Collectable Minifigure Sightings & Availability

[Haltiamieli]

I can say to you all that very likely S14 won't be released in western Europe.

That is my sour suspicion too, but in my case it is just that - suspicion and speculation: series 11 was not released in Benelux/Nordic region and someone claimed that they would release only every other series from now on, but I suspect the retailers would have more faith on The Simpsons, if it's indeed Series 13, so they might take that in, maybe a bit belatedly, and skip 14 instead. Do you have more base to your comment?

[Itaria No Shintaku]

That is my sour suspicion too, but in my case it is just that - suspicion and speculation: series 11 was not released in Benelux/Nordic region and someone claimed that they would release only every other series from now on, but I suspect the retailers would have more faith on The Simpsons, if it's indeed Series 13, so they might take that in, maybe a bit belatedly, and skip 14 instead. Do you have more base to your comment?

For respect to the person who said this to me I wouldn't love to share more than what I actually said, please understand my position.

[JeagerEX]

Any USA Target or KMart sightings?

Found S11 at my local Kmart, but when I went to Wal-Mart they restocked S10 again.

[Freddy Bricker]

I can say to you all that very likely S14 won't be released in western Europe.

May I ask why you say so?

[Itaria No Shintaku]

May I ask why you say so?

Because I am well informed. There will be no S14 minifigures on september 2014 in France, Spain and Portugal.

[Piranha]

The Minifigures theme is not on any, past, present or future downfall. The Minifigures theme is among the most popular LEGO themes of all time. They are constantly in the top 25 best sellers daily on LSAH. In addition, Series 10 sold out faster than any previous Series. Locally, I have seen they can be extremely hard to find in stores selling out quickly. The things mentioned previously are improvements to the theme. Eliminating barcodes to level the playing field, or adding Mr. Gold are not valid reasons to claim the Minifigures theme is on a downfall. All the evidence I have seen supports that the Minifigures theme is doing very well, it continues to add new figs we would never have normally gotten. If we don't like a certain direction LEGO is taking with them, whether having a few licensed series, promo figs etc then claiming a downfall because of that disagreement is unnecessary.

And the series is selling so poorly that LEGO is making a MMO game dealing with just the mini figures.

Yeah that seems like the downfall of CMF.

LEGO is not making a MMO. Funcom has a license to make a LEGO Minifigures MMO. Funcom takes the majority of the investment risk and produces the game as they see fit with some input from LEGO. Basically it is like Lucasfilm trusting that LEGO is the expert in building toys and licensing Star Wars to them. Combining a physical product with a digital one is a brilliant move, one that if done with LEGO Universe could have been a real success back in 2010. LEGO got a lot of fan backlash and bad PR from closing LEGO Universe after only 16 months. The new game by Funcom is essentially the replacement, hence they picked the closest theme to LEGO Universe. I would not be worried at all about Series 14 from what I have read and heard it will feature some really awesome minifigs all based on core LEGO themes like castle, pirates, space and so on. They didn't decide to make an MMO out of desperation to save a theme, it is being made because there is a demand for it.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

The Minifigures theme is not on any, past, present or future downfall.

If not explain why S11 is not released in Scandinavia and Benelux and S14 will not be released in France Spain and Portugal.

[SweetiePie88]

And the series is selling so poorly that LEGO is making a MMO game dealing with just the mini figures.

Yeah that seems like the downfall of CMF.

I am not sure why lego would choose to approve of a CMF based MMORPG. Lego universe could be brought back with improvements such as a few bug fixes and tie ins to real lego sets like maybe a code system like moshi monster figures. I could see it being something to exist for years to come for lego fans of all ages.

But I am unable to wrap my head around a lego CMF MMORPG. Some people have started to lose interest in the series and I am noticing that the CMF 11 discussion on the BSF forums is almost dead and the EB one isn't fairing much better. The future of the CMF is uncertain which also doesn't make for a wise business move since the next 3 lines of series 12 Lego movie based(could be called a licensed theme since it's movie based), series 13 is lego simpsons(licensed theme), and series 14 based of the lego MMORPG seem to indicate a lack of ideas.

cmf's have been around since the summer of 2010 and I think they may just be reaching the end of their life span.

honestly I've really lost interest lately and decided i'm more interested in the lego friends animal line instead since they aren't rushed out so I can get the ones I want. I completed series 1 and 2 and I have the series 3 puppy with plans of completing the line(plus another puppy) this weekend.

[Piranha]

If not explain why S11 is not released in Scandinavia and Benelux and S14 will not be released in France Spain and Portugal.

I do not know why LEGO made that decision, but the sad truth probably is they don't consider those markets viable or large enough to warrant distribution. Something along the lines of the exchange rate and set pricing issue common to countries outside of the US. Maybe something worth discussing in the ambassador forum.

I am not sure why lego would choose to approve of a CMF based MMORPG. Lego universe could be brought back with improvements such as a few bug fixes and tie ins to real lego sets like maybe a code system like moshi monster figures. I could see it being something to exist for years to come for lego fans of all ages.

But I am unable to wrap my head around a lego CMF MMORPG. Some people have started to lose interest in the series and I am noticing that the CMF 11 discussion on the BSF forums is almost dead and the EB one isn't fairing much better. The future of the CMF is uncertain which also doesn't make for a wise business move since the next 3 lines of series 12 Lego movie based(could be called a licensed theme since it's movie based), series 13 is lego simpsons(licensed theme), and series 14 based of the lego MMORPG seem to indicate a lack of ideas.

cmf's have been around since the summer of 2010 and I think they may just be reaching the end of their life span.

honestly I've really lost interest lately and decided i'm more interested in the lego friends animal line instead since they aren't rushed out so I can get the ones I want. I completed series 1 and 2 and I have the series 3 puppy with plans of completing the line(plus another puppy) this weekend.

Probably because LEGO, despite what fans think, are trying to distance themselves from that failed game and head in an entirely new direction. They tried the more traditional MMO, and it failed, so they are now licensing the game development to a company that specializes in those games. They also did not want to take the big risk of creating an entire new theme with complicated and specialized molds based on LEGO Universe and therefore selected something close theme wise, yet much easier/safer to implement codes with. I wouldn't base popularity on the activity on adult oriented forums, we only represent an extremely small portion of overall LEGO sales.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

I do not know why LEGO made that decision, but the sad truth probably is they don't consider those markets viable or large enough to warrant distribution. Something along the lines of the exchange rate and set pricing issue common to countries outside of the US. Maybe something worth discussing in the ambassador forum.

If something sold a lot in the world and then sells a lot only in certain zones, that's a downfall.

[SweetiePie88]

Probably because LEGO, despite what fans think, are trying to distance themselves from that failed game and head in an entirely new direction. They tried the more traditional MMO, and it failed, so they are now licensing the game development to a company that specializes in those games. They also did not want to take the big risk of creating an entire new theme with complicated and specialized molds based on LEGO Universe and therefore selected something close theme wise, yet much easier/safer to implement codes with. I wouldn't base popularity on the activity on adult oriented forums, we only represent an extremely small portion of overall LEGO sales

.

but the reason it shut down was lack of revenue from "target audience" which would mean they just took into account the kids and not everyone. And they didn't even give it a fair enough change to succeed. The game took at least 4 or 5 years to develop yet was only open to the public from October 26 2010 and the announcement it was shutting down on january 30, 2012 came just 13 months after opening

.

Thing is as far as adults, they would seem to be the biggest part of certain things like the CMF buying since it seems like adults are the ones going after a lot of army building figures or figures for their BL store.

Edited October 3, 2013 by SweetiePie88

[Infernum]

I am noticing that the CMF 11 discussion on the BSF forums is almost dead and the EB one isn't fairing much better.

That always happens when a wave is widely released and available. Nothing to speculate about when everyone has them.

[Piranha]

but the reason it shut down was lack of revenue from "target audience" which would mean they just took into account the kids and not everyone. And they didn't even give it a fair enough change to succeed. The game took at least 4 or 5 years to develop yet was only open to the public from October 26 2010 and the announcement it was shutting down on january 30, 2012 came just 13 months after opening

.

Thing is as far as adults, they would seem to be the biggest part of certain things like the CMF buying since it seems like adults are the ones going after a lot of army building figures or figures for their BL store.

Actually, LEGO Universe was conceived as early as 2003. The exact reason why it closed was most likely a combination of factors; too many delays, subscription based on a previous generation model, poor advertising, no physical product link, shift in games market in general, lack of content, having to buy a CD and a subscription. The good thing is I think TLG learned a lot from that experience, since they did everything from scratch and can apply those lessons in the future. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of fan backlash and bad PR resulted from the closing.

AFOL's are a very small market purchasing CMF and LEGO in general, army building AFOL's even smaller. The CMF line is generalized and cheap enough to appeal to children and adults. Also the majority of AFOL's are not represented on one singular forum/place on the internet.

[305Bats]

So happy to be American!

[Faefrost]

Actually, LEGO Universe was conceived as early as 2003. The exact reason why it closed was most likely a combination of factors; too many delays, subscription based on a previous generation model, poor advertising, no physical product link, shift in games market in general, lack of content, having to buy a CD and a subscription. The good thing is I think TLG learned a lot from that experience, since they did everything from scratch and can apply those lessons in the future. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of fan backlash and bad PR resulted from the closing.

AFOL's are a very small market purchasing CMF and LEGO in general, army building AFOL's even smaller. The CMF line is generalized and cheap enough to appeal to children and adults. Also the majority of AFOL's are not represented on one singular forum/place on the internet.

It closed because it was over designed and overly expensive to produce (Lego really didn't have enough experience in this arena at the time, and grossly over micro managed the actual game developers) contrasted with a monthly subscription pricing model ala WoW that only attracted around 20,000 paying subscribers worldwide. If it had been developed later it probably would have been a hit as a free to play cash shop type game. But it's subscription business model was not effective for its younger skewing target audience.

[Piranha]

If something sold a lot in the world and then sells a lot only in certain zones, that's a downfall.

I take my theory back, it seems LEGO has had strange releasing strategies for a long time.

Yeah, I agree Faefrost, it was mishandled from the start, which is a shame since it had a lot of nice elements and original designs.