Yesterday LEGO officially unveiled the next LEGO Collectible Minifigures Series, this time featuring Disney characters. Please note that this series will have 18 minifigs, instead of the usual 16. Below are details, pictures and some analysis, so we can discuss. 🙂
BILLUND, Denmark (March 29, 2016) – The LEGO Group today announced its 18th collection of LEGO Minifigures starring some of The Walt Disney Company’s most beloved characters inspired by stories from across the entire Disney universe. Eighteen new minifigures bring to life in LEGO form for the first time the playful personalities of some of the most iconic characters from Disney classics such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland to Disney/Pixar favorites like The Incredibles and Toy Story.
“For more than 16 years, fans have been recreating their most beloved Disney stories through LEGO play,” said Jill Wilfert, vice president of licensing and entertainment for The LEGO Group. “This year, we’re excited to give them a diverse collection of Disney characters from classic storylines, to never-before-seen LEGO likenesses of Disney icons in order to further the creative play possibilities for Disney and LEGO fans alike.”
This collectible series of LEGO Minifigures will be widely available for purchase in all major toy retailers, as well as at shop.LEGO.com and in LEGO Stores nationwide in May, with a suggested retail price of $3.99 (USD) each.
Disney Animated Classics Characters: From Disney’s collection of timeless animated characters, the LEGO Group introduces minifigure versions of the beloved Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse characters, their temperamental friend Donald Duck, and his leading lady, Daisy Duck. Enthusiasts of 1950s Disney stories will appreciate the inclusion of Alice and the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Captain Hook from Peter Pan, and the evil witch Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Disney fans will also love minifigure versions of Ariel and Ursula from The Little Mermaid and the beloved Genie and Aladdin from the fictional city of Agrabah featured in Aladdin, plus the ultimate alien friend, Stitch, from Lilo & Stitch.
Disney/Pixar Inspired Heroes and Villains: Two Disney/Pixar characters never-before-seen in the LEGO world become minifigures – Mr. Incredible and archenemy Syndrome from Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles. Additionally, fans can collect minifigure versions of two icons from the beloved Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story – Buzz Lightyear and the squeak-toy Alien from Pizza Planet.
This is a pretty interesting, and quite mixed collection. If you look at them as a whole series it doesn’t have the same uniformity as previous series, as some of the minifigs have moulded heads, while others use standard minifig heads. Some people feel that Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck got too big heads. Comparing them to regular minifig heads they are definitely big, but I think they do look very cute. If the proportions bother you, you can consider them to be Disney costumed minifigs. Stitch is very cute though, so is the Pizza Planet Alien – although we have seen him before in the LEGO Toy Story sets in 2010. The Cheshire Cat also looks good with that sinister grin.
As far as the characters with regular minifigure heads, we got Syndrome, Ariel, Aladdin, Captain Hook and Maleficent in the top row. And Ursula, Alice, Peter Pan, Mr. Incredible, Buzz Lightyear, and the Genie in the bottom row (see below).
Ariel is particularly interesting because she already appeared in mini-doll form in the LEGO Disney Princess sets. The printing is very similar, but a brand new hairpiece is used for her. I don’t like the facial print on Captain Hook, but his hat is pretty sweet. Malificent is gorgeous all around, and Ursula is the first minifig with a 3D bust and belly – which I think is very funny and will make her popular. I’m very happy with Alice’s hard-plastic skirt (same as on Minnie Mouse), as I really dislike cloth skirts. Her hair is nice too, but her facial printing doesn’t have the cuteness of the original Disney character, which is sad.
Peter Pan is of course awesome, and could easily be turned into Link from Legend of Zelda – a character LEGO fans have been requesting for a very long time. Mr. Incredible and Syndrome are okay, I guess, although I think short legs would have been better for Syndrome to show the size difference. It is interesting that for Buzz Lightyear a regular minifig head was used instead of the previous moulded piece.
I don’t like the Genie at all – it seems like LEGO was not able to capture the facial features. In my opinion Ariel, Aladdin, Alice, Peter Pan and the Genie should all have larger eyes to match the cuteness of the Disney films characters. I don’t know why or how LEGO missed this, as recreating LEGO minifigures from cartoons is generally much easier than LEGO-izing real people (like real actors from films).
Overall, I think some of the characters are winners, while others could have been much better. What do you think? How do you like the LEGO Collectible Disney Minifigures? Are you planning to collect them all? Or just get a few you really like? Do you have any favorites? Or you don’t like them at all? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below. And you can also check out the currently available Disney sets under the LEGO Disney Princess section of the Online LEGO Shop.
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