Result: What is your favourite minifigure of 2021?

A worthy winner to be sure!

I think Mando deserved it much more, but c'est la vie...

I picked beskar mando because, despite how many sets he came in, he was a much-loved figure. The excitement when he was first rumored was insane

Having more boring minifigs in the top twenty is a blooming miracle. Yes, they are useful, but are they memorable? People who aren't even into Lego will look at that Sam Wilson minifig and be amazed at the detail and accuracy. Even if they don't know Marvel. I don't think they would be the same with the shipwreck survivor or a knight.

Saying that though, Nya is very impressive.

I think that setting the licensed aspects aside, Mando and Sam have earned their top spots! Both have a ton of detail on them, and taking a closer look shows even more small details. Seeing the wrist rockets and symbol on Mando's arms is just a treat!

As for a favorite non-licensed, Ancient Warrior is a favorite of mine. Lots of nice printing, a cool helmet, and a potential new character for Johnny Thunder to encounter on his adventures.

Many of the current figures feature wonderful printing. It is disappointing to see that the figures have been reduced to just that.

Sam is a really nice figure, but I didn't think he was the best of the year (and therefore didn't vote for him) for two main reasons. One, the wing assembly could have used at least two more points of articulation. Without it, you can't fold them around his body to act as a shield like he does in the show. Second, probably more minor, but I don't like the use of that hairpiece for this character. It was probably the only choice they had, but Sam/Anthony Mackie has much shorter hair in the show (and throughout the whole MCU). It just doesn't look that accurate to me. The printing on the figure is wonderful, but when you get to the design flaws of the wings and the appearance of the hair, it falls apart a little bit for me.

@Fire : I think the only Sam Wilson minifig with the type of wing you want is the bulkier brick-built one in 7604 , and even he has a thicker hairpiece, and the Redwing thrusters end up being a bit too long for ordinary storage on his back. It's harder to source the wings when they are regular pieces, and the CMF format is best when you want only one character. I'll grant that Falcon Cap can't use his wings as a shield, but these sleek detailed wings that dock with Redwing and even have some arc to them are the best implementation I've seen. I'd wanted an MCU Falcon minifigure for some time, and when this one came out, I knew it was the version I was waiting for.

Here's where we now suggest either separating this into two polls, licensed and non-licensed, and/or redoing the vote eliminating all but the top 7 (based on the this poll's numbers).

@guachi said:
"Congrats to the real winner, Shipwreck Survivor for being the best minifig not based on an IP. And for Beekeeper and Centaur Warrior for coming in second and third."

CMF 21 Proved it's worth with 5 in the top 20
Centaur Warrior, Beekeeper, Space Police Guy, Ancient Warrior and Shipwreck Survivor.
Surprizing is the low amount of Harry Potter.
Might suggest it's not just the number of fans but also the quality that counts.

I'm ok with the top 2 as they were both great figs, but I'm pretty surprised by the other high vote-getters. I had problems with a lot of the figs (e.g. the weak printing on Bro Thor) or just found them quite boring (e.g. Daredevil).

@tne328 said:
" @Fire : I think the only Sam Wilson minifig with the type of wing you want is the bulkier brick-built one in 7604 , and even he has a thicker hairpiece, and the Redwing thrusters end up being a bit too long for ordinary storage on his back. It's harder to source the wings when they are regular pieces, and the CMF format is best when you want only one character. I'll grant that Falcon Cap can't use his wings as a shield, but these sleek detailed wings that dock with Redwing and even have some arc to them are the best implementation I've seen. I'd wanted an MCU Falcon minifigure for some time, and when this one came out, I knew it was the version I was waiting for."

I think you mean 76104.

@Mjvizcarra said:
" I think you mean 76104. "

I did. Thanks for catching it.

Lego will charge the same amount for this amazingly detailed Sam Wilson 71031-5 with two new molds but will make 71032-6 Figure Skater the same price with NO new molds or leg or side leg printing or even an exclusive print on the trophy. What a joke. This reinforces that only licensed figure sets should've gone up in price (actually not all but you get the idea).

