Official LEGO stores have a station called Build-A-Minifigure, where you’ll find a variety of minifig heads, hairpieces, torsos, legs, and accessories. A pack of three minifigures with accessories costs $9.99 and comes with its own packaging. A minifig is considered to include five pieces; a legs piece, a torso piece, a head, a headgear/hairpiece, and a handheld accessory. LEGO stores have been quite lenient about this rule, so if you would like to get all torsos, or only heads and accessories – as long as the number of pieces adds up to 15 – they will allow you to purchase them.
Build-A-Minifigure stations have been around for quite a white a while now, and they are a good source of minifigure parts and accessories. Minifigure parts usually come from the LEGO City, LEGO Creator and LEGO Collectible Minifigures lines, and occasionally you could find some rarer accessories. And in the past few weeks, something interesting has been happening. LEGO fans are reporting that they are finding some very unusual pieces at the Build-A-Minifigure stations; pieces in colors that never appeared in official LEGO sets, as well as new printed elements that are also not from any known sets.
Initially, LEGO fans thought that these pieces are from yet to be released sets. However, it has been confirmed by Matthew Ashton, Vice President of Design at LEGO, that the parts were specifically made for the Build-A-Minifigure stations. Unique pieces include several hair and headgear re-colors, uniquely printed minifig heads, leg assemblies and torsos, animals in new colors, and a brand new printed shield. So, if you are near a LEGO store, make sure you check out their Build-A-Minifigure station. You may find some of these interesting pieces, or perhaps even more!
Another good source of recently released unique LEGO pieces has been the Bricks & Pieces section of the LEGO Customer Service website. This service was initially established to easily get replacements for missing or damaged parts, but now you can also make regular purchases for loose LEGO elements. While the online Pick-A-Brick section is a good source of common parts, the Bricks & Pieces section also carries unique accessories, printed elements, and minifigure parts. Prices also tend to be better at Bricks & Pieces, so it’s worth comparing the two services both for selection and price. (Please note that you cannot earn LEGO VIP points on Bricks & Pieces orders as it is considered customer service rather than the shop.) Both PAB and BAP are serviced from Europe, but from different locations. If you are ordering from North America, packages take about 1-2 weeks to arrive.
What do you think? Have you been to a LEGO store recently? Did you check out the Build-A-Minifig station? And did you find any interesting pieces? How about using the online services? Did you find any interesting pieces there? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
And you might also like to check out the following related posts:
