LEGO Collectable Minifigures Future Series Rumours

[gedren_y]

1 hour ago, Roebuck said:

Do Lego have the license to do that anyway?!
Yes I know they have made 2 batman series, but that was from a Lego movie not a "normal" DC film!
I thought the hole point with making small battle pack within themes like SW, DC and Marvel is that Lego do not have the license to make single fig collectibles from those themes

It is hot now so I think I need a spoonful of salt to swallow this rumour along with Disney 3 and every other 2020 CMF rumour turning up these days

I thought that was just SW and Marvel. I didn't think Hasbro had exclusive rights to DC.

[Anonknee Muss]

I was just starting to get bored with the lack of regular series until this news popped up!

[ToaIruini]

6 hours ago, Roebuck said:

Do Lego have the license to do that anyway?!
Yes I know they have made 2 batman series, but that was from a Lego movie not a "normal" DC film!
I thought the hole point with making small battle pack within themes like SW, DC and Marvel is that Lego do not have the license to make single fig collectibles from those themes

It is hot now so I think I need a spoonful of salt to swallow this rumour along with Disney 3 and every other 2020 CMF rumour turning up these days

Save some salt for me, what’s so hard about making regular series, I don’t think anyone’s opposed 

[Digger of Bricks]

9 hours ago, MatthewRC said:

I've just found out what series 71026 CMF will be!

It's gonna be a DC Universe collectible Minifigure Series! 

Eh, really?  

To me, the suggestion of such does sound just as promising as the long-term potential Disney can offer, all the while being just as pointless as the Wizarding World CMS. Seriously, unless this DC Universe CMS is more particular than I'm presuming it is, what could it offer that couldn't just be shoehorned into a playset? You see, in terms of only their comic-based offers, I admire the creative freedom both the DC and Marvel SuperHeroes themes have over their source material compared to other licensed themes, as they're at liberty to shoehorn any character they want into whatever contrived playset they cook up, hence there being no pressing need for a complementary Collectable Minifigure Series. 

Edited July 26, 2019 by Digger of Bricks

[Accio Lego]

16 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

You see, in terms of only their comic-based offers, I admire the creative freedom both the DC and Marvel SuperHeroes themes have over their source material compared to other licensed themes, as they're at liberty to shoehorn any character they want into whatever contrived playset they cook up, hence there being no pressing need for a complementary CMS. 

Oh yes, Lego is so good at utilizing the rich collection of DC characters that the only solitary set in the DC section that doesn’t have Batman taking up one of the character slots is the Aquaman movie set. And the only heroes available in sets right now that aren’t part of the core justice league line up or the bat-family are Shazam and Mera (from the previously mentioned Aquaman set). 

I’m not a die hard DC fan, but even I think it’s a little ridiculous that it took the Lego Batman Movie to get several new heroes and villains that theoretically according to you could have been ‘shoehorned’ into any old DC set years ago. 

Give us Teen Titans and Young Justice and Arrowverse. Take the opportunity to give us characters from the JSA, Outsiders and Birds of Prey. Take advantage of the mold budget to give us lanterns, Kid Flash’s cowl hair combo, Doctor Fate’s helmet and all those other unique parts that belong to characters that you don’t want to budget into standard play sets. 

Basically, I see how they could make it interesting. 

[gedren_y]

There are a number of Superman side characters that wouldn't make it into sets: Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang, and Perry White just to name a few.

[K_Tiger]

I'd much prefer a Marvel series, but I could probably dig up at least a couple of DC characters that I could be persuaded to buy without too much arm-twisting. Hell, I ended up with a lot of those TLBM minifigures.

[Digger of Bricks]

8 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

Give us Teen Titans and Young Justice and Arrowverse. Take the opportunity to give us characters from the JSA, Outsiders and Birds of Prey. Take advantage of the mold budget to give us lanterns, Kid Flash’s cowl hair combo, Doctor Fate’s helmet and all those other unique parts that belong to characters that you don’t want to budget into standard play sets. 

I feel that once Lego takes advantage of this rumored CMS for such, they'd have no qualms about shoehorning those characters into playsets right after the fact now that they're equipped with those needed molds, hence making their introduction within that Series pointless. 

