Review: 71027 Collectable Minifigures Series 20 (Part 2)
Posted by CapnRex101,
71027 Collectable Minifigures Series 20 featured various exceptional minifigures during part one of this review, including the indomitable Viking and the brilliant Tournament Knight. I anticipate this standard continuing throughout the second part of our extensive review.
Section two includes the new Super Warrior, the Marine Biologist and the Drone Pilot, among other interesting characters!
Minifigures
The armoured Super Warrior was undoubtedly inspired by Power Rangers and therefore resembles the popular Red Ranger. His black visor and angular designs are immediately recognisable, although they presumably differ sufficiently from the Power Rangers to negate any licensing. I think the warrior looks striking, due in particular to the bronze and metallic gold decoration on his unique helmet.
Golden printing continues across the torso and legs, alongside contrasting black and white highlights. The dual-moulded boots are superb and I love the shoulder armour which is printed across both arms as well. The head underneath the helmet seems reasonably bland in my opinion, although this severe expression does befit the character.
Numerous unusual swords have appeared throughout the NINJAGO theme and this crackling energy blade was originally designed for the Elemental Blades that emerged during 2013. However, this trans-green and white example is new and I think it looks fantastic beside the Super Warrior, complementing his bright red armour.
Several martial artists have populated earlier Collectable Minifigures series but the Martial Arts Boy specialises in nunchaku. His white gi looks familiar though, resembling the Karate Master from series two. Nevertheless, such simple attire seems authentic and I like the black sash that continues around both sides of the torso and onto the legs.
The emblem printed on the torso and headband is especially appealing, taking inspiration from a 2x2 brick. This design appears consistently across the minifigure, including on both sides of the head with smiling and determined facial expressions. Moreover, I like the black hair element that was introduced for Professor Flitwick and has subsequently appeared in other shades, although black is new.
However, the most impressive aspect of this minifigure is certainly his accessory. Brick-built nunchaku are comparatively common but this exclusive weapon appears remarkably accurate, comprising pearl silver and black plastic. There was some speculation that the handles might be separate parts, formed by 2L bars, but they are dual-moulded with the silver chain which is unfortunate.
Much like the aforementioned Martial Arts Boy, the Athlete resembles multiple previous Collectable Minifigures. Nevertheless, her vest with red highlights around the edges looks splendid and the race number is fun. Inverting the number '0937' spells the word 'LEGO' and the same design adorns each side of the torso, as demonstrated below.
Dual-moulded legs form realistic shorts and trainers which are separated by a narrow strip of yellow flesh. Furthermore, an attractive mountain logo appears on the shorts, originating from City People Packs and returning from the Rugby Player who was released during 2019. The double-sided head is simply decorated with beads of sweat but the hair piece is disappointing as this element is used rather frequently.
Unlike previous athletes who have been focused primarily upon the track, this minifigure carries two accessories from field events. The white javelin has not been available in this shade before and I like the accompanying discus that makes effective use of a printed 2x2 round tile. Moreover, a gold medal hangs neatly around the Athlete's neck. This element last appeared during 2012!
Series One of the Collectable Minifigures featured the Deep Sea Diver and it feels appropriate that a similar character should appear on the tenth anniversary. The new Marine Biologist includes pieces from the 2010 minifigure but the colour scheme and printing have been completely updated. I did like the colourful original design but these dual-moulded arms and legs seem more appropriate.
Vibrant coral and dark azure streaks adorn the wetsuit and I love the tiny turtle symbol at the centre. This character also sports matching flippers which are appearing in dark azure for the first time here. The trans-light blue snorkel also looks good and I like this face, although no alternative expression is included. A surprised face might have been suitable, following an underwater discovery.
While this minifigure is certainly impressive, her accessories are even better. The new turtle element looks absolutely adorable, combining medium nougat and olive green shades and featuring beautiful texture across the shell. This animal can connect to any studded surface. Bright green foliage is also provided along with another trans-clear stand, enabling you to display the biologist with her flippers.
Two colourful Brick Suit characters appeared in the eighteenth series of Collectable Minifigures and another colour arrives with the Anniversary Brick Suit Guy. This bright green design looks brilliant and the chest component continues to impress, featuring standard studs across the front and further attachment points on the reverse. These could both prove extremely useful.
