Save 6 Music BBC

After being introduced to OldScratch by Brickspace earlier in the week, I sought out more of his work. In the process I found out the following:

The BBC has announced plans for a restructure of some of its services. As part of that restructure, 6 Music, a radio station that caters almost perfectly to my tastes, is to close. Adam Buxton, one of the DJs on the station, made a little song to encourage people to show their support and try to change the minds of the powers that be...

Hearing about this noble effort, it was clear that I had to spread the word in my own little way, right? Nah! I just saw a minifigure of David Bowie in his underground command center and thought it was cool. Enjoy!

Rock Monster Love

Brickspace has returned with a vengeance. After posting about the winners of the 2009 Bricks in Motion Awards they shared this new Power Miner's themed brickfilm from OldScratch.

The film, set in the Power Miner's universe, uses the band Fight Like Apes' song "Knucklehead" to drive the plot. Some great animation plus who can't help but love those rock monster minifigures.



But wait there's more...

If you want some more PM rock monster goodness, be sure to follow Christopher Doyle's Brick House strip on Reasonably Clever. The evil hairpiece has absconded with Whiskey's second head that he obtained from "The Creator" while in the meta-verse. After escaping into the tunnels below Brick House, the hairpiece has stumbled upon a tribe of rock monsters who communicate only by singing classic rock songs and show tunes. Ya got all that?!

Plus, if you become a friend of Reasonably Clever on Facebook, you'll be entered to win one of the rock monster figs featured in the strip. Boo-yah!

Around The Interwebs: Collectible Minifigure Polls

To date I've found two polls, each asking which collectible minifigure from series 1 is of most interest (numbers reflect votes as of 4/16/10):

• From Bricks to Bothans (127 votes)
• Eurobricks Forums (304 votes)

In both polls The Cheerleader, Zombie, Robot, Archer, and Caveman are all doing quite well, while The Diver, Native American, Nurse, Magician, Wrestler and Skater are the under-performers.

What I find interesting is where the polls differ in opinion; for example, FBTB's poll shows The Zombie as the clear favorite, while Eurobricks has several figs with strong showings but pretty evenly dispersed.

The Spaceman is also doing better on FBTB, while The Clown and The Crash Test Dummy fair slightly better on Eurobricks. Could it be that cultural differences are at play, or just different people who frequent each site?

I think its safe to say that The Cheerleader and Zombie will fare well, regardless. Popular in both polls. Strong to moderate "army building potential". There's also a strong second tier with The Spaceman, Archer, Robot, and Caveman.

I also believe The Diver and Skater will be in abundant supply. I was putting together the Gateway of the Squid set on Friday. The Atlantis divers are so much cooler in my opinion. The Skater? Meh. Most people have been excited about the hair, but not much else.

Now those who take polls on AFOL websites might not represent the broader secondary market for these figs. These polls also don't take into account which figures might be sought after in multiples.

We also witnessed a lot of traffic through the Collectible Minifigure guide over the weekend. Looking at the page views from the past two days would suggest that the following figures are ranked from highest (most page views) to lowest (least page views) interest:

• The Spaceman (91)
• The Robot (88)
• The Cheerleader (87)
  
• The Zombie (84)
• The Forestman/Archer (83)
• The Native American (78)
  
• The Clown (75)
  
• The Cowboy (72)
• The Nurse (70)
  
• The Caveman (65)
• The Skater (63)
  
• The Diver (63)
  
• The Ninja (61)
  
• The Magician (59)
  
• The Crash Test Dummy (55)
  
• The Wrestler (51)
  

So which figure will reign supreme as the king of the minifigure mountain? I don't know, but pretty soon collectors will be voting with their dollars...or euros, yen, pesos, etc.

Ladybird Books Offers Atlantis Squid Warrior

The folks at Brickset.com have discovered these Ladybird activity books in the UK featuring LEGO Atlantis. There are two books available at afforable prices and each comes with one minifigure.

Although the Shark Warrior is easy enough to come by at reasonable prices, the Squid Warrior from The Gateway of The Squid (set 8061) currently averages $12.69 USD on BrickLink. It even comes with a trident!

Click on over to Brickset for more details.

(Picture from Amazon UK)

BrickTW: A Creative Oriental Paradise

If you are regular reader of the blog, then you'll know I have a fondness for custom minifig designer 'tigerggyy'. It turns out that tigerggyy features many of the custom designs of BrickTW in his comics.

I think the words of BrickTW sum up their mission best:

This is a creative Oriental Paradise. Each of our designs deeply relates with story and history. We hope you have a joyful website experience here and gradually understand the relevant stories and histories. The best is you can create a variety of scenes via our designed parts which sold in our store. You can own your new creative plot and share these.

They are located out of Taiwan (hence the TW). They have a store on their website and now at BrickLink as well.

My LEGO dark ages ended after the great Ninja sets of the late 90's, so I only have the Collectible Minifigures now to help satisfy that need. If you have a desire to create and play in more Far Eastern locales, BrickTW will be happy to outfit your minifig Middle Kingdom.

And so it begins...

Although the process for entering the collectible minifigures has yet to begin over at BrickLink, the minifigure stands are now in the system!

No one has part 88646 for sale yet, which is somewhat surprising given how many people are starting to receive them in advance of the public. Nevertheless the process has begun.

Discussion has also started on how the figures will be numbered in the BrickLink system. What's possible is that individual sealed bags will be listed as 8683-0 and then opened figures would be classified based on their number in the series (8683-1, 8683-2, 8683-3, etc.).

According to the BrickLink rules for listing minfigures in the catalog we see the following:

Minifigs - The catalog should only contain minifigs that came in an official LEGO set or that can be attributed to an official LEGO program, display, activity or event, regardless of whether the minifig is actually publicly distributed during or at such program, display, activity or event.

The minifig item should not include hand-held accessories. But do include all other accessories definable as footgear (flippers, snow shoes, etc.), neckgear (capes, armor, backpacks, etc.) and headgear (hair, helmets, etc.), and assembled parts serving as such, when these are shown attached to the minifig in official LEGO set instructions. For instructions with images showing the minifig in a play scenario, refer only to the portion of the instructions concerned with assembling the minifig. If no official instructions were produced, then illustrations on packaging or other marketing materials directly related to the minifig may be used instead for this guide purpose...

So if the current rule is that the figure would include all items shown in the assembly instructions, then according to this insert everything except those items in the left-hand box should be included! With that said, then the following items may NOT come with collectible figures bought via BrickLink:

• The Zombie (turkey leg and shovel)
• The Nurse (syringe and chart tile)
• The Crash Test Dummy (license plate tile and spanner)
• The Native American (the bow)
• The Forestman/Archer (the bow)
• The Wrestler (none)
• The Cowboy (two revolvers)
• The Skater (none)
• The Diver (none)
• The Magician (3L wand)
• The Spaceman (new gun and 3L trans-blue ray)
• The Ninja (katanas)
• The Cheerleader (pom-poms)
• The Robot (none)
• The Caveman (club)
• The Clown (bike horn)

What to do?! Well, I'm sure the fine folks at BrickLink will have all this sorted out before the first figure hits the online stores, but if you have any doubts...ask the seller. If its not listed in the items description or shown as part of a super lot, then don't assume it comes with the figure.

That said, The Ugly Duckling store will be including everything that came in the bag with your purchase. Makes it easy, no?

(Picture from Eurobricks)

LEGO Toy Story 3 Minfigures Guide

With the film set to debut in June, we may see these sets in stores as early as May 1st!

Each of the following links are tied to the original articles. These may be modified over time based on new news, so please check back often.

• Hamm
• Rex
• Lotso
• Chunk
• Stretch
• Twitch
  
• "Little Man"
  
• "Dirty" Variants