LEGO Minifigures licensed series

[Digger of Bricks]

37 minutes ago, Yorel said:

This would solve one of the big problems that licensed CMF series have, in that some (possibly a lot of) people won't be interest in the series as a whole, if they're not interest in that specific franchise/source.

This could only happen if those franchises all share the same IP owner, as singular CMSs within the Collectable Minifigure line are considered as a single product. For instance, Lego could perfectly be able to do a CMS with characters from Looney Tunes, Hanna Barbera, and DC Comics if Warner Brothers allows, but never will a CMS with WB Looney Tunes characters and Disney characters happen. You get the general idea.

[Digger of Bricks]

Here's @just2good's latest collaboration with @Ashnflash, for a CMS draft composed of prominent Lego YouTubers!

 

[Yorel]

13 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

This could only happen if those franchises all share the same IP owner, as singular CMSs within the Collectable Minifigure line are considered as a single product.

For the purpose of sales and production yes they probably are counted as a single product. But that doesn't necessarily mean that it can only have a single license or owner of said IP.

Obviously any such series would require new licensing agreements to be made, which would more then likely be for the use of only one or two characters and there would be conditions on how, when and where they're released, along with what other franchises and IPs can be used in the same series.

 

13 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

never will a CMS with WB Looney Tunes characters and Disney characters happen. You get the general idea.

Well yeah, that'll never happen, because you're talking about the flagship animated characters of one of the biggest entertainment media company's in the world appearing in a series with the flagship animated characters of THE BIGGEST entertainment media company's in the world. It would be like expecting Coca-Cola and Pepsi to both be totally fine with their product appearing next to each other.

But I'm not talking about massive characters (that could possibly carry a series by themselves) from massive studios/groups. I'm suggesting small, less popular/prominent IPs who's owners may be willing to allow they're use along side other IPs.

Like someone mentioned an Archie series. Is Archie really popular enough to carry a series? I mean are that many Lego fans Archie fans? Would Archie fans who normally have no interest in Lego, rush out to buy a series of Archie Lego minifigs? Probably not. They might, but for the sake of argument, lets say they won't. Now 'Archie Comic Publications, Inc.' may be willing to agree to a licensing deal for just Archie, Betty and Veronica and for them to appear in a series with other classic comic characters. Now granted, they may not be willing to do that. But there is a very real chance/possibility that they might.

 

And further more there are other pop culture/non-Lego IPs that could be made into a CMF series, with less licensing issues. Like i suggested, you could do a classic literature series with characters from books and stories like 'A Christmas Carol', 'Treasure Island', 'Moby-Dick', 'King Arthur' and 'Beowulf'. All of those books are now public domain, meaning Lego needs no licenses to make minifigs based on them.

Or a musician series. Yes, Lego would have to license the rights to each musicians appearance (except for classic musicians that have been dead for a century or more, like Mozart or Beethoven), but that will mostly just be dealing with the musician/their manager/their estate and they're use to making licensing agreements to use their music/appearance in things that will also contain other musicians songs/appearances. In fact, out side of the few musicians that guard their music and appearance, most's only concern will be "how much do I make out of this" Steve Kilbey of Australian band 'The Church' once said of their song 'Under the Milky Way' that "There is almost nothing, except for maybe a cigarette ad, I'd say no to 'Under the Milky Way' being used for". Probably the biggest issue standing in the way of a series based on musicians, would be egos and certain musicians refusing to license their appearance if some other musician is doing it as well.

 

 

[MAB]

7 hours ago, Yorel said:

But I'm not talking about massive characters (that could possibly carry a series by themselves) from massive studios/groups. I'm suggesting small, less popular/prominent IPs who's owners may be willing to allow they're use along side other IPs.

Like someone mentioned an Archie series. Is Archie really popular enough to carry a series? I mean are that many Lego fans Archie fans? Would Archie fans who normally have no interest in Lego, rush out to buy a series of Archie Lego minifigs? Probably not. They might, but for the sake of argument, lets say they won't. Now 'Archie Comic Publications, Inc.' may be willing to agree to a licensing deal for just Archie, Betty and Veronica and for them to appear in a series with other classic comic characters. Now granted, they may not be willing to do that. But there is a very real chance/possibility that they might.

3

So you are expecting them to tell a company that their IP is small and not very popular, but at the same time you'd like to use it alongside other companies' small and less popular IPs. I doubt that many companies would ever allow their IPs to appear alongside other rival companies' IPs - even less so in blind bagged sets where the buyer may not get their IP, even though it is advertised on the packet.

