LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 11 Rumours & Discussion

[Darth Caedus]

On top of the expense, though, there's literal physical fatigue, since getting the figures I want means putting in actual physical effort and time (to feel the packets). Suppose it takes an average of a minute of packet-feeling to make a sure determination of which minifigure is inside. It then takes a full hour to go through all the packets in a freshly-opened, 60-minifigure display box in the store, assuming I go through every one (which is frequently the case, since I might want every one I can get of one or two "army builder" figures in a given series). In practice, since it can take longer than a minute of feeling to be sure of a certain figure, it often works out that I might spend well upwards of an hour (or even two or three) feeling every packet I can from a couple boxes of minifigures out on a store shelf. Just standing there in the store aisle for a couple hours is draining in and of itself - still fun, mind you, hunting all those minifigures, but it does take a toll after a while, for someone who's both a completist (wanting at least a little of everything) and an army builder (wanting a lot of certain things).

A minute is way too high an estimate IMO, it takes maybe 10-15 seconds to figure out what minifig is inside a bag. As "The Hunt" only manifests as an hour or two, three times a year, it's hardly super taxing. I usually spend between $50 and $100 on a wave, so financially I don't find it as much of a burden, especially as pretty much the only other lego that's worth buying to me is LOTR, which is ~$300 a wave, every 6 months. I used to be a completionist kind of person, but a combination of expenses and realizing that it's pointless led me to be more selective.

For instance, In series 10, I had no interest in the paintballer or skydiver, as modern sports figures are pretty dull. But I nabbed 6-8 of the Roman Captain and the Revolutionary Soldier because they are genuinely awesome characters, and armybuilding is what it's all about for me. Ended up with 3 or 4 Gorgons as well since one needs 3 to be mythologically accurate. I missed Series 1, and skipped most of Series 2, but cherrypicked about 16 Spartans. Same thing for later series - 8 elves, maybe 5 Musketeers (series 4 had no truly good armybuilders), maybe half a dozen each Chaos Dwarves and Murmillos, half a dozen highlanders and maybe twice that many Romans...you get the idea. But as a rule I pass on characters who have to do with sports, or who look too silly or dull to use.

[jluck]

A minute is way too high an estimate IMO, it takes maybe 10-15 seconds to figure out what minifig is inside a bag. As "The Hunt" only manifests as an hour or two, three times a year, it's hardly super taxing. I usually spend between $50 and $100 on a wave, so financially I don't find it as much of a burden, especially as pretty much the only other lego that's worth buying to me is LOTR, which is ~$300 a wave, every 6 months. I used to be a completionist kind of person, but a combination of expenses and realizing that it's pointless led me to be more selective.

For instance, In series 10, I had no interest in the paintballer or skydiver, as modern sports figures are pretty dull. But I nabbed 6-8 of the Roman Captain and the Revolutionary Soldier because they are genuinely awesome characters, and armybuilding is what it's all about for me. Ended up with 3 or 4 Gorgons as well since one needs 3 to be mythologically accurate. I missed Series 1, and skipped most of Series 2, but cherrypicked about 16 Spartans. Same thing for later series - 8 elves, maybe 5 Musketeers (series 4 had no truly good armybuilders), maybe half a dozen each Chaos Dwarves and Murmillos, half a dozen highlanders and maybe twice that many Romans...you get the idea. But as a rule I pass on characters who have to do with sports, or who look too silly or dull to use.

This has been how I keep excited about CMF. If I'm only getting ones I like then I'll enjoy every series. Sometimes this means getting an entire set, other times I just cherry pick. Resent I've been a bit more picky for financial reasons but I still look forward I each new series!

(Ps to fulfill my vanity I will note this is my 100th post, fitting that it's in this forum as CMF is partially what brought me out of my dark ages!)

[naf]

I've found that once a series is out, you can usually pick up a complete set on ebay for about $50 + shipping. That's just slightly more than buying at retail, and probably breaks even when you factor in tax, gas driving to stores, and your time. I did this with series 9, 10, and will do it for 11.

I'm not much of an army builder, although I'm thinking about collecting a few more of the musketeers, revolutionary soldier, and space marines for various MOCs that are in my head. I enjoy the collecting aspect, and even though the figures might be horrible (female robot, I'm looking at you), I still want to get one to complete the collection. Who knows, what I might consider bad today could grow on me.

[Blondie-Wan]

A minute is way too high an estimate IMO, it takes maybe 10-15 seconds to figure out what minifig is inside a bag. As "The Hunt" only manifests as an hour or two, three times a year, it's hardly super taxing.

