The first Disney Series of Collectible Minifigs merely opened the door to the possibilities and now Series 2 adds 18 more delightful figs, and yes, continues to leave the door wide open for wanting more. Lets Dive in:
Series One reminder: Gave us Mickey, Donald, Minnie, from the main gang but left out Goofy and Pluto. We got 2 figs from the Incredibles which could team up with the rest of the family from Incredibles sets. Another door opened was the Aladdin theme which launched with Aladdin and the Genie.
Series 2 keeps some of those balls rolling:
- Adding to the Main gang, we get Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and I’d toss in the two Chipmunks, Chip N Dale for good Measure. Looks like only Uncle Scrooge gets a tale accessory but I think its coat tales not a duck tale, and the I’m sort of hoping that the boys hats are removable just for playability. The Chipmunks look great, and are not simple recolors but seem to have unique head molds. None of these have any particularly amazing accessories, but the head molds easily make up for that.
I’m guessing these figs quickly get used by Ideas creators for Chip N Dale Rescue rangers and Duck Tales Ideas.
The GLARING OMISSION: We still don’t get Goofy or Pluto! Scrooge: Awesome, the Boys, great, but I would say not until you give Mickey and Donald the 3rd member of their classic trio Goofy!
- Continuing with the main classics, and going even further into the classic era, the series gets Black and White Mickey and Minnie. This is a big redundancy for Lego since the Ideas set Steamboat Willie just came out with remarkably similar figures:
The average consumer, (pro collector’s aside) will likely be satiated by the two $4 minifigs rather than buying the $90 set to get the marginally different, albeit, more collectible figs. I really think this minfig series is going to hurt the sales of the Idea set. This calls to mind the time that a Lego Ideas set for buildable Adventure Time characters came out at the same Lego Dimensions started producing Adventure Time Minifigs. In both of these Ideas cases, I say: “Odd choice Lego.” I for one was considering getting the Steamboat Willie to get those figs, but will gladly pass now that I have a much cheaper and easier way to get them. - Continuations and New Territory:
Jasmin and Jafar are going to be great additions to Aladdin and Genie from the first Series. This pretty much wraps that grouping up with only Abu and the Sultan being left out. Yes, I would have much preferred to see Jasmin to come with Raja and Jafar could easily have had the staff and Iago!Hurcules and Hades are not exactly my go-to Disney characters but these renditions look to fit the part. Is that a new Tenticle tale piece or do you think Hades has Ursula’s bust line on his posterior?? — Eh, looks different from Ursula’s bottom piece to me. Its a nice use of the flaming head with blue flames for Hades as opposed to Ghost Rider’s orange flames.
The Frozen sisters are a wonderful Minifig adaptation. I’m not sure why their alternate faces are both winking though. Since the frozen sets have given us Olaf and Sven, I think these two figs are pretty much all we needed until Frozen 2 comes out.
Nightmare Before Christmas: Long ago, custom Minfig outlets started producing Jack and Sally and soon after that, the Chinese off brands all joined in. It is great to finally get official Lego figures out of this series. Even better, these figures outshine the knockoff brands in every way. The faces and colors are more accurate, the accessories are nicely appropriate. The gift box is quite Tim Burtian and the Neck Bowtie as a molded piece rather than part of the torso print is fantastic.
Offbrand offerings for comparison:
Incredibles: I’m extra happy now that I didn’t end up buying someone’s price-gouged promotional Edna Pollybag because this new version of Edna is far superior. The New mold, torso print and both expressions blow the pollybag offering out of the water. Frozone is a welcome visitor but his disk seems intensely uninspired. Maybe some snow skis in white or clear blue.
- In Summary: I rarely consider all the figures in a CMF series as being “must buys” but the Disney ones do hit the mark. I think it has a lot to do with how they in many cases supplement the figures you can get in other sets, and drive the collecting spirit since they are related by being in the Disney family. I think Lego has made some great calls here, and also some weird ones. Skipping Goofy again is a flat out CRIME. Doing 4 ducks and repeating the Black and White Mickey and Minnie will invariably hurt the Ideas set’s success. The uniqueness of each figure/accessories lends itself to the bag squeezers – I think it should be very possible to feel the bags and not get any repeats.
that edna will be MINE!