Congrats to Sam Wilson. I like most on that list, and he is one of 15 of the 20 that I have decisively collected. I would’ve favored the outcome 75% of the time anyway ;)

Thanks for the fun polling!

When I took a "straw poll" of the comments on the minifig voting page, counting 81 comments that clearly said "I voted for" or only indicated a preference for one minifig, Captain America (Sam Wilson) still won with 9 comments. He was followed by Beekeeper and Shipwreck Survivor with 7 each, then Black Falcon Knight and Nya NRG with 6. (I think Nya NRG was at a bit of a disadvantage because the minifig page failed to show the entire NRG water effect, while Sam got to keep the shield and wings.)

As far as the remaining top 5 in the actual vote, Mandalorian (beskar armor) had 3 comments indicating a vote, and Captain Carter and Daredevil each had 4 comments, while Bro Thor only had 2.

So I think this is a fair reminder that the comment section indicates the viewpoints of those
who feel strongly enough about a topic to comment, rather than the viewpoints of the community as a whole.

Surprised that Daredevil was 3rd. That was the one I voted for but there wasn’t much talk in the comments section prior to voting so thought he would be way down the list. Also surprised Bro Thor was 4th as that’s the worst one of the year for me.

Captain America deserved his place. Anyone who has seen the figure personally will agree the amount of detail it has is above any figure ever made. Hell, I bought a second one just because of how incredible he is.

And I'm glad Mandalorian also made it. The Beskar details ins Lego form are also fanstastic.

I nearly voted Captain Carter simply because of that awesome 1940's hair piece. (which is why I bought the minifig). The rest is fine but of no interest to me.

Rather a shame that all the winners are licensed, and from the same license too! There were some really good regular Lego minifigs this year but sadly people always choose licenses no matter how good or bad they are.

@eiffel006 said:
" @NissanZ32 said:
"Unsurprisingly, dominated by "pop culture character X in minifigure form". "

Classic Spaceman is a Popculture character, lol"

@CCC said:
" @jsworpin said:
"Interesting that so many seem to equate best with most detailed. Super detailed is not what I’m looking for in LEGO."

It was favourite, not best."

Not according to most of the comments.

According to the Brickset database, Vidiyo is considered a licensed theme (Universal Music). So if a Vidiyo character HAD taken top place, would folks complain about that? Or is the "licensed vs. unlicensed" debate just because people have an irrational (faux intellectual/elitist?) hatred of Marvel and Star Wars? As noted previously, I voted for the Ancient Warrior (and I voted for Orange Spaceperson before that). But in this subjective contest, I believe that Sam and Mando are absolutely "deserving" of their top two finishes, despite my preference.

Nya did pretty good.

I'm surprised how well shipwreck dude did, didn't realize he was such a fan favorite.

Not a patch on Indiana Jones though.

@PDelahanty said:
"Honestly, I found 2021 minifigures unremarkable overall and I'm not even sure which one I ended up voting for. The ones I think should be recognized are the minifigures from 40516 Everyone Is Awesome. Not sure how you could choose any one of them over another, but collectively they're the best minifigures of the year...for more than one reason."

I'd actually say blue could arguably be the best considering the new hair piece.

@MutoidMan: Exactly! Anyone else's favorite is completely irrelevant to my choice. And if my choice hadn't made the poll, then I'd have chosen my favorite OF THOSE TWENTY, but my favorite would still be Bo-Katan Kryze.

@560heliport :
Yep! I nominated The Punisher, but he didn’t make it so I voted Cap Sam. Had no Marvel CMFs been nominated, I would’ve voted for my favorite of the 20 choices presented to me. No biggie. I don’t have a need to impugn the choices made by other people.

I’m shocked the Ancient Warrior didn’t win or at least be towards the top.
That figure has an incredible sculpt and graphic details for the large helmet. Regal and imposing.
Great graphic design on the shield, entire figure head to toe and great new weapon element.

So ‘shipwreck survivor’ wins. Cool

@gatorbug6:
It’s important to remember that they design the CMFs as a case assortment, not as individual minifigs. In many situations like this, a highly detailed character can have its cost offset by including one or more characters with less detail in the same case. Since the manufacturer only sells by case and not individual retail item (think of LEGO Brand Retail as any other unrelated retail chain and it’ll make more sense), all that really matters is if the case assortment went over budget or not.

