REVIEW: 71007 LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 12

[Robert8]

The Good Wizard from Castle 2007 has 5 pointed stars in the hat.... Maybe they just wanted to make something different this time.

[Blakstone]

My swashbuckler has an orange cheat. Yuck. I guess I don't need multiples of him.

[negativesleep]

Another great review! Thanks for all your hard work putting this together. Out of all the ones I have picked up so far I think I like the wizard the best.

[smittyfan]

Great review! Just finished putting together my blind bag grab selection and honestly didn't notice the princess had a two-sided face until after reading your review. Ironic, she was the one i wanted most, too.

LEGO is still making the dot code on the bottom seam of the bags, which i find easier and less time consuming than the feel method. (Unless you're really strapped for cash and can only afford to buy just a couple figures.) Out of the 12 figures i bought today only two were duplicate, YAY! 10 OF 16.

[Colossus]

Rummaging through the bin at the Lego Store, I was able to find a full set w/o any difficulty. There were easily 3-4 of each minifigure. Unfortunately, confused the prospector's hat with that of the cavalier. $4 wasted. Plus side: double VIP points, yo!

[kimmokissa]

Got some packs from local toysRus. I was dissapointed about that 4/6 of the figs i got were bad quality. Leg are wiggly (they almost move by themselfs.. also some of the hats dont plug in too well. (They are too loose). Anyone else noticed this? Or did i just have bad luck :)

[Gongoro73]

LEGO is still making the dot code on the bottom seam of the bags

So. what is this about? I'm a little tired of the 'feel method'. The guys from the store I purchase minifigs look at me as If I was some kind of lunatic.

[VintageLegoEra]

So. what is this about? I'm a little tired of the 'feel method'. The guys from the store I purchase minifigs look at me as If I was some kind of lunatic.

Lool...indeed it is an annoying method. Hope there is another way to recognize them

[Legogal]

Just picked up 11 of the 16 that I really wanted, and they look wonderful! The review was quite helpful because it is hard deciding which ones to get without that info. Thanks, Fangy!

I am impressed with Series 12. Hard to choose a favorite. The princess and wizard are just lovely and easy to feel with their cone hats and large skirt pieces. Piggy and Mermaid have great designs and colors. I finally found these at TRU and received the Bricktober theatre as a bonus, so it was a good time to buy them even though the price went up from 2.99 to 3.99US. from earlier regular series figures.( Our Target still does not have them on the shelf.)

The neatest thing about CMF's is that everyone seems to have different favorites and views of the figures, and this makes for interesting reading and increases building variety. And you can buy just the ones you want if you spend the time feeling the bags in the store. I am still a huge fan of CMF figs because you don't have to buy a set that you feel lukewarm about just to get so many figures you want.

[Venkefedo]

So. what is this about? I'm a little tired of the 'feel method'. The guys from the store I purchase minifigs look at me as If I was some kind of lunatic.

In my experience it's better to just feel the bags; the dots are tough to see so you're constantly shifting around the packs to catch the light just right, then have to compare them to a pic/printout of the dot codes for that wave, and some are either too similar to others or sometimes the dots don't quite print correctly so it's easier to make mistakes.

If you know what to feel for, it can be a lot quicker to move thru packs that way. So what if the guy at the store thinks you're a lunatic? Lego fans--and TLG itself--know that's the main method used by people who care about which figures they get.

[winbrant]

So. what is this about? I'm a little tired of the 'feel method'. The guys from the store I purchase minifigs look at me as If I was some kind of lunatic.

Each of the bags have a series of bumps. However, this varies from lot to lot (also printed on the bottome bag seal and the box)...so not really unique to the Series. I've seen 6-7 different lot numbers now in my area and different bump codes for the same figure. In addition, the bumps are sometimes faint depending on the process. And some are indented inward or outward. I usually only use the bump pattern if I've identified what I want in a box and then quickly go through the box looking for that one fig...but verify by feel.

I had hear a bright flashlight up the seam could be used for Series 10 (gold packaging) but seemed more trouble than it was worth.

[AmperZand]

I've had the S12 CMFs since 1 Oct, but only had time to open the ones I wanted last night. I made a couple of discoveries:

1. The foolscap's colours are quartered. I thought the cap would be half purple and half light orange, split in the same way as the original red/blue foolscap. But it has two purple quadrants and two light orange ones which is cool.
   
2. The horns for the Hun's hat are not the same. One is designed for the right and the other for the left.
   

I had hear a bright flashlight up the seam could be used for Series 10 (gold packaging) but seemed more trouble than it was worth.

Doesn't work the same way for S12 because the mid-line isn't transparent. However, the entire packet is just about translucent this time. So if you can manoeuvre the information sheet and base out of the way, you can use a torch in a dark room to see a silhouette of what's inside. I used that method + feeling + dot codes to identify the contents of a box of 60. I've correctly identified all the ones I've opened so far.

[Gongoro73]

Thank you, @Venkefedo, @winbrant. It seems like the bumps method still requires more skill and attention.

