I am sorry to report that I have contracted an illness... one with no cure. And it is spreading over the Pacific Northwest, and I hear people are already showing symptoms in the rest of the country. I am talking about the release of the third wave of collectable minifigures.

The discovery was quite a shock. I noticed that a few of these were popping up for sale in various places, so I investigated, hoping to see clearer pictures of the sets. To my surprise, most of these sales were coming from either Washington State or Oregon. This surprised me, because I thought they were first surface over in Europe. But no; this time, the epicenter is in the Pacific Northwest.

I did further research, trying to discover the true source, which happens to be a retail store. Not TRU, Target, Walmart, or even the Lego stores... no, it was the Fred Meyers store chain, which is isolated in the northwest, so thus the spread has been minimal.

I went to check out my local store this morning before school. To my shock, they had them on sale. And this wasn't the typical arrangement I have been used to seeing, where there's just a box on the shelf. With such a distribution, usually one person snags it all up before others can become contaminated, thus sacrificing themselves for the public good. But there was no box here. Instead, all the individual bags were on clips across the Lego aisle, which seemed to deter mass-buying and let the figs spread further.

Since their identification bar codes were missing, I tried to feel my way through. But since I was in a rush, I only made off with four (although I correctly guessed on three of them). After class, I had to go food shopping, so I stopped by the store again. A good amount of the figs were missing, but there were still plenty left. I took my time feeling around for just the right ones, and I wasn't alone. One of the store employees (apparently on break) was also investigating the minifigs, and trying to discover their identity under the wrappings. I chatted with her for a bit; she said that they had only been on shelves for a single day, and they were going quickly. I happened to mention that I was glad that they were tacked up individually, so somebody couldn't come in and make off with the whole box of them. And she mentioned that Hot Wheels guys did that all the time. (Ha, there are other toy fanatics out there far worst than us AFoLs) (Or as I would like say, YAFoLs... Young Adult Fans of LEGO Bricks. I still don't feel like a full adult yet) In the end, I made off with another three figs.

I have caught the disease strong, but I think it's settling for now, and I should be able to make it into the new year alright.

Now, for the figs. I got the tennis player, the snowboarder, the space cyborg / pirate, the mummy, the hula girl, the samurai, and the elf. Don't believe me? Well, I've got picts! (Low quality pict, to be specific. But hey, my camera was cheap to begin with and hasn't been working very well recently)

Tennis Player

I wouldn't have guessed that this is a tennis player if it hadn't been for the racket. (The racket, BTW, makes it easy to identify this fig in the bag... very distinct shape) I really like her torso... a plain, everyday torso, yet still female. The head has a new (I think) sly grin of someone who's ready for competition. And the hair is the same mold that came with the nurse, but now in orangish-brown. A very worthy fig!

Snowboarder

Yet another female, in a great winter outfit. The helmet is dark pink, which I believe is a new color. And the snow board is awesome. I don't know if the piece is new, but this one is nicely decorated with snowflakes. A great winter fig.

Space Cyborg / Pirate

This guy's all sorts of messed up. Peg leg, robotic arm, half his head mechanical. But he had the new space gun and a Blacktron logo on his torso. There's no doubting his evilness.

Mummy

Of the seven figs I got, this was the only one I didn't guess right when feeling the bag. (I mistook the scorpion for a hairpiece) Anyway, he's relatively creepy, and has printing of wrappings on his arms, legs, front and back torso. And, as visible on the head and torso front, there's some grimy green skin beneath the white wrappings. Don't let this mummy get ahold of you... or even worst, get attacked by his dark red pet scorpion, who I have now decided to name Fluffy.

Hula Girl

My personal favorite of the bunch, I think it's been a long time coming to have a Lego Hula girl. Her brown maracas helped give her bag away... that and the hair piece. The maracas would also double for chocolate apples, IMO. And there's a flower painted in the hair piece, which I think is a nice touch. The grass skirt is okay... although I think it would've been better painted on, rather than placed on like a cape (only over the legs). But overall, this is still a great fig, just waiting to say "Aloha" to you as you hop off the plane on Oahu.

Samurai

This guy's sword and helmet gave him away. Overall, he's a great addition, with a nifty torso and plenty of armor. I like him since I never got the ninja sets.

Elf

Strangely enough, soon after I found a bag that felt like it contained the elf (it was the shield that I could distinctively feel) some other people started feeling the bags, and mentioned that they were looking for an elf. I kept my mouth shut. Anyway, he's got a great scheme, with a large bow (is that a new design) and a cool shield. And it turns out, yes, he does have ears! They're not extensions of his minifig head, as I previously though. Rather, they're slight extension of his hair, which also happen to be colored yellow to match the head. It's easy to miss in most of the pictures I've seen of him, but he does have the ears, which makes the new hair mold remarkable. He's ready to march to Helm's Deep and help Rohan defend against the Orcs of Isengard.

That's all for now. I admit, I still want a few more. Particularly, the ape man, and perhaps the baseball player (I found a couple in the store, but didn't want to grab too many) or the fisherman (which I've heard are the rarest of the bunch... and I actually did find one this morning, but it was gone by the time I got back) Other than that, I got pretty much all the figs I wanted from this line...