VIP Exclusive 850458 LEGO® Minifigures set

[HawkLord]

I'd need more color changes before I could buy one. As it stands, it's just not enough to warrant a purchase with everything else that's coming out right now.

Still, I'd say it's a good idea, Lego just needs to improve upon it alittle more and offer minifigures from multiple series.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Please don't kill me for the question but... where can one find this?

[Legobrandon]

Please don't kill me for the question but... where can one find this?

AT the LEGO store or S@H as it is a VIP exclusive.

[Rogue Angel]

I know this has been said a million times, but... Horrible figure choice. Obviously surplus series 3 figs, with the elf thrown in to improve sales. All they had to do was change the hairpiece or the torso on the elf and these would have sold like hotcakes (to me at least) but I won't buy a single one now. If they would have had one more army builder fig (zombie, spartan, roman soldier) then this would have worked, but I don't see any appeal to this at all unless the elf fig were ever to hit $15 on BL.

[SpacySmoke]

Better photos:

Original on left. No change noticeable.

Original on left. Banana seems to be a slightly different mold; note the two circles on the banana on the right.

Original on left. Silver leg on new one. As I mentioned in my edited post, torso print quality is different but could be better or worse depending on your point of view.

Original on left. New figure has black hat and silver fish.

Original on left. New figure has gold scorpion.

I appreciate the idea behind this set, but the figure choice and changes are pretty disappointing.

[Scubacarrot]

The Elf's cape looks different? Or is that from folding in the packaging?

[sologuy369]

They should do some other ones... Or even some Team US Olympic minifigures. I already have the space dude and fishermen . Out my "huge" CMs, I only have two others...

And the elfs cape does look different. Maybe it's just the way it is positioned.

[has a differing opinion]

Nice idea, but the changes of molds aren't unique and the figures aren't great.

If I was in charge of this, I'd make the spartan, the first alien, the hazmat guy, and the zombie, as they seemed most popular.(Except for the alien, I just like that guy.)

[kermit]

It is just not wort the $14 .

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

A glow in the dark S3 mummy... That I'd have bothered to buy.

Edited May 29, 2012 by johnnyvgoode

[natelite]

this is an extremely poor choice by TLC. first of all, they are pissing all over their fans/collectors by releasing the elves as they were from CMF S3. never expect rarity from CMF series since TLC will just release them in new packaging (see the beach series set, etc).

secondly, the other minifigures were unpopular and they were just looking to unload them to gullible fans for $14.99 and further making it worse by exchanging rare colors to common colors.

changing prints or colors to even rarer colors would have justified buying them - imagine the elf in new olive green or sand green or even sand brown. but as they are right now, only fools would buy them. and expect future CMF sets to drop in value as there's really no collectibility around them since TLC can reissue them any time they want.

[SpacySmoke]

The Elf's cape looks different? Or is that from folding in the packaging?

The cape is crumpled because of how the figure is packed. The plastic tray holding the figures conforms to the shape of the figure, so the cape gets smashed against the figure in the package.

[thornie]

Wow no Zombie, Roman, or Spartan? If I were TLG, I would have gone on Bricklink picked the 5 most expensive CMF on the reseller market and just re-released those. As those are the ones where demand is high.

Edited May 29, 2012 by thornie

[Scubacarrot]

The cape is crumpled because of how the figure is packed. The plastic tray holding the figures conforms to the shape of the figure, so the cape gets smashed against the figure in the package.

Thanks for clearing that up!, I personally think from the front the folded cape of the "new" figure looks better, but what can you do .

Wow no Zombie, Roman, or Spartan? If I were TLG, I would have gone on Bricklink picked the 5 most expensive CMF on the reseller market and just re-released those. As those are the ones where demand is high.

Well, series 6 is still sold in many places, so I don't think competing with themselves is a good idea. As for the others you mentioned: I think the Spartan is not included because Lego did not want to include two "historic/fantasy" in the same set. As for the Zombie, keep in mind this was voted for mostly by kids, I don't think it's impossible children thought the mummy was cooler than the zombie, and more voted for the mummy. At least, I think Lego did it by categories: We have: 1 Fantasy/Historic, 1 Circus/Silly, 1 Sci-Fi, 1 Town, 1 Monster. Keep in mind zombies are also released in the Monster Fighter sets, so yeah. I think it would be a sound business decision for TLG to release the Spartan, the Roman and others of the most-wanted figs out there in some way or the other.

[TheLegoDr]

So the cape gets "ruined" by the packaging and yet it will still sell well I'm sure. Like Scubacarrot said, some people may like the shape of the cape being conformed like that. I, however, do not. I definitely would want more Elf figures, but I have no need or want for the other 4 figures in the case. And, substituting with less rare colors doesn't help me want them any more. In my eyes, they could have kept the Elf the same in every respect, but change the hair color to brown and I would have bought dozens of them to add some variety. Or, of course, change the color of the outfit.

Zombies are released in Monster Fighters, but so are the Mummies, so that isn't a valid point. But I can understand/believe children would vote for these figures more so than some others. I won't be buying any and it sounds like a lot of others won't as well. We shall see how successful this is if they release any more in the future.

[Faefrost]

Wow no Zombie, Roman, or Spartan? If I were TLG, I would have gone on Bricklink picked the 5 most expensive CMF on the reseller market and just re-released those. As those are the ones where demand is high.

