LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 3 discussion

[Broken Bricks]

Every series so far has had only about 5 figs I am willing to get and this one is no exception (Elf, Mummy, Cyborg, Pilot, Tennis Player)

The rapper is hilarious! If you had told me 15 years ago that LEGO was gonna come out with a "rapper" minifig I would have thought you were insane.

Now we need a rocker minifig of some kind, perhaps a 60's, Beatles-esque fig, or a late 70s punk rocker with a mohawk.

The gorilla is cool but I am not sure if it's supposed to be a guy in a costume, an actual gorilla or a Planet of the Apes type of hybrid!

[jonwil]

I think some sort of heavy rocker (think AC/DC or metalica or the like) with an electric guitar accessory would be great.

And would fit with what kids like and know (a beetles or elvis style rocker with acoustic guitar less so)

[The Brick Rat]

It's always good to see a new series of collectible minifigs, but I must admit to finding this batch a bit disappointing. There are at least six figs that I would make changes to.

Hula Girl: Like many others have noted she needs a ukelele, not maracas. Otherwise she's perfect.

Tribal Chieftain: Although it's nice to get more Spartan spears, they just don't look right with this fig. I'll probably display him with the old style spear and some clip-on feathers.

Fisherman: One of the most disappointing figs for me. He looks a mess: the Santa style beard looks tacked on, he needs a proper fishing hat instead of the knit cap and the new fishing pole looks horrible.

Alien: I already have two versions of Squidtron from the Space Police III line, I don't need another. Give this alien a green minifig head with bug eyes, an enraged 'destroy all humans' expression, and a clear domed space

helmet and I'd be happier.

Mummy: White bandages? They need to be tan or grey for that ancient look. As Oky noted, this guy looks like someone wrapped him in T.P.

Gorilla: I guess TLC was going for a gorilla costume (could be a kids TV show character) look, but I was hoping for more of a 'real gorilla in the wild' type thing.

There are also six figs that really standout for me: The Elf, Tennis Player, Rapper, Race Car Driver, Samurai Warrior and Baseball Player. They all look fantastic.

Finally, a thought about the Adventurer Pilot. I'm going to go out on a limb here and speculate that he's not a Flying Ace at all, but rather a Lego Adventurer meets the 'Rocketeer' type guy and that the thing on his back is actually a rocket pack. If he's just a pilot (wearing a backpack?) he'll still be a nice fig, but if that's a rocket pack on his back he could turn out to be one of my favorites in this series.

Edited September 20, 2010 by The Brick Rat

[Skafte]

Well, I'm not too disappointed... The fisherman's beard looks great, finaly a different one (except the huge dwarf ones). Elf is really good looking, as the samurai and a couple of others. Some look bland or uninspired, but we've had that in the previous two series as well.

What I really like about this is all the new, detailed accessories we're getting! Boom box, baseball bat, tennis racket, fishing rod and so on. I wonder if the gorilla head has a regular head underneath it?

And green background, eh? Time to build another pair of shelves for the collection...

[David Thomsen]

I've been collecting these by theme, and the three themes here I'm going to be collecting are Castle (the elf), Western (the native American chief) and pirates (Alohilohi the island girl).

A ukulele would have been cool, but a ukulele would have turned her into a modern woman on vacation... the maracas make her a pirate-era Island girl, which makes her compatible with the pirate line. I've been waiting since the first series for a Pirate themed minifig, and if this is as close as I'm going to get, I'm taking it.

I usually get a 'wild card' as well, a minifig that doesn't match my themes but which I like to get for the sake of it. In this series, I thnk that will be... the tennis player. I have always liked tennis uniforms.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Link

And since Lego is not basing this figure off of actual elves from mythology and moreso on the fan interpretation, I can say they did a poor job.

I'm really really surprised by the fact you spent 15 years of your life playing D&D.

-Omi

Three points:

A) Indeed you can say they did a poor job. You can say anything you want. Even that Earth is a disc holded by four elefants standing on a giant turtle.

B) Really funny that you marked on bold anything BUT the part in which they say that ears longness changes author by author so that there's no canon apart knowing that in the western world they are short, like Lego one, or LOTR movie, and in mangas they're long.

C) Be serious, Wikipedia is no source. As long as you link me something where I can go and change the definitions to suit my ideas, that won't make any sense to me. Wikipedia started as a good project, but sinked like the Titanic, 99% of the pages are non neutral or filled with wrong informations. I can tell, I was a wikipedian too, years ago, and I left because if a group of people, large in number, wants to overwrite real facts with their own version, they win but that doesn't mean that there's reality in their words.

