VIP Exclusive 850458 LEGO® Minifigures set

[Darth Nihilus]

Oh god, this is such a laugh.

Gimme a second.....

Okay, I calmed down. But seriously, this is hilarious. Only one of the 'army-builder' characters made it, and at $15 it won't be very great to army-build.

.....But it is still hilarious.

[Ecclesiastes]

Oh god, this is such a laugh.

Gimme a second.....

Okay, I calmed down. But seriously, this is hilarious. Only one of the 'army-builder' characters made it, and at $15 it won't be very great to army-build.

.....But it is still hilarious.

Sure is a laugh, because it is defenitely not what we, the fans, want in a vip set!

Edited January 7, 2012 by Ecclesiastes

[Aanchir]

I could buy that for the Spartan and Robot, they had pretty unique parts, but the Zombie was basically just a standard minifig with a shovel and turkey leg and either of those accessories could easily be substituted for pretty much anything and he'd still be a credible zombie. So I can only assume he didn't get the votes needed, which makes me rather glad I have lots of Zombies already!

Keep in mind that the Zombie's turkey leg and shovel were unique molds with different Design IDs than the "classic" turkey leg and shovel (in fact, this applies for pretty much every accessory from Collectible minifigures series 1 and 2) It's true that new molds from Series 1 and 2 kept being used in future series in place of the "classic" molds (even though Series 3 also had classic molds for parts that hadn't previously been in the Collectible Minifigures). But the zombie is the only collectible minifigure that uses a turkey leg or a shovel, so I think it's very believable that those parts are no longer in production.

They said they'd look for replacement parts, which is almost certainly what was done with the "uniquely-colored" parts they somehow consider a selling point of the new collection: the warm gold scorpion, the black knit cap, and the silver metallic fish. But obviously their search for replacements was limited to the same parts in different colors, and not to different but similar-looking molds.

Ogre, thanks so much for quoting the original e-mail for us. I won't deny that this minifigures set is fairly lame, but now in the very least we know why it is so lame. TLG's decision seems perfectly sensible in the light of that disclaimer from the original voting e-mail.

It's also easy to see why the minifigures chosen were the most successful out of Series 3. The Elf is obviously the most popular army builder out of the series. The Space Villain has the most "classic theme" appeal, being an obvious shout-out to Blacktron. The Fisherman was out of series 1-3 the scarcest collectible minifigure to date (in terms of units per box). The Gorilla Suit Guy has obvious widespread appeal, just for being such a unique figure. And the Mummy, while criticized, was within those three series the figure with the most printing-- both arms, the fronts and sides of both legs, the front and back of the torso, and the face. Even with the number of mummy figures TLG has released he remains unique due to this level of complexity.

All in all this whole incident seems like a case study in poor planning. But at the same time it does not seem like a case of TLG trying to "scam" fans out of the minifigures they want. That wouldn't be in their interest any more than it would be in ours. All they seem to be doing is trying to uphold a plan and a promise which they knew in advance would be difficult to uphold. If they had known exactly how difficult it would be I'm sure they wouldn't have had the voting cover all of the first three series.

[DaleDVM]

I agree with Aanchir the original message from TLG explains quite a bit. So a big thanks to Ogre for posting it. However, this was a totally futile effort in the first place.

VIP fans missed out on series one and two because there was just so many fewer of those figs in the first place. They were not on shelves for very long at all. Unless you are very new to the LEGO hobby you cannot have missed the series 3 figures. They were on the shelves for a very long time.

This is a classic case of allowing expectations to get way too high. It would have been smarter to only allow voting for figs that could possibly have been produced in the first place.

[kris kelvin]

Exclusive garbage

[badbob001]

I may get this if they fix the printing of the fisherman. On the original, the yellow on the body didn't come close to matching the yellow of the legs. And the body printing didn't extend to the edge, leaving a large blue divider to what is suppose to be a one-piece yellow overalls.

