I'd been looking at the Knock Off figures on eBay and Amazon to see what was in production. The material changes all the time, there are windows of availability, then it's gone. That's the business of cheating, make the product, sell it, move on to the next product.
See more after the break.
I'm not sure why I bought the Tartan Batman minifigure. but, now I have it. The 32 page magazine is filled with puzzles and other activities to do. So many will be wrecked by kids coloring in but not mine. I even discovered that you could remove the Batman, and replace it, without damaging the magazine.
The Blu-ray of The LEGO Batman Movie at Target has a Batgirl Minifigure as a bonus. She's pretty cute.
She looks like she can kick my ass. If I was an inch tall.
You get two of those yellow Batarangs and they could be used for something else. The Blu-ray also comes with 3 postcards.
The Batman Collectible Minifgures set jumped the minifig count by 25% so they could get more of my money. Good marketing plan and my lack of willpower, the yin and yang of collecting.
You can see there's a mix of characters from The LEGO Batman Movie. Each came it it's little blind baggie. A collector gets good at guessing what's in each bag and I only wound up with 2 or 3 duplicates. There are bigger pictures of the characters after the break. Click the pictures for the embiggen experience.
Series 13 of the Minfigures came out about the beginning of January. I hadn't been paying much attention to their arrival until I found a box at Target. I had seen advance pictures and I wouldn't mind a Hot Dog guy and the Unicorn girl. The first package I picked up at Target was the Hot Dog Guy. I made a trip to the LEGO store a few days later and picked up a bunch more. Somehow I missed the Lady Cyclops even though I had found one and put it in the stack of keepers. I returned a week later and couldn't find one. Third time lucky and last friday I filled all the slots in the set. As usual there are 16 new figures of a fairly good variety. It would be nice not to get a sport figure but it's extra nice to get 2 costume figures. The set is a bit shy on accessories, only the snake and the saw stand out.
That's the whole set in a big gulp.
Classic King has a pearl gold crown and a sword, and a nice cape in a couple of colors. I only got the one, I alreayd have a few other kings in my stock. Good beard on that guy though and a nice mustache on the Sheriff. I got a couple of him for the mustashe and not so much for his gun and wanted poster. I really thought the Unicorn Girl was the cutest figure of the set. I was feeling my way to through the bin at the LEGO Store looking for the figures I wanted and a lot of people came by wanting to find that figure. They weren't having much luck the days I got there. I got three of her.
I got 5 of the Snake Charmer, mostly for the snake and the turban. Costume has limited use. Kind of the same for the Goblin. I wound up with 2 when I picked a couple of bags at random. The bag will come in handy but I already have too many of the big old sword. The Paleontologist lady is nice. I have a lot of the small bone already but the little fossil is neat. Nice costume too. I might get a couple more since I only have the one.
I got one each of the Alien Trooper and the Egyptian Warrior. I do like the shield printing and both guys are nicely costumed. It would be nice to have a series of ancient Egyptian figures. I got a couple of the Carpenter. He has a nice printed board and a saw. He also has a helmet with hair peaking out of it.
I got 5 of the Evil Wizard because he looks pretty darn cool. The cape comes in two parts and has nice printing. That figure is the easiest figure to feel in the package bacause of the big sloped brick used for the bottom of the figure.
I got a single of the Fencer, nice but uninteresting. The Samurai lady is ok. There's a bit of simple printing for the torso that I liked. I have plenty of samurai swords. I got too many of the Disco Diva, 3, I could have stopped with one. Maybe I can use the roller skates one day. It doesn't really matter, I can always trade or sell him in the future.
Hot Dog Man was worth getting a couple of them. The Lady Cyclops and the Galaxy were only worth getting a single of each. There's not much going for either of them.
I'm already seeing advance pictures of the next series. It looks like a few of them will be worth picking up. I was talking to one of the guys in TwinLUG about the series and he figured that $3.99 a figure was his price point. He's boycotting them. I'm nearly there myself and probably would stop if they went higher. That or be more selective and only pick up the ones I liked the best. Based on that criterion I might have only picked up three from this series.
The Simpsons Collectible Minifigs will be coming out in May. There's 16 figures and the pictures got released yesterday. I pulled them off Bricktimes Photostream but they'll be turning up all over soon enough.
The figures are Chief Wiggum, Scratchy, Ralph Wiggum, Nelson Muntz, Marge Simpson, Milhouse, Maggie Simpson, Lisa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Itchy, Homer Simpson, Grampa, Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Bart Simpson and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Here's a larger version of each character and their accessories.
Homer, a donut and his remote. He looks like you normally see him in the show. Marge has a Friends purse and a copy of Donut Fancy. That easily could have been an accessory that was more Marge-centric.
Bart and his skateboard. Lisa and her sax. Maggie and her worn out teddy. All good icons for their characters.
Grampa Simpson and his newspaper. Ned Flanders and his toolbox and a lefthanded cup. Mr Burns and a fuel rod and three headed fish.
Milhouse and a copy of Biclops. Nelson Munz and a bat. Ralph Wiggam and his Choo choo choose me valentine which was one of my favorite sight gags on the show. Poor Ralph.
Itchy and Scratchy with impliments of death. Not my favorite sculpts of the characters.
Apu and a Slushee. Krusty and a yellow pie. Chief Wiggum and a bullhorn.
It's a good assortment of characters and seeing them makes me glad I didn't rush off to get the house. The costumes on these figures are more like the ones they usually wear in the series. They are also more re-useable for making new characters in new MOCS. I know I'll be picking up a set no matter what.
I'm finally catching up to the newest set of the Minifigures series. They came out near the beginning of September and I happened to wandered into the LEGO store a couple of days after they arrived there. I got a whole set and a few spares that first day. One of the guys who works at the store was going through the bin and he passed me several figures so the gathering was relatively painless. I wound up picking up a few more a couple of weeks later and now I have a 34 of them according to my inventory on Brickset.
I liked the green color of the packaging for this series. I thought there was a nice mix of figures this time. I got 2 of most of them and 3 and 4 of a couple. I checked the weapons and it's got 5, not including the scarecrow's pitchfork.
The Barbarian comes with two swords and a grimice. I figured two would be enough. I felt the same about the Scarecrow. He's got a nice costume and a good hat but they only have some limited useage. The crow is the same as in the Lone Ranger sets. The pitchfork is one of my favorite accessories. I thought the Pretzel Girl was one of the cutest figures in the bunch, maybe the whole 11 series. I figured three might be a good start.
I wound up with 2 of the Evil Mech but it wasn't intentional. I had picked up a few extras at the LEGO store and the clerk ringing me up put my figures and the 5 figures another lady was buying. I had picked ones I wanted extras of, like the Yeti, and she had some random choices. I let her pick 5 and I list my extra Yeti and wound up with the Evil Mech guy. There have been too many mech suited guys but I'm betting that the kids like them. I like the Island Warrior and his mask. Nice costume. The Gingerbread Man is just awsome. He has a nice cup. i got two of him and 2 of the Island Warrior. I might want a couple more of the latter, change the hair and head and you've got a nice whole cast for a scene.
That Holiday Elf is really entertaining. He's got a nice teddy bear and the 2x2 red tile has a nice printed bow. I figured three would be enough, maybe. I got the same number of the Yeti. He's also pretty entertaining and he has a nice trans blue popcycle. I only got one of the Rock Climber. He's not that interesting.
The Welder is nice, I got a couple, and that was mostly for the torch. The orange 1x1 round brick could make a nice pop can. I got twice the number of scientists, you never know when you can use a lot of lab coats and there were two bottles in the package. Can't have too many bottles. She has a nice face and great hair. I like to grab as many of the accessories that I like when they come out. Thing is, the reality is you can't count on an accessory staying in production for any certain amount of time. I got a couple of the Saxophone Player for that reason. He has a nice hat but I have some of them from the Indiana Jones sets I got in the past. Now I can make a Blues Brothers MOC.
The Diner Waitress is really great. Everything is wonderfull about the figure. She's got a nice tray and pick ice cream and roller skates. I got two of them and the Grandma. She's got a new basket and a cat. I only got one of the Constable. Might come in handy.
The Lady Robot is quite silly. She's got quite the set of dials, huh. Now that Robot from series 5 can have a lady friend. I only got one so there isn't much chance of romance for the other robots I have. All in all I thought the series had a nice bunch of figures. My favorite is the Pretzel Girl but several of the others are welcome editions to the minifig collection. I just wish I had some time to do something with them. Most of them just sit in the storage tubs waiting to get used. Sad, really. Maybe when I retire. Then I'll have more time.
Series 10 came out around May - June 2013 and this time they jazzed the series up with a chase figure. I'm not a big fan of chase figures. A multitude of chase cards ruined Non-Sport Card collecting for me and I'm sure I had plenty of company. Mr Gold was inserted randomly in some packages. I heard from one of the staff at the LEGO store that there were 5000 of them and there was 1 Mr G per 12 cases of 60 figures each. Brickset says there were 5K of the Mr G's produced but they don't have any figures on their distribution.
Of course I didn't wind up with one but I'm lucky to feel that I don't need one. If I had one it would be packed away in baggie, inside a box, to keep it nice. Or I would have sold it. The former just isn't as appealing to me as it used to be, so, it's a good thing, not needing one. Mr Gold's were selling for $700 plus on Bricklink in July 2013 but I wouldn't want to spend a huge chuck of my always limited LEGO budget on one figure. That's just nuts! Of course, if I had one, that price would be mighty attractive. It would buy a huge pile of new sets. In all I'd rather have figures I can use. Lucky for me this batch of figures has a nice variety of costumes and accessories, some of which I'm sure I can use. There are two new animals in this lot.
I actually bought more of this series than the last couple of sets, 43 of them, plus the Medusa Lonn gave me at the TCLUG meeting last month. There were a few of the figures that were nice enough to want more than one, the Medusa, the Captain and the Bumblebee lady are at the top of the quantity list for me. I picked up a display box at Target, one of two sitting on the shelf. I didn't feel I should just go up to the cash register with an empty box so I pulled out all but a half dozen random packs and bought those. I'm sure I'm being silly, the cashiers just don't seem to care at all, and I've gotten several boxes from there. I'm sure it's less cardboard for Target to get rid of. I have most of the boxes from the series but not the complete set. I use them to store stuff I don't use, like duplicate instructions, but don't want to toss out yet. They get packed into boxes in the attic and I don't have to look at them too often. At least they get dusty packed in a box.
There's the set checklist and the Mr Gold announcement. You can go to the LEGO website and report finding one. You have to put in a code from the packaging. I hadn't thought about this before today but I noticed that 4 of the 16 figures had weapons of one kind or another, 5 if you count the paint ball gun. I thought it seemed like more than usual but hadn't studied it before. I always like seeing a lot of accessories, though I would like to have less weaons and more other items. I went and looked at the whole series to see what the ratio of weapons was between the sets. Series 2 was the only set with 1 weapon. Series 4 had 2 weapons. There were no sets with 3 weapons and no sets with no weapons. Series 7 & 9 had 4 weapons and series 4, 5, 6, 8 & 10 each had 5 weapons. Series 1 topped the list in arsenal additions with 6 weapons. If I was more anal retentive I might go and inventory the types of weapons. Mostly they're swords, rayguns and spears. I need to start thinking of ways to use weapons as decoration.
Our first two gals don't have any weapons. Just their natural charm. They have magical powers though, one can turn your heart to mush and the other your body to stone. I thought the librarian was really cute, I like girls with glasses, and got a second one. She has a good hair piece, a printed book, sadly with a dumb title, and a printed cup. Her costume is nice and should be able to serve in a variety of mocs. I wound up with 6 of the Medusa because I wanted a bunch of those snake bodies. They were easy to find since the part is so big. I like the snake hairpiece. Perhaps re-assembled the parts can yield up some new creatures.
The costumes on the Roman Commander, Warrior Woman and Tomahawk Warrior are all great. I got one of the Roman, a couple of Xena, and one mohawk dude. All the accessories are good. I do like the dark red cape and feel I couldn't have too many of them. They have only appeared 7 times so far. Once in a Harry Potter set, 4737 Quidditch Match, a Castle set, a Kingdom set and two Lord Of The Rings sets. Besides this collectible minifigure the dark red cape appeared on another collectible minifigure. I used a bunch of them in my Bento Box so I've kind of depleted my stock. I like the new tomahawk but I had a 3 or 4 from the Lone Ranger sets. Of the accessories I thought the shield was the most spectacular. I wanted a second shield, so I was glad when I got a duplicate. The shields will make great decorations. At least one is going on the Viking ship I'm working on. That needs a variety of shields along the deck of the ship.
Parachute guy is just so-so, lime green helmet aside, and I only got one. He does have a good face. The Bumblebee lady is cute, I like the honey pot, the costume and the wings. I got 4 of them, mostly for the wings. They can be used to make fairies, or aliens. Grandpa has a cup and a newspaper. The bald hairpiece is ok. If my own hairline receeds anymore I might need to have that piece for my sigfig.
Paintball guy is dull as dishwater to me. I might have use for the gun as a greeble but the costume has limited use. I wound up with two, one of which was a random pick. The sea captain is nice, from his hat to his jacket and sweater, and his seagull is even
better. I worked to get 8 of that figure. The seagull was what I really wanted most of the whole series and it was fairly easy to find by feelin' up that bag. I got 4 of the sad clown, some of which were random picks, hopefully I can do something with them sometime. Those hats could be used for decorations and the ruffle might come in handy for something.
The Revolutionary Soldier is another nice figure but of little use to me. I can't see getting enough to create a scene. So I got the one and was lucky to not get some more when I picked up those few random packs at Target when I got the display box. I'm not much i
nterested in that war and you'd need dozens of soldiers to make a good moc. Unluckily, for me, I piled up 4 of the baseball player. I can't imagine ever needing a team and the hat, while ok, isn't something that I feel I need more than one or two. On the other hand I might have liked a couple more than the 3 I got of the Trendsetter. That has to be one of the worst names for a minifgi. I did like her hair, the smart phone and the dog. Her costume is ok but I'd rather have a new critter.
The decorator is a posh name for a house painter. I can't see why they didn't call it that. I only got the one but I wouldn't have minded a second for the paint roller part. He does have a new hat. I got one of the motorcycle mechanic, it's not that special or anything. I have enough wrenches from the numerous grab bags I got at the LEGO store. Mr Gold will continue to be elusive. I won't miss him. I have plenty of his friends. Again, a nice mix of figures. You can still find them various places so I might randomly get a pack or two.
I had let these posts slid a bit and three other series had arrived since I posted about series 8. Series 9 came out at the beginning of the year. It's another fairly nice mix of different characters. Some more useful than others. There are a few nice accessories and the like. Since I started buying the figures I started buying less of each series. I purchased 110 figures of the 1st series, 2-88, 3-66, 4-47, 5-41, 6-47, 7-35 and 8-34. I have 34 of the series 9 figures. Nice as the figures are there are only so many uses for some of the costumes. I have enough cops but can you really have enough mermaids?
Nothing to exciting about the packaging. It's a gray this time. I managed to pick up an empty box at the Target. They just let you take it with the figures you buy. I was still seeing series 9 figures in Target as late as July. Not sure if that means they sold slowly or Target just misses things in their storage area.
A waiter with a tray and printed bottle, a cyclops with a blay club and a Hollywood starlet with an Oscar like statue. I liked the tray and the bottle as much as the waiter. Being green the bottle adds an nice hue to the bottle color pallet. I could see using the accessories more often than the waiter. The cyclops is pretty nice and through carelessness I wound up with three of them. Not sure what I might do with them, yet. I only have a single each of the waiter and the hollywood starlet. Her dress is ok but you can't use more than one at at time in a diorama and the style limits it's use to certain times and places.
Nothing to exciting about another knight or another police man, nice as they are. Of course I wound up with 3 of each. They were in the random figures in the box I got from Target. I have plenty of knights and I hardly ever use them. I use the cops even less but I do like the policeman's hat. The roman emperor has a nice costume and his hairpiece has some nice laurel leaves but I hardly think I might need the 4 I wound up with. They could be traded or sold later. The police ID and the scroll tiles are nice additions to the printed stock. I wonder if most of the kids who wind up with that tile would know what the phrase Veni, Vidi, Vici means.
I really like the man in the chicken suit and don't think I need more then the one I wound up with. The roller derby girl is cute but I'm not sure I can use three of them. I might have better use of the roller skate pieces. They have turned up as train wheels on micro trains. I wonder what else they could be used for? The gypsy woman has a great dress and hairpiece with scarf. I might have wanted more than the one I got but I don't go buying them after they disappear. Too expensive. There's a couple of tarot cards for the gypsy to tell your fortune, a castle and a sun. Imagine a stack of titles to reresent the whole deck. It would be about 26 bricks high. Try shuffling that, huh.
The judge has an ok robe piece and a great looking gavel. The white wig has a limited use bit still a welcome piece. I got two of that figure and 2 of the alien avenger. The alien is just the space marine like figure with an alien head. He has a nice ray gun but mostly the figure is un-interesting. I am collecting a nice stock of weapons. The alien guy might be good background player in a space diorama. I do like the mermaid. I picked up 4 of those. They were pretty easy to spot, the tail piece is pretty thick and the package bulges like none of the rest of the series. I still have an interest in making another undersea diorama, one that is more of a fantasy scene than humans terra-forming the ocean floor.
The battle mech guy is very heavily influenced by the Japanese manga and anime characters but I find it rather uninteresting. I only picked up one of them. I got two of the Mr Good and Evil figure on purpose, he has a nice bottle that I wanted a couple of, but the figure is a mixed bag. His face makes me think he's turning into a lizard guy. I would think he was designed to be a sort of Jekyll and Hyde figure but the concept fails for me. I would have been nice to see a two faced figure to show the transformation. You couldn't use a top hat with a two faced figure because there isn't anything to cover up the back face. The forest maiden is the nicest figure of the lot with the gorgeous green dress and shield. I only wound up with one of them and would have liked a couple more. Still, I'm happy with what I got.
The plumber is the last of the series and he's pretty nice too. I like his plunger. He has a different pair of coveralls, with more detail, than the standard blue coveralls. I only got one and should have gotten a couple more for the plungers. Oh, well. I'm still not going to bother buying them on the secondary market since I have no immediate need for them. From a practical side the whole series has been a bust as they mostly sit in storage for some future use. I best get busy, huh.
While I'm currently picking up the new series I thought I would take a look at some of my favorite parts of series 8. Like all but one of the previous series I have been buying less figures with each new release. The first series I purchased 110 figures, 2-88, 3-66, 4-47, 5-41, 6-47, 7-35, and with series 8 I'm down to 34 figures. Certainly the novelty has worn off but the main reason that I buy less is the type of figures. I just don't need so many of a lot of them. Occasionally the accessories make me pick up an extra bag or two. Here's another nice hi-rez pic from grogall on Brickshelf.
That's a lot of new parts and a few of them are nice to have one or two of. Some of the parts obviously work better with the figure they were designed for but there are a few that have that potential that I like. Several people in TwinLUG were fond of that new giant pretzel, as was I. I liked Santa's bag and hat and the alien cape. The lasso and the fairy wings will come in handy sometime.
I wound up buying a lot of the robot that was in the 1st series but this set I only picked up a couple of the evil version. Two will allow me to use both robot arms on one guy. The conquistador is nice but one seemed like enough. I got a couple of the Lederhose guy and a single of the cowgirl. They have nice costumes and that pretzel is huge.
When I was filling out my set I grabbed a few random packs and wound with two of the football player who has a nice trophy. Normally I would have only wanted one of them and would be just an unnatural desire to a complete set. You know how that works. The deep sea diver is neat looking. Only got a couple of them. I'm not too fond of the skier. I have enough skiers. The business man has a nice suit and a newspaper tile.
I got a half dozen of the fairy for the wings. I didn't like that hairstyle very much and the costume only slightly better. I liked the Santa and got a couple of them. As I said I liked the bag and hat. The Vampire Bat was my favorite of the series. The DJ is ok but I wish the headphones weren't part of his hair.
Another cheerleader, this one in red. I didn't get more than a couple. I was thinking of using those pompoms for flowers and now I wish I had gotten a couple more. I got 3 of the Actor for the ruff and that costume. Good for several theme builds. I just don't need many more pirates so I got a single. The Alien Villianess was worth a couple. Easily turned into a costume for many themes.
I was still seeing series 8 figures out after series 9 started to show up last month. I have a feeling a lot of people aren't buying them in great batches. People in the club aren't buying as many as they were before. LEGO.COM even put them on clearance for half price just after the holidays. I missed that but it's not likely I would have ordered any from them. The last time I tried ordering the figures on clearance they were limiting the orders to 5 figures per order. That's a lot of postage, 6 or 7 bucks, pre 5 figures. Definately not worth it. Especially since the ones I have sit barely used. I suppose I need to build more or wait longer but who has the time.