MAB

^ Sex in the City. Probably. I'm male so don't watch stuff like that.

The warriors are not the same, but then neither are any of the new ones in S14. But if the zombies all count as the same idea / concept, then so should the ancient warriors. The fact that we may have a zombie businessman and a zombie pirate and a cheerleader zombie is no different to having a spartan warrior and a roman warrior and an egyptian warrior. The fact that we get more than one businessman zombie is also no different to getting more than one type of roman soldier. People that like a subject often like variation in that subject. People outside of it will just see yet another rehash, even though it is different.

I'd say a zombie cheerleader is a different concept to all the other zombies that have come in the past, and the cheerleaders that have come in the past. I'd put that on par with a Roman soldier following a Spartan. They are different but sort of the same idea - soldier from ancient times in different clothes / armour, zombie in different clothes. The werewolves are totally different too. The CMF one was a regular head with hairpiece, the MF one a molded head. This one appears to be a new molded head in a new colour. So that is similar to the Roman Soldier being followed by the Roman Commander. Very slightly different but essentially the same to someone that doesn't care about it, yet important for those who want that difference. I'm looking forward to the new werewolf head, it looks like a perfect match for Grandma Visitor / Red Riding Hood, better than the brown one. How many prospective buyers of these were collecting when Studios was out? How many were even born? I don't see that they are redundant, any more than another police station, another technic truck, another X-wing, another Luke Skywalker, all of which sell well for lego. People buy pocket money toys at halloween, these are likely to sell well. Lego doesn't care too much what has gone before, they care about what will sell now. I wonder if the same logic holds for other characters. Lego should never do a new Spartan or other Greek warrior, no more Romans (already has a rehash), no more Highlanders or knights (multiple rehashes), no more mythological creatues / gods (multiple counterparts already), no more Asian or African or Pacific warriors, no more female "Amazon" warriors from Greek history... all those concepts have been done. If lego sees the complaints and decides they should act* they won't change this set, it is coming no matter what. But maybe they will not do another themed set. A new ancient warriors CMF series (or pirates or castle or city or whatever takes your fancy)? No chance, the people don't want it. * I don't believe they will care too much what people say about it. If it sells, it is a success. That is all that matters to them. Personally, I would like to see many more rehashes (or counterparts) of other Greek warriors, Romans, Vikings, as well as Norman Conquerors and Saxon battlers. I'd like more mythology too. I'd even like a single themed CMF series ... It wouldn't worry me if the CMF series all became themed. Sure, sometimes I'd have to miss an entire theme due to lack of my interest in it rather than skipping probably 50%-75% of the minifigs in each series, but then I do that with other lego anyway. Sometimes I skip entire themes as they hold little interest for me. There are benefits and cons to having themed series. A big benefit for this one is that it is going to be out at the right time of year. Maybe past series haven't sold so well, and lego wants to try out having time sensitive themes like this to boost sales. It seems to work with the poly bags.

I'd agree with that. There are some really nice quality fakes / customs available now, but you can tell they are fake if you have them in hand if you know what the original looks like. Some designs, to me, are as good as the originals (just without the lego logo), but not identical to the originals. I have ... They target Marvel, but also DC, SW, LOTR/Hobbit, TMNT, CMFs, City, Ninjago, Chima, ...

You group all of the werewolves together as if they are the same minifigure. Same with the zombies. Now think of it from the point of view of someone that doesn't like historical CMFs. Spartan, Roman Soldier, Roman Commander, Hun, Egyptian Warrior. That's 5 "ancient warriors", just rehashes of each other. I like historical CMFs, so I can appreciate the differences, but to someone that doesn't they are just rehashes, like all the werewolves and zombies are just rehashes to you.

Yeah, I guess if a collector only wants one Riddler for example, they can choose a cheaper one of the two recent ones available. I wonder how many buy one, then decide they should probably get the alternative versions anyway.

The casual buyer is unlikely to pay $60 or whatever for a figure anyway, so the fact that they can buy one for probably $10 with a book won't change the price of the original.

It is normally down to supply and demand. In most cases, I don't think the price drop is due to counterfeits, it is more availability - eg. the same Joker has now appeared in a numebr of sets so his value is likely to drop. More modern alternatives don't necessarily affect the prices of older figures, if the older ones still have some demand because they are different. Although prices of yellow skin SW characters were hit, since most people want fleshie to tie in with modern ones. If you are happy owning a fake, then get the cheaper fake. If not, you will need to pay the higher asking price. For white Boba, I don't see the price of the old one dropping much with the new one coming out. They are so different, many collectors will still want them both. In fact, the new white one coming out may make some collectors want both, and could even push up the price a little.

And I don't understand why people don't like the series. The monsters look great, even better if you don't already have the S4 monster. If you don't like the series, then don't buy it. Same as anything else in life. If you are a completist that buys them only to make sure you have every one, then you have to buy them, or stop being a completist. After all, this is a numbered series and cannot be skipped like Simpsons or TLM or Team GB. But if that is your situation, then I'm willing to bet that you already have some figures that you don't really like, but got them anyway to be complete.

