If you’ve spent any time on my site, you’ll notice there is a link for set reviews where I delve into a bunch of sets that interest me. One of those areas are the Collectible Minifigures which you can find my earliest review of series 15 from early 2016. I’ve reviewed every series since then until recently.

The second set of Harry Potter minifigures was released back on 1 September 2020. There are 16 minifigures in total and they retail for $4.99 each in the US or 3,99€ in Europe (today’s exchange rate puts it at $4.82 for a comparison).

I was able to get a bunch on sale at Smyth’s here locally back before Christmas time, but Germany has locked down and stores are closed. This puts the bag feeling technique out of limits. I ordered a few from Shop @ Home for the full retail price, but have ended up with doubles and triples.

Unfortunately, the Christmas time rush made them go out of stock in the US and I don’t think they are coming back. As a collector, I didn’t want to be forced to pay for specific minifigures on BrickLink or eBay.

I found some new and unopened in Germany for around $4.30 after the exchange rate so hopefully that will allow me to complete the set. They are on their way to me in the next few days so more to follow.

Series 21 (#71029) was released on 1 January 2021. With only 12 minifigures in the series, I figured it would be easier to get all 12.

The LEGO Ideas Vintage Car (#40448-1) was a gift with purchase on 1 January and I decided to try and get minifigures and to get the car. Shop @ Home in the US had a restriction on 1 January of only buying three minifigures (it has since been lifted). Shop @ Home in Germany allowed you to buy 20. So I went with both.

My German order shipped quickly and arrived fast. With 20 minifigures, I figured I would be close to getting all 12 if not getting them all. Boy was I wrong! Every bag I opened seemed to be a repeat. I ended up with only six of the 12 after opening all 20. I sent a note to Customer Service saying they need to mix them up or sell the boxes. They sent me a note saying that it was part of the fun to not know what you are going to get (or part of the profit plan?).

My order of three minifigures arrived from the US a few weeks later. There was one repeat from what I ordered from Germany and then two of a separate one. So 23 minifigures later and I only have 7 of the 12.

In conclusion…

-It is getting harder for me to complete a set as I can’t go to a store to test bags

-I don’t have any complete sets of the last two series yet

-Buying in bulk without discounts is getting more expensive than it is actually worth

-I think LEGO needs to sell the proposed box of 36 with 3 complete sets or not at all

What are your thoughts? Does LEGO need to change up how they sell the Collectible Minifigures?