21348 Lego Ideas Dungeons & Dragons and D&D CMF

[Agent Kallus]

On 9/10/2024 at 5:38 AM, Classic_Spaceman said:

 

A Drider would be better suited to a set, since the spider body would need more parts than CMFs allow.
Animated armour would be really good, since it could give us a generic suit of armour that can be used for various Castle factions, as well as a new helmet of some sort (my pick would be a sallet)! 

Same issue as the Drider, IMO. 
I am surprised that you did not include a Gnoll; they can be done easily in LEGO form at CMF size (reused faun legs, new moulded hyena head), and would be a good enemy to include. I also think that we should get another orc character (our only DnD one is in the RDT set!), with the CMF orc jaw recoloured in light grey. 
 

A Gnolls would be cool too. The idea with the Drider and Lolth is that they could share a new Spider-Centaur part that the legs attach to. I mean they could work well brick built in a playset but TLG seems to be shying away from playsets for these sorts of themes as we can see from us having a D2C and CMF and nothing inbetween.

If they did do playsets I'd like a Goblin BP and a Kobold camp ( or vice versa). Kobolds are now the only creatures to show up on the big sets's instructions that haven't been made in either that set or the CMF. Some underdark scenery would be good as well and could be a place to put your Drider with the brick built lower half.

Tiamut would also be a could set. Her in the CMF with 5 different Dragonborn heads was probably the most outlandish one in the list but it could look really cool if done well.

[Lacdaran]

Not sharing my sources as I'm not sure if sharing could get people in trouble, so you can take this with whatever level of skepticism you desire, but I've heard;

• D&D CMF is selling really well, certainly the best sales since the price increased and might even end up near the top end of the all-time list if this continues.
• Lego group predicted this to some extent as they've shipped 3 times the number of cases to many retailers.
• Dragonborn Paladin is by far the best-selling figure (duh!)
• Dwarf is the worst selling figure (also not surprising to me, why make a dwarf figure without a super cool beard piece?)
• You may see more retailers putting the series behind glass or finding other ways to limit scanning as there is a lot of it going on.  Lots of stores have stacks of dwarves, bards, etc with the top figures all sold out.  There is an expectation/hope that as we get past the more hardcore fans there will be more impulse buyers, but there is some worry here.

[JohnTPT17]

14 minutes ago, Lacdaran said:

• Dragonborn Paladin is by far the best-selling figure (duh!)
• Dwarf is the worst selling figure (also not surprising to me, why make a dwarf figure without a super cool beard piece?)

I would imagine Lego stores could keep an eye on this, but I doubt the average Wal-Mart would notice, or possibly even care, about something like this.

15 minutes ago, Lacdaran said:

You may see more retailers putting the series behind glass or finding other ways to limit scanning as there is a lot of it going on.  Lots of stores have stacks of dwarves, bards, etc with the top figures all sold out.  There is an expectation/hope that as we get past the more hardcore fans there will be more impulse buyers, but there is some worry here.

It really can't be too different that previous series though, can it? If anything, I imagine it would have been worse for older series, when some of the most popular characters would be limited to only two in a box. And those who don't know/don't care about codes will always just pick up whatever Legos they can find, especially for simple stocking stuffers/other small gifts. And, at absolute worst, I think a lot of people would go back and pick up more dwarves/bards if they were on clearance for $4 or, at worst, $3 - I don't think they would be unsellable.

If they did want a better long-term solution, though, I wonder if it would be possible for Lego to produce a retail-exclusive "collector's edition" of the cases, that has more of the in-demand figures and less of the unwanted ones? I imagine they are still being actively produced, so I would think it's possible for them to shift production towards what will sell better in the long-term.

[RichardGoring]

2 hours ago, JohnTPT17 said:

If they did want a better long-term solution, though, I wonder if it would be possible for Lego to produce a retail-exclusive "collector's edition" of the cases, that has more of the in-demand figures and less of the unwanted ones? I imagine they are still being actively produced, so I would think it's possible for them to shift production towards what will sell better in the long-term.

But what are the in-demand figures? For the Disney 100 Baymax was sold out everywhere around me, which I found really surprising. The mind flayer appears to be really popular for D&D, which again was surprising. Others might know why these were so popular and predict it. But then, if you make more of the 'popular' ones, does that means that the rarer ones become more popular because they are rarer?

I suspect that LEGO and retailers make so much money from CMFs that they don't care about the niggles of optimizing the distribution too much, and that damage/clearance may be a pretty small impact on the overall profitability. LEGO just needs to keep churning out stuff that keeps it fresh and people wanting more of them.

