AmperZand

Although not as direct a lift as Thor and Loki are from Norse mythology to the Marvel Universe, the DC Universe already has heroes inspired by Greek legend. Wonder Woman - an Amazon princess - and Aquaman - an Atlantean prince/king - are the most prominent examples and LEGO has done both. In the Marvel Universe, Hercules/Heracles already exists though not done by LEGO. All this is to say that because of its thematic similarity to existing IP (either done by LEGO or not) and possible conflicts with licences LEGO already has to do Marvel and DC, LEGO may be reluctant to do a Greek mythology superhero line.

All the suggestions above are possible, indeed probable. Another possibility, albeit somewhat remote, is that the minifigures were stolen from the factory where they were manufactured then sold in bulk to resellers in other countries. The theft could have been an inside job but not necessarily by a LEGO employee; a contractor is entirely possible. I once ordered one of the LEGO big cats from a seller in Taiwan. When it arrived, it was the wrong big cat. It was genuine LEGO but a part that had not been released yet anywhere in the world. There is no legitimate way the seller could have obtained that with LEGO’s approval that it be re-sold. No way.

The overall design, shape of the walls and texturing are all excellent. With the surrounding buildings, the ensemble is brilliant. I have an issue with fleshies and would have preferred yellow minifigures, but I realise not everyone agrees with me about that. @jtooker I think you mean ‘moat’, not ‘mote’. A ‘mote’ is a speck of dust.

Maybe it’s the grumpy old man in me speaking, but over the last few decades, I have noticed a lowering of standards in many products, services and people in the west, not just LEGO’s quality. From clothes from supposedly reputable brands that fall apart in no time to university-educated colleagues who can’t express themselves in writing and make errors of formal logic. The worst thing is that so few people seem to care about declining standards. Most consumers don’t seem to care, so LEGO doesn’t either. It’s my impression that only a few connoisseurs - AFOLs in the case of LEGO - give a damn. Maybe it’s just me, but it really does seem that way.

Great design, texturing and detailing - and yellow minifigures to boot!

@CMI, What is the quality like? I have some Koruit LotR pieces. Some of them are OK quality, though not brilliant, and some are really not that good.

I get Blocks every month and sometimes pick up the Ninjago, Jurassic World, DC or other themed magazines for their foil-packed minifigure/set (see @TeriXeri’s post immediately above). I used to get Brick Fanatics as well but that has been discontinued. I have all but one of the issues of BF.

The moment images of the patronus were first seen, I thought 'I need one of those in a natural colour as Thranduil's mount.' I think I may have mentioned it at some point here on the EB boards. My yellowised Thranduil waits impatiently for his stag steed:

6940?

Ooooh! Talk about resurrecting old threads All of the minifigures pictured above remain part of my display collection, though some have been updated with newer parts. I don't have pictures of the updates. @Wardancer, Very, very belated thanks for your kind words . @Engineering Mom, Welcome to Eurobricks and thanks for your appreciation of my European-style monk . Its habit is a Plague Doctor Coat by BrickWarriors. In the picture, the vestment's colour doesn't match that of LEGO's hood, arms, legs and staff, but that is just a trick of the light. In reality, BrickWarriors' reddish-brown matches LEGO's (or is within LEGO's colour tolerances for that shade). The 'coat' and hood are not compatible as sold: the lower part of the hood at the front wants to occupy the same space as the top of the 'coat'. To make them fit, I had to do some serious modding of the back of the minifigure's head, allowing it and the hood to sit slightly forward of their normal position. I do not like having to do that kind of work; it feels like a different hobby. Also, note that I use the 'coat' back-to-front and removed the buttons on what was originally its front. The pouch remains (back left). I don't have a picture of it from that angle. BrickWarriors now also sometimes shows the 'coat' reversed (see picture below) but I was there first!

I realise that you were asking about response times to e-mails, not B&P processing, but for what it's worth, my B&P orders have been taking a month to pick and pack excluding delivery time which itself is unusually slow. An order I placed 20 July shipped yesterday, 19 August, and will take about two weeks to reach me. I'm in the UK.

Yes! {Embarrassing old man dance around the room} {End dance}

Cool! Thanks for the 'heads up' .

