Blondie-Wan

Oh, no, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to give you the wrong impression. I just meant that if you buy a whole box of minifigures, you get the minifigures and their packaging, plus the box they come in. It was just a little joke.

No, but you get a free box! If I were you, I'd just try to learn how to feel the packets to determine the contents (or, since you're in Germany, find some helpful EBer in the UK to get them for you, as I think I'm going to have to do).

It's a "project case" - just a flat, square-ish plastic case about a foot across and a couple inches deep, with a hinged lid. Isis has been making these under license from LEGO for a few years now. Apart from this one, all the ones I've seen are in red, yellow, blue or green (lighter / brighter than this green), and have regular minifigure faces (generally City-oriented) printed on the front. They usually sell for about ten bucks, and come with a standard large green baseplate (32 x 32), though this one appears not to. They're stackable cases, and nothing says you have to use them for LEGO bricks, but obviously that's the thinking behind some sort of storage container. I do find them useful; I have six of them that I store my collectible minifigures in, along with some PAB elements, but they're nothing extraordinary.

Apologies if it's already been mentioned and I overlooked it, but I just noticed on TRU's site they're selling a Lord of the Rings version of the Isis LEGO project case. Apparently it's a TRU exclusive.

I had missed it in the Superheroes thread until just a day or two ago, but I understand now that there's a LEGO poster for The Avengers, apparently offered in theaters, though I haven't seen any in mine and neither of the two employees at the local theaters running the movie knew what I was talking about when I called them. I understand also that LEGO will be giving them to people who post photos to their Facebook wall on the 21st, but that the photos are to be taken at LEGO Stores the day before (also, no one seems to know whether these will also be actual, physical copies of the poster, or just downloads). I know this is a long shot, but might anyone here be able to direct me to someplace I could pick up one of the actual posters? Also, I know LEGO is currently offering a similarly LEGO-ized version of the poster for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, free with any LotR set purchase from Shop at Home. I also know, though I haven't seen it mentioned here anywhere, that Toys 'R' Us is currently offering another poster - or posters - free with purchases of the same sets (online only, not in physical stores). The item description doesn't say much about it, but does show two different LEGO posters, one for The Two Towers and one for The Return of the King. Does anyone else here know about these? Does one actually get two posters with a purchase, or just one or the other (and if so, is it randomly selected)? Or might it be a double-sided poster, with one movie on each side?

I see more than one person in this thread has referred to the minifigures as looking "dated," and I don't get it. How are they dated-looking?

Wow! I'm going to need a UK connection, I see - not just for these, but for Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, as well. Argh, how to manage this... Like many of us I definitely want to see a better balance of the sexes in LEGO minifigures throughout the various themes, but I can't say I find this "strange," exactly. Most LEGO themes have long been dominated by male minifigures, including the Minifigures line; this Olympic series actually has the most female representation, proportionally speaking (3 out of 9, or 1 in 3, as opposed to the regular series having anywhere from 2 to 5 female characters per 16). It's therefore actually something of an improvement, though there's still a long way to go...

Whereas people meet pharaohs, samurais, vampires, werewolves, extraterrestrials and merfolk every day, of course...

Perhaps they just haven't gotten them in yet? The series is still quite new, and perhaps not all stores have received them. Have you tried a LEGO Store?

Ok, just some wild guesses, for fun: LEGO Store employee Skier (different from S2) Baseball player (different team from S3 player) Train engineer Pirate (w/ parrot?) Movie Director ("Golden age of Hollywood"-style - jodhpurs, beret, monocle, megaphone, etc.) Bobby Soxer (poodle skirt, etc.) Zombie (different from S1 and Monster Fighters zombies) Organ grinder (w/ monkey? Parrot?) Prospector Dog walker Ogre / troll / goblin (different from Castle trolls, but similar and visually compatible) Gardener (w/ hoe? Straw hat?) Ice Cream Vendor / Soda Jerk Plumber Burglar (w/ domino mask)

I'm starting to think we could use a whole new theme forum for the collectible Minifigures, actually. They arguably get enough discussion to warrant splitting them off from "Special Themes" into their own area...

Yeah, that's kind of what I was getting at - I meant that just because we do see the later series stay around in stores longer doesn't mean they aren't selling well. As far as I can tell, they do still sell well; it's not like Series 3 and 4 are still widely available everywhere. Well... somewhat, but not exactly. Certainly they don't seem to kill off whole themes that go among their top sellers, and I can see Minifigures being something of an "evergreen" theme, like City or Star Wars - it's just too popular, especially since each new "wave" tends to have something for fans of nearly every other LEGO theme out there. TLG does kill off specific "sets" here - each series is basically a set (or rather, sixteen different sets), which is/are available for only a few months, for the most part.

Indeed, although he was more specific than simply saying there'll be sports figures; he (she?) said there'd be sports, but not skaters, skiers, snowboarders or surfers. We'll find out soon enough, of course. Based on what? I know the later series have stayed in stores a lot longer than the first two, but as far as I can tell they're still very strong sellers overall. Do you know something I don't?

Exactly. Also, to the OP: are you talking about the specific sets that are out now, or the whole Superheroes theme in general? Obviously the specific Star Wars sets released in 1999 are long, long sold out, but the overall theme is still going, strong as ever. How well Superheroes will do really depends upon how well it sells. The DC and Marvel universes may not be quite the merchandising powerhouses Star Wars is, but they're certainly no slouch, and they're "evergreen" themes that have had stuff released pretty much continuously for decades and decades - something not as true of even the mighty Star Wars. Moreover, they also have new source material pumped out at a rate exceeding that of Star Wars, even if you throw in not only the television series but also the novels and comics. I think it's conceivable the joint DC/Marvel-licensed Superheroes theme could well become a very long-lived theme, ultimately perhaps even surpassing Harry Potter and rivaling Star Wars for longevity and/or number of sets. No guarantee, of course, but of all the many other (non-SW, non-HP licensed themes TLG has done, it's the one that holds the most potential for such a feat.

I had planned to make an order, but ultimately decided against it in favor of just making purchases in person at the Downtown Disney LEGO Store in Orlando. I was able to get a TC-14 on Friday the 4th, and another on Saturday the 5th, and they still seemed to have plenty more; it appears to me the brick-&-mortar stores (well, this one, anyway) may have been better-stocked for the promotion than the online store. My poster numbers, if it's of interest: # 46,190 OF 48,480 # 46,313 OF 48,480 When I got them I overlooked the numbers, so I don't know which one I got first. Presumably store employees just handed each customer the top one off a stack or something similar, but they could always have gotten mixed in the store. At any rate it's clear that store had some of the last ones in the print run (not that I mind). Same here - TRU let me flat-out buy a few of them (and get another one free for buying the first few), but it may be that they weren't supposed to, and we just got lucky because of uninformed and/or apathetic and/or helpful and/or subversive TRU employees. How unfortunate.

I don't know, but you can call ahead and ask - their contact info is right here. That said, now that the series has been out a couple weeks I imagine all the LEGO Stores have gotten their initial shipments, so they should have them, unless they've sold out quickly. Presumably they'll continue to get fresh stock for a little while, so I'd guess most or all of the stores have them now and will have them for the next couple months.

I'm going to go way out on a limb and assume Series 8 has at least one minifigure riding some sort of sports board (snowboard, skateboard, surfboard, skis). Actually, I'd really like that - especially another skier, since the S2 one is the only skier we've gotten so far on the new skis, in this theme or any other (though I understand it'll also turn up in the Friends Advent Calendar). It's definitely time for another skier, especially given that the last one had a number on him, making him clearly a specific, unique individual, and not really great as a crowd filler / army builder. But new skaters, snowboarders and surfers are welcome too, as long as they keep doing nifty new prints on not only the torsos and faces but the boards as well... Either that, or that Series 7 just came out ahead of the normal schedule, which would also explain the unusually short period between 6 and 7. (I'm in agreement with you on that one. It really seems like S6 hasn't been out quite long enough, and all of a sudden we've got S7. I'm still trying to get all the S6 things I want!). No, unless you know something that we don't. Indeed, though I do think it's a safe assumption that TLG is going to keep doing these as long as they continue to sell well (in other words, they'll almost certainly keep doing them for many more series to come).

