REVIEW: 8684 LEGO Minifigures Series 2

[Zzz]

2nd barcode will be removed after series 2 but there will probably be another way of telling what's in a bag I reckon.

Only your fingers I suppose. As far as I know for all these card games like Magic etc., it is impossible to know what cards are inside, but a box has the same amount of valuable cards. They are even at the same spot. Whatever, we will see!

[Dr.Butcher]

A really great review, thanks a lot. I'm looking forward to get all of these figures.

5 series 1 minifigures that i've missed, I ordered from bricklink. So at least the first series will be complete.

2nd barcode will be removed after series 2 but there will probably be another way of telling what's in a bag I reckon.

Bad news, I hope there's another way to find out what's inside. It's pretty impossible (at least for me) to tell which figure is in a bag by just using the fingers

[woodnoggin]

Great review, but sadly this series of minifigs continues the problems of Series 1: too few women. The gender imbalance is annoying and I find it lazy and irresponsible on Lego's part. Then there's the Mexican minifig, which is bordering on racism.

[escortmad79]

Then there's the Mexican minifig, which is bordering on racism.

Wouldn't call it racism, more like stereotyping, the same as if TLG were to produce a Scotsman minifig with bright orange hair, tammy, a kilt & a set of bagpipes or an Englishman with a suit, bowler hat, briefcase & newspaper/umbrella (Please TLG? )

[Tervlon]

Great review, but sadly this series of minifigs continues the problems of Series 1: too few women. The gender imbalance is annoying and I find it lazy and irresponsible on Lego's part. Then there's the Mexican minifig, which is bordering on racism.

I have to entirely disagree with this post. I can understand the concerns, but I see it differently.

First, the gender imbalance reflects nothing more than business sense based on the demographics of the buyer. If LEGO was 'gender balanced' (what does that even mean?) it wouldn't sell the great products as it does today. The complaints about 'gender imbalance' comes from some theoretical ideal that simply can't and shouldn't be implemented without a marketable reason, otherwise it would endanger the entire brand.

What is puzzling is that all of this criticism comes during a time when LEGO has seen the demand for female minifigs increase (and we're starting to see more female builders, which is awesome) and I feel LEGO has done a great job of increasing and diversifying the inclusion of females into their sets and minifig series. Great female hair pieces, faces and torsos have been a great selling point for me on the Prince of Persia, Agents, City, and Castle lines and I applaud LEGO for what they've done. The Collectible Minifig series is doing a great job so far, imo. In my experience little boys do not really like female figs and since they represent the largest demographic it makes sense that LEGO is catering to them with action and adventure sets and themes. Plus Steve Witt has confirmed there is an upcoming line for girls in 2011 that should provide a bountiful supply of female minifigs and advance a more diversified and balanced line if that is what you are looking for.

As for the Mexican, I am confused to how it is racist. People from Mexico are called Mexicans, so thats not a bad word. Sombreros, sarape, and maracas are classic Mexican objects that they are proud of, as far as I know. Is this any different than a German themed fig that would be outfitted in Lederhosen? Or a French fig with a stripey shirt and beret? I'm sure Canadians would be offended by the 'overused' or 'stereotyped' image of a Mountie if that oft called for fig were to be created.

Just my $.02.

Edited August 19, 2010 by Tervlon

[OneSnowTrooper]

I wouldn't put to much effort in replying about the racism and gender balance. 1 post in more then 1 year and his first post is clearly one to start a argument.

[Tervlon]

I wouldn't put to much effort in replying about the racism and gender balance. 1 post in more then 1 year and his first post is clearly one to start a argument.

That is true, I have been hearing this in a few places and I guess i felt like I finally had to vent it. :)

[The Cobra]

Thanks for another great review!

I rated Series 2 Outstanding. Some great characters like Ayumi*, the Spartan/Roman/Greek/whatever, Ken** and That 70's DJ, some accessories like the Sombrero and the Trophy, I'll love them.

The downpoints to me are the Witch (though I never owned one) and the CHiP, just beacuse tan torso makes me think more of Johnny Thunder than a policeman.

Now let's wait.

* Female pop singer / Ayumi Hamasaki

** Surfer / Barbie's fiancee

[Dunjohn]

Only your fingers I suppose. As far as I know for all these card games like Magic etc., it is impossible to know what cards are inside, but a box has the same amount of valuable cards. They are even at the same spot. Whatever, we will see!

Magic boxes don't have an even spread of cards; one guy might double his money while the next gets all duds, and the company takes great pains to ensure randomness. However, some people have been able to "map" certain cards based on where they were positioned on the print sheet. The company usually responds by changing their system immediately. Too much money rides on high-end tournaments for them to risk a loophole like that.

LEGO, on the other hand, seem to want to guarantee the spread so they'll either try something less obvious on the packs (which will be spotted within seconds anyway), change the factory system so they can send specific figs to the boxes without marking them (which may be prohibitively expensive), or give up and go random. I reckon the first one's the most likely, but not definite. LEGO prides itself on the guaranteed quality of their end product, so they may not want to go completely random.

Somebody back there mentioned that he liked Series 1 more until he actually got Series 2 in hand. Well, I voted for Series 1, and I think its selection is better both for its themes and the individual parts (I mix and match minifig elements a lot), so we'll see, maybe my mind will change there too :)

[Rick]

LEGO, on the other hand, seem to want to guarantee the spread so they'll either try something less obvious on the packs (which will be spotted within seconds anyway), change the factory system so they can send specific figs to the boxes without marking them (which may be prohibitively expensive), or give up and go random. I reckon the first one's the most likely, but not definite. LEGO prides itself on the guaranteed quality of their end product, so they may not want to go completely random.

I really like that - so far - they've stuffed each box with three complete sets of 16 and certainly hope they will continue that for series 3 and beyond. Loosing the second bar code while maintaining the current spread per box avoids every box being looted for Spartans/Cheerleaders/whatever is popular (perhaps they should change the packaging as well to avoid 'feeling') and still provides a reasonably cost-effective way for (a group of three) AFOLs to get a complete series.

Not sure why the second bar code is there, because I always imagined they filled a box from 16 bins/lines that contain one figure each. I can't imagine they produce 16 different figs, throw them all together and then use bar codes to sort them out again. So, to me it makes most sense that they already have your option 2 in place.

[L@go]

...avoids every box being looted for Spartans/Cheerleaders/whatever is popular...

Is this really such a big problem? Where I live, there is no heap of AFOLs lurking around the toy stores, just waiting to dive in when a new shipment of minifigs arrives. But maybe things are different elsewhere?

[urukhai]

Is this really such a big problem? Where I live, there is no heap of AFOLs lurking around the toy stores, just waiting to dive in when a new shipment of minifigs arrives. But maybe things are different elsewhere?

Definitely. At my local Toys R Us I went the first day they had the minifigs and there were no Spartans at all.

[kohhu]

so, still being a little new here, I apologize in advance if this question has been asked, but read most of the threads and didnt see it. I know The Lego stores only allow you to buy a couple of these figs at a time and my TRU is the same (already sold out in Frisco, TX of the ones they had)...How are people able to buy sealed boxes to resell on ebay? Will S@H sell complete boxes or individual figs?

[streifen]

Definitely. At my local Toys R Us I went the first day they had the minifigs and there were no Spartans at all.

were the boxes opened up already? or you bought 1 box with no spartans?

if it is the former, likely it has been "picked".

[danthaman11]

so, still being a little new here, I apologize in advance if this question has been asked, but read most of the threads and didnt see it. I know The Lego stores only allow you to buy a couple of these figs at a time and my TRU is the same (already sold out in Frisco, TX of the ones they had)...How are people able to buy sealed boxes to resell on ebay? Will S@H sell complete boxes or individual figs?

People are getting series 2 sealed boxes proably shipped over from Europe to sell on ebay right now since they got them there first. You can get a sealed box from bricklink shipped from Europe right now for a pretty decent price I'm considering going that route selling off the one's I don't want and skipping the madness. Different TRU's can have different limits. There are 3 TRU's by my house and for series 1, one TRU limited purchases to 5, another 10 and the last one had no limits. People would line up at that one before the store opened to buy them out. Lego S&H for series 1 sold them individually and initially had a limit of 5. Then after 3 weeks dropped the limits and they sold out in hours. You could then buy 60 which would be a full box but I don't think people actually got a box just 60 sealed individuals with the same distribution as in the sealed box. Does anyone know for series 2 if Lego Shop at Home will have limits this time?