[Digger of Bricks]

8 hours ago, Yorel said:

Like i suggested, you could do a classic literature series with characters from books and stories like 'A Christmas Carol', 'Treasure Island', 'Moby-Dick', 'King Arthur' and 'Beowulf'. All of those books are now public domain, meaning Lego needs no licenses to make minifigs based on them.

And therefore, such a CMS wouldn't be a licensed series, meaning it can be a part of the ongoing unlicensed line we've had since 2010. For instance, I'd love to see yellow skin-toned incarnations of, say, Zorro and Captain Nemo from such a CMS. Sounds like a fun idea!  

Any particular literary characters you'd like to see yourself from such a series @Yorel? 

[Yorel]

1 hour ago, MAB said:

So you are expecting them to tell a company that their IP is small and not very popular, but at the same time you'd like to use it alongside other companies' small and less popular IPs.

No, I'm not expecting anything. The main question, the main point of discussion was "What licensed series would you want to see next?", which is exactly what I'm doing. I'm saying that I would like to see "licensed" series that are based on themes, rather then singular IPs.

But let's pretend that I am expecting Lego to drop to their knees and do what I say... and let's pretend that I don't have 100 other ideas that I'd rather see Lego do before covering my ideas for CMFs.

I wouldn't expect Lego to roll up to a company and be all like "Hey, that thing you own isn't very good, but we'd like to license it anyway, lol! Haha, but only part of it! Double lol!!1!". I would expect that they would approach said companies like they normally would. But instead of negotiating for a complete license, only negotiating for the rights to characters with the understanding that it will only be a limited selection of characters to be produced. Possibly even include in the contract, a clause so that if the minifigs prove extremely popular, the license can be expanded.

Which is kinda what I assume they would have done with Lego Dimensions.

 

1 hour ago, MAB said:

I doubt that many companies would ever allow their IPs to appear alongside other rival companies' IPs

And yet Archie Comics (I specifically used them as an example because of this) has crossed over with a bunch of other things, such as Twilight (Yes, the sparkly vampire books), Tiny Titans, KISS, Glee and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Oh and of course there was the Punisher crossover. All of those were different IPs. All of those required a licensing agreement to be reached between Archie Comics and the other IP holders. And in the case of three of them, said IPs were owned by other comic publishing companies, ie: competitors.

What it all comes down to is money and profit and a company may see the possibility of making money from such a license, be it though the licensing fees or just through brand exposure and possibly even the chance of expanding the license later.

Example: let's say Lego wanted to do a "Sci-Fi Icons" series that would feature classic Sci-fi Icons. And let's say that Lego decides they want to include a Classic Cylon from Battlestar Galactica and a Xenomorph from the Alien franchise in the series. So they approach the respective IP owners about licensing these characters for said series. The IP owners now have a choice. Agree on a fee, allow Lego the license and make money out of said license. Or don't.

 

1 hour ago, MAB said:

even less so in blind bagged sets where the buyer may not get their IP, even though it is advertised on the packet.

I doubt many companies would really actually care if a buyer got their IP or not, being as the company would have already made money from the license fee and may also make money off each individual sale.

 

20 minutes ago, Digger of Bricks said:

And therefore, such a CMS wouldn't be a licensed series, meaning it can be a part of the ongoing unlicensed line we've had since 2010. For instance, I'd love to see yellow skin-toned incarnations of, say, Zorro and Captain Nemo from such a CMS. Sounds like a fun idea!  

Any particular literary characters you'd like to see yourself from such a series @Yorel? 

Yes, technically they wouldn't be licensed series, as there would be no licenses needed. But they would fall under that banner as they wouldn't be either Lego original creations or Lego's "Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, this is totally this character, but not really... (No it really is)" minifigs. They'd be actual named characters, based on preexisting works, which is not the standard for current numbered CMF series.

 

As far as who I'd like to see in a literary based series thought? Well I think my suggestions (Ebenezer Scrooge, Capt. Ahab, Jim Hawkings and Long John Silver and Beowulf) are a nice selection, assuming we're talking "classic" literature and not including modern books in there as well. Maybe throw in a Queequeg to go with Ahab. A Morlock might be cool too. Maybe an Edgar Allan Poe with a stately raven of the saintly days of yore. Or a mariner with an Albatross to hang around his neck.

If we're including modern books, then definitely would like to see some Dune characters in there. Maybe the kids from Chronically of Nania. And as one of the more rarer minifigs in the series, a Wally. Or as you Americans call him, Waldo.

[MAB]

7 minutes ago, Yorel said:

I wouldn't expect Lego to roll up to a company and be all like "Hey, that thing you own isn't very good, but we'd like to license it anyway, lol! Haha, but only part of it! Double lol!!1!". I would expect that they would approach said companies like they normally would. But instead of negotiating for a complete license, only negotiating for the rights to characters with the understanding that it will only be a limited selection of characters to be produced. Possibly even include in the contract, a clause so that if the minifigs prove extremely popular, the license can be expanded.
 

