Phyre

And that Ocean King also on the cover looks very similar to the S7 Ocean King. Not that that necessarily means anything one way or another for the diver, but still interesting... I really hope it is an old-style diver. As for the rumor on the vampire, if true, that will make me very happy. I'd love more manbats, especially if they're in black. And the rumor on the football player also makes me happy. This series is continuing to grow on me (but still no pictures!).

We knew about the Haunted House for months before the official announcement. Same for R2-D2. So I wouldn't rule out a D2C set, especially since this will be a single set. Retail sets nearly always come out in groups of at the very least two or three. If it's one final set for Kingdoms, then I'd be pretty confident it will be D2C.

My thoughts exactly. Just look at Dr.Cogg's list of monsters above, there's plenty of monsters for not just one but several more waves if LEGO chooses to do more (even without reusing previous monster characters). I would love to see one or two more waves, even if they're smaller. We need more zombies at the very least!

I highly doubt we'll see a Dragon King, in CMF or in another set, because we basically already know the Evil Wizard is the ruler of the Dragon Knights. As for this possible new set, I would imagine it will be a large, possibly D2C set. Probably something with peasants, or maybe even a Dragon Knight Castle. Or something completely unexpected like a set with more Falcon Knights.

There's so many cool figures that have been done, I have to name a couple from each series. My interests are mainly castle/pirates/historical but I'm also a fan of the horror subtheme. So here goes. S1 - Zombie (amazing figure... wish I had gotten more than three back when they were out rather than trying to find them for less than $20 now). Other figures that I really loved were the Clown, Caveman, and Forestman. S2 - Spartan (like the zombie, a truly amazing figure). My other favorite was the Pharaoh. The Witch and Vampire were pretty nice too. S3 - Elf (another amazing and highly anticipated figure). The rest of the series wasn't that good, although I did like the Mummy. S4 - Musketeer and Werewolf. The whole series was fantastic, and my other favorites include the Punk Rocker, Hazmat Guy, Monster, and Mad Scientist. S5 - Evil Dwarf was definitely my favorite, although I also really liked the Cave Woman, Gladiator, and Lumberjack. Another all around great series. S6 - Minotaur. The Roman wasn't originally on the top of my list but it has since grown on me and I'd really like to acquire more than the three I have. As a believer in extraterrestrial life, I also found the Grey Alien to be very enjoyable. The Butcher, Celtic, Genie, Leprechaun, and Surgeon are also some of my favorites. S7 - Evil Knight. The "Grandma Visitor" and Aztec Warrior are also pretty cool. I'm not sure if I have a favorite overall, but my top three are definitely Zombie, Spartan, and Elf.

You seem to have very similar interests as me, but in my opinion S8 looks pretty strong. The Fairy will undoubtedly be the highlight, but there is also the Conquistador and Ancient Thespsis that may have army building potential as well. And I am 99% certain the Vampire will at least not look anything like the S2 one, because the Monster Fighters vampire already looks very similar to it. So that may be an army building possibility as well. For me, S7 was a little bit of a letdown. The Evil Knight is cool, but could have used a different helmet, and even if it had it still wouldn't have been nearly as awesome as the Elf or Spartan. Other than that there was the Grandma Visitor, which is useful for parts (mostly the hood), but not really an army builder fig. And same for the Ocean King unless you want a lot of mermaids (which I don't really have much use for). So in my opinion, at least from what we currently know, I think S8 will be better than S7 (but still not as great as S4, S5, and S6, which were my favorites overall).

The fantasy figures are generally my favorite as well, but I know my expectations were unreasonably high from looking at Toth's designs. I'm excited to see what the fairy will look like and hoping the vampire will be something unique. Plus the conquistador and ancient thespis should be great. For me, this series looks to be right on par with the previous ones as far as the amount of figures that I will be able to use in my LEGO world. If the series had all the fantasy/castle figures that I wanted, then I'd be going broke trying to collect the multiples of them that I would want. I think it's good to only have a couple fantasy figures in each series. It keeps us excited for future fantasy ideas and doesn't cause us to deplete our funds too much.

And I'm sure no one would complain if they released repeats of the Zombie or Spartan. The repeats don't bother me, even if they're usually figures I don't have particular use for. Usually there are only a few figures in each series I can really make use of anyway. The rest are just fun to put on display and admire from time to time, so as long as the repeats look cool, I don't mind them at all. And the cheerleader and skier were in the first two series, so a lot of people missed out on them the first time, plus the originals were both popular figures.

