Displaying LEGO creations and LEGO minifigures is a dilemma LEGO fans are bound to face as their collection grows. This issue has been especially heightened with the release of the Collectible Minifigures – which, after all, are meant to be collectible and displayable. LEGO did release two sizes of minifigure display cases (see here: LEGO Minifigure Display Cases), however they may not be everyone’s cup of tea. First of all, the colors are too bright – which may fit well in a child’s room, but not so much in an adult’s room or workspace. Also the compartments for each minifig are quite small, limiting the options of displaying them with their accessories.
LEGO fan and minifigure collector Stephen Kwok has pondered over this dilemma and decided to do something about it. With the help of professional designers who work with plastics he created display cases for LEGO minifigures that he feels are more suitable for adult LEGO fans and collectors. Stephen was nice enough to send me some samples of his display cases, so I thought to share them with you.
First of all these LEGO minifigure display cases come in black or white only – quite sophisticated I would say. They look really nice in a more adult-ish setting, like living-room, home-library, office, den, etc. The plastic is very substantial and excellent quality. It has a sleek shiny finish on the outside, and a subdued matte finish on the inside where the minifigs are displayed. I wish I could show you this subtle difference in the finish as it is very thoughtfully done, but hard to show on pictures. Also, although on the picture below the minifig cases are stacked as all white or all black, they look really good mixed black and white as well.
Also, as far as I know, these are the first-ever display cases made for LEGO minifigures with name-plates. This gives them a professional and sophisticated look. The name plates are removable and stickers are included to attach to them. By the way, I also discovered that the holes for the name-plates can hold minifigure accessories really well – just an idea. 🙄
These minifigure display cases are not compartmentalized like the ones made by LEGO, but they have one big compartment only. So if some of your minifigures need more room to stretch out, they are free to do so. There are studs for eight minifigures in each unit, and the display case is big enough to hold Hulk as well as minifigures with larger or longer accessories.
If you want to store more minifigures in the display case, you can attach regular LEGO plates (or even LEGO bricks as there is plenty of head-room) behind the name-plates, or for even more minifigures you can remove the name plates altogether, and cover the whole surface with standard LEGO plates. (The storage compartment is 6 studs deep and 41 studs wide). You can fit 30+ minifigures this way in each unit.
These LEGO minifigure display cases are stackable (there is a row of studs on top), and there are also hooks at the back for wall-mounting. One caution I would make is that if you are planning to stack these and hang them on the wall, use more than just the two top hooks to hang them. Although the display cases do stack very snugly, there is only one row of studs holding them together and as you open and close the front of the cases, and with time, that one row of studs can easily come loose, making the bottom display cases crashing down. So be smart, and use both top and bottom hooks.
If you are planning to display these on a shelf, of course the above is not an issue. You can stack them as much as you want. And you can also build stuff on top of the display cases because of the LEGO compatible studs – if you are inclined to do so.
Each of the LEGO minifig display cases comes with a clear plastic cover. The cover is made of high quality clear plastic and protects your minifigs from dust, dirt and grime. The covers are easily removable even when the display cases are stacked on top of each other. A very nice design!
Since these LEGO display cases don’t have compartments you are not limited to just displaying minifigures in them. You can easily put in a small diorama as seen in the pictures below.
In summary I would highly recommend these LEGO minifigure display cases, especially for adult LEGO fans with a valuable collection they would like to display in a professional manner. You can just get one display case to show off some of your most prized minifigs, or stack up a bunch for a full collection. Stephen has them listed on his website for $24.99 each at BrickDisplayCase.com, so if you like what you see check them out!
And if you have any questions about these LEGO display cases feel free to ask them in the comment section below. Stephen will come by to answer them for you. 😉
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
Those look really nice! I especially like the one displaying the Avengers.
I’d REALLY like to see more pictures of that truck pulling the case.
Dear Eric
Indeed, the first picture I take for truck is using avenger minifigures. However, you may notices that the truck actually is Transformers Optimus Prime from Kre-O. That’s why my friend advice me to use transformer minifigure instead of.
But, if you like the truck, and avenger minifigure. Have a look of below picture. You may like it. It is not shown in my website.
http://www.brickdisplaycase.com/images/truck-avengers.jpg
I believe that is Kre-O Optimus Prime. Looks pretty cool.
Those are great looking. I love the streamlined look.
