Monster Fighters 2012

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

That's not a misprint, just stupidity by LEGO. They made a new Batman cowl but didn't make a new head that fits it.

That is surprising, considering Lego's usual quality controls...

[Delta 38]

I don't mean this to be an attack on anyone, but I never cease to be amazed at how large a role minifigures play in the desire for Lego sets these days. I buy Lego for the sets themselves, and the figs are a bonus. Sure there are a lot of awesome figs out there, and the Monster Fighter theme has its fair share of them, but the sets provide the backbone to our hobby. I personally find the MF theme to have some of the most fun looking sets that I've seen in a while. The monsters all look great, but I could be content with most of the sets even without the little guys.

Well, I can understand the whole thing with minifigs and sets. If I'm neutral on the set itself, I'll opt for a cheaper alternative if the minifig appears in another set. Promo sets normally don't make it here, which is why I'm often irritated by minifigs only available in more expensive sets appearing in them.

In this case though, I'll be picking up the Ghost Train. The promo ghost doesn't have legs (if that matters much), and it's a nicely-designed set anyway.

[Phyre]

For me personally, the Vampire Hearse will actually be the set that gets the lowest priority. My LEGO setup is a cross between medieval town and haunted village, so the hearse itself, while cool, won't fit in with my village, and the vampire and zombie driver are both available in other sets. The ghost train will be second to last because the train, like the hearse, has pretty much no place in my village, with the main draw being the ghost figures. And we now know that the ghost will also be in the polybag, as well as the Haunted House set. I still plan to buy both of these sets, but only to complete the collection and because I'm such a big fan of Halloween.

In regards to the discussion on the importance of minifigures, I think you have to look at the fact that we're AFOLs, and in many cases the coolest minifigures appear in sets like these which were designed mainly for kids. The sets that are actually designed more for an AFOL audience, like the modular buildings and winter village sets, generally have standard or uninteresting minifigures, which we don't care about because the brick-built portions are so cool and detailed. That's not to say that regular themes don't have cool or detailed sets, but there are certainly less of them, and the main draw for AFOLs to buy most of these sets are the minifigures. The Vampire Castle is awesome, and would be cool even without the figures, but honestly, most of the other sets in the theme are highlighted by the figures. For my purposes, none of the vehicles in this theme matter, which makes the minifigures that much more of a reason to buy the set. But other people will have different uses for these sets and different reasons to buy them, which may be minifigure based or maybe not. But the minifigure has kind of become the centerpiece of the LEGO hobby, and therefore cool minifigures always make a set even more worthwhile and in some cases the deciding factor in whether someone will buy it or not.

I love Halloween, and while sets like the Hearse and Ghost Train won't really fit in with my medieval setting, I still plan on getting all the sets because of my love for monsters and Halloween. That said, if none of these sets had minifigures, the only one I'd buy is the Vampire Castle, because without minifigures there's really no point to the other sets. Graves with no zombies in them? A lab with no scientist or monster? A car and a tree with no werewolf to give the scene any explanation? Castle excluded, the sets don't really have a point without the figures.

[Plissken]

I bought the Sea Creature and Werewolf set last Friday.

I'm very surprised by the amount of detail and colour choices. The new olive is great. The printing on the Minifigs are awesome. Very useful for other themes, too. Btw, I the Werewolf.

[Faefrost]

For me personally, the Vampire Hearse will actually be the set that gets the lowest priority. My LEGO setup is a cross between medieval town and haunted village, so the hearse itself, while cool, won't fit in with my village, and the vampire and zombie driver are both available in other sets. The ghost train will be second to last because the train, like the hearse, has pretty much no place in my village, with the main draw being the ghost figures. And we now know that the ghost will also be in the polybag, as well as the Haunted House set. I still plan to buy both of these sets, but only to complete the collection and because I'm such a big fan of Halloween.

I kind of do similar, but I was looking at the Vampires Hearse set with an eye towards back dating it to a creepy horse drawn hearse. Maybe by merging it with two Mummy's Chariots for the cool glowy skeletal horses. I'm really not finding the Baris/Munsters type hot rod hearse to be all that interesting.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

I understand the minifigure craze when it comes to licensed themes, but in a LEGO original it's a little bit confusing to me. In licensed, it's very natural to desire all of the characters and whatnot. Sure, you might have loved the X-Wing when you saw the film, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the characters were even more exciting.

That said, even in licensed I'm startled when people buy the really big sets in which they hate the model but love the minifigures. I couldn't possibly bring myself to do that; I'd rather just not have the minifigures at all.

When it comes to a theme like Monster Fighters, I can't understand why people would buy nearly any of the sets just for the figures. The smallest ones, fine, but even the werewolf set I wouldn't buy if I didn't at least like the car. I don't deny or disagree that these figures are awesome, and I'm very excited to have them once I get the sets I want, but they're not the sole basis for liking these sets. If the sets were awful, I could get some cool (albeit different) figures in some other theme with better sets.

Actually, since I would do either, I figured out myself a solution for that.

