Plenty of licensed themes feature minifigures, or at least the potential for minifigures, that lend themselves to army-building, including Star Wars, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Marvel & DC Superheroes, and many more. Obviously licensing considerations and other factors preclude many of these from being given the so-called "CMF" treatment anyway, as has been extensively discussed with Star Wars, but merely being from a licensed theme doesn't automatically mean something is inherently unlikely to be desirable in vast quantities... although it's probably safe to say it's not sought with The Simpsons. But then, army-building is only a part of what drives sales of the CMFs, anyway.

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there?

I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there?

I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

Well, I can see someone wanting plenty of the army men for a non-Toy-Story setting, so long as TLG's non-violence policy stands. And as for superheroes, I don't follow that theme closely, but I imagine people would want to army build the Chitauri army, and maybe Commissioner (or what rank is he) Gordon for the torso. The same might apply for Nick Fury, the Arkham guard, and maybe some henchmen for the villains. I wouldn't mind getting multiples of JJJ, for the hairpiece and civilian suit torso .

So, the supply is there, and I imagine the demand is too.

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there?

I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

AIM, Hydra, Hellfire club, SHEILD, SWORD, Brood, Kree, Skrull, Badoon, HAMMER, Doombots, Moleoids, all large organizations/army's/creatures featured in Marvel that lend well to Army building that I could think of in a few minutes. As for DC, I'm not as familiar as with Marvel but henchmen, Darkseid's army, GCPD officers, maybe an army of Hawkmen? I'm sure someone will come up with a list but, as shown, there is certainty opportunity there for Superheroes both sides of the fence.

Edited October 23, 201311 yr by Dr Leg O Brick

Multiple Man from X-Factor. You could have as many of him as possible.

I almost think we need a Fleshie series. This way you can populate a city of Superheros with common people. We rarely get even a bank guard for the superhero line and most people groan as it takes up a slot that could have gone for a named character.

Agreed. It would mean also that customizers like myself would have a better selection for making customs. And we all need Civilians for Spidey and Superman to rescue, perhaps it would also satisfy city fans because of the extra detail most likely contained on them, and great idea about Madrox, I'd buy ten. Talking of X Men I forgot about the Shi'ar, the other main alien race that I'd army build. What about Olympians or Asgardians?

Multiple Man from X-Factor. You could have as many of him as possible.

I almost think we need a Fleshie series. This way you can populate a city of Superheros with common people. We rarely get even a bank guard for the superhero line and most people groan as it takes up a slot that could have gone for a named character.

Anything but a Fleshie please. There are tons of fleshies you can use for civilians, like Harry Potter minifigures, or mixing some cities with heads from all over the licensed sets. Flesh is overwhelming the normal minifigures...

I agree, no fleshies. If they do end up doing more licensed CMF lines, like super heroes, I'd prefer them in yellow. This way, they will go with the rest of the CMF lines when displayed. Plus, it will give people who prefer it a chance to have their favorite characters in a classic yellow minifig.

Well, the "fleshie" skin tone is because of the figures representing the Licensed skin tone IP. I like both yellow/licensed skin tone; however, if doing a CMF I would prefer yellow. Granted, I can't imagine them doing a licensed CMF (outside of Simpsons) only because of the skin tone and cost needed to justify it. Army building is a great side effect of CMFs, but the target audience probably doesn't army build that often. They are great impulse purchases so they probably end up with multiples of the same figure, but that might not be their intention, unlike many AFOLs (myself included). I'd love more civilian licensed skin tone figures, or the very least more generic classic torsos without yellow print showing through so I can modify them myself. I think that is the best idea any fan can hope for and they seem to do it more and more.

I don't consider "army builder" one of the major concerns in the licensed CMF issue.Yes, original CMFs do give some generic torsos and accessories, but usually most trageted consumers didn't plan to have more than one of each, because many of them are after all unique characters, just like the licensed ones. To me the most important value of original CMF is their "originality".

