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Toys / LEGO Minifigures

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The series 1 minifigures.

A LEGO theme that focuses entirely on minifigures. Each wave, or "Series," contains 16note  different minifigures individually-packed in sealed opaque bags or, if it’s a series released after the second Marvel series, boxes.

Not to be confused with the actual minifigures themselves that LEGO has used since 1978 - obviously minifigures are what the LEGO Minifigures line is about, but the line doesn't cover every minifigure ever made, just the 500+ collectible minifigures the line contains. Adult fans of LEGO tend to refer to the theme, and accordingly the minifigures therein, as "Collectible Minifigures" (or "CMF") to distinguish them from normal minifigures, even though LEGO never refers to them as such.

See also LEGO Minifigures Online for the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game based upon this theme.

Provides examples of:

  • Absurdly Sharp Claws: Wolverine appears in Marvel’s second series. The Series 25 Harpy uses his claw sculpt to represent wicked bird talons.
  • Action Girl: There are a few, ranging from the commonplace with several of the female athletes, to the fictional, with characters like the Intergalactic Girl, Elf Girl, and Cyborg.
  • A Day in the Limelight: In episode 8 of the American version of LEGO Masters, characters from series 19 were featured. Namely, Pizza Costume Guy, Bear Costume Guy, Galactic Bounty Hunter, Programmer, Jungle Explorer, Mummy Queen, Gardener and Shower Guy.
  • Alien Among Us: The Alien Tourist in Series 26.
  • All Drummers Are Animals: The Muppets line includes the Trope Codifier himself, Animal. His accessories are his drum set and a pair of drumsticks.
  • All There in the Manual The website is the sole source of background information about each minifigure; none of the packaging even hints about characterisation, which is probably for the best given the creative nature of LEGO.
  • Amazonian Beauty: The Series 25 Fierce Barbarian applies to this.
  • An Ice Person: The Series 16 Ice Queen. Also, Elsa and Frozone in the second Disney wave. Then there's Zane, though he's more of an ice android.
  • Artsy Beret: The Artist figure wears a beret.
  • Ascended Meme:
    • As a nod to the "step on a LEGO" Internet meme (in which stepping on LEGO bricks is stated to be the worst pain/punishment imaginable), the Goblin moves LEGO pieces for unfortunate humans to step on when they least expect it.
    • The Faun's singing slips in a "tro-lo-lo".
  • Awesome, but Impractical: The evil minfigures still recruit the Evil Robot because he looks cool, even though he's completely useless, and more of a liability.
  • Bald of Evil: The Evil Wizard, despite his impressive beard, is bald.
  • Barbarian Hero: The Barbarian from Series 11, a heavily muscled and shirtless warrior in a fur loincloth who has a history of fighting ogres, trolls, hydras, and evil sorcerers. The Fierce Barbarian from Series 25 is his Distaff Counterpart, wearing even the same belt.
  • Bears Are Bad News: The Frightening Knight is the scariest minfigure around, so scary that even the Fright Knights don't want anything to do with him. And we know that he's frightening because he has an angry bear on his shield.
  • Beary Funny: One of the figures included in The Muppets line is Fozzie Bear. As part of his stand-up routine, his accessories are a banana and a microphone stand.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: The Fly Monster in Series 14 is a minifigure-sized housefly.
  • Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: A Yeti appears in Series 11, and a Bigfoot (under the name Squarefoot) appears in Series 14. They are nearly identical except for their colors.
  • Big Red Devil: The Cute Little Devil in Series 16 is a kid in a devil Halloween costume, which is almost completely red and has horns, bat wings, and a spaded tail.
  • Black Knight:
    • The Evil Knight from Series 7 is a Psycho for Hire decked out in pitch black armor who's worked for other villainous LEGO characters like Cedric the Bull, Basil the Bat Lord, and Vladek, which gave him some glowing red eyes. As an added bonus, his shield bears the sigil of a boar's head, likening him to another famous black knight.
    • To a lesser extent, the Frightening Knight, Fright Knight, and Vampire Knight (a reimagining of Basil the Bat Lord himself) qualify as well. While their armor isn't black, it's still noticeably dark and drab-looking, and all characters carry the sinister undertones that often go hand in hand with the trope.
  • Blind Bag Collectables: These are LEGO minifigures that can be bought individually in sealed opaque bags or, if it’s a series released after the second Marvel series, boxes.
  • Brats with Slingshots:
    • In the first wave of The Simpsons minifigures, classic troublemaker Bart Simpson is depicted with his trademark slingshot in his back pocket. In the second wave, a slingshot is the accessory of his superhero alter-ego, Bartman.