 

They would still have to negotiate multiple licenses for a single CMF series that will be sold for about three to six months. Whereas currently, it is a single license per series (so less than that, if the CMF series are negotiated at the same time as the general retail set licenses). I cannot see any licensed CMF series going outside of the normal retail set offerings, as the CMFs help sell the sets. Simpsons had retail sets, Disney had retail sets, The Lego Movie, Ninjago Movie, Batman Movie, Harry Potter, etc all the same. They have only gone outside of this for highly limited series - Team GB and the DFB series.

I think any licensed series will follow that. I cannot see why they would go to the time / expense of picking up a new license (or worse, multiple licenses) just for a CMF series.

I imagine they are also saturated with ideas for some time with their planned CMF and retail set tie-ins. Doctor Who would have been an obvious choice for another CMF series, with so many Doctors and companions, let alone enemies, and licensing was already in place for the ideas set and Dimensions. The groundwork was also done, as there has already been a similar line from Character Building, which appears to have sold reasonably well and there were no issues with specific actors. I cannot believe it wouldn't have been popular so I assume it was down to internal / shelf-space competition issues rather than anything else.

2 hours ago, Digger of Bricks said:

And therefore, such a CMS wouldn't be a licensed series, meaning it can be a part of the ongoing unlicensed line we've had since 2010. For instance, I'd love to see yellow skin-toned incarnations of, say, Zorro and Captain Nemo from such a CMS. Sounds like a fun idea!  

 

Even though I prefer fleshies, I would also hope anything like that would be a non-licensed (yellowskins) series. Just like the Swashbuckler was essentially a Douglas Fairbanks / Errol Flynn type character and the Detective was essentially Sherlock Holmes, I would imagine Zorro could be done in a very similar way, so no to Zorro but yes to the Swordsman. No to Captain Nemo but yes to the Submarine Captain, no to Long John Silver but yes to the Castaway, etc. They are all generic enough that they don't need to be accurate to any particular movie (which can cause licensing problems even if the character is public domain).

 

 

 

[Digger of Bricks]

Check out @Ashnflash's latest custom CMS, based upon Batman: The Animated Series! 

Spoiler

 

 

On 5/15/2018 at 8:21 AM, Yorel said:

As far as who I'd like to see in a literary based series thought? Well I think my suggestions (Ebenezer Scrooge, Capt. Ahab, Jim Hawkings and Long John Silver and Beowulf) are a nice selection, assuming we're talking "classic" literature and not including modern books in there as well. 

By modern literature, do you mean anything published during the twentieth century and upwards to now?

On 5/15/2018 at 8:43 AM, MAB said:

Even though I prefer fleshies, I would also hope anything like that would be a non-licensed (yellowskins) series. Just like the Swashbuckler was essentially a Douglas Fairbanks / Errol Flynn type character and the Detective was essentially Sherlock Holmes, I would imagine Zorro could be done in a very similar way, so no to Zorro but yes to the Swordsman. No to Captain Nemo but yes to the Submarine Captain, no to Long John Silver but yes to the Castaway, etc. They are all generic enough that they don't need to be accurate to any particular movie (which can cause licensing problems even if the character is public domain).

Sure, that's the beauty of the traditional Collectable Minifigure line, as it's composed of archetypes rather than specific, named characters. 

[SpiderJazz]

I remember watching TAS back then, love those figs. TLG could hire @Ashnflash with his talent. ONE MAN CAN HOPE. Love all of his work especially the Marvel ones, imagine they could do a Bricktober pack. Hopefully CMF is not impossible for them. 

[MAB]

2 hours ago, SpiderJazz said:

I remember watching TAS back then, love those figs. TLG could hire @Ashnflash with his talent. ONE MAN CAN HOPE. Love all of his work especially the Marvel ones, imagine they could do a Bricktober pack. Hopefully CMF is not impossible for them. 

The already have Alexandre Boudon. I don't think lack of design talent is a problem.

[Ashnflash]

On 19/05/2018 at 12:01 AM, SpiderJazz said:

I remember watching TAS back then, love those figs. TLG could hire @Ashnflash with his talent. ONE MAN CAN HOPE. Love all of his work especially the Marvel ones, imagine they could do a Bricktober pack. Hopefully CMF is not impossible for them. 

Thanks so much! Means a lot! 

