Series 15 of LEGO’s incredibly popular Collectible Minifigures line is starting to hit stores. And if you’re going to find a full set, you’ll need to either buy a full case (which can get very pricey), or stand in the store feeling the blind packs to determine what’s inside. If you opt for the latter route, we’re here to help you get started with this feeling guide. We’ve already done a full in-depth Series 15 minifigure review, so here we’ll just cover the important things you’ll want to know when standing in the store with your fingers on a blind pack.
First, which figures are the hardest to find in Series 15? Well, each case comes with enough figures for three full sets of all 16 figures, but some have extras. One case of 60 figures breaks down like this:
3 copies each of the Farmer, Skunk Catcher, Knight, Ballerina, Winged Robot Warrior, Native American Woman, Jewel Thief, and Queen.
4 copies each of the Winged God, Wrestling Champion, Janitor, and Astronaut.
5 copies each of the Patient, Left Shark, and Faun.
The Farmer
• Easiest unique piece: Pitchfork
The Farmer’s pitchfork will be easy to feel. Feel for a long rod with a shovel end. Find the pig to confirm. It’s large, thick and flat. If the pig has a large bushy tail, you’ve actually found the Skunk Catcher’s skunk.
The Skunk Catcher
• Easiest unique piece: Net
Feel for the Skunk Catcher’s net. It will have a large bump on one end of a long rod. Find the skunk to confirm, and make sure you feel the bushy tail to distinguish it from the Farmer’s pig. The bushy tail feels a bit like a scoop.
The Patient
• Easiest unique piece: Crutches
The Patient’s most unique pieces are the two crutches. The crutch will feel like a wishbone or a triangle with an open center. Don’t try to find the patient’s bandage wrap headpiece — it’s too similar to several other hairpieces to easily distinguish.
The Knight
• Easiest unique piece: Shield
If you feel a short rod with nothing on it, you can quickly narrow it down to either the Astronaut, the Faun, or the Knight. Feel for the knight’s shield. It’s a large triangular flat piece with a bump on the side where the handle is. You can also shake the bag a little to get the plume piece to drop to a corner where you can feel it. The Knight’s plume is the only piece of its kind in this series, and it’s small, flat, and pointy around the edges. Don’t confuse it with the Native American Woman’s feathers, though — if it feels like a V, it’s the feathers.
The Ballerina
• Easiest unique piece: Tutu
The only piece you can easily use to distinguish the Ballerina is her tutu. It’s a very large flat oval with ruffled edges. The ruffled edges will be easy to feel through the packaging. Don’t try to find the hairpiece. It’s too hard to distinguish from others.
The Kendo Master
• Easiest unique piece: Katanas
Feel for the Kendo Master’s katanas. There are two, and they are long, thin, and flexible. Then feel for the square hilt guard. Don’t feel for the helmet — the Kendo Master’s mask is hard to distinguish from the Knight’s helm and the Winged Robot Warrior’s helmet.
The Winged Robot Warrior
• Easiest unique piece: Wings
Feel for the small dagger-like wings. There are two, and they’re like a narrow triangle the thickness of a plate, with a clip at one end. You won’t mistake them for the Patient’s crutches because they’re solid, and that’s easy to tell through the packaging. Feel for the sword to confirm. It’s similar to the Kendo Master’s sword — long, thin, and flat — but it doesn’t have a hilt guard. The chest armor is hard to distinguish. Although it’s unique, it’s a difficult piece to feel the outlines of through the packaging, and may be confused with the Winged God’s armor. The helmet is also easy to confuse with other pieces.
The Native American Woman
• Easiest unique piece: Feathers
Lightly hold the contents of the package and shake to make the feathers fall to one corner. Feel for a small V-shaped piece. Find the baby to confirm. The baby is a small, smooth oval bump. Alternatively, you can find the neck bracket. It’s a small L-shaped piece, and is very unique. Both sides are very thin and square, and one has a stud on it. You can also feel for the hair; if you can feel two long braids, it’s correct. That’s often hard to find through the packaging though.
