LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 3 discussion

[SpiderSpaceman]

I think that's Mom's first minifig. Can I get an "Aaaawwwwwww"?

(I'm calling it, her second is going to be Jack Sparrow )

Aaaaaaaaaand she got herself an elven archer. I was wrong.

[Shroffy123]

The Toys R US in my area (Michigan) has Series 3, picked some up over the last two days. Sadly my luck is horrible :( Even with the Code sheet.

Thinking I was picking out the Elf and Samurai I got the following: 2 baseball players, 2 tennis players, 1 rapper, 1 gorilla suit, 1 (only 1) Elf, and 1 sumo.

Although Toys R us is having a sale on Legos, the minifigs still sold fast. I hope when I get back to Oregon, there is a Lego store there, I'll be able to find more. Otherwise its going to cost a lot to pick up a few more elves and samurai ... Last I checked on Ebay, the avg price was 14.00US

Edited December 2, 2010 by Shroffy123

[exon_from_youtube]

I opened it up today....

[SilentMode]

Do any of the S3 figures have spare parts? Neither the tennis player nor the rapper had them.

[exon_from_youtube]

The Toys R US in my area (Michigan) has Series 3, picked some up over the last two days. Sadly my luck is horrible :( Even with the Code sheet.

Correct me if I am wrong... but what code sheet... bar codes are all the same this year

[Aanchir]

Correct me if I am wrong... but what code sheet... bar codes are all the same this year

There's a special code that uses tiny dots this time, rather than a separate bar code. See here.

[Shroffy123]

Correct me if I am wrong... but what code sheet... bar codes are all the same this year

As mentioned above there are dots on the bottom of the packages that represent what the minifig is. However, they are really hard to see, at least for me.

[fred67]

I wish we had regional forums for things like this, but then again it would be a pain since this site covers most of the world.

I don't think you need regional forums, but it would help if people would bother setting their locations so when they say "I found some at my Toys R Us!" we know where they are talking about.

More specifically, as some of us have done, include at least your state. The U.S. is quite a big place. Our states are almost comparable to countries in Europe geographically (and population wise in a number of cases). It doesn't help me when someone in the U.S. in California (which I don't know unless they say it) says something is available at a particular store. I haven't heard anyone from the South East say they've found them, and if they have I didn't know their location.

[exon_from_youtube]

There's a special code that uses tiny dots this time, rather than a separate bar code. See here.

Them sly mother truckers.....

I did not even notice the bubbles in the seal....

[Joebot]

Do any of the S3 figures have spare parts? Neither the tennis player nor the rapper had them.

Of the 13 different figs that I've purchased, I did not have any spare parts. I was especially bummed that the sumo wrestler didn't have a spare trophy like the karate dude from series 2 had.

Edited December 2, 2010 by Joebot

[Darth Jar Jar]

Of the 13 different figs that I've purchased, I did not have any spare parts. I was especially bummed that the sumo wrestler didn't have a spare trophy like the karate dude from series 2 had.

You mean series 2

[SilentMode]

Of the 13 different figs that I've purchased, I did not have any spare parts. I was especially bummed that the sumo wrestler didn't have a spare trophy like the karate dude from series 2 had.

Man that's disappointing.

[Joebot]

You mean series 2

Yeah, as soon as I hit Add Reply, I saw I goofed that. Fixed it!!

[The Yellow Brick]

Has there been any sign of Series 3 in the United kingdom yet

[exon_from_youtube]

Has there been any sign of Series 3 in the United kingdom yet

I think some one said they would be there after Xmas

[Sered]

Is easier to find the wanted minifig with the new dot system?

Edited December 2, 2010 by Sered

[Ravenclaw2010]

oops forgot about, uhm....well...everywhere else! sorry, what's aggravating to me is that i used to live near one and go there every other week...now i'm on the other side of the country

That's ok.

[Joebot]

Is easier to find the wanted minifig with the new dot system?

Definitely not easier than the barcodes. The barcodes were tedious, but once you found the match to your cheat sheet, it was clear what the fig was.

With the dots, there's a lot more ambiguity. The dots are maddeningly hard to see, and sometimes it's not obvious what's a legitimate dot, and what's just a scuff on the packaging.

I ended up using a combination of the dot system and feeling the bags. I used the dot system to narrow it down to what I THOUGHT the fig was, then would try to feel for the relavent parts for verification. It takes a while, and I sorta felt like a dork while I was doing it, but I did manage to get exactly the figs that I wanted. It works, but be prepared to spend a bit of time tilting the bags back and forth in the light, to try to make out the dot pattern.

I know, it all sounds very silly, but I refuse to play the blind packaging game.

[r4-g9]

i just called the calgary lego store, and on the january store calinder it says that the release date for these is january 1st, ant my local tru says that they will get them in dacember.

[estephano (DE)]

Today I received more informations from a Lego rep at the Müller store in Stuttgart on the series 3 roll-out for Germany. Initially it had been planned to ship series 3 to stores by mid-November so they could go on sale before christmas. However this roll-out was thrown back and he confirmed that series 3 won't be available in stores before January. Although he wouldn't give me a concrete date as to when in January they would be available his informations matched with the one I got 2 days ago. So since Lego won't ship until mid-January due to their season holidays going until Jan. 9th, I guess we (Germans) won't get to see series 3 until Jan. 15th-20th.

[Shroffy123]

Definitely not easier than the barcodes. The barcodes were tedious, but once you found the match to your cheat sheet, it was clear what the fig was.

With the dots, there's a lot more ambiguity. The dots are maddeningly hard to see, and sometimes it's not obvious what's a legitimate dot, and what's just a scuff on the packaging.

I ended up using a combination of the dot system and feeling the bags. I used the dot system to narrow it down to what I THOUGHT the fig was, then would try to feel for the relavent parts for verification. It takes a while, and I sorta felt like a dork while I was doing it, but I did manage to get exactly the figs that I wanted. It works, but be prepared to spend a bit of time tilting the bags back and forth in the light, to try to make out the dot pattern.

I know, it all sounds very silly, but I refuse to play the blind packaging game.

Amen, I felt like a complete dork as well. When I went the store was packed (holiday toy shopping). So many people stopped either to stare at me or ask what I was doing, as I intensely stared at the packages. After about an hour, I finally just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Sadly that didn't work.

Here is hoping that they'll still be in stock over the next few weeks when I go with a friend to help with the search.

I TOO refuse to play the blind packaging game.

[Sered]

Definitely not easier than the barcodes. The barcodes were tedious, but once you found the match to your cheat sheet, it was clear what the fig was.

With the dots, there's a lot more ambiguity. The dots are maddeningly hard to see, and sometimes it's not obvious what's a legitimate dot, and what's just a scuff on the packaging.

I ended up using a combination of the dot system and feeling the bags. I used the dot system to narrow it down to what I THOUGHT the fig was, then would try to feel for the relavent parts for verification. It takes a while, and I sorta felt like a dork while I was doing it, but I did manage to get exactly the figs that I wanted. It works, but be prepared to spend a bit of time tilting the bags back and forth in the light, to try to make out the dot pattern.

I know, it all sounds very silly, but I refuse to play the blind packaging game.

Yeah I see.

Well, I'll try to pick up 5-6 elves, I think that could be 'easy', dot or not dot system. Elven shield should be easy to recognize...

Edited December 2, 2010 by Sered

[Captain Blockbeard]

To my surprise, I found 4 boxes at a Toys R Us in southeastern Pennsylvania today. (With Series 2, PA was among the last, if not the last, state to receive any shipments.) The Lego Reps. were still there checking inventory of 2011 sets and told me that I had arrived only 10 minutes after they put the boxes out. The dimple cheat sheet, despite being incomplete, enabled me to accurately pick nearly all of the minifigures I wanted. Only the Gorilla and the Indian Chief were indistinguishable. I doubt I'll need to search any further for Series 3 unless I build an elven or Blacktron army or hunt down that missing Gorilla.

The haul:

3x elves

3x Blacktron

2x tennis player

2x mummy

1x baseball player, snowboarder, hula girl, sumo wrestler, indian chief, samurai, and fisherman

From what I read here and on Brickset, I expected the dimples to be considerably more difficult to read. Yes, they are challenging after the ease of memorizing/reading barcodes, but it still enabled such an accurate judgment of most bags.

[The Brick Rat]

I haven't heard anyone from the South East say they've found them, and if they have I didn't know their location.

Here in Charlotte, NC I found series 3 at TRU on Tuesday. By Wednesday they were all gone.

Joebot wrote:

With the dots, there's a lot more ambiguity. The dots are maddeningly hard to see, and sometimes it's not obvious what's a legitimate dot, and what's just a scuff on the packaging.

I ended up using a combination of the dot system and feeling the bags. I used the dot system to narrow it down to what I THOUGHT the fig was, then would try to feel for the relavent parts for verification. It takes a while, and I sorta felt like a dork while I was doing it, but I did manage to get exactly the figs that I wanted. It works, but be prepared to spend a bit of time tilting the bags back and forth in the light, to try to make out the dot pattern.

This is exactly what I did too - with 100% accuracy (it just takes more patience than the barcodes).

[Lego_Hero]

Definitely not easier than the barcodes. The barcodes were tedious, but once you found the match to your cheat sheet, it was clear what the fig was.

With the dots, there's a lot more ambiguity. The dots are maddeningly hard to see, and sometimes it's not obvious what's a legitimate dot, and what's just a scuff on the packaging.

I ended up using a combination of the dot system and feeling the bags. I used the dot system to narrow it down to what I THOUGHT the fig was, then would try to feel for the relavent parts for verification. It takes a while, and I sorta felt like a dork while I was doing it, but I did manage to get exactly the figs that I wanted. It works, but be prepared to spend a bit of time tilting the bags back and forth in the light, to try to make out the dot pattern.

I know, it all sounds very silly, but I refuse to play the blind packaging game.

Tyler Texas has two boxes as of Tuesday. Apparently there's not alot of interest yet, because two days later I'm still the only one who's picked through them. I absent-mindedly left the box in front closed Tuesday and it was still closed tonight. That, and there were about the same number of bags left from last time. The boxes are on the shelf where Lego borders the off-brands. I almost missed it the first time through.

On my first trip I used the dots to identify bags and then felt them to be sure. Even doing that, my first haul of 18 left me short the Indian, with an extra Elf and Cyborg. I did the Elf on purpose, but I could have sworn I felt the Chief. I remember putting two Chiefs back thinking I already had one. Tonight I came in and picked up the Chief and an extra Gorilla.

I have to say I'm so much more impressed with this Series now that I have them in my hands. The printing quality is crazy good. The detail on the Elf is as good or better than any of the Castle/Kingdoms theme. I'll rank them in my next post. I don't want this one to seem too long.

Forget about ranking them, there's a poll around here somewhere. My top three are the Elf, Gorilla, and Chief in that order. Top three accessories: Gorilla head, Elf hair, and Street Punk hat. Best Torso: Elf, Aviator, Gorilla/Samurai (tie).

Edited December 3, 2010 by Lego_Hero