[Aanchir]

20 hours ago, Robert8 said:

The only way I can think of to circumvent the license obstacle is releasing a series based on a LEGO product DC-related, just like Batman Movie

There may not BE a license obstacle for selling DC characters as stand-alone figures. It all depends on how LEGO's licensing contract (and any other toy companies' licensing contracts) are written up.

In a lot of cases, blind-packaged collectible figures, figures for a building toy system, and action figures are treated as separate toy categories, and licensing contracts for any of these can include clauses clarifying which other categories are or aren't covered under the terms of the agreement.

So for example, the licensing agreement that allowed Hasbro to make Marvel action figures from 2007 to 2011 had an extensive section clarifying what WASN'T considered an "action figure" under the terms of the license:

Quote

Note:  For the avoidance of doubt, the following items are not  “Action Figures” for the purposes hereof and Licensee accepts and understands that Licensor has on-going licenses in each of these business segments, which shall continue throughout the Term:

• girls’ dolls (for example, Barbie, Amazing Amanda)
• collectible action figures, statues, busts and dioramas (for example, Diamond Select, Bowen, Hard Heroes, Sideshow, Corgi etc).
• micro-figurine playsets (scaled for below 3 inches) (for example,  Auto Kit)
• construction toys and figures (for example, Mega Bloks, Lego)
• magnetic toys and figures (for example, Magnetix, GeoMag)
• modular playsets with figures (for example, Playmobil, Famosa Marvel Heroes)
• novelty figures (for example, Mini-Mates, Kubriks, Little Big Heads, Bobble-Heads)
• plush figures (for example, Russ Berrie, Kelly Toys, Thinkway)
• figure-based or figure-inclusive board and/or strategy & tactics games (for example, Playmates Battle Dice, Whiz Kids Hero Clix)
• micro (below 3 inches) figurines (for example, Bullyland, Tomy/Bandai Capsule Collectibles)
• micro (below 3 inches) figurines for premiums (for example, QSR premiums, micro-figurines inside of food/chocolate)
• figural room guards, banks, clocks, walkie-talkies, radios, hard candy, novelty candy (e.g. Spinners), confectionary and other non-action-toy devices or objects.

 

[AdmiralRaddus]

I would hope to see more historical themed minifigs in the next CMF series. There are still many  that we are missing. I would love to see an ancient Briton warrior with woad paint.

[Accio Lego]

10 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

I feel that once Lego takes advantage of this rumored CMS for such, they'd have no qualms about shoehorning those characters into playsets right after the fact now that they're equipped with those needed molds, hence making their introduction within that Series pointless. 

It’s not pointless, it gives them the extra budget to create those new molds, and as a result gives the main theme more characters to use in sets that they might not have ever included otherwise (the superhero theme doesn’t have unlimited budget after all). That’s something that Lego has been using the CMFs for for ages. Lego isn’t going to stop doing it just because you think the cmf minifigure with extra printing and dual molded arms that came with a unique accessory is suddenly ‘pointless’ because Lego used their new hair/mask piece to include a simpler version of the same character in a $60 play set a year or two later. 

[Anonknee Muss]

I’ve seen some people call “BS” (their words not mine) on this DC series because of how “poorly” (again their words, I don’t know how well it did) TLBM S2 sold. 

[Digger of Bricks]

13 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

It’s not pointless, it gives them the extra budget to create those new molds, and as a result gives the main theme more characters to use in sets that they might not have ever included otherwise (the superhero theme doesn’t have unlimited budget after all). That’s something that Lego has been using the CMFs for for ages. Lego isn’t going to stop doing it just because you think the cmf minifigure with extra printing and dual molded arms that came with a unique accessory is suddenly ‘pointless’ because Lego used their new hair/mask piece to include a simpler version of the same character in a $60 play set a year or two later. 

By pointless, I mean besides the primary ulterior point of the Collectable Minifigure theme, and that is to provide supplementary material for themes, genres, and licenses that never had, currently aren't, and may never be represented by a playset-based line of products. Sure, the theme has been utilized to provide higher-quality figures of characters and archetypes previously represented in past and present products, but I appreciate the theme best when it doesn't overlap with other product lines that exist at the same time, making it up to fans who Lego would otherwise have absolutely nothing to offer to.