Edited October 25, 201311 yr by Dorayaki

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there?

I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

For Super Heroes? There are tons of "Army Builder" potentials. Otherwise known as Minions! Aim Beekeeper guys. Hydra Guys. Man droid Armor. SHIELD CapeBuster armor. All kinds of potential goodies.

On a related note, didn't Megablocks or KreO have a Marvel blind bag series out at some point? If so it may be an indication that TLG may not be restricted by an action figure license for the theme?

On a related note, didn't Megablocks or KreO have a Marvel blind bag series out at some point? If so it may be an indication that TLG may not be restricted by an action figure license for the theme?

That's partially true.

Maybe TLG and Megablocks have two different licenses. I really don't know but that's an option.

I wish they would continue the CMF line as it is. There are many collectors of this line and it had a good mix of all kinds of figures for all ages. I'm not so sure if I will buy the movie figures (series 12) because I don't like those movie faceprints that much. My interest in Series 13 (simpsons) is zero, because I don't like the show that much. I would love to get some more space, castle and classic monster figures, so I can only hope CMF will come back to its normal assortments after series 13.

I pretty much second Blacktron. I love the variety of the first 11 waves of minifigs (i.e. warriors, mythical characters, a variety of monsters and horror characters etc.) and personally don't mind the variants like "Evil Knight/Robot/Spaceman" to compliment a previous fig. Thus I'm likely to get at least some of wave 12 if this is the direction it seems to be taking. For example I missed out on the S1 Wrestler so I'm keen on the S12 version, especially if he comes with the lightning accessory. I'd also be interested in seeing what S14 has, especially if it ties into the MMO game (I'm hoping Hades is in that wave).

As for blind bags based on current licensed lines, to be honest I'm not interested in any bar maybe TMNT, Marvel and DC. However I'd prefer it if TMNT branched out into other incarnations (i.e. original comics, 87, 2003 or IDW's current run) and the DC line included heroes who aren't related to Batman (am I the only one who's was sick of the Batman sets after 2011?).

What "army builders" could you possibly want from Toy Story? Nothing exists in the movies in quantities of more than 3-4; aliens and army men. Same with Super Heroes. Other than the heroes and villians, which to my knowledge are all unique, what else is there?

I get and agree with SW and LotR, but even Indiana Jones is a stretch here.

The Toy Story Pizza Planet aliens and army men are exactly what I was talking about. Are they not enough? I made a point of getting over 20 of each, myself - nowhere near the huge armies some people collect for some themes, but enough to qualify as "army building," I think. (And technically, the heroes and villains aren't unique, anyway - remember, the main characters are all toys, mass-produced in factories, and while we don't see most of them in the actual movie storylines, someone might conceivably want them; moreover, we actually do see a whole slew of Buzz Lightyears in Al's Toy Barn in Toy Story 2. That's not actually what I was thinking of at all, but since you mentioned the uniqueness of the heroes, I thought I'd point it out.)

Super Heroes so far has had the Chitauri invaders from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Gotham City PD from the DC Comics one; both are things one might reasonably wish to amass in large quantities (and heck, one might also want a good handful of henchmen for the Joker and Two-Face). Beyond figures already produced, though, I was speaking mainly in terms of potential characters from those universes, beings we might very well see turn up in sets. Dr Leg O Brick's post cites a fair number for starters.

Indiana Jones? Just of the minifigures produced, there are Lao Che's thugs, the Thuggees, the Cairo street thugs (hm - there's a pattern here somewhere...), the German soldiers, the Russian soldiers, and the Ugha. And as with Super Heroes, the source material of the franchise portrays numerous other members of large groups that would be suitable for amassing large numbers of minifigures, were they produced, and I actually do hope to MOC some of them from suitable components of other minifigures from other lines. And heck, for Indiana Jones one might well want to army-build even some of the animals - ants, spiders, snakes, bats, horses, monkeys, camels, crocodilians and more all appear on screen in numbers ranging from "several" to "bajillions" in the various Indy productions.

