blueandwhite

I actually found 2 hairpieces with my 3rd caveman so I have four complete cavemen and an extra hairpiece. I haven't had any missing pieces yet but I've only purchased 35 figs so far.

Personally I prefer the first series. Series 2 doesn't look to have the same army-building potential. Most of the figs are town-oriented and at least to me, not as many of them make sense in large quantities. Hopefully series 3 gives us a few more mass collectables. I'm going to take a page from Mr. Madelorian's book and consider each figure. Let's have a look: Lion Tamer: He goes nicely with the clown. Like the clown he probably isn't a figure you want too many of. Perhaps 2 (he could also be used as a ringmaster for a circus). The clown is a bit more exciting as a fig though. Explorer: Like many figures in series one, no new parts are to be found here either. Still, you probably don't want more than a few of him either. Police officer: Aweful. This would have been the perfect figure if they gave him a wide-brimmed hat (which could also be used with a Mountie in a future series). As it stands he has a bunch of generic pieces and a generic torso. Still, you could build an army of him. For me, he's the equivalent of the crash test dummy. Skier: One of the standouts in the line. Poles and skis! That's five accessories including the hat. For the equipment alone I could see people buying several of this guy. Surfer: A supprisingly useful minifig, The shirtless torso can be used in any theme for a variety of purposes. The hair is classic and the face isn't half bad. The shorts can easily be mixed and matched to another minifig. Definitely a one-up from the skater. Mexican: This guy's fantastic! Like the caveman he has some really nice accessories. I can definitely see people getting several of him to make a mariachi band. I prefer the versatility of the caveman's parts, but this guy is too cool. My favourite figure in series 2. Life gaurd: Not as interesting as the cheerleader. It's a shame she has the same hairpiece. I can see buying a few baywatch babes, but not in the same quantity that you'd buy cheerleaders. Cheerleaders are for army building . Disco guy: Great figure. 70s MOCs, here we come! Definitely getting a few of him. Pharaoh: This guy is pretty nice and unlike a lot of the recycled figs from older themes he actually has a new accessory. I suppose there's going to be somebody who wants an army of this guy. Mime: Interesting figure. Perhaps an army of mimes to battle the undead. The inclusion of three heads is also nice. Vampire: Not bad. Still, he's a bit bland IMO. Like the Pharaoh there's probably somebody who will want an army of 1950s vampires. Witch: For me the biggest disappointment is that the witch from the previous castle line was far more interesting. This one's probably an homage to The Wizard of Oz (with the green face) but I'm not too keen on her. Singer: I really like the hair and it's always nice to have a new female face as the choices are quite limited. The figure itself is probably pretty useful for town folk. Martial artist: Really nice figure. The statue could easily double as a film or music award. Spartan: The true army builder of series 2. This guy will go fast! Three new accessories as well. Weightlifter: He's okay. The weights are nice, and I'm sure people will find uses for him. I'm not too fusy on the face though and the hair is nothing new. Overall I still prefer series 1. Series 1 really covered a wider range of interests. We had popular themes like space and castle covered as well as figs that really target the AFOL market like the zombie. The zombie, cheerleader, robot, forestman, spaceman and even the caveman are all really excellent for army building in their respective themes. Series 2 has it's charms but it feels like it targets a smaller demographic. There's no figure I'm excited about in the same way I was excited for the figures in series 1. I wonder what series 3 will bring.

NoooooO! Your cheerleader army is bigger than mine . Still, my Forestman obsession keeps me going. 12 so far. I'm having trouble finding more cheerleaders though so this photo makes me jealus.

Actually, the best way to try to avoid low-quality figs is to buy figures you know that don't come from the battle packs. The figs from most of the sets have different heads making them easy to distinguish. For example, the figure in the prisoner wagon has stubble and is showing his teeth. Othe figures also have different heads. If somebody mixed and matched the heads to try and throw you off you could simply post a complaint. Once the line becomes readily available you should be able to get quality soldiers for a comprable price to those found in the battle packs and you'll know your army isn't filled with lazy soldiers who can't even be bothered to hold their own weapons.

Honestly, things like this really bother me. At $19.99 per pack (Cdn), these guys are anything but cheap. At over $4 a figure after taxes, I would hope that the quality was top notch. Hearing that these are yet again the cheaper plastic we've seen with the collector's figs and Toy Story sets is a real disappointment. LEGO needs to realize that you don't charge a premium for a sub-standard product. This line really is becoming a bit of a letdown. I was going to pick up four of these, but right now I think I'm going to pass. I'll take my chances with Bricklink; the prices can't be much worse.

