REVIEW: LEGO Minifigures Series 12

Figure these out.

The crinkle-crinkle of foil bags has once again returned, as onto the doormat of Test Pit Towers has fallen yet more mysterious LEGO minifigures. Whereas last time we knew that each of the random bags would contain a character from The Simpsons, this time round we've purposely kept ourselves in the dark about who Series 12 will incarnate in plastic. We tore those bags open, assembled the pieces before the dog ate them, and met the new arrivals.

Inspired by TV, movies, classic tropes, old jokes, and just about anything from life, the ever-growing range of LEGO minifigures is always a delight to review. In recent years LEGO have clearly had a lot of fun with their choice of character designs and have kept things as random as possible. Series 12 is clearly no exception, with 16 new figures to collect. As ever each comes with a display base and one or two specific accessories, many of which are brand new printed bricks or parts, therefore making them of definite interest to collectors both young and old.

Each character also comes with a unique code that can be entered onto the internet to unlock that character in the LEGO online multi-player game.

Of course, to quote a man on a bench, you never know what you're gonna get - even if you've been sent a load to review. And so (just as with the aforementioned Simpson minifigures) our eight review bags could've contained eight of the same character. Fortunately we lucked out this time and had only one duplicate, which meant we've had a good ol' look at seven of the new figures. Here's what we happily received:

Space Miner.

From deepest space this chap toils away... drilling something we assume. Physically one of the larger minifigures due to the addition of the shoulder armour (which we've seen before on Infearno) we love this guy as he reminds us of the old Space LEGO sets from the 80s - some of the first sets we played with as kids.

Swashbuckler.

Prepare to have your swashes buckled by this handsome chap. Like something from The Three Musketeers (or indeed The Princess Bride), this figure comes complete with rapier and dashing hat, as well as a printed front featuring an exposed and manly chest. Same there aren't a few hairs of there.

Jester.

Wearing the classic garb of the court Jester, this minifigure carries two playing cards, the Ace of Spades and, of course, the Joker. We love the expression on his face and also the opposite side printing on his outfit. Definitely a favourite amongst the entire brood.

Fairytale Princess

Unique amongst the other figures, the princess is the only one to feature a double sided head. One side holds a joyful smile, the other a puckering kiss. She holds a green frog in one hand and, as the faces suggest, she draws reference from The Princess and the Frog. Gis a kiss!

Pizza Delivery Man

Complete with spotty cheeks, printed pizza box tile and printed pizza, this guy represents someone we've all come to love at some point in our lives. We like his hat, printed appropriately with 'Pizza' on it, and also his cheesy grin.

Video Game Guy

The poster boy of the new series, Video Game Guy comes with a simple computer game controller and hair with moulded headphones. The printing on the body is pretty awesome, with not only the slogan "Player 1" on his chest and 'short sleeve t-shirt over long sleeve t-shirt' style, but there's also a tiny flash drive hanging from his belt. Nice.

Prospector

There's gold in them there hills! This hick features some great printing details to the clothes, including patches and trouser braces, as well as a separate bushy beard piece and a brand new hat. We love the toothy-gap grin, the scruffy undone waist, and the pickaxe accessory.

So we did pretty well there, with just one duplicate Video Game Guy (let us know if you want to swap!). But Series 12 also features...