Star Wars Minifigures vs Other Themes

[x105Black]

I wanted to start this discussion here, because it comes up often in the various yearly Rumors & Discussion threads.  It's obviously a topic that many find important.

I find that the quality of Star Wars minifigures is lacking when compared to other themes in regards to limb printing and dual molding.  Also, they revert often from the more advanced minifigures one year to the less advanced the next.

What are your opinions?

[Sucram]

I reckon because Star Wars is such a huge marketing ploy at the moment, TLG don't need to put as much effort into them as they will sell really well anyway.

[JurrasicPiggy]

I feel like that Star Wars minifigures are getting repetitive in both design and character choices. There are still many characters in the Star Wars universe that haven't been produced by Lego yet, many of which I would love to see in physical form. Instead, they just keep redesigning and revising the same figures until they have a thousand variations(I'm exaggerating) with the occasional wave of new figures from recent movies such as force awakens and rogue one. 

[MartinCliffe]

My main observation is that they really stepped down a bit with the TFA minifigures. Particularly the generic rebels (sorry, resistance). So many of them had plain legs; we'd got used to printed legs on most SW figures before that. I've had to replace so many sets of legs with Bricklinked replacements. There are certainly some figures who would benefit from dual moulded legs and printed arms, for sure.

[x105Black]

19 hours ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

I reckon because Star Wars is such a huge marketing ploy at the moment, TLG don't need to put as much effort into them as they will sell really well anyway.

That's probably true.  They realize that people are going to buy them anyways.  And since the resale value of Star Wars products has historically been high, there will always be people buying them to sell later.  So, there's no real hope of people voting with their wallets on this one.

19 hours ago, JurrasicPiggy said:

I feel like that Star Wars minifigures are getting repetitive in both design and character choices. There are still many characters in the Star Wars universe that haven't been produced by Lego yet, many of which I would love to see in physical form. Instead, they just keep redesigning and revising the same figures until they have a thousand variations(I'm exaggerating) with the occasional wave of new figures from recent movies such as force awakens and rogue one. 

I agree, there are many characters that have never been done, and many that have been done to death.

However, some of those characters that have been done a million times are still not up to the standards seen in other themes (like Super Heroes or Collectible Minifigures).  The newest iteration of Han has new hair.  That's great, the new hair looks fantastic, but they could have taken the time to add dual molding for the boots and side leg printing for the line on his pants.

18 hours ago, MartinCliffe said:

My main observation is that they really stepped down a bit with the TFA minifigures. Particularly the generic rebels (sorry, resistance). So many of them had plain legs; we'd got used to printed legs on most SW figures before that. I've had to replace so many sets of legs with Bricklinked replacements. There are certainly some figures who would benefit from dual moulded legs and printed arms, for sure.

I agree.  Some Episode 7 characters lacked the level of detail seen in other themes.  Rey could have had dual molded arms to represent the bare flesh on her shoulders.  And the legs you mention are another good point.  This continues into other Star Wars properties.  The most recent Ahsoka could have had dual molded arms as well (along with accurate saber blades, but that's a different story).  Boba Fett had printed arms in the UCS Slave I set, but when he was released the next year he had plain unprinted arms.  That's a step down.  Similarly, there was a very detailed Episode 7 C-3PO minifigure polybag last year, but this year's version of the character lacks the printed details, and could have benefited from a dual molded leg.

I hope that LEGO can maximize the potential of the Star Wars theme, as it is one of their biggest and most popular themes.  I know that I have held back on purchasing sets because of these issues, or chosen to only purchase the parts I wanted from BrickLink.

Edited September 30, 2016 by x105Black

[wesker]

For me it depends on the individual character. Not every minifigure needs excessive levels of detail. Arm printing in particular is a bit of a novelty. Its nice to have on some characters like Boba Fett, but most really don't need it and sometimes it can risk ruining the appearance of a figure by making it look too overdone. I do feel the OT Stormtroopers are due for some hip printing though as the current figures look dated in comparison to the First Order Stormtroopers.