However, I spent 15 years playing D&D and I will go on, and that's really funny of you that you tell me this HERE, a place where I can say that I spent 28 years after LEGOs and I will go on.

By the way, just a note. Since you were the only one complaining about the elf, two are the cases here. Either you are enlighted by some Elf God and you are the only one who really knows Elves around, or you should think to fly lower. My girlfriend accidentally saw the pic and said "They made a Lego-Legolas!" and I am really looking forward to get lots of it because it fits fantasy era actually more than dwarves or orcs.

No I'm not hurt, but if your gonna say that you get your elf credentials by playing a game that contradicts what you say, then I make my point. And never said I was a cool guy. :)

Also thanks for looking at my sig. :D

-Omi

Contradicts what I said?

Where?

And just to end it up:

Fan's interpretation of an elf, found in .1 secs on google image:

Since I use to play LARP since 12 years too, this is what elves look around by ever:

http://maskworld.scene7.com/is/image/maskworld/10032-elf-elfen-ears-elves-ears-ohren?$fullsize$

See the ears? Short ears, as we are used elves are.

If you think elves are this:

http://kyuubi.k.y.pic.centerblog.net/b7sddrf6.jpg

you are wrong way, and you show you are actually confusing actual fantasy with final fantasy...

Fantasy Elves as we meant them were created by JRR Tolkien, and they have short leaf-shaped ear and they are not all that graceful since they divide in various kinds. Already said that, but you probably missed it up..

Edited September 20, 2010 by Itaria No Shintaku

[Fugazi]

Moving on, I wonder what kind of extras we will get with Series 3. An extra tennis racket would be awesome, as otherwise I will need to find 2 of the tennis players (she can't play alone, can she?) An extra trophy for the sumo fighter is guaranteed, I suppose. Extra maraca as well if the hula girl ends up with them as accessories. What else? Extra banana perhaps?

[Jebediahs]

If you think elves are this:

http://kyuubi.k.y.pic.centerblog.net/b7sddrf6.jpg

you are wrong way, and you show you are actually confusing actual fantasy with final fantasy...

I've always hated those FF elvaan ears...

Is there any chance a series will feature another "normal" skin tone other than yellow? I know it'd be a bit stereotypical but I would have liked at least the rapper to have dark skin. I still say they should throw some Woody arms on that gorilla.

ORC!

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Moving on, I wonder what kind of extras we will get with Series 3. An extra tennis racket would be awesome, as otherwise I will need to find 2 of the tennis players (she can't play alone, can she?) An extra trophy for the sumo fighter is guaranteed, I suppose. Extra maraca as well if the hula girl ends up with them as accessories. What else? Extra banana perhaps?

I'll add for sure extra mic for the rapper.

Ninja had two Katanas, maybe Samurai has one extra too... and I'd really like an extra fish for the fisherman.

[Fugazi]

I'll add for sure extra mic for the rapper.

Ninja had two Katanas, maybe Samurai has one extra too... and I'd really like an extra fish for the fisherman.

True. Extra fish would be nice. And I forgot to add: probably extra visor for the cyborg and extra goggles for the snowboarder.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

True. Extra fish would be nice. And I forgot to add: probably extra visor for the cyborg and extra goggles for the snowboarder.

Extra googles for the snowboarder would really do!

I feel like I want them now.

[Dunjohn]

Aw, man. Samurai, Mummy and Elf - that's three army figs! Plus people may want a full team of baseball players. This is going to be interesting.

There's not a single fig here I don't like. That's so weird. I didn't like series 2 as much as series 1, but I think series 3 might be the best yet. Three female figs, two variations on my favourite accessory from S1 (the space gun), a bunch of body parts I really need, and the figs themselves look fantastic for display. Can't wait.

[Aanchir]

I've always hated those FF elvaan ears...

Is there any chance a series will feature another "normal" skin tone other than yellow? I know it'd be a bit stereotypical but I would have liked at least the rapper to have dark skin. I still say they should throw some Woody arms on that gorilla.

ORC!

The rule nowadays is that regular human figs either have realistic skin tones (licensed themes) or just plain yellow skin. To make "normal" yellow skin apply only to caucasian/white figs would be a little bit racist.

Other racially-based traits can of course be incorporated into yellow-skinned figs to demonstrate that they represent a particular race, as long as we don't get into the ridiculous lips and eyes of some of the yellow-skinned basketball figs (which felt like racial caricatures more than anything).

[Joebot]

To complainers, note also that these figures-- all of them-- are preliminary. Don't like the boringness of the sumo wrestler? Well, that's fine, because it certainly won't stay that way. Don't like the elf's hair and ears? It's a good chance that they're prototypes and the actual parts aren't finalized. Really, this is the reason LEGO hates confidential prelim pics getting out-- because it lessens the impact when the figs actually get revealed, and in the meantime replaces all that positive hype with unfounded fan backlash.

