tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post5229480574825427477..comments2024-03-28T22:25:17.706+00:00Comments on New Elementary: LEGO® parts, sets and techniques: LEGO® Minifigures: Tara Wike & Austin Carlson interviewAdminhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05188856208086872634noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-50084794134795613682018-08-15T22:33:31.308+01:002018-08-15T22:33:31.308+01:00I think you're misunderstanding what they said...I think you're misunderstanding what they said about the chase figure—it's not about making a less desirable figure more popular so much as about fitting a much more niche figure into the series whatsoever. For most of the kids who make up most of the audience of the CMFs, the classic policeman holds no special value due to a lack of nostalgia for that period, so it'd be harder to justify adding as many of those as they have similar figures. Including a single one per box is their way of getting it into the series at all. And ultimately, that means fans who get it are lucky and those who don't are no worse off than if the fig had not gotten released at all.<br /><br />As for the Harry Potter set, they probably didn't address it because this interview was done far in advance of when they were even announced (hence them playing coy about the shorter moveable legs as well). But 22 figures is a lot, and a distribution like you suggest would hardly make any difference (two figures instead of one per box merely doubles your chance to get a fig).Andrew Barnickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11723179808721244651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-62020057057409922612018-08-14T22:52:03.776+01:002018-08-14T22:52:03.776+01:00They seem to be skirting around the "chase fi...They seem to be skirting around the "chase figure" question, claiming here that it's to make a less desirable fig more popular, but all it does is encourage scalping. There was a clearly logical way to arrange the Harry potter box, with 3 sets of Harry Potter and 2 sets of Fantastic Beasts equaling 60 figs, yet they chose to include the chase fig. I personally know many people that would have purchased and split a case, me being one of them, yet due to the inability to split a case evenly, will not be getting any of the Harry potter figs as we don't want to bother with trying to find a fig that has been scalped from relatively every box. If Lego continues to do this, I will lose a bit of faith in how much Lego actually cares about their customer base, and will continue to not purchase any cmf series as I have for the last two. At least from my perspective, it feels like the CMF chase figs are just an attempt to make more sales, at the benefit of scalpers and the harm of everyone hoping to collect a complete set. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-3550817822945837422018-08-14T13:18:50.170+01:002018-08-14T13:18:50.170+01:00I agree. While I understand why TLG need to releas...I agree. While I understand why TLG need to release licensed stuff to draw new people in, I think it would be even better if they had a model similar to Bearbrick. For example, in every series one character is from Marvel, one DC, one Star Wars, one from another recent movie, one is from an invited artist/designer (different each series, could be like a graffiti artist, t-shirt company etc), one Ninjago, one from some other Lego theme (Chima, etc), and the rest is "normal" Lego minifigs.<br />This way, everyone would have a reason for buying every series.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-87845834147774980432018-08-14T10:32:41.437+01:002018-08-14T10:32:41.437+01:00An interesting interview and great to see the desi...An interesting interview and great to see the designers with just as much enthusiasm for the products as the collectors. I have lost a lot of interest in the series since more and more licensed themes have been introduced. It does seem that Lego currently just churn out products to appease comic book fanboys/girls and these rarely have any use for other purposes. One of the bright points about the non-licensed series is the variety of themes, meaning there is always something for everyone. In addition, the non-licensed series have always introduced parts that wouldn't usually appear in sets of bricks, like new animals (the skunk, rabbit, penguin), sports equipment (hockey stick, tennis racquet, baseball bat), musical instruments (guitar and saxophone). Hopefully they will revert back to making more non-licensed series so that original fans of Lego can see more unique accessories.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-7039445967054218792018-08-14T05:35:04.099+01:002018-08-14T05:35:04.099+01:00Great interview. My favourite minifigure remains &...Great interview. My favourite minifigure remains "Warrior Woman" (aka Xena: Warrior Princess). It's a shame that they still haven't made an Amazon Princess (aka Gabrielle) to accompany Warrior Woman on her adventures!