I have cut parts in the past (especially minifig parts), and have no problem doing it if a purist solution doesn't exist. I've used - Stanley knife (thin bladed craft knife), good for thin parts and either straight or curved cuts. Bench grinder, good for larger parts, where you want a flat surface. Dremel type sander with a small circular head, for smaller parts where you want a curved surface. Dremel cutter, good for cutting off excess, a few mm away from the final surface to be finished with sandpaper / grinder as above. Hot wire cutter (thin tensioned wire with an electrical current running through it to heat it) - very good for getting concave straight and angular holes / grooves. You can get perfect 90 degree cut outs, which is often difficult with other tools. If you want to cut a groove, I'd consider the hot wire.

It might also be that they cannot get the license for it and give that as a generic reason.

Yes, but as I said, I don't see them as rehashes. I like the fact that the pirate captain doesn't change much, he is the same character after being transformed into a zombie. If they changed the colour of his coat, or a completely different outfit, then that would not be possible. Same with the lumberjack, it's great that he is wearing the same shirt. He is the same person, just after transformation into a werewolf. For the same reason, I would have preferred the zombie cheerleader to be wearing the blue vest rather than the new one. The rock monster is a pretty clear rehash - essentially just another monster but with a guitar. Same for the witch, it is just another witch (even though new). To me, the transformation characters offer much more than the rehashes.

My worst ones ... S1 - diver - bearing in mind this series was out at the same time as Atlantis, and the CMF got the worst diving gear. S2 - none, all fine S3 - tennis girl and baseball player - I'm not a fan of ball sports figures, especially as they don't even get the ball. S4 - possibly soccer player, although not as bad as above S5 - fitness instructor, for me this is the worst CMF ever produced S6 - none S7 - none, but close with the bride. There should have been a groom in the same series. If done now, he'd just be a top hat guy. But they both go a bit too close to regular city figures. S8 - none S9 - roller derby girl, I never use it and not very interesting parts for me S10 - none, but close with the baseball player (see S3 above) S11 - lady robot, just stupid design to me S12 - none S13 - samurai, lady cyclops, galaxy trooper, all because they are too similar to previous ones S14 - too early to say until I see them in hand, but probably rock monster, although I'll still get a few of him for parts Lego Movie - most of them: I only liked Shakespeare, Mrs Scratchen-Post, barista and panda suit - all for parts Team GB - none Simpsons - none, although I would have preferred different characters first time around, the ones they did were fine. If they miss out key characters though (Barney, Moe, Skinner), it will seem a loss. So for me, the worst series by far is The Lego Movie.

It's not just inspired by Robin Hood, but Errol Flynn's Robin Hood. It's quite different to the old forest man.

The plain standard shields have also been available in the online PAB for many years.

Yet people keep buying... Prices cannot be that much of a problem.

It's strange, I just did the same. 1970-1979, I know of only two of them plus a third not so much because of the original but a cover. 1980-1990 I know eight (I don't know '88 and '89). 1990-1999 I know six - three of the better Disney ones (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, that my kids now like) plus three others (Evite, Titanic, Philadelphia). 2000 onwards, I know Skyfall, Let it Go (again, due to kids) and the Lord of the Rings one. 1980-1988 happens to align with my teenage years.

I think series 14 will be a good seller. It is themed pocket money toy and coming out at the right time of year for that theme. I think mixing it up, having half monsters then half regular CMF completely unrelated would have been a terrible idea. They couldn't market it as a halloween theme, as kids would be disappointed if they wanted halloween figures and got a fitness instructor. Maybe they decided to keep it going after the positive reception it got. Although as they were not official photos, and no doubt the parts have all been made already anyway it'll go ahead as planned whatever the reaction to the unofficial leaks. I don't see that many rehashes. I see transformations of the characters into monster forms, but not rehashes. Sure the witch, and the (rock) monster are rehashes, the zombie business man is probably a rehash too, but the zombie cheerleader, pirate, etc are not rehashes to me.

So Batgirl (and Cat Woman and Harley Quinn and Harleen Quinzel and Poison Ivy) is not enough for girls to get into Batman, whereas Tauriel (and Galadriel) is enough to get them into The Hobbit?

Plus customer service reps will often tell people what they want to hear, or make it sound like they say what people want to hear without actually saying it.

#10246 has reddish brown (BL name), that is as close as you're likely to get.

^^ / ^^^ Re the samurai, there is slight curvature on the hips but at least no cleavage on the print. So a male head looks OK on it. It would be better without the curves, although you could pretend it is just where the belt is tight round the middle.

I'm waiting for it to go on sale. They look desperate to get rid of it now.

Yeah, I use a heat gun on cool. I don't have a hair dryer, just DIY tools. :-)

Why is there nothing between poor and good? For the time, no doubt it was good. But it looks pretty mediocre compared to today's standards. Yes, I know it is heresy to say that about a classic set, but the bright colours ... I'd go for greys rather than those.