Ideas for CMFs

[SamVimes]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:06 AM, Karalora said:

I just want to reiterate that even when a figure in this project doesn't thrill me, I still recognize the quality of the design and how much it looks like something LEGO might actually create. You know what you're doing, for sure.

Sums up this wonderful thread quite well, I mean we all have our own favourite themes and such, But some of the ideas are so good I'm surprised TLG hasn't done one or two, just by accident. Although they probably plan the series so far in advance that it might just take time to get there. 

So since I do evaluate portfolios for artists in residence, I spent the last couple of mornings, sipping my tea and jotting a few notes about each series, not as comprehensive as Karalora’s (intimidating….) but that’s not my process. :). Swift critique, that is constructive. I'm also not touching on all of them just the one's that stood out to me.

Series A
Puppeteer - just for the dolls. 

Series B
Archer- Getting a ‘Hawk the Slayer’ vibe.

Hero - Would be an interesting pairing with Medusa

Teacher - Would sell so many :D

Series C

Evil Queen - Excellent idea for a recolour, I’d go so far to say make her not a yellie, go white skinned.

Moon Goddess - Nice callback to the MMO, could use a recolour to pull from the Moon Protector in S22

Emperor - Problematic because of...well? France. 

Bearded Woman - Amazing palette choice but given TERF’s and the origin in ‘freak’ shows…Hard Pass.

Series D

Ice Cream Girl - Would be a great addition to any city

Grim Reaper - Honestly not bad but I’d throw a nod to The Discworld and colour the eyes blue. 

Masked Hero - I’d love a mini of ‘The Fox’ but Swashbuckler kinda had that niche covered?

Series E
Pixie - Easily the best of this series. Would love to see it made in glow in the dark plastic.

Series F 

Android Woman - Excellent use of the teddy bear.

Winter sprite - Would love this, just for the non-yellow head and hair.
 

Series G

Tribal Warrior - Yeah….no. Indigenous culture is so much deeper than that. 

Ring Bearer - great idea, Would pair nicely with 40165, should come with multiple hair colours.

Statue - Always a good idea, would sell because people *DO* like to build cities.

Alchemist - Very nice spin on the Wizard. Should have soot blackened face, no eyebrows.

Series H

Sculptor - Great example of a simple build with the use of an esoteric mould.

Imp - Nice callback and solid use of previous moulds.

Islander -  Once again problematic because Polynesian culture is broad and it could be done much more respectfully. 

Ghost Bride - Could be enhanced by using Hidden Side ghost legs, And trans-clear hair, and a spooky dual side face. 

Series I 

Clairvoyant - Great use of parts. 

Series J

Philosopher - Socrates! To add some interest to the historical lines.

Taco dude - Who doesn’t like Taco’s?!

Underworld King- Nice callback, and who wouldn't want that dog?!

Series K

Nymph - Great stand out fig. 

Closet monster - Would have to be carefully done. Disney does not megabluck around. That said TLG and The Mouse have a good working relationship already.

Jouster - In for a new lance. 

Series L

Maori Warrior -  Problematic once more because Māori culture is protected and  tā moko aren’t those terrible “tribal” tattoo’s.
 

Edited February 5, 2022 by SamVimes

[SamVimes]

RCMP officer - No real world cops. Because…issues

Chaos Lord - Nice use of Nexo knight inspiration :D

Mutant - This is a great non-person build, use of the claw is great. Maybe a different colour than yellow?

Series K

Slime Monster - Given Vidiyo, it’s a solid contender, maybe in Pink like ‘The Blob’!

Lady Justice - Super good use of parts, Would be neat in Sand Blue.

AP mascot - The *HEAD* such a good idea.

Series N

Cosplayer - Great execution. Would be popular.

Jousting Knight - Yeah, let’s have a tourney.

Zombie Woman - The withered flowers and dog make it.

Eskimo - Terrible idea. Inuit and Yupik cultures,spread wide, and “Eskimo” isn’t used anymore.

Series Ñ

Ghoul - Great idea - Not too sure about colour maybe something cooler, but not grey, Sand blue base and blueish print?

Writer - Would sell like hotcakes

Valkyrie - Elaborate but could spur more Viking things.

Series O

Chaos Goddess - Great mirroring, but less apple more Pomegranate.

Duplo boy - LOL, Very nice.

Wraith - Seems flat in comparison to other ghost sets

Tombstone - Kinda done with 75969?

Series P

Monster Hunter - Wouldn’t pass, plagiarism is frowned upon.