Oh, sorry for not getting back to this earlier. I did indeed go - twice during that weekend, in fact, but I was pressed for time both visits and didn't get to spend nearly as much time at the BAM kiosks as I'd have liked, so I don't have anything remotely approaching an authoritative rundown on what parts were present. That said, I did get the impression an awful lot of the torsos were from the Minifigures (collectible) line, including ones from Series 4 as well as earlier ones. I noticed some of the S4 Sailor and Mad Scientist torsos. I was terribly tempted to try to put together some sailors, but didn't see any sailor hats there (I'd have been fine with using different heads and accessories - it would've been my preferred way to go for BAM sailors, actually - but not being able to complete the uniform with the hat was something of a deal-killer for me). Aside from those, I noticed a lot of the Agent Trace / female pirate-style hair, white baseball-style caps (the 'regular' ones, not the more detailed element from the collectible line), motorcycle helmets, etc. I didn't see many accessories.

This is my perspective. I personally would rather use only official LEGO elements in my creations, with possible exceptions for non-construction-toy items that certain LEGO elements are specifically designed to be used with (such as batteries for Power Functions, water for floating boat hulls, etc.), so I consider myself a purist. I wouldn't begrudge someone else their decision to use whatever other elements they want, though, or to modify bricks and such. The idea horrifies me , but why should I get to tell someone else how to play with their toys?

Hm. All of the four poll options work for me to some extent, but in the end I went with the top one, "Totally...," since the question is whether my fandom influences my preferences, and it certainly does that. I've grown up a fan of George Lucas and Lucasfilm - not just Star Wars and Indiana Jones, but American Grafitti, THX 1138, you name it - so obviously Star Wars and Indy are huge deals for me. Unfortunately I'm very limited in my resources, and with their having been so many Star Wars sets produced over so many years at so many price points and with so many exclusives and promos and whatnot, it's quite a challenge for even well-heeled LEGO fans to acquire everything; I can't even come close. I do get an awful lot of Star Wars sets, though. I also made a point of getting every single "regular" Indy set that was released. It was tough for me, given my finances, and I sometimes found myself waiting months before finally picking up even some of the smaller sets, and I never was able to pick up as many copies as I'd have liked of most of them (I always want extras for parts, army building, etc.), nor was I able to get the ultra-limited San Diego Comic-Con set (and I just didn't quite bother with all the accessory items like magnets and keychains). But I did get at least one of each retail set and one of the "regular" Brickmaster set; in fact, Temple Escape is the only retail set I got just one copy of - I've gotten at least two of each of the other fifteen retail sets, with as many as eleven copies of one of them (Ambush in Cairo). I wouldn't have made a point of getting so many copies had I not been a fan of the franchise. I've also gotten all the Prince of Persia sets, partly because I enjoyed the movie, but not because I'm a fan, per se; however, my Indy fandom did help push me to get those, because the part and color selections offer so much that's useful for Indy MOCs. I'll probably get more of those eventually, in fact (the TRU near me still has all of them); it might become the first theme for which I get multiple copies of all the retail sets. With licensed themes based on films and franchises of which I'm not particularly a fan, I do still get them if I have at least some passing interest in the stories, or if I simply like the sets and/or their parts selections. EDIT: Meanwhile, this current thread on people getting into Star Wars because of LEGO (as opposed to the other way around) is probably of interest...

Oh, and I should add I hadn't even heard of Avatar: The Last Airbender until it became a LEGO theme. I still have seen almost nothing of it, but I do at least have an inkling of what it's about now. Awesome! Same here. I was building Star Wars-esque vehicles for my "Classic" Space minifigures long, long before TLG did an official SW theme, and I made a lot more of my own creations then (though I hope to change that soon!).

*cough* gold C-3PO *cough*

Like others here I fell in love with both LEGO and Star Wars, independently of one another, back in the '70s (LEGO first, then Star Wars a few years later, upon seeing the original movie). As I grew older I sadly entered the typical LEGO "dark ages," but always remained passionate about Star Wars, and like so many others it was Star Wars that first pulled me (back) into LEGO, though my interest in all things LEGO exploded from there. However, I can say that whatever interest I have in Harry Potter has come about largely because of LEGO (and to a certain extent, my appreciation of various directors, actors and composers who've worked on the films). When the books and movies first began several years ago I already knew other adults who were into the series, and I was curious and intrigued (and it didn't hurt that TLG was making nifty sets from them), but I never actually started reading or watching the series until just a few months ago. I'm now most of the way through the movies, and aside from just enjoying them for what they are, I'm finding it gratifying to finally see all those scenes I remember first encountering as LEGO sets. I still don't think I'd call myself a "fan" of HP, exactly, but I do have an appreciation for it, and honestly it's largely because of the LEGO sets.

