Set Review - #71039 - Marvel Studios - Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

More collectible minifigures! This series is #71039 - Marvel Studios - Series 2. This set of 12 minifigures was released on 1 September 2023 for $4.99 each. Instead of bags, this series comes in cardboard boxes in order to save on the environment. I applaud the initiative, but if you haven’t seen any of the pictures online, the world has torn open the packages to find the minifigures they wanted since the feel technique doesn’t work anymore.. I purchased three packages of six minifigures each online. Surprisingly, with 18 minifigures, I managed to get all 12 in the series so that was a bonus.

I’m not a fan of Marvel so I can’t tell you details on these minifigures or how close or not they are to the actual characters. In this review, I’ll just point out some of the things I noticed about each figure.

Overall, no major complaints on this series. I recommend it for Marvel fans or CMF collectors. Otherwise, save your money for others.

Happy building!

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Agatha Harkness - This minifigure comes with a book, cape, and two flicker shooter pieces (not sure of the official term). It comes with a jumper plate and one of the pieces to make it poseable, but she has a slope brick for a dress so you can’t really pose her. They could have done without the poseable piece for this one.

Moon Knight - I’m not sure who this minifigure is, but the little gold moon piece and coin is interesting.

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She-Hulk - This minifigure comes with a few printed tiles so that’s a bonus. I like the face color and the hair piece color as well.

Hawkeye - The character doesn’t interest me much, but it comes with a small owl, which is great!

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Kate Bishop - The printed tile pizza box is great. The dog has one eye printed on it, which I guess is on par with the actual character from what I read and is not a misprint.

Goliath - This one looks cool Not sure who he is. You can put the hair piece on if you don’t want the helmet.

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Echo - I have no idea what this minifigure is holding. The printing on the pants and torso are interesting.

Beast - Again, no idea who this character is, but the blue hair piece and face look cool.

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Mr. Knight - I like the fish tank printed on the 1x2 clear brick. The minifigure doesn’t do much for me.

The Werewolf - I’m not a fan of this minifigure, but I also don’t know the character so maybe that’s why.

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Storm - The white hair piece is a cool piece.

Wolverine - I’ve seen Wolverine minifigures in the past. I’m not sure how this one compares, but it looks okay Like some of the previous ones, you get a hair piece and the mask.

Set Review - #71028 - Harry Potter Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

I ranted last week about Collectible Minifigures and this week I can stop complaining. I placed an order with SteineHelden.de (sorry USA, they only sell in Germany) and finally was able to complete this series released in the US back on 1 September 2020 and since retired at LEGO Shop @ Home.

This series has 16 total minifigures which differs from the first series where they had 22 total. Pricing is still $4.99 each in the US. The extended German lockdown has made it impossible to go to stores for the “feel” check so you have to buy a bunch online and hope for the best. I got a few on sale here for around $3.45 each which was great, but the rest ranged from $4.70 to the US retail price of $4.99. Apparently the days of sales on these things where they are around $3.50 or less are gone.

I won’t spend a ton of time going over these minifigures as they are already retired and I’m late to the game. I will say that I appreciated how the minifigures could be mixed in with some of the 2020 Harry Potter sets. For example #75969-1: Hogwarts Astronomy Tower includes a scene from the sixth book/movie where they are at the Slug Club Christmas party. The Ginny minifigure can be added to that scene. Also the astronomy tower has part of the green house where Professor Sprout teaches. So good job LEGO on that one.

Onto the minifigures…

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Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are in the outfits from book/movie #6 (“The Half Blood Prince.” They go to The Three Broomsticks for butter beer with Harry. They each come with wands and a mug of the beverage.

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Harry’s parents, James Potter and Lily Potter always appear in flashbacks or as ghosts in the books/movies as they are no long alive. In minifigure form, James comes with a picture that Harry has and Lily has a baby Harry which is wrapped up tightly.

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As mentioned, Ginny Weasley is in her Slug Club Christmas party outfit. Harry has the potions book from “The Half Blood Prince.”

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Fred and George Weasley have their tricks to sell other students from the sixth book/movie (I think) and the Marauder’s map which they gave Harry. Fred is on the left and George is on the right in the picture. Or at least that’s what Brickset.com says.

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Griphook is a goblin who works at Gringotts Bank. This figure is from the last movie where he helps the gang break into a vault. He comes with a key (actually a set of 2) and then the sword of Gryffindor (which is cool looking). Next is Moaning Myrtle. She comes with a copy of Tom Riddle’s diary from the second book/movie. I like how they added the poseable stand so you can make it look like she is floating as she is a ghost.

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I’m not sure which book/movie he first appears in, but Kingsley Shacklebolt is a member of the Order of the Phoenix and comes here in his full robes with a wand and broom. As mentioned already, Professor Pomona Sprout is decked out to teach students how to re-pot mandrakes from book/movie #2 (“Chamber of Secrets”). I like how they created the mandrake plant by printing on a 1x1 round brick.

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Neville Longbottom comes with a Monster Book of Monsters and a wand as depicted in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” (book/movie 3). Luna Lovegood is decked out in her quidditch lion hat to show her support for Gryffindor. She also comes with a blond hair piece if you want to switch them out. This is from book/movie #5.

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Next is Bellatrix Lestrange in her Azkaban uniform. She has a wand, hand cuffs, and her prisoner number on a 1x2 tile. This is from “Order of the Phoenix” (book/movie 5).

Albus Dumbledore is last in my review with a wand and Fawkes his phoenix. Fawkes first appears in the second book/movie (“The Chamber of Secrets”).

Now that I finally collected them all, it’s a good mix of characters from various parts of the book/movie series. I like the mix and the ability to use them in other sets.