[Robert8]

Well, the YouTubers CMFs idea is kind of odd. But the visuals are stunning as always 

 

The Batman ones look spectacular. My favs are Phantasm and Scarecrow. Hope Phantasm has an alternate "unmasked" face

Killer Croc's rock is a classic 

[Digger of Bricks]

Here's yet another collaborative CMF draft by @just2good with renders by @Ashnflash! 

 

[Digger of Bricks]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:39 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Here's yet another collaborative CMF draft by @just2good with renders by @Ashnflash! 

And yet another new collaboration! 

 

[deadRahi]

I agree that they should make (separate) CMF lines for both DC and Marvel. Keeping my fingers crossed for Dr. Fate.

Not only should they revive the Disney CMF line, they should make a Warner Bros./Time Warner CMF line, (Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, various films and TV shows).

[Robert8]

I added a poll to the thread 

Which one is the best licensed CMF so far? 

 

 

IMO, it's the Harry Potter series 

[Digger of Bricks]

Just now, Robert8 said:

Which one is the best licensed CMF so far? 

For me, it's Disney, as it encompasses more than just a singular movie, TV show, or franchise, therefore having a potentially longer lifespan than the others could ever have.

Speaking of Disney, you've probably seen @Ashnflash's latest custom CMS... 

 

[rob-ot5000]

On ‎5‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:07 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Check out @Ashnflash's latest custom CMS, based upon Batman: The Animated Series! 

  Hide contents

 

 

By modern literature, do you mean anything published during the twentieth century and upwards to now?

Sure, that's the beauty of the traditional Collectable Minifigure line, as it's composed of archetypes rather than specific, named characters. 

 

Way late to the party, and not what I came here for at all, but I saw this and I had to say:  "I hit him with a rock!"

Brilliant!

[Robert8]

For me, the best licensed series has to be the Harry Potter line. The molds and prints in the Simpsons and Disney were way too specific (as they should be, of course) and therefore only useful for Simpsons and Disney stuff. No animal moulds were introduced.

The Batman ones were also pretty specific but they had some good stuff like the dolphin or the black mermaid tail. I think the second series was a waste of a CMF line as a whole.

The Harry Potter line is orders of magnitude superior just for the medium legs alone but it also has new animals, new hairpieces like Trelawney's and new cool pieces like the megaphone

[Digger of Bricks]

Yes, I know, every time @just2good and @Ashnflash do a collaborative CMF Draft, I share it here... 

...so, here's another one, this time based upon Cartoon Network:

 

[Digger of Bricks]

On 6/1/2018 at 9:39 PM, Digger of Bricks said:

Here's yet another collaborative CMF draft by @just2good with renders by @Ashnflash! 

 

Once again, these two have just followed up their initial Fortnite CMF draft with a second series:

 

[Anonknee Muss]

I’d rather post the following here rather than create a new thread, I hope the majority agrees.

https://brickset.com/article/38648/which-actor-has-the-most-minifigures

Quite an interesting read, nice to see an update list since the last one was posted in 2016. They’ve even separated voice actors versus physical actors out!

[Digger of Bricks]

So @just2good and @Ashnflash have just cooked up a Stranger Things CMF draft for Halloween... 

 

[Ninjaguy99]

One idea: Meta Runner.

1. Tari (tank top)

2. Tari (jacket)

3. Theo

4. Lamar

5. Sofia

6. Masa

7. Belle

8. Lucks

9. Tari (Battle Blaze)

10. Masa (Battle Blaze)

11. Theo (Battle Blaze)

12. Tari (Tempest)

13. Belle (Tempest)

14. Masa (Tempest)

15. Lamar (Tempest)

16. Theo (Tempest)

17. Sofia (Tempest)

18. Lucinia

19. Dr. Sheridan

20. Tascorp Scientist

 

[spiderfan2000]

Technically only half licensed, but one idea I've thought of is a 20 figure CMF series encompassing all four of the LEGO Movies, with 5 from each.

The LEGO Movie:

1. Wyldstyle (Robot Disguise)

2. Michelangelo the Artist

3. Wild Will 

4. Odd Ollie

5. Robo Demolitionist 

The LEGO Batman Movie:

6. El Murcurielago Batman

7. Barbara Gordon (Purple Dress)

8. Samurai (with Gleek)

9. Agent Smith

10. Gremlin

The LEGO Ninjago Movie:

11. Fuchsia Ninja 

12. Shark Army General Number 1 (Burned)

13. Shark Army Hammerhead (Burned)

14. Shark Army Narwhal 

15. GPL Tech Terri

The LEGO Movie 2:

16. Holiday Party Emmet

17. Aquaman (Movie)

18. Alfred Pennyworth (Apocalypseburg)

19. Velma Dinkley (Apocalypseburg)

20. Larry Poppins