LEGO Minifigures licensed series

[Jared]

I'd like to see an Adventure Time CMF

Considering BOTH Ideas projects were rejected, I'd say that's probably not going to happen. Though you never know...

[Dorayaki]

I'd like to see an Adventure Time CMF

To be quite honest, the main reason why I didn't fall in love with LEGO Simpsons as both a FOL and a Simpsons lover is that CMF feels like both a treat and a mistreat which both bring unfairness. Simpsons hasn't got any other regular set along with the CMF series, while other regular licensed themes don't even get more characters than Simpsons. If licensed CMF is possible, I wish it's the turn for an existed license rather than a newly obtained one..

[raminator]

My bet is on Futurama.

cmf + Planet Xpress building or Spaceship as d2c.

I would buy an Army of Zoidbergs!!!

If it's not Futurama it will be something Lego has not had a license before.

[Blakstone]

In a different thread, I saw that Mega Bloks lost the WoW license. If that is true, would World Of Warcraft make a good licensed CMF series?

[just2good]

My bet is on Futurama.

cmf + Planet Xpress building or Spaceship as d2c.

I would buy an Army of Zoidbergs!!!

If it's not Futurama it will be something Lego has not had a license before.

Well, they keep turning down Futurama projects on Ideas after submission...

[rexusprime]

In a different thread, I saw that Mega Bloks lost the WoW license. If that is true, would World Of Warcraft make a good licensed CMF series?

I think WoW is a bit to 'brutal' for lego...

My bet is on Futurama.

cmf + Planet Xpress building or Spaceship as d2c.

I would buy an Army of Zoidbergs!!!

If it's not Futurama it will be something Lego has not had a license before.

I could totally see that coming.

Superhero series would be cool but probably not gonna happen. Adventure Time is another favourite because I love the show...I know the ideas sets got rejected but that doesn't mean they won't make a minifig series. I'm not sure how popular adventure time is outside the uk...here in Germany are very less people who watch the show (I think) but who knows. Star Trek would be perfect but I quess they don't have the rights or sth like that. And what about Spongebob Squarepants? There are so many opportunities...

[Darth Punk]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for licensed cmfs to become a regular facet of TLG's arsenal. The Simpsons was a unique situation in having a large array of characters, it's been around a long time and appeals to a wide age range. While other lines like Star Wars and superheroes share such traits, having a cmf line would undercut sales of sets often driven by the minifigs they contain. The Simpsons line worked due to only have a single d2c set not to mention having an active tv show still on the air.

The cmf line in general works because it is not competing with current lines and in many cases acts as a nice supplement. TLG after all is not in the business to sell minifigs, they make money by selling you plastic bricks. Minifigs are often a part of the uniqueness of sets and if you undercut that you undercut a main selling point of a set.

[Dorayaki]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for licensed cmfs to become a regular facet of TLG's arsenal. The Simpsons was a unique situation in having a large array of characters, it's been around a long time and appeals to a wide age range. While other lines like Star Wars and superheroes share such traits, having a cmf line would undercut sales of sets often driven by the minifigs they contain. The Simpsons line worked due to only have a single d2c set not to mention having an active tv show still on the air.

The cmf line in general works because it is not competing with current lines and in many cases acts as a nice supplement. TLG after all is not in the business to sell minifigs, they make money by selling you plastic bricks. Minifigs are often a part of the uniqueness of sets and if you undercut that you undercut a main selling point of a set.

Most of this saying sounds correct, but I think the theory of supplement is also same for licensed themes. Most discontinued LEGO licenses didn't always come with a full collection of characters, so CMF licenses could have really helped them out (not to mention using them to create non-yellow MOC figs). The main problem for Simpsons is that it doesn't meet that need since there is only one D2C set, contrary to your saying that TLC focus on regular sets more. Edited September 10, 2014 by Dorayaki

[Darth Punk]

I did say Simpsons was a unique situation which was really my point. That it couldn't necessarily be applied to other lines as many seem to hope. It's more an exception to the rule that may or not may not be applied in limited fashion in the future.