Now LEGO needs to figure out how to sell them to allow you to get all of them without going through great pains or spending a lot of money.

Where are the Collectible Minifigure Reviews?

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.

©2020 LEGO Group.

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.

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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.

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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?

Brick le France - with beaucoup de retired sets

If you’re an American AFOL, you’ve probably glanced at notices for new sets and have seen pricing in other countries listed. You’ve probably also seen AFOLs from around the world complaining about how sets are priced in their country as compared to US prices. As an American AFOL living in Germany, I figured I would take a look to see what I could learn.

Before I go into a specific example, I wanted to point out a difference in taxes. In the states, depending on where you are, you pay a sales tax. This tax is priced in after you make the purchase. So LEGO sets its retail price (or Walmart, or Amazon.com, etc.) and then you pay an additional percentage at checkout. In Europe, from what I’ve seen, the Value Added Tax or VAT is built into the price. Your receipt tells you how much the item actually was and what you paid in VAT. So keep that in mind for those Americans who forget the sometimes 8% to 10% sales tax that gets added onto purchases.

Back to my main point… I stopped at a Cora store in France a few weeks back. For those of you in the US who have never been, Cora is kind of like a Walmart only the one I went to was much nicer than a Walmart. While there, I of course had to check out the LEGO selection.

First off they had a lot of retired Collectible Minifigures, but not the current Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure series.

As you can see from the pictures, they had the Ninjago movie minifigures still on sale for €3.99 each. These were released back in August 2017 in the EU and apparently they still have them at retail price. Next you can see the Batman Movie Series 2 minifigures. These were released in the EU on 1 January 2018 and Cora had them for €3.50 which is less than the original retail of €3.99. Finally they had the Series 18 minifigures for €3.50. They were released back in April and again Cora had them for less than retail. I’m wondering if this is a trend in Europe or an anomaly. At Walmart or Target, usually collectible minifigures go fast so I was surprised to see so many options

Next up were a few City sets.

You can see #60104-1 - Airport Passenger Terminal - Retired in France in November 2017. Retail was €99.99, but selling for €94.99. Also #60051-1 - High-Speed Passenger Train - Retired in France in June 2018 and selling for €10 under retail. #60052-1 - Cargo Train is right next to it. It retired in June and they still have it selling at the original retail price. The last one I’ll mention is #60103-1 - Airport Air Show which retired in France back in January 2018. I have no idea on pricing from the picture I took because the label does not match the set. Anyways, interesting to see some retired sets still out there.

I didn’t go nuts taking pictures of all of them and I didn’t buy any either, but one that stood out was #75105-1 Millennium Falcon. It retired in France back in January 2018 and was done in the US back in November 2017. It was still at Cora and there were multiple copies. I know I have seen the price of that set going up on BrickLink.com and I may have been one of the sellers of those a few months back.

If any Americans are reading this, should I have bought some of the retired sets you can’t find in the states anymore? Even with the exchange rate of around $1.20 to the Euro, would it be worth it? What do you think?

Set Review - #71020 - The LEGO Batman Movie Series 2 - Collectible Minifigures

LEGO released the second series of The LEGO Batman Movie collectible minifigures on 1 January 2018.  You can see my review of the first set here.  Like the last series, this series contains 20 minifigures.  The retail price in the US is $3.99 each.  You can order a maximum of 32 from LEGO Shop at Home.  Those are the details, let's get into the minifigs...

First off, this set has a new base.  It's the same black color, but it's the first time that there is a logo on the base.  It will be interesting to see if LEGO continues this trend in some of their licensed collectible minifigures. 

First four... to be honest, it's been a few months since I have seen the LEGO Batman Movie and I don't remember any of these from the movie.  So from left to right: Doctor Phosphorus, Black Vulcan, Killer Moth, and Clock King.  Nothing too special about these minifigures in my opinion.

Next set of 4... Wonder Twin Jayna, Wonder Twin Zan, Disco Harley Quinn, and Bat-Merch Batgirl.  Once again, I don't see anything too interesting about these that is different from other minifigures.

To follow on... Hugo Strange, General Zod, Vacation The Joker, and Jor-El.  The Joker looks too much like the Vacation Batman from the last set with the duck floating raft.  

Next four are Swimsuit Batman (to include the dolphin), Mermaid Batman, Vacation Robin, and
Vacation Batgirl.  I expect both Batmans to be pretty popular as they are different from most minifigs.  While the Batgirl isn't all that exciting, she has a pony tail hair piece that attaches to her head piece which is new to me.

I've purchased 64 so far and have not received all 20 minifigures.  Thanks a lot LEGO!!!!  Luckily I've put the extra in my store so it's not like they are just sitting around to collect dust.  The last 3 that I got are Apache Chief, Black Canary, and Vacation Alfred Pennyworth.  I am short Disco Alfred Pennyworth.  The Vacation version is pretty fun though.  The other 2... where were they in the movie?

My take?  Like the LEGO Ninjago movie CMFs, I was not too impressed by these minifigures.  I would have preferred another non-licensed theme of minifigs to come out versus another set of 20 Batman minifigs.  I think 20 was enough.  The only reason to get these is if you are a CMF collector like me.  Otherwise, I'd hold off.  In the meantime, I'll post the remaining minifig once I get it.

Okay, here's an update on 14 March 2018...

I finally got the last minifig.  Disco Alfred Pennyworth.  It took three orders of 32 to get the full 16.  Definitely not worth it.  Having a store where I sell the minifigs helps, but for the average collector, don't bother with giant orders from LEGO Shop @ Home like that.