Furthermore, this textured hair piece returns from Soldier: 76 in the Overwatch range, albeit now in medium nougat which looks wonderful. The head only features one expression but it does look nice, displaying an enormous smile! Presumably the Anniversary Brick Suit Guy is delighted to have been chosen for celebrating the tenth year of Collectable Minifigures.
I think his accessory could have been improved though. This light bluish grey and metallic silver tile matches the packaging for series 20 which is welcome but a simple 2x2 tile feels inadequate for this occasion. Something more akin to the tiny Collectable Minifigure packets that were provided with the Birthday Party Boy or a minifigure group portrait would definitely have been preferable.
Musical characters are relatively commonplace throughout the range but the 80s Musician appears distinctive, including a dark tan hair piece that was originally created for Luke Skywalker. It is equally fitting here though and the head looks lovely, including a confident smile on one side with an unusual singing face on the other.
This minifigure wears a black tour jacket which is certainly evocative of the 1980s and I like the pink lightning bolt on his white shirt underneath. The same colour appears on the reverse of this garment, also complementing the pink legs which feature a black belt across the front. I think patches on these trousers or the jacket sleeves would have improved the minifigure further.
Few musical instruments are as intrinsically associated with the 1980s as the keytar and this unique accessory includes exceptional texture. It has been designed to match existing guitar accessories so minifigures can grip the neck and another handgrip is placed behind the body. Unfortunately, the keys have been printed upside down which is frustrating and I hope this will be corrected in the future.
Hermione Granger introduced an impressive new hair piece during 2018 and this element appears in blonde with the Pyjama Girl. It looks wonderful here and the head seems appropriate, despite closely resembling some past designs. No alternative expression is included though which feels like a missed opportunity as a sleeping face would have been ideal.
The pink pyjamas look marvellous though. White bunnies are printed on both sides of the torso and each arm, reflecting her accessory. It would have been brilliant if the printing had continued onto the legs but LEGO has not printed short legs before, presumably because their present equipment is not designed to enable such decoration.
An excellent teddy bear was created for the Sleepyhead from series six of the Collectable Minifigures and a similar accessory appears here. However, this component takes inspiration from a bunny rabbit. It looks absolutely delightful and features some nice printing, including two large eyes beside white fur on the chest. The rabbit also includes a hole beneath its feet for connecting to studs.
Drones have become increasingly prevalent within LEGO City during recent years, especially when deployed by the emergency services. However, the Drone Pilot includes a civilian drone and seems quite generic, sporting a teal baseball cap and green jacket with dark blue trousers. This combination looks surprisingly effective and the hooded jacket features realistic creasing.
The shirt under that jacket is even more interesting though, displaying an emblem from 6399 Airport Shuttle! The connection between this minifigure and the classic monorail is unclear but the reference certainly appeals to LEGO fans. Additionally, this head is distinctive. A plaster is applied on his cheek and the expression of concentration is perfectly suited to the Drone Pilot.
New and existing elements are combined to outstanding effect on the drone. The rotor arms piece is brand new and includes holes which can receive four black rotors. They were introduced during 2019 but have not appeared in black previously and the camera underneath is ingeniously formed using an Overwatch pistol. The minifigure can accordingly carry his drone and the controller is printed on a 2x2 curved corner tile.
Overall
Recent series of Collectable Minifigures have proven exceptionally enjoyable and 71027 Collectable Minifigures Series 20 contains some superb characters. My favourites include the Tournament Knight, the Viking, the Super Warrior and the Marine Biologist. However, several of these minifigures compare unfavourably with previous examples or do not appear sufficiently distinctive in my opinion.
Moreover, certain minifigures lack interesting accessories and alternative expressions, both of which have become prerequisites within the Collectable Minifigures theme. The price of £3.49 or $4.99 also seems expensive, especially since 71026 DC Super Heroes Collectable Minifigures was licensed and every minifigure included an accompanying trans-clear stand. Even so, some splendid minifigures are undoubtedly available here, albeit slightly fewer than in previous series from my perspective.
You can read part one of this review here.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your opinion of the minifigures in the comments below.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review is an expression of my own opinions.
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49 comments on this article
80’s musician looks like Billy from Stranger Things!
Where’s the plastic straw with the turtle and marine biologist?? ;-)
Missed opportunity... *eye roll*
That power ranger though... pretty awesome says me.
I'm going to use the 80's musician hair to make a Martin Riggs minifig.