Edited October 30, 201311 yr by Blondie-Wan

Blondie-Wan, I agree with your points on Army Building, but I don't think they can revisit older license. If the CMF line contained the same minifigs are the sets, they would cannibalize each other. It would be easier to accomplish with new licenses but there is enough depth of characters not yet released they could do it.

I could see them doing a DC Superheros CMF wave with Gotham PD army builders and some henchmen. They could have a Jim Gordon alternate print, but they have to anchor the wave with Superheros not already in sets. Green Lantern heroes and villains. On the higher rarity, I could see them releasing the Clark Kent / Superman exclusive or perhaps a battle damaged Superman.

Blondie-Wan, I agree with your points on Army Building, but I don't think they can revisit older license. If the CMF line contained the same minifigs are the sets, they would cannibalize each other. It would be easier to accomplish with new licenses but there is enough depth of characters not yet released they could do it.

I could see them doing a DC Superheros CMF wave with Gotham PD army builders and some henchmen. They could have a Jim Gordon alternate print, but they have to anchor the wave with Superheros not already in sets. Green Lantern heroes and villains. On the higher rarity, I could see them releasing the Clark Kent / Superman exclusive or perhaps a battle damaged Superman.

I wasn't suggesting they revisit discontinued themes; I was just citing them as examples of licensed themes that lend themselves to army-building.

That said, most of the themes I originally mentioned (Star Wars, The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings, and Marvel and DC Superheroes) are still active. And of the two I mentioned that aren't, at least one of them does have a fair chance at coming back, if a fifth Indiana Jones movie does wind up happening.

I absolutely hate the idea of using licensed themes for CMF. The whole attraction to me with the CMF is the universal appeal and the fact that these minifigs can be used is a great variety of setting for builds and play. Also there was a greater variety within each set.

Using a licensed theme is a horrible idea and will most likely result in me abandoning the collection. By choosing a specific license TLG will alienenate a large consumer base of folks not interested in that theme. Additionally the army builder will have little interest. I suspect this will cause the popularity of the CMF to drop dramaticaly. I know there are many folk excited about the Simpsons theme for S13, but those same fans may be upset if a different licensed theme was picked that they have no interest in like Teletubbies or The Wiggles (trying to think of something anti-Simpsons). If this trend is true, I think it's just laziness on the designers part who have run out of ideas.

I say keep producing licensed themes, but please TLG, keep them out of the CMFs!

This has got me wondering who the target audience is for these CMF's. I would be interested in seeing who are the major purchasers of the CMF's. I have seen many post indicating the the target audience is kids, but I have a feeling there is a greater amount of AFOL's who are snatching up these CMF's. It's not unusual to hear of someone buying boxes of these where parent who buy for their kids may not necessarily be completist and need to collect each and every one and multiple of them. I have all 176 plus several duplicates. I doubt there are many parent buying the complete set for their kids.

The point of this is maybe the TLG is looking at this to determine the direction the CMFs will take in the future.

Edited October 31, 201311 yr by kasmca

I absolutely hate the idea of using licensed themes for CMF. The whole attraction to me with the CMF is the universal appeal and the fact that these minifigs can be used is a great variety of setting for builds and play. Also there was a greater variety within each set.

Well, I can tell you in my little, which is not counting as a valid example of course, but just for the sake of arguing I'd tell:

I have bought about, say, a couple of thousand of collectible minifigures.

This make roughly 100 minifigures per series. I have bought all twice, + army building the ones I love most.

For S13, I will buy only 16, the 16 base figures.

Which, in my case, is a loss of 84% of sales.

BUT if they did LOTR CMF, I would have bought approx 300 minifigures per series.

So IMHO it depedns on what theme they will have in mind to produce.

I can also say that apart from the head probably you'll have standard minifigures and new torsos and legs that can be useful.