So what if the guy at the store thinks you're a lunatic? Lego fans--and TLG itself--know that's the main method used by people who care about which figures they get.

Well, those guys don't look like AFOLS to me. But it's OK, I'll keep performing the old good feeling method while smiling and doing some funny faces to them... :) Edited October 8, 2014 by Gongoro73

[Chimp]

So. what is this about? I'm a little tired of the 'feel method'. The guys from the store I purchase minifigs look at me as If I was some kind of lunatic.

I feel ya. What's worse is when you're at say walmart and an employee or customer comes down the aisle and stays there, constantly glancing over at you as you try to feel around. I feel like shouting "I'm not trying to steal, really! At 4 bucks a pop, you'd do the same!"

[m0dulo]

I feel ya. What's worse is when you're at say walmart and an employee or customer comes down the aisle and stays there, constantly glancing over at you as you try to feel around. I feel like shouting "I'm not trying to steal, really! At 4 bucks a pop, you'd do the same!"

It isn't just about stealing. Some people will rip bags open instead of checking dots or feeling.

[Blakstone]

Very true, which is why a lot of the Walmarts around here didn't carry CMF for a while. I think the whole Hunt for Mr Gold expanded the stores that carried them. Still when I checked a Walmart in El Reno, all they had was three open bags and the base plates. Someone stole the minifigs but left the rest.

I get different looks from my haunting the LEGO aisle though. I often straighten up the shelves while looking for good deals. I have given suggestions to parents and grandparents on what the different sets have (only if they look confused or ask) and will help others find the CMF they are looking for.

[8BrickMario]

There's something oddly sad about public AFOL reception. Like the fact that the LEGO stores have (justified) paranoia and won't let an adult in without a kid, or an excuse that they're buying for a kid. One time, this man walks into my LEGO store and just sort of stays there, being a creep. One of the employees went all suspicious.

Employee: Are you looking for anything?

Creeper: Yeah, a new girlfriend.

And then his current one appeared, angry, and dragged him out. So you can never know. Bring a kid for safety.

[OHarra]

After long time a fresh series. I especially like medieval ones.

[Legogal]

FINALLY I found a Target with CMF 12 for 2.99US instead of 3.99!!! Wooooohoooo! They only had half a box left, but three wizards and three princesses/queens ain't bad! Been looking in our Targets for months. Also had a $5 gift card from shopping there and the 5 percent discount for the Red Card, so they were CHEAP! Wish that more Targets stocked CMF's.

[Holodoc]

So I finished with this series the other day, picking up just 10 figures. Which means this is the least interesting series so far for me.

But once I had stopped buying everything just because it's on the market, I can easily live with ignoring the uninspired minifigs.

The only minifig I got multiples of was the Video Game Guy.

[Colossus]

I had no interest whatsoever in the Pizza Guy til I picked up the Town Square set that includes a pizza joint. Now I'm beginning to see its appeal.

[Venkefedo]

FINALLY I found a Target with CMF 12 for 2.99US instead of 3.99!!! Wooooohoooo! They only had half a box left, but three wizards and three princesses/queens ain't bad! Been looking in our Targets for months. Also had a $5 gift card from shopping there and the 5 percent discount for the Red Card, so they were CHEAP! Wish that more Targets stocked CMF's.

No Target I've visited in the last couple weeks has had any...not even any apparent space for the CMFs. Just a brief window where the short-wall 'featured' area had pegs for the CMFs and the early-bird Witch King sets.

[Ardelon]

Guess I havent commented on this review yet. Top notch as usual. But its missing a pic of the Jesters quartered cap, and the Swashbucklers back printing. And I take it the Wizard and Hun dont have any back printing?

As for the other stuff revealed by the review, the kissy face on the Princess is fabulous, and the hennin is very impressive.

Otherwise, Im not really a fan of the multicolor Space Miner helmet – 2 colors would be enough. But the design is cool. Not sure about the the dark tan sleeves, either.

One thing that occcured to me after seeing the golden underwear of the Battle Goddess is that it would be great for Xerxes in a 300 MOC...

And it really is a shame the Genie girl doesnt have an alternate face print, since the hair would obscure it just fine. I wonder why - maybe the designers hit the ceiling on the number of available prints they could use?

Might go and see tomorrow if my toy stores have them.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Ardelon

[Zarana-X]

I've gone through a fully stocked end display at Target on two different occasions and couldn't find a Genie Girl. I bought what I thought was a Genie, but it was a Spooky Girl with the feet part of the legs jammed into the wig.

I'm mainly after castle figs, and the Wizard, Jester and Princess are top notch. Loose hats not withstanding. I also got a Hun to dress up my evil fantasy army. I would've got two, but I felt one up for a woman buying some for her son, and that was one of two she took.

Edited November 4, 2014 by Zarana-X

[WhiteFang]

Just want to add, that after I noticed the release of this Series 12, this is getting very very popular, even among non-LEGO fans. I do see more people in shops who are into collecting this LEGO Minifigures Theme.