I was actually thinking a minute is rather conservative; there are plenty of figures that can be super-tough to determine, and the arrangement of parts in a certain bag can sometimes make a figure hard to figure even if it's one that's normally quite easy to pick out. Remember, I'm talking about trying to get at least two of each, not just the "army builders," and that includes figures who might have very few diagnostic elements, or even none at all (figures whose identity one might determine only by being able to ascertain that it's not anything else). There are definitely some figures who are obvious right off the bat, but unfortunately they're not the majority, at least for me.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

I was actually thinking a minute is rather conservative; there are plenty of figures that can be super-tough to determine, and the arrangement of parts in a certain bag can sometimes make a figure hard to figure even if it's one that's normally quite easy to pick out. Remember, I'm talking about trying to get at least two of each, not just the "army builders," and that includes figures who might have very few diagnostic elements, or even none at all (figures whose identity one might determine only by being able to ascertain that it's not anything else). There are definitely some figures who are obvious right off the bat, but unfortunately they're not the majority, at least for me.

I find it difficult to understand how can you manage to have doubts about a minifigure... I mean, I have 100% of successes since series 3 when they removed the bar codes.

Two pieces may look the same among 2 cmf, but then in that case you go for a second piece

I'll add my personal guide for feeling the minifigures as I did already before:

1) Easiest: the elf. Short legs ftw.

2) Very Easy: Yeti. Big bulky piece.

3) Very Easy: Gingerbread man. No standard head, cup.

4) Very Easy: Evil Mech. Big bulky shoulderpiece.

5) Very Easy: Female Robot. No standard head.

6) Very Easy: Grandma. Big rubbery basket piece.

7) Easy: Tiki Warrior. Look for a big bar, do not mess with the pitchfork and you got it.

8) Easy: Scarecrow. Look for a big bar, do not mess with the spear and you got it.

9) Easy: Welder. Lot of pieces, should be easy.

10) Easy: Mountain climber. Go for the pickaxe.

11) Easy: Blues Brother. Go for the sax, watch out he has the same hat piece as the scarecrow.

12) Medium: Waitress. Do not mess the glass with the flask of the scientist. Big round piece.

13) Medium: Scientist: Double flask.

14) Medium: Barbarian: Double sword.

15) Medium: Policeman: Big unique hat piece.

16) Medium: Lederhosen girl: Pretzel.

Having only two same pieces (Same hat for scarecrow and blues brother), this series will be amongst the easiers for identifying minis by feeling them.

[Aanchir]

(This post is a musing. It isn't meant to derail the thread or start a protracted debate.I just wanted to make a comment but didn't see a point in creating a separate thread.)

In my opinion the clockwork robot is the worst minifigure of the modern age. Maybe if the base colour was pearl grey or a primary colour they might be interesting but the light blue grey is just so bland. The decoration just sits there all limp and pathetic and it should really pop at you and make you go WOW!. The female robot is a really bad idea. For one thing the design of the torso is dubious and for another, robots are genderless. There's a billion ways Lego could have got another female fig in the mix and this is a rotten choice. Rather than being a notch on the feminism flag pole it's got girly pink colouring and lipstick which smacks of sexism and gender stereotyping. A shot in the foot for Lego.

Like I say, it's merely my opinion and yes, I'll be ignoring the figure in future and pretending it didn't happen. There will be some of you who disagree and say it's just a bit of fun. I say that makes you complicit in the sexism and gender stereotyping. How can Lego put a strong female character like the scientist in a series and then this robot? Ugh, horrible 1950's misogyny. It makes me think the scientist isn't a scientist at all but a lowly lab assistant instead. Because "girls don't do science, all that thinking melts their brains. Now run along and bake me a flower or press some dead cakes in a book or whatever it is you delicate types do". It's all too Stepford wives.

I think Lego need to up their game. Ditch the pink as default colour on female CMF's and be more interesting. More adventurous. And definitely, DEFINITELY no more sexualised female robots! It's tacky and creepy as hell.

I personally liked the clockwork robot because it felt like a toy robot. I have a candy dispenser shaped like a retro toy robot that I got as a Christmas gift one time, and it has a lot of the same feel. The lady robot is a bit "weirder" but really I feel like it, too, hearkens back to a time when our vision of "robots" was a bit sillier. It doesn't look much like Rosie from the Jetsons specifically, but it's intending to capture the feel of that "retro" era, when robots were boxy and covered in superfluous mechanical doodads, but were still expected to simulate life as far as social functions were concerned.