Perfect! I've already used the barcodes to successfully snag 12 Forestmen and 6 Cheerleaders. Hopefully this will make it easier for others to do the same. Thanks for the new sheet

Unicorn. We had a Unicorn shield in KKII and now we actually have a unicorn chaffron. The combination seems obvious.

It really depends on the figure. There are a number of figures that don't have a lot of distinct parts. It's very easy for example to confuse a wrestler and a crash test dummy. Still, it's easier to just use the barcodes. Most of the barcodes vary after a few stripes and can be used easily to match up any figure. In North America, only the Nurse and Spaceman are a bit tricky as they have very similar barcodes. Print the barcode sheet and take it with you. I've already bumped into a few AFOLs doing this locally. I've been able to snag 12 forestmen using this sheet. In fact, I've pretty much put the forestman and cheerleader barcodes to memory.

People really need to get these figures while they can. If these parts never become part of LEGO's mainline product offerings some of the more universal (and useful parts) will probably fetch a small fortune on Bricklink. I can easily see the popular figs listed for $10-20 in a year or two. In otherwords; build your zombie/cheerleader army now!

What really surprises me is the price of the battle packs. They are quite expensive considering that the collectable minifig line is going for $1.99 ($2.99 here in Canada). The battle packs are considerably pricier with only five figures to a pack at $14.99 ($19.99 Canadian). That's seven collectable figures vs. five generic soldiers. I was hoping that with the introduction of these collectable figures the battle pack pricing would be a tad more reasonable. I guess not. At these prices, the new Lion and Dragon Knights will end up being a minor faction in my Kingdom. One of the main two sets, a few battle packs and a couple of calenders is it this year for me.

Indeed. I tried searching Toys R Us up here in Canada to no avail. Then I dropped into a local Walmart and found 5 boxes. Needless to say, I grabbed what I wanted as I didn't want to be shut out on this series. The average consumer would undoubtedly be disappointed as I scored 6 cheerleaders and 8 forestmen; far more than my fair share. Interestingly enough, In Walmart the figures were just on a shelf in the LEGO section making them easy pickings for theives. At least 12 bags I saw were ripped open with the contents removed. Unwanted figures were simply left behind. Strange as it may be, one of those figures was the Nurse. Leave it to a few kids and disgruntled collectors to ruin the experience for others. I hope that these aren't like many collector's items where they aren't available for a significant period as I really hope others get their hauls. I certainly wouldn't mind grabbing a few more cheerleaders and forestmen either, but for now I'm pretty content.

In any situation pricing is ultimately going to seem unfair to certain consumers. Countries like the US have enjoyed a very high standard of living and have come to expect as much. I very much doubt that LEGO could increase pricing by say 25% without consumers walking away from the brand. Smaller countries where the average income is much lower (and often the taxes are much higher) simply have come to accept that they will not enjoy the same material possessions that the average American will. As willy_poodle pointed out, a Polish consumer pays more for a set than his UK counterpart while earning significantly less on average. The expectations from nation to nation simply differ greatly. As a Canadian I expect to earn less and pay more for goods when compared to my American peers just south of me. It's been mentioned again and again, but it's not as if this phenomenon is unique to LEGO.

This certainly isn't a surprise. The licence is great for both Lucas and LEGO (two Ls). Honestly, I don't think that LEGO could afford to give up the Star Wars licence and I'm pretty sure that Lucas has seen a pretty solid benefit from this relationship as well. Much like Hasbro's relationship with George, I don't think that we will see this line go anywhere for a long time. It's probably fair to say that if Castle Space and Town were core brands in the 80s, Star Wars is one of LEGO's core themes for today. Castle and Space seem to flicker in and out every few years whereas Star Wars is pretty much a fixture on the LEGO landscape.

Well, LEGO has collaborated directly with fans to produce sets such as Dan Siskand's Blacksmith Shop 3739 and Erik Brok's Market Street 10190. Other sets have certainly borrowed from AFOLs in more remote ways. The Medieval Market Village certainly shares more than a few similarities with it's precursor the 3739 for example. We also have the ambassador program where fan input has been gathered and shared with the LEGO group over the past several years. If LEGO does decide to borrow an idea, they generally go to great lengths to collaborate with the originator. LEGO has also introduced new elements that were previously only available through fan groups like Brick Forge. The cow, the pig and the new bucket helm are great examples of elements which have previously been available through small fan groups. LEGO's versions are often similar but not identical to the fan molds. It's almost certain that LEGO has made an effort to make their molds sufficiently unique to avoid copyright infringement. In many ways, this isn't unlike other clone brands that have their own slight varriations on the minifig. In other cases the similarities are just too remote. An AFOL may claim to have produced a similar MOC prior to LEGO releasing a set, however the changes are likely significant enough to avoid any copyright infringement. In other situations, similarities are likely coincidential.

