Sign in to follow this  
DLangRI

Review: 4585532 Vintage Minifigure Collection 5

On a scale of 1 to 5  

6 members have voted

  1. 1. How do you rate this set?

    • 1 - Poor
      0
    • 2 - Below Average
      0
    • 3 - Average
      3
    • 4 - Above Average
      1
    • 5 - Outstanding
      2


Recommended Posts

gallery_2351_18_164.gif

Me and my wife (mostly my wife, she demanded we get these) picked up the Vintage Minifigure Collection 5. It's an all girls edition, and has two very rare and desired castle minifigs. A quick pictorial and review.

o6ird5.jpg

The packaging is standard, I expected hearts with the red theme :wub:. I'm shocked TLC didn't put this out for Valentine's Day. It could've saved me some present money. :look:

oga0dj.jpg

The lineup outside of the box. We put them on our new blue baseplate. They are the dreaded chinese plastic, but they are of a higher quality than prior releases.

103fjvk.jpg

Since we only have the Ninja Princess (a great addition to any collection :wub: ) I am going to use this to compare minifigures. Right away, the plastic is different. It's not neccessarily cheaper, but it feels different. The painting is fine on the torso, but off on the head. More on that Below.

2h2kzh3.jpg

Sorry it's a bit blurry. The eyes and lips are bigger. This gives the eyes a bit too close together look, which makes them look off. Otherwise, it's a nice addition.

2n8bp74.jpg

AH! Well, a better shot for you to judge.

zv4syc.jpg

More confirmation they are the Chinese minifigs. Again, while a bit different, they're not as bad as the Pirates minifigures which garnered such hate. Still, I'd prefer if TLC contracted with factories that better managed quality.

mimg7n.jpg

A group shot with my wife's (Kary) favorite minifigures. They are quite nice, much better than earlier Chinese releases. Not the best subsitutions, but these are worthy to play with. Right now Kary is assembling an all-female army of our minifigs. Pics coming later once she finishes and is happy. I am pleased with this. For $17 US it's not bad for two really rare female figures, even if they're of a different quality.

4 out of 5 stars!

Edit: Fixed image links.

Edited by WhiteFang
Indexed and poll added

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sadly the pics aren't showing up for me :sceptic: Are you sure your links are OK?

Too bad to hear they're Chinese figs but no surprises there.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for covering it for us, but if its not troublesome, could you do a "macro" shot, for both Ninja comparison. I want to have a closer look at the decals and details, without the use of flash, so we are able to compare the colours closely.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry, I thought the image host I picked would've worked. These should.

Thanks for covering it for us, but if its not troublesome, could you do a "macro" shot, for both Ninja comparison. I want to have a closer look at the decals and details, without the use of flash, so we are able to compare the colours closely.

Sure, I'll see what the woman can do. :hmpf_bad: She's a tad miffed, but she'll do her best. Her minifigs and camera.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, I see the pics now.

Uh, the Ninja girl looks horribly cross-eyed. Just like all the other Vintage Figure Collections, I think I'll pass this up. If I really wanted any of the figures (I already have the only one that interests me here - the Ninja), I'd spend the money on the real version. For Star Wars figures I might be willing to take the magnet-pack fakes, but for old figures I just don't see the point.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Oh, I see the pics now.

Uh, the Ninja girl looks horribly cross-eyed. Just like all the other Vintage Figure Collections, I think I'll pass this up. If I really wanted any of the figures (I already have the only one that interests me here - the Ninja), I'd spend the money on the real version. For Star Wars figures I might be willing to take the magnet-pack fakes, but for old figures I just don't see the point.

Yes, unfortunately the ninja head is the worst of the five. Of course, it's the most detailed.

Here are some clearer shots of comparison.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the clearer pics.

You can also see the plastic of the new fig doesn't have the solidity and lustre as the old fig does.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Yes, unfortunately the ninja head is the worst of the five. Of course, it's the most detailed.

Here are some clearer shots of comparison.

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Thanks for showing these images, and the torso colour seems quite different, and the new eyes on its head is not what I have expected though. Oh well, I probably will buy this, for a cheaper option to obtain these minifigs for playing purpose. Nevertheless, the old classic Ninja is still on my buying list, and this minifig must be screened first, before buying in BrickLink, in case buyers now mixed these 2 together.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can definitely see that as a problem, I wouldn't want to spend 30 dollars on the cheaper version. That said, we're going to set the 'real' Ninja Princess in a safe bag and tucked away while the new one will see outside time.

That said, the plastic is different, but it's getting better compared to the other chinese torsos we have. That said, the Chinese are still a problem. I wouldn't be shocked if these don't contain cadmium or some other toxic element.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I wouldn't be shocked if these don't contain cadmium or some other toxic element.

I think this is an unintentional double negation.