Automaton -Nice ‘Metropolis’ vibe

Dark Fairy - Great pair with the nymph, maybe bat wings?

 

Series Q 

Chaos Goddess - Great mirroring, but less apple more Pomegranate.

Steam Punk Adventurer - Solid design with a ‘rocketeer’ vibe 

Series R 

Stork- Lovely execution

Oni- Kinda covered by Ninjago and Monkie Kid?

Wrestler - Love the poster.! The metallics would be lit.

Series S

Dog Party Girl - The new dog mould would be sweet.

Mothman - Great idea, maybe pair with a light?

Zulu Warrior - No. Just no.

Sea Nymph - Brilliant, everything from the pattern to the hair.

Series T

Time traveller - love the steampunk!

Island King-  is a lovely throwback idea, but honestly is the same as the others. Problematic.

Arachne - Interesting idea, looks a little like ‘The Stalk’ from ‘Saga’

Could be way bigger as well.

[SamVimes]

Series U 

Teutonic Knight - Never gonna happen given the Templar imagery and White supremacy… 

Treasure Hunter - YES! This is the best design in Series U. 

Evil Centaur - Great look, but swords would be a better choice than axes (Think Narnia)

 

Series V

Alien Boy- THAT DOG.

Alraune - Great execution of the idea, and could be used in DC sets?

Dark Elf - Great design but they would be a little troubling given the DnD craze at the moment. (They are rarely nice).

Monster Fighter - This hits the theme on the head, packaging the map and pumpkin piece is just great.

Series W 

Supreme Leader - Yeah…no Nazi Uniforms….

Sphinx - Great idea given the centaurs, But a custom dual face would be better (stoic and angry) because we all know what happens if you get the riddle wrong.

Alien Commander - Great rez of the UFO stuff. A dark pearl raygun would be cool.

Painter - Yes for Frida. 

Olympus King- Would be cool, but I’d love to see a whole CMF pantheon. Or a Hades CMF.

Series X

Enchantress - Like a dark tarot reader. Very Cool.

Evil Mermaid- Great idea to add some interest to nautical themes, and a little different than Ninjago’s shark army :D

Plague Doctor- Yes. Would sell so fast. So Fast.

Golem- Looks more like a Troll. But both Troll and Golem really should be bigfigs. Detritus and Dorfl come to mind. 

[Eggyslav]

But Supreme Leader is not Nazi. She is Alpha Team's Ogel mixed with Dieselpunk.

[Karalora]

4 hours ago, Eggyslav said:

But Supreme Leader is not Nazi. She is Alpha Team's Ogel mixed with Dieselpunk.

She does look rather Nazi-adjacent, however, and despite the appeal of the design, I can see TLG being very cagey about producing such a figure IRL.

[Eggyslav]

Eh, to me she's more reminescent of Warhammer 40.000 Imperial Guard Commisars, or hell, even M. Bison from Street Fighter. Black uniform and peaked cap with a skull does not a Nazi make. ;)

[Karalora]

It's all about perception, and to most of the general public, that look is associated with Nazis first and foremost. Not everyone has our grounding in genre fiction.

[williejm]

3 hours ago, Karalora said:

It's all about perception, and to most of the general public, that look is associated with Nazis first and foremost. Not everyone has our grounding in genre fiction.

Indeed, which I think was @SamVimes’ point - rather than criticising the design. Several of the figures from @Robert8 ‘s series are ones which Lego would likely shy away from because of the potential inferences or fallout. 

[Robert8]

On 2/5/2022 at 2:02 PM, SamVimes said:

Sums up this wonderful thread quite well, I mean we all have our own favourite themes and such, But some of the ideas are so good I'm surprised TLG hasn't done one or two, just by accident. Although they probably plan the series so far in advance that it might just take time to get there. .
 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on several minifigures :)

----------------------

About the Supreme Leader, if I have to pin point a real life military inspiration, I'd say WW2 Japanese uniform, which is used in several Sci-Fi anime/manga 

[SamVimes]

2 hours ago, williejm said:

Indeed, which I think was @SamVimes’ point - rather than criticising the design. Several of the figures from @Robert8 ‘s series are ones which Lego would likely shy away from because of the potential inferences or fallout. 

Oh, no, That is 100% criticising the design. And there is more than a few. But there are also some winner's in there, The nymph line being a great example. 