I know of at least three instances where costs were shaved on one or two characters to allow greater detail on one or more other characters. When Hasbro released their first wave of 3-3/4” G.I.Joe action figures, the amount of detail the designers wanted to include was considered so high they were told to include one character with no deco to offset the cost (ironically, the solid black Snake Eyes action figure was probably the most popular of that first wave). And again, Hasbro told their early 2000’s SW design team that Amanaman cost so much to manufacture, they had to offset it by including some characters that cost a lot less to make, so I think they added two Ewoks to the same case. The old Spawn action figure line did something similar to allow inclusion of the massive Malebolgia character, I believe.

@PDelahanty:
I can think of one totally 100% objective way to pick which minifig from 40516 is the best. After that, ranking 2nd through last is a bit more difficult.

@PurpleDave:
A side benefit for Snake Eyes was... no paint to wear off, so he looked new longer (unless he got really battered).

I'm pretty pleased my girl NRG Nya got in the top 10 and indeed is 3rd placed of the non licensed figures :)

So many overdesigned and boring minifigs are in the lead, riding atop the wave of "Disney" IPs. The plain popularity contest.

Also, no alien with a crowbar ?

@mafon2 said:
"So many overdesigned and boring minifigs are in the lead, riding atop the wave of "Disney" IPs. The plain popularity contest.

Also, no alien with a crowbar ?"

It was a vote for your favourite, so that was a popularity contest in a sense. Not sure why there is any surprise.
Poor old Nick, who I voted for, came bottom.

@Zander said:
"If I'm not mistaken, of the top 20 overall, the line with the most votes was the unlicensed CMF one (Series 21) with 1443 votes. Star Wars was second with 1426 votes and the Disney+/Marvel CMFs third with 1354 votes."
What jumps out at me is how much of a stranglehold the Disney empire now has on pop culture, and how that seeps into reflections of pop culture like licensed Lego sets.

That kind of market power is scary. People already note the "IP tax" for licensed sets; as Disney's market share grows, I can only imagine that Lego's bargaining power will shrink.

I'm not a huge minifigure afficionado as some may be but reading from the comments above it seems like the vote should be split: 1) best minifigure overall, 2) best licensed, 3) best non-licensed. Similarly, the vote for the sets could be: 1) Best overall, 2) best under 40, 3) best theme overall, 4) most tempting theme. By most tempting I mean: a theme that you may not collect because it is not your thing or have not discovered it yet but if you had all the resources in the world you would give it a try. To me, this would be Monkie Kid; it is not something I would normally buy but the models are so nicely done and refreshing that I'm very tempted to buy a midrange or larger set just because - many mentioned already that Friends is very strong this year (with less garish colours) and might give it a go.

Seems iilogical to criticize the winning minifigure in a 'what's your favoutite minifigure?' poll for being too overtly popular in mainstream culture. People will vote according to whether (a) it represents a favoured character / profession etc, (b) it is detailed enough to portay said character / profession in a suitably appealing manner, or (c) the figure itself has an added dimension affording greater playability, eg wings. The winner, for me, appeals in all these respects and doesn't necessarily just reflect some cultural fetish of the hour.

@Padmewan:
I read that by buying Fox, Disney would be consolidating roughly 40% of all Hollywood, and I expected the FTC to put up more of a fight than just making them sell off a single sports channel.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Padmewan :
I read that by buying Fox, Disney would be consolidating roughly 40% of all Hollywood, and I expected the FTC to put up more of a fight than just making them sell off a single sports channel."

I just read somewhere that the MCU alone accounted for 30 percent of North American box office revenue in 2021. That is nuts, and cinephiles like my wife might point to it as a problem. But as a certified Marvel Zombie, I must admit that I think it's kind of awesome. Plus, No Way Home was the first and only movie that was able to drag me into a theater since the pandemic began.

@augen said:
"I find it kind of sad that nearly all the most popular minifigures were from TV and Film themes."

Yeah. They should've been from video game themes like Minecraft and Super Mario! :P :P :P

Sorry, not sorry.