That would be fantastic! But anyway, back on topic, I've been browsing this topic since the names were posted, and I figured I should post my thoughts on it. Honestly, I can't understand why so many people are having such strong dislike for the series. Admitedly, I was a little disappointed at first, but then I realized how high my expectations were (mostly from looking at Toth's designs and unrealistically thinking we'd get 10 castle/fantasy type figures in this series). But after I thought about it a bit, based on the list this series seems right on par with some of the recent series. As for the people who say this is the worst series yet, first of all, we don't even have pictures yet except for the pirate, so you can't really judge it yet. In addition to that, in my opinion I don't think any series will be as bad as series 3 (only one great figure, with a couple halfway decent ones). Those of you who are complaining that it's 50% city figures, I did a quick check of previous series, and each one has about 7 to 9 city/town/contemporary figures. Even my two favorite series, 4 and 6, fit that average. So there's no real increase in the amount of contemporary figures, and therefore nothing to complain about there. As for those who are complaining that half of the figures are rehashes, only the skier and cheerleader are definitely rehashes. The conquistador and pirate don't count because we've never had them in the CMF theme until now. I don't even remember how long ago conquistadors were in LEGO sets. And the vampire is likely a female, so that doesn't count either. There's also a few good contenders for army builders as well. With that, here's my take on each of the figures. Ancient Thespis - Sounds cool. Will go well with the other Greek and Roman figures. Possible army builder. Pirate Captain - The only figure we already have a picture of. Looks pretty good, different enough from other recent Captain figures to be worth getting a couple of. Conquistador - Very promising. I can't wait to see what this looks like. Almost a definite army builder. Enemy Robot - Curious to see what it looks like. I'm not a space fan necessarily, but the previous robots have been great and hopefully this one will be just as good if not better. Evil Female Alien - Like with the robot, curious to see what it looks like. A female grey would look weird, since classical greys are genderless (or at least appear to be so). With a grey out of the question, it leaves some interesting possibilities, but I have no idea what it might look like. Hopefully good. Diver - Seems to be a lot of dislike for this figure, but many people have been really wanting an "old school" type diver, and this quite possibly could be it. If not, it still has been seven series since the last diver, and if this one is contemporary, it should at least be better than the original (which wasn't too bad itself). As others have said, underwater themes are common with LEGO, so there are a lot of possibilities for what this guy could look like. At the very least, I expect new headgear. Vampire - I was surprised to see this on the list with Monster Fighters currently being out. If it's another vampire that looks like Lord Vampyre or the S2 vampire, then I'm not that interested, but I don't think they would do that with Monster Fighters out at the time and Lord Vampyre being available in three sets. I sincerely hope it's NOT a Twilight-style vampire as some of you have suggested. I'd rather have a rerelease of the S2 vampire. It seems that there's a good chance that this will be a female vampire, and if so, there's a good chance it will look significantly different from the Vampire Bride in Monster Fighters, and hopefully there's a chance it will look like Toth's dark elf. Fairy - Depending on how this one looks, it will probably be the main army builder for me. This seems to have been on a lot of people's wish lists and will probably be the highlight of the series for many of us. Football Player - If it's American football, fantastic. We really need one of those. If it's another soccer player, than I'll be disappointed (but even if it is, that's still only three rehashes, assuming we get an old school diver and female vampire) Trader - Sounds like this will be a contemporary businessman, although I do have an image in my head of an English guy with a bowler hat. That would make it much better. Skier - It's been a while without a skier, and with rereleases of other sports figures, it's about time. Hopefully this one will be as good as the first, maybe with black clothes. Red Cheerleader - Again, it's been a while without a cheerleader, and with all the various sports figures we've had in the CMF series since then, it's about time we get a new cheerleader. This figure was very popular the first time around, and I'm surprised so many people are disappointed by it this time. I'm only going to be getting one for my CMF collection because I don't have any use for extra cheeleaders, but I can't say I'm disappointed by its inclusion. Santa Claus - It's about time! Another figure a lot of people don't like for some reason. But we've never had a decent Santa figure! We need one with the proper hat (not a pirate's bandana) and nice printing. I can't wait to see what he looks like! Boy in Bavarian costume - Doesn't personally interest me that much, but I think a lot of people have been wanting something like this (just like the bagpiper). DJ - This is probably going to be the "crash test dummy" or "fitness instructor" of the series for me, and the only one I'm not even a little excited about. But there's usually one or two of those every series, so I can't complain. Cowgirl - It's about time we had a female counterpart to the series 1 cowboy. While I don't have use for these figures, it's good to see the Wild West subtheme continuing in the CMFs with something new.

