Clone OPatra

Just goes to show how different people's tastes can be - the Viking and Pajama Girl are the only two I really want from this series (though I still haven't gone out shopping to get them), and the 80s musician is tied with the Diver for my most meh of the bunch!

Yes it is. At this point it shouldn't really be in Licensed anymore, and the topic title is wrong, but then again so many people who have been frequenting this thread for quite a while are used to it being here and I wouldn't want to confuse them either. Welcome to the B&P mania!

I don't mind waiting how ever long it is until the sets are widely released here, and then bar one or two waiting even more until they are included in a sale. The sets will be just as good whether I get them now or even 3-5 months from now. But cool for all those people with the desire and means to get them now through various channels.

Having seen that clearer AAT picture I actually think it looks really good as a representation of the animated ones in the show. I haven't looked at them side by side, but just the LEGO one alone looks nice to me, especially in the alternate angle. From recollection alone, the show model always looked a little wonky compared to the film ones in TPM. I still shudder in trepidation of the confirmed price, but I'm looking forward to getting a Star Wars set after all this time.

Well I suppose I was being sarcastic about thinking that you were intentionally kidding, but the rest wasn't. And you just posted a picture of more figures that weren't designed for the keychain line besides the one with a unique torso and otherwise basic parts. There's no comparison between the resources that go into a line (CMF) with many unique moulds and new designs, and how those up-front costs are factored into the sale of that line to consumers, and a line (keychains) that takes pre-designed minifigures and slaps a keychain into them. Let me just say that I've been enjoying the discussion though and there have been many interesting points made!

Now you're just kidding around. Keychains are pre-designed figures and they're all characters that LEGO can feel pretty certain kids want. There's simply no comparison with CMF.

We can hypothesize about endless possibilities, but we also don't know LEGO's business and production model when it comes to the CMF. It's quite possible that stocking and selling each minifigure individually would dramatically increase LEGO's costs for the line (which would then affect the end product one way or another), or they'd mishandle it like they have with some of the most desirable D2Cs, and the army-building figures would disappear in no time never to return again. You simply don't know. I hypothesize that making the figures blind bags allows LEGO to make more niche or "risky" minifigures than they would if everyone knew exactly what they were buying. Personally I didn't reply to the "alternatives" you brainstormed because I'm more interested in just discussing the realities of the current product that is produced.

Additionally, unlike those stickers you mentioned and the sort of blind collectibles that Australian supermarkets keep running (mini products, Shopkins, Ooshies), I'd argue there's nothing about most series of minifigures that make them inherently go together as a set, encouraging many multiple purchases in order to complete it. So while in the product description LEGO says "X number to collect", and yes they come with a sheet showing the whole series that can be ticked, the minifigures still each stand on their own and even multiples are useful since they can be customised with other minifigure parts to make them not all the same. Many blind bag plastic toys are just the thing that they are, and their primary and perhaps sole purpose is to be collected as a set (and then forgotten about when the next series comes out to collect). In any case @koalayummies, I did think the article about the addicting and gambling qualities of blind bags provided interesting food for thought, but again not all blind bag toys can be treated the same. Complaining mummy bloggers do nothing for me as a source, and the quotes you pulled seemed to stem more from single-purpose toys than from a customisable toy like LEGO. If I didn't explain myself well, the barrier to buying up all of the desirable minifigures is time. Even for someone with 100% accuracy in feeling the bags, it still takes a long time to comb through many boxes to find the three or less copies of a desirable minifigure per box. I do see that as a significant barrier to entry for would-be scalpers and resellers. I did not mean that there is any barrier to eventually getting the minifigures one wants, though I'd also point out that this thread isn't a realistic population sample when it comes to how proficient people are generally at accurately feeling bags. Of course AFOLs on Eurobricks will have gotten pretty good at it by now.

Blind bags might not prevent it entirely but they certainly create a barrier. Scalpers and army builders are going to scalp and army build, but when the bags are completely blind it's quite a time consuming process which I think ultimately gives the "rest of us" a chance to get what we want. If the minifigs were identifiable then those very desirable ones would be more likely to be gone in an instant and you'd have to quite literally get lucky that you arrived at a store when new stock is put out to find anything. This is an interesting discussion about the blind bags in light of Covid. Personally I haven't ventured out to buy any of Series 20 in light of the circumstances, though now that the risk is significantly reduced here in Australia, I'm feeling more comfortable going out to buy some and just taking precautions like washing my hands very thoroughly afterwards. Even in light of Covid I bear no ill will against LEGO's completely blind method in principle and don't think it has to change. I hope they never do a one (or less) per box figure again, and I personally haven't been enthralled with the products themselves as much lately, but the minifigures being unidentifiable besides through feel seems fine to me.

You thank me and then continue the discussion? That's a big NOPE! Anybody else continuing and I'll lock the topic again for a few hours.

JK Rowling as a person and her statements are 100% OFF TOPIC. Not up for debate. Get back to LEGO now.

Hi everybody - reminder that you can report private messages just like you can report posts. If anyone is asking you weird things or for personal info in a message, you can report it. Thanks.

Let me clarify a few things: 1. We don't ban people because members report and ask for it. Reporting is useful because we staff are only volunteers and only have so much Eurobricks-time on our hands, so it draws something straight to our attention. However from there it's our call to look into it and take the action we deem appropriate from as objective a point of view as possible on a subjective platform. Sometimes that's a private chat, sometimes it's a ban, sometimes it's nothing at all. 2. "People not liking someone" is certainly not a reason that that person would be banned. There have been through the years and still are plenty of big personalities on Eurobricks, plenty of people who some other people might not like. 3. Creating multiple accounts is against our rules and anyone who does so will generally be banned unless it's an honest mistake. 4. Anybody who wants to stick around here to genuinely discuss the hobby - LEGO - will generally last, and anybody who instead is more interested in drawing attention to themselves, fighting, derailing topics and talking about other people rather than talking about LEGO might not. 5. I already said not to derail this topic with talk about other people and trolls any more, so I'm locking it for now. It was going so well for a brief while.

