MAB

There is a big difference between a misprint and a bad print. I have had some misprints that just looked awful, but some which were cool. I had the same problem with the same manual. I also got told that they would send a replacement and it never came.

Lego are now telling people in Europe to use ebay and amazon ... as the series is not performing well enough.

^^ If selling at retail price, don't bother with the exception of Unexpected Gathering. If 50% off, they are all worth a punt.

They aren't Duplo elephants, they are from Orient Expedition.

It probably came in green to make it easier to spot among all the orange in that set. Then they had so many they included the green one in PC.

The simple answer is you cannot. You'll damage the original surface if you try to clean them. Unless it is just finger prints, which can be removed with a soft cloth.

That is two out of sixteen (and both ones that would be top of my list), the other 14 are a little harder to fill (i) without repeating earlier CMF series, or MF, or Scooby Doo, or (ii) losing the appeal to new buyers. For some, this will be the first line, for others they will have all the previous CMF monsters and MF. If it was just sidekicks to previous CMFs, people would be complaining that they cannot get the originals and there is no point buying these ones. The same could be said the other way around about why people don't like a series. There are always some people that feel they don't have a use for the whole figures or their parts or their accessories. There is not a single series where I have not liked any of the whole figures, much less a series where I have not liked any of the parts. These figures keep on selling, so people obviously enjoy them. They sell well in retail stores, they sell well on ebay. They sell well on bricklink - CMF are in the top ten grossing sets on bricklink sharing space with 5 UCS SW and 4 modulars. I expect the same will be true for this series. I get you don't like them - move on, and find something you do like, there are plenty of other lego sets available. Indeed, what does van Helsing look like? Hugh Jackman style coat and hat or a more classic Christopher Lee man in a smart suit. Renfield - man in rags or white shirt and braces? These are not really recognisable characters like the monsters. It is marketed as Monsters, but it is fairly clear why they are doing it at this time of year. I've noted it already here and others probably have too that if they call it Halloween, then they immediately place a sell-by date on it. Retail stores will feel it necessary to discount once end of October comes. If some locations don't get these until the start of October, that gives the series a month on the shelves. Better to brand it as Monsters and the need to discount unsold Halloween stock goes away and the series can stand next to Scooby Doo on the shelves. I actually think the made up ones are some of the best in the series. The zombie business man and cheerleader and the werewolf are great at looking back at earlier series for those that collected them, at the same time as giving something new (same for pirate, but I prefer the other two zombies). Some might say it is the third zombie business man (including the brown-suited MF pack). For me, that is good variation for a zombie hoard, where you need a number. That's much better than yet another vampire, for example. I love the plant guy, I find him quite innovative. And replacing the head with a plain red or dark pink will turn it from costume to monster easily enough. The tiger woman is superb, and likely to appeal to many given the popularity of animal suit figures.

Once the series is no longer available, there is probably not much point keeping it going. It was a sales campaign, not a collector resource.

I don't think that I can think of 16 "serious" monsters / classic horror that are well known enough for a CMF series, that haven't already been done in previous CMF series. Unless you go licensed modern horror, but that's not exactly kid friendly.

I quite like the simplicity of the bigfoot, my only complaint is the orange hands. But I'll be swapping those out to match the rest of his body anyway. Especially if bright light orange, I need some of those for my monochromes.

I'm not too bothered by the female distribution in this series. There are enough ambiguous ones such as the plant, gargoyle, spectre, big foot, etc that the lack of lipstick and curves on them doesn't mean they have to be male. If a little girl wants her (Venus) fly trap to be a female, then that's fine. I'd much prefer an ambiguous big foot (even if they state male in a description) to an obviously female one with lipstick on.

I imagine they'd do something like a Frodo and Sam pack before Boromir and Faramir. Thinking from a players perspective, Boromir dies early and Faramir fails so bad his dad wants to kill him. It's not exactly upbeat about being successful in the game.

Either transparent parts, or the cord / string and hang them if you can attach it with a plate to the birds.

Nice build, but maybe pour a load of 1x1 round transparent blue tiles into the river to break up the uniformity and the water will look much better.

They do produce enough to meet demand. It is just that customers decide which ones should be removed from circulation to decrease the supply at retail price.

There are alternative routes for those - they don't necessarily get sold with newspapers. Presumably backhanders to store staff for a box, or delivery vans that lose a few. You often see whole boxes for sale in their sealed box on ebay.

You'll find that they offer the newer version instead of the older version in many sets that came out before the newer one even existed. They see it as having the same function, so offer it as a replacement part. It's a pain, isn't it!

You say The Simpsons is past its prime. And Angry Birds is unpopular. So what is LOTR? It may be popular here, but look at the toys, books, t shirts, bags, etc aimed at kids with The Simpsons and Angry Birds available in stores now. Those two brands are way bigger than LOTR. LOTR has its fans like everything does, but the fan base tends not to change so much and any fans into LOTR and Lego would have presumably bought into it already. Yet clearly the number if people buying in is not enough. Angry Birds has got a film coming out. It may be old hat to older people, but it will be huge amongst kids.

And that is why lego would need to slap lipstick on it, to make sure the point that she is female is well and truly made. It used to be that the Minotaur was a specific character, the half-bull of Minos. Yet reasonably modern fiction has turned it into a minotaur, any half-man half-bull (or maybe half-woman half-cow). Same with Medusa, she was a specific character but now seems to represent any snake woman / snake-haired woman. Who knows, in 1000 years time maybe a kardashian will be anyone with a large bum and an elsa will be any mythical creature that can create ice.

^ I imagine far less people buy Orthanc to part out the minifigs than Black Gate for three reasons. 1) price, 2) you don't need two Orthancs to build a more reasonable and 3) exclusives tend not to get discounted (so less likely to be bought for parting out).

The lipstick would give it away.

I reckon this one will be available for some time, given it is a licensed set. It will be interesting to see if it is available in stores other than Lego (like BTTF and Ghostbusters). If so, expect sales and long availability.

And there is also a LOTR thread already too.

I think it looks terrible. For the weathered look I prefer texture rather than slightly different colours.

They have missed a trick here. It should have been a historical zombie skater.