8BrickMario

I'm going to go scouting for these sets on Wednesday. I can't decide if I want to start with the Museum or the Plane.

For Bigfoot and the Specter, their torsos are mostly covered, so printing was deemed unnecessary. Same goes for the Conquistador and Evil Knight, Budget could factor into it, though,

I am one of the opposite extreme. I cannot get enough monster minifigures, no matter how poorly they're done, and can't dislike any of these. While the Witch, Scientist, and Specter are certainly on the lighter side, I think the Gargoyle is very well-done and appropriately serious. Bigfoot is fine without his accessory, and I think the Spider Lady is delightfully over-the-top, but in a horror-movie way that's not too kiddie. I guess LEGO's experimenting with this series because they want these monsters to be different. Compare the CMF monsters to the Monster Fighters ones. MF just remade the CMFs with darker tone. Here, they're doing the opposite, and for the monsters who haven't been done (Spider Lady, Gargoyle, Bigfoot) it's not nearly as cartoonish. Plus, the cartoony side allows for easy integration with the Scooby-Doo theme, which this series will share shelf space with. I think the Banshee and Fly have promise as proper scary monsters, but we'll have to see more. The costumes are just another fun touch, since they haven't been done before, and it's a new twist on the previous animal suits.

But we have plenty of evidence that these are indeed final. Two catalog images showing the characters as we've seen them on the recent blog post, and the second list of names matches what we know better. The hair is likely a Banshee's, as the other parts shown (minus the orange pigtails) were also featured in this Series. What super hero could use it? It's entirely possible, however, that not all of the figs are entirely finished. Bigfoot's torso looks unfinished, and the ZB doesn't have a newspaper. Within a month, I am positive we'll see a complete reveal and get everything cleared up. Indeed. I plan to display them together, comparing spiders! In fact, that's why the Spider Lady is my favorite so far.

They're a dark flesh color, not orange. I wish there were bright orange hands, though.

That's true, but the translation error means we'll have the same number of females. Yeah, Bigfoot is starting to bother me. Why couldn't they have printed him more? He just seems lazy, and could have been done better. I hope the Fly and Banshee are more like the Gargoyle and Spider Lady in terms of design quality.

Shaggy and Scooby are in every single set. Getting the smallest one would be cheaper than getting a Dimensions pack. Now, if Velma came in a game pack...

I don't know either, but she's one of my favorites. The Spider Lady has been done before, but the idea usually takes cues from Arachne. I'll consider her a vampiress with a spider fetish until the bios clear it up.

Definitely has to be our Banshee. It's big, wild, and spooky.

Then the mystery's solved. The Czech translation wasn't very good, and nothing's out of order with this series' statistics. Seeing as we had virtually no evidence of a Grim Reaper minifigure, I wasn't surprised, and I'm infinitely happier with a female spirit. Will she have a dress or a white Genie tail? I'm inclined to think she'll be full-bodied, but her color scheme (as evidenced by the trans-black hair) should be very interesting indeed.

Yes, she's not malevolent, but she's certainly very frightening. One of "the fair folk". I'd like to put her with the Bagpiper! "Harbinger of death" could easily be mistranslated. I noticed the Specter's face, too. Surprising, as they've never done a glow-in-the-dark CMF before, even when there were good candidates. I wonder why they suddenly did it.

The head should be creepy!

Yeah I remember. "Horror cradle" was quite a challenge for a while, so I can totally see "dead guy" being conflated with "Death", and there actually being two spirits, one an ominous fae, and one a traditional cloaked ghost in chains. The Grim Reaper seems to be a translation error, and it makes sense, as it wouldn't be unique and would bring down the standard number of females. Unless instructed not to, why didn't the image source take a picture of the checklist? That would have cleared everything up!

I think the truth is this: There's no Grim Reaper. Somewhere along the translation process, there was a mistake. This series will have the standard five females, and the final one is the Banshee or other female spirit. She will use the large frizzy hair. Bigfoot and GR were the only ones we saw no leaks for, but we did see the suspiciously translucent hairdo. Honestly, I'm not too bothered. A Grim Reaper minifigure is just about the easiest purist custom to make, and it would be a big challenge to make him look unique from what they've done before. Somehow, the Specter and Banshee became Specter and Grim Reaper.

Where is this Just2good confirmation? Is he just repeating what we (thought we) knew, or was it a recent find that listed the Reaper. Right now, I'm inclined to believe that there is a Specter and a Banshee, but no Grim Reaper. I can't see translucent wild hair being used elsewhere, and the Specter is clearly not the GR at all. If this recent list omits him, then I think it's likely to be correct. "Dead spirit" could easily be mistaken for "Death itself" in translation.

I guess no GR makes sense, and the Banshee isn't really a ghost, so I suppose she can coexist with the Specter. Where, then, did the Grim Reaper come from in the original Czech translation?

I guess, but I don't think anyone has ever thought of the Grim Reaper as a ghost with chains! He should be a cloaked skeleton with a scythe. If this is supposed to be him, I really think someone's got a screw loose at LEGO.

That absolutely cannot be a Grim Reaper. GR is not a ghost at all!

Not to be rude, but I think we understand your distaste. I get that you dislike this series, but such continued venom just seems needless and unhelpful. As to uninspired, I think they were going for "recognizable". It's a classic gargoyle.

Well, we're down to only four females. Unless the Fly or Grim Reaper are somehow girls, we've only got the Tiger Girl, Crazy Witch, Spider Lady, and Zombie Cheerleader. Odd, since the number's been consistent since Series 6.

Old Han Solo...gosh, that's surreal. BB-8 looks good, but I don't know if I like the obvious antistud on its bottom. I really like the darker X-wing, and the more battered Falcon looks really nice. I hope it's more stable this time.

Even more disjointed thoughts and observations from someone who clearly can't pay close enough attention the first time : Just realized the Gargoyle can join the "minifigures with noses" club. I do wish they had been more thorough with the stone speckles and cracks, but that might have been too expensive. I can see why people hate the Specter, but for some reason, I can't. I do agree that a ghost like him should be threatening, but I can't be too upset. Perhaps it's relief that it's not the GR's head, or maybe I'm envisioning everyone in the monster party scene I plan to set up. I love the vine curling around the Plant Monster's leg and foot. Great printing there. Bigfoot needs more printing. Why does the Yeti look hairier than his cousin? I do love his toes, though. I like the foggy effect of the Spider Lady's cape. Much better than it would have been if it were fully transparent. Zombie Businessman lost his newspaper somewhere along the development!

The Specter and the Grim Reaper are two entirely separate characters. Both will have hoods, but the grey one is the Specter's, while I imagine the GR will have a black one. They probably did it to mess up bag-feelers. I just noticed the Spider Lady's new scalloped collar! I was hoping they'd do that, but I didn't see that they did! For what it is, the Specter's okay. I love the idea, and the face bothers me a lot less than it did before. He's a playful spook trying to act scary. I think the MF theme is for the scary monsters, but CMFs are more lighthearted by nature. I can see so many forest MOCS with the Bigfoot minifigure. Now the question remains: whose wild hair were we looking at before?

!!!AMAZING!!! My thoughts on the new things: Zombie Businessman: Good hair. Bigfoot: I WAS TOTALLY RIGHT! He has a camera! He looks awesome. Gargoyle: A-freakin'-mazing. Perfect face, short (like I guessed), perfect new wings. Love the stone detailing. I'll need about fifty of him. Specter: Nice reuse of the ghost tail, and head. Unfortunately, not female, but I also dig the hood and cloak. His face looks GitD! Spider Lady: Nice cape. Plant Monster- I like the lime arms and vines. Really makes it look less like a costume. So we still need to see physical pics of the Grim Reaper, Mad Scientist, Crazy Witch, Tiger Lady, Fly and Zombie Pirate.

Aurra Sing.