I assume you're probably right with this. While I understand TLC's frustration, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Let's face it, these retailer catalogs always get leaked onto the internet. There's no way to stop it.

So why fight it? Why not embrace the fan-driven hype instead, and use it to your advantage?

For example, imagine if they released pictures of the collectible mini-figs, one a day for 16 days, on their website? They could host polls and have people guess what they think the next one would be. Just think how much traffic that would drive to their site! Unfortunately, TLC's marketing department seems about 20 years behind the times.

[Peewit]

I assume you're probably right with this. While I understand TLC's frustration, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Let's face it, these retailer catalogs always get leaked onto the internet. There's no way to stop it.

So why fight it? Why not embrace the fan-driven hype instead, and use it to your advantage?

For example, imagine if they released pictures of the collectible mini-figs, one a day for 16 days, on their website? They could host polls and have people guess what they think the next one would be. Just think how much traffic that would drive to their site! Unfortunately, TLC's marketing department seems about 20 years behind the times.

Wasn't this exactly what they did with the new wave of Harry Potter? Without the polls and comments of course but thay still created a hype and drove attention to their site...

Edited September 20, 2010 by Peewit

[Aanchir]

I assume you're probably right with this. While I understand TLC's frustration, I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. Let's face it, these retailer catalogs always get leaked onto the internet. There's no way to stop it.

So why fight it? Why not embrace the fan-driven hype instead, and use it to your advantage?

For example, imagine if they released pictures of the collectible mini-figs, one a day for 16 days, on their website? They could host polls and have people guess what they think the next one would be. Just think how much traffic that would drive to their site! Unfortunately, TLC's marketing department seems about 20 years behind the times.

Who's to say they won't do that? The option's available to them for the future, but it would be ridiculous to start revealing the figs as early as these images are being leaked. By the time that the figs were actually released the hype would have largely died down.

As we speak, it's September of 2010. The Series 2 minifigures just officially came out in the states less than a month ago. It's certain to be several months before series 3 comes out-- after all, keep in mind that we still have neither a release date nor a set number for these figs!

So it's kind of silly to think LEGO could somehow get official, finalized art of the minifigs out to the public before retail catalogs begin to be leaked. And it's an even greater leap to assume that doing so would really have a meaningful impact on sales in the long run. It's possible that it would even hurt sales by drawing attention away from the sets that are already out (i.e. "Oh, I was going to get the maraca man, but now that I see the hula girl has maracas of her own I'll just wait").

Besides, I'm not really saying that it's a bad thing that the pictures get leaked. As you say, it's bound to happen. What I'm upset about is the way leaked pictures are always treated by the community-- as perfectly accurate foretellings of all the products' actual flaws and benefits. Once the pictures are leaked, people are free to evaluate them, but they shouldn't start making judgments about LEGO's intentions until they see the official images of the actual products that are intended for market.

[Zzz]

Yes, TLCs marketing makes decisions that are hard to understand, especially for someone who studied that. On the other hand it might be no disadvantage to act like a small, family-driven company. Some of them make it. But to be honest, most of them, especially toy makers, won't.

And yes, especially on the SW forum people are treating the prelim pics like the final product. Almost every second post was about that when the first pics came out. Extremely frustrating that is.

But that only on a side note. I am very happy that the rumored samurai/ mongolian /eastern warrior turns out to be a japanese! I never got the 1998 (?) sets and I am too happy TLC takes care about fans of Nippon! Ninja, Karateguy, Samurai and even Sumo! Great!

[Ogre]

I wonder if the gorilla head has a regular head underneath it?

From the size, I'd say it's like the shark warrior head from 'Atlantis'.

As for the elf...I think that's going to be the 'Spartan' of this wave and as such, I hope the bags really are 'blind', with no identifiers at all, because I'm STILL trying to find a friggin' Spartan in all those 'picked-through' boxes out there. I'm also hoping that the elf gets a new, more 'stereotypical' bow, instead of that same element that's been around since the early 'Castle' sets.

Edited September 20, 2010 by Ogre

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Who's to say they won't do that? The option's available to them for the future, but it would be ridiculous to start revealing the figs as early as these images are being leaked. By the time that the figs were actually released the hype would have largely died down.

As we speak, it's September of 2010. The Series 2 minifigures just officially came out in the states less than a month ago. It's certain to be several months before series 3 comes out-- after all, keep in mind that we still have neither a release date nor a set number for these figs!