Honestly, I think this line is intended to be a throwback to the classic lines of the 1980s and 90s so I would expect the fantsy elements to be comprable (A wizard, possibly a few dragons and ghosts). I don't expect elves, zombies or birdmen. Personally, I prefer this sort of line. I don't have a lot of interest in elves so I'm really hoping LEGO goes the forestmen route instead. I understand that a lot of folks really have a love of fantasy, however I've truly missed the old themes.

This isn't much of a contest for me. BFF is easily my favourite of these sets. As a source of bricks, BFF is incredible with 12 corner wall bricks, a huge assortment of old grey and those 4 fantastic black 75 degree corner slope bricks. I have 12 copies of the BFF whereas I only own 3 copies of the Guarded Inn and Blacksmith's Shop. All of these sets are very good; one (the BFF) is absolutely incredible. Nothing in the previous Castle or current Kingdoms line comes close IMO.

I just hope we see these guys in Toys R Us in Canada. Given that they are already available in Europe Australia and the USA, I'm kind of worried that we might not see a wide release north of the US border. If there isn't a specialty shop in your area I'm wondering how likely it is that we Canadians will see these guys at all.

Out of curiosity, how much were the battle packs?

Thanks Gorgall The Dragon battle pack is incredible. Two of the new bucket helmets, a breast plate and all three torso types! The Lion Knights get an extra shield, but in turn they lose the breastplate and are forced to wear leftover helmets from the Castle line instead of having any bucket helmets. Even in those promotional photos the Lion Knights look a bit pink . Despite the shortcomings, I hope these are priced well as I would like to pick up a good number of Dragon Knights.

Agreed. Give me a few actors, a minstrel, a bard, and a financier pulling it all together. Also, give me a few nobles in dragon colours. The dragons look to be the Black Falcons of this line; loved by LEGO fans but overlooked by LEGO.

Does that mean that when we have the official name for this figure and it relates to Martial Arts you will still insist he's an actor ? Seriously, series 2 looks almost as impressive as series 1. I actually think that the best figures from series 2 look to outdo the best from series 1 although I think that series 1 looks a bit better overall. Personally I like overall colour scheme from series 1 a bit better. Hopefully series 3 will match the quality of the first 2. Still, hopefully these show up in Canada soon as the wait is killing me. I figure we'll probably have to wait a few weeks to catch up with the US.

If he's an actor, then why is he dressed like a martial artist? As far as I know, at most awards ceremonies for actors you collect the trophy in a suit or tuxedo. Sports trophies can also be shaped like people.

This is a fantasic set but the printing is exceedingly disappointing. I hope that LEGO improves this on later runs of the set. I really like the figs, and the new pieces certainly look useful. Nice review.

I'm all for expanding the Kingdoms line, but I would like the added factions to fit in with the existing line. Samurai, Vikings and Conquistadors while all quite cool don't really fit in with the 12th century Medieval European theme. I could see expanding south into Spain or the Middle East (give us some of those amazing Prince of Persia elements) after the PoP line dries up, but Conquistadors are about 400 years too modern. The morion (conquistador helmet) was worn all across Europe but it wasn't really until the 1600s that these became common. Personally I would love to see the forestmen return; abiet with more individuality. While it seems to make sense to have a large collection of generic soldiers, I would love to see individual outlaws, similar to the Dark Forest line that was cut so short in the late 90s. Give me bandits wearing brown, green, dark red; hoods, hats and cloaks. Heck, parody Robin Hood, Little John, Will Scarlet if you wish. From there we could move south towards the Middle East as the PoP line will probably done. I really don't care which direction LEGO goes so long as the factions we get fit reasonably with the existing line. Factions like Birdmen probably would fit better in a revived fantasy line. I just want castle to evolve naturally like it did in the 1980s.

...which is kind of cool. In North America we will have the element of surprise for the first few days. Buyers will still be able to compare barcodes to ensure they avoid duplicates, but we won't necessarily know which figure is which when we're making our purchases. Still, June seems so far away. I wonder if they will be released early June or if it will take a few weeks for them to make it into circulation.