[karrit]

45 minutes ago, RichardGoring said:

But what are the in-demand figures? For the Disney 100 Baymax was sold out everywhere around me, which I found really surprising. The mind flayer appears to be really popular for D&D, which again was surprising. Others might know why these were so popular and predict it. But then, if you make more of the 'popular' ones, does that means that the rarer ones become more popular because they are rarer?

That's interesting about Baymax being sold out near you.  That is the one figure I did not want and did not buy from the Disney 100 CMF.  I didn't see the movie & I think the character is just a knock off version of the Stay Puff  Marshmallow man or the Michelin Tire guy.  There were plenty to be found near me when I was looking. 

As for the D&D Mind Flayer that is the one that is of least interest to me followed by the Lady of Pain.  Then again I have no interest in D&D in general so I don't know the background of any of the characters.  I'm getting a full box but I'll probably sell off the two extras of the Mind Flayer to a fellow LUG member who expressed interest in taking them off my hands.  I just sort of like the walking brain creature.  I think that most of the figures looked interesting enough to incorporate into Medieval, Spooky & HP themed builds which is why I'm getting a full box.

[Black Falcon]

4 hours ago, Lacdaran said:

Not sharing my sources as I'm not sure if sharing could get people in trouble, so you can take this with whatever level of skepticism you desire, but I've heard;

I don´t see how any of this could get anyone in trouble really. Most of it is pretty commonly known or was talked about here and at other places already.

Quote

• Dwarf is the worst selling figure (also not surprising to me, why make a dwarf figure without a super cool beard piece?)

I would kinda disagree here. It is among the less demanded figures, though I don´t think you really can tell one that is really selling the worst. The Paladin is clearly the one with the highest demand, but down on the other side there are more figures that have a quite similar demand. But if I had to name one selling worst, it would be Szass Tam. 

Eitherway, I do agree that the Dwarf is kinda disappointing. The only figure with plain legs, only a printed beard and the hair doesn´t look that dwarfish to me either. If they would have made a Dwarf in Armor (a printed one would be good enough) with a helmet and beard it would sell much better for sure.

[DonQuixote]

7 hours ago, Lacdaran said:

Not sharing my sources as I'm not sure if sharing could get people in trouble, so you can take this with whatever level of skepticism you desire, but I've heard;

• D&D CMF is selling really well, certainly the best sales since the price increased and might even end up near the top end of the all-time list if this continues.
• Lego group predicted this to some extent as they've shipped 3 times the number of cases to many retailers.
• Dragonborn Paladin is by far the best-selling figure (duh!)
• Dwarf is the worst selling figure (also not surprising to me, why make a dwarf figure without a super cool beard piece?)
• You may see more retailers putting the series behind glass or finding other ways to limit scanning as there is a lot of it going on.  Lots of stores have stacks of dwarves, bards, etc with the top figures all sold out.  There is an expectation/hope that as we get past the more hardcore fans there will be more impulse buyers, but there is some worry here.

Yes the Dragonborn minifig is awesome. Great armor and fantastic printing. I got 4 of them. 

[RichardGoring]

3 hours ago, karrit said:

That's interesting about Baymax being sold out near you.  That is the one figure I did not want and did not buy from the Disney 100 CMF.  I didn't see the movie & I think the character is just a knock off version of the Stay Puff  Marshmallow man or the Michelin Tire guy.  There were plenty to be found near me when I was looking. 

As for the D&D Mind Flayer that is the one that is of least interest to me followed by the Lady of Pain.  Then again I have no interest in D&D in general so I don't know the background of any of the characters.  I'm getting a full box but I'll probably sell off the two extras of the Mind Flayer to a fellow LUG member who expressed interest in taking them off my hands.  I just sort of like the walking brain creature.  I think that most of the figures looked interesting enough to incorporate into Medieval, Spooky & HP themed builds which is why I'm getting a full box.

I was the same as you. Not interested in Baymax nor the mind flayer. I'm not saying they're the most popular from each wave, but I was surprised they were sold out or lower stock from my very small sample size, and comments from the LEGO store employee both times.

[zoth33]

Ordered 12 from Lego.com and got 3 Szass Tam's, 3 Dwarfs, 3 Bards, and 3 Strahd's.  I also got a box of 36 from a seller on ebay that had 3 full sets.  It's really hard to find the Tiefling and the Dragonborn.  I keep heading to Walmart to try to get there when they put them out to pick up a few more Dragonborn.  When I went to the lego store the other day I only found 1 Tiefling, there were no dragonborn and did manage to get 2 Githyanki's.  The figs are great and the accessories are excellent.  

