71021 - Minifigures - Series 18

[MrToes16]

 

21 minutes ago, CathyVT said:

Are you serious? A Lego minifig head is only a female if it has eyelashes??

There are usually several indicators that show gender specific minifigs. Eyelashes for one of course. Sometimes there is extra make up like lipstick would typically be female. Facial hair like beard stubble would be considered male. Then there are times when the face is just a simple smiley face like the police officer which could be considered gender neutral and you can choose to do whatever you want with it.

Even if those features weren't  enough, there are hair, torso, and costume options that can relatively determine gender. Head piece is not the only factor. 

In the end, a minifigure is not male or female, it is a collection of pieces that presents a view of the creator's vision. 

 

 

What does the phrase "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" mean?

It means that there is such a connection among the individual items that it is better than what each one would be individually. This is known as synergy.

 

[MrToes16]

15 hours ago, pharmjod said:

 

 

 

 

I'd like to see if the flower pot and flower torso piece are separate enough so I can make some MOC. I'm in for the whole collection and extras for the accessories.

[CathyVT]

I agree, MrToes16. I'm not dumb & blind - I know there are several indicators of gender and some minifigs are meant to be one or the other. This all started before there were photos when someone said there was a minifig embedded in a brick, and that it was a guy, and out of pure curiosity (not criticism) I thought, "how do you know?". Short hair and a neutral face (no eyelashes or pink lips) does not automatically mean male. You're right though - stubble, beard, or mustache would.

On another topic, how much you wanna bet the back of the brick fig torsos DON'T have indents, so you can't stack them together in a naughty way?  

[Huskers1236]

27 minutes ago, CathyVT said:

I was just curious how they assign gender. Sorry I didn't put a smilie face at the end of my post to indicate that I wasn't totally up-in-arms about it. [eyeroll emoji]

And if you're going to say eyelashes=female, no eyelashes=male, then that cat person does look (from our limited image) to have eyelashes.

Hey, I'm not criticizing anyone, or TLG's decision to use "guy" and "girl", and it would be kinda dorky to say "cat person" (although the knight, clown, and cop don't indicate a gender) - I'm just curious. I guess I'll go ask my college classmate, Tara Wike, who is in charge of CMFs for Lego. (a woman - so I'm not saying TLG's decisions are sexist or anything - I'm just CURIOUS. Sheesh...)

The emoji would have helped, yes.  This was not the first time I had seen this topic brought up by you so it seemed like there was an agenda.  If it's an honest question, carry on.  As others have said, Lego generally makes their "female" figures with makeup, eyelashes, longer/styled hair, and the torso will be printed to be more shapely  As many have said here and other threads, the beauty of Lego is that you can make the figures whomever you want with the quick switch of a part.

9 minutes ago, MrToes16 said:

 

I'd like to see if the flower pot and flower torso piece are separate enough so I can make some MOC. I'm in for the whole collection and extras for the accessories.

My guess from the looks of it is that the pot goes over the legs and the flower fits over the head.  Looks like 2 separate pieces.  I really like this series.  They have shown more originality and new parts than some other series that have retreads and alt gender figures (I.E male/female robot, space person, tennis player, etc)

[Phil B]

As soon as I saw these I thought: Matching Pairs! Have been trying to match them up, here is what I've come up with so far:

Red Brick Suit Guy & Blue Brick Girl

Elephant Suit Girl & Cat Suit Guy

Purple Balloon Girl & Orange Balloon Boy

Cactus Suit Girl & Cowboy Suit Guy

Red Dragon Suit Guy & Blue Unicorn Knight (which should therefore be a girl)

Doubtful:

Flower Girl & Birthday Cake Guy (?)

Police Officer & Race Car Guy (?)

Firework Suit Guy & Balloon Artist Clown (?)

Leaves Spider Suit Guy as a lone figure .....

 

[CathyVT]

6 minutes ago, Phil B said:

As soon as I saw these I thought: Matching Pairs! Have been trying to match them up, here is what I've come up with so far:

...

Elephant Suit Girl & Cat Suit Guy

Except we've pretty much determined the Cat is a gal because of the indent/hips on the torso.

7 minutes ago, Phil B said:

Red Dragon Suit Guy & Blue Unicorn Knight (which should therefore be a girl)

Do you REALLY want to get me started on hetero couples being the only possible couples? <-- smiley = joking!

I like them all except the spider because I don't like spiders. Yes, I totally fit the gender stereotype on that one.  I even gave away the spider that came with the Old Fishing Store.

[lazuli16]

I wonder if the red and blue brick costumes will be interlocking.

I am conflicted on all the new elements they are releasing.  It's starting to feel less "LEGO-like" and more Mega blox.

Edited January 26, 2018 by lazuli16

[gregpj]

1 hour ago, CathyVT said:

Except we've pretty much determined the Cat is a gal because of the indent/hips on the torso.

I guess it's possible that little pale grey shadow is an indent.... OR people could just enjoy them for the fun and originality they're offering over some of the past figures and wait until a more high-res version becomes available so we can see and really tear into them... Just wait until people count how many of each gender there are and realize the males outnumber the females and that the stereotyped male costumes (police officer, clown and knight) weren't assigned a gender tipping the balance even further. 

[The_Collector]

This may be the first CMF Minifig box I buy. Can't wait.

[CathyVT]

3 minutes ago, The_Collector said:

This may be the first CMF Minifig box I buy. Can't wait.

How many are in a box? And if you order than many from shop.lego.com, do you get an unopened box?

[TANV]

4 minutes ago, CathyVT said:

How many are in a box? And if you order than many from shop.lego.com, do you get an unopened box?

A rule of thumb is 3 full sets usually in a box.  Unless they decided to shortchange us this time.  If you order from Shop At Home, I think you get the packs individually. If you want a box, wait for @MinifiguresPlus to make an official announcement OR buy it off eBay...3+ months after the release. That way, you can steadily see discounted prices. 

[CathyVT]

2 minutes ago, TANV said:

A rule of thumb is 3 full sets usually in a box.  Unless they decided to shortchange us this time.  If you order from Shop At Home, I think you get the packs individually. If you want a box, wait for @MinifiguresPlus to make an official announcement OR buy it off eBay...3+ months after the release. That way, you can steadily see discounted prices. 

exactly 3 of each one per box? I don't think that's true. The guest of Tara Wike (Lead CMF Designer) said in this interview (starting at 2:40) "They're not randomly distributed, but they're not equally distributed?" and she confirmed, "Some are more frequent". "If we think one will be really popular, we try to make it more frequent."

 

[Huskers1236]

On ‎1‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 1:02 PM, CathyVT said:

exactly 3 of each one per box? I don't think that's true. The guest of Tara Wike (Lead CMF Designer) said in this interview (starting at 2:40) "They're not randomly distributed, but they're not equally distributed?" and she confirmed, "Some are more frequent". "If we think one will be really popular, we try to make it more frequent."

He said general rule is 3 SETS per box.  There are 60 figures in a sealed box of figures.  Shop at Home won't let you buy a box.  You need to get them from someone like Minifigures Plus(a member here) or buy from some one else on ebay.  There will be figures that have 3/4/5 figures per box, generally the females/perceived more valuable figures get the rarer numbers.

[CathyVT]

35 minutes ago, Huskers1236 said:

He said general rule is 3 SETS per box.  There are 60 figures in a sealed box of figures.  Shop at Home won't let you buy a box.  You need to get them from someone like Minifigures Plus(a member here) or buy from some one else on ebay.  There will be figures that have 3/4/5 figures per box, generally the females/perceived more valuable figures get the rarer numbers.

Ah, so 3 full sets of minifigs, plus extra, to add up to 60. "60" (the # of minifigs in a box) is what I was looking for. Thanks.

But Wike specifically said that if they think a certain CMF will be popular, they will try to put MORE of them. She said they don't purposely make them rare. Now, they might be judged as "valuable" after the fact, because of the fact that there was only 3/box. And that might not have been the policy in the early series. 

Edited January 26, 2018 by CathyVT

[Huskers1236]

Just now, CathyVT said:

Ah, so 3 full sets of minifigs, plus extra, to add up to 60. "60" (the # of minifigs in a box) is what I was looking for. Thanks.

But Wike specifically said that if they think a certain CMF will be popular, they will try to put MORE of them. She said they don't purposely make them rare. Now, they might be judged as "valuable" after the fact, because of the fact that there was only 1/set (3/box). And that might not have been the policy in the early series. 

Early series the "rares" were even rarer as there were figures that were in 2's IIRC.  Go through past series.  You will notice a definite trend to limit female figures in the series.  They know they are more desired as they are in limited numbers in other sets so that there are only so many female head/hair/torso pieces to go around.  

Recently the trend has been for there to be at least 3 sets/box, though I don't think Disney did.

[Huskers1236]

I watched the video posted.  You are free to disagree with me, but I'm calling bull on her stance that they make "perceived popular" figures more abundant.  

[CathyVT]

13 minutes ago, Huskers1236 said:

I watched the video posted.  You are free to disagree with me, but I'm calling bull on her stance that they make "perceived popular" figures more abundant.  

Uh, OK... You're calling the head of CMFs for The Lego Group a liar, but you're entitled to your own opinion. 

[Huskers1236]

Just now, CathyVT said:

Uh, OK... You're calling the head of CMFs for The Lego Group a liar, but you're entitled to your own opinion. 

I think liar is a strong word, but I don't think she's being completely honest.  Go back and look at the figures that are 5x in the series and tell me those are the ones you want most.  There's a reason they are the stragglers when the box is about empty.  

[gregpj]

16 minutes ago, CathyVT said:

Uh, OK... You're calling the head of CMFs for The Lego Group a liar, but you're entitled to your own opinion. 

Not a chance that The LEGO Group is interested in making it easier to get the strongly desired minifigures from blind bags. They're interested in making money and making it harder to get the more desired ones is a tactic used by just about any loot bag, gacha game, blind pack or mystery whatever available to consumers. This tactic leads to making money. Here's a good article about it .. I suggest you read the entire thing objectively and come back and type with a straight face that you think she's being honest.

https://www.bigfishgames.com/blog/what-are-blind-box-mystery-mini-toys/

 

[feed]

It became very obvious very early on that the costume characters were popular.  Whilst the distribution has improved over the series and it could be that they load based on the production cost of the figs / molds.  It's still obvious they don't distribute based on popularity. 

Take a look at the distribution photos over on Eurobricks.    

[CathyVT]

19 minutes ago, gregpj said:

Not a chance that The LEGO Group is interested in making it easier to get the strongly desired minifigures from blind bags. They're interested in making money and making it harder to get the more desired ones is a tactic used by just about any loot bag, gacha game, blind pack or mystery whatever available to consumers.

There are differences between that article and minifigs. It's not totally blind because we can feel the bags. It's pretty easy to find banana guy. The article said some items in those blind boxes are as rare as 1-in-150. CMFs are at worst 1-in-20. She said snake charmer is her favorite in that series, and there are 4 of them. The mystery minifig had 5. The Batman series had the same amount of each - they didn't have to do that, they could have made some more rare, and they didn't. It used to be more skewed - some were only 2 per box, and now there's at least 3. They didn't have to do that - they could have made some even more rare and they haven't - they've made it more even. Yeah, those are totally moves of a company trying to make some CMFs really hard to get. </sarcasm>. 

If we all listed our favorites from each series, I'm sure we'd get different answers. Isn't it possible that they just mis-guessed at what might be popular?

5 minutes ago, feed said:

Whilst the distribution has improved over the series and it could be that they load based on the production cost of the figs / molds.  It's still obvious they don't distribute based on popularity. 

I'm sure cost plays a role, yes. Notice she said "try" to have more of them - which certainly suggests that their guess of popularity is not the ONLY factor when deciding on the distribution. Cost probably plays a role, and maybe even space in the box (some are bulkier/thicker). They might misjudge which are the "best". Who knows. But she says they don't purposely make the best ones rare, and I believe her.

[Dr Jedi]

Those reviews that WhiteFang does over on Eurobricks are great.  They're essentially the best reference out there (that I know of) for the CMF line, and I think he's done every series - even the rarer ones like the UK Olympics team. 

As for distribution, I do think Lego has gotten better with this as the series have rolled on.  For years you could count on the costumed figures being (tied) for the rarest in the box, but that has started to change recently.  The vast majority of the series had three full sets in each box, and then some extras.  I'm almost certain this has been true for all the licensed lines, even Disney.  I haven't gone to double check my memory, but I want to say that Lego did three series in which there were only two sets in a box - I'm going to say that was series 9, 10 and 11.  Series 10 was the absolute worst experience (pictured a few posts above) with six figures that only came 2 per box, and then four figures that were 6 per box.  Now, they could argue that one would army build the soldiers, and maybe the baseball players, but no one army builds mechanics or skydivers.  I think I've still got 30+ of those stupid blue skydivers sitting around!  I've always been very thankful that they went back to three full sets per box, but the days of 2 figures per box is on the horizon if reports of a 22 figure Harry Potter series turn out to be true. 

[gregpj]

Ok, let's back up the bus.

This has nothing to do with the gender of the person who works at LEGO making the claim. It has nothing to do with the gender of the minifigures even if it is curious that they seem to produce more "male" figures in these CMF series (specialty lines like Batman aside .. he is male).

Frankly, I couldn't care less what someone at LEGO says .. the fact that it is NOT ALWAYS EVEN just screams that they have an agenda with the distribution... whether it's trying to make them rarer to increase sales, or perhaps it is a cost thing, or some misguided attempt at predicting the most popular. People are entitled to their opinions, we are even entitled to not believe someone who works at LEGO. Companies do sometimes tell the truth to the public, but not always.

LEGO's PR and communication has always been tacky. 

People may post their opinions and vigorously defend them, but name calling will not be tolerated... especially when you've purposely circumvented the censors.

[CathyVT]

1 minute ago, gregpj said:

the fact that it is NOT ALWAYS EVEN just screams that they have an agenda with the distribution

SMH. OK, well since Wike and I both went to MIT, let me point out to you that the reason it isn't always even is.... MATH. 60 in a box. 16 or 17 per series. It doesn't fit evenly, so of course it isn't always even! The 1 time there's been a series where the number CMF in a box could be evenly divided by the number of CMF in a series... wait for it... that's what TLG did - they made it totally even (Batman). Good god, people.

[Dr Jedi]

But, if it just comes down to math, why not try to make it as even as possible.  In a series with 16 figures, why not have 4-each of 12 figures, and 3-each of just four figures?  Instead they do 5's, and even 6's.  Maybe they're really trying to guess which figures will be most popular...but I'm thinking TLG is smarter than some of those "guesses" they've made.