    • In the second wave of Disney minifigures, classic half-pint Dewey Duck comes with a slingshot, making him the most heavily armed of the three nephews.
    • In Series 24, the Newspaper Kid comes with a slingshot.
  • British Royal Guards: The Series 5 Royal Guard is modeled specifically after British Royal Guards. His description notes that he is standing perfectly still and remaining completely unresponsive, except... he tells you he's not allowed to speak.
  • Call-Back: Later series of minifigures will occasionally reference previous series.
    • The Sheriff has a wanted poster of the Series 6 Bandit.
    • Series 14 features the Series 5 Lumberjack after becoming a werewolf, and a zombie version of the Series 8 Pirate Captain.
    • The Series 14 Banshee is pen pals with the Series 11 Sad Clown, who loves to hear about her unhappy visions.
    • The Series 15 Flying Warrior serves the Series 12 Battle Goddess.
    • The Series 17 Hot Dog Vendor hires the Series 13 Hot Dog Man to advertise his products at parties and special events.
    • The Series 19 Video Game Champ has a game featuring the Series 16 Cyborg on the cover.
    • The Series 19 Pizza Costume Guy features the same pizza company branding as the Series 12 Pizza Delivery Man.
  • Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: The Series 17 Retro Space Hero, as implied by his name, is modeled after classic pulpy Space Opera heroes like Flash Gordon. In typical LEGO fashion, his bio is tongue-in-cheek, describing "ultra-scientific vitamin breakfasts" among his exciting thrills.
  • Carpet of Virility: Series 12's Rock Star noticeably has a hairy chest, presumably to make him look more attractive.
  • Cartoon Cheese: One of the figures in the Looney Tunes line is Speedy Gonzales, and given that he's the fastest mouse in Mexico, his accessories are several pieces of cheese.
  • Cassandra Truth: Poor Fisherman: Every wild story he tells is the absolute truth, and nobody ever believes him.
  • Cat Girl: Series 14's Tiger Woman is half-woman, half-tigress. Her backstory says that she used to be a normal minifigure until an ancient artifact transformed her. Her visual design lets her double as a human in a Halloween costume, as her face and hands don't match her body "fur".
  • Cats Are Magic: The Series 14 Wacky Witch has a rather gloomy black cat...but this trope is averted, since it's a lazy house cat and pretty much useless to her.
  • Censor Suds: The Series 19 Shower Guy has nothing on under his towel, but there's a lot of bubbles printed around his nether regions to obscure anything that may be seen.
  • Chained by Fashion: The Series 14 Specter has chains to rattle about in ghostly fashion.
  • Classy Cat-Burglar: The Jewel Thief from Series 15. She wears the trademark skintight catsuit, breaks into highly secured vaults to steal valuable gems, and leaves a calling card which just so happens to be the previous gem she stole.
  • Classy Cravat: The Highwayman sports a ruffled jabot around his neck. It's such an important accessory for him that he'll let a mark go if they threaten to splash mud on it.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Seemingly everyone.
  • Code Name: The Spy operates under the codename "Agent A".
  • Comically Missing the Point: The Jewel Thief feels she has to leave a calling card at the scene of her crimes, and something that represents her way of thievery. So she always leaves the last jewel she stole at the site of her newest theft.
  • Compressed Hair: The Series 6 Intergalactic Girl has an almost absurdly long, billowy blonde mane... and a space helmet.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: Parodied with the Series 6 Classic Alien. Due to the whole Roswell crash, he's been out of communication with the home planet for a while, so he gets his news about them from the tabloids, and is learning that his people built the pyramids, invented microwave ovens, and have Elvis up on the mothership.
  • Contagious Laughter: The Jester's inherent joy makes everyone around him join in.
  • Continuity Nod: To loads of other LEGO Themes:
    • The Space Villain from Series 3 has the logo from the second iteration of Blacktron, LEGO's oldest villainous Space faction. His online bio contains plenty of name-drops to the other Space factions.
      • The later Evil Mech also bears the original Blacktron logo, and its description alludes to the "Future Generation" subtitle of Blacktron's second iteration.
      • The Series 19 Galactic Bounty Hunter also features the original Blacktron logo.
    • Similarly, the Series 1 Spaceman and Series 6 Intergalactic Girl's outfits bear the emblem of Classic LEGO Space. Intergalactic Girl's bio also name-drops Blacktron.