[Accio Lego]

4 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

By pointless, I mean besides the primary ulterior point of the Collectable Minifigure theme, and that is to provide supplementary material for themes, genres, and licenses that never had, currently aren't, and may never be represented by a playset-based line of products.

That may be your personal primary reason for being interested in the CMFs. But from a commercial standpoint it’s much better for Lego if they get new molds that they can reuse over and over again out of it. That’s why most non licensed CMFs have a decent number of modern characters in them, despite the fact they could be ‘shoehorned’ into a City set, and one of the reasons they consider licensed series a good investment. There are plenty of ‘normal’ hairstyles and accessories that have become commonplace in sets after being introduced in a CMF, it’s likely one of the reasons the theme gets such a nice budget for new molds. 

[Klaus-Dieter]

Thank you very much for this news!

Regrettably it's bad news: Is TLG crazy (of licenses) to bring a DC minifigures series?! I really think that we've now got more than enough licensed series!

Please bring back at least two normal (unlicensed and unthemed) series per year!

[Gorilla94]

16 hours ago, Klaus-Dieter said:

Thank you very much for this news!

Regrettably it's bad news: Is TLG crazy (of licenses) to bring a DC minifigures series?! I really think that we've now got more than enough licensed series!

Please bring back at least two normal (unlicensed and unthemed) series per year!

Or make the one series better. Series 19 is in my opinion one of the weakest series of the last years with so many regular City figures in it. It's a waste to make two such series when most people i know wouldn't want half of the figures for free. Egyptian or Roman gods, a greek philosopher, Leonardo da Vinci with a cool new headgear-hair-combination for castlefans and Witcher-Kitbashs... it could be so easy...

Edited July 28, 2019 by Gorilla94

[Digger of Bricks]

19 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

That may be your personal primary reason for being interested in the CMFs. But from a commercial standpoint it’s much better for Lego if they get new molds that they can reuse over and over again out of it. That’s why most non licensed CMFs have a decent number of modern characters in them, despite the fact they could be ‘shoehorned’ into a City set, and one of the reasons they consider licensed series a good investment. There are plenty of ‘normal’ hairstyles and accessories that have become commonplace in sets after being introduced in a CMF, it’s likely one of the reasons the theme gets such a nice budget for new molds. 

It's not wholly a personal reason of mine alone, because as a DC fan myself, I am in fact interested to see where Lego will take a DC-based CMS. Quite simply though, I still feel such a move is unfair to those whom Lego hasn't anything else to offer otherwise, because sometimes a CMS may be all they have to look forwards to. And besides, I don't think Lego is as hindered by budget with the DC SuperHeroes theme as you figure it may be, as Lego may have other reasons for excluding certain characters from playsets.

[Aanchir]

On 7/27/2019 at 8:49 AM, Digger of Bricks said:

By pointless, I mean besides the primary ulterior point of the Collectable Minifigure theme, and that is to provide supplementary material for themes, genres, and licenses that never had, currently aren't, and may never be represented by a playset-based line of products.

I think that's what a lot of AFOLs want the purpose of the Collectible Minifigures to be. That doesn't mean it's the theme's actual purpose as far as LEGO is concerned. After all, if it were, why would they bother releasing CMFs of so many common/conventional archetypes (like a spaceman, skateboarder, nurse, diver, traffic cop, witch, etc) in the very first year of the theme?

As far as I can tell, from the designers' perspectice the "point" is just to make figures that buyers will think are cool/unique/surprising. Sometimes that means archetypes that you wouldn't expect to see in sets, while other times it means familiar archetypes like skateboarders or race car drivers but with new, eye-catching designs that push the level of detail and uniqueness farther than usual.

I often find myself having to make the same point about LEGO Ideas, since a lot of people sem to have convinced themselves that licensed projects were never meant to be part of that theme's intent. Frankly, if that were the case, the development team could have made a rule against proposing 3rd party IP projects from the get-go, and certainly wouldn't have been obligated to start APPROVING projects based on third-party properties like the Shinkai submarine, Hayabusa space probe, or Minecraft.

So it stands to reason that the creators of LEGO Cuusoo/LEGO Ideas were simply looking for concept builds of what fans might like to help develop into future LEGO products, whether the subject matter in question came from real life, pre-existing works of fiction, or the builder's imagination.