It's not from the HP Patronum set (75945). The stag in that set is a different colour and has no print. It could be a leaked part using the same mould though. Since the patronus' release, there has been speculation that LEGO would use its mould to produce reindeer in natural colours to draw Santa's sleigh. It could also be a bootleg; certainly wouldn't be the first time that a part hard been produced illicitly in a different colour using a genuine LEGO piece.

Thanks for the ‘heads up’ about promobricks . Its detailed pictures including the backs of the minifigures are indeed useful. Looks like it will be reviewing the minifigures in batches of four at a time. Hopefully, this series will be available near me. Series 20 wasn’t when normally CMFs are sold at lots of local stores. One of them, WHS, has told me that it will not be selling CMFs anymore because too many were being stolen. It’s disappointing that honest collectors are being penalised for the malfeasance of others. I may have to buy the latest HP minifigures on the secondary market with all the additional costs that entails .

I’m already using one as an orc in my display collection! I reckon that Ninjago’s designers intended for this minifigure to be thought of as an orc. If you want its eyes to match the Fantasy Era ‘trolls’ (orcs) shown earlier in this thread, you can recolour them using a red Sharpie. I haven’t tried it, but have used Sharpies to recolour parts before and it works well. If you subsequently want to remove the Sharpie, isopropyl alcohol or sanitiser gel containing alcohol will do it. To make the Sharpie permanent, give it a light coating of Humbrol Satin Cote.

For those who haven’t seen the leaked images of the HP CMFs S2, this is a link to the sheet for them care of AFOLs in Romania where the CMFs are already being sold: link to Brickset page showing them. I’m not into HP, but the red wizard, phoenix and sword are cool.

It’s a common misconception that the discolouration is caused by bromine additives to the ABS. But that’s just not true. Pure ABS will degrade. UV and/or heat will accelerate the process, especially UV. See here for an article on the subject. Per the video linked to by @jonwil above (very cool video by the way - if you’re a nerd like me!), artificial UV light will do instead of sunlight. I haven’t tried it with artificial lights; in the summer months, there is enough sunlight where I live. In addition to H2O2, I highly recommend adding Oxy Action Crystal White. It hugely reduces the time required. I de-yellowed some Classic Space parts from a 1981 set (6927) in 2014. The assembled set has been stored at room temperature in the dark since then with no sign of re-yellowing. Also, there is no evidence that the parts are any more brittle than if I had left them untreated. None of the de-yellowed pieces have cracked. Then again, the set has remained assembled since 2014, so the lack of cracking may just be due to the parts not being stressed through dis-/re-assembly.

The shrine, including the steps and torii, is brilliant. I’ve been to lots of temples and shrines in Japan and you have really captured their essence masterfully. Well done!

You have gone from being a yellowist to a fleshite? Excuse me one moment while I burst into tears

Great scene. Full of character. The texturing of the walls is brilliantly done. Excellent creation. I only have two pieces of 'constructive criticism'. First, the minifigure should be yellow, not fleshy (I have to say that: I'm a diehard yellowist). And second, it should be Legonardo da Vinci!

Thanks for the HP flame recolour tip-off. I was not aware that that part was being done in trans clear (or glitter). The MK demons are called Jin and Yin respectively, at least in Mandarin. Their names are printed on their torsos. I think that in English, they will be known as Gold and Silver, the meaning of their names. The forthcoming Spider Queen from MK looks pretty cool, too.

Excellent creation! Great sculpturing, texturing and detailing - with a dash of humour. All the drama of Shakespeare encapsulated in the quote: ‘Cry Havoc! And let slip the dogs of war.’

You're right! It seems to be an assembly error in which the arms were put the wrong way around. Thanks for your help

I have the following minifigure: Obviously, it's Princess Princess Iron Fan. But it's not the same as the one from the two sets in which she is known to be, 80010 Demon Bull King and 80016 Flaming Foundry, where she looks as shown below. Note the different torso prints. Also, and this could just be due to printing tolerances, her dress print is slightly lower in the minifigure above. The mystery minifigure (top) is LEGO, not some bootleg. I got it as a gift from LEGO. How come it has an alternative torso print? Is it from an as-yet unannounced set or with-magazine foil pack?