As I’ve mentioned, one of my favorite holiday traditions of recent years has been perusing the exclusive holiday toys at Target. The last ones I picked up weren’t actually Target exclusives – the Christmas S.L.U.G. Zombies (review)Â -Â and neither is the subject of this review; however, IÂ did find him in the Target holiday exclusives aisle. Given that he was part of a set of blind-bagged Lego minifigures (as part of the eighth series of these figures), I can only assume Santa’s presence accounts for what it was doing in that area.
Anyway, I must thank _GoGen_ on Flickr for providing me with the “bump code” I needed (which I looked up on my phone, right in the store) to locate Santa Claus. It worked perfectly. For those who don’t know, you can (sometimes) determine which minifigure is in the package by looking at small, barely detectable bumps on the edges of the wrapper. Combine that with feeling the figure within the package and often you can get the one you want.
There’s not a whole lot to say about the figure – it’s Santa Claus in Lego form. He has a hat, a beard, and a sack, and a small flat black piece as a stand. He does appear to be the classic American Coca-Cola Santa Claus and not the European Father Christmas type, which is what you sometimes get with these Europe-based toy manufacturers.
In short, he’s pretty much what you’d expect – a Lego Santa Claus.
Not being a Lego collector, I don’t have a whole lot of other Lego figures or toys. I got this guy because I’ll buy holiday-themed toys of anything, and he’ll join my annual holiday display.
Ridureyu
Ever notice how if you take the legs from a lego person and bend them at the hinge, you'ce got an eyeball-feet monster?
Dark Angel
…you are my hero.
Ridureyu
I've been doing that for years!
They also make servicable gun turrets.
PrfktTear
Unfortunately the 'bump code' method does not wlaways work — but glad it did for you.
Standing there in the middle of an aisle feeling up little bags can be time consuming and quite akward.
From what I understand Santa's beard is a soft, rubbery plastic.
I'd love to get my hands on this little guy.
Poe Ghostal
I'd heard the bump method doesn't always work, but I was able to feel his sack (hoo boy…), and knew I had the right one.
Dark Angel
*waggles eyebrows*
PrfktTear
Well, if you feel a bump on your sack you should see your doctor immediately.
Harrig
the beard is soft and rubbery like quite a few recent lego elements. The Lego community gets quite angry about this sort of thing, but mostly where the bricks are made. I am not 100% sure on this one, but a lot of the minifigures are/were made in China, and this makes a lot of them very cross – a cross as some on He-man org.
Some of the points are valid – bricks that break with normal use, bricks with various degrees of translucancy, variance within colour within sets… the list goes on
Poe Ghostal
Man. Scratch the surface of any toy collecting community and all those granular details emerge, don't they?
Dark Angel
Lego people are a lot of fun, but yeah, they have their fair share of peculiarities. I collected the Monster Fighters series that came out this year, and learned a lot of new and interesting things from the adult Lego collectors and creators communities. Awesome people. mostly, but I do not regret at all that my interest is limited to this one, single-year line.
…although the lil' Lego Nazgul from the LOTR line are awful cool…*sigh*
Harrig
I go for the modular buildings myself, they are mostly annual and have a hefty price tag, but brick for brick are better value than most. I dipped my toe into the collector community, but I just found a lot of vitriol when I started following threads. They remind me of holidays in Europe, and the Mrs allows them to be on general display!
The Monster fighters are great – my son loves them, and he always takes the models to bits to make his own designs – he is not getting the Haunted House!
Like you say, scratch any surface… – I don't look on the net for anything I do just because I know I'll feel near suicidal by the time I have finished reading it!
Mark
I usually buy the collectible minifigures at lego stores. Why? Because there is a Lego fan guaranteed to be there with a stack of packs feeling through them. I ask if they've found a fig I'm looking for, and I usually get it every time. It's also cool to meet fellow Lego fans too!
Harrig
He is the only Lego santa to get that hat, and I think the sack is new. There have been quite a few Lego santas including those from advent calendars, and this year a Darth Maul santa with the Star Wars Lego advent calendar. (last year there was a Yoda santa)
His hat is definately the coolest, according to my 5 year old.