Advertised:

Reality:

[Theo]

I may get this if they fix the printing of the fisherman. On the original, the yellow on the body didn't come close to matching the yellow of the legs. And the body printing didn't extend to the edge, leaving a large blue divider to what is suppose to be a one-piece yellow overalls.

Advertised:

Reality:

Well, that looks awful, is it the same in every fisherman?

[Vindicare]

Also, the advertised one is computer rendered. But the color difference alone is crap.

[Aanchir]

I may get this if they fix the printing of the fisherman. On the original, the yellow on the body didn't come close to matching the yellow of the legs. And the body printing didn't extend to the edge, leaving a large blue divider to what is suppose to be a one-piece yellow overalls.

Well, it's not like they were being deliberately misleading with that-- after all, the only way to make the upper body's color match the lower body would have been to use more coats of printing, and they only have so much control over how carefully the torso prints are lined up with the lower body.

IMO, the second issue is pretty trivial anyway, since I never noticed it on my own fisherman until I compared it with your picture. And it seems to be a an issue almost all LEGO overalls prints have potentially had. While it might be more noticeable on the fisherman's brightly-contrasting outfit, it's hard to ignore it on Bricklink's photo of this classic minifigure, or this one.

I doubt any problems with the Series 3 minifigures will be fixed by these ones, since making these figs probably depends on TLG keeping their parts in production, and keeping their parts in production probably doesn't allow for the printers to be recalibrated.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Aanchir

[legomonk]

I have 2 elves and one space villian and I would like more elves but really I am not excited about it at all saddly. More spartans would be awesome since I have the one and would like ten. I feel FAILED by this.

[Blondie-Wan]

You know, I actually like the mummy a lot, and made sure I got multiples. That said, I'm surprised to see it up there, though (then again, I'm surprised by most of these choices, actually).

I think I must have misunderstood the original poll - I was under the impression it was specifically for figures from Series 1, and possibly Series 2. I don't remember thinking Series 3 was even an option, let alone the sole one.

The replies in this thread have me laughing so hard. This is an epic fail by TLG.

Except for the elf every one of these figures can be bought for less than $3 on bricklink. The mummy is going for half of that price. Luckily I drove all over the place and got 55 elves the first time around. Trying to build an army of them at $15 a piece would be extremely painful.

Holy cats, the elves are going for $15 apiece, now?! I had no idea. Perhaps I should run out and get more from that one store I know that still has S3...

Anyway, I plan to pass on this as well, unless I get it for some really good price (on clearance, say). I managed to get at least three apiece of each of the original versions (and should be able to get still more, should I want them). But I do find the results interesting, anyway.

Oh, edit: I will note that while I never actually got around to casting my own vote (I couldn't decide what to vote for), I personally wouldn't have voted for the Spartan or Zombie. I love both, but I personally already have enough of both (well, I'd actually like to have several times as many zombies, but with more variety, not simply dozens upon dozens of clones of the same exact zombie figure, with the same outfit torn in the same places). Believe it or not, I might actually have chosen the S1 Diver, simply because I only got a couple and wouldn't mind two or three more.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Blondie-Wan

[Flipz]

Eh, the Series 1 and 2 not being represented IS disappointing...however, seeing as the Lego Imagination Centers have been mixing the S1 and S2 torsos, legs, and faces (and occasionally headgear) into their buld-a-minifig bins, I've managed to get most of what I want, and I can buy the missing pieces off BrickLink if I really need them.

[Nealybealy]

I wonder how much they'll cost. Hopefully they will be cheaper then buying them all as individual sets [Random bags]. If they're cheap, I'll buy them :P

[K-Nut]

This is less than underwhelming, but I'm glad to see the elf in there. Plus I didn't get enough gorilla's when they came out, so I guess that's a good thing.

[Dwellington]

I completely missed the first 3 series, so I'm just glad to have the chance to get some of these figures at not-crazy-aftermarket prices.