I am not that disappointed, though I really think they lost the chance to make a BETTER serie with standard minifigures of course.

I will judge S13-The Simpsons as a very poor series, just that.

Even if TLC launch licensed CMF, I think not all licenses are suitable for CMF because it should be a "universe" that contains lots of characters because of it's long history or brand. Indiana Jones is alittle diffcult not only because there is no current sequel but not colorful enough (though maybe lots of usable army builders). Star Wars is okay, but TLC might not do that because they've used most of the main characters in regular sets. Toy Storys still have many unused popular characters, and human ones can be considered too.

The potential licenses I can come up with are Disney/Pixar (for the sake of minidolls...), DC/Marvel Superheros, Harry Potter (if Rowling really has plans for spinoffs), LoTR, Avatar from nickelodeon.

I absolutely hate the idea of using licensed themes for CMF. The whole attraction to me with the CMF is the universal appeal and the fact that these minifigs can be used is a great variety of setting for builds and play. Also there was a greater variety within each set. I say keep producing licensed themes, but please TLG, keep them out of the CMFs!

If this trend is true, I think it's just laziness on the designers part who have run out of ideas.

There are still some doubts and problems that TLC have to overcome if they really want to make such things. However, it's not good to neglect the good things in licensed CMFs and other consumers' needs.

In rumors there would still be original CMFs created by TLC themselves. Yes, it would be frustrating if TLC stop making CMFs, but for now this saying isn't confimed. The best result should be both coming together.

Edited November 1, 201311 yr by Dorayaki

Harry Potter (if Rowling really has plans for spinoffs),

I thought it was confirmed an eighth book.

I thought it was confirmed an eighth book.

I heard she's planning something related to the Wizard world but set decades b4 the HP saga and not connected to HP at all.

I think they should keep the core Minifigures theme as a classic theme, and as a regular series.

Then they could have an umbrella category that features other themes in the same packaging, collectible style. They have a Friends animal line, the Simpsons should be a separate CMF line as well. Then of course I would love to have a Marvel Superheroes CMF line, there are over 5000 characters alone not including variants. That is the perfect application and the only way we can get diversity.

I think Marvel and DC Superheroes would work well as their own separate multi series lines of CMF's. They have a depth of characters and a rabid enough built in fan base that could support such. You could easily get 100 discreet figures out of each source that are familiar to fans, and still have hundreds more to draw on.

The Simpsons feels a bit more shallow. Yeah I know they have built up a large cast of characters. But it just doesn't feel the same.

Star Wars would be great for a CMF line if the license could allow it. Star Trek as well if they had that license. I'm not sure that LotR would work as well. While beloved the various characters just don't have as much visual distinctiveness. Medieval guy, medieval guy, elf, medieval guy, dwarf, etc etc. accessories, sword, bow, axe.

There is a very slim chance of making a CMF series based on a license IP. They may do a Simpsons but I have serious doubts. TLG has stated numerous times they can only use a licensed theme as a play-set. Hence why no one can get huge quantities of Star Wars Stormtroopers sold separately. They have to come with Lego bricks (as a set) as it goes against what they are allowed to do in so far as the licensing agreement stipulates. With that in mind I doubt any of the Licensed IPs would allow it. Not to mention TLG losing the integrity of the CMF line as a whole. The CMF series 12 makes perfect sense both from marketing standpoint and promotion for the movie. Plus they are non-licensed characters.

If they produced a retro line that would be cool.

Edited November 1, 201311 yr by Wodanis

Each license is probably treated differently. A star wars license doesn't allow just figures to be sold, but that doesn't mean they didn't get a different agreement with Fox for Simpson's. I'm pretty sure the press release said they will have one set and a cmf line.

A retro live would sell out quick. You would only need prints, no new molds except for what they had to replace (old helmets and whatnot). Classic castle, pirates/imperials (although I prefer the new versions), classic space plus blacktron I/II...