    • The Elf's online bio describes him as "Hailing from deep within the mystical forests of the Elflands, to the north of the Great Western Kingdom..." This is a reference to locations on a map in LEGO Club Magazine, on which the domains of the human, troll, dwarf, and skeleton factions of the 2007-2009 LEGO Castle theme were marked along with a mysterious elf faction.
      • The Evil Dwarf's bio also mentions the Dwarven Kingdom, which was featured on the same map.
    • The Series 3 Race Car Driver's jacket includes sponsors such as Octan and Stafford Motors. The former is LEGO City's primary oil and energy company, and the second appeared in the 2008-2009 LEGO Agents theme as a reference to one of the designers, Mark Stafford. Octan is also a sponsor on the jersey of the Series 4 Soccer/Football Player.
    • The online bio for the Series 2 Disco Dude says he "has traveled back in time to relive the days of disco dancing, bell-bottom pants, and the very first LEGO Space sets".
    • The Series 2 Traffic Cop has the LEGO City police badge on his uniform, as well as printed on his traffic ticket.
    • Considering the Robin Hood-esque theme as part of the Castle series was called Forestmen, it doesn't seem to be a coincidence that they went with "Forestman" over, say, "Archer" or "Forester" or "Robin Hood" for one of the figures.
    • From the Zookeeper's bio:
      Of course, there are the usual camels and bats and colorful jungle frogs, but nobody ever warned her about dragons and rock monsters, not to mention what that one team of adventurers brought back from their expedition to Dino Island!
    • The last paragraph of the Detective's bio is full of references to earlier themes and games:
      You may have heard of some of the Detective's most famous cases. He's the one who single-handedly solved the Brickster's Baffling Brick-Napping, the Sam Sinister Switcheroo, and the Mystery of Timmy's Nose. Why, he even tracked down a missing pet from the Racing Drome... and robot monkeys don't leave footprints!
    • The Scientist's bio says "Her studies of a certain outer dimension have even perfected a method for swapping body parts at will!"
    • The Pirate Captain cannot come up with a good pirate name since all the good ones, such as Ironhook and Brickbeard, have already been taken.
    • The Grandma once went digging for treasure with Johnny Thunder.
    • The Evil Knight has served under Basil the Bat Lord, Cedric the Bull, and Lord Vladek.
    • Galaxy Patrol cadets need to be able to resist the mind-control powers of Pluuvian Brain Beasts from LEGO Alien Conquest. While not explicitly stated in her bio, it is also very obvious that the Alien Empress is a ruler of the alien race featured in that line.
    • The Sleepyhead dreams about colorful knights with swords that shoot lightning and time machines powered by historical hats.
    • The movie tie-in series are naturally loaded with them. Likewise for The Simpsons themed tie-in as well.
    • The Dino Tracker is based off of LEGO Dino.
    • The Space Miner's shoulder pads bear a variation of the Classic LEGO Space logo, with a drill instead of a rocket. His description states that he mined for Brickonium on Planet U and discovered the source of LEGO Arctic's meteorites during a mission to Krysto-2002.
    • The Pizza Delivery Man's description is one big tribute to LEGO Island, starting off by revealing that he is the newest employee at Papa Brickolini's Pizzeria and going on to reference the game's vehicles system and climatic chase against the Brickster.
    • The Galaxy Trooper looks very bulky and unique among the various Space characters, but his armor bears the winged-rocket emblem of the Galaxy Squad.
    • The Classic King references the very first LEGO Castle set released in 1978, describing him as not having much of a kingdom yet, but he has recruited "14 brave and loyal knights" who have helped him construct "a fine golden castle."note  His biography further pokes fun at how they even had to build their own horses to ride on since horse figures hadn't yet been made at the time.
    • The Series 15 Frightening Knight was kicked out of the Fright Knights for being too frightening. The Series 19 Fright Knight is pretty explicitly a native of the old Fright Knights theme, being a ghost in an updated take on their armor, as if he's an original Fright Knight still walking the earth. Series 25's Vampire Knight is his master, remaking the original Basil the Bat Lord figure, the chief villain from the 1997 Fright Knights theme.
    • The series 16 Rogue bears the emblem of the Wolfpack.
    • The Series 16 Spy worked for Alpha Team (and closely resembles an updated version of Dash Justice), was seen infiltrating Dr. Inferno's Volcano Base, and rescued Galaxy Squad pilot Solomon Blaze. Since Blaze would later become a member of the Ultra Agents, the Spy effectively ties together all three of LEGO's Spy Fiction toylines.
    • The Desert Warrior once found the ancient tomb of Amset-Ranote  and battled his giant stone scarab to claim the pharaoh's treasure.