[card]

Here is somthing crazy, my local TRU got in two cases. Now out of me and a friend we pretty much bought them out (limit of 10 at a time and we went there a few times). So out of 70 minifigs between us we only got a single Vampire. Now on my last journey over there today for my final 10 (that darn mime kept getting away from me) I looked at the bar codes and there was not a single Vampire in the 30 or so packs left. Either these two cases were diferent or we just had bad luck and someone got every Vamp. I wonder if Lego is packing the cases diferently, or is everyone finding case pack outs like those listed in the original post. I find it strange that only the vampire and weightlifter (for some reason he seemed shortpacked as well) were the rare figures in these two packs, yet they didnt grab the spartans or mexicans. Has anyone else noticed anything odd in their pack outs?

[Ogre]

I have to entirely disagree with this post. I can understand the concerns, but I see it differently.

First, the gender imbalance reflects nothing more than business sense based on the demographics of the buyer. If LEGO was 'gender balanced' (what does that even mean?) it wouldn't sell the great products as it does today. The complaints about 'gender imbalance' comes from some theoretical ideal that simply can't and shouldn't be implemented without a marketable reason, otherwise it would endanger the entire brand.

What is puzzling is that all of this criticism comes during a time when LEGO has seen the demand for female minifigs increase (and we're starting to see more female builders, which is awesome) and I feel LEGO has done a great job of increasing and diversifying the inclusion of females into their sets and minifig series. Great female hair pieces, faces and torsos have been a great selling point for me on the Prince of Persia, Agents, City, and Castle lines and I applaud LEGO for what they've done. The Collectible Minifig series is doing a great job so far, imo. In my experience little boys do not really like female figs and since they represent the largest demographic it makes sense that LEGO is catering to them with action and adventure sets and themes. Plus Steve Witt has confirmed there is an upcoming line for girls in 2011 that should provide a bountiful supply of female minifigs and advance a more diversified and balanced line if that is what you are looking for.

As for the Mexican, I am confused to how it is racist. People from Mexico are called Mexicans, so thats not a bad word. Sombreros, sarape, and maracas are classic Mexican objects that they are proud of, as far as I know. Is this any different than a German themed fig that would be outfitted in Lederhosen? Or a French fig with a stripey shirt and beret? I'm sure Canadians would be offended by the 'overused' or 'stereotyped' image of a Mountie if that oft called for fig were to be created.

Just my $.02.

Nice post.

And, speaking only for myself, no...I most certainly would NOT be offended by having the 'Mountie' used to portray a Canadian. The RCMP is a proud part of our heritage and is an internationally recognized symbol of Canada. I would LOVE to see THOSE 'redcoats' in minifig form!

[myBricks]

I am also looking for the vespa !

[Rick]

Nice post.

And, speaking only for myself, no...I most certainly would NOT be offended by having the 'Mountie' used to portray a Canadian. The RCMP is a proud part of our heritage and is an internationally recognized symbol of Canada. I would LOVE to see THOSE 'redcoats' in minifig form!

Agreed, I really like the stereotypical nature of many of the collectible figs. It leads to instant recognition of what they're supposed to represent.

[card]

I am also looking for the vespa !

Check brickforge and look under scooter.

[Sandy]

I just found these from the department store across the street, and managed to get all but the Pharaoh (since it had ran out from the single box in the LEGO shelf). It's a funny coincidence that I also missed a single minifig from series 1 as well, getting a second cowboy instead of the tribal hunter. Oh well, there's always eBay and Bricklink...

I have to say I love these second series minifigs even more than the ones in the first series. However, much to my dismay the leg-pieces of both the lifeguard and the surfer boy were slightly misprinted so that a yellow line shows in between the hips and the printing (it honestly looks like they're taking their clothes off).

[Svelte]

However, much to my dismay the leg-pieces of both the lifeguard and the surfer boy were slightly misprinted so that a yellow line shows in between the hips and the printing (it honestly looks like they're taking their clothes off).

I don't think that's a misprint - they're all like that. The Series 1 Caveman is the same, I think it's just more noticeable in this series.

[Sandy]

I don't think that's a misprint - they're all like that. The Series 1 Caveman is the same, I think it's just more noticeable in this series.

Actually, my caveman's leg printing was alright, as was the Spartan. Especially in the Lifeguard's case I can see with my own eyes how it's clearly misprinted, with the red triangles stretching below the bulge in the legs. Not nice.

[Plissken]

Great review.

Finished my Series 2 Collection today

I really love the new hairpieces in this series. The singers hair is beautiful. The other accessories are great, too. One of the best ideas Lego ever had.

Now I'm going to hunt down the extras I need.

[Ogre]

*still waiting for series two to arrive in Canada*

I have to say, I'm quite envious of folks who have completed their collections already and are moving on to collecting their 'multiples'.