LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 discussion

[Itaria No Shintaku]

My 2 cents: the girl with boombox isn't final.

She is too similar to series 2 singer.

Who does agree?

[Aanchir]

It looks like reddish brown to me, and we haven't had that piece in that color yet. The nurse's hair was dark brown, the tennis player's was dark orange, and the upcoming surfer girl's is light brown.

By "light brown", I'm assuming you mean "medium nougat". The color that comes to mind when I hear "light brown" is 217 Brown (Dark Flesh on Bricklink), the color of Anakin Skywalker's hair in Episode III sets... and that color hasn't been in production since 2006. "Medium Nougat" is the orangish-brown color introduced in Prince of Persia, and has been used in the collectible minifigures for the Spartan's shield and the Pop Star's hair.

Anyway, here's something that's been bugging me. Does anyone think the Cleopatra fig is a bit morbid? Surely she will just be identified as "Egyptian Queen" or something by LEGO, and they'll come up with a humorous explanation of the snake (maybe it's a pet), but regarding Cleopatra herself any ancient history buff should recognize the snake's relationship to her as her means of committing suicide. It's not going to bother me much in the end, but with everyone calling her Cleopatra currently it's a tad unnerving.

Also, I don't see what everyone's going on about with the fitness guru being too similar to the Pop Star. She has the same hair and also wears pink. That's about where the similarities end. Granted, having the same hair is a little more similar than I'd like, but it's not like she's just the pop star with different accessories.

[Santhor]

Is it just me, or is the surfer/snowboarder thing (as well as a new trend of fishermen) getting kinda old? Also, this wave looks almost as good, if not better, than Series 4!

-Santhor

[Gregorovich]

My 2 cents: the girl with boombox isn't final.

She is too similar to series 2 singer.

Who does agree?

I don't know if you're right, but I really hope you are. I'd be really disappointed if that was her finished, because I would like to see that hairpiece in a new colour. Same goes for the zookeeper - I want to see her with that hairpiece in either black, light yellow or tan.

[kevin1990]

My 2 cents: the girl with boombox isn't final.

She is too similar to series 2 singer.

Who does agree?

I dont.

The girl with the boombox is a fitniss trainer

The other girl is a pop singer.

There is a differance.

They just look alike because the same hair was used in the same color.

I wonder if there is going to be a serie 6

[lifeinplastic]

1. Coldstream Guard - although the hat looks a little too bulky, this is a good figure. Buckingham Palace MOC anyone?

2. Inuit - I thought this would appear at some point. Lego obviously have an excess of fishing rods at the moment! Like the British guard, the oriental figures and the Mexican, it's nice having figures relating to other cultures. I can see a Canadian Mountie in future and hopefully an Uncle Sam! Also, some Bavarian figures like an Alpine goatherd, a Swiss milkmaid or one of those very long musical horns!

3. Boxer - I like this figure and hope he will soon have a blue counterpart.

4. Fitness Instructor - as people have pointed out, this is far too much like the pop star, which makes me think it's not the final figure. Could do with a change of hair and a less goofy face (not teeth showing).

5. Gladiator - I think this will be popular based on comments. Cannot see the face very well but probably not a figure I will buy.

6. Mobster - This will also be very popular. I love the violin case! Would be nice to have more figures with actual musical instruments though.

7. Snowboarder - I like variations of previous figures though slightly disappointed this wasn't a female skier (I need more skis!)

8. Dwarf - Would have been far more popular if these had not been previously released, like the elf but a good figure and I'm always after new stubby legs!

9. Zoo Keeper - A good opportunity for another female figure and the monkey is a nice touch. Still hoping for the Lego Safari sets to appear as part of the 'City' line! Will definitely try to find this one.

10. Clown - I'm hoping the bowler hat will be released in black. I like the circus themed figures as I was always envious of the Duplo clowns! Green stubby legs will be handy too.

11. Detective - A pity we cannot fully see the face here but it looks like it will be good as it doesn't have the strange mouth. Will be popular for Victoria MOCs and Steampunk.

12. Axeman - not sure if this is supposed to be a lumberjack but a bit disappointed. was hoping for a chainsaw, checked shirt and hard hat.

13. Cavewoman - definitely Pebbles from the Flintstones! Nice to see the cave people family growing! Good use of the new bone/

14. Godzilla - a bit of an odd figure but seems to be popular. Not sure I'll try to get it myself unless the face underneath is good.

15. Graduate - The graduate hat is one of the best new moulds in this series, along with the violin case. This would have been a good opportunity to have a female figure with glasses and lipstick but perhaps we'll get another in future.

16. Cleopatra - Surprised the Spalko hair was not used but good to see a historical figure made (the asp suggests it is definitely Cleopatra!). I'd like to see Lincoln and Elvis lookalikes in future series!

Edited February 6, 2011 by lifeinplastic

[Joey Lock]

Now is it just me or is Lego either getting threatened by Brickforge, Brickarms e.t.c. Or trying to just copy ideas?

Most of these figures have had EXACTLY the same design figures as Brickforge items, first the Spartan, Now the Gladiator?