    • The Series 4 Punk Rocker, with his pink mohawk, skull-patterned shirt, and blue pants, resembles one of the minifigures that appeared in LEGO LOCO. He also bears a looser resemblance to Sid Vacant, one of the opponents in LEGO Stunt Rally.
    • The Series 18 Race Car Guy is actually redesigned version of Rocket Racer from LEGO Racers.
    • The Series 19 Jungle Explorer is essentially Johnny Thunder, given a more detailed redesign to fit the modern aesthetics of LEGO minifigs.
    • Series 21 includes an updated take on the original 1989 Space Police officer.
    • Series 26 has several references to previous Space themes.
      • Ice Planet Explorer is a remake of Doctor Kelvin from the 1993–1995 Ice Planet 2002 theme.
      • The M-Tron Powerlifter is an update of the M-Tron Astronaut in the same vein as the previous Space Police minifigure.
      • The Alien Beetlezoid resembles and follows the naming convention of the Alien Buggoids from Galaxy Squad.
  • Cosmic Motifs: Series 26 has the Flying Saucer Costume Fan and Orion, with the former wearing a UFO headpiece and Star-Spangled Spandex and the latter being based on the constellation of the same name.
  • Court Jester: The Series 12 Jester has the classic appearance of a standard medieval court jester. His bio confirms that he performs for the King, the Queen, and the royal court, who all enjoy his jokes.
  • Creepy Child: The Spooky Girl from Series 12, Spooky Boy from Series 16, and the Spider Suit Boy from Series 18.
  • Cruella to Animals: The third wave of Disney minifigures features the Trope Namer herself, Cruella De Vil. She is dressed in a fur coat, and one of her accessories is one of the dalmatian pups.
  • Cthulhumanoid: The Alien Trooper in Series 13 has several tentacle-like mouthparts.
  • Cute Ghost Girl: The Banshee.
  • Cyclops: The Cyclops in Series 9 and the Lady Cyclops in Series 13 are both based upon the Greek cyclops, especially as portrayed in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
  • Cuteness Proximity: The Babysitter has this to...pretty much everything.
  • Dainty Little Ballet Dancers: Subverted by the Ballerina in Series 15. Her bio emphasizes how hard she has to physically train in order to perform breathtaking ballets. Her own quote is "If you want to be as graceful as a swan, you have to train like a horse."
  • Deader than Dead: Goofily implied with the designs of the Zombie Pirate and Zombie Skateboarder. Since their living predecessors already had skulls on their clothing, the zombies' skull symbols have cartoonish X eyes to make them even deader.
  • Deliberately Monochrome: The Mime and Sad Clown due to their costume, and the Spooky Girl, Spooky Boy, and Spider Suit Boy as a reference to scary black-and-white classic horror media. The second wave of Disney themed minifigures includes Mickey and Minnie as they appeared in Steamboat Willie. The Film Noir Detective from Series 25 is also completely in grayscale in keeping with the Film Noir genre, save for the literal Red Herring accessory that comes with him—the color is obviously necessary for the joke.
  • Disco: The Series 2 Disco Dude and the Series 13 Disco Diva.
  • Disco Dan: The Disco Dude behaves as if the '70s never left. However, the Disco Diva moved on, but she finds disco spots and optimistically awaits its comeback.
  • Dreamworks Face / Fascinating Eyebrow: It's been incredibly common in minifigures in general since 2008, so much as you'd expect, almost every one of these minifigures does it. The few that don't are robots, aliens or have an obscuring beard.
  • Dressing as the Enemy: The Skeleton Guy thinks he's doing this, but the monsters know he's human and don't really mind.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The Spooky Girl and Spooky Boy have white skin and black hair to cement their eerie appearances.
  • The '80s: The Series 17 Dance Instructor and Yuppie epitomize the era, with the Dance Instructor's crazy '80s Hair and exercise outfit with sweatband and zebra leg warmers, and the Yuppie's brick cell phone and outfit that looked like it crawled straight out of Miami Vice.
  • Elderly Blue-Haired Lady: Series 19 includes the Gardener, an elderly Florida-type woman with a purple beehive hairdo.
  • Elvis Has Left the Planet: Elvis is on his species' mothership, or, at least, that's what the Classic Alien believes.
  • Everyone Is Related: In Series 14, all three zombies are family. The Zombie Cheerleader is the Zombie Businessman's daughter, and the great-great-niece of the Zombie Pirate.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: The first LEGO minifigure Zombie debuts in Series 1. The monster-themed Series 14 naturally introduces more zombies, with a Zombie Businessman, Zombie Cheerleader, and Zombie Pirate.