Hardly. The distinction between a depiction of alcohol consumption in a realistic, contemporary setting that accurately reflects something kids might very well see in their day-to-day lives, and a depiction of alcohol consumption in a historical and/or fantastical setting with no connection to anything real-world kids today have much chance of encountering may not seem significant to you, but it makes all the difference. It's not as arbitrary as you're suggesting. Perhaps, but how many kids do you know in TLG's target audience who witnessed the horrors of WWI & WWII first-hand? Violence is violence, yes, but a historical context gives it an element of insulating remove that becomes more significant the longer ago the violence took place. "Moral rules" may be the wrong term; it's more about TLG deciding for themselves what they do and do not want to depict in their sets because of the effect it can have on their brand, as well as what they themselves feel is appropriate for children in their target demographic. It's not exactly about morality. The temples of various sorts they've depicted in various themes cannot reasonably be interpreted as any sort of endorsement of any one real-life religion over another, or as a criticism thereof; none of their customers are going to feel personally alienated by NinjaGo shrines or the like. Official LEGO City sets of churches, synagogues or mosques would likely have that result, however. Or LEGO-loving adherents of other faiths might feel slighted if TLG produced some such sets but not ones recognizing their own faiths. Or some combination thereof. (Besides, just how many five-year-olds are excited about building churches? I'm sure there must be a few, but surely they're in the minority. Putting aside "controversial" considerations, places of worship just aren't the most exciting places in a city to most kids. For purely commercial reasons, a church likely wouldn't work as a mass-market set, unless the church were either being robbed or on fire.) Sure they might, but (with all due respect to any vegetarians / vegans here) such arguments are simply not a consideration for the overwhelming majority of people (at least where LEGO's products are sold). In a world where slices of lunchmeat are routinely shown on TV commercials and everywhere else, in which probably the overwhelming majority of TLG's customers and their parents do themselves consume meat, it's simply not much of an issue. Moreover, "cruelty to real life animals" clearly refers to a lot more than simply consuming animals as food. Even for farm animals like cattle and pigs that are used for food, there are rules and laws specifying how the animals may be treated while they're alive. It may seem strange to you to consider what kind of humane treatment is accorded animals bred for human consumption, but it's still very much a real consideration. It is, but it's a place of governmental power, not permanently associated with any one particular political party. The White House as an institution and a permanent construct doesn't represent liberal or conservative ideals, it doesn't represent the Democrats or Republicans or Libertarians or any other party; it's just where the President lives and works, regardless of whatever party or creed or ideology a particular president may stand for. Simply making a set of the building doesn't carry any suggestion whatsoever that TLG is presenting a particular stance on a given political issue. This one is included probably more for comprehensiveness than because it's actually likely to come up, but even if it would likely never apply to construction sets anyway, it could theoretically apply to product packaging / descriptions, or to things like comics and videogames. (I need to get to work, so I'll respond to the rest of your post later. )

I somehow had overlooked this post when responding to Aanchir, above; I'm astounded and a little envious you were able to get sausages and chromed crowns and swords! That's very cool. I have seen printed shakos a number of times, as well as mermaid tails (the Harry Potter / Pirates ones, with Pirates printing), black fedoras, and several Series 1 & 2 Minifigures elements. I've seen scorpions in PAB myself, and I've found them tempting, but I already have plenty of scorpions from various sets anyway (though I think I still wound up getting at least a couple PAB scorpions once). What I'd really like would be rats (they're currently available in S@H's PAB, but at $.70 apiece and in only one color), ants (the ones introduced in two of the second wave of Indiana Jones sets, from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and featured in no other sets so far, AFAIK), and snakes (ideally in multiple colors). All of these would be great for all the Indy-related projects (and, occasionally, other MOCs) I'd like to do, but so far, no luck.