35 replies to this topic

[TheBrickster]

This evening, I've decided to choose one "Army Builder" or "Elite" minifigure in each of the LEGO Minifigure Series to identify as the "Fabulous Four". Based on feedback from many of you here on EB and how many LEGO fans have been army building with these figs, they certainly make a "Fab 4".

BUT, which is your favorite for army building?  

Personally, I love the Forestman from a Classic Castle perspective, and the Elf is equally nice as a new fantasy Castle-related fig, but a Spartan Army is pretty impressive as well.  Lastly, the new Musketeer is just beautiful with his ornate fleur de lis and can be incorporated in Pirate as well as Castle themes.

All things considered, who among the Fabulous Four would you most enjoy army building with?  I went ahead and included an Other Option for those of you don't like any of the Fab 4.

Edited by Rufus, 09 October 2011 - 02:18 PM.
Indexed

[WhiteFang]

Excellent topic! This really arouses my interest especially when collecting LEGO is part of mine army building conquest.  

Is there an option for me to choose all? For myself, I don't disregard myself of what to army build and what not. In this case, of what you have presented, these minifigures are the ones that I will wish to army build to an unbelievable level of troops given the amount of financial resources and availability. I enjoyed collecting these army building minifigures as it helps to potray the size of the army that one kingdom or empire that could use this to associate with.

This is a picture below which identify some of mine favourite army building minifigures and it didn't include the ones like the Zombie, Ninja and Musketeer.



If you really forced me to choose, I could only emphasis on the following minifigures and these minifigures are equal weightage in my context and not based on any sort of ranking.    

1) Elves
2) Samurai
3) Forestmen
4) Spartans

[TheBrickster]

Sorry WF - you have to choose one.  Including "Other" was a stretch for me, but I figured someone might like the Samurai or Viking for Army Building as well.  In your case, since Elf is highest on your list, you should pick him.

I still haven't decided but for Army Building, the Musketeer is last on my list - just can't decide who is first.

Also, I went back to your numerous Minifigure topics looking at the results of the polls.  I was surprised to see that the Cheerleader was more liked than the Forestman (although I'd probably choose the cheerleader if I was marooned on an island ).  In any case, I'm really interested in the results as many of us have combed the stores in search of duplicates of these figs.

Your references, stats, and polls were most useful in helping create a "Fab 4" list.  Thanks for that.  Let's see what our EBers think.

[WhiteFang]

TheBrickster, on 21 April 2011 - 05:42 AM, said:

Sorry WF - you have to choose one.  Including "Other" was a stretch for me, but I figured someone might like the Samurai or Viking for Army Building as well.  In your case, since Elf is highest on your list, you should pick him.

Voted for Elf!  

TheBrickster, on 21 April 2011 - 05:42 AM, said:

I still haven't decided but for Army Building, the Musketeer is last on my list - just can't decide who is first.

Same here. I like Musketeer but I don't think I will need them in hundreds.  

TheBrickster, on 21 April 2011 - 05:42 AM, said:

Also, I went back to your numerous Minifigure topics looking at the results of the polls.  I was surprised to see that the Cheerleader was more liked than the Forestman (although I'd probably choose the cheerleader if I was marooned on an island ).  In any case, I'm really interested in the results as many of us have combed the stores in search of duplicates of these figs.

Yes, I believed Cheerleader was the female army builder and was very receptive to many. I am not sure what was the rational but it was meant to build a team of sexy cheerleaders. I, too was also looking for this fig when the Series 1 was still around.

TheBrickster, on 21 April 2011 - 05:42 AM, said:

Your references, stats, and polls were most useful in helping create a "Fab 4" list.  Thanks for that.  Let's see what our EBers think.

I didn't know that you have made use of the polls. Thanks mate!  

[The Penguin]

I vote for The Elf. He's just fabulous!  

Actually it's more than just a good fig as it is. Even the shield works nicely here, since you can always give him a hand weapon, like a spear and make a decent-looking elven footman. The only thing that really bothers me about that fig is that you can never have enough of those. I used to be buying entire BL stores with those minifigs. Now I'm not that keen, but still can't resist buying one or two every time I place a BL order.  