Thanks for the reviews. While there are some minifigures that seem bland (especially the super warrior and to some extent the brick suit guy) most seem excellent and I'm happy I preordered a whole box. Looking forward to guessing which bag contains which...but in the comfort of my living room and not in a toy store ;).
I want: Marine Biologist, Viking, Drone Guy, Rocket Girl and the Pirate only so one of two things, feel them in the store (seems easy here) or just buy them online.
These are all good figures but not $5 good figures
Anyone else think the Viking helmets could be used en masse for a Lord of the Rings army?
Even though these are perfectly fine figures as they are, the whole Minifigures theme has almost completely lost its former glory. All of these characters are some kind of a repeat from existing character categories: historical, everyday life, musical, costumed or sports. I still vividly remember being amused by the great surprises every new series offered in the past. I don't see any here.
I really hope they make a vast change in the whole series design process. Otherwise this line will be dead.
I think it’s great that they’re still coming up with new designs even if many of them are similar to characters that have been done before. You have to keep in mind that this line started 10 years ago. 10 year olds today were only just born when CMFs came out first, and parents might only be buying their kids these for the first time, and they wouldn’t have had a chance to get the first version of the hip-hop guy with mic and boombox, for example. So for many kids these might be their first chance to get figures like these. They could potentially re-use some ideas for generations if they wanted, it mightn’t please some AFOLS but it’s important to remember that we aren’t the target audience. Anyway I think we’ve been treated very fairly with the variety of figures that have been added to our collections over the years.
Long live LEGO Minifigures! :)
How much are they in the UK?
As usual, I like the historical warrior characters, but the girl with the ghetto blaster and the keytar guy would also be very nice additions to my collection. I take your point, though, about some of these being a bit underwhelming. I'm not sure if that's any more true than it was for previous series (though IMO they'll never beat the monster-themed one), but sadly the price point means they really need to be pulling off their A-game with every figure. In any case, I'll have to be lucky and find these on sale, because £3.49 is just more than I can justify for one CMF...
$5.00 = No longer interested
Athlete, Marine Biologist, and Drone Pilot (maybe multiple) for the second part for me.
Drone Boy is the target here for me, being a UAS pilot myself.
However the price tag is pretty high, & definitely dissuades me from picking up many others...
Normally I would be out feeling minifigure baggies at one of my local shops, but that's just irresponsible right now, given that I could expose or be exposed to COVID-19, so I preordered a full set from an online seller. They'll all be opened when I get them, so some of the fun will be gone, but it was the right thing to do.
I was hoping that the $5 price point would only be for the liscenced figures... that's disappointing. I still remember the days where you could get two for five, oh well. A lot of these figures look nice, but the price hikes continue to annoy me.
The pyjamas girl, karate kid, and the 80s rock star are great minifigs. Looking forward to this CMF series.
$5 is stupid expensive for nothing better than we had years ago.
Luckily Walmart had them for $3.44, so I was able to get most of what I wanted. Just missing pirate lady and pajama girl.
The Viking helmet would look great for Rohirrim, but it looks best with a big bushy beard. Without the beard there is a huge gap in front.
monorail Monorail MONORAIL!
£3.49.... too much! They aren’t even jumping in small price increases, 10/20p here and there. It’s a 50p jump. I bet we can all remember when the first series came out at £1.99.
1.99
2.49
2.99
3.49
See the pattern and guess what the next jump will be ??
The drone boy's shirt, besides promoting the lego monorail, could stand in for anyone whose school's name or mascot begins with a T and uses red or orange as a color. Even more excited for him now!
"I like this face, although no alternative expression is included. A surprised face might have been suitable, following an underwater discovery."
Obviously, she hasn't seen a rock lobster!
@TransNeonOrangeSpaceman said:
"Even though these are perfectly fine figures as they are, the whole Minifigures theme has almost completely lost its former glory. All of these characters are some kind of a repeat from existing character categories: historical, everyday life, musical, costumed or sports. I still vividly remember being amused by the great surprises every new series offered in the past. I don't see any here"
I kind of feel like thats the point. This is the tenth anniversary of the collectable minifig line, so they're redoing some of the old favourites. Same as how they've done revamped legacy sets for both Star Wars and Ninjago
All I can think about when I see the Athlete's javelin is that video of a track & field event where one of the officials had a javelin pass clean through his shoulder. And they gave us all three ranks of trophy figs. What's taking them so long giving us the silver and bronze medals?
