LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 discussion

[Mr.Cestus]

A-Anyway, what color do you guys think the Gladiator's helmet is?

Is it the same color as the Spartan's helmet, (pearl-gold) or the Spartan's shield (nougat)?

[Etzel]

A-Anyway, what color do you guys think the Gladiator's helmet is?

Is it the same color as the Spartan's helmet, (pearl-gold) or the Spartan's shield (nougat)?

I think it's the same as the sumo wrestlers trophy, that bronze colour that Bricklink calls Copper. But it's hard to see, in some pictures it looks like medium dark flesh/medium nougat (as the Spartan's shield) and in some it looks almost like dark tan. But the bronze colour feels like the most plausible to me, and the one I personally think would work best.

[Blondie-Wan]

I think it's the same as the sumo wrestlers trophy, that bronze colour that Bricklink calls Copper. But it's hard to see, in some pictures it looks like medium dark flesh/medium nougat (as the Spartan's shield) and in some it looks almost like dark tan. But the bronze colour feels like the most plausible to me, and the one I personally think would work best.

I think you're right. In particular I don't think it would be a nougat or tan color; I believe the designer would want it to be a color more readily associated with something metallic.

[Aanchir]

I'd rather have slightly more pricey figures and have figures i can put in my main collection then figures sitting in my curio. I would mix them w/ my main figures but I'm to worried about the "Collectible" figures getting damaged(I am NOT rough w/ legos if your wondering). And outside of the printing plates, I can't see why the major parts(head, torso, and legs) can't be made of GOOD plastic. Except for the printing stage, the parts are the exact same as normal figures.

I used to wonder why I've lost all respect and nearly all interest in TLG lately(mainly interested in creator and city only but that interest is shrinking fast) but now I realize that it's crap like this that has killed this ex lego fans love.

price issues and lack of girl figures/girl color are close behind. I don't want a pink-a-plooza in my lego collection(i'm a female that's more of a tomboy), but i'd like SOME variety of color in my collection.

Except for the fact that A) a couple cousins are coming over and one loves to build lego w/ me and B) i don't feel like rolling my cart back into my room, I'd be storing the cart w/ lego in my room.

Again, where are you getting the idea that there's a durability problem with Chinese-made parts and minifigures? That's one quality issue I've never heard of with collectible minifigures, or with any other "Made in China" parts. The problems reported so far have in general been purely aesthetic ones, and even those aren't nearly as severe as some of the quality issues LEGO parts had prior to Chinese production.

As for girl figures and "girl colors", there is a rumor that next year will include a girl-oriented minifigure-scale theme, although people in general are unsure what sort of contents it might include. I do expect it to include other "girl colors" though, given that these six colors are all due to be released soon.

Incidentally, and pulling this conversation back on-topic, color 325 Lavender will be making its debut this year in Series 5, as the color of the dancer/fitness trainer's boom box. Others of these colors have been spotted in the Alien Conquest and Cars themes, as well as an extended-line female minifigure clock in casual clothing, possibly foreshadowing next year's theme. The collectible minifigures also tend to go a significant distance towards amending the rarity of female minifigures. Although there are never as many as male minifigures, the collectible series have some of the greatest diversity of female figs of any theme, and a greater gender balance than pretty much any theme besides possibly City.

[Ogre]

Incidentally, and pulling this conversation back on-topic, color 325 Lavender will be making its debut this year in Series 5, as the color of the dancer/fitness trainer's boom box. Others of these colors have been spotted in the Alien Conquest and Cars themes, as well as an extended-line female minifigure clock in casual clothing, possibly foreshadowing next year's theme. The collectible minifigures also tend to go a significant distance towards amending the rarity of female minifigures. Although there are never as many as male minifigures, the collectible series have some of the greatest diversity of female figs of any theme, and a greater gender balance than pretty much any theme besides possibly City.

Okay, no matter how many times I read that, I'm still left scratching my head in confusion...

[SpiderSpaceman]

As for girl figures and "girl colors", there is a rumor that next year will include a girl-oriented minifigure-scale theme, although people in general are unsure what sort of contents it might include. I do expect it to include other "girl colors" though, given that these six colors are all due to be released soon.