I will definitely be buying these in a couple months after I move into a house (for more Lego space!).
I’m interested in creating a plastic funnel-type product that could be used for Lego and non-Lego items. Stephen, would you mind telling me who/where you make the plastic and molds for this product? I’m desperate for help in trying to figure out how to mass produce my product, and have no idea how to go about this.
I love these display cases…much nicer than Lego’s and others I’ve seen. Great work!
Thank you for your interest on my display case.
I don’t mind to share the information with you. However, making a new product is a hard job, and the cost is very high.
Just for my box, it take 7 months to complete. The molds price is very high. If you cannot make a very very big volume, you are not able to make the price cheaper than lego do. So, the first thing is that you need a good idea, and do something that lego doesn’t do.
Please contact me though my website – contact us, if you need more information
that would look great in my house! even though I don’t own a house because I’m twelve
These are actually practical! Very well thought-through! Great design and awesome amount of space! I’ll want to pick some up one day!
Do the studs on the tops of the display cases say LEGO on them?
No, Lego is trademark of lego group. This product is not a product from lego group. Therefore, there is no lego mark on the studs.
These look cool! I should get some. Nice displays Stephen!
Thank you
I think the price for these minifig cases are pretty good. If only Legos could be cheaper. These cases would be a great addition to my collection.
i relly like those i think that would be neet for mr gold it would be fun to put some of the stuff frome my brickmaster set 😀
were did you get the plane white minifiures are they lego?
These display cases look very nice! However $25 ea is a bit steep… eg for the sample picture that shows 4 black stacked on top of each other, it would result in 32 minifigs with labels for $100… which is more than $3 per minifig. Do you have bulk pricing avail for multiple units?
Update – I forgot about the shipping charge = it shows $30 for shipping via HK Air Mail, which means $130 for 32 minfigs = over $4 to display each minifig.
Don’t get me wrong, the display case looks fantastic!
But pricing/shipping is pretty tough…
Dear King Arth
For unit price, it really the cheaper that we can make, as the production cost is very high.
For the shipping, the website cost is exactly the shipping cost for the Hong Kong post office, if you order less than 8. However, the shipping cost is now calculate by air mail. If you want to save more, you may choose post by Surface. It is much cheaper if you order 4 or more (over 2Kg). But, please notes that it may take 2 months or more to arrive.
Anyway, if you are interest with my display case, I am happy to calculate the shipping fee for you on both by air or by surface no matter how many you order. We don’t charge more than what we need on shipping. Just send me email from my website – contact us. Give me you country, and number of case you need. Then, I will calculate the shipping fee for you. Please make sure the email address is correct. Otherwise, I am not able to contact you.
Stephen, just a thought; you might consider finding a distributor/person in the USA, Europe and Australia as the high shipping fees will definitely put people off. Maybe someone from Bricklink would be interested to carry them. 🙂
The first thing I just do is to remove the packing in order to reduce the weight. The new shipping price is updated.
Is the posting still secure in that case? The longer the goods are shipped, the higher risks that something will break.
totally agree, I need to think more
You only need to buy 4 for 32 minifigures if you’re only putting 8 in one display. I built a display made up of 16 units in a 4×4 pattern, where each unit contained a 4×6 baseplate and 33 x 1×2 bricks. That cost me 33.00 at the PAB wall in the Lego store, and it doesn’t have a clear cover to protect everything. I think these are a great deal, especially considering how many options for display you have.
Hmm, didn’t think of that King Arthur. I take my opinion about the prices being decent back (besides there was a grammatical error in my comment). Are you good at math?
Oh yeah! By the way, this is a little off topic, but if you want to see some weird minifigs, check out the new Star Wars lego set 75025 and yes, it’s finally official. It comes with four minifigures and the vehicle is amazing! There is a regular Sith Trooper, a new Sith Warrior with two lightsabers, a Jedi knight, and a Jedi consular (the Jedi and Sith Warrior are the odd-looking ones in my opinion). I know they’re aliens and all but I still find them weird yet well-done and very cool. For me, the minifigs are a love-hate thing. One of the Jedi reminds me of Yazneg from the Hobbit movie while the other, a resemblance to Luminara Unduli. And the set even comes with a red holocron. You can check it out on Eurobricks.com.