But honestly, although the chinese plastic used by LEGO in the past is low quality, there is a large bridge between low quality plastic that looks like crap and is not as durable as the good old plastic LEGO is supposed to ship and plastic containing "toxic elements" I do not think it is good to speculate on that as I think there have clearly not been any reports about such thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the review, I am a bit disappointed and not sure yet if this set is worth it or not. But I suppose it could have been worse too. This is probably the quality level we should expect from the collectible minifigs due out in June.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

100% I will buy this set. Sorry guys, I don't care with the quality issue. We must appreciate with TLC job, to bring back rare minifigs like that, and we can buy it in good prices. Take it or leave it, simple as that.

To be honest with all of you, the quality even from china, not so poor. I will score 95 to 100.

Remember, as collector and AFOL also, you should keep it in safe ... not playable ... In term of that, I strongly belief that whatever quality at the moment...

in upcoming 10-20 years, they will become vintage also... who cares about they made from? in future ?

I really appreciated with TLC job. They provide us, a lot of minifigures from magnet pack, battle pack, vintage pack, and the newest, collection pack, is a good choice for us to take it without purchased some sets.

come on guys, please not blow up this quality issues .

Edited by gladiator

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
100% I will buy this set. Sorry guys, I don't care with the quality issue. We must appreciate with TLC job, to bring back rare minifigs like that, and we can buy it in good prices. Take it or leave it, simple as that.

To be honest with all of you, the quality even from china, not so poor. I will score 95 to 100.

Remember, as collector and AFOL also, you should keep it in safe ... not playable ... In term of that, I strongly belief that whatever quality at the moment...

in upcoming 10-20 years, they will become vintage also... who cares about they made from? in future ?

I really appreciated with TLC job. They provide us, a lot of minifigures from magnet pack, battle pack, vintage pack, and the newest, collection pack, is a good choice for us to take it without purchased some sets.

come on guys, please not blow up this quality issues .

I agree with you, if I were a collector and kept the minifigs in their box, I probably wouldn't even notice the difference with the originals. In that case, it would probably a good buy. But I'm not a collector, I like to use my figs in MOCs and such, so I feel the difference in plastic texture and weight and colour density when a minifig is low-quality and it bothers me. I think the message here is that given an objective review of the minifigs, everyone can make their own opinion and act accordingly. We don't all buy according to the same criteria, so as long as we're happy with what we get, I'm a conformist!! (as someone here would say! :wink: ) It's just too bad that TLC can't churn out products that are of such quality that everyone would be happy with them.

Edited by space6901

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Grr, why does LEGO go with the crappy plastic, you can really rtell the difference and it's just not the same.

Thanks for the review though.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for the quick review DLangRi. I'm also not too impressed about the quality. With the mask on, the ninja is acceptable, but the head itself is just weird. And the flight attendant looks a little fish-like. The positioning of the printing appears off compared to this. Forest woman seems ok. Furthermore, the pigtail hairpiece appears to sit a little (too) high on the doctor. If these were good quality figs, I'd probably be eager to get these, but now... I don't think so. :sceptic:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
mimg7n.jpg

A group shot with my wife's (Kary) favorite minifigures. They are quite nice, much better than earlier Chinese releases. Not the best subsitutions, but these are worthy to play with. Right now Kary is assembling an all-female army of our minifigs. Pics coming later once she finishes and is happy. I am pleased with this. For $17 US it's not bad for two really rare female figures, even if they're of a different quality.

I'm glad to see this set! I almost can't believe that Lego came out with an all female collection set! I have one of the other collections. My niece would love this. I just showed it to her. Her fav minifigs are the same ones your wife likes. They are some of my favs also. We just got the set with the queen or princess, with the jester. I giggled at him in that picture dancing around in the front. :tongue: Did your wife finish setting them up for the final picture? :grin:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice review DLangRI, I´ll be getting me this set!!!

Here´s a link to a site that let you check out the differences in minifigs over the years, like below:

gallery_148_29_121577.jpg

Should be useable to tell the difference between for example the original 1990 Forestwoman and the 2010 version.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A review already!?! Nice review anyways, but I still think the factories Lego hires should use the same plastic as them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Well, that's too bad about the plastic quality. I've held off buying these in the past due to quality concerns. Having said that, I think I'll still pick up at least one of these. I already have the original Ninja princess and the forestwoman, but those are such excellent figs, I'm not sure I could pass up getting more. The ninja princess face prints is one of my favorites and the forestwoman torso makes an excellent princess/peasant woman. Now, if only they'd reissue the ultra-rare green ninjas :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just got this collection in the mail and can verify that the printing on my ninja princess' head is identical to the one posted in this thread. It seems that the master used to print the heads is actually off. The printing on the head of the actress is also a little different than the original version. It is somewhat compressed together vertically so that the eyes and hair are closer to the mouth.

However, I will say that while the prints are not identical to the original releases, they are quite well-done. The colors are very deep and uniform and the lines are very clean. In fact, the printing on these is clearer and richer than the originals in my opinion. It's too bad the plastic is noticeably different. It doesn't feel cheap, really, just smoother and definitely not as glossy.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.