Review: 5005359 Minifigure Collector Frame

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View image at Flickr

From October 15-31, the gift with a purchase of $75 or more is a minifigure collector frame. Today we'll take a closer look at it so you can decide if it's something you want to add for displaying your minifigures. Since I recently managed to acquire the full set of CMF 18, I thought I'd see how the frame worked for that series.

The frame also boasts an exclusive minifigure. The minifigure is dressed for the beach in a tank top with a muffin logo on the front and a pair of blue shorts. He's ready for the water and not worried about drowning as he has his rubber ducky flotation device. He has a double sided head with one side showing an open mouthed smile and a pair of cool blue sunglasses.

View image at flickr

The other side of his head shows the alternate expression, which I'm interpreting as a bit of a "come hither" look. Maybe the muffin top and the rubber ducky are popular with the ladies?

The rear view of the minifig shows that there's nice detailing on the back showing by the drape of the tank top and the detailed piping on the edges.

View image at flickr

The frame itself is pretty simple: a 32x32 baseplate with a supporting cardboard frame. There are sufficient pieces included with the frame to make 16 minifig "stands". A 2x2 tile with the LEGO logo is also included, which I think is a nice touch.

View image at flickr

The back of the frame shows that there are two means of displaying the frame: a hole for a nail so the frame can be hung and a flap that can be pulled out so the frame can be displayed on a shelf or table.

View image at flickr

Of course, having the baseplate means that the minifig stands can be moved as needed, as in this case when the clown hat made the minifigure a little too tall for the space originally provided.

View image at flickr

Here I've put several of the CMF 18 minifigures in the frame.

View image at flickr

I wasn't able to put all of the series in frame. One of the limitations of the frame is that the stands aren't deep enough to allow for minifigures that have a rear attachment to fit neatly. Therefore, minifigures such as the race car boy, the dragon, the birthday cake boy and others aren't able to fit.

Overall thoughts

This is a good basic minifigure display case for standard minifigures. I wouldn't say that it's a practical alternative for some of the more ornate CMFs because of the lack of depth of the stands. Also, because there is no front window, dust will also be an issue for minifigs displayed over time. I do like that a baseplate is used so that the stands can be moved around as needed. I didn't take pictures, but this frame can be used for mini-dolls, too.

Many thanks to the LEGO Group for providing Brickset with a copy of this set. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

34 comments on this article

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By in United Kingdom,

I am hopefully getting one with my purchase this am, I am glad you get 16, for a moment from the Pic I thought that's about right most CMF are 16 and yet you get 15 stands..... But by the looks you get 16 and you can easily add more from your own parts in other colours etc. Sounds like a starter for those thinking about proper display cases.... Wonder if they will be available for sale at any point.....?

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By in United States,

A neat little set. Generally I break up my minifigures so that I can use the parts to make custom figs, so I wouldn't have a use for it, although I do really want that Lego tile.

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By in United Kingdom,

Hmm... $75 for a unique minifigure, seems a bit steep.

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By in United Kingdom,

More seriously, could you put a wide plate across several of the stands, to include the wider minifigures?

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By in United Kingdom,

I like this Alot however the frame would of been better & more sturdy made out of wood or a hard plastic,
The minifig included with this is very cute & detailed love the new hair piece,
They are always welcome in my collection and the rubber duck ring, also a nice touch..

I do reckon the minifig will be sold separately on ebay soon for £20-30 because its so unique and sort after..

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By in United States,

If I got the frame I'd make a Lego mosaic on the base plate and hang it up. ;)

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By in United Kingdom,

I thought it was wood not card board

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By in France,

@the_SWEDISH : make a mosaic maybe.

how sturdy is it? a risk it gets crushed by other boxes in the packaging?

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By in United Kingdom,

The best thing about the minifig is the slightly risque joke with the t-shift..... I'm guessing the plate is annoyingly glued to the cardboard so it can't just be extracted as a spare plate...

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By in United States,

The alternate expression could be what's known as a "duck face" (in the US at least), which further adds to the puns already present on this minifigure.

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By in United States,

The minifigure seems like a really odd choice. It's certainly not enough of a defined concept for a CMF, so he feels a little like a "Fun in the [x]" City set reject. Also, why was this the place to introduce a '90s hair piece? Surely that'd be first used in a set or CMF series.