Obviously, there's no problem having particular preferences for these themes in either case. There are definitely minifigures and minifigures series as well as Ideas sets that I myself have been largely indifferent to. But I think it's important to be careful about internalizing those preferences (e.g. "these types of sets are what I prefer, and these others are not") rather than projecting them onto the LEGO designers (e.g. "these types of sets are the point of this theme/the point of the LEGO brand, and these others are not").

@AdmiralRaddus That sounds like an AWESOME idea for a future minifig! Some other historic ideas that I think might be fun to see might include a female knight (in the spirit of Joan of Arc and similar folk heroines), a medieval squire, a medieval astrologer/astronomer/stargazer (inspired by developments that were going on in the Islamic world during that time), a "Friar Tuck" inspired Forestmen figure with long robe and tonsure, an "Age of Exploration" era cartographer, etc.

6 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

It's not wholly a personal reason of mine alone, because as a DC fan myself, I am in fact interested to see where Lego will take a DC-based CMS. Quite simply though, I still feel such a move is unfair to those whom Lego hasn't anything else to offer otherwise, because sometimes a CMS may be all they have to look forwards to. And besides, I don't think Lego is as hindered by budget with the DC SuperHeroes theme as you figure it may be, as Lego may have other reasons for excluding certain characters from playsets.

I think with a lot of superheroes one of the big obstacles to putting them in sets is that their concept, powers, etc. wouldn't really be all that conducive to a bigger model or play scenario. Not all heroes or villains have a distinctive concept and design language that translates well to iconic vehicles, machines, or lairs.

A "Spider-Mech" might be a stretch as far as comic book accuracy is concerned, but it's easy to visualize what a mech or headquarters used by Spider-Man might plausibly look like. But it's hard to imagine creating a toy of a "Ventriloquist-mobile" or a "Metamorpho secret lair" that makes any kind of conceptual sense even on a tongue-in-cheek level.

So for many of these sorts of characters, I think there's a lot of reason to think they might make more sense as collectible minifigures than as part of a larger playset. That's not to say I have any characters I'm super passionate about that I'd like to see in such a series, but I can definitely imagine LEGO coming up with 16 or more DC superhero minifigures that make more sense as individual figures than as part of a playset.

Bear in mind that my perspective might be informed by having greatly enjoyed the LEGO Batman Movie and LEGO Ninjago Movie series, whereas I haven't bothered trying to obtain a "complete set" of any of the non-themed series in years. Even so, I don't know that "unfair to those whom LEGO hasn't anything else to offer" is a really credible concern. LEGO has had loads of stuff to offer people of all kinds of interests in recent years, but they're never going to be able to cater to EVERY possible interest at any given time.

And anyhow, even before licensed or themed series were a thing, I remember a lot of people complaining JUST as bitterly about previous series being disappointing due to having too many types of figures they don't care about and not enough they do. I can understand having a preference for non-licensed fantasy and sci-fi stuff — after all, that sums up many of my favorite themes to collect!

But when people are acting like the number of modern day figures in Series 19 is a huge disappointment, even though 50% or more of MOST of the early series can just as easily be grouped together as "modern day", it's easy to feel like people are setting themselves up for disappointment by holding the Minifigures theme to expectations it has never reliably met.

Edited July 28, 2019 by Aanchir

[Digger of Bricks]

16 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I think that's what a lot of AFOLs want the purpose of the Collectible Minifigures to be. That doesn't mean it's the theme's actual purpose as far as LEGO is concerned. After all, if it were, why would they bother releasing CMFs of so many common/conventional archetypes (like a spaceman, skateboarder, nurse, diver, traffic cop, witch, etc) in the very first year of the theme?

As far as I can tell, from the designers' perspectice the "point" is just to make figures that buyers will think are cool/unique/surprising. Sometimes that means archetypes that you wouldn't expect to see in sets, while other times it means familiar archetypes like skateboarders or race car drivers but with new, eye-catching designs that push the level of detail and uniqueness farther than usual.