  • Evil Counterpart: The Series 1 Robot has the Series 8 Evil Robot, using all the same base pieces with a different color palette and prints, and the Wizard from series 12 has one in the form of the Evil Wizard right after in Series 13. More subtly, the Series 9 Alien Avenger mimics the Series 7 Galaxy Patrol through their armor, indicating they are framed as a villain/hero duo.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": For the most part, minifigures are referred to only by their occupations (Cheerleader, Circus Clown, Cowboy, etc.). However, there are some exceptions.note 
  • Expy: Used very often:
  • Extinct Animal Park: Downplayed in the Zookeeper's bio. The LEGO City zoo is full of extant animals as expected, but the Zookeeper was surprised by one exhibit featuring dinosaurs brought back from Dino Island.
  • Fauns and Satyrs: A Faun appears in Series 15. He featured a brand new leg mold to give him hoofed legs which has since been used for other demihuman minifigures.
  • Fembot: The Lady Robot. She's named the Fembot in the LEGO Movie: The Videogame. Also the Series 26 Nurse Android applies to this which is more female looking than a reuse of an existing minifigure.
  • Film Noir: The Series 25 Film Noir Detective, wearing a trench coat and fedora and rendered in greyscale.
  • Fluffy Tamer: The Tiger Woman tames lions in the Monster Circus.
  • Fog Feet: The Genie, Genie Girl, Specter, Banshee, and Aladdin's Genie.
  • Fox Folk: The third Disney wave features Robin Hood from the 1973 film of the same name.
  • Frankenstein's Monster: In Series 4. A rockin' take on the monster appears in Series 14.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: The vampire, of course. Literally so, as he invites his neighbors to lovely parties he hosts for them. Once they get past the appearance he ends up being quite the popular guy.
  • Friend to All Living Things: Well, the Snake Charmer is a friend to all reptiles, but he loves his cobra most of all.
  • Funny Animal: Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, the Looney Tunes series, Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Chip, Dale, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Prince John, Robin Hood, Jiminy Cricket, the The Muppets series (except for Statler, Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, and (maybe) Gonzo), Throg, the Cowardly Lion, Orca, the Chesire Cat, the Fly Monster, Itchy, Scratchy, and the Vampire Bat. The Minotaur also counts to a certain degree.
  • Gender-Equal Ensemble: Many of the older series were male-dominated to varying degrees, but some later series would have even male-female ratios. Those being Series 20, 22 (though the genders of the Robot Repair Tech and Space Creature were only revealed through an online game), 23, 24 (discounting two characters with Ambiguous Gender), and 25.
  • Genie in a Bottle: In Series 6 with an Aladdin-based Genie, and in Series 12 with an I Dream of Jeannie-based Genie Girl. Happens once more in the Disney line with the Genie from Aladdin.
  • Get-Rich-Quick Scheme: The Prospector combines this with Zany Scheme to earn money. If he can't find gold, he'll search for oil, treasure, and crashed UFOs to sell.
  • Girlish Pigtails: One such hair sculpt was debuted by one of the cheerleaders...who happens to be a zombie. The Babysitter also has them, as well as the Birthday Party Girl, Sugar Fairy, and Petunia Pig.
  • Gladiator Games: There's a Myrmillo version in Series 5, and a retiarius in Series 17.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: There were 186 figures, as of Series 11, including Team GB. As of 2019, there are 19 traditional series, plus several licensed spin-offs with an increased number of 18 to 20 minifigures each.
  • The Greys: The Series 6 Classic Alien. Since the Roswell incident, he's been keeping up on current events by reading the supermarket tabloids since he's been out of communication with the others for a while.
  • Harping on About Harpies: Series 25 includes a Harpy. Being as she's a LEGO minifigure, her design is more humanoid than most harpies, with purple wings sprouting out of her back that are not part of her arms, which are themselves sporting some very sharp Wolverine Claws. She has a beak-mouth and uses the rare digitigrade mold for her legs to seem more birdlike, though.
  • Hazmat Suit: A Hazmat Guy is part of Series 4, though he and his work are treated in a rather lighthearted manner.
  • Hawaiian-Shirted Tourist: Parodied with the Alien Tourist in Series 26, who is an alien wearing a Hawaiian shirt that's vacationing on Earth. For added points, he's wearing an equally touristy I Love NY-style shirt that says "I Love Planet Earth" under it.
  • Healing Factor: Wolverine appears in Marvel’s second series.
  • The Highwayman: Series 17's "mystery figure" is a Highwayman.