After the beach set and this one, part of me is semi hoping we see some more themed or army builder sets coming from recycled CMF's. Say 4 packs of Spartans, Romans, Musketeers, Zombies and Galaxy Patrolers? Kind of like they did for the Fantasy Kingdoms stuff awhile back?

[Vindicare]

Wow no Zombie, Roman, or Spartan? If I were TLG, I would have gone on Bricklink picked the 5 most expensive CMF on the reseller market and just re-released those. As those are the ones where demand is high.

There's no Roman because the voting was before that series came out and was either 1-4/or 5. It's hard to say what the ratio of kids:adults was on the voting. It was, after all a VIP emailed voucher to vote.

[Aanchir]

Something that everybody should consider is that based on this product being solely series 3 minifigures, it's very possible that TLG couldn't release Series 1 and 2 figures as they had intended, and so had to choose between using just Series 3 figures or not releasing the product at all. In fact, the recolored parts are probably an indication that even some of the Series 3 parts were unavailable to them, and that they were forced to make substitutions. This post suggests that this is exactly what happened.

For an ordinary set release, it would be understandable that they could bring parts back into production that had been removed from production, but the way this has taken place makes me think the issue was more a matter of logistical/bureaucratic complications and not a matter of the designers having a lot of choice in the matter. Perhaps the higher-ups couldn't afford a limited-release set like this the type of budget needed to bring a lot of parts back into production that had been removed. Perhaps the people writing the poll were under the impression that Series 1 through Series 3 figs would all be available, but then when it came time to design the product it turned out that wasn't the case.

In any event it is unfortunate that TLG couldn't meet the expectations they themselves set when they created a poll to re-release five fan-favorite minifigures. But I believe that if the option to release the five most popular figs were in fact out there, then TLG would have put forth a greater effort to do so. Thus I think their "mistake" was in setting unreasonably-high expectations in the first place, and failing to meet those expectations was just a sad and unavoidable consequence.

[roamingstop]

Can someone point to the correct place on s@h? Looked everywhere but apart from a battle pack nothing can be found. Perhaps country specific?

TLG can (nearly) always choose to reissue if mould is not broken. Collectable for kids is not same term as afol understanding (future investment?).

[Darkdragon]

In my experiance, children are much more interested in mummies than in zombies (I can only hypothsize that the bandages are seen as hilarious and the walking dead zombie is seen as frightening to them).

I totally agree that while they were recoloring accessories they should have recolored that elf hair in brown. That would have turned this from a useless set (to me) into something I would actually buy - despite the other figures.

[Lyichir]

In my experiance, children are much more interested in mummies than in zombies (I can only hypothsize that the bandages are seen as hilarious and the walking dead zombie is seen as frightening to them).

I totally agree that while they were recoloring accessories they should have recolored that elf hair in brown. That would have turned this from a useless set (to me) into something I would actually buy - despite the other figures.

Except the only reason they recolored parts is because the new ones were still in production and the old ones weren't. That's why none of the recolors are in new colors, and are instead in more common colors than those in the original sets. If they had the budget to recolor the elf hair, they could have used it to make the other figures more authentic instead.

[Darkdragon]

Except the only reason they recolored parts is because the new ones were still in production and the old ones weren't. That's why none of the recolors are in new colors, and are instead in more common colors than those in the original sets. If they had the budget to recolor the elf hair, they could have used it to make the other figures more authentic instead.

I understand that is probably what happend, I was just agreeing that if the hair had been recolored it would have made the set more desierable even with the other lame recolors.

[natelite]

Except the only reason they recolored parts is because the new ones were still in production and the old ones weren't. That's why none of the recolors are in new colors, and are instead in more common colors than those in the original sets. If they had the budget to recolor the elf hair, they could have used it to make the other figures more authentic instead.

all that said was just reconfirming that the "VIP" label on the 5 minifigs was nothing more than palming off unwanted inventories to gullible fans.

that is an extremely stupid move if that statement is indeed correct. TLC should dish out more exclusives to rabid fans not rehash of common or unwanted goods.

first of all, rabid fans are some of the most discerning buyers and only the most foolish of fans (less than 1%) will buy any VIP labeled garbage.

secondly, if they keep this up, they will piss off fans who played by their rules (limited means limited, not limited until we print more). sales for new CMF series will fall (fans who have been stocking up 100s of rare figures for army building for e.g. will hold off on buying them until more favorable sales). we're already beginning to see this. S7 CMF has some of the most unique of figures but we see piles and piles of these in store.

i think it's also time for them to cut US prices for CMFs. USD:EUR is now at 1.25 and falling further. that puts USD prices at $2.99 vs EUR of 1.99 at a disadvantage. this is mostly a tongue-in-cheek comment for the numerous anti-US lego set pricing postings out there.

[Jedi master Brick]

i think it's also time for them to cut US prices for CMFs. USD:EUR is now at 1.25 and falling further. that puts USD prices at $2.99 vs EUR of 1.99 at a disadvantage. this is mostly a tongue-in-cheek comment for the numerous anti-US lego set pricing postings out there.

Not really, you still get better rates than Britain. Current exchange rates £1.99 = $3.06914

Edited May 31, 2012 by Jedi master Brick

[cimddwc]

USD:EUR is now at 1.25 and falling further. that puts USD prices at $2.99 vs EUR of 1.99 at a disadvantage. this is mostly a tongue-in-cheek comment for the numerous anti-US lego set pricing postings out there.

They're actually 2.49 EUR, at least here in Germany.