As far as dual molding goes I think some characters could definitely benefit from it such as C-3PO, Rey, Ahsoka and Ben Kenobi. The technique has become common in the Superheroes line so those figures do feel like they could be up to a much better standard. Even minifigures like the Imperial Officers/Grand Moff Tarkin should be using it since the colour combination is already available through Batman in the Superheroes sets.

[Sucram]

What if they made a C3PO with a dual molded left leg with gold at the top and silver at the bottom!!!!?

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

26 minutes ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

What if they made a C3PO with a dual molded left leg with gold at the top and silver at the bottom!!!!?

Yeah a lot of us have been waiting for that. We'll see.

[JurrasicPiggy]

Definitely agree that Star Wars figures aren't on par with the other themes' figures in regards to dual moulding and detail. That C3PO sounds promising but we'll probably never see it.

[x105Black]

1 hour ago, wesker said:

For me it depends on the individual character. Not every minifigure needs excessive levels of detail. Arm printing in particular is a bit of a novelty. Its nice to have on some characters like Boba Fett, but most really don't need it and sometimes it can risk ruining the appearance of a figure by making it look too overdone. I do feel the OT Stormtroopers are due for some hip printing though as the current figures look dated in comparison to the First Order Stormtroopers.

As far as dual molding goes I think some characters could definitely benefit from it such as C-3PO, Rey, Ahsoka and Ben Kenobi. The technique has become common in the Superheroes line so those figures do feel like they could be up to a much better standard. Even minifigures like the Imperial Officers/Grand Moff Tarkin should be using it since the colour combination is already available through Batman in the Superheroes sets.

Great point.  Not every character needs these details, but it's obvious when they are missing from those that could really benefit from it.

For example, any character with prominent boots of a different color should have them dual molded.  That would include most Jedi, like Prequel Obi-Wan, as well as Imperial Officers, like Grand Moff Tarkin.

41 minutes ago, LEGODrongo01 said:

What if they made a C3PO with a dual molded left leg with gold at the top and silver at the bottom!!!!?

Exactly.  And all the printing detail from the polybag.

Speaking of printing, the Stormtroopers mentioned above could certainly use hip printing.  That's another example of how they have taken a step backwards, as they have had it in the past.

[jdm44]

This is pure speculation but I think the reason is because LEGO wants to gradually increase the level of detail so that future sets will always feature "updated/new" minifigures. 

[Sucram]

10 hours ago, jdm44 said:

This is pure speculation but I think the reason is because LEGO wants to gradually increase the level of detail so that future sets will always feature "updated/new" minifigures. 

So then we'd have reasons to buy the new set! Marketing.

[Nokturn]

1 hour ago, x105Black said:

Not every character needs these details, but it's obvious when they are missing from those that could really benefit from it.

Agreed. It's baffling and a little ridiculous that Jyn Erso doesn't have leg printing, for example. Her minifigure looks extremely plain without it, especially with the poncho on.

[x105Black]

2 hours ago, jdm44 said:

This is pure speculation but I think the reason is because LEGO wants to gradually increase the level of detail so that future sets will always feature "updated/new" minifigures. 

I think that's absolutely a possibility.  It's the long, drawn out approach.  Make everyone buy the same minifigure a billion times, getting slightly better each time.  But they've shown that they can do so much more, and as I've said, this is one of their biggest themes.  This theme should be among those pushing the envelope as the most advanced.

1 hour ago, Nokturn said:

Agreed. It's baffling and a little ridiculous that Jyn Erso doesn't have leg printing, for example. Her minifigure looks extremely plain without it, especially with the poncho on.

I haven't seen a good image of her in the poncho, so I don't know what her legs look like in that outfit.  It might actually be fine.  I'll reserve my judgement on that one for now.

[r5-j2]

I`m a grumpy old s*d, so I just see it as a way to maximise profits/ease or speed up production for Lego. I also collect super heroes (mostly D.C., but also a few Marvel) and the new Dawn of Justice figures are real step-ups from their previous incarnations (the Wonder Woman figure is brilliant) , so there is no reason for this not being applied to the Star Wars line.