  • Hime Cut: The Spooky Girl's hair style, lending to her Japanese horror influence.
  • Historical Domain Character: Cleopatra (originally called Egyptian Queen), William Shakespeare, and Abraham Lincoln are among the minifigures released.
  • Historical In-Joke: The Egyptian Queen is in the middle of some. Her accessory is a snake, which is surprisingly dark, as the legend goes that Cleopatra killed herself with a self-induced asp bite. The Minifigures Visual Dictionary has some jokes about the Roman Emperor and the Pharaoh fighting over her. Cleopatra was caught in a controversial romance with Roman Marc Antony, which led to the downfall of the Egyptian kingdom.
  • Horny Vikings: In Series 4. The Hun Warrior and Viking Woman also has superfluous horns on their helmets. Averted with the Series 20 Viking warrior, who wears more historically-accurate gear, including a hornless helmet.
  • Hot Blooded Sideburns: The Highwayman boasts an impressive pair of mutton chops and an expression that implies a fiery temper to go with it.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: The Spooky Boy desperately wants friends, despite the fact that most people cannot even see him.
  • I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!: The Series 5 Royal Guard will tell you that he will never speak.
  • Irony: As of Series 14, the Grandma Visitor won't be happy that the Lumberjack character has now become a Wolf Guy!
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain:
  • Innocently Insensitive: The Spider Lady wants to be friends with the Fly Monster, but she doesn't understand why he's so scared of her!
  • Indian Maiden: The Tribal Woman in Series 15 is a stereotypical portrayal of a Native American woman.
  • Jerkass Genie: The Genie Girl doesn't want to be this, so she gives advice about the consequences of wishes people are about to make, so they can truly be satisfied.
  • The Klutz: The Clumsy Guy in Series 15 is covered with bandages, has a black eye, and needs crutches to walk. Given his name and the banana peel design on his shirt, it doesn't take much to imagine how he got those injuries.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: The theme has many knights, but the Heroic Knight from Series 9 is the straightest example. He wears a bright suit of silver armor and has the kind, selfless demeanor to go with it, and will even go so far as to rescue dragons from princesses.
  • Lampshade Hanging: The Ballerina's bio mentions how difficult it is for her to twirl around on her blocky feet.
  • Legacy Character: Sam Wilson appears as Captain America in the first Marvel series.
  • Later-Installment Weirdness:
    • It was eight series until there was a licensed or themed series, with the limited-release Team GB set introducing the first offshoot. These licensed series also introduced irregular series sizes as am exception paired alongside licensing, with Team GB being the lowest total of nine, and licensed series varying in size up to the largest so far at 22 (the first Wizarding World series).
    • Series 14 introduced the first non-licensed themed series, with an assortment of horror-themed monsters. This continued with series like 18 and 23, both themed as assortments of costumed characters.
    • Starting with the LEGO Movie 2 series, several years and 18 numbered series into the theme, the packaging changed, with longer foil bags and differently-printed and folded checklist/instruction sheets. Some figures even got smaller plastic bags for their parts.
    • Starting with Series 21, the standard series size decreased from sixteen figures to twelve, which extends to some licensed offshoots as well.
    • Starting with Marvel series 2, the foil bags were replaced with cardboard boxes, and no plastic bags were used inside the units—capes got packaged in cardboard envelopes like they are in standard LEGO sets.
  • Leprechaun: A Leprechaun is included in Series 6. He has a pot of gold and once attempted being a shoemaker (only to realize that most minifigs don't wear shoes).
  • Lighter and Softer: If a certain figure looks evil or dangerous, the worst they'll likely be is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain.
    • The Banshee is reduced to telling people about minor bad news like lost phones or dying plants, as the banshee's traditional role of announcing impending deaths would be too dark for LEGO.
    • The Plant Monster is described as only swallowing victims, and always spitting them up within a day or two, as opposed to most more dangerous incarnations of the trope.
  • Literal Genie: The Genie Girl knows most genies are like this, but she bends the rules by making sure the wisher knows exactly what they would be getting.
  • Literal-Minded:
  • Little Green Men: The Toy Story "LGM" Alien from the Disney line.
  • Mad Scientist:
    • The Crazy Scientist in Series 4 and the Monster Scientist in Series 14 both have the classic appearance of an insane labcoat-wearing scientist.
    • Mr. Good and Evil also counts, though his concept is quite different, and he's styled as a Victorian gentleman.
    • The Muppets line features Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, who while not evil, and not usually hammy, still invents crazy contraptions and experiments that often blow up in his (or more accurately, Beaker's) face.
