Will Lego ever make minifig packs again?

[bobalego]

General question:
I know must have been discussed before but if you have read official articles or have links to news similar to this I'd apreciate it. I have recently found all my old classic-castle lego figures and sets. I would kill if lego would rerelease the "Knight's procession". I was smart enough when I was younger to beg my mom to buy me this set a few times rather than other lego sets. I have 4 original sets,( gave away one of the instructions to a member here a while ago,) but they(minifigs) are in such poor condition now that I am desperate without enough money to spend the $$$ it would cost to get a small 20 fig army of them. I do not have the skill to use the templates to make custom ones but any opinions or suggestions would be cool to hear...thanks.

[JoshWedin]

Well, your question is actually two questions:

Will they ever make minifig packs again?

Will they ever rerelease 677 Knights Procession?

The answer to the first is "yes, kind of". They are currently making a number of sets that could qualify as minifig packs. Most notably is the Viking Chess Set. Among others, the Viking Heavy Artillary Wagon could also be called a minifig pack, as it has an extremely high fig count for the price. Much like the Knights Procession.

The answer to the second question is "probably not". Lego has pretty much stated that they will not be releasing anymore old sets. There are a variety of reasons, you can see them in this thread.

Hope this helps,
Josh

PS. I am a big fan of Knight's Procession too. Definitely, my favorite faction. They are rather expensive. But I built up mine piecemeal. I found a great deal on torsos a while back and then slowly bought the rest of the accessories.

[Kev]

No $30 set is a minifig pack, not even close. Minifig packs are like 6 figs for under $10.

[JoshWedin]

No $30 set is a minifig pack, not even close. Minifig packs are like 6 figs for under $10.

That will never happen again. You have to realize that a ten dollar set in 1977 is not the same as a ten dollar set now. There is this thing called inflation.

Josh

[Scnicker]

I think it is possible. While TLC won't release old packs ever again, they give us signs that they might release newer ones. The new SW clone pack is a sign of that I guess. People wanted to amass clones, so TLC is giving them a pack; the same thing might apply for castle, I hope .

-Yankı

[SavaTheAggie]

Actually the $6 minifig pack IS going to happen again. There are two upcoming Star Wars sets that will (most likely) be under $10 that contain 4 and 7 minifigs. One has clone troopers and the other droids. The precedent is there, LEGO needs only jump themes.

--Tony

Edit: Dang, I need to read threads more closely. Scniker beat me to it.

[wunztwice]

Actually the $6 minifig pack IS going to happen again. There are two upcoming Star Wars sets that will (most likely) be under $10 that contain 4 and 7 minifigs. One has clone troopers and the other droids. The precedent is there, LEGO needs only jump themes.

--Tony

Edit: Dang, I need to read threads more closely. Scniker beat me to it.

Hmm, me too.

Yup though, this is exaclty my thoughts on the subject. TLC has been listening and I think that these new SW "fig packs" are even better than old ones because not only are there an abundance of figs, but small models to go along with them. It seems to me that this was one of the things folks complained about, the lack of parts for "playability," etc.

So I would sa that at least as far as SW goes there are some excelent, fairly cheap, "fig packs" coming!

[Gumby]

I just wanted to talk about "battle packs" briefly:

LEGO is first and foremost a building toy rather than a brand of action figure. Other toy companies also have licenses with Lucasfilm (or whomever owns SW), so I was very surprised to see such an offering come out from LEGO. Of course, they needed to include some sort of small structure and/or vehicle to push it more into the "building toy" realm.

Now I don't know about battle droids, but I'm pretty sure that producing a minifig is definitely among the most expensive pieces to produce - especially if there's printing involved. However, seeing the Clone Troopers Battle Pack, which has 4 figs + other pieces for what appears to be US$10 either disproves my theory (I doubt it), or suggests that people will buy these sets by the case (which is good for the company, I guess).

So what all that means, is that yes, minifig packs for other themes (at least not just Town) is becoming more and more of a possibility.

Sorry for the long-winded post.

[Memory]

Gumby, you beat me to it. Lego has to have stuff other than just minifigs in the battle packs because Hasbro has the rights to SW action figures. I think that if the packs are a big enough success, then Castle would be the next logical theme, especially considering they've steered KK2 away from the focus on individual knights.

[Kev]

Lego did a series of like 5 packs with 3 minifigs each for Star Wars back in 2000, specifically because Star Wars character minifigs and army-building was so popular: http://guide.lugnet.com/set/3342

So, no, nothing in the SW license says that Lego can't make minifig-only packs, and they certainly found selling 3 figs for $5 plenty profitable at that point, even with the extra expense of paying a license for the characters.

I would really like to see them return to this as some of the figs in the larger sets are so hard to get, but I think Lego is smart enough to know that many, many people are buying sets just for the figs.

[J1A3L5]

So, no, nothing in the SW license says that Lego can't make minifig-only packs,

Actually, there is. LEGO ran into legal problems with another toy company who makes Star Wars action figures - Their license says they can make "construction toys", and apparently those packs fell too close to figure territory.

-John L.

[Kev]

You know, now that you mention it, I do remember someone saying something like that once upon a time on fbtb or somewhere, though I don't think I ever knew that it was official, or just another net urban legend, like the "fact" that the Star Wars license stated that Lego couldn't make another space theme at the same time it was making Star Wars sets. I remember that one being debunked by Lego's Jake in a Q&A, though for a long time it was the gospel truth on that board & lugnet.

But, ANYWay, my main point is that there is no real reason why Lego couldn't put out a 5-fig castle pack, with, say, a knight on horseback and 4 soldiers for under $10 if they wanted too. All the better if they come up with a new, more old-school, non-knight's kingdom heraldry for them.

[Memory]

Have a look at these two. Notice how there are nearly twice as many dorids as clonetroopers, and roughly the same amount of non-minifig parts. Why? Droids are cheaper. The clones are bigger, and all have helmets and guns. I can't see many guns with the droids, but besides that, they're smaller and don't have helmets. Soldiers have swords, shields, and now, breastplates. Therefore, they are more expensive. If Lego does make a Castle battle pack, it's more likely to be a knight, one or two soldiers, and a catapult.

Granted, I would love to see more, but this is what I think to be more realistic.

[J1A3L5]

On that note, clone trooper minifigures are also more complex in themselves. Beyond the the accessories, the torsos alone are 5 different pieces, and the main piece requires printing...on both sides. This is definitely more expensive than battle droid pieces, since machines are also required to assemble the various figure parts on top of all that.

I really hope they wouldn't include a catapult if they did release one - There's no castle license issues to avoid by adding a "building" aspect to the set, after all.

-John L.

[Troy T. Moore]

Since we are all speculating here, let me be the first to say; "NO KK2 Castle battle packs!"

Something along the lines of yesteryear, that is to say, "Classic-Castle" would be the only figs worthwhile. Clonetroopers, Stormtroopers and even Battle droids, to a lesser degree, look cool. What makes them look cool is they are realistic, in the sense that they accurately reflect the "real" ones in Star Wars. KK2 is not realistic or particularly appealing IMHO

KK2:3 is better, but still not at the point where I will amass the figs, build an army.

Time will tell....