Please be aware that while every best effort will be made to exactly replicate the minifigures from the series range, if the winning minifigures contain parts no longer in production, we will look to find the closest looking pieces as a replacement part, and if no suitable replacement parts are readily available, we will substitute the minifigure(s) in question with runners-up.

To me, this suggests that anything with a particularly expensive unique accessory or part would be automatically disqualified, since I can imagine things like, say, the Spartan's helmet being difficult to produce. I'd say that they would've done better to just not include those certain figures in the poll, but perhaps it's possible they're going to keep the results as a point of reference for the future? Maybe further down the road they can do some other limited edition? I dunno.

In any case, I can finally get my hands on an Elf, so yay.

[Aanchir]

I completely missed the first 3 series, so I'm just glad to have the chance to get some of these figures at not-crazy-aftermarket prices.

To me, this suggests that anything with a particularly expensive unique accessory or part would be automatically disqualified, since I can imagine things like, say, the Spartan's helmet being difficult to produce. I'd say that they would've done better to just not include those certain figures in the poll, but perhaps it's possible they're going to keep the results as a point of reference for the future? Maybe further down the road they can do some other limited edition? I dunno.

In any case, I can finally get my hands on an Elf, so yay.

Since they phrase it as parts "no longer in production" rather than parts "difficult to produce", I don't think cost is as great a factor as simply having the molds still in use. Of course, while their disclaimer is appreciated, I don't think they brought enough attention to it at the time for people to recognize the implications. And they certainly did people a disservice by including some of the most desirable Series 1 and 2 figs in the poll at all if they could have predicted the parts of those figs might not be in production.

I'm a bit curious whether this poll would have been conducted by the LEGO VIP team or by the minifigures design team. If it was conducted by the VIP team, then I can see how there could easily have been a failure of communication involved-- a person on the minifigures team could have given their word that many Series 1 and 2 parts would still be in production for use in this special set, but they could have been referring to ones like the surfboard, ponytail, and cape, not ones like the turkey leg or Spartan helmet. And a person on the VIP team would take this word as justification for including Series 1 and 2 on the poll, even though the figs that stood out as most desirable to AFOLs in Series 1 and 2 turned out to be the ones that could not be produced.

A lot of people seem willing to accept either that TLG never had any intention of releasing the most popular figs from the poll in this set, or that they decided sometime between the poll and the announcement of the set that they didn't care about the results and would just try to foist their surplus figs on AFOLs. But I think that it's more likely that this was a genuine mistake-- albeit one that could possibly have been prevented with greater foresight and communication.

[Meatman]

Is this an early April fools joke?

[snefroe]

please please please, tell me it's just a joke... this is not our first choice, not even our second or third... why oh why, would we wanna have some more fishermen and space villains...

[Aanchir]

please please please, tell me it's just a joke... this is not our first choice, not even our second or third... why oh why, would we wanna have some more fishermen and space villains...

Well, IMO the Space Villain is by far one of the best S3 figs-- The elf is the only one I can understand having near as much appeal. I can easily see how, if desirable S1 and S2 figs like the Zombie and Spartan were unavailable, many of these would have been among the most popular.

[Phyre]

Quoted from the original email sent to me (any emphasis shown is from me, not TLG)

Dear Ogre,

We know how much our LEGO® fans love their minifigures! That's why we're giving your little VIPs the chance to tell us their number one character from the LEGO Minifigure Series 1 - 3. Simply click on their preferred minifigure below to register your vote. We will then turn the most popular characters into an exclusive LEGO Minifigure set, only available to LEGO VIPs!* Choose wisely, you only get to vote once! Voting closes July 30.

*snip photos of all available minifigs to vote on*

*Voting closes on 30 July 2011 and is restricted to one vote per registered VIP Member. The top 5 minifigures will be announced in the November email newsletter and the set will be exclusively available to VIP Members to purchase in 2012, and at this time terms will be announced. The sets will be available for as long as supplies last. Please be aware that while every best effort will be made to exactly replicate the minifigures from the series range, if the winning minifigures contain parts no longer in production, we will look to find the closest looking pieces as a replacement part, and if no suitable replacement parts are readily available, we will substitute the minifigure(s) in question with runners-up.