Well, I wasn't claiming with certainty that was indeed TLG's ulterior purpose for the theme. Rather, it has unintentionally become so for many fans as Lego's product landscape becomes further devoid of archetypical playthemes and genres, thereby making-up for where there isn't. Likewise, in selecting IPs to use for the basis of licensed in-between CMS, it's seems more just to utilize the theme for that same purpose, hence why I often tout Disney as the best umbrella IP Lego has had the Collectable Minifigure theme cover so far, as it can cover characters from films and TV shows that likely couldn't receive the minifigure-based playset treatment at this time presently.

16 hours ago, Aanchir said:

I think with a lot of superheroes one of the big obstacles to putting them in sets is that their concept, powers, etc. wouldn't really be all that conducive to a bigger model or play scenario. Not all heroes or villains have a distinctive concept and design language that translates well to iconic vehicles, machines, or lairs.

A "Spider-Mech" might be a stretch as far as comic book accuracy is concerned, but it's easy to visualize what a mech or headquarters used by Spider-Man might plausibly look like. But it's hard to imagine creating a toy of a "Ventriloquist-mobile" or a "Metamorpho secret lair" that makes any kind of conceptual sense even on a tongue-in-cheek level.

So for many of these sorts of characters, I think there's a lot of reason to think they might make more sense as collectible minifigures than as part of a larger playset. That's not to say I have any characters I'm super passionate about that I'd like to see in such a series, but I can definitely imagine LEGO coming up with 16 or more DC superhero minifigures that make more sense as individual figures than as part of a playset.

Well, to me, comic-based sets from both the DC and Marvel SuperHeroes themes have acted very much in the same way the Collectable Minifigure theme has operated: They both act as vehicles to give fans desirable characters/archetypes with a cult interest by piggybacking them onto characters/archetypes with more of a degree of mainstream popularity. 

That's why I feel a DC Universe CMS is kinda pointless. We already have such a thing with the playset-based theme.

[MAB]

On 7/27/2019 at 6:16 PM, Accio Lego said:

That may be your personal primary reason for being interested in the CMFs. But from a commercial standpoint it’s much better for Lego if they get new molds that they can reuse over and over again out of it. That’s why most non licensed CMFs have a decent number of modern characters in them, despite the fact they could be ‘shoehorned’ into a City set, and one of the reasons they consider licensed series a good investment. There are plenty of ‘normal’ hairstyles and accessories that have become commonplace in sets after being introduced in a CMF, it’s likely one of the reasons the theme gets such a nice budget for new molds. 

The strange thing here is how many new pieces debuted in the CMF series but then have not been used again or have only been used in non-retail productions.

I'd love the Roman shield to be reused. The Batman TRU set showed they still had the mold and led to some hope that we may get a new more common one, but nothing yet.

Another big one is the CMF Queen's lower body / dress part. Three years now and not reused. But then there was also the ruff piece, it has appeared three times but only in the CMF and not regular sets.

 

I wonder if some of this has to do with the location of the molds. For example, the caveman's club has appeared in 6 CMF sets and the "iconic" cave people set but not in a regular set. Presumably this means the mold is in China and they don't have the same mold in Europe or Mexico. There haven't been many clubs made outside of CMF recently, but this one from 2017 went back to the old carrot style club - all other uses of this club part since 2010 have been as orange carrots, not clubs:

[Digger of Bricks]

This has been brought up here previously, but in conjunction with next year's presumed release of Series 20 in line with the theme's tenth anniversary, it's likely we'll be seeing a updated edition of DK's LEGO Minifigures: Character Encyclopedia too for the occasion. 

Anyone here like to take a gander at what its tie-in exclusive figure could be? 

[Robert8]

Zombie-something

Maybe Zombie Clown?

They seem to love zombies and clowns, so why not? 

[MAB]

Female zombie toy soldier. On a skateboard.

[tafkatb]

A recolored Mr. Gold named Mr. Tin. 

[Digger of Bricks]

12 minutes ago, Robert8 said:

Zombie-something

Maybe Zombie Clown?

They seem to love zombies and clowns, so why not? 

10 minutes ago, MAB said:

Female zombie toy soldier. On a skateboard.

Just now, tafkatb said:

A recolored Mr. Gold named Mr. Tin. 

As a step up from the exclusive Toy Solider, they oughta do a Toymaker exactly like @Robert8's design from his own Series C, paired with a microfigure Toy Solider as a callback to the previous edition of the book.