[Dunjohn]

Is it just me, or is the surfer/snowboarder thing (as well as a new trend of fishermen) getting kinda old? Also, this wave looks almost as good, if not better, than Series 4!

-Santhor

Nah, I definitely won't get tired of them for a while. A ski slope or surf beach would look very odd if everybody and every board was identical, so three or four variations on things like that are fine by me.

Could have used a different colour fish, though.

On the Brickforge thing, that's a good point. I don't know if TLG would feel threatened by it per se, but those ancillery companies definitely exposed a lucrative niche market for accessories that couldn't have been worked into the kinds of sets TLG makes. This is just TLG moving in on that mnarket.

Edited February 6, 2011 by Dunjohn

[Gregorovich]

15. Graduate - The graduate hat is one of the best new moulds in this series, along with the violin case. This would have been a good opportunity to have a female figure with glasses and lipstick but perhaps we'll get another in future.

The news reporter from the new "Alien Conquest" theme has glasses and lipstick, which I'm happy about.

[Aanchir]

Now is it just me or is Lego either getting threatened by Brickforge, Brickarms e.t.c. Or trying to just copy ideas?

Most of these figures have had EXACTLY the same design figures as Brickforge items, first the Spartan, Now the Gladiator?

Not really. There's a demand for Spartans, and Brickforge sought to satisfy and profit from that demand. The demand is still strong, so it goes without saying that LEGO would also stand to benefit from it. If fans of your product are willing to buy something, you're not going to shy away from producing it just because a small-scale customizer produces one already. Based on your assumption, LEGO should never release anything that a customizer has already released, no matter how popular it is or how much potential it has as an idea.

LEGO might very well be taking inspiration from Brickforge, Brickarms, etc, but it can't really be argued that they're doing it to try to harm Brickforge's business. Rather, they're two companies trying to satisfy the same demands for the same customers. Brickforge and other customizers just got around to it before LEGO themselves got the chance.

Customizers appeal to only a tiny segment of LEGO's fanbase, and they certainly don't pose any threat to LEGO's business. And TLG knows this. What customizers do accomplish, though, is that they reflect what sorts of minifigure accessories there is a demand for. LEGO has as much of a right as the customizers do to try and profit from that already-present demand.

[Lumberjerk]

The lumberjack is awesome ... ;)

[BasOne]

So, any thoughts on series 6?

The gladiator and guard are must haves, shame we'll have to wait till August, series 4 up next in april mmmmm hazmat guy

Edited February 6, 2011 by BasOne

[blueandwhite]

Now is it just me or is Lego either getting threatened by Brickforge, Brickarms e.t.c. Or trying to just copy ideas?

Most of these figures have had EXACTLY the same design figures as Brickforge items, first the Spartan, Now the Gladiator?

The collector's figures are a limited run, niche item. I don't think that they are threatened by third party accessory manufacturers and I don't think they are looking to copy them either. It just happens to be that LEGO has decided to produce a figure that overlaps with something already developed by a 3rd party. LEGO is no more copying Brickforge than they are copying MegaBloks or Playmobil.

There's only so many ways you can make a gladiator's helmet. Just because Brickforge/Brickarms decided to develop 3rd party accessories doesn't mean that it becomes forbidden for LEGO to develop similar ideas. The concept of making a Gladiator, Elf or Spartan just isn't that unique. I don't think LEGO is trying to copy Brickforge/Brickarms per se, but I don't think that they are going to go out of their way to make their accessories too different either. As a fan I'd be pretty disappointed if LEGO refused to give us the Spartan or gladiator simply because a 3rd party has already developed a similar accessory.

[Cerlin]

Again many minifigs in series 5 i like and few that i don't care much for. I'm going to buy all of them anyway and try to get multiples of some.

The Only thing I'm disappointed about is that there's no japanese minifig in series 5 and not a single sci-fi minifig in either series 4 or 5. Hazmat suit guy from series 4 is useful for space, but he's not necessarily sci-fi. Series two also didn't have sci-fi figs, but the rest of the figures made up for it for me.

[Ogre]

Another sweet series.

Looks like a few more figs that I'll have to try and snag mulitiples copies.

[Tamamono]

And I don't understand why the bags are blue, because so were series 2's. Anyway, overall, they look excellent. Thanks for the video!

I think that the blue bags are preliminary. Since this series isn't coming out until (late?) summer, choosing an "official" bag color isn't as pertinent to series 5 as it would be to series 4. That being said, they're probably going to change the bag color for series 5 at some point.

Although I don't think they're going to be able to come up with a color that would top series 4's orange bags.

[Ro87n]

I'm so disapointed about this serie:

Royal Guard (no new gun or mold, it should even have that knife part ontop of the barrel and the helmet piece is somewhat out of shape, just looks weird to me)

Eskimo, Inuit or Yupik called by themselfs (would be for a 3rd time in a row for having a fishing rod+fish in a serie, no need for more of this IMO)

Boxer (no real down things here)

Aerobic Lady (to much alike the Pop Star, she should atleast have another hair colour, I think lego had too many left and used it agian)

Gladiator (weapon + shield not in gold? It just doesnt fit its outfit, but mostly the shield is too common IMO)

Mafiosi (most pieces I already own, exept for the violin case of course. And the fedora hat should atleast have that white line around it or a white hat with the black line. And most anoying is the ordinary gun. Come on, even those guns used in Pharaoh's Quest - Flying Mummy Attack on that plane are better guns

Snowboarder (realy another one, no need, I got like so many surfboards and skateboards already too!)