Good day, ladies and gentlemen! )  

[Etzel]

The Spartan. It's definitely the army builder minifig of all the series. IMO the Elf is too individual for army building purposes, everyone gets the same hair. But the Spartan it's easy to just change the head and you can got as many different soldiers as you got heads. And an army consisting of spearmen looks better then one of archers IMHO  

[KielDaMan]

Interesting topic. Honestly, I think all of these are fabulous minifigs, and choosing which one among them I like the best is quite difficult. Personally, I find both the Spartan and the Elf tied at the top of my list, both are beautifully done minifigs which offer (almost) all new elements (weapons, shield, headpieces). But in the purposes of the poll I chose the Spartan, which between the two has more army-building potential than the Elf.

[Admiral Croissant]

It was a rather tough choice.
I think the forestman and the musketeer are indeed not the kind of soldiers you'd put in an army. They are better in small groups or man to man.
The viking and samurai are great too, but I find their outfit less special than of the elf and the Spartan.
So in the end I had to choose between the Spartan and the elf. I chose spartan because I just like them more.
And actually, you need only 300 of them, so you'll be finished at some time. The elf army would become bigger and bigger and very expensive.
Or something like that. I couldn't choose so I though of a silly reason. But the Spartan it will be!

[Blondie-Wan]

I voted "other," even though the Spartan is the one I've gotten the most of by far (27) - there are lots of these I'd like to have a lot more of than I've been able to get. All four of the specified figures are marvelous indeed, and I'd really love to have more of each of them (currently have four forestmen, twenty-seven Spartans, six or seven elves and three musketeers [heh]), but really, there are lots more figures from all four series I could stand to have several more of. Are we using "army building" here specifically in reference to literal armies (i.e., fighting forces), or are we including any / all of the minifiguress that we want scads of? I'm inclined to think the latter, given the discussion of cheerleaders.

Anyway, in retrospect, I think the minifigure I would most like to have absolutely huge quantities of would actually be the robot, though I managed to get "just" three    (though I do realize that's a lot more than some people got, and I'm lucky to have any). I would also really love to have several more spacemen, tribal hunters and cavemen (I have three of each of those as well).

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about the various team sports figures. It seems to me that if one has any interest in these at all, one would likely naturally want enough to make at least one whole team for whatever sport it is. I'm going this way, and I'm not even a sports fan - I simply can't help but think having the various sports teams available will give me some lovely options for filling out the LEGO City I intend to eventually build with nifty scenes of regular everyday life including sporting events. I've therefore gotten a whole bunch of baseball players already (and may pick up a few more), and intend to do the same with hockey and football/soccer players (ironic, given that I personally don't really care much for sports at all).

[fred67]

Etzel, on 21 April 2011 - 08:53 AM, said:

IMO the Elf is too individual for army building purposes, everyone gets the same hair. But the Spartan it's easy to just change the head and you can got as many different soldiers as you got heads. And an army consisting of spearmen looks better then one of archers IMHO  

Interesting take... I agree to a certain degree, but I look at it this way: you can change the elf heads as easily as you can change the spartan's; supplementing with brickforge items, including elf spears, swords, and helmets, you can make a large variety of figures, and now with the wolfman from series 4 you can have different color hair (although the ears don't match - personally I am going to use a bunch of wolfman hair with ears painted yellow, and will post the results if someone doesn't beat me to it).

Moreover, with the addition of brickforge items, anyone can be an elf even without the hair.  I've been buying matching armor, too, and will have to further customize, but I have no problems building an elf army with a lot of variation.

The only thing that bothers me about the elves are that the archer essentially has little use for a shield, and even if he did he wouldn't be holding both at the same time, so it would be cool if he could sling it on his back or something.


DSCF0418 by FredJH, on Flickr

[Etzel]

Blondie-Wan, on 21 April 2011 - 02:47 PM, said:

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about the various team sports figures. It seems to me that if one has any interest in these at all, one would likely naturally want enough to make at least one whole team for whatever sport it is. I'm going this way, and I'm not even a sports fan - I simply can't help but think having the various sports teams available will give me some lovely options for filling out the LEGO City I intend to eventually build with nifty scenes of regular everyday life including sporting events. I've therefore gotten a whole bunch of baseball players already (and may pick up a few more), and intend to do the same with hockey and football/soccer players (ironic, given that I personally don't really care much for sports at all).