Those are great orders! I went on to consider an order, and wow some of the newer parts are quite expensive (Australia). I'm used to dual-moulded parts and animals being a bit high, but the mid-legs surprised me, as did some Monkie Kid parts like the pig chef's head for $2.50ish AUD. The two new Patronuses also have a massive difference in price, with the otter being significantly cheaper. I think I'll wait it out and see how the prices change, as they tend to do over time.

Eh, I think it's fine. All of the product pics are already out there, this is just what's under the hood. Maybe @Captain Nemo will have a different opinion though.

Yes the same person keeps coming back and we're doing our best to stay on top of it. Sometimes it's not an easy process. The best thing for all of you to do, as I've said, is 100% ignore and use the Report button to alert staff if you need to. From here on out I'm going to be hiding anything to do with LordVoldemort and associates clones, and urge you all to stop talking about it.

Report. Thanks!

It's already dealt with! Don't engage trolls! Read to the end anyway! Be polite to people or don't say anything! Please! We have perfectly excellent stuff to discuss like those great MODs and yet people just can't help themselves with getting this off track. The staff is doing our best to stay on top of it but please, to everybody sane, just stop engaging with the muckrakers and they will go away.

I think you're confusing 2008 when the Clone Wars sets started coming out with 2003? 2003 was the deep slump when LEGO nearly went under and Bionicle helped save it. By 2008 LEGO was on the up and up. Nobody is forcing you to be here. Questioning and discussing people's opinions is part of the purpose of a discussion forum in the first place. What makes your opinion so valid anyway? I already asked before where this "Clone Wars didn't sell" myth came from. If a LEGO employee never said it in an interview anywhere, or it didn't appear in an official report, it's no fact. The notion of "I and some other people saw the sets on clearance" meaning "the sets didn't sell" is a total fallacy. Could be true, could be not true. Evidence just as strong to the contrary, like LEGO making waves of Clone Wars sets for four years, also exists. I've been on Eurobricks since 2009 and collecting since before then and I don't even recall any consensus among AFOLs at the time that Clone Wars sets were doing poorly. This idea that the whole line did poorly has really only cropped up in the years since the show was cancelled as if to explain why there hasn't been a continuing output of Clone Wars material, but of course without the show continually airing and with all of the other new Star Wars content to cover, why would there be?

In case anybody needs a tutorial: Rule 1 of trolls: do not feed. Do not engage. Do not reply. End of tutorial. Thanks to those who used the Report button. Carry on!

It's been too long for me to remember exactly what's going on, but please keep it civil in here and use the Report button if you feel it's warranted. Any gloating or personal spats will be closely monitored. Thanks.

This statement keeps popping up now and then, but what is the evidence? Is there an interview somewhere in which a LEGO employees says this? If not, where did this come from? LEGO produced wave after wave of Clone Wars sets from 2008 to 2013. I suppose one could argue that the last wave might not have done so well on the evidence that only two sets came in 2014 and then only dribs and drabs since, but that hardly equates to "Clone Wars failed". It sure did well enough for at least four years to keep being made! By the end, attention was turning to whatever the new Star Wars was going to be.

Complaining is definitely ever-present in the AFOL community, but there have been quite a range of reactions to this new wave here from positive to mixed to negative. It isn't like one big consensus groan, even about particular sets. Some rereleases are always justified with Star Wars since there are always new kids coming into the right age. At the same time, the Star Wars team at LEGO are certainly aware of the adult market and should be aware of what they haven't done before, even minifigure-wise. There are a bunch of opportunities with these sets to at least include new minifigures if these have to be the set choices: Grevious' Ship: include an accurate Cody and an Utapauan, and could include a Separatist leader. Anakin's Starfighter: could also include a Separatist or at least a new, more accurate Buzz Droid build? Final Duel: a moff, or sure, one or two of Palpatine's aides. They've done characters as obscure with as little screen time before! Stuff like that. But personally Grevious' ship is a waste of a spot anyway since it's so unimportant and appears so very little. The Night Buzzard is at least new and relevant since the film is still pretty fresh.

You've revealed LEGO's strategy: starve Star Wars fans of anything truly desirable for so long that they'll overlook any flaws and cost-cutting measures when something new is released Yeah the Lekku piece is horribly wrong, and the way they've printed the new S7 band she wears where the Lekku meet her head not even at the edge of the piece is laughably bad, but hey, it's finally a new Ahsoka so whatever, right? Just like the Mandalorian himself is reused in the Razor Crest and inaccurate to how he looks in the majority of the season, and Obi-Wan in the Soulless One is too scuffed, and on and on. The flaws abound.

I don't think the pandemic is the whole story with LEGO's issues with Australian releases. Even before the pandemic they have often rolled out way too little stock at launch both in their own warehouse and to stores. The stuff always comes eventually in large enough quantities for it to be obtainable, but at launch it's as if they send just a few tiny little crates over to this continent, making the first few weeks very spotty. And that's frustrating. LEGO's operations in Asia-Pasific are largely supply chain and logistics, so why can't they get it together to have enough product when they launch something and say they're selling it, and say stores will be selling it, instead of drip feeding it, selling out in five seconds, and leaving everybody wondering when they'll eventually get the sets. It's not the most important issue in the world obviously, but the aspect of not even knowing when something will show up is, in my opinion, the most frustrating aspect. I'm disappointed that I won't be getting any of the sets this week, but I don't mind really. What I do mind more is having no idea when they'll actually show up, and it being luck of the draw.