No line is ever going to feature all the characters nor is it the objective of a line and people just need to accept that fact. There is only so much time and space for sets and to be so focused on a few missing minifigs is to miss a much larger picture that drives the success of TLG.

[Blakstone]

I think LEGO will consider CMF as an option with new licenses. I don't think it is a unique situation but a CMF series cannot be applied to every new license and is not even a good fit for some.

I only bought Maggie from the CMF series (for the new body mold and teddy bear). I likely won't buy any of Simpsons series 2. Hopefully Simpsons series 2 will be a success and we will see different licenses get an opportunity at a CMF line.

[InfiniteSD]

More than 16... they could easily do a few waves each of Marvel & DC. I do agree the sets will still sell, since they'd obviously use characters/costumes in the sets that aren't in the CMF waves. Like, "Okay, you can get Giant Size X-Men-style Nightcrawler & Colossus in the CMFs, but if you want Cyclops and Storm you've gotta get the Sentinel set!"

It takes very little thought to come up with alternatives to populate the CMFs that'll still sell while leaving plenty of fodder for sets to draw on... oh, you can get a minifig Thing in the CMF set, but if you want bigfig Thing? Gotta buy the Fantasticar set! The Fantasticar also features the FF in their Kirby outfits; want Byrne-era white and blue? CMFs! Want white & black Future Foundation and post-Future Foundation outfits? CMFs! Want Ant-Man, Medusa, She-Hulk, and whats-her-face in their fill-in FF outfits? CMFs! Want the 5 Classic X-Men in black (or dark blue) and gold (or yellow)? CMFs! Astonishing/Professor Kitty Pryde in the CMFs, classic '80s/Excalibur Shadowcat in a set. The 5 original X-Men in their All-New X-Men uniforms in CMFs. Archangel in his X-Factor look in some set vs Apocalypse, but X-Force Archangel in CMFs. Or DC! New 52 Superman in a set, but early New 52 Action Comics t-shirt Superman in a CMF wave.

There's no shortage of characters and variants they can use to populate wave after wave of both sets and CMFs (and purchasing-incentive promo figures for S@H!). Some kids & collectors might bail out after completing a particular iteration of a team, but they're in the extreme minority; it'd probably be extremely obvious at the outset that one cannot focus on JUST the CMFs in order to get every single character they desire.

I'm InfiniteSD, and I approve this message! If only Lego would catch on to this concept.

Also a fantasticar would be sweet!

[Darth Punk]

I think LEGO will consider CMF as an option with new licenses. I don't think it is a unique situation but a CMF series cannot be applied to every new license and is not even a good fit for some.

I only bought Maggie from the CMF series (for the new body mold and teddy bear). I likely won't buy any of Simpsons series 2. Hopefully Simpsons series 2 will be a success and we will see different licenses get an opportunity at a CMF line.

All licenses are unique. That is the crux of the issue at hand. People expect if one licensed line does something then they all should be able to do so. The objective of the various license holders can be very different and it often reflected in the products. While Fox may love having cmfs that doesn't mean that Warner bros is interested. While Disney/Lucas films embraces battle packs doesn't mean other license holders view them as necessary let alone beneficial. Yes TLG could make all sorts of cmf lines, but that doesn't mean they are interested or see it as a direction they want to go in. Throw in a licensed line where there are all sorts of other parties involved that could care less if you get your complete collection of minifigs.

The point being is none of these decisions are simple. It's not just TLG driving the bus when it comes to licenses and even when they are producing their own product there are always going to be limitations, give and take. That's the reality of any business no matter what their size.

It could very well be TLG has already been considering licensed cmf but up until now the situation has not been right. It's really hard to know when we are missing so much information that drive the decision making process. In the end we can only accept or not accept what TLG produces. That acceptance will lead to further success or failure and TLG will act accordingly. That is what will ultimately influence TLG, not the wishes of us here.

I would love nothing more to see further licensed cmfs particularly ones I'm actually interested in. But I believe that desire should be balanced with the reality of business which prevent unnecessary disappointment and bitterness one some times see here.

[MAB]

All the licensing details aside, I think the reason that the Simpsons were done as CMF with one flagship set is that LEGO couldn't come up with enough building sets that would sell. They probably didn't think regular people were willing to drop £400 on Simpsons sets to get them all, and that they would make more money as CMF.