I know there has been discussion on those designs before, but I have to say, I'd especially love to see either the little goblin or the undead knight in Series 8.

That's just what I came here to do! I think this is probably one of the best LEGO sets ever made, at least for me anyways. I've been wanting a LEGO Haunted House for a long time now, and this one is just beautiful. Everything about it is fantastic. My only disappointment is that it could have used a couple more zombies instead of another vampire and vampire bride. But that is an extremely minor complaint. The zombie chef is awesome as it is (that torso! ), and the building itself is simply amazing.

It's the first pirate or pirate-related figure in the CMFs, and there's not too many pirate minifigures that weren't already covered over the last few years with the 09 Pirates theme and PotC. I think it's unique enough to be worthy of getting. Anyway, finally we know what one of the figures is! Now for the other fifteen... It would actually be kind of cool, and more excitement-building, if we only found out what the rest are one or two at a time over the next couple of weeks. LEGO has definitely kept this series a secret very well... it only makes me more excited for it and wondering what other awesome figures are in it!

Yeah, I usually only have one minifigure in a series that I try to army-build with. Sometimes there are a few others that I would like several extras of, and a few more where I'd like just one extra, but I kind of like series 7 because at least half of the figures I only want one of in order to complete the collection (thus meaning I spend less money on it). Hopefully series 8 has a similar line-up, but like you said, with some unique and exciting figures. I'm personally hoping for a pumpkinhead, female elf, or golem.

Similarly for me... I still need four figures to complete Series 6, and twelve to complete Series 7. And I'm lacking extras all the way back to series 4 (not counting my personal army builders, which I can never have enough of), and there's still a couple extras I still want from series 1. Once a month would be WAY too fast, even if I could afford it. I honestly wouldn't mind if they reduced it to two a year, as three a year seems a little fast as it is. EDIT: And to clarify, in case I worried anybody about never having enough army builders, I would actually be satisfied with about 30 for those figures. My largest army is currently elves, which I have 11 or 12 of. So don't worry, I'm not hoarding hundreds of army builder figures nor do I plan on it. I'll stop at 30 for any of them, if I even make it to that many.

Me too, the bride or groom or even a new zombie altogether would have been better than yet another zombie driver.

I don't really care what theme it's attached to, I just hope they include a couple zombies in addition to the ghosts. But either way it'll be an awesome set.

Yeah, it would be very expensive for us, but like I said, it's probably a very unlikely suggestion. Just something I thought of. If LEGO is in fact reading this thread, maybe they could take this suggestion and turn it into something for series 9, then you could have the two best figures from each of the first 8 series put together into one series.

This is probably very unlikely, but if the reason we haven't heard anything yet is because of something big LEGO has planned for this series, maybe they're planning a sort of "All-Star" CMF series, something with favorites like the Zombie, Spartan, Elf, Gladiator, etc. rereleased all together. I know, it's far-fetched and probably won't happen, but it was just something I thought of that would be really cool if they did it. I'm just surprised more and more every day that we haven't heard anything yet about Series 8.

Hopefully this is a sign of similar sets in the future. Like other people have said, a monsters or zombies set would be fantastic, as would anything with the medieval or historical figures (like one with the Elf, Evil Dwarf, and Dark Knight).

That's a really cool idea, I may end up doing that as well.

As Archer pointed out, the mummy and alien are only two figures in seven series. Generally, the CMF contains sports figures, obscure city figures that don't appear in the standard City sets, historical figures that aren't connected to any current theme, and famous movie or story characters that also aren't connected to any current theme. So I doubt we'll see S8 containing a monster figure, at least not one closely connected to the MF theme. They're not going to do a swamp creature or ghost, and actually I don't think they'll do a goblin because of similarity to the LotR orcs. They may do something like a pumpkinhead, but I still think it's unlikely. For similar reasons because of LotR, I don't see them putting any fantasy-type Castle figures in S8 either.

For me personally, the Vampire Hearse will actually be the set that gets the lowest priority. My LEGO setup is a cross between medieval town and haunted village, so the hearse itself, while cool, won't fit in with my village, and the vampire and zombie driver are both available in other sets. The ghost train will be second to last because the train, like the hearse, has pretty much no place in my village, with the main draw being the ghost figures. And we now know that the ghost will also be in the polybag, as well as the Haunted House set. I still plan to buy both of these sets, but only to complete the collection and because I'm such a big fan of Halloween. In regards to the discussion on the importance of minifigures, I think you have to look at the fact that we're AFOLs, and in many cases the coolest minifigures appear in sets like these which were designed mainly for kids. The sets that are actually designed more for an AFOL audience, like the modular buildings and winter village sets, generally have standard or uninteresting minifigures, which we don't care about because the brick-built portions are so cool and detailed. That's not to say that regular themes don't have cool or detailed sets, but there are certainly less of them, and the main draw for AFOLs to buy most of these sets are the minifigures. The Vampire Castle is awesome, and would be cool even without the figures, but honestly, most of the other sets in the theme are highlighted by the figures. For my purposes, none of the vehicles in this theme matter, which makes the minifigures that much more of a reason to buy the set. But other people will have different uses for these sets and different reasons to buy them, which may be minifigure based or maybe not. But the minifigure has kind of become the centerpiece of the LEGO hobby, and therefore cool minifigures always make a set even more worthwhile and in some cases the deciding factor in whether someone will buy it or not. I love Halloween, and while sets like the Hearse and Ghost Train won't really fit in with my medieval setting, I still plan on getting all the sets because of my love for monsters and Halloween. That said, if none of these sets had minifigures, the only one I'd buy is the Vampire Castle, because without minifigures there's really no point to the other sets. Graves with no zombies in them? A lab with no scientist or monster? A car and a tree with no werewolf to give the scene any explanation? Castle excluded, the sets don't really have a point without the figures.

Only Series 1-4 though... I think that while Monster Fighters is out, they won't put any more monsters in the CMF line. I mean they could, but I would consider it unlikely, especially for a ghost. Maybe a goblin, but if they end up continuing the Monster Fighters theme next year and have plans for a goblin figure down the road, then they probably wouldn't do it. But who knows. On the other hand, maybe they will include a new monster figure to supplement the Monster Fighter theme.

I've just always been a fan of the dangly arms. I have a small army of those guys in my medieval/haunted village, and all of them carry weapons. They can be hard to pose, but actually are quite easy to play with. And I find the Fantasy Era and Ninjago skeletons to be even worse than the dangly arms as far as posing/holding weapons. But they could make a new type of skeleton that has poseable arms with hands that can rotate like normal minifigures.

This is way better than those themes though. Pharaoh's Quest was cool, but the storyline as set forth by the theme title was completely resolved with one wave of sets. With this theme, the title sets forth so many possibilities, and so defeating Dracula/the vampire doesn't mean the theme has to end. Plus, the trend of action themes lasting only one wave seems to be relatively recent. Atlantis, Agents, and Power Miners all lasted several waves. If Monster Fighters sells well, I am sure they will considering doing more sets next year. There's so much more they can still do with the theme. In addition to witches and scarecrows, there could also be a pumpkinhead/headless horseman (or both), goblins, ghouls, banshees, and of course the Witch Doctor (and more zombies!). In fact a second wave in 2013 with the Witch Doctor as the main villain and zombies in more sets, plus some with witches, a headless horseman, and banshees would have plenty of variety and potential for set designs. Skeletons are another cool idea. They're probably one of the most iconic Halloween "monsters," maybe second to ghosts. Yeah, LEGO has done stuff with skeletons recently in Ninjago and Fantasy Era Castle, but not much with the classic "dangly arms" skeletons (I hope I'm not alone in preferring those old-style skeletons to the new, poseable-arm ones). They could either use those or make another new kind of skeleton. Oh, and what about a Grim Reaper/Death character? Sure, we had a version of him in Fantasy Era, but there was no real backstory behind him. So lets see, Voodoo Doctor = main villain = at least 2 sets that would likely also feature zombies. Grim Reaper, Witches, Headless Horseman, Scarecrows, Banshees, Skeletons = 6 more sets. Plenty of material for at least one more wave.