[neithan]

Was at my local Smyth`s yesterday and looked up the 20 boxes they had - 5 Dwarfs und Halflings, only one Mindflayer (which I took) and no Dragonborn.

Some Strahds, Szass Tams etc., but I don`t need multiples of those specific NPCs. Then again, mayber for parts... But not now, maybe on clearance I`ll try again. :-)

[MAB]

10 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

But what are the in-demand figures? ...... But then, if you make more of the 'popular' ones, does that means that the rarer ones become more popular because they are rarer?

Yes, it does. In some of the early series this happened, where apparently less interesting figures were expensive as they were not produced in such high numbers. Of course, the worst case is when an in-demand figure has lower production.

Judging popularity must be difficult, as it is not just whether something is popular but also how many will people want? Some collectors want one of every figure whereas others want 10, 20, 50, 100, etc. Catering for army builders through CMFs messes up tge distribution. 

[Rjbricks]

Picked up 3 full sets last week, toy shop near me scan them all and label the boxes anyway so guarantee you get the ones you want. No problem with stock from what I saw, probably should have swiped all the Dragonborns. Just don’t know what I’d do with them all!

 

Very pleased in general but like most, think the Lady of Pain is too unusable outside of DnD. 

[RichardGoring]

Got my full set from Planet Fun Toys today. They're great!

[cehnot]

I ordered 2 cases off ebay 2 weeks ago and they come tomorrow. In the mean time I stopped by 1 of the 4 local Walmarts when the website listed the cmf were in stock. I stopped by and picked up 12. I chose the random approach and didn't use the phone to make it more fair. I got 4 paladin figures lol. I admit this was not expected. The rest were 3 bards, 1 witch, 4 dwarves. Frankly I only focus on pirates and castle so I will be swapping parts with the other past cmf, castle and pirate parts I have to make an assortment of new characters. I assume the cases have roughly 3 sets in each so all together I should be able to make an awesome set of knights, villagers, adventurers, and dwarves. 

In all fairness, I don't really care for the dragon head. The torso and leg printing was what I care more about. I may use the heads for other citizens and adventurers. I'm tempted to buy a few red dragon guitarists from my local toy store to make a few unique dragonborn characters, but I do understand why people are wanting this the most. I care more about those other torso and leg printings because I think they are universally better for mashing other parts together. 

I do wish the dwarf came with a new beard option. But alas I ordered older dwarf beards of bricklink to fix that. 

I love the Instagram posts of various combinations people are doing to the new figs. I would love to see this on the forum here as well. 

I hope they continue the series and offer battle packs, or more sets. More castle theme licensing is welcomed. 

[RichardGoring]

I also saw that the Walmarts around me are starting to get them in stock, so I went this evening. I did use the app and found an extra halfling druid and a Tiefling Sorcerer, because the dragon is cool! But the main reason was to get some Dragonborn Paladins. They had three nearly new boxes and I got the four paladins that I wanted. Interestingly, all were still there (nine paladins in total), with just some figures taken off the top row. I found the Paladins all clustered in the bottom left side of each box, next to the halfling druid. I can stop looking now, as I have all I want.

[Classic_Spaceman]

On 9/11/2024 at 7:51 AM, Agent Kallus said:

The idea with the Drider and Lolth is that they could share a new Spider-Centaur part that the legs attach to. 

Ah! That makes more sense than a fully brickbuilt body. 

On 9/11/2024 at 7:51 AM, Agent Kallus said:

If they did do playsets I'd like a Goblin BP and a Kobold camp ( or vice versa). Kobolds are now the only creatures to show up on the big sets's instructions that haven't been made in either that set or the CMF. 

Kobolds would be good! That said, they would be pretty easy to cobble together (CMF orc torso and legs, triceratops costume tail, Chima croc head); an official version would obviously need a new fully-moulded headpiece and faun legs. 

On 9/11/2024 at 7:51 AM, Agent Kallus said:

Tiamut would also be a could set. Her in the CMF with 5 different Dragonborn heads was probably the most outlandish one in the list but it could look really cool if done well.

Tiamat would have to be a set, but she would make an absolutely amazing one! We have gotten multi-headed dragons before in Ninjago, so she should be fairly easy for LEGO to make. 
 

