All right, here we are at Series 21, LEGO fans, and the big news is there are only 12 minifigures to collect.
Since Series 1, there have been at least 16 minifigs in every box, with Series 10 and Series 18 having an extra one to celebrate an anniversary of some sort. (To be clear, I am only talking about the numbered series and not including those tied to movies or other IP.)
I’m still undecided if this reduction is a good thing or bad thing, but I imagine that it could be a relief to completionists. We are running out of display space here, LEGO! Amirite?
The undisputable good news is that there are 3 complete sets, at least in this box of 36.
Every yellow head is double-sided except for one. The same for torsos: just one doesn’t have any back printing. Any guesses? Place your bets!
Let’s get to the minifigs and find out, shall we? Oh, but before that, here’s the obligatory disclaimer: LEGO sent me these minifigs to review but all the opinions are my own.
Aviator Girl
Aviator Girl looks like she would be a fan of Amelia Earhart’s, with that aviator cap and goggles, available for the first time in dark tan (yay!)
She wears the new red plane part in between her torso and her, ugh, short legs. Sigh.
The red plane is pretty neat: there’s an open stud right in front of the minifig and a stud on each wing. There are no anti-studs on the bottom though. I wonder what the clever builders will make out of this.
On the nose of the plane is a hole for the black propeller. Two come inside the blind bag.
I love this minifig’s #dirty faces and little eyelashes. I am always happy to see some unpolished females in the LEGO lineup. Bonus that there’s no pink or lavender to be found anywhere on this character.
She comes with an extra hair piece for when she’s not flying.
Female Centaur
The Female Centaur is easily one of my favorite characters and I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
Her centaur body is in dark orange with a dark brown horse tail. This is a recolor of the centaur body from the Forbidden Forest: Umbridge’s Encounter 75967 set in the Harry Potter theme, which was a dark brown and dark tan combo.
In both these centaurs, the hair color on the head doesn’t match the hair color of the tail. Of course, you can easily remedy this with a wig change but I just found it weird.
Her dark green torso has a pattern on the chest that looks like antlers and there’s a leaf as a belt buckle. Importantly, the torso is unisex — it’s not cinched at the waist — so it’s much more versatile for creating woodland or fantasy characters (which I love to do).
Both of her arms are printed with reddish brown armbands.
The centaur’s freckled face reminds me of the double-sided smirking/winking female face released in a bunch of sets over the past couple of years, except this one is neutral/elated.
The apple accessory? Who knows? The Pea Pod Costume Girl of Series 20 also had it so maybe it’s some inside joke or designer hallmark. Or laziness. I think we could lose the apple entirely.
Pug Costume Guy
I have to admit I’m not a fan of these costumed characters so it’s hard to get excited about this minifigure.
The tan torso has a red bandana print on the front that continues on its back in a knot. There’s also a little curl of tail printed at the base.
On the medium legs, three paw pads are printed in black.
The most interesting part of this minifig is the head, which has two tongue-sticking-out expressions. The first one is a kind of excited panting look and the other has the tongue hanging out the side like the Cute Little Devil from Series 16.
The dog mask partially covers the tongue on the first look, which is kind of a weird design decision.
At any rate, it’ll be a useful expression for lots of collectors.
The accessory is a bone-shaped chew toy in dark turquoise.
Beekeeper
The Beekeeper is another one of my favorites in this series. He’s got a great new beekeeping mask with an integrated frosted translucent black window that’s a good stand-in for metal mesh.
His all white outfit is broken up with light gray creases and seams, a little honeycomb grid logo on one side of his chest, and some spilled honey on the other.
The Beekeeper’s faces are both pleasant: happy with raised eyebrows, upturned lips, smiling eyes, a bushy gray moustache, and a double chin. One side has him licking his lips and moustache.
I think this is the only minifig head that has a lip-licking expression that’s happy.
The bee smoker is brick-built: it’s a pearl gray mug and the posing stand that debuted with the DC Super Heroes Series but in light bluish gray. These will for sure find their way into many MOCs.
This minifig is complete with a dark tan tile printed with a honeycomb and a couple of bees.
Ladybug/Ladybird Girl
The Ladybug Girl is probably going to be a big hit: she’ll appeal to anyone who loved the Bumblebee Girl from Series 10:
She’s got the same antenna headpiece but in red and a very similar expression but with an open mouth and red cheeks instead of closed and pink.
The other side of her head has her mouth closed, eyebrows in a neutral position, and oddly, her eyelashes detached from her eyes. To me, they look like two sets of eyebrows. Weird.
The Ladybug Girl has red forewings with black spots printed on them. There are black spots on her red torso and part of her legs as well.
She’s got a bright green plant with three leaves and 2 red round tiles with a ladybug print.
You may have guessed that she’s the minifig that doesn’t have printing on her back since it’s covered by the forewings.
Castaway
Another favorite for me is this Castaway. The last time we saw a castaway was back in 2009 in Advent Calendar and Loot Island 6241 from the Pirates theme.
This one has the same hair and beard part as the three cavemen minifigs before (and Steve from the Ninjago Movie).