I still find this hard to believe as the reason why the Spartan and Zombie were not included. Apparently the turkey leg and shovel molds included with the Zombie were unique molds, but aren't there extremely common substitutes to those pieces? And even if not, just throw in the Zombie without any accessories. The Spartan's helmet mold was featured in an Atlantis set this summer, a modified version of his spear has appeared with two subsequent minifigures, and his shield has appeared with three subsequent minifigures. I just don't buy that LEGO couldn't rerelease these figures because of the molds.

Personally, I believe the poor results to this poll are due to the fact that it was probably mostly kids voting. The e-mail even specifically said "your little VIPs". From what I've read here, those of us who received the e-mail seem to have voted primarily for the Spartan or Zombie (I voted for the Zombie myself). If this poll was given to AFOLs only, I am 100% positive that the top five figures would have included the Zombie, Spartan, Elf, probably the Forestman, and one other high demand figure (Robot, Caveman, Cheerleader, etc.). But the fact is that most of the votes were from kids.

I was curious, so I tested this theory by asking my 8 year old cousin, who has recently developed an interest in LEGO, which 5 minifigures he liked most from Series 1-3. I placed all 48 figures on a table and asked him to choose. His favorite of all of them was the S1 Skater. The other four he picked were the Gorilla Suit Guy, Spaceman, Space Villain, and Witch. Two of these were apparently among the top vote-getters from LEGO's poll. And the general consensus from AFOLs on the five figures he picked is probably that they aren't that great of figures. Personally, I was a fan of the witch, and I know many people were fans of the Space Villain. But generally, the five figures he picked would not be very high on an AFOL's list. I also questioned him about my five favorites (Zombie, Spartan, Elf, Forestman, and Caveman). He like the Zombie and Forestman, but had a negative reaction to the Spartan (specifically callng it stupid and ugly), the Elf (said it did not look like a Santa's elf; which is understandable considering he's never seen LotR), and the Caveman (also calling it stupid). I then questioned him about the remaining two figures that are in this set. He said he liked the Fisherman because the beard made him look like Santa, but he didn't like the Mummy because of the color and the scorpion. So, to summarize, two of LEGO's top five were in his top five, he had a positive reaction to the Fisherman, and negative reactions to the Mummy and Elf. Out of the 3 unquestionable AFOL favorites, he only liked one (the Zombie).

Considering these results I got from just one KFOL, with a 60% favorable reaction to LEGO's top five, and only a 33% favorable reaction to AFOL's top three, I could see where LEGO's top five might actually be the top five and our favorites wouldn't be included. I'm not saying this is case, it's just my theory. But the point is KFOLs and AFOLs think differently. When we're asked for our favorite minifigure, we immediately think of the so-called "army builder" figures. When a kid is asked for their favorite minifigure, army building is not on their mind and they just pick the one they think looks the coolest. In addition, think of our favorites - Zombie, Spartan, and Elf. Now obviously the Elf was a favorite even among the kids (although not my cousin), largely due to the fact that most older kids have probably seen LotR. But with my cousin, only 8 years old, he didn't like it because in his mind an elf should look like Santa's elves. But as far as the Zombie and the Spartan, I'm not so sure that too many kids are watching movies like 300 and Zombieland, or TV shows like The Walking Dead. I think the Spartan would generally not be a kid's favorite, with the Zombie probably having mixed reactions.

Just my two cents.

Edited January 14, 2012 by Phyre

[Flipz]

I still find this hard to believe as the reason why the Spartan and Zombie were not included. Apparently the turkey leg and shovel molds included with the Zombie were unique molds, but aren't there extremely common substitutes to those pieces? And even if not, just throw in the Zombie without any accessories. The Spartan's helmet mold was featured in an Atlantis set this summer, a modified version of his spear has appeared with two subsequent minifigures, and his shield has appeared with three subsequent minifigures. I just don't buy that LEGO couldn't rerelease these figures because of the molds.