It'll be interesting to see if they include any alcohol related characters in the next series - Barney, Moe, (and Lenny and Carl).

[Venkefedo]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for licensed cmfs to become a regular facet of TLG's arsenal. The Simpsons was a unique situation in having a large array of characters, it's been around a long time and appeals to a wide age range. While other lines like Star Wars and superheroes share such traits, having a cmf line would undercut sales of sets often driven by the minifigs they contain...<snip>...Minifigs are often a part of the uniqueness of sets and if you undercut that you undercut a main selling point of a set.

With Star Wars or Superheroes, there are far more potential minifigures than there are sets. TLG can populate multiple series of CMFs from SW, Marvel, or DC and still have plenty of desirable options to populate sets, especially if they plan things carefully...

The 75052 Cantina is missing tons of characters that alone could probably fill a CMF series. When are they likely to revisit the Cantina? 4 years? 8 years? Longer? What better way to get Dr Evazan, Ponda Baba, Hrchek Kal Fas, Ellors Madak, etc? Same goes for Superheroes as I mentioned in another post in this thread; CMFs could fill out teams, scenes, sets that TLG otherwise couldn't/wouldn't normally get to, as well as deliver characters that might never be included in sets for whatever reason. That wouldn't undercut sets at all.

Edited September 10, 2014 by Venkefedo

[Dorayaki]

The 75052 Cantina is missing tons of characters that alone could probably fill a CMF series. When are they likely to revisit the Cantina? 4 years? 8 years? Longer? What better way to get Dr Evazan, Ponda Baba, Hrchek Kal Fas, Ellors Madak, etc? Same goes for Superheroes as I mentioned in another post in this thread; CMFs could fill out teams, scenes, sets that TLG otherwise couldn't/wouldn't normally get to, as well as deliver characters that might never be included in sets for whatever reason. That wouldn't undercut sets at all.

I have no thought against SW, but generally we've seen most key characters in the trilogies. I agree there are tons of unused designs from the SW films which all worth becoming minifigures, but I also feel like other licenses lack key characters more obviously. Still, I don't refuse to see CMF SW though.

Superheroes is another story. There are indeed many iconic characters missing from LEGO sets, and are also not ensured to be featured in a future set.

No line is ever going to feature all the characters nor is it the objective of a line and people just need to accept that fact. There is only so much time and space for sets and to be so focused on a few missing minifigs is to miss a much larger picture that drives the success of TLG.

Depends. As said the controversy of CMF Simpsons was that it is able to give much more characters than other regular themes. which is unfair to those licenses which are as notable as Simpsons. If licensed CMF has been confirmed recurring, I believe a regular set wave and CMF series can complement each other and make the best profit Edited September 10, 2014 by Dorayaki

[Jared]

All licenses are unique. That is the crux of the issue at hand. People expect if one licensed line does something then they all should be able to do so. The objective of the various license holders can be very different and it often reflected in the products. While Fox may love having cmfs that doesn't mean that Warner bros is interested. While Disney/Lucas films embraces battle packs doesn't mean other license holders view them as necessary let alone beneficial. Yes TLG could make all sorts of cmf lines, but that doesn't mean they are interested or see it as a direction they want to go in. Throw in a licensed line where there are all sorts of other parties involved that could care less if you get your complete collection of minifigs.

The point being is none of these decisions are simple. It's not just TLG driving the bus when it comes to licenses and even when they are producing their own product there are always going to be limitations, give and take. That's the reality of any business no matter what their size.

It could very well be TLG has already been considering licensed cmf but up until now the situation has not been right. It's really hard to know when we are missing so much information that drive the decision making process. In the end we can only accept or not accept what TLG produces. That acceptance will lead to further success or failure and TLG will act accordingly. That is what will ultimately influence TLG, not the wishes of us here.

I would love nothing more to see further licensed cmfs particularly ones I'm actually interested in. But I believe that desire should be balanced with the reality of business which prevent unnecessary disappointment and bitterness one some times see here.