I was thinking about that the other day, there was talk about it one day and then it seemed like it totally fell away

Glad I wasn't just imagining it happened, because i'm really really curious and I think even as a macho man I'm going to be suckered in

Edit: aaaaaah! I just looked at the colors

Edited May 8, 2011 by SpiderSpaceman

[Blondie-Wan]

As for girl figures and "girl colors", there is a rumor that next year will include a girl-oriented minifigure-scale theme, although people in general are unsure what sort of contents it might include. I do expect it to include other "girl colors" though, given that these six colors are all due to be released soon.

Incidentally, and pulling this conversation back on-topic, color 325 Lavender will be making its debut this year in Series 5, as the color of the dancer/fitness trainer's boom box. Others of these colors have been spotted in the Alien Conquest and Cars themes, as well as an extended-line female minifigure clock in casual clothing, possibly foreshadowing next year's theme.

Wow! Did you learn all this from that Flickr page you linked to, or did you post that yourself, and if so, where'd you get the info?

[Etzel]

Wow! Did you learn all this from that Flickr page you linked to, or did you post that yourself, and if so, where'd you get the info?

The "girly" theme has been discussed for quite a while in the town sub-forum: link. I suggest you continue there

[Blondie-Wan]

The "girly" theme has been discussed for quite a while in the town sub-forum: link. I suggest you continue there

I'd actually seen that thread before, but had overlooked or forgotten the info Aanchir cited. Thanks!

[Aanchir]

Wow! Did you learn all this from that Flickr page you linked to, or did you post that yourself, and if so, where'd you get the info?

Yeah, that's my Flickr page. Most of the info on those colors is collected from LDD, even though the "matching" between the LDD colors and the colors we're actually beginning to see in sets was all my doing. If it turns out that some other Material ID like 320 or 327 belongs to these things I've mentioned, then I'm the one who will be to blame for identifying them wrong.

Those six colors have been on LEGO Digital Designer for several versions now, and I had long been speculating when they might start to appear. LEGO Material IDs are generally assigned in the order in which the colors make their first appearance, and since the most recent new colors as of last year (315 Silver Metallic and 316 Titanium Metallic, both new to last year) were approaching very near these six colors I figured it was only a matter of time before these appeared in real life.

I expected all of them to debut in the new girls' theme as soon as I heard rumors of it (there's been some discussion of it in the Town subforum here for quite a while-- see Etzel's link ), but clearly some of them are making their debut even sooner in themes like Alien Conquest, Cars, and the collectible minifigures. As of the latest update to LDD, we know not only the Material ID numbers for these colors but also their names.

And Ogre, sorry my wording was so unclear. The product I'm referring to is basically a clock like this one, except instead of a stormtrooper it's a non-licensed female minifigure with a pink shirt (222 Light Purple/Bricklink's Bright Pink) and lavender pants (324 Medium Lavender). "Extended Line" just means that it's a LEGO-brand product that isn't an actual set-- in other words, basically anything that's classified as "Gear" on Bricklink would be considered "extended-line".

[Legoist]

ABS plastic is much more expensive because it is oil based, and this is why smaller products such as the 'Collectable Minifigures' series and the 'Vintage Minifigures' series are made in China. They can be made cheaper and can meet demands quicker.

How much more expensive could it be really? How much cheaper are these minifigs compared of what they would be if they used normal ABS plasic?

From those minifigs I already have, it's always the legs that seems to be using lower-quality plastic, and sometimes the torsos (but some other times they seem normal to me).

If they made all legs in normal, high-quality ABS, how much would the minifigs cost? I have a hard time believing they will increase by more than a couple of dimes... judging by the price of other themes and sets regular minifigs don't seem to be that much more expensive. Collectable minifigs receive more investment in the design, but then they are also manufactured in very large quantities anyway so economies of scale should apply to CM also.

I'd be fine with spending 0.50e more for each minifig in exchange for a quality improvement.

I find the talk about inferior Chinese-made products quite prejudiced and niggling. This far I still haven't seen anything that suggests that the CMs are inferior in quality. Small exceptions can be found but that's not exclusive to the CMs. So, quality-wise I have nothing against TLG producing in China.