Yeah, I have seen that set, and those interesting (or as you put it; weird) minifigs. Star Wars had definitely given us a whole universe full of interesting creatures. 😉
Wow! Those are really cool! I love the Kre-O Optimus prime truck display. I have made display cases just out of my LEGO collection. But there nowhere close to being as cool as those ones! I’ve been wanting a display case for my figs lately.. Cause I would like to put all my minifgures for the hobbit in I’m since I have all the sets from that theme so far 😀 and a case to put all of my most favorite minifigures. Once again, really cool!!
By the way, if a sentence ever looks weird.. It’s cause auto correct keeps auto correcting 😛
how much do these cost
Bob, prices are in the article: $25 each. 😉
How long will you make these for? If we start to buy them now and you stop production we will have to look for alternative storage if we want them all the same.
Mike, I contacted Stephen to make sure he sees your question and he should respond soon. 🙂
Actually, I plan to sell it for long term. That’s why I spend a lot of money to do the design registration in different countries. Until now, I got design registered in Australia, European Union (including UK), China Hong Kong. Some other countries are in process, as it take longer time to approve, and should be out end of this year. The protection period is from 10 to 25 years depends on countries. So don’t worry, will continue to make as long as there is some one need it.
Stephen, thanks for stopping by and explaining. 🙂
Wow! Those display cases are wonderful! My children love playing Lego and this is a fantastic idea that they can preserve and display some of its beautiful characters. This is a fantastic idea, Stephen!
Hi Stephen, I have just spent 2 hours looking for a nice display case for my 100’s of minifigs – I just can’t get past yours despite the price.(11 series @$25 each plus shipping!)
Can you please tell me if it is still easy to take the clear covers off if they are stacked and mounted on a wall. My kids play with the minifigs regularly so they would need to be easy to access.
Thanks
Anna
Anna, I’m not Stephen, but in case he doesn’t notice your question, I thought to answer this myself as I do have several of his display cases. The covers do come off easily even when the cases are stacked and/or mounted on a wall. You remove them by putting your hands on the two ends and pulling forward. They come off easily. When it is time to replace the cover, just slide it back in and it will snap on easily. 😉
Thanks, great to know!
You are welcome! If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. 😉
Can i get a discount if i want to buy these in bulk?
I have sent an email to Stephen to make sure he responds to your question.
Hi, inm
Thanks for your interest on my display case.
However, would you please contact me though my website contact us?
The website is http://www.brickdisplaycase.com . The contact us link is located on the bottom of the website.
Dear Anna
Thank you for your help.
Do you know if those are compatible with Character Building figures? I would like to buy 4 of them to display my collection of Doctor Who CB figures and I love the look of those.
Uila, I don’t own any Character Building figures so I can’t say for sure. They are just a little larger than LEGO minifigs, aren’t they? If you tell me the size (especially height) I can check for you as I do have the display cases. Howe about their feet? Do they connect with stud-connectors to a surface similar to LEGO?
Hi there. Any chance this could be shipped to the Philippines?
Ryan, quite possibly they could be shipped. Just follow the link to their website to see if that would work. I know the website address appears to be broken (crossed out), but it actually works. 😉
Ok, thanks! Will check it out
This guy makes really nice custom wooden display cases for mini figures:
http://ayrow.com/woodworking.htm
Those are really nice wooden displays. Great quality work, nice desing. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
We are offering a unique line of Minifigure Display Cases by BUILD-A-BRICK! Take a look! Thanks!
http://www.dioramadepot.com/index.php
do you ship in the philippines? how much would it cost? thanks
I will forward your question to Stephen. 🙂
Unique handmade lego minifigure displays with colors from small to large and custom we also have stands.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MissIrisCreations?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Where’s a good place/site to get the extra bricks and baseplates to fit more figures? Lego store? I can’t find them on the Lego site.
Thanks
You can get all the elements, baseplates, minifigs, instructions, boxes, gifts, or whatever else LEGO ever made on BrickLink.com. 😉
Is it possible to display nanoblock? And also 4 nanoblock?
We have already have a dedicated section for Nanoblock: http://thebrickblogger.com/category/lego-compatible-brands/nanoblock/
Having trouble locating display boxes for larger Star Wars Lego sets.
Any Sugestions?
Mike
Mike, you can often find large clear acrylic display cases for sports memorabilia. This is what LEGO fans with larger displays often end up using. There are many different sizes and styles, but here are some examples you can start with: Sports Memorabilia Display Cases on Amazon