Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding the official reveal LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series 18 (71021), it’s time to ask that ever nagging question: what are the odds of getting my faved minifigure from the series? As you all know by now, this 40th anniversary LEGO minifigure commemorative series comes with 17 minifigs to collect, and like other CMF series, knowing how much of each minifig inside the box will help you understand the odds of feeling your way through each of them.
A couple of days ago, The Brick Fan managed to grab hold of an entire Series 18 box and here’s what we know regarding how this minifigure series is distributed. For starters, each Series 18 box contain 61 blind bags – and if you find it odd why LEGO has arranged it as such, because they opted to throw in a sort of ‘chase’ figure within the batch. Before we go with the disctribution, here’s how the minifig checklist looks like.
Though the checklist highlights all of the 17 minifigures in this series, as expected, not all of them are distributed equally inside each box. LEGO even went as far this time of adding only ONE blind bag for a particular minifig. Check out the box distribution below.
5 in a box
- LEGO Red Brick Suit Guy (#2)
- LEGO Blue Brick Suit Girl (#3)
4 in a box
Elephant Suit Girl (#1)- Fireworks/Rocket Guy (#5)
- Red Dragon Suit Guy (#7)
- Spider Suit Guy (#9)
- Birthday Cake Guy (#10)
- Flowerpot Girl (#14)
- Cowboy Suit Guy (#15)
- Blue Unicorn Knight (#17)
3 in a box
- Elephant Suit Girl (#1)
- Party Clown (#4)
- Birthday Party Girl (#7)
- Cactus Girl (#11)
- Cat Suit Girl (#12)
- Race Car Guy (#13)
- Birthday Party Boy (#16)
And finally, as you may have noticed already, the chase minifigure is the Classic Policeman minifigure which is only found once per box. Though younger LEGO fans will probably not mind the generic policeman minifig, older AFOLs sure understands the value of this classic little guy which is a re-release of the minifigure included in LEGO Classic Town Police Car (600-2) in 1978. Interestingly, 1978 also corresponds to the year when the first LEGO minifigures were introduced. So if you’re looking forward in collecting the entire Series 18 range, then you should be open to the possibility that grabbing the Classic Policeman in this series might be extremely difficult. The fact is, the only way to be assured of having the Classic Policeman, is if you will opt to buy the entire box set.
If you’re not the completionist type and is comfortable with the idea of having the rest of the Series 18 minifigs less the Classic Policeman, then you’ll be glad to know that you can come up with at least 3 sets of the other 16 minifigs to share with your friends, and with a couple of more to spare.
So what do you think about LEGO’s move of adding a sort of chase minifigure in this series? Are you OK with this? Share what you think in the comments below.
I love Lego but I really think short-packing the Policeman was a dick move.
I’m disabled and don’t get out much and I’ve already tracked down 12 of the cops. It’s possible if you know how to feel the packs.
So you have grabbed from 12 boxes? You just made it a lot harder for people in your area :-).
And basically you validated OP’s point. 12 was already a sick move, giving a 1/61 chance. When you have people getting multiples, and in your case 12, that is 0/732 chance for those boxes.
I am not judging anyone for playing ‘the game’, more Lego, but why 12? Resale? Or army building.
Scalping
This is so awkward! LEGO is going mad. It busted the secondary market.
Look on eBay or any related site and see by yourself… The “entire” set is only 16 minifigs. The Classic Policeman is sold alone with a unique price… OMG!
Why 5 of one figure and 3 of another?
Some have cited they like the brick figure but others, including myself, are not keen. They also have among the least reusable parts so the inevitable duplicates for many won’t be as useful.
Uneven distribution is a pain. Not only do Lego create this false rarity, and also fuel resale scalping, with the singular classic cop, but they imbalance the mix.
Of course, with feelers quick to stores, most will only be able to collect the leftovers. Basically you get the least preferred.
I really wish Lego would truly make these blind bags. They could add to the packaging at a cost of one cent or use little boxes….which would be more environmentally friendly.
I order online from stores that send out from the warehouse. I do batches of 10 or more and they come from one box (same batch number on the bag). Once I got 4 dupes, but mostly a nice mix. Not likely to have got one, let alone a few, of Gothic Girl or the Winged Warrior if I had gone to the shops 1 day after launch.
In fact I know from a chance conversation of at least one staff member who has first dibs on boxes in the shops for himself and manager .
So sloppy seconds for even doorcrashers in some instances.
This list is incorrect, there are only 3x elephant girls in this box… Not 4x.
Thanks for spotting this. I didn’t notice this for quite some time, but hey, better late than never. 😉 I’ve corrected the article accordingly, so I hope it helps.