The Winged God
• Easiest unique piece: Spear
Feel for the spear. It’s a long rod with a bulge on one end. You should be able to feel the outline of the spear point through the packaging. Feel for the wings to confirm. They’re large and flat, and uniquely shaped. The helmet is unique, but a bit hard to distinguish through the packaging. If you feel a piece with two pointy bits going in a V shape off a roughly spherical object, you’ve probably got the Winged God’s helm. The armor is hard to distinguish through the packaging and easily confused with Winged Robot Warrior’s armor.
The Wrestling Champion
• Easiest unique piece: Trophy Cup
Feel for the trophy cup. It will feel like a tube with two flat rings on opposite sides. It should be easy to distinguish the cup’s outlines through the packaging. Don’t try to feel for the mullet hairpiece; it’s hard to distinguish.
The Left Shark
• Easiest unique piece: Shark Head
Feel for the large shard head. It will feel like a huge blob that comes to a point on one end, and flattens out on the other. Once you find it, feel for the dorsal and tail fins on the back to confirm. Alternatively, feel for a torso that doesn’t have normal arms. This is the only figure with fins for arms, so if you don’t feel minifig hands, you’re probably holding Left Shark.
The Janitor
• Easiest unique piece: Mop Handle
Feel for the mop handle. The mop handle is the only 6-long bar in this set. If you think you have it, find the ring near one end to confirm. You won’t confuse it for the Kendo Master’s swords, because the mop handle is very stiff. The handle is much longer than the Astronaut, Faun, or Knight’s shorter rods. Make sure the handle doesn’t have anything other than the ring on it, to ensure you haven’t found the Farmer’s pitchfork, the Skunk Catcher’s net, or the Winged God’s spear.
The Faun
• Easiest unique piece: Unique Legs
The Faun is probably the hardest figure to distinguish. First feel for a short bar with nothing attached to it to narrow it down to the Astronaut, Knight, or Faun. Then find the minifig legs. They’ll have an odd zig-zag pattern going front-to-back. Find the feet, then press your thumb right above the feet. If it feels like there’s more of a depression there than usual, you’ve found the Faun’s digitigrade legs. Try it from both the front and back, to make sure you aren’t accidentally pressing your thumb into the back of the legs (which don’t have a depression).
The Jewel Thief
• Easiest unique piece: Jewel
Lightly hold the contents and shake, as with the Native American Woman. Hopefully the jewel will fall to one corner, where you can easily feel it. It’s a small round-ish object, with a very, very short rod on one end. It should be easy to distinguish through the packaging. Alternatively, find the bull horn or grappling hook. For the bullhorn, feel for a cylinder with a rod sticking off one side. The grappling hook can be trickier; feel for a piece that always has a curved rod sticking up. Once you find it, it should be easy to press your fingers around it and feel its 3-sided nature.
The Astronaut
• Easiest unique piece: Flag
Feel for the short rod to narrow it down to the Astronaut, Faun, or Knight. Once you find that, feel for the flag. It’s a very flat square, with two clips one side. Alternatively, feel for the airtanks. They’re two conjoined cylinders, and the neck bracket should be obvious sticking off to one side. It will feel a little like an L. You can also find the visor. It’s a small C-shaped piece, and is unique in this series.
The Queen
• Easiest unique piece: Skirt
The queen is the easiest figure to find. Look for packages with giant bulges. Then feel for a huge, solid rectangular piece with slight curves on one side. Find the two leg pegs on the curved side to confirm. The skirt is by far the largest piece in this series, so you can often distinguish this figure just by how much the package bulges.
Some terrific figs here. The knight really stands out with his new shield, mace and printed torso – if only they were available in bulk – perhaps in a future Castle line once Lego get sthis Neon Knights stuff out of their system…