Monster Fighters 2012

[surrideo]

They look like they're from VERY different time periods. So do the vehicles, judging by those ultra-blurry preliminaries. I wonder if that's actually part of the story. Since we have all the classic monsters working together, it could be pretty cool to have an opposing team made up of several generations' great monster hunters, with the still-unknown female hunter representing the modern monster hunters from the Eighties to today. Probably too esoteric for an official Lego theme, but I think it's still possible.

Bound to be a time portal or machine involved. If you can have the undead, mutated and blood thirsty wandering around, might as well get the whole time continuum involved

[Nagyzee]

I like the idea in general. But the werewolf is god awful and the monster is also worse than its CMS counterpart.

The swamp creature is great though and as far as I know he will be in a small set, so I'll surely get him.

[Lordofdragonss]

Why people say Warewolf is bad? It reminds new Lego dog a lot, and thats why I like him.

[LegoBrickSteve]

I like the new wolfman, but not as much as the CMS. The headpiece is kind of exaggerated, and I'm not sold on the "hand-held" claws either, but I'll need to see it in person first.

[Delta 38]

They look like they're from VERY different time periods. So do the vehicles, judging by those ultra-blurry preliminaries. I wonder if that's actually part of the story. Since we have all the classic monsters working together, it could be pretty cool to have an opposing team made up of several generations' great monster hunters, with the still-unknown female hunter representing the modern monster hunters from the Eighties to today. Probably too esoteric for an official Lego theme, but I think it's still possible.

It makes sense storyline-wise (kind of) and it's an excuse to release rather odd figures, but you can't really have a uniform team with them.

That's too bad if you want Ghostbusters or something along those lines, especially if the vehicles aren't from the same time period either.

[Algernon]

I like the new wolfman, but not as much as the CMS. The headpiece is kind of exaggerated, and I'm not sold on the "hand-held" claws either, but I'll need to see it in person first.

I'm not a big fan of the wolfman personally. I don't dislike him, but I find Dracula and Frankenstein much more appealing. Of course, we still have yet to see the other monsters up close, so I'm still trying to reserve my judgement until some REAL pictures get leaked.

This theme doesn't have much of a Ghostbusters vibe, really, but I still think it's fun. Especially around Halloween!

[SilvaShado]

From Huw at Brickset:

There's one in the mummy set and the ghost train.

Oh, good, I'm glad that there will be female fighters. I really can't wait to see pictures of this theme. I'm very excited about, even a little bit more than LotR or Superheroes.

Having said that, I can see myself turning this theme upside down with the monsters being the good guys, persecuted for being different as they're trying to go about their lives as normally as possible, but these hunters keep trying to get them, lock them up and experiment on them. i mean, look at the "heroes" - they're not fully human so they aren't above experimenting on themselves.

[surrideo]

Oh, good, I'm glad that there will be female fighters. I really can't wait to see pictures of this theme. I'm very excited about, even a little bit more than LotR or Superheroes.

Having said that, I can see myself turning this theme upside down with the monsters being the good guys, persecuted for being different as they're trying to go about their lives as normally as possible, but these hunters keep trying to get them, lock them up and experiment on them. i mean, look at the "heroes" - they're not fully human so they aren't above experimenting on themselves.

There is a show in the UK called Being Human, I think BBC America gets it. Anyway it follows the tribulations of three housemates, ghost,werewolf and vampire. The werewolf in the pictures reminds me of this show and in that show the "mosters" are the heroes and I could definitely share the view that they are being persecuted

[AndyC]

Having said that, I can see myself turning this theme upside down with the monsters being the good guys, persecuted for being different as they're trying to go about their lives as normally as possible, but these hunters keep trying to get them, lock them up and experiment on them. i mean, look at the "heroes" - they're not fully human so they aren't above experimenting on themselves.

I like that idea and it kind of has a Pirates vibe about it, with the 'bad' guys being the ones you are actually siding with.

[Ogre]

I like the new monsters (I'm in favour of any monster minifigs really, so long as they aren't cartoonish), the highly detailed prints, the 'damaged heroes', etc. I think the sets themselves look a little weak but, that's what MOCing and MODing is all about.

I'd rather LEGO make KILLER minifigs and maybe lose a bit on the detail of the sets, then to have highly detailed sets with lack-lustre minifigs, because it's a lot easier for me to add detail to buildings, cars, etc., then it is for me to 'correct' a minifig.

I also like the fact that my favourite themes these last few years have all been 'in-house' creations by LEGO, rather than licensed themes.

Kingdoms, Pharaoh's Quest, Alien Conquest, Monster Fighters all rock, IMO (though I AM excited about LOTR, too).

[TheLegoDr]

After seeing some photos of the fighters, I can say once again that I am excited for this theme. I originally was excited only for the monsters, but now I actually want the fighters also. Plus, the prelim photos of the sets looked like it had some decent parts for creations.

It looks like August is the official release date? I guess that gives me time to save up money for LOTR and Monsters..

[Phyre]

Now that we have a finalized picture of some of the monsters, I have to say that I've changed my mind (mostly) about the werewolf. I think it looks pretty good. Still not as good as the Series 4 Werewolf, but still good. The only thing I don't like are the claws. If they wanted him to have claws, I think they should have made a new mold for the hands like they did for the Series 5 Boxer.

Looking at the picture, I'm also going to chance a guess that the new werewolf (and probably the bat-people) has a new torso piece that allows greater articulation for the arms. I know the image is CGI, but I don't remember seeing any other CGI minifigs with their arms in that position (and the bat-people from the preliminary Dracula's Castle picture looked like their arms were attached in a different manner, or at least had a larger range of movement). If it is indeed a new piece, it would allow the arms to move not only up and down like they always have, but backwards as well.