 

[Flandy]

On a like for like price, how do the sets compare? Are Star Wars sets more vehicle based and less spent on the minifigures?

[Jedi-Bendu]

On 30-9-2016 at 4:34 AM, JurrasicPiggy said:

I feel like that Star Wars minifigures are getting repetitive in both design and character choices. There are still many characters in the Star Wars universe that haven't been produced by Lego yet, many of which I would love to see in physical form. Instead, they just keep redesigning and revising the same figures until they have a thousand variations(I'm exaggerating) with the occasional wave of new figures from recent movies such as force awakens and rogue one. 

100% agree.

Thing is: many figs (a lot of the (Jabba's palace/Maz Kanata's castle/Cantina) aliens) would need a new mold and can only be used once.

The fall 2015 TFA wave: sure, we got some new helmet molds, but not one new head mold. Winter 16 wave: only Maz and the Ugnaught. Summer 16: Unkar, Teedo. Rogue One: besides new helmets only Bistan.

Why don't they go nuts and release a wave with 5-10 new head molds? Is it really that expensive? And WHY haven't they released a new Bespin Lando (or Leia...or Luke) in the last 10 years?

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

2 hours ago, r5-j2 said:

I`m a grumpy old s*d, so I just see it as a way to maximise profits/ease or speed up production for Lego. I also collect super heroes (mostly D.C., but also a few Marvel) and the new Dawn of Justice figures are real step-ups from their previous incarnations (the Wonder Woman figure is brilliant) , so there is no reason for this not being applied to the Star Wars line.

 

Unfortunately I do fear that if the figures were on par with those from Super Heroes we'd be seeing even more insane prices.

[RetroInferno]

Molds for new pieces cost several thousands $$$ ( between 25 000 to 150 000$ )

I don't fully agree with the lack of molds regarding the Star wars line in general, if we look at Rogue One we have a fantastic new Death trooper mold, one used for both hover tank pilots and shore troopers, 2 new helmets for rebel troopers, 1 new helmet for Pao, 1 new helmet for the Imperial ground crew, Bistan's head mold, Jyn has a brand new cap with integrated micro. We even have what appears to be Moroff for the winter wave. That's a lot of new molds! 

If you speak about alien molds, yeah, a lot of species have yet to be molded, but a lot have been done too, mostly the most important ones. The 2014 cantina set was somewhat of a letdown because they focused on the main cast and a lot of aliens species was left out ( At least we have Biths now, which are awesome ).

My only complaint is about lack of dual molding for some of the legs and arm side prints that should be present on some characters with insigna. 

 

Edited October 1, 2016 by RetroInferno

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

15 minutes ago, RetroInferno said:

Molds for new pieces cost several thousands $$$ ( between 25 000 to 150 000$ )

I don't fully agree with the lack of molds regarding the Star wars line in general, if we look at Rogue One we have a fantastic new Death trooper mold, one used for both hover tank pilots and shore troopers, 2 new helmets for rebel troopers, 1 new helmet for Pao, 1 new helmet for the Imperial ground crew, Bistan's head mold, Jyn has a brand new cap with integrated micro. We even have what appears to be Moroff for the winter wave. That's a lot of new molds! 

If you speak about alien molds, yeah, a lot of species have yet to be molded, but a lot have been done too, mostly the most important ones. The 2014 cantina set was somewhat of a letdown because they focused on the main cast and a lot of aliens species was left out ( At least we have Biths now, which are awesome ).

My only complaint is about lack of dual molding for some of the legs and arm side prints that should be present on some characters with insigna. 

 

I agree that Lego has invested a lot in molds for Star Wars. We just got an update of the Darth Vader helmet, and before that I didn't really hear people complaining about the original one. Like you said, the main things missing are prints and dual molding.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

Over the last years I got the strong impression that the SW line has very capable designers, who managed to give us both great sets & figures, based on concept arts, but lack deeper knowledge for SW.