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-82262261261132184262018-08-13T23:50:20.481+01:002018-08-13T23:50:20.481+01:00One thing that I think should be added to this is ...One thing that I think should be added to this is pieces transferring from CMF to regular retail sets. At Brickworld, I was able to sit in on a seminar being run by one of the Friends designers. I asked her what the process involves for transitioning a CMF-exclusive element to European production for use outside of the CMF line. She said that it's definitely something that they have to justify, so there will always be elements that are going to remain exclusive to the CMF theme. But if they make a part that's got a wide variety of uses, or that fills a core need, they can pitch the idea of tooling up a second mold for regular production outside of China. Some of the accessories that have made the jump are the S1 raygun (with some modifications to the design), the S2 Spartan shield/weightlifting weight/microphone/ski & pole/surfboard/minifig trophy, the S3 snowboard/goggles/longbow/boombox/bat, and a lot of hairstyles originated in the CMF theme (I'd say new hairstyles have a better chance of being approved than the handheld accessories). Stuff like the mascot costumes almost never show up outside of the CMF theme (the hotdog costume is the only one I can think of that has). I very much doubt we'll see much of the S18 molds being used again even in the CMF theme, given how many of them are mascot costumes (with the unicorn being the only straight-up repeat I can think of).Purple Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-15330830858888557632018-08-13T23:23:26.086+01:002018-08-13T23:23:26.086+01:00Funny you should mention that. By the time I actu...Funny you should mention that. By the time I actually saw my first sealed case of S1, I'd already bought a ton of them, so I did end up passing on that. But starting with S2, I bought sealed cases plus extras (S4 I ended up buying two). I even bought a sealed case of Team GB, shipped to the US. It was Mr. Gold from S10 that killed that. I bought a sealed case of S10, but having failed to get Mr. Gold, I ended up just buying a complete set of S11 plus a handful of extras. I mean, right there my purchasing dropped about 75%. S12 on, I only bought a few select minifigs here and there for a few years. Disney I bought a lot of, but I think I skipped around half of them, so I was really building up large amounts of select characters. TLBM1 was the first time since S11 that I completed a set, and the first time since S10 that I bought a sealed case. I have a complete set of TLBM2 but still need to buy a case. S14 I bought a lot of, but still passed on a few so I never did complete that wave. S18 is the first numbered series that I actually own 100%. I still skipped the case (no plans to buy one), but the first time I ran across them I was able to find all of the common minifigs, and by a stroke of luck (which I will not explain here), I ended up being able to add a Policeman to the pile and get the _full_ series in my initial purchase. But there are five numbered series that I barely touched, as well as the two Simpsons series and TLM/TLNM. I don't own a single German Soccer minifig. And it's pretty much all because of one thing: Mr. Gold. I probably would have passed on the cop as well, if I'd had to actually invest any effort/money into tracking one down.Purple Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-65285398941707655502018-08-13T21:24:04.658+01:002018-08-13T21:24:04.658+01:00It's funny that they thought the retro policem...It's funny that they thought the retro policeman would be fun for the adults. That's the one that given the scalpers snapping them up actually made me slow down my purchases of CMFs. It became less fun and more of a chore to collect. I guess I'm in the minority as Lego has done it again with a one-per-box Harry Potter CMF series.<br />-idogcowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17237395340011625992noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-276033407505619194.post-47412553281178391352018-08-13T20:55:03.521+01:002018-08-13T20:55:03.521+01:00Wonderful interview! Lots of great insights, inclu...Wonderful interview! Lots of great insights, including both things I had sort of assumed (i.e. why series like Simpsons are chosen even when they don't get a wide range of accompanying sets) and things I hadn't (it honestly never even occurred to me that the minifigures don't get TV advertisements like other themes).<br /><br />Personally, one of my favorite figs in recent years has been the Spy, which is a pretty amazing redesign of Dash from the original Lego Alpha Team. I'd love to see more figs like that, that don't just remake older figs like the classic policeman but go the extra mile to update their entire look to modern standards!Andrew Barnickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11723179808721244651noreply@blogger.com