Personally, I believe the poor results to this poll are due to the fact that it was probably mostly kids voting. The e-mail even specifically said "your little VIPs". From what I've read here, those of us who received the e-mail seem to have voted primarily for the Spartan or Zombie (I voted for the Zombie myself). If this poll was given to AFOLs only, I am 100% positive that the top five figures would have included the Zombie, Spartan, Elf, probably the Forestman, and one other high demand figure (Robot, Caveman, Cheerleader, etc.). But the fact is that most of the votes were from kids.

I was curious, so I tested this theory by asking my 8 year old cousin, who has recently developed an interest in LEGO, which 5 minifigures he liked most from Series 1-3. I placed all 48 figures on a table and asked him to choose. His favorite of all of them was the S1 Skater. The other four he picked were the Gorilla Suit Guy, Spaceman, Space Villain, and Witch. Two of these were apparently among the top vote-getters from LEGO's poll. And the general consensus from AFOLs on the five figures he picked is probably that they aren't that great of figures. Personally, I was a fan of the witch, and I know many people were fans of the Space Villain. But generally, the five figures he picked would not be very high on an AFOL's list. I also questioned him about my five favorites (Zombie, Spartan, Elf, Forestman, and Caveman). He like the Zombie and Forestman, but had a negative reaction to the Spartan (specifically callng it stupid and ugly), the Elf (said it did not look like a Santa's elf; which is understandable considering he's never seen LotR), and the Caveman (also calling it stupid). I then questioned him about the remaining two figures that are in this set. He said he liked the Fisherman because the beard made him look like Santa, but he didn't like the Mummy because of the color and the scorpion. So, to summarize, two of LEGO's top five were in his top five, he had a positive reaction to the Fisherman, and negative reactions to the Mummy and Elf. Out of the 3 unquestionable AFOL favorites, he only liked one (the Zombie).

Considering these results I got from just one KFOL, with a 60% favorable reaction to LEGO's top five, and only a 33% favorable reaction to AFOL's top three, I could see where LEGO's top five might actually be the top five and our favorites wouldn't be included. I'm not saying this is case, it's just my theory. But the point is KFOLs and AFOLs think differently. When we're asked for our favorite minifigure, we immediately think of the so-called "army builder" figures. When a kid is asked for their favorite minifigure, army building is not on their mind and they just pick the one they think looks the coolest. In addition, think of our favorites - Zombie, Spartan, and Elf. Now obviously the Elf was a favorite even among the kids (although not my cousin), largely due to the fact that most older kids have probably seen LotR. But with my cousin, only 8 years old, he didn't like it because in his mind an elf should look like Santa's elves. But as far as the Zombie and the Spartan, I'm not so sure that too many kids are watching movies like 300 and Zombieland, or TV shows like The Walking Dead. I think the Spartan would generally not be a kid's favorite, with the Zombie probably having mixed reactions.

Just my two cents.

But the point is KFOLs and AFOLs think differently.

You know, for all the complaining we do here, we all tend to forget this point. I think this is exactly how these minifigs were chosen.

Perhaps we need a topic discussing the differences between KFOL and AFOL mindset and the results on LEGO supply and demand... :hmm:

Edited January 14, 2012 by Flipz

[Nagyzee]

Believe it or not, I might actually have chosen the S1 Diver, simply because I only got a couple and wouldn't mind two or three more.

Why not buy some on Bricklink? It's the cheapest and most available one from Series 1. You could buy one for less than $2.

[Vindicare]

Do we have a release date for this yet.

[TheBoyWonder]

Summer this year I believe. I wish they gave the Elf a Gold Bow!

[SilvaShado]

Summer this year I believe. I wish they gave the Elf a Gold Bow!

That would have been sweet! Not sure it would have been enough for me to buy multiple copies considering I don't care about the other minifigs, but it would have been nice.