I once went to an exhibit at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. that was focused on the visions of the future that were promoted at the various World's Fairs prior to WWII. One thing that I thought epitomized this sort of silliness was Elektro, a human-sized robot that was supposed to perform many of the same functions as an actual human being, including things you'd never ever need a robot to do, such as smoking a cigarette. Back then it was a fascinating imitation of a living person — today we'd see a lot of its "tricks" as extremely superficial and useless for much of anything other than entertainment at parties.

A lot of people criticize the lady robot as a poor excuse for a female minifigure, but I think that misses the point of the design: an attempt to repurpose the parts of the Clockwork Robot for a new figure that has the same retro charm, but is still unmistakably different. As such, we have a robot that is superficially female, but which on a practical level has no meaningful gender-based distinctions. I don't see how it's sexist to have a 1950s-ish female robot in a series when the whole reason for that figure's charm and novelty is its inherent ridiculousness. If it were meant to be a more futuristic, sci-fi, or even modern robot, then these traits would be pointless and out-of-place, but here they seem like deliberate attempts to make the figure appear silly and dated.

Edited July 31, 2013 by Aanchir

[JeagerEX]

The Barbarian minifig looks like the one from Heroica in physical minifigure form. Now the only thing that we are missing is the Wizard, Druid, Ranger, Rogue, Sage and the King.

[ttsoohoo]

very excited. looking forward to coming out!

Love the Yeti, Gingerbread man with hot cocoa, Grandma, Tiki man, Elf, Female scientist, Female robot, Waitress on roller skates. But yes, i agree with the above comments... yellow shirt on yellow, not a good choice in colors. Thank you for sharing, teasing us with what's coming!

[Blakstone]

Actually, it is only Scientist. So if they make a male counterpart (who is not mad), he would have to be Scientist Man, Science Guy, or Research Assistant.

[TrumpetKing]

Having only two same pieces (Same hat for scarecrow and blues brother), this series will be amongst the easiers for identifying minis by feeling them.

Actually, they aren't the same piece. Pretty similar, but not the same. More new molds!

[CM4Sci]

WhiteFang's review is out! Now what do you think of the series?

Gingerbread Man's head is odd...

-Sci

[jluck]

WhiteFang's review is out! Now what do you think of the series?

Gingerbread Man's head is odd...

-Sci

I don't mind the head, as WhiteFang noted it allows him to lay flat in a cooking sheet:) I love the series, but the distribution is subpar.

[Haltiamieli]

I think, realistically speaking, the distribution is rather good. I would have swapped the numbers of Bavarian Girl and Lady Robot, and the numbers of Jazz Musicians and Welders (six welders is the biggest surprise for me, I was certain it would be max four and probably two), but otherwise I think this was more or less as expected. Of course it would be nice if there were less characters that are only 2-in-a-box, but apparently that's just not gonna happen...

[JeagerEX]

I think at Toys R Us will be selling them maybe August 19 or 20 something.

[CM4Sci]

I think at Toys R Us will be selling them maybe August 19 or 20 something.

Just in time for my birthday!

Also, site's updated!

-Sci

[Alcarin]

how lame only 4 barbarian warriors... why army build CLIMBERS omfg....

silly LEGO!

[Gremer]

As stupid as I may sound, where can boxes of CMF's be bought at? I'm planning to get a Series 11 box eventually, but I have no idea where to buy it at.

[JeagerEX]

Just in time for my birthday!

Also, site's updated!

-Sci

I checked the website and Mr.Gold will be in Series 11?

[Aanchir]

Oh my god, these new bios are excellent! The scientist's bio is easily my favorite. A small excerpt: "Her studies of a certain outer dimension have even perfected a method for swapping body parts at will!"

[WhiteFang]

Also, site's updated!

Great to know that it is up!

[Haltiamieli]

Judging by his bio, the Barbarian is clearly on his way to becoming

.

[GRogall]

From the LEGO site, it makes me think Mr. Gold is in series 11 as well?

[just2good]

Judging by his bio, the Barbarian is clearly on his way to becoming

.

LEGO referencing Weird Al and UHF, love it!

From the LEGO site, it makes me think Mr. Gold is in series 11 as well?

Definitely a glitch, as he's not in the character bio list or box.

[GRogall]

So who picked up some of the series today? I was able to get, Yeti, Constable, Grandma, Lady Robot, Holiday Elf, Scarecrow and Gingerbread man. from these, the Yeti is my favourite!

[jluck]

So who picked up some of the series today? I was able to get, Yeti, Constable, Grandma, Lady Robot, Holiday Elf, Scarecrow and Gingerbread man. from these, the Yeti is my favourite!

Germany already has them? Where have they appeared so far?