Haven't you really noticed anything different? I think it's easy to "feel" that the plastic is not the same in the legs and some torsos (e.g. Hockey Player, Werewolf) at least. However other torsos (especially the heavily printed ones) feel quite normal to me. I'm not sure but I wonder if this is related somehow to the minifig rarity distribution, is it possible that TLG uses more parts in low-quality plastic for the more common minifigs?

That said, the "feeling" itself is not the problem. But it does raise questions and concerns about the durability: will these legs break easily is a couple of years of playing with them? will the prints fall off more quickly from CM compared to normal minifigs? I think these are legitimate worries!

[jonwil]

I believe that someone said something about the plastic used in the Chinese factory being different to the one used in other factories due to the Chinese Government requirement that a certain amount of the raw materials come from Chinese suppliers.

[Etzel]

Haven't you really noticed anything different? I think it's easy to "feel" that the plastic is not the same in the legs and some torsos (e.g. Hockey Player, Werewolf) at least. However other torsos (especially the heavily printed ones) feel quite normal to me. I'm not sure but I wonder if this is related somehow to the minifig rarity distribution, is it possible that TLG uses more parts in low-quality plastic for the more common minifigs?

That said, the "feeling" itself is not the problem. But it does raise questions and concerns about the durability: will these legs break easily is a couple of years of playing with them? will the prints fall off more quickly from CM compared to normal minifigs? I think these are legitimate worries!

Yes, as you said, the plastic can appear a bit different in the legs mainly. But that's no quality issue as I see it. It's hardly noticeable and doesn't effect the building experience. I don't worry at all about the durability, nothing so far has suggested that the Chinese made minifigs are less durable and I don't see any reason why to worry if we haven't even got a clue about it.

[Aanchir]

How much more expensive could it be really? How much cheaper are these minifigs compared of what they would be if they used normal ABS plasic?

From those minifigs I already have, it's always the legs that seems to be using lower-quality plastic, and sometimes the torsos (but some other times they seem normal to me).

If they made all legs in normal, high-quality ABS, how much would the minifigs cost? I have a hard time believing they will increase by more than a couple of dimes... judging by the price of other themes and sets regular minifigs don't seem to be that much more expensive. Collectable minifigs receive more investment in the design, but then they are also manufactured in very large quantities anyway so economies of scale should apply to CM also.

I'd be fine with spending 0.50e more for each minifig in exchange for a quality improvement.

I don't think the use of different plastic on Chinese-made figs has anything to do with cost. The benefit from Chinese production is generally one of lower labor costs, not lower materials costs. And furthermore, TLG made the decision to use a different plastic reluctantly due to Chinese production laws (if this report is to be trusted-- I'd really like an official written statement by TLG explaining this situation so we don't have to rely so heavily on word-of-mouth).

As for the legs using lower-quality plastic, keep in mind that in many cases a mold can have as much influence on the look or "feel" of a piece as the material. In fact, the surface finish of a part is an important consideration when designing new parts, especially because consistency of appearance between different pieces depends on it heavily. Since the collectible minifigures use different leg, waist, torso, and arm molds from minifigures produced in other countries, mold differences may be a factor in issues that seem to afflict particular pieces. It probably doesn't explain the translucency issue since the insides of the legs are visually identical to those of non-Chinese-made minifigures, but it could explain the differences in feel (including one report I heard once about how the legs of collectible minifigures seem to have sharper corners than other figs).

Haven't you really noticed anything different? I think it's easy to "feel" that the plastic is not the same in the legs and some torsos (e.g. Hockey Player, Werewolf) at least. However other torsos (especially the heavily printed ones) feel quite normal to me. I'm not sure but I wonder if this is related somehow to the minifig rarity distribution, is it possible that TLG uses more parts in low-quality plastic for the more common minifigs?

That said, the "feeling" itself is not the problem. But it does raise questions and concerns about the durability: will these legs break easily is a couple of years of playing with them? will the prints fall off more quickly from CM compared to normal minifigs? I think these are legitimate worries!

Well, TLG isn't using different plastic for different collectible minifigure parts because all the collectible minifigure parts are made in China. There wouldn't be any point using a lower-quality plastic for certain parts and keeping their traditional plastic for other parts. I think the more likely explanation is that the quality of the finalized plastic pieces is more of an issue of variability than one of parts being consistently bad.