That is actually a very good point, I hadn't thought about that until now! Thanks you for sharing. Now I know not to get my hopes up. ^_^

[Slurpifier]

If Lego made CMF's of Star Wars and Superheroes, they would sell twice as fast as hot cakes. Alas, not going to happen due to licensing issues.

[rexusprime]

I know I'm repeating myself but Adventure Time would be awesome! Kids like the show as well as adults. I could think of a D2C set like Candy Kingdom or The Treehouse. (I know a CMF series doesn't require a D2C but it's awesome though

[klinton]

Any other licensed CMF series would come from either TimeWarner or Disney......which means Loonie Tunes or Muppets would work for me !

I would literally sell my soul (and toss in my grandma to sweeten the pot) to have Muppets minifigs. You have no idea how insanely happy these would make me.

They're Disney though, not Warner. I don't see this being a roadblock, as we have Disney Princesses currently on store shelves.

Can you imagine the possibilities with LEGO Muppets?! Every single set you have would suddenly be 200% more interesting with Muppets on it. From spaceships to pirateships to cars to dumptrucks...ect. Muppets make everything better! :D

[Venkefedo]

He did say "TimeWarner or Disney" in the very message you quoted...

I'd love a couple CMF series of Muppets... Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo (purple tux), Scooter, Animal, Rowlf, Floyd, Dr. Teeth, Janice, Zoot, Lips, Statler, Waldorf, Beauregard, Pepe, Bunsen, Beaker, Swedish Chef, Walter, Rizzo, Camilla, the Pigs In Space crew (with Piggy in her space suit), Robin, Uncle Deadly, Gonzo the Great (cape!), Sweetums, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Pops... that's at least 2 full series right there, and there's still plenty more they can tackle (variants included)!

[just2good]

Unfortunately, a CMF series for the Muppets is not very likely. The last movie had a very disappointing box office intake.

[BlueberryWaffles]

Unfortunately, a CMF series for the Muppets is not very likely. The last movie had a very disappointing box office intake.

Really? That's a shame, I really enjoyed Most Wanted.

[Robert8]

I thought about The Muppets for a CMF series because they are well known and beloved characters, besides, it seems they are coming back in a TV show

http://screenrant.co...tv-show-reboot/

Edited September 11, 2014 by Robert8

[klinton]

Really? That's a shame, I really enjoyed Most Wanted.

Aye! It was fully fun. I'm a complete sucker for Muppets though, so I might be less than objective.

These last two films did a fantastic job of embracing what it is that makes the Muppets special (unlike some of the unfortunate 90s offerings...). :D

He did say "TimeWarner or Disney" in the very message you quoted...

I'd love a couple CMF series of Muppets...

Aye, so he did. It would seem that reading isn't my strong point. My apologies. :D

But, yeah, there are endless options for the Muppets. Once they've done a head sculpt for the core cast, they each have so many iconic looks to offer up.

I...I really need this to happen. I'd never thought about it before, but picturing it in my head now, this is pretty much the greatest idea. Ever. :D

Edited September 11, 2014 by klinton

[MAB]

The 75052 Cantina is missing tons of characters that alone could probably fill a CMF series. When are they likely to revisit the Cantina? 4 years? 8 years? Longer? What better way to get Dr Evazan, Ponda Baba, Hrchek Kal Fas, Ellors Madak, etc? Same goes for Superheroes as I mentioned in another post in this thread; CMFs could fill out teams, scenes, sets that TLG otherwise couldn't/wouldn't normally get to, as well as deliver characters that might never be included in sets for whatever reason. That wouldn't undercut sets at all.

How many people would really want those characters though? Regular CMFs sell in very large quantities. They are pocket money toys often sold as impulse buys for kids. A Cantina CMF set if advertised as such would probably only sell to people that already own a Cantina, and then only die hard fans, not normal kids. Most kids won't want to have to check a website or encyclopedia to know who they have got. If they were advertised as Star Wars CMF, then kids or parents might buy a couple and then not recognize anyone in them. And not buy lego again as they were advertised as Star Wars, and didn't even contain any of the popular SW characters such as Luke, Han or Vader.

CMFs are sold to the masses, licensed ones need to be identifiable characters.