Christmas/Winter CMFs?

[Karalora]

Kind of an odd time of the year to be bringing this up, I know, but the upcoming Ice Queen in CMF Series 16 has me thinking about it. (And we still have the Santa tableau up on the main forum page, so...)

Series 14, Monsters, had a release timed for Halloween. It was a huge hit, despite the fact that most of the really standout monster types had already been released in previous waves. Over the course of the CMFs line, we've also had several Christmas or winter-related characters, so I'm wondering if it would be possible to come up with a list of 16 more to create a Christmas-themed series.

The CMFs I would consider Christmas or winter-related so far are:

Santa Claus (S8)

Holiday Elf (S11)

Gingerbread Man (S11)

Yeti (S11)

Ice Queen (S16)

I would also count the Toy Soldier that was included with the LEGO Minifigs book--he's not a CMF himself, but he's associated with them and clearly intended in the same vein. And I might count the Clockwork Robot and his female counterpart, which give the impression of being oversized toys.

So what does that leave for a purely hypothetical Christmas series?

We've got Santa, so why not Mrs. Claus (or Befana)? It wouldn't hurt the toymaker elf to have a lady friend either. Both of these concepts were included in the sets released for the 2014 holiday season, but it would be nice to have more carefully designed, unique minifigs. Jack Frost is another familiar character associated with winter, and someone besides DreamWorks deserves a crack at him. A Snowman seems like an obvious choice. A Gingerbread Woman would be markedly less pointless than most “female counterpart” minifigs, since gingerbread cookies often come in pairs.

Other such characters are potentially controversial. Figures such as St. Nicholas (and his various helpers) and St. Lucia (and members of her procession) might run afoul of TLG's policy not to make overtly religious minifigs and sets. But then again, Santa Claus himself is still often referred to as Saint Nick, but is still considered a secular character. I get the impression that the aforementioned characters are also mostly for fun these days, without specifically religious connotations. Perhaps our European members could weigh in?

Along similar lines, it's hard to say whether an Angel would automatically be considered religious, or whether the popular image of angels is sufficiently independent from actual belief in these beings. We are about to get an Imp that is a dead ringer for the equally popular image of demons...

Following the example of the Toy Soldier, how about a Ragdoll, Teddy Bear, or other stuffed animals? If portrayed as minifigs wearing costumes, they could be used to represent a Christmas parade or re-purposed as generic animal costumes. On the subject of animal costumes, a Reindeer Suit and Polar Bear Suit would be thematically appropriate.

Some famous Christmas stories might also provide inspiration. Ebenezer Scrooge, Jacob Marley, and others from A Christmas Carol would be quite recognizable (and could potentially cross over with the Monsters series, what with all the ghosts). Out of all the colorful characters in The Nutcracker, two—the Nutcracker himself and the Sugar Plum fairy—have passed into the popular iconography of the holiday.

Christmas-related characters obviously aren't nearly as fertile a field as monsters for Halloween, but I feel like I'm missing a lot. What else could be included in such a series? Would it even be wise to do one? Would you be interested? I'm especially curious to hear from members outside the U.S. and Canada!

[Mr Greeble]

Someone on Eurobricks (I forget who, sorry), does an advent calendar of winter themed modified CMFs.

[Robert8]

I love Holiday Minifigures but sorted on regular series, as I wouldn't like more themed series

That being said, your suggestions are really good. I added some to complete the 16 spots.

1. Mrs. Claus

2. Snowman (LEGO needs this ASAP)

3. Toy Maker

4. Nutcracker

5. Gingerbread Woman

6. Jack Frost

6. Candy Cane Suit Guy

8. Ice Skater Guy

9. Caroler

10. Sled Rider (?) (Little boy with a sled)

11. Holiday Elf Girl

12. Reindeer Suit Guy

13. Holiday Hater

14. Snow Woman

15. Caroler Girl

16. Tree Ornament (Angel with a candle)

Edited March 12, 2016 by Robert8

[Actor Builder]

Yukon Cornelius.

[Karalora]

Great ideas, Robert8! The only one I see being hard to justify from TLG's perspective is actually the Caroler Girl, since they went to the trouble of creating an entirely new design for the female caroler in the reboot of the Holiday Toy Shop. The male caroler was made using pre-existing pieces except for the head, so it would be nice to have a unique one.

[Robert8]

Great ideas, Robert8! The only one I see being hard to justify from TLG's perspective is actually the Caroler Girl, since they went to the trouble of creating an entirely new design for the female caroler in the reboot of the Holiday Toy Shop. The male caroler was made using pre-existing pieces except for the head, so it would be nice to have a unique one.

Thanks!

For the carolers, I was thinking in something like this

She would need a new hairpiece

[x105Black]

Along similar lines, it's hard to say whether an Angel would automatically be considered religious, or whether the popular image of angels is sufficiently independent from actual belief in these beings. We are about to get an Imp that is a dead ringer for the equally popular image of demons...

Well, that's a kid in a costume. So I would say an Angel Costume might work. I wouldn't mind seeing "Angels" and "Demons" in LEGO, but I'm not sure they will do it. The closest thing to an Angel is the Winged Warrior, and we may have to settle for that.