While the feeling of the parts may raise questions about the durability, I think the fact that we haven't heard any horror stories about the collectible minifigures' parts breaking answers at least some of those questions. Closest thing we've heard to that was the issue in Series 1 with arm joints becoming loose after switching them around with other figs-- I'm not sure if this was ever resolved, since I personally don't swap arms around on my minifigures as a principle and the lack of more recent reports of that problem may just mean people have stopped switching arms around on collectible minifigures for fear of damaging their parts. Still, keep in mind that for TLG, the durability and longevity of a piece or set is a far higher priority in terms of quality than color inconsistencies. So I have no doubt that they thoroughly tested the plastic they're using in the Chinese production plant before committing to producing minifigures from that plastic.

[Rufus]

I've updated the first post with a link to the high-res images, to make them easier to find.

[Stardusty]

Think of it this way: the crash test dummy was dreadfully unpopular among AFOLs, and was not very useful for army building. Does that mean that there should never have been a LEGO crash test dummy?

Crash Test Dummy is best CM ever. It's simply awesome.

Just like Stormtrooper or Clone Trooper. You can put it anywhere you want and it will look good.

My opinion about S5: I have few favorites, but figs like gladiator, girl with radio and some others are

disapointing.

But, I really like student with that piece f paper (I don't know English word) and royal guard.

Those are my favourites, among cave woman, zoo girl and some others.

Btw. Rufus, was this your first editing job on this forum?

[LEGO AFOL]

I like series 5. Only the gladiator and the girl with radio I dont like. All the rest are wonderful.

Edited May 10, 2011 by LEGO AFOL

[vexorian]

As for the lifeguard and dancer, LEGO has never had the capacity to print the top of a minifigure torso. They could add it, but due to the curved shape of the top edge of the torso there'd be a very visible seam. Meanwhile the outfit would look like it's falling apart at the sides. I personally don't see how this is a problem when it can be so easily ignored. The lifeguard is still one of my favorite female collectible figs.

The cavewoman looks ok and she has a printed top. To me that looks better than the strange suddenly pink sides of the dancer.

[Aanchir]

The cavewoman looks ok and she has a printed top. To me that looks better than the strange suddenly pink sides of the dancer.

Sorry, by "top" I was referring to the uppermost surface of the minifig torso, not the article of clothing. But IMHO, the dancer's pink sides are no more bothersome than the fact that Hula Dancer's bikini top fails to wrap around the sides. Yes, it's imperfect, but these are minifigures and after a while you get used to dealing with unavoidable design imperfections.

I understand that it just seems to bother you more than it bothers me, and that's perfectly OK. Different people are bothered by different things. Personally, the fact that the Series 2 Lifeguard's leg printing doesn't have a black line separating the swimsuit from her skin color bothers me, since that makes the leg decorations inconsistent with the torso decoration. But in my case, I have no trouble ignoring color differences between the top and side surfaces of a minifigure torso and the adjacent front and back decorations.

[Zeya]

With 4 CMF releases a year, that's 3 months apart for releases. My shipment for series 4 from TRU was shipped on March 21st. So Series 5 should be hitting the streets around the end of June (here in the US).

Too soon! (Not soon enough! )

[Aanchir]

With 4 CMF releases a year, that's 3 months apart for releases. My shipment for series 4 from TRU was shipped on March 21st. So Series 5 should be hitting the streets around the end of June (here in the US).

Too soon! (Not soon enough! )

We don't know anything about whether or not there will be four series this year. And the stated release date from Toy Fair for Series 5 is September, so it would be more likely to start showing up in July or August.

[Zeya]

I just assumed it would be 4 series per year, since they released CMF3 and CMF4 three months apart.

[Jargo]

seems to me the 'girl with radio' is a step aerobics exercise teacher. surely only an aerobics teacher could wear such a hideous ensemble? I know a lot of dancers and none of them would be seen dead wearing that outfit.

[Lego Otaku]

seems to me the 'girl with radio' is a step aerobics exercise teacher. surely only an aerobics teacher could wear such a hideous ensemble? I know a lot of dancers and none of them would be seen dead wearing that outfit.

Yep. eye-melting outfit. If I ever come across those, I will strap every one of that ugly minifig to an M-80 and light em then run.

[LEGO AFOL]

The graduate looks cool.