The team sports minifigs (baseball, football and hockey players) sure are interesting to get several of. I would count the Cheerleader in that category too. But you don't need unlimited numbers of them, a full team and maybe some supporters is usually enough. I didn't had much in getting a full team of Cheerleaders or Baseball players (I guess it's a bit too American for me) but now I'm working on getting a full football team (10, goalkeeper usually has different outfit) and hockey line (6 including goalie). So yeah, those are nice minifigs to have plenty of but maybe not hundreds like the Spartan... (I'm quite pleased with my 10 though).

fred67, on 21 April 2011 - 03:14 PM, said:

Interesting take... I agree to a certain degree, but I look at it this way: you can change the elf heads as easily as you can change the spartan's; supplementing with brickforge items, including elf spears, swords, and helmets, you can make a large variety of figures, and now with the wolfman from series 4 you can have different color hair (although the ears don't match - personally I am going to use a bunch of wolfman hair with ears painted yellow, and will post the results if someone doesn't beat me to it).

Moreover, with the addition of brickforge items, anyone can be an elf even without the hair.  I've been buying matching armor, too, and will have to further customize, but I have no problems building an elf army with a lot of variation.

Good point! With 3rd parties pieces and customization you can get a very variable and awesome elf army. But I prefer to build with only LEGO's own products and in their original shape and colour. I personally find it more fun and challenging that way.

And I find the Elf more personal and individual in its design, not only with the hair but also the torso print. It works well as a standard army too, but to me it looks more like an outfit for an alone ranger or small elite guard. That is of course just my personal thoughts and I understand completely all that thinks different but I think that is a trait that the Elf shares with the Forestman and the Musketeer. They aren't "common" enough for me, if you get what I mean. Therefore I prefer minifigs like the Spartan and the Samurai (but this one is hard finding good heads for) for large army building purposes.

[CorneliusMurdock]

Of the four mentioned, my favorite is still the Elf.  Everything about him is so lovely.  It is wierd that he's trying to use a bow and a shield but I'm glad he came with both so you can use him as an archer or infantry.  Since I think posing with a sword looks less awkward for a minifig, I just stick a dagger of time in his hands and he's good to go.  He looks awesome with one in both hands as well.  Really dangerous, too.
I was never a huge enough fan of the spartan to try and track him down.  He's nice and all but too many people want every one they can get their hands on.  It was hard enough to get my two elves.( I originally wasn't going to get two but happened to start two trades simultaneously.)
My other favorite "army builder" is the sailor.  I love that he's more common too.  I got two when I purchased mine online and decided to keep my extra instead of trading.  Someday I'll make an "On the Town" MOC...

[Blondie-Wan]

CorneliusMurdock, on 21 April 2011 - 04:12 PM, said:

My other favorite "army builder" is the sailor.  I love that he's more common too.  I got two when I purchased mine online and decided to keep my extra instead of trading.  Someday I'll make an "On the Town" MOC...

I'm surprised this is the thread's first mention of the sailor! There are probably somewhat fewer builders who focus on creations that would use him than there are of figures like the Spartan, Elf, etc., but for those builders who do obsessively build naval vessels, I'm sure many will want huge numbers of sailors - numbers that would dwarf the "ideal" target of 300 I'm sure many people have for the Spartans. Large individual ships could easily be crewed by well over a thousand minifigure seamen. I wonder whether anyone has succeeded in amassing so many yet...

[Brickdoctor]

To me the Forestman, Musketeer, and Elf all work in smaller groups, so the Spartan is the only true army builder.

[AndyC]

I've got to vote other, I just can't think of anything better than a Zombie army.

[Blondie-Wan]

Brickdoctor, on 21 April 2011 - 05:08 PM, said:

To me the Forestman, Musketeer, and Elf all work in smaller groups, so the Spartan is the only true army builder.

What about the Sailor?

[Sirens-of-Titan]

The elf and spartan by far are crowd favorites; for myself I have to say the elf because it is a callback to the fantasy line, offers unique accessories and is the only one of the 4 that has never been in a theme/set (Counting the POTC line as musketeer lookalikes, the spartan helmet in the Atlantis temple and the good old forest men)

I believe that if LEGO released  either:
A) A Roman Legionary
B) A conquistador
C) A black falcons knight

Then we will have an army builder figure that will surpass all of the ones so far. Here's hoping!  