Not a huge fan of the robotic limbs on the humans, but I was really only interested in the monsters from to begin with. Can't wait to see the other figs, especially the zombies...

[Aanchir]

Now that we have a finalized picture of some of the monsters, I have to say that I've changed my mind (mostly) about the werewolf. I think it looks pretty good. Still not as good as the Series 4 Werewolf, but still good. The only thing I don't like are the claws. If they wanted him to have claws, I think they should have made a new mold for the hands like they did for the Series 5 Boxer.

Looking at the picture, I'm also going to chance a guess that the new werewolf (and probably the bat-people) has a new torso piece that allows greater articulation for the arms. I know the image is CGI, but I don't remember seeing any other CGI minifigs with their arms in that position (and the bat-people from the preliminary Dracula's Castle picture looked like their arms were attached in a different manner, or at least had a larger range of movement). If it is indeed a new piece, it would allow the arms to move not only up and down like they always have, but backwards as well.

Not a huge fan of the robotic limbs on the humans, but I was really only interested in the monsters from to begin with. Can't wait to see the other figs, especially the zombies...

CGI minifigures with their arms outstretched like that are actually not uncommon. For example, see Lord Garmadon on this page. Since the CGI minifigures for the Monster Fighters theme have their legs posed unrealistically in that pic, there's no reason to think TLG wouldn't have been willing to do the same with the arms.

[Clone OPatra]

In addition to what Aanchir said, I think that the bat-people simply have a new arm mould (or were going to as of the prelim pics) with arms outstretched, not a new torso and regular arms. The arms appeared to have moulded with wings on them anyway, which is something new.

[Phyre]

CGI minifigures with their arms outstretched like that are actually not uncommon. For example, see Lord Garmadon on this page. Since the CGI minifigures for the Monster Fighters theme have their legs posed unrealistically in that pic, there's no reason to think TLG wouldn't have been willing to do the same with the arms.

I don't know, just something about the picture of the werewolf makes me picture a new mold. Everything about Lord Garmadon in that picture is posed unrealistically - legs, arms, torso, and even his head is looking up. Legs are the most commonly unrealistically posed part of a minifigure, and so it makes sense that the monsters in that picture all have posed legs. But Dracula and the Monster both look like normal minifigures aside from the legs. And so does the werewolf, aside from the legs and possibly the arms. And also, in the picture of Garmadon you can't see the ball joints of the arms where they attach to the torso, whereas you can with the werewolf (maybe it means nothing, but to me it makes the CGI werewolf look more like an actual figure; again, aside from the legs). You're probably right, but like I said, there's just something about the werewolf that makes me think the arms really will be able to move back.

And also, a piece like that would give the bat-people's arms better articulation. If their only new mold is the arms, then the way they look like they're attached seems like the only movement you would be able to achieve is spinning them around in the sockets, and most poses achieved that way would look awkward. I don't know, it's just a hunch I had and thought I'd share.

[WesternOutlaw]

Hi all. This is a really long topic and I didn't see any pictures of my personal favorite fig which I just stumbled upon doing some Google searches.

We now have the Creature! Could this be the official one? - From Fab Joue aux LEGO

[Aanchir]

Hi all. This is a really long topic and I didn't see any pictures of my personal favorite fig which I just stumbled upon doing some Google searches.

We now have the Creature! Could this be the official one?

No, that's a custom minifigure design by Eurobricks's own Toth, as posted here. It is brilliantly designed, so it's easy to mistake for an official minifigure. But it's not from this theme.

[WesternOutlaw]

No, that's a custom minifigure design by Eurobricks's own Toth

Thank you very much for the clarification Aanchir. Sorry about that guys. I missed Toth's topic.

[matrixrenegade]

I really love this theme more each day when I think about it. I think I will have every set in the series because it just seems so much fun to me.

[Jargo]

So is Toth working for Lego now? Looking at his portfolio there's a lot of design work similar to minifigs we've seen produced recently. Excellent stuff in that portfolio if you're reading Toth.

[Aanchir]

So is Toth working for Lego now? Looking at his portfolio there's a lot of design work similar to minifigs we've seen produced recently. Excellent stuff in that portfolio if you're reading Toth.

With a portfolio like that, I certainly hope he got the job he was seeking! But even if he did, I don't think we can expect figs like the swamp creature in this theme to match his concept art. After all, we've seen concept art for Space Police III that was actually part of the theme's development, and it was still very different from the final fig designs for that theme in a lot of ways.

[surrideo]

An excellent minifig that from the Eurobricks member. Looks like Merman from the She Ra cartoons. Fantastic

[Algernon]

No, that's a custom minifigure design by Eurobricks's own Toth, as posted here. It is brilliantly designed, so it's easy to mistake for an official minifigure. But it's not from this theme.

Wow. I honestly would never have guessed that was a fan-made image. If he's not working for LEGO yet, I sense that he will be in the future.

[Ayden]

So is Toth working for Lego now? Looking at his portfolio there's a lot of design work similar to minifigs we've seen produced recently. Excellent stuff in that portfolio if you're reading Toth.

I was wondering that same thing. Especially after reading his topic with the whole monster theme portfolio snip-its.

[Nagyzee]

Damn, and I thought that was the swamp creature we will get with this theme. I really-really hope Lego can come close to that brilliantly designed figure by Toth.

Edit: Wait, we will get a swamp creature, right?

Edited January 27, 2012 by Nagyzee