The diver...that outfit is great for swimming in shallow, warm, tropical waters, but the deeper you go, the further from the equator you go, or the more off-season you go, the more you need to consider wearing a fully-body wetsuit so you don't get hypothermia. You don't see a lot of shark documentaries where people wear wetsuits of this style, but it's fine for snorkeling in the Bahamas.
They have printed short legs several times, but mostly they stick to the feet. They've even printed the tops of feet, which is odd when you think about it. Sides have been printed at least once, and one version of Bart Simpson even had a slingshot printed in his back pocket. But if you look at regular legs with print, they never get right up to the foot, so short legs leave _very_ little printable area on the front.
@Aegis2000:
It's a spangenhelm, which came from the Middle-East, and became widely popular across all of Europe. The Rohan were modeled after the Anglo-Saxons, but I always felt they had a Viking flavor (being half-Viking myself) in large part due to how closely associated this style of helmet became with Viking culture. And the giant mead-hall didn't hurt.
@NorthJ90:
Could be worse:
$1.99
$2.99
$3.99
$4.99
We're already 2.5x the cost of S1, while you're only 1.75x the cost.
I was excited when this was announced, and planned to buy most of them, as well as multiples of the viking and knight. However, because of the price increase, I don't plan to buy any now, unless at a realy good discount or maybe on the secondary market.
I do love the Red Ranger. His suit suggests some Super Sentai/Ranger heritage (and lord knows, they've now got fodder to make four or five more of them, in different colours obviously), but his helmet looks more like a Kamen Rider. Still, I like him.
The Kamen Ranger and Gary Moore-with-synthaxe are the best.
A little disappointed the nunchaku are not truly brick-build using separate 2m shafts.
I've always wondered what process TLG uses to mold parts with interlinked chains like that. Would be cool to get an article about how that's done.
@PurpleDave said:
"The diver...that outfit is great for swimming in shallow, warm, tropical waters, but the deeper you go, the further from the equator you go, or the more off-season you go, the more you need to consider wearing a fully-body wetsuit so you don't get hypothermia. You don't see a lot of shark documentaries where people wear wetsuits of this style, but it's fine for snorkeling in the Bahamas."
Sea turtles live in warmer waters, so I think the snorkeler's apparel is quiet appropriate here.
@obiron17 said:
"80’s musician looks like Billy from Stranger Things!"
I know right? I made the connection right when I saw the minifig!
The martial arts kid is daniel from the Karate Kid movies, which makes him a little more interesting
CMF series 21: History Channel (historic persons)
CMF series 22: "Europe" (one for each nation)
CMF series 23: Pirates and Castle (just because one never can have enough pirates and knights)
CMF series licenced: Lord of the Rings (as an apology for ending a great theme way to early)
I like the Red Ranger. I have one of the original Megablocks Power Rangers (the red one which is a coincidence!). The original MB ones are more minifig looking. The later ones had giant heads and a bit more 'cartoon' looking. I don't know if this change was due to any legal reasons....
The MB Power Ranger I own actually belongs to my daughter really. She was obsessed with Power Rangers when she was age 4/5 (almost 12 now). I will have to get her this Lego Red Ranger for the nostalgia.
The 80s Rock guy looks like he could be Andrea (from Friends) manager for her music career. He would be tough but caring. The reason there are so few boy minidolls are because he keeps the boys away so she can focus on her music.
Love the mullet from 80's musician. I just noticed that the walmart near me is selling these for $3.44, so I'll probably make a trip down there and pick some of these up. I wouldn't at $5.
too many do-overs and genderswaps of previous figs and the new ones are largely uninspiring. the power ranger is horrid, can't fathom the love for it although that might be my age.
ive always gone after CMFs for new parts and prints but even here im underwhelmed. im pining for another themed but non licensed collection like the monsters.
@darkstonegrey:
Steve Witt did a little trivia contest at NMRA 2007 where one of the questions was to identify the most complicated mold he'd ever seen. The long chain was the answer. We never did find out how it worked, unfortunately.
The loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback species are known to get all the way to the southern coast of Alaska, but this doesn't look like any specific species (definitely not a leatherback). Regardless, the comment in the review was that wetsuit seemed "more appropriate" than the full-body design from S1. I like that they're continuing to introduce more variety into their wetsuit designs (and hope to see a male version soon), but I do actually see a problem with the overall look. If it's warm enough to wear a short-limbed wetsuit...wouldn't you ditch the hood? They do apparently exist, though they're not very common. But in terms of adding a swim mask, the S16 Spy is still the only minifig that has visor-compatible hair, which is one huge change that I'd like to see them make (and doubt they will).
@Delatron:
While there is definitely something to be said for the cohesively-themed series, there are also a ton of minifigs that beg for counterparts. We still only have one soccer player (outside of store grand openings), one football player, the only blue boxer is from Team GB, and there are a ton of great minifig designs that are currently gender-locked. Repeating these minifig archtypes is a great way to allow you to pit two teams against each other, pair up historical characters (Pharaoh, Cleopatra, and Egyptian Warrior), or just give both boys and girls some of the same options.
@utlf said:
" @legoguy said:
"I'm going to use the 80's musician hair to make a Martin Riggs minifig. "
It was also available on Luke from Episode 8"
That Luke hair is more of a Lethal Weapon 3 vibe though...
Excellent review and minifigures!
Hoping to pick them up!
With how good the Super Warrior looks, they should bring out a licensed version of the MMPRs
AM I only one that don;t like when they make new piece when there is perfect looking brickbuild one?
Here with Nunchaku, previous with baloon from example. This is wasting molds in my eyes.
ALso, 80% of these figures look more like 2-3$ figures, not exclusive limited editions.
Seriously we got better and more exclusive figures in CITY Sets!!!
The knight not having armor or at least new printed cape is a joke.
Why even it has new sword mold? WASTING MOLDS once again
@lordofdragonss:
But they don't have a perfect looking brickbuilt nunchaku. For starters, everything is too big. They used 3L flextube or T-handles for the shafts, and they shortened/streamlined them on this. They have giant stud attachments at the top, and this reduces them almost 50% in diameter. And they have five links of chain between the ends, while this reduces that to only two. The whole thing is so huge that you can't really give a minifig more than one pair because it'll be dragging on the ground behind him like a security blanket.
Then the brickbuilt solution has the links attach to the sides of the shafts rather than the ends. And if you build them with flex-tube, that stuff gets chewed up very quickly by the minifig hand design (I really wish they'd redesign it to give the "fingers" radiused tips like the way they're doing with all the parts that have clips).
Now, for myself, I'd prefer if they'd made this with brown shafts, but I'm still planning to get a bunch of these to hand out to all my TMNT Mikey minifigs. With the new design, I think it might be possible to start making more dynamic attack poses on layouts.
But as for why you get these pieces? It's because of how the CMF theme is organized. They get a lot more latitude when it comes to making new molds than any other theme (most series introduce at least ten new elements), but the flip side of that is that these elements have been traditionally locked to the CMF team unless someone else could pitch a good reason for why they should be able to make a new mold (keeping in mind that until the HP series, all CMF parts were made in China so any "ported" element needed a new mold cut in Europe). So, as long as they stayed in budget, they could make wildly new elements if they wanted, or just slightly improve on existing ones. I mean, they had to make duplicate molds for a lot of really basic parts, too, so it's not really a big deal to slightly change a design if you're going to have to make another mold anyways.
I want the pajama girl SO badly! But because of the quarantine, I can't get her ??
@Slobrojoe said:
"How much are they in the UK?"
£3.49 x
@Gwanny007 thanks, no one was giving a straight answer for the uk
@Slobrojoe:
Prices for UK and US are both listed at the end of the article, below the group shot. At least one other person listed the UK price while complaining about it. What's not listed here is the EU price, but I'm thinking the EUR and USD prices are the same.
@Icequeen_99 said:
"I want the pajama girl SO badly! But because of the quarantine, I can't get her ??"
Try Walmart. Others have mentioned getting this series there. LEGO.com will get them eventually
@singlow:
I was out grocery shopping and saw a few of these hanging on the endcap at Target. Then I saw a bunch of them laid out on the shelf next to it. I kept walking.
@Aegis2000 said:
"Anyone else think the Viking helmets could be used en masse for a Lord of the Rings army?"
In a different color it would work almost perfectly for the helmet Eowyn wears
OK, so that's Danny LaRusso taken care of. Please let Johnny Lawrence come out within the next few waves.