess say for...a kaminoan, they could make the mold and put a generic print on it, and if they ever want it in a set, save the actual printing for the set. As far as licensing issues, if TLG did a Star Wars CMF series, would it really hurt Hasbro's sales that much? I mean, in a general sense, yes, they are both action figures, but one has clearly A LOT more detail, and one is a blind pick. Yes, I know about the magnets, but this would be a blind pick. I'm sure if Disney/Hasbro/TLG renegotiated their contracts they could work something out. All we even really need is a 2-4 wave run on CMFs.

[lanesteele240]

Some guy up there said poly bags are ok because they are not sold. I do remember buying a few red armed c3po's from tru

[HawkLord]

Ultimately it's Disney who negotiates the contracts now and if they feel a Star Wars CMF line would be successful they can approach that at the next contract negotiation with Hasbro. Since the action figure issue is the primary reason we don't have dedicated Star Wars (or Marvel) minifigures sold anywhere.

I think the Hasbro contract with Disney goes until 2020, so hopefully something changes at that time.

Besides Hasbro isn't doing the same kind of business for the Star Wars license as Lego, so I get the impression Disney can make the shift to CMF easily enough.

[dr_spock]

As the IP owner, Disney would get final approval to any SW CMF line. Even if it is not the contract, TLG can always go back to Disney to ask to amend the terms of the contract to allow for SW CMF. Contracts can be changed if both parties agree. The problem may be Hasbro has an exclusivity clause for action figurines in their contract with Disney, in which case, they could sue Disney for breaking their contract terms by allowing TLG. Then it can become who has more money to fight a long dragged out law suit or settle out of court.