Dwarf (I just hope the torso will be printed)

Zookeeper (seems somewhat the same outfit as the explorer, no good job on that, just a very tiny change and the hair piece is too common)

Clown (why does he need to be 'vertically challenged' ?)

Sherlock Holmes/Detective (where is the smoking-pipe or that typically detectives bag?)

Lumberjack (I just don't know yet, even though he got some potential)

Cave/jungle Girl (no real down things here for me)

Godzilla/Dino suit Guy (too bad that -as far as I can see- it will have no tail!)

Graduate Student (I'd rather wanted the Judge with the hisorical white wig)

Cleopatra (no things that cools me down for series5 on this fig)

So far as I could have seen from the pictures and video are those my fav's:

Boxer, Dwarf, Cavegirl, Godzilla and Cleopatra.

And least favorites:

Aerobic Lady, Mafiosi, Snowboarder and Graduate Student. (Would still want them, but I wont try so hard to find them, maybe exept the Mafia minifig for his violin case and violin case alone)

The others are somewhere between. Not real favorites but I would prolly still buy them or atleast try to find them.

Edit: I'm basicly just waiting for series 4 to be released and is a much better series than 5, IMO.

Edited February 6, 2011 by Ro87n

[Fugazi]

Also, her boom box seems to be the unreleased light lavender color we've had on LDD since version 3. Here's hoping that Bricklink doesn't confuse it with an old and out-of-production color when it makes its debut... of course, being a fairly unique color, I imagine that they should know better this time.

What would be the number ID of that colour in LDD, if you please? (my home computer is too old for LDD)

I'm surprised that a new colour would be introduced in a collectible minifig instead of a proper theme. Perhaps the rumoured Paradisia-like theme that was postponed to 2012 would have normally introduced this colour in the summer of 2011.

[WhiteFang]

As usual, this series is no disappointment for me and I am already anxiously waiting for the remaining Series 4 and 5 to hit to the stores, so we could just get them all. Lots of unique minifigures, and I am very surprised by the graduate minifigure.

With the Cleopatra, Dwarf, Cavewoman, etc, I just wish the Collectable Minifigures will stretch beyond Series 5.

[ProducePrincess]

These figs seem to be based alot more on real people.The gladiator is good and the redneck lumberjack could be fun to use. I'm kinda sick of seeing so many snowboarder and skier figs though.

[Inspecter]

Well This series is still a let down hopefully Series six(if there is a series 6) would have a Scotsman or Lederhosen man

Edited February 6, 2011 by Inspecter

[vexorian]

Underwhelmed.

The Mafia guy was the one I was looking up to see, but the pic looks like a black hat cowboy with a violin case :(. If only the gun would have been that typical automatic gun the stereotypical mafia member would use. And also the hat and the costume would have been much better in bley.

Then we have a lot of figs I am not really interested in. Some would have been good to find during the process of the minifig I really wanted. But since there is no minifig I really want in this series, I just don't think I will even try getting its bags. Specially if, like it seems it will be, the series 3, 4, 5, and 6 bags will arrive at the same time at my store, I will be busy getting the ones in series 3 and 4, and hopefully series 6 will have something cool as well. If my store for some reason does not bring one of those four series, I am so far hoping it is series 5 ...

Edit: I didn't even notice that was supposed to be Sherlock Holmes (looked more like a repeat of series 2's explorer...). Ok, maybe the pipe wouldn't have been allowed since it would 'promote smoking'. But where is the long coat? And the hat wasn't that recognizable either.

Edited February 6, 2011 by vexorian

[Delta 38]

BABY MONKEY BABY MONKEY BABY MONKEY!

How could I miss that?

I still really, really like the gladiator. The lizard-suit guy probably comes a close second.

At this rate, if they keep increasing the prices, I'll have to start cutting back, which is hard enough as it is because I only get about one of each...

[Scop]

I'm so disapointed about this serie:

Godzilla/Dino suit Guy (too bad that -as far as I can see- it will have no tail!)

If you take a closer look at the video, you can actually see a tail @ 1:37 min ;)

[Joebot]

Edit: I didn't even notice that was supposed to be Sherlock Holmes. Ok, maybe the pipe wouldn't have been allowed since it would 'promote smoking'. But where is the long coat? And the hat wasn't that recognizable either.

I suspect you're right about the lack of a pipe. Much like how Marvel Comics now prohibits their artists from depicting characters smoking, I imagine TLC has a similar policy. Makes sense, I suppose, but a smoking pipe IS a huge part of Sherlock Holmes' popular image.

Series 4 really blew me away, but I'm feeling a bit of a letdown on Series 5. Too many of the figs feel ... familiar. The cavewoman, the fitness instructor, the snowboarder ... they just seem too similar to existing figs.