So it's kind of silly to think LEGO could somehow get official, finalized art of the minifigs out to the public before retail catalogs begin to be leaked. And it's an even greater leap to assume that doing so would really have a meaningful impact on sales in the long run. It's possible that it would even hurt sales by drawing attention away from the sets that are already out (i.e. "Oh, I was going to get the maraca man, but now that I see the hula girl has maracas of her own I'll just wait").

Besides, I'm not really saying that it's a bad thing that the pictures get leaked. As you say, it's bound to happen. What I'm upset about is the way leaked pictures are always treated by the community-- as perfectly accurate foretellings of all the products' actual flaws and benefits. Once the pictures are leaked, people are free to evaluate them, but they shouldn't start making judgments about LEGO's intentions until they see the official images of the actual products that are intended for market.

I totally agree with any single word. I like the idea to last every single serie to the end, I am really curious about S3, but now is S2 time and I will focus on buying that. Furthermore, hunt on S3 minifigs will be difficult without barcodes, which makes me think that I will buy a box with 2 friends, share 3 collections each, and that will be all.

[escortmad79]

I'm also hoping that the elf gets a new, more 'stereotypical' bow, instead of that same element that's been around since the early 'Castle' sets.

Won't happen I don't think.

The forestman got a new moulded bow & that's the one they'll use for this one too

[Jebediahs]

The rule nowadays is that regular human figs either have realistic skin tones (licensed themes) or just plain yellow skin. To make "normal" yellow skin apply only to caucasian/white figs would be a little bit racist.

Other racially-based traits can of course be incorporated into yellow-skinned figs to demonstrate that they represent a particular race, as long as we don't get into the ridiculous lips and eyes of some of the yellow-skinned basketball figs (which felt like racial caricatures more than anything).

Ohhh I see. Thanks for clarifying.

ORC!

[Joebot]

So it's kind of silly to think LEGO could somehow get official, finalized art of the minifigs out to the public before retail catalogs begin to be leaked. And it's an even greater leap to assume that doing so would really have a meaningful impact on sales in the long run. It's possible that it would even hurt sales by drawing attention away from the sets that are already out (i.e. "Oh, I was going to get the maraca man, but now that I see the hula girl has maracas of her own I'll just wait").

Why is it silly to think that TLC could finalize a product a mere three months before it hits shelves?

In the IT industry, products are announced months, even years, before release. Just this last week, Microsoft announced that they're going to make a super-thin tablet computer. The estimated release date? 2013.

In the movie industry, trailers are often released a year before a movie hits theaters. At ComicCon this year, Marvel was relentlessly promoting their Avengers movie. It's release date? 2012.

In the comic book industry, publishers are required to announce their publication schedule 3-4 months in advance, so retailers can place their orders.

In the video game industry, games are often announced years in advance of their release.

Other industries do this all the time! They announce products, then use fan-driven marketing and hype to keep people's attention and interest over the long-haul. My only point here is that TLC often finds itself at odds with the online community over these sorts of leaks. They could find better, more productive ways of releasing information on upcoming sets. There is a voracious appetite for news of upcoming sets. TLC needs to use that to their advantage, instead of fighting it.

Your second point about news of upcoming sets cannibalizing sales of current sets is a very tricky issue. That's probably a legitimate concern.

[Rick]

Your second point about news of upcoming sets cannibalizing sales of current sets is a very tricky issue. That's probably a legitimate concern.

... and probably the main reason. And also giving counterfeit products less of a chance. But this debate springs up every time pictures are leaked.

[Omicron]

Since I use to play LARP since 12 years too, this is what elves look around by ever:

http://maskworld.scene7.com/is/image/maskworld/10032-elf-elfen-ears-elves-ears-ohren?$fullsize$

See the ears? Short ears, as we are used elves are.

Yes I do see the ears because they are very noticeable. Which was how this whole thing started when you said they don't have noticeable ears.

If you think elves are this:

http://kyuubi.k.y.pic.centerblog.net/b7sddrf6.jpg

you show you are actually confusing actual fantasy with final fantasy...

There are no elves in the FF series save for their only appearance in FFI, and their appearance is based on that derived from D&D and Tolkien's work, along with allusions to Hylians from Legend of Zelda. Which I don't know why I would confuse them with this since they resemble Forestmen and they are thieves.

And I don't think that is an elf. And it's not even FF.

Now stop convincing me to like the elf.

-Omi

[escortmad79]

Seriously who cares if it's a "normal" elf or a Tolkein elf? It's TLGs interpretation of the subject which kids will recognise!

There are more pressing issues in the world rather than what type of elf it's meant to be!