[Oky]

It's definitely the Spartan for me, although the Elf is pretty neat too. I just love his colors, and he's a better army builder than the elf because you just have to change his head to get variety whereas it looks odd to have an army of blond elves in my opinion. Maybe it's also because I don't like the LOTR movies very much.

[Tazmaniac]

For me it's the Musketeer, love that little guy.
A great addition to any Blue coat army

If any one wants to swap a few Spartans for Musketeers PM me .

[TheBrickster]

Interesting thoughts all.

I was really looking for more of the "Battle/Historic Army" variety vs. armies of cheerleaders and others, but included the Other category just in case there's a few of you who have been collecting others like Samurai, Ninja, etc.  I threw Zombies in just for fun.

One could always build that post apoc undead army with Zombies and maybe even an "Orcan Army" with Hazmat figs; but I did want to highlight just one fig from each Series of the Wargaming-style variety that many have been buying duplicates of.

[mobricki]

I personally like the sailor.

Edited by mobricki, 22 April 2011 - 08:58 PM.

[Gabe]

Some interesting points of view on an interesting topic! I chose the elf, partly cause i love the fantasy castle theme and elves were definitely missing there, but also cause it's a great figure to customise. The brickforge helms, spears and blades work great with this minifig. The ony thing that remains for my elven forces is to customise a hip quiver for the archers - the back ones just look odd with the cloak imo.  

[Cecilie]

I love these figs, I want lots of them all!

Anyway... it's a tough choice to choose only one army builder fig. In my opinion, there isn't really one fig above all else for army building if you look at it in the way of "what fig do I see myself actually needing an army of for a MOC I want to make". I mean, the spartan is obvious as an army builder because of 300 and such, but I'm never going to do any such scene. The elf is great, who doesn't want a lot of him? But as others have mentioned, he isn't that easily customizable because of the hair, and additionally, I don't ever see myself making a large forest scene where I might need bucket loads of elves (I wonder if someone is ever going to quote this post and prove me wrong ). The forestman is of course cool too, and more easily customizable, but again, I don't see why I would need more than a small group of them. And the musketeer? Well, I think 4 will be plenty enough of him for me .

So, now that I've dismissed all of your Fabulous Four as army builder figs to my taste (when talking about army building, I'm thinking more than just 10-20, but more like 50-100 at least), what figs would I choose as army builders? From series 1, I see 3 candidates: the zombie, the robot and the ninja. I'm not that into zombie-stuff and the robot just isn't cool enough to amass an army of (I'm thinking about Cylons and stuff ), and the ninja has kind of lost his edge with ninjago. But I'd personally love to have a huge army of ninjas . From series 2, there really isn't any good candidate to battle the spartan. I hear Quarryman is trying to amass a load of them to make a roman army by using only their torso and legs. I think that sounds cooler than spartans at least... From series 3 there's the mummy and the samurai. The mummy, like the ninja, kind of loses it's edge with Pharao's Quest, but other than that, like the zombie, he's a great fig for a horror army. But if I'm going to have an army of ninjas, I would need an army of samurais to battle them . From series 4, it has to be the viking and the sailor. But since I'm not that into ship building (at least not yet ), I think the viking would be my favorite army builder from this series.

So all in all? I can't really decide, I guess I'm not really an army builder anyway. Needless to say, I voted "other" .

[SilentMode]

Hazmat Sut Guys would make a good modern army; they would work whether there's one of 100 of them. For me, however, it's all about Gorilla Suits.

Edited by SilentMode, 24 April 2011 - 11:11 AM.

[JimButcher]

Funny, I was just setting up these four figures (an empty space for the Musketeer for now) as the army builders/elites of each series. I was debating whether it was the Zombie or Forestman for S1...

I voted for the elf, without hesitation. By far the coolest minifig around (the mime and artist trail not far behind), it just has so many cool print details. The hairpiece and new bow are also nice, and capes are always cool. I really like how the designers decided to have an elk design on the shield--it's more unique and meaningful than say, a lion or a dragon in this instance.

I also like the Spartan, but it's a lot more simplistic than the elf. The Musketeer comes in at third with no cape (easily modded), and the Forestman comes last for no reason other than the fact that the others are just better.

Since the votes are neck and neck for the Spartan or Elf, I do believe a "Deadliest Warrior" would be appropriate.