Review: The Highwayman!
Posted by Huw,
At last, we've been given the go-ahead to reveal the 16th figure of series 17 collectable minifigures: The Highwayman!
I guess LEGO wanted to have a bit of fun with this figure to inject some mystery and excitement into its marketing campaign by not revealing it with the others.
It may well have been successful in keeping the identity a secret from Joe Public but I'm sure most of you will have found pictures on other fan sites by now given they've been turning up in shops since the beginning of the month.
Anyway, if you've not seen it yet and you're expecting something spectacular I think you'll be disappointed. It's a nice figure but not really worthy of such special treatment.
Wikipedia tells us "A highwayman was a robber who stole from travellers. This type of thief usually travelled and robbed by horse. Such robbers operated in Great Britain from the Elizabethan era until the early 19th century."
Dick Turpin is perhaps the most well known highwayman and this figure appears to be inspired by screen depictions of the character, attired in tricorne, cloak, long black overcoat and knee-high boots.
The cape is, I believe, new. Unlike the common variant it has collars, which look great.
He's armed with a pair of flintlock pistols of the type favoured by LEGO Pirates since 1989, although this is only the piece's second appearance in pearl dark grey, the first being in Silent Mary.
The arms are printed with buttons and cuffs, but the back of the torso is blank; it can't be seen under the cape anyway.
So there you have it, the mystery figure revealed at last. Was it worth the wait?
If we ran another poll asking 'which series 17 minifigure are you most excited about?' do you think it would be #4 again?
76 likes
54 comments on this article
Worst kept secret ever! Okay, maybe not. I don't know anyone who didn't know what this figure was going to be way before time.
That said, it is quite a nice figure, certainly not worthy of special treatment I'll agree. I'd have liked for some hair or something printed on the back of the head as the expanse of blank yellow doesn't look quite right.
I was a highwayman, along the coach roads I did ride...
It's a nice figure and I will certainly get at least one. But all that mystery was just a waste of time and effort and I hope that they don't repeat that exercise any time soon. In fact TLG, don't do it again, ever.
Could you upload a photo of his unmasked face please? Or do you want to keep that part a mystery now? ;P
Going by the reddish eyes he is a decendant of the evil dwarf and pirate captain
Is the cloak made from the old (starched) fabric or the new felt fabric? At least the mystery figure gave us a new cloak/cape; hope to see it more often
+shaase while I can't confirm it myself, judging from the pictures it looks very stiff like the old capes. The material also looks like the classic and rough cape.
Meh. A whole load of fuss about a whole lot of nothing. Rocket boy or retro spaceman would have been far better candidates for the mystery figure treatment.
Yes, it's the old cape material.
Sword and pistol by my side
I was wondering.. I always thought that LEGO claimed that it would never manufacture copies of arms etc.. did I got that wrong or somewhere in the course of development they stepped aside from this philosophy and e.g. pirate guns are not a problem?
They are OK in fictional, historical and futuristic contexts but we'll never see armed robbers in City sets.
He looks cool he has a old Lego pirate hat
@crazyxmp: There may have been a time long ago when LEGO would not release guns like this — in the early days of LEGO Castle, designer Niels Milan Pedersen created a custom skeleton minifigure and put it in the dungeon of a prototype Castle as a joke, and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen threatened to fire him if it ever happened again. The higher-ups at LEGO were THAT bothered by the idea of death or violence entering into a LEGO set. They also were reluctant to put grey or green bricks in sets for some time, fearing they'd be used to make tanks, and only allowed the laser cannons on Classic Space sets because they were presented as "sensor arrays".
By the 90s, these attitudes had obviously mellowed out, with LEGO introducing flintlock pistols, muskets, and cannons in 1989, ghost figures in 1990, skeleton figures in 1995, and rifles and revolvers in 1996. Nowadays LEGO's policy is not to include realistic, modern-day violence in sets, but to allow violent conflict in fantasy or historical contexts like Pirates, Space, Super Heroes, Star Wars, or Ninjago. It's a change that was a long time coming.
1 favorite series 17 minifig! I got him about a week ago, along with the Gladiator. Who says a Highwayman can't be a hero?
On the topic of LEGO and weapons: the policy is to not make realistic modern weapons in its city sets yet the superhero sets (which take part in a modern city setting) are filled with them.
The back of his head looks unfinished. sad day
Great looking figure. Not sure where I'll fit him in in my collection, but he'll look great either way. In terms of him being a mystery, more of a mystery than say a licensed Kidrobot or Funko blind box fig where you can actually identify the silhouette.
Too much fuss on the mystery aspect, but I really like this minifig.
Nice enough, but agree that he's nothing outstanding.
It would be nice to see him without the cape and scarf to see how useful the parts are for other period characters.
Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, riding through the land: he steals from the rich to give to the poor, Mister Moore, Mister Moore, forever-more...
(If you've seen Monty Python's Flying Circus, you'll may know what I'm talking about!)
I think the highwayman is completely fine as a mystery figure. Perhaps LEGO was just seeing if this marketing strategy boosts sales by giving the public something to think about. Or maybe there's something really spectacular about the highwayman as a minifigure? Maybe the exact 100,000th unique minifigure design from LEGO? (I'm guessing and did not search this up)
Badass figure. I'm gonna be doing a steampunk airship and I think this will be a good figure to use or borrow parts from.
Looks cool and would love to have it but I won't die if I don't own it.
This is exactly what I was expecting, so I'm happy. I think the figure looks great and is best of Series 17.
needs Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson.
as for Dennis Moore:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwY98217hFE
"Hand over your lupins"
I'm with Murdoch17 on this one. Please Lego, give us a Chapman-esque King Arthur with coconut halves as accessories and an armoured Biggus from TLOB. Ps loved you in the A-Team.
Its definitely not special. Much better figures in series 17. I wonder if the 'mystery hype' was worth it. There was only 1 box on shelf in my Tesco unlike the normal full display towers, so obviously the initial hype period didn't follow through with orders from stores. Presumably Tesco will order more but by then the hype will be forgotten.
Are the legs dual-mold? i couldn't be sure from the pictures...
Yes
Why the secret?! LOL.
Stand and deliver, your money or your life!
He's about average by CMF standards. Certainly not worthy of the confected hype.
thanks all who replied for very interesting views on the subject of "weapons in Lego".
Hmmmm.. I really was hoping the rumors were false and this would turn out to be a Mr, You'll Never Find Me. It would have been fun tracking one down.
Nice fig, but as everyone else has said already, a little confused by the hype.
Yaaayy???????
is that meant to be my reaction lego?
Cool, I need those black flintlock pistols. ????????
Not collecting this series, but might try to feel up packs one day at TRU to find highwayman for spare LEGO pirate parts. Might! And why the hype? None of the figures in this series deserve to be the mystery figure. He ain't Mr. Gold, and he ain't rare either!
This figure looks nearly identical to what I expected from the "mysterious" Highwayman. I'm neither disappointed nor impressed but will certainly get one.
[sarcasm]Oh. Yay. A highwayman. What a surprise. I can hardly contain my excitement. I can sure understand why this was "secret".[/sarcasm]
One of the reasons I like this minifigure is that he reminds me of this: https://www.google.com/search?q=beyond+the+mask&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=x&ved=0ahukewikgqgoo8ptahvfpiykhqgidycq_auicygc&biw=1440&bih=776&safe=strictimgrc=9DhLE86cgkzy-M:. A seriously epic movie.
I feel like everyone bemoaning 'the hype' is missing the point. This figure was not hyped by LEGO in any way. The mystery surrounding it is not intended to drum up excitement among hardcore LEGO fans who go on sites like Brickset. Tons of people buy collectible minifigures, and they are impulse purchases that people who don't buy lots of other LEGO will still buy. By having a mystery figure on the packaging, they encourage people to buy even if none of the other figures appeal to them; and they encourage people to go online and read more about LEGO CMFs to find out who the mystery figure is (thus engaging in the LEGO marketing machine).
Not a terrible mini-figure.
Looks like an awesome minifigure. Perhaps not worth the 'mystery', but an excellent figure. I'm sure if he was treated like a normal figure a lot more people would like him.
I still envision making him a Headless Horseman. I just need to figure out what could go on his neck to keep the cape down.
@ResIpsaLoquitur - depending how you're displaying it, maybe a plain black or transparent head? In some lighting you could get away with the former, in particular...
I am so glad I managed to get a whole display of this series for a bargain. Now I can make a group of different highwaymen by swapping out the heads. :-)
Oh wow! I really like the figure. Though I am bummed he doesn't have an hair on his head.
What a shame they didn't put in any lupins with him.
No need to keep secrets for goodness sake! I like the hat, cape, and pistols for the colors that they come in. Not bad.
I love it. Picked myself up one today and he's going close to my top 5 CMF's!
@ResIpsaLoquitur Maybe a LotR ring? But it would likely get stuck, and it's chrome. Otherwise, I'm not sure.