pawcanada

I agree one hundred percent with this. The golden weapons are among my favourite aspects of the spinner and booster pack sets. I always like to display the figs holding them even if they have an odd design (i.e. what Jay ZX and Zane ZX came with). Sadly I feel the same way about Lloyd's, and it's made worse by the fact it has two green blades. I've never liked it when a golden weapon has a non-golden piece, i.e. Kendo Zane's spiked hammer (I know it's an easy fix now the golden lightsaber handle has been released but that's beside the point) as it contradicts the very name of it (i.e. golden weapon). Plus to me a double bladed spear thing does fit; I personally associate spears with Jay, especially after seeing the beautiful one he got in his NRG form. How about an axe (I saw a great one on eBay that I may give to ZX or "Kimono" as that lacks weapons) or a trident? Again, I realise I can easily swap out disappointing golden weapons but that's not the point in my eyes. Again, I agree one hundred percent. While I may dislike his "weapon of choice" (how I view the golden weapons anyway), this has been the one figure I have been anticipating more than any and seeing this review makes me want it even more. I agree with others who say it's a shame he doesn't come with a hair piece and/or short green legs for child Lloyd (though I appreciate it is easyish to buy similar parts that may not purely match). I just wish (as others have said) we got a green ninja version of the first three (normal/early 2011, DX and Kendo) looks. Tangent aside, great job on the review. I've wanted to see multiple pictures of Lloyd ZX for ages and this does an amazing job :)

Seeing as how everyone in these sets and the original Beach one tie back to the various Mini Figure waves, I'm wondering if the Ghost is from a future wave? It could be more to do with Monster Fighters than CMF but seeing as how the Vampire Bat was included in Wave 8 (no doubt to make use of the moulds), perhaps the same will happen with the Ghost? So long as it's in a different colour/has some interesting accessories I personally wouldn't mind having a "CMF dupe" one.

Have to say, I am liking these sets and I look forward to seeing more of them (especially ones with the "warrior" characters). Will definitely get the monster set. The band one looks good, but I agree with others who feel the guitar doesn't look as good being brick made. Any idea when these are likely to be made available?

Wow... I have to say that the "Kimono" or "Ninja Robe" figures look amazing and I do like the "lightsaber" esk "elemental weapons". I really hope the Kimono figures do get released for the other four as well as Lloyd as I think they've replaced ZX as my new favourite design. Is it too much to hope that the Lloyd one will get re-released in a set/spinner in the future? I'd rather not buy that book unless I have to as it seems to be a lot to spend for just a fig and if it goes for anything less than $30 on eBay I'd be surprised (not wanting to be sound like a sour puss but I am only interested in the figs and not the whole sets, spinners or anything else).

Nice blog, but I have to say I completely disagree with your opinion on Pirate, “Vampire”, Conquistador, Evil Robot, Female Alien as all of them fall under the three categories I focus on (Warrior, Mystical/Legendary/Monster and Sci Fi). As I'm not interested in getting the Vampyre Castle (to expensive for my tastes), the fact a black manbat is part of the CMF range is PERFECT for me. But then that's what I like about the CMF; just because I'm not after City/Realistic figures doesn't mean someone else won't want them to compliment sets they have, and as I'm not willing to shell out large quantities of money for loose Monster Fighters (as BRILLIANT as they may be), the fact there is a nice degree of crossover between CMF and MF means I can get similar characters for a more wallet friendly price. However, while I am happy to get a Pirate Captain, I do agree he's not as good as he could have been and in no way tops Brickbeard. And so I'm purely negative/come across like a douche, I do agree that the Fairy and Deep Sea Diver look brilliant and I'm also quite interested in the Skier as well (as I have been collecting the other Winter Sports characters as well).

As a huge fan of the old DnA Nova series I am REALLY pleased to see Nova is going to be made next year and after the work Geoff Johns has done on Aquaman since Brightest Day, I'm also keen to get Aquaman so I will try and aim to get both loose. The rest are all meh to me. I'm not a big Batman fan so I'm pretty disappointed that so far, 90% of the DC characters I want are either con exclusives (Green Lantern, Bizzaro) while the rest have yet to be made/only appeared so far in Lego Batman 2 (Martial Manhunter, the Flash, Sinestro and Zod). I'm not as big a Spidey fan as I was when I was a kid and if it's just going to be Ultimate Spidey, my hopes of seeing my all time favourite costumes (2099, Ben Reilly Scarlet Spider and Kane Scarlet Spider) are unlikely.

See I personally disagree about Ice > Water and Thunder > Air. Please don't take this the wrong way but such an opinion is what I mean by "lazy writing", i.e. people not researching the potential of the element and therefore, due to them not realising how strong it can be they go for an "easier" element. For example, as mentioned Water is my favourite of the Classical/Greek elements. When highly pressurised it can either push someone back or cut like a blade, you can trap someone in a sphere of water and a tidal wave can crush and destroy. Instead they went for the easier option of using Ice. But I respect my opinion comes from me supporting what I consider to be "under dog" elements in fiction. I understand not everyone feels the same way about this trope and generally don't mind it as much as I do. "Your mileage may vary" as the saying goes.

I've been thinking that myself, but for some reason I always pictured him as Wood (which is one of the five Chinese Elements). Personally I hate the "Fire, Ice, lightning" trope (please Google as I can't make a link). I LOVE elements in fiction but hate it when they, IMO, are unoriginal and always use Fire, Ice and Lightning without considering the others (Water, my personal favourite is just as destructive IMO but people seem to be unable to see that and often use Ice as a replacement). I could rant for hours on this but in a nut shell, if there's one thing I dislike about Ninjago is the restriction on the elements. Because of this restriction, they can't revive the Grey Ninja design (which I would love to see, especially as a ZX ninja) and make him the Ninja of Metal (another Chinese Element and another personal favourite of mine) or perhaps Wind. However I agree with what your saying, I just wish they could have shown some originality on the elements. But I appreciate I may be in the minority with my preferred tastes.

The video was made by Chad Roco, aka CR. He's both an artist on DeviantART and a Web Critic on That Guy With the Glasses. I happen to be a fan of him as both an artist and a critic (his main video series, Familiar Faces, is about lesser known side characters from TV shows, films, comics etc. and is quite fascinating). I should mention his style is similar to other such web critics like That Guy With The Glasses/The Nostalgia Critic, The Spoony One and Linkara (i.e. cut away gags, in jokes, parodies etc.) so the humour may not appeal to everyone if you're familiar with the work of such people. I do agree with what he says about Ninjago in sense of it being a spin top game and costing perhaps a bit too much (though I am more interested in the figures than I am the game).