[Karalora]

Some more possibilities:

Baker/Pastry Chef

Shopper

Snowball Fighter

Santa's Helper (not a "real" elf, but an adult minifig wearing an obvious costume, as often seen in malls)

Santa Watcher (a kid in pajamas who sneaked downstairs to catch Santa in the act)

Classic Santa (hooded robe and holly crown rather than red suit and stocking cap)

Ugly Sweater Guy (accessory could be a second torso with an alternate sweater design)

And since New Year's tends to get lumped in with Christmas:

Baby New Year

Edited March 12, 2016 by Karalora

[K_Tiger]

I love Holiday Minifigures but sorted on regular series, as I wouldn't like more themed series

That being said, your suggestions are really good. I added some to complete the 16 spots.

2. Snowman (LEGO needs this ASAP)

You'd think a Snowman piece akin to the Ghost headgears (10173/2888) would be a no-brainer, even if its use outside of winter theme sets is limited.

Edited March 12, 2016 by K_Tiger

[sunhuntin]

since we have the imp coming, i can see an angel costume as being possible. not sure how or if they would do the halo. logic says the one ring on the head stud, but they theres no chance for hair. i would love a proper 3 ball snowman outfit that slips over like the hotdog suit. the brick built ones just dont do it for me. i use them, due to lack of anything else.

i would love to see more winter village/christmas themed minifigs, as thats the range i primarily collect and display.

[Karalora]

logic says the one ring on the head stud, but they theres no chance for hair.

I can think of a few possibilities. They could make the halo a pin-mounted accessory (like the various plumes) and use a hairpiece with a hole to attach it. Or have a special hairpiece with a plate-like halo stuck to the back in the vein of medieval art.

[Borex]

Maybe they can add a george michael singing Last Christmas? Or at least a heartbroken girl/guy with the cover of that song on a tile.

Christmas tree guy.

Star wars action figure. Snaggletooth from kenner.

Popples doll figure. The white one.

Edited March 12, 2016 by Borex

[samurai-turtle]

How about Krampus? He is known to hang out with Santa.

[Karalora]

How about Krampus? He is known to hang out with Santa.

I mention St. Nicholas's "various helpers" in the OP, with Krampus included by implication. I would love to have a figure of him; I'm just not sure TLG would produce one because he might be considered too religious.

Might. The upcoming S16 Imp pushes that boundary, so they might be experimenting with a new standard for that sort of thing.

[Yooha]

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=117718

[sunhuntin]

I can think of a few possibilities. They could make the halo a pin-mounted accessory (like the various plumes) and use a hairpiece with a hole to attach it. Or have a special hairpiece with a plate-like halo stuck to the back in the vein of medieval art.

i love the plate-halo idea. would be similar to those seen in stained glass.

[Karalora]

Bumping this now that it's more timely.

[fred67]

How did I stumble onto this old thread?  I get really busy in March, and this year did not get back to even looking at EB until August....

Anyway, I think a Winter themed CMF pack is a great idea, but I'm not sure that all the suggestions so far are all that exciting (although many of them are).  I suppose I don't like seeing rehashes, so a lot of them seem to have been done already as part of the winter village sets already.  We have carolers, a child on a sled, Santa and Ms. Claus, Christmas elves galore...

Licensed figures would be awesome; Yukon Cornelius was a great suggestion, but you'd need the other characters, too, IMO - Hermey, at least, and I suppose Rudolf could be done like the reindeer from Santa's Workshop set with a red nose.

I would love to see the main characters of the Nightmare Before Christmas; live action figures could include Ralphie from A Christmas Story, complete with a red rider BB gun with a compass in the stock and thing that tells time.  The leg lamp would be a cool accessory.

Seems like everything else you can get from elsewhere.... people having a snowball fight, skaters, carolers, skiers, sleds and sleighs... I just don't find the prospect of them being in a CMF series all that exciting.

[Karalora]

9 hours ago, fred67 said:

Anyway, I think a Winter themed CMF pack is a great idea, but I'm not sure that all the suggestions so far are all that exciting (although many of them are).  I suppose I don't like seeing rehashes, so a lot of them seem to have been done already as part of the winter village sets already.  We have carolers, a child on a sled, Santa and Ms. Claus, Christmas elves galore...

I think that's okay. Not all the figures in the Monsters series were that exciting and some of them were obvious rehashes/variations of existing figures, but it was still a great series and a fun theme that didn't rely on a license. Even in the regular series, we often get rehashes of the types of figures included in City or Castle sets. Part of the point of this thread is to come up with unique ideas to make a Winter CMFs line as interesting as possible.

[alsielou]

I think at the very least we need more variety of woollen sweaters, a real winter hat with big pom pom and a proper scarf piece, probably like the necktie piece that the train engineers wear but bigger and with tassles.  A snowman suit character would be fun - or even Frosty the snowman! (A real character not a suit). 

I can't see a whole minifigure series dedicated to the winter theme but a Fun in the Park style set would surely work really well. 

Edited November 30, 2016 by alsielou