Underneath all that hair is a scruffy but chill face. He made himself a shell necklace and vines so I guess he’s pretty resigned to his fate of being marooned.
Most of his body is extra #dirty as you might expect and on one arm… well, blow me down, it’s an anchor tattoo! He be a pirate!
His companion is an adorable brick-built hermit crab. The base is a new orange part with a stem on the back that can attach to an open 1×1 round plate. There’s another round plate stacked on that and topped off with a white swirl plate to create the hermit crab’s shell.
The Castaway has a message in the bottle accessory too.
This minifigure is the only one to have a single expression on its head.
Carnival Performer/Showgirl
This minifigure is quite the attention-getter with her feathered headdress and bold colors. She’s decked out with silver sparkles from head to toe, including a long open-front skirt (i.e, a butt cape).
The performer’s got heavy makeup on both of her expressions to match her dramatic outfit. One side of her head shows her belting out a tune and the other has her looking lively and upbeat.
I think she’s interesting on her own but you probably need a bunch of them for the full effect. Let the Showgirl army-building commence!
Jaguar Warrior
I’m not fully brushed up on pre-Columbian civilizations but it’s a good guess that the Jaguar Warrior appeared in the Aztec culture. Those guys were pretty bloodthirsty!
This minifig is the most striking of the series, easily beating out the showy showgirl even with all of her dazzling dots.
The Jaguar Warrior is fully tattooed — head, arms, torso, and legs. I think this is the first time I’ve seen this much printing on a single minifigure. I wonder what the pad printing setup for this minifigure looks like!
The jaguar headdress is a fantastic mold and wonderfully accentuated with print details.
He holds a macuahuitl — dual-molded to show the obsidian blades — in one hand and a shield printed with a jaguar in the other.
Violinist
The boy practicing the dark orange violin is a nice enough addition to City sets as is but also is really useful for customizing minifigs.
The violin is a new part — it’s always awesome to have new musical instruments! The bow is a wand from the Harry Potter theme.
The torso is a dark green hoodie over a white shirt printed with a pattern of Blacktron logos.
His head has two expressions: one with closed eyes and a pleasant smile, and the other with a raised eyebrow and a slight frown. The first expression could pass for an adult minifig but the second one really looks like it’s a kid.
Space Policeman
This minifig is a clear nod to the Space Police theme that was released in the late 80s-early 90s:
Underneath that heavy chest armor that we first saw on some Batman minifigs is the recognizable diagonally zippered black-and-white Space Police torso. It’s been updated with more details, of course, and has some back printing as well.
The legs are dual-molded black-and-white with a gold belt buckle on the hip piece as the only print.
The helmet is the same as the ones used in the current City sets but with a logo on front and a regular transparent red visor covering the front instead of a large transparent blue one.
The Space Policeman has a shield, handcuffs, a gun and I suppose some kind of baton or siren as well. You’d think that by that far ahead into the future, law enforcement would have more advanced equipment (at least a jetpack and a force field shield!) but nope, it’s still the 21st century in terms of gear.
Anyway, this Space Policeman looks much better stripped of all of the accessories, except for the helmet.
Alien Criminal
Ok, this alien might not be a criminal but I’ve been conditioned to accept that any LEGO minifig holding a crowbar is some kind of thief. And an orange jumpsuit only cements that idea.
This minifig has a modified head — there’s no regular head under there. The breathing apparatus hangs over the torso a bit so there’s limited movement of the head.
Like the Jaguar Warrior, this alien has printing on almost every part of its body (except the back of the legs) but the design is much more subdued by comparison.
This character could also be another throwback to a Space theme or two: it’s got some robotic insect wing-like printing on the reverse.
Stand Up Paddle Boarder
The SUP Boarder has the largest accessory in this series — a sand blue dolphin — which is lucky for her because that’s her favorite animal!
Her rashguard has a print of a dolphin jumping out of the water silhouetted against a sunset. Pretty cheesy if you ask me but I find printed beachwear in general to be pretty ugly. On her back is a logo that matches the one on her paddle board.
Along with the dolphin, she’s also got a printed paddle board, paddle, and dark azure life vest as accessories.
Her cap and ponytail piece is a recolor and features a white logo that’s not the same as the one on her paddle board and rashguard.
Her head is printed with an open mouth smile expression on one side and on the reverse, she’s got some shades on.
The paddle boarder’s legs are dual-molded to look like she’s wearing black shorts.
Verdict
I give this series a 9/10.
I’m pretty pleased with the characters in this set and the distribution of minifigs per box. Three of each minifigure is welcome news.
I’m also fine with the paring down of minifigures from 16 to 12, if only that means that there aren’t any fillers like that Green Brick Guy. Most of these minifigs in this series seem pretty solid.
I’m especially happy to see the centaur piece make it out of an IP theme and into the yellowverse. I’m crossing my fingers for that to happen to the orc ears with long hair that are trapped in LoTR.
CMF Series 21 will be available on January 1, 2021 and each blind bag will retail for $4.99.
Hermit crab, hermit crab, hermit crab…