@Eggyslav 

12 hours ago, Eggyslav said:

Eh, to me she's more reminescent of Warhammer 40.000 Imperial Guard Commisars, or hell, even M. Bison from Street Fighter. Black uniform and peaked cap with a skull does not a Nazi make. ;)

I'm open for discourse in most cases, but in this case? F' off. OH and both of the above examples are based on fascist regimes. And Nazi's. M.Bison has a literal nazi symbol on his belt. 

1 hour ago, Robert8 said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on several minifigures :)

----------------------

About the Supreme Leader, if I have to pin point a real life military inspiration, I'd say WW2 Japanese uniform, which is used in several Sci-Fi anime/manga 

It's not about your inspiration, It's not even about intent, it's a design that you should have looked at and just went "nope."  And it's much closer to the German dress uniform. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by SamVimes

[Eggyslav]

Since when Imperium of Man in WH 40k is Fascist? I mean, sure, it is an authoritarian (What with Inquisition and Adeptus Arbites being secret police), xenophobic (as in they hate literal aliens, And they rather have good reasons to fight them) dystopia, but they are far from fascist/nazi ideology. In fact, the Imperium doesn't really have an equivalent in real life political ideology, or country. Because how many countries do you know to be an authoritarian theokratic monarchy, ruled by a half-dead skeleton on life support, with said skeleton having immense psychic powers, and said life support being a golden throne powered by a daily input of a thousand souls?

 

Also, the "Nazi Symbol on M. Bison's belt" is just a generic lightning bolt. Doppelte Siegrune of SS is quite similar but it's doubled. It looks like this: 

 

Also, also, Are you seriously arguing with Robert about his very own source of inspiration?

Edited February 6, 2022 by Eggyslav

[williejm]

13 minutes ago, Eggyslav said:

Because how many countries do you know to be an authoritarian theokratic monarchy, ruled by a half-dead skeleton on life support, with said skeleton having immense psychic powers, and said life support being a golden throne powered by a daily input of a thousand souls?

Hey - you can’t talk about Queen Elizabeth like that on her jubilee! 

[Eggyslav]

XD

Good One.

[Karalora]

1 hour ago, SamVimes said:

I'm open for discourse in most cases, but in this case? F' off.

Commander, you're new here, so you might not have picked up on the culture of this forum yet, but this is needlessly hostile. We can disagree as to whether a given minifig design would be a good idea without cussing each other out (or censored-cussing).

[Lion King]

The belt on M Bison doesn’t have Nazi symbol at all? It looks like a generic lightning or Viking letter (aka rune) to me. Plus, i have no idea who is M. Bison. 

[Clone OPatra]

2 hours ago, SamVimes said:

I'm open for discourse in most cases, but in this case? F' off. 

This is out of line, and we'll have a private chat if you display more of this attitude.

This discussion is not going a happy place. Let's veer away now everyone. Thanks.

[Lion King]

@Robert8 - when we will have a very small glimpse of Series Y? Because I’m so looking forward for the next series!

[Robert8]

3 minutes ago, DBlegonerd7 said:

@Robert8 - when we will have a very small glimpse of Series Y? Because I’m so looking forward for the next series!

I'm planning to post the teaser on February 22th, and then the whole series on March 1st

[Lion King]

4 minutes ago, Robert8 said:

I'm planning to post the teaser on February 22th, and then the whole series on March 1st

Hooray!! 

I’m thrilled to see teaser and the whole series later - thanks!

[roselemontea]

Robert, could you submit this to lego ideas? There are so many minifigures I would love to purchase... any series is a standout! 

[Robert8]

9 hours ago, roselemontea said:

Robert, could you submit this to lego ideas? There are so many minifigures I would love to purchase... any series is a standout! 

Thanks for your interest. Glad you liked them 

Unfortunately IDEAS does not allow to post CMFs as projects. (And I doubt it 'll get to 10K anyway)

[roselemontea]

1 hour ago, Robert8 said:

Thanks for your interest. Glad you liked them 

Unfortunately IDEAS does not allow to post CMFs as projects. (And I doubt it 'll get to 10K anyway)

? I think they do? I've types in collectible minifigures in the IP box and they do allow. 

I'm sure you will! I've been a fan for a few years and they are a delight! I'm sure CMF fans will come and support! 

[SamVimes]

4 hours ago, roselemontea said:

? I think they do? I've types in collectible minifigures in the IP box and they do allow. 

I'm sure you will! I've been a fan for a few years and they are a delight! I'm sure CMF fans will come and support! 

IP is for third-party submissions. 

[Robert8]

Second to last... 

Next Tuesday 

[Eggyslav]

Ah, the Third Piggie is here! And Mother Earth/Gaia to compliment Father Time, I pressume?