Review: Oh Yeah... Lego Minifigures Series 10 is Out!

The much sought after, blind-packaged Lego Minifigures Series 10 is now available to purchase! In fact, they’ve been available for the last couple of weeks. So where have we been? Busy? Absent? Drunk? Curled in a tight foetal ball, gently rocking ourselves to sleep? The truth is a little bit of everything. But we’re here now, and we have some of these blocky yellow buggers in hand.

At first glance this series isn’t quite so exciting as the last one, featuring a lot of repurposed pieces and some less than inspiring characters. But there’s still gold to be had once you dig deeper. Quite literally in fact, for series 10 also contains the extremely rare and coveted Mr. Gold!

What’s that all about? We’ll open some up... after the jump!

Well, needless to say, I did NOT get Mr. Gold, the super rare gold-plated extra minifigure that has been randomly inserted in certain cases. He’s a top hat wearing, monocled, wealth-flaunting go-getter - the only part of him that isn’t gold is the diamond that audaciously sits atop his extravagant pimp cane. I have no idea how many of these are produced but I do that he fetches impressively high prices on ebay, consistently selling for well above $500. Buy-it-now prices have topped the $1,000 mark.

With prices that high (and seemingly no shortage of bids) I’ll be surprised if many of these make it past the stockists and onto the shelves. In an age where barcodes no longer reveal the figure, and bumpcodes are unreliable, the best way to identify what’s in the bag now is to give it a good feel and lock on to each figure’s most recognisable/unique accessory. Seeing as how Mr. Gold is the only one to have a top hat and cane, I imagine he’s not too difficult to ferret out with this method. Surely this is tempting to any retailer who could do this and quickly multiply their investment, and should these cases make it to the shelves untouched then, rest assured, that they will quickly be molested by other collectors. By the time you buy it, every man and his cat will have squeezed that bag! I imagine that, in this instance, buying sealed cases is your best bet.


So, casting Mr. Gold aside, what did I actually get? First let's look at what's on the table.

Lot of themes being continued here. Another clown, another indian, another animal costume, another mythological creature, another roman, another nerd with a coffee cup. It's all formula now! Lego has developed complex algorithms for generating their characters! Some bland stuff here too this time. Baseball guy? Painter? Come on now!

But I got...

PAINTBALLER! Look at him! He's totally balling!

Early buzz would suggest that this figure is one of the more desirable among collectors. It’s such a simple concept but they’ve executed it nicely. I don’t know if the helmet is a brand new piece or not, but I dig it because it’s pretty slick and contemporary - something Lego doesn’t always do well. Something of note this time around is that they’ve gone overboard with the decals/printing on these figures. In this instance they've spatter stinging green paint all over his pants, chest and head. And probably breasts...

He's even got a dab of orange on his back! Does this mean he was betrayed by a member of his own team?! OUTRAGEOUS!

But what lurks underneath that sporty helmet?

Why it's the twisted visage of stone-cold, blood-thirsty Lego killer! Actually, you know, looking at the suit there, this could also be a freshly slimed Peter Venkman!

Next up!

Stand down, Tony Stark, this guy doesn't need some pussy kid to remind him he's a MECHANIC.

And will you take a look at this rum customer? Holy crap! Lego guys didn't look like this when I was a child. This guy means business. I think my favourite part is the bitchin' flame tattoo that flares up his left arm...

And check out this killer jacket! You can see what I mean about all the extra print details this time around...

So that's a great example of a figure that I wasn't too excited about but who looks far better in person.

Next we have...

A Mohican! Again with a huge amount of printed detail, including YET ANOTHER garish tattoo! Now all Lego needs to make is an alt girl. (I might have to pull some of these apart and make one myself).

This is the mohawk that they used on the punk a few series before, but it's well purposed here and this guy is at least our third Native American figure that I can think of. Is the tomahawk new? It looks new. This guy is another total badass. Making three in a row!

Although this guy is a pussy...

It's the sad clown. Who might actually be my favourite as he is a stirring metaphor for life. Let's ponder him for a little while...

Keep pondering.

Longer.

Longer...

LONGER...

Ok...

OH GODDAMN IT'S THE PAINTER.

Wait... actually he's not so bad. Not an exciting figure by any means, but he's very well done. And look how they've splattered paint all over him as well. He looks like he's been murdering smurfs.

The only rationale I can think of for this that Lego eventually wants to make a figure of every single occupation. This way someone will go, "OH HEY YOU GUYS, UNCLE STEVE IS A PAINTER! WE SHOULD TOTES GET HIM THAT MINIFIGURE EVEN IF WE HAVE TO BUY THIRTY PACKETS TO DO IT BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, STEVE'S A PAINTER". 

I really should give Uncle Steve this figure.

What do YOU think? What did YOU get? What the hell are YOU looking at?!