  • Man-Eating Plant: The Plant Monster in Series 14 is a mobile humanoid man-eating plant, with an unfortunate victim still in its mouth.
  • Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Series 12 promotes LEGO Minifigures Online, a MMO for the theme. Appropriately, several of its characters fit the theme of an MMO, such as the Jester, Wizard and Battle Goddess.
  • Medusa: Medusa appears in Series 10. Averting Gorgeous Gorgon, Medusa goes all the way with the hideous interpretation, with green skin, a serpentine face, and a snake's tail instead of legs.
  • Mobile-Suit Human: Series 26 Imposter is a human-like robot piloted by aliens.
  • Monster Knight: The Fright Knight is a ghost knight. There’s also the Vampire Knight.
  • Monster Mash: Classic monsters such as the Monster, Werewolf, Mummy, Mr. Good And Evil, Zombie, Medusa, and Vampire have been released across multiple series. Series 14 is all monsters, including the Monster Rocker, Monster Scientist, Plant Monster, Spider Lady, Specter, and Wolf Guy.
  • Motivation on a Stick: The Zombie's turkey leg is the only thing that can motivate him to do anything. Dangling it in front of him is sure to get him to follow.
  • Multi-Armed and Dangerous:
    • The third wave of Disney minifigures features Stitch in his Experiment 626 form. He is depicted with four arms and has two laser blasters as his accessories.
    • The Series 26 Blacktron Mutant has three arms, with two on one side that each wield a blaster.
  • Mummy: The Series 4 Mummy is a pretty basic body-in-bandages example, and the Series 19 Mummy Queen has more Egyptian regalia, including a double-sided head so she can be displayed wearing her death mask.
  • Must Have Caffeine: The Zombie Businessman calls for coffee rather than brains.
  • My Brain Is Big: The Monster Scientist in Series 14 has an especially tall head to represent this, achieved by a separate piece that's disguised by the hair and goggles.
  • Nice Mice:
  • Nightmare Fetishist: The Spooky Girl and her Spear Counterpart, the Spooky Boy. Both of them are Goths who enjoy horror stories and like notably more creepy creatures like snakes, spiders, and bats.
  • Ninja: One of the Series 1 minifigs is a Ninja, dressed in all-black with a hood and a katana.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: A number of minifigures are nods to various celebrities. The Daredevil is a clear nod to Evel Knievel, the Thespian is William Shakespeare (coming with a skull to reenact the famous gravedigger scene in Hamlet), and the Hollywood Starlet from series 9 is a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe. Series 10 also has a "Trendsetter" with a small dog who looks quite like Paris Hilton. The Series 15 Wrestling Champion looks an awful lot like Ultimate Warrior. The Series 23 Ferry Captain is loosely based on Edward Smith. The N-POP Girl from The LEGO Ninjago Movie looks similar to Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. The Series 24 Conservationist and Rococo Aristrocrat are loosely based on Steve Irwin and Marie Antoinette. The Series 26 Spacewalking Astronaut is based on Valentina Tereshkova.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The Evil Knight, Evil Dwarf, and Evil Mech are all more mercenaries than out-and-out villains.
  • Non-Mammal Mammaries: The Lady Robot has two cemicircular meters on her chest, evoking feminine breasts.
  • Not Too Dead to Save the Day: Despite apparently dying, the Spy later showed up again just in time to rescue Solomon Blaze from Buggoids.
  • Obviously Evil:
    • The Evil Wizard has red eyes, a black beard, a huge black flame-decorated cape, and a red robe with an embroidered skull pattern, and a flaming black staff.
    • The Evil Knight also has red eyes (from a summertime gig he spent under Vladek's employment), a furious scowl, and is decked out in coal-black armor.
  • Of Corsets Sexy: Wild West Wyldstyle wears a corset, showing off her waist and chest more than her normal variant.
  • Our Banshees Are Louder: In Series 14. This one is closer to the original legends, being a mournful spirit instead of a malevolent one.
  • Our Centaurs Are Different: The Centaur Warrior from Series 21. Unlike the more bestial-looking ones that introduced the special horse body mold in the Harry Potter theme, her humanoid torso is more distinctly human-like with no fur and normal yellow skin.
  • Our Elves Are Different: Tolkien-style elves are seen in Series 3's Elf and Series 17's Elf Maiden, while one of Santa's elves appears as Series 11's Holiday Elf.
  • Our Gargoyles Rock: The Series 14 Gargoyle is a winged little monster made completely out of stone. While this makes him incredibly resilient to damage, it also means he's so heavy that he's incapable of actually flying.
