Welcome again to BrickTVReviews with set 8683 LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 1 with 16 Minifigures to collect and comes in a polybag that costs US $2.99 and now lets move on to the review!

Pros

-Since the minifigures is designed to be collected and traded, You may get duplicates. But the fun thing about this is that you can make deals with your friends to trade, how fun is that?

-AFOLs around the world are always targeting the minifigures and they may leak the cheat sheets for the minifiures in the internet. Be on the lookout for these "Jackpot" sheets that may lead you to the minifigures you want because these minifigs has their own exclusive accesories.

Cons

-You may get duplicates and if you don't have friends who collect LEGO's then you've got a problem.

-Act fast because these minifigs have a limited release time. After 2 months the series will be discontinued for 1 month before a new series comes out, so its a race against time.

So I think this is a great addition to your LEGO minifigs collection but I prefer feeling the polybags to identify the minifigs. Anyway I give this a 9/10, BrickTVReviews signing of and have a good day.^_^

Overview:

Having bought a whole box (60 bags) of each series so far, and seeing how so many of my friend who were not into Lego get interested in these little minifigs, I thought I'd share my view on each series as a whole. To the hardcore AFOL, there is not much that needs to be said about the CM trend, as you are sure to have your own opinion. For those casual collectors/beginners, however, I hope this review can provide some insight on each series and the craze as a whole. I'll do these CM reviews using several criterias I find critical when grading minifigures.

Parts:

New parts in Series One (as of time of release) include:

• Pom-Pom
• Caveman club
• Caveman hairpiece
• Clown hairpiece
• Trumpet
• PA7 70 license plate
• Magician's wand
• Plume (more precisely, a comeback)
• Robot buckethead
• Syringe
• Medical Records

Some seemingly "recycled" parts (just a theory that some friends and I have, that TLG uses the series to clear out some overproduced parts. You can also simply file them under "common" if you're not into conspiracy.)

• Blue lightsaber
• Wrench
• Bow+Arrow
• Ninja hood
• Katana
• Pistols
• Shovel
• Turkey
• Orange flippers

Overall a good mix of old and new elements, all pretty useful. Almost all of the heads/bodies/torsos are unique. None of them feature double-sided printing, but a good amount of them have printed torsos. Not going to judge how pretty they look, the whole point of collecting/releasing 16 minifigs is to reach out to all possible collectors, so you decide yourself.

Original/MOC Usability:

Closely related to the "Parts" catagory is usability. "Original" means usefulness of the figure unchanged (maybe except face) in your collection. "MOC" means the usefulness of the figure taken apart and elements used to your liking.

A City collector can obviously find great use for the Cheerleader, especially in groups. The Skateboarder goes well as the punk kid on the block of 7641 and 8403. The Clown can add some spice to your Carousel Carnival, as well as the Magician. They can also set up booth on the streets of your modular Town buildings. Although lacking in sets, the Nurse obviously goes with the ER subtheme. The Diver's color scheme is a bit different from the old sets, but it surely adds variety to them.

Historic themes-wise, the Forestman, Indian, Cowboy and Ninja obviously go along great with their own series. However, because of the design, this Forestman looks more like a leader than your good old forestmen. The Indian's smiley face is different compared to the seriousness of its comrades, a shortcoming that the Ninja and Cowboy don't have.

The Spaceman would go well with Space Police 3 series, as a different faction of the good guys or as the Supreme Commander. The Robot and Zombie will both be useful in your Sci-Fi/Horror MOC (in swarms), however they do not look like they are useful in any existing theme/set (Studios, maybe?) The Caveman, Crash Test Dummy and Wrestler also fall into that catagory.

MOC-wise, the hairpiece owned by the Caveman and the Clown are extremely useful and already have popped up in numerous works. The Magician's formal suit is also an useful piece in several themes. The Caveman's club is a great weapon for Orcs in the Fantasy Castle line. Other than these accessories, I find the minifigs too themed-specific to have parts useful for all types of MOCing.

Swarmers/Standouts/Fillers:

Series 1, compared to 2 and 3, actually features no minifig that immediately caused "OMG MUST HAVE 459 of these" from the Lego community (as far as I was aware.) That being said, there are several figures worth getting multiples of.

The best "swarmers" in this series include the Cheerleader, Indian, Ninja, Forestman, Robot, and Zombie. The Cheerleader and Zombie obvious only work in packs. The rest are all good soldiers for whatever theme they are appropriate.

Although really unorthodox and having little play value for a Lego minifig, the Wrestler actually looks real good on display. He is definitely a worthy figure to get.

The fillers in this set include the Crash Test Dummy (by universal consent), the Diver, and the Magician. Although they are of some use individually, their design and inspiration where simply not on par with the rest of the set.

Conclusion:

I think it goes without saying that the CMs are a good investment, whether or not you plan to resell them. Series 1 minifigs were much harder to acquire initially than the other series released so far, and being No.1 and therefore the oldest set that started it all, they will hold some sentimental and "cultural" value. I also think out of the five series I've seen so far this series has the most diverse collection of minifigures. To those who haven't gotten the whole set I seriously think you should; IMO this one has the most value as a whole than the other series.

I own all 16 now, albeit with duplicates of the Zombie, Diver, Ninja, Forest Man, Robot....I finally managed to locate the final figures I needed-Cheerleader, Magician, Skateboarder via using the barcode crib sheets Lego fans put online...Thanks for that.

The most common figures in the UK seem to be the Zombie and Robot, I got so many I ended up giving one of each Zombie and Robot to my best friend as a small gift...

I do like the concept-sort of Lego Kinder Surprise toy...but the fun leaves when you feel like you've wasted 1.95GBP and end up with duplicates, even if you have the barcode cheats you need to look extremely carefully to match it up and get the figure you want....

Having heard Series 3 may not have ANY barcodes (how kind of Lego eh?!) it has put me off Series 2 and 3....I may get some of Series 2....don't know....But it feels nice to see the full 16 on display!

As Said Above, This is a Major Leap for Lego to Sell Minifigs on thier own! and One of The Best Ideas Ever! I Bought 6 of These at The End of May. And After a lot of Searching, Required 10 More on 6/25...........I Own all 16 in Short. I'll Give a Rating for Each of them.

Indian 9/10

Cheerleader 7/10

Caveman 10/10

Clown 10/10

Zombie 4/10

Skater 8/10

Robot 9/10

Dummy 7/10

Magician 10/10

Wrestler 6/10

Nurse 6/10

Ninja 8/10

Spaceman 10/10

Forestman 10/10 (My Favorite)

Diver 8/10

Cowboy 9/10

Overall

These are Great Figures. I Hope Every FOL out There Gets at least one of These marvelous Figures!

100/100!

I love these minifigs they are the best set I ever had, there a little bit on the expensive side but its all worth it especially for the new parts. my favourite minifigs is the forestman (a blast from the past) this is my first review on brickset and I love this site