The fact is that usually 99% of the parts can be found on other sets, or via third parts like bricklink, ebay and the like, while if you buy on this sites only the figures it would cost really too much. Minifigures are more than often the only "new/unique" parts in sets... so maybe this is why.

[Phyre]

I kind of do similar, but I was looking at the Vampires Hearse set with an eye towards back dating it to a creepy horse drawn hearse. Maybe by merging it with two Mummy's Chariots for the cool glowy skeletal horses. I'm really not finding the Baris/Munsters type hot rod hearse to be all that interesting.

That's a really cool idea, I may end up doing that as well.

[just2good]

All the Monster Fighters sets are available on S@H in the US (except for the Zombies)! I might buy the Laboratory...

[bijin]

How do you think they are going to release the Zombies?

Is it the "Hard to Find" of this theme then?

Do you think they're going to sell it on LEGO.com?

[Lyichir]

How do you think they are going to release the Zombies?

Is it the "Hard to Find" of this theme then?

Do you think they're going to sell it on LEGO.com?

It's looking like it'll be a store exclusive, so I'm fairly certain it'll be on LEGO.com as well. The only sets I can think of that show up in stores but not on LEGO.com are promotional sets designed to be exclusive to a certain location, like 3300000 The Brick Apple. And "The Zombies" doesn't fit the mold for that kind of set.

[305Bats]

It's looking like it'll be a store exclusive, so I'm fairly certain it'll be on LEGO.com as well. The only sets I can think of that show up in stores but not on LEGO.com are promotional sets designed to be exclusive to a certain location, like 3300000 The Brick Apple. And "The Zombies" doesn't fit the mold for that kind of set.

On page 84 K-nut reports seeing the Zombie set at TRU.

[Combee]

On page 84 K-nut reports seeing the Zombie set at TRU.

Awwww that means we can expect a ridiculous markup

[tafkatb]

On page 84 K-nut reports seeing the Zombie set at TRU.

Aren't store exclusives also usually available directly from LEGO though? Like the LotR set that's a Target exclusive is also on S@H.

[Faefrost]

I understand the minifigure craze when it comes to licensed themes, but in a LEGO original it's a little bit confusing to me. In licensed, it's very natural to desire all of the characters and whatnot. Sure, you might have loved the X-Wing when you saw the film, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the characters were even more exciting.

That said, even in licensed I'm startled when people buy the really big sets in which they hate the model but love the minifigures. I couldn't possibly bring myself to do that; I'd rather just not have the minifigures at all.

When it comes to a theme like Monster Fighters, I can't understand why people would buy nearly any of the sets just for the figures. The smallest ones, fine, but even the werewolf set I wouldn't buy if I didn't at least like the car. I don't deny or disagree that these figures are awesome, and I'm very excited to have them once I get the sets I want, but they're not the sole basis for liking these sets. If the sets were awful, I could get some cool (albeit different) figures in some other theme with better sets.

Ah, but you miss something critical with the Monster Fighters line. Yes, it is technically not a licensed line. But that is only because it is skirting (very very carefully) the boundaries of the classic "universal studios" horror properties by utilizing public domain elements. (which to be fair every media and toy company has done for generations now, and even Universal may have been a bit lax originally as they don't own the IP sources). So while the sets are technically Lego in house unlicensed, they are in fact a collection of famous classic movie horror monsters and vignettes. So the buyers and collectors will treat them as they do the licensed properties. And nobody is buying these things for the chick with the arrow in her head minifig. It's the monsters pure and simple.

Yeah, there is a more specialized group that collects minifigs as a hobby, and will react to any minifig, such as new City ones. It's a hobby or sub hobby. But the more driving force here is the semi licensed nature. ( the CMF's are an entirely different story.)

The only other sort of exception is the Army Builders. Although outside of Star Wars they have normally only appeared in the Castle/historical themes. That did recently change some with the AQ sets and more importantly that Galaxy Patrol CMF fig.

[bijin]

They did! That surprised me the most. Though I don't think they had the Werewolf or Monster Lab.

Which TRU is this?

I really like the Zombies but I haven't seen it in any TRU store or the website.

I heard a rumor that the Zombies are for some exclusive release with Target.

Edited May 21, 2012 by bijin

[K-Nut]

On page 84 K-nut reports seeing the Zombie set at TRU.

I'm about 90% sure that was the zombies set. I was doing a quick scan, so it may have been the hearse. There's still hope of a reasonably priced exclusive! Don't worry!

[ZO6]

This MF theme has got me rewatching all those old Universal and Hammer horror films. I watched an old favorite movie of mine this morning - Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It's always great seeing Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman all in the same film. While I'm bound to have lots of fun messing around with the new sets for what they are, I'm very tempted to recreate some of the classic scenes from those old movies! Perhaps I'll do some stop motion videos at some point...

I know its already been discussed somewhat whether we'll see another wave of MF sets or not. It'll be interesting to see how well the theme sells, as I'd love for there to be enough support needed for a continuation. Sure a majority of the iconic monsters have already been incorporated into this line, but I don't see why some couldn't carry over while adding a few new characters (witch, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, invisible man - potentially hard to do, but with at least a clear head you could get away with using normal body parts for the rest of him). The Mummy used to be a very popular character, and his current set is arguably the most lack-luster. I don't think it's too far fetched to see Dracula and the Mummy continuing on into a second wave, and with any luck the Mummy would get a more substantial set. We definitely need haunted ship too, everyone loves those.

I can't wait until we see more of the big Haunted House set. I wonder if will just be a detailed house like something from the modular line, or if it'll be a proper play set with lots of traps and whatnot.

Aren't store exclusives also usually available directly from LEGO though? Like the LotR set that's a Target exclusive is also on S@H.

Exclusives always end up on S@H, though sometimes there is a bit of a delay.

[305Bats]

Awwww that means we can expect a ridiculous markup

Depends,the Castle is only $10 more at TRU.

[Amset-Rah]

Well, I broke down and got more of the sets from Lego. Definitely looking forward to having them. I too am a fan of the classic Universal monsters (Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein is a classic, and so is Hold That Ghost), so a lot of these are right up my alley. Even if they don't, they have sort of a ghastly fun attributed to them, like the Ghost Train (Not much for a play-feature filled set, but the design is top notch)

Anyway in regards to a second wave, a Jekyll and Hyde set would be interesting to see (Maybe have a transformation area similar to the one in Isla de Muetta), and a ghost ship would be amazing, just so much as it's not as disappointing as the Flying Dutchman Spongebob set. (Great idea, poor execution). Invisible Man was one of my favorite Universal monsters but unless they do him all covered up or use some trans pieces for, say, the head or his legs (A simple 1x2 trans-clear panel would work for the legs) but I'm worried his set would resemble a toned down Frankenstein lab (Since the Invisible Man was a scientist as well). Really it's not the lack of characters, it's the matter of what kind of set would work for them to please KFOLs and AFOLs alike like this wave most certainly has. Jekyll and Hyde and the ghost ship I could see, but the Invisible Man would be quite a tough nut to crack.

[Vindicare]

I'm about 90% sure that was the zombies set. I was doing a quick scan, so it may have been the hearse. There's still hope of a reasonably priced exclusive! Don't worry!

Hmm..it could just be that my TRU didn't have it yet, but they had everything but the Zombie set.

[fyrmedhatt]

How do you think they are going to release the Zombies?

Is it the "Hard to Find" of this theme then?

Do you think they're going to sell it on LEGO.com?

I'd say it's very likely it will sell on Lego.com as well as the lego stores. It just hasn't been released at the same time as the rest of the wave, which is pretty common and will happen with Palpatine's Arrest and the Parking Garage this year, and was the case with the Black Pearl and Hoth Echo base last year. The only regular (non-promotional) set to sell exclusively at an external retailer that I know of is the Toys R'US truck, which obviously was an exclusive due to the branding of the set, an issue which is not the case with the Zombie set.

[Truckingyoda]

I would like to voice my love of the most humble of the Monster Fighters sets, The Swamp Creature. Yes the main draw of the set was the minifigs, but I was pleasantly suprised by the boat and the camp site parts as well. The figures are top notch, I'am having a hard time putting them down. They have a ton of character that draw you in and says "Play with me! Fight with me! Make goofy sounds with me!". Having a rather large collection I have not gotten that feeling in a long time. The build of the boat and camp site were also very nice. Sure there isnt much to them but you get two solid builds, the boat is very swooshable and the camp site gives a nice homey feeling. Both had a nice selection of parts in colors we dont see very often. If anything the set is a great parts pack for a reasonable price. I'am very excited to get my hands on some more of this set alone, as well as the rest of the line.

[Blondie-Wan]

About time to drop in on this thread again! I am really digging this theme, and hope to get all the sets. I do have a question concerning one recent post here:

I'm definitely thinking that this polybag is meant as a tie-in with the Haunted House, rather than the Monster Fighters. A ghost by itself, yes, but when it comes with that clock it feels like something you'd be able to put in the Haunted House, and you'd get an extra ghost for the house (assuming the set already comes with ghosts).

Er, wait - Haunted House? "Rather than" Monster Fighters? Is this Haunted House something outside the Monster Fighters theme, then? I must have missed something...

[Omicron Squad Leader]

About time to drop in on this thread again! I am really digging this theme, and hope to get all the sets. I do have a question concerning one recent post here:

Er, wait - Haunted House? "Rather than" Monster Fighters? Is this Haunted House something outside the Monster Fighters theme, then? I must have missed something...

It hasn't been confirmed as anything, yet. We have to wait for the press release.

[Blondie-Wan]

It hasn't been confirmed as anything, yet. We have to wait for the press release.

Ok, but I don't even know what sort of hypothetical thing we're talking about. Is this supposed thing just an alternate name for the Monster Fighters theme or one of the sets, or a rumored Creator house, or a rumored seasonal special item like the Winter Village sets, a rumored DUPLO set, or what?