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder: A living Lawn Gnome in Series 4.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: The Series 13 Goblin moves LEGO pieces to be underfoot in humans' houses.
  • Our Minotaurs Are Different: A Minotaur is one of the figures in Series 6. Just like the one from classical mythology, he resides within a labyrinth. More specifically, he resides in the labyrinth because he's lost and can't find his way out of it.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: The Series 2 Vampire may look like a Classical Movie Vampire, but he enjoys fruit smoothies.
  • Our Werewolves Are Different: The Series 4 Werewolf transforms into a wolfman under the full moon, but he just acts like a domesticated dog when this happens.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: The Series 1 Zombie is slow-moving and completely harmless; the Series 14 Zombie Businessman is a workaholic; the Zombie Cheerleader is an enthusiastic student at Zombie University; and the Zombie Pirate rose from the dead out of frustration with modern pirates.
  • Palette Swap: This is done several times, such as with the Robot and Evil Robot or the Battle Mech and Evil Mech. A version redistributing colors of one palette occurs with the Cyclops couple. The Cyclops has olive green skin and a light blue garment, and the Lady Cyclops is light blue with olive green garments.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted by the Skeleton Guy. The monsters do find out he's human, but it's due to the Wolf Guy's sense of smell. The costume would have fooled them otherwise.
  • Pimped-Out Cape:
    • The Evil Wizard's cape is extremely wide, has a giant collar, and it's completely decorated with flames.
    • The good Wizard has a purple cape and collar that are covered with silver stars and moons on the back.
    • The Classic King and Queen have this as part of their outfits, as well.
    • In the Disney line, Maleficent has this as part of her outfit.
    • The Ice Queen has a similar cape to Maleficent's, but in sparkling white.
    • The Vampire Knight's cape recreates Basil the Bat Lord's original one and makes it even more impressive by having a red interior and grey exterior, and adding printed trim on the pointed lower edge below the returning bat insignia.
  • Pirate Girl: The Pirate Girl from Series 20. She wears classic pirate regalia, including a puffy shirt and a tricorn hat.
  • Platonic Life-Partners: The Lady Cyclops and her male counterpart are just buddies that want to go on adventures.
  • Playing with Fire: Pyromancy appears to be the Evil Wizard's specialty if the flame patterns on his robe and cape are anything to go by. Not to mention his staff is emitting fire as well.
  • President Evil: President Business.
  • Primate Versus Reptile: The Lizard Man attempted to challenge Gorilla Suit Guy to a wrestling match.
  • Production Foreshadowing:
    • When the Goblin's hat piece was released, many noticed its striking resemblance to the hat worn by Marvel Comics' Green Goblin, and assumed that a minifigure of said villain would reuse the piece in the near future in the Marvel theme. This guess turned out to be correct.
    • Similarly, the Tiger Woman foreshadowed the release of a sixties Catwoman figure through the distinctive shape of her hair-with-ears sculpt.
    • The inclusion of the Monkey King in Series 19 would serve as a preview to LEGO's Monkie Kid theme, which includes its own version of Sun Wukong using the same monkey hair-and-ears piece.
  • Prospector: In Series 12.
  • Prosthetic Limb Reveal: Echo in the second Marvel series and the Sprinter in Series 25. The latter debuts a leg assembly with two modern prosthetics after some earlier figures with just the left leg sculpt being in that design.
  • Public Domain Character: Robin Hood, Medusa, and the Monkey King have appeared in various series.
  • Pungeon Master: The Ice Queen fills her conversations with terrible ice puns, and punishes those who do not find them funny.
  • Quacking Up:
  • Raised by Wolves: The Hockey Player was raised by wild wolves in the frozen tundra.
  • Rascally Rabbit: The Looney Tunes line features the Trope Namer himself, Bugs Bunny, as well as Lola Bunny, his Distaff Counterpart.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The Spooky Girl and Spooky Boy have white skin and black hair, since they're completely monochrome.
  • Read the Fine Print: On the Series 6 Genie's online bio:
    (*wish-granting requires use of imagination)
  • Rebellious Princess: The Warrior Woman was once a princess before growing tired of her pampered life and becoming a fighter and adventurer.
  • Recurring Element: Ever since the debut of Gorilla Suit Guy in Series 3, there have been many minifigures wearing mascot-style costumes throughout the Theme.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Evil Knight, Evil Robot, Evil Wizard, and Vampire Knight predominantly feature black and red color schemes. The Disney lines add Captain Hook, Jafar, and the Queen of Hearts to the lineup of villains dressed in red and black.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