I know we are not the main target costumers. But Lego is also Lego since it "gives" us AFOL's attention - unlike typical toy brands. Within the Superhero or even the Ninjago line there are so many easter eggs & details which target costumers like us. The responsible designers probably have much more backround information than just "concept arts".

Still there are very bad design choices that even the standard costumers will (have) notice(d). Even are not motivated to buy a set including; a  Sabine Wren who looks nothing like the "real one", or a Rex who doesn't have his helmet. Why do random wookies get arm printing but important characters like Sabine (wrong colours, plain arms, no helmet), Ahsoka, Ezra (face update, wrong colours), or Rex don't? Even from a profit-orientated standpoint: that does not make any sense

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

1 minute ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

Over the last years I got the strong impression that the SW line has very capable designers, who managed to give us both great sets & figures, based on concept arts, but lack deeper knowledge for SW.

I know we are not the main target costumers. But Lego is also Lego since it "gives" us AFOL's attention - unlike typical toy brands. Within the Superhero or even the Ninjago line there are so many easter eggs & details which target costumers like us. The responsible designers probably have much more backround information than just "concept arts".

Still there are very bad design choices that even the standard costumers will (have) notice(d). Even are not motivated to buy a set including; a  Sabine Wren who looks nothing like the "real one", or a Rex who doesn't have his helmet. Why do random wookies get arm printing but important characters like Sabine (wrong colours, plain arms, no helmet), Ahsoka, Ezra (face update, wrong colours), or Rex don't? Even from a profit-orientated standpoint: that does not make any sense

Why do you think that reflects lack of a deeper knowledge of SW? To me, those are just poor choices regarding the artistic representation of a character.

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

I guess that's another reason. We'll never know for sure 


I bet if the designers wouldn't just have used delivered concept arts, but also a bit of research many flaws could have been corrected before the designs were finished. Can't say for sure if this was the case for Kylo Ren's shuttle or many others, but for some sets I bet it was. For example: Rebel combat frigate & the figures. Or pretty much every Rebels figure.

Other example: look how poor the interior or the "decoration" on many ground based sets is. Some studs to hold blasters, some meaningless stickers & it's done. Compare the latest ISD's interior with the former version.

[x105Black]

1 hour ago, BrickHat said:

Unfortunately I do fear that if the figures were on par with those from Super Heroes we'd be seeing even more insane prices.

I doubt the prices would have to increase too much, if at all.  And it would be worth a small increase to have the best possible representations of the characters, rather then retreads and backsteps that are not up to par.

1 hour ago, RetroInferno said:

Molds for new pieces cost several thousands $$$ ( between 25 000 to 150 000$ )

I don't fully agree with the lack of molds regarding the Star wars line in general, if we look at Rogue One we have a fantastic new Death trooper mold, one used for both hover tank pilots and shore troopers, 2 new helmets for rebel troopers, 1 new helmet for Pao, 1 new helmet for the Imperial ground crew, Bistan's head mold, Jyn has a brand new cap with integrated micro. We even have what appears to be Moroff for the winter wave. That's a lot of new molds! 

If you speak about alien molds, yeah, a lot of species have yet to be molded, but a lot have been done too, mostly the most important ones. The 2014 cantina set was somewhat of a letdown because they focused on the main cast and a lot of aliens species was left out ( At least we have Biths now, which are awesome ).

My only complaint is about lack of dual molding for some of the legs and arm side prints that should be present on some characters with insigna. 

 

There are certainly a lot of nice new molds, and plenty of old ones that could do with better colors and printing.  I'll agree, though, that the dual molding and limb printing are the main things we are missing, and often on main characters.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

1 minute ago, x105Black said:

I doubt the prices would have to increase too much, if at all.  And it would be worth a small increase to have the best possible representations of the characters, rather then retreads and backsteps that are not up to par.

There are certainly a lot of nice new molds, and plenty of old ones that could do with better colors and printing.  I'll agree, though, that the dual molding and limb printing are the main things we are missing, and often on main characters.

Well, I always heard prints were expensive. So I'm not sure how much it would increase, but yeah, it might be worth it (although I feel SW are generally overpriced already).