On 9/11/2024 at 2:05 PM, Lacdaran said:

D&D CMF is selling really well, certainly the best sales since the price increased and might even end up near the top end of the all-time list if this continues.

Not the least bit surprising, but good that sales data is backing us up. 👍

On 9/11/2024 at 2:05 PM, Lacdaran said:

Dwarf is the worst selling figure (also not surprising to me, why make a dwarf figure without a super cool beard piece?)

This is very odd to me - The dwarf has an excellent new axe piece, and a detailed and useful torso (complete with dual-moulded and printed arms)! I get why not having new a beard detracts from the figure a bit, but there are other Minifigs (named characters, in particular the Lady of Pain) who are less massable. 
 

[squiz18]

The D&D castle is 20% off in the UK at Argos. Takes it to £250. I couldn't resist at that price! 

[Retrocity]

The set I preordered arrived yesterday. 
 

Even better in person. So many good pieces. I fully expect a series 2 at some point. 
 

I passed on grabbing some last week, and now I’m going to be on the hunt for a few extras.

[tafkatb]

I went to my local LEGO store on release day and got a full set - teamed up with two other nerds and just bought a full case's worth together, then swapped with each other outside the store until we each had a full set. I would love to see a second series! Along with a Monk, I would hope that it includes another Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Rogue, to make all the core classes more accessible. Make one of them an Aasimar and one a Goliath (and maybe even one of those truly fantastical creatures, Humans!) and you can have all the species options from the newest Player's Handbook covered. For specific named characters, I suspect they might pull from the 80's cartoon series, maybe Honor Among Thieves, and probably Drizzt - though my personal top picks would be Asteria and Fizban the Fabulous. 

[Westbrick]

21 hours ago, squiz18 said:

The D&D castle is 20% off in the UK at Argos. Takes it to £250. I couldn't resist at that price! 

I’ve just done the same - off to my local Argos in Sainsburys to collect it shortly! I never got into D&D, so couldn’t justify the original price, but I think £250 is reasonable!

[squiz18]

42 minutes ago, Westbrick said:

I’ve just done the same - off to my local Argos in Sainsburys to collect it shortly! I never got into D&D, so couldn’t justify the original price, but I think £250 is reasonable!

I'm exactly the same. Never played d&d, but just picked up the set from argos. And ordered a complete set of the minifigures from Facebook. And just spent some vip points for the rulebook from lego.com  slippery slope. I'll try the game with my son. 

[neithan]

With prices just below 300€ in germany, I`m seriously thinking about getting a second copy and trying to build a more substantial ruin/castle.

Not at that price, but maybe there is a short time period where I could grab the set for around 250€...

[T-86(swe)]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:10 AM, Classic_Spaceman said:

This is very odd to me - The dwarf has an excellent new axe piece, and a detailed and useful torso (complete with dual-moulded and printed arms)! I get why not having new a beard detracts from the figure a bit, but there are other Minifigs (named characters, in particular the Lady of Pain) who are less massable. 
 

I also find that odd and agree with your statement on the fig. I would have loved to see a great battlehammer or dual wielding axes instead though. Or perhaps a shield to complete the fig. (Coming from a non D&D-player)

Edited September 15 by T-86(swe)

[hikouki]

I am a non-DnD player but I got two sets of these just because I like the general 'castle' theme.

For the minifigs that have dual genders, is there anything in the game that distinguishes those genders, like special accessories, other than just the face? I am a minifig collector and usually like my minifigs displayed. I am seriously thinking of displaying the male and female versions side by side.

[Black Falcon]

On 9/13/2024 at 10:10 AM, Classic_Spaceman said:

This is very odd to me - The dwarf has an excellent new axe piece, and a detailed and useful torso (complete with dual-moulded and printed arms)! I get why not having new a beard detracts from the figure a bit, but there are other Minifigs (named characters, in particular the Lady of Pain) who are less massable. 

The dwarf has two unique and interesting pieces, which are the axe and the torso, the Lady of Pain got the Head piece, torso, skirt, tile and cloak. So while it might overall be the less interesting character and the dwarf is more suitable for army building, there is still some value in that character. And to be honest, the overall design of the figure just isn´t really good.

16 hours ago, T-86(swe) said:

I also find that odd and agree with your statement on the fig. I would have loved to see a great battlehammer or dual wielding axes instead though. Or perhaps a shield to complete the fig. (Coming from a non D&D-player)

A shield, a Armor, helmet, or better said just more unique parts in general would have done that figure good. The dwarf is honestly the most disappointing figure from that series, based on expectations I had from the first rumours.