Comments (0)

Update: See this post for high resolution photos They are being referred to as 8683 Collectible/Collectable Minifigures

LEGO maybe launching a line of stand-alone “collectible” minifigures/minifigs, come June, 2010. There are supposedly going to be 16 different characters, with another line of 16 more launching in August, 2010. This is according to Legobloggen, a Swedish LEGO blog.

Brickset has quite a bit of information compiled from other sources concerning the minifigs, claiming that you will get a range of parts in each bag from across the entire line, and not a coherent minifig – you might end up with a zombie diver or a robot cowboy.

They may be sold in opaque polybags so that you don’t know what you are getting when you buy one. Cost is reported to be around $3.50 USD. They are supposed to be unique and not available in any other current set. They may also be a very limited run, with each line only being produced for a few months.

LEGOLand UK has a “Collector Badge Survey” which is reported to show all of them.

If that’s correct, here’s a list of the potential combinations:
1 Caveman
2 Female Cheerleader
3 Clown
4 Cowboy/Adventurer
5 Crash test dummy
6 SCUBA diver
7 Female American Indian
8 Magician
9 Ninja
10 Female Nurse
11 Robin Hood/Archer type
12 Robot
13 Kid?
14 Astronaut
15 Lucha libre wrestler
16 Zombie businessman

Comments (0)

After having looked through the officially released materials, we are definitely missing a couple of sets from the LEGO Atlantis theme. I’m not talking about the sets where we’ve seen box art already and just need a name and release date, I’m talking about sets we haven’t heard of. Keep in mind that the three sets we reviewed, the 8056, 8058, and 8060, made it into a fairly wide-scale release here in the US through Toys R Us in a short amount of time around a month and a half earlier than expected with few, if any leaks and no official notice. Jason heard from a Toys R Us employee that it was official and was some kind of exclusive/promo release. Even without having an employee tell us that, it was clearly not an accidental stocking of shelves across the US. LEGO can keep things secret – those are just recent examples.

First, let me say that I’m ignoring rumors and wishful thinking and only focusing on published, official Atlantis-related materials and how the other in-house/non-licensed sets are being handled. In an earlier post, I mentioned a LEGO-related ARG (Alternate Reality Game). As ILikePi pointed out, it’s probably related to LEGO Universe, the upcoming MMORPG or MMO or whatever you want to call it. That was a bad lead on my part and I apologize. It should have been obvious that it wasn’t Atlantis related. That’s an example of what I want to stay away from.

I mainly want to figure out where they’ll fit in and how many large/premium sets we’ll have. For the sake of discussion, I’m calling anything that’s around $60 (or 500+ pieces) and on up “premium”. Before anybody says “you can’t expect a large/premium set of out Atlantis just yet, give it a year” or “you can’t put Atlantis on the level of Pirates or Castle just yet”, let me point out at that the very name of the theme is a location – Atlantis. There is a theme running through out the manuals that there are locations to visit and explore. The teaser website is all about exploring areas – the Doctor’s journal is about finding Atlantis. All we’ve got so far that we know of as far as actual locations is one set: 8061 – Gateway of the Squid, and it’s really not a premium set in my view. It’s also called “Gateway”. That alone sets off warning bells that it will be a gateway to something bigger.

A lot of this may have been collected elsewhere and even better explained, and if so, by all means leave a comment with a link. I’m putting this down for myself to see what the clues are when everything “official” is laid out.

Read more »

Comments (0)

The Age is claiming that the test driver on BBC’s Top Gear automotive TV show is getting his own LEGO minifigure. The Stig is the normally anonymous racing driver on Top Gear, dressed in all white, complete with a white helmet and blueish visor that is always kept down.

It wouldn’t be surprising for a couple of reasons. One reason, the presenters are major LEGO fans – you can read about James May’s attempt at building a house completely out of LEGO here (TopGear.com). Eventually the over three million bricks that made up the house were taken to Legoland at Windsor to be used in an annual building contest. There were even some custom minifigs made of Jeremy Clarkson, James May, and Richard Hammond. The Stig is also very recognizable – there are a few hundred million viewers of the show.

Finally, and most importantly, LEGO has been using the likenesses of highly visible Formula 1 Ferrari drivers for a while now, including:
* Michael Shumacher (Set # 8389-1 in 2004, 8672-1 in 2006)
* Rubens Barrichello (Set # 8389-1 in 2004, 8672-1 in 2006)
* Fillippe Massa (set # 8144-1 in 2007, 8672-1 in 2006, 8168-1 in 2009)
* Kimi Raikkonen (set # 8168-1 in 2009)

Read: The Age