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By in Puerto Rico,

Oh I am so getting a few sets this weekend to see if I nab both this and Solo mudtrooper (this is great for the occasion).

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By in United Kingdom,

Useful info in this review; inspired me to fire off an order just now!

Just as a PSA in the UK: I bought £59.99 worth of SW LEGO, and got this MF frame & 40288 BB-8 as free gifts! They seem to have run out of mudtroopers, but the BB-8 was a much more welcome surprise.

Get in quick! (Through Brickset links!)

EDIT: And double VIP points too!! Now is the time to buy...

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By in United Kingdom,

@8BrickMario they actually already did introduce the hairpiece in a CMF series, the Harry Potter series, with Prof Flitwick ;) albeit in a different colour.

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By in United Kingdom,

Oh and I can make out “Stud” written on the LEGO stud on top of the muffin, so he’s a Stud Muffin! Hahahah! :)

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By in Belgium,

Haha In like the interpretation of the 'come hither' look ;)

Thanks for the timely review.

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By in United Kingdom,

I thought the facial expression was Blue Steel. Or perhaps Magnum - it's finally ready!

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By in United States,

The alt face is "duck lips" for taking selfies. Darn Millenials! :D

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By in United States,

Yep. Won't catch me spending $75 just for this.
No thanks

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By in United States,

Is it possible to remove the baseplate from the cardboard frame? I can never run out of ways to display my minifigs so this is a nice GWP during a double VIP period!

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By in United States,

Hate to complain about a free item but dang, they couldn't spring for a plastic frame? We can get better constructed framed from the dollar store here. Such a shame to cheap out like this for a $75 promo.

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By in Australia,

Nice Minifigure and the rest will be a parts pack, the baseplate should be okay once a scrape the glue off :D

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By in Australia,

Muffin Top.....

I kinda want the fig...

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By in Poland,

the minifig is great <3 though I rarely get lego from official lego store, it is usually 15-20% cheaper to get it in some toystores.

the frame is a bit meeeh... I hate the look of studs behind the minifigs, it's distracting and would probably have to get a lot of tiles in black or white or smth to cover it nicely... tho free plate is always a free plate

@clra2

if it is glued just leave it in the water for few days... how hard is it to remove cardboard from a plastic

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By in France,

according to reviews of precedent similar frames, pretty damn hard.

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By in Germany,

I finally used this promo as an excuse to buy the Porg.
Double VIP points on the Porg, this frame for free, plus a free BB-8. I had slightly hoped for the mudtrooper, especially as I already got the BB-8 at a different promo last year, but not to worry.

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By in New Zealand,

Okay, it's free, but really it's a bit"meh", innit? Not sure what I'll do with mine. The cardboard frame seems a bit of a cop-out so durability will be questionable - it looks like this will become a bare baseplate!

Since I'm not really a minifig person, what's more likely is that I'll add a brick built frame and some 3D "art". I suspect that there'll be plenty of other people doing the same thing.

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By in United States,

I ordered a Sandcrawler and was able to get this, the Han Solo figure, and double points. Hard to pass up.

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By in Australia,

The minifig is cute, but I can't see the actual frame being all that useful, particularly since deeper figures won't fit at all.

Gosh, who'd you have to rob, to get hold of the classic policeman?

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By in Germany,

@Zordboy: what's so difficult about getting the policeman?
In the CMF box, it is in the left row, fifth from the back. All Boxes appear to be filled that way. I got my policemen the same way. As did everyone I know who was looking to get one.
Actually I would go as far as to say it is one of the easiest CMF figures to find ever.
Sure, if the box has been rummaged through already you are out of luck. But simply ask the store person when they get new boxes and try then. Over here the figures are shelf huggers anyway, due to their price, so chances are good one is lucky at the first try. :-)

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By in Australia,

Your review saves me from a panic purchase for sure.
The lack of front cover is annoying.Or just buy a ribba frame from IKEA and they all fit then.

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By in Norway,

Just got mine today, and while the figure is great and the printed tile sweet, I’m going to go all ocd over the fact that the baseplate is stuck in 90 degrees wrong...

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By in Australia,

Darn it, I made a purchase online yesterday for about $130 but this wasn't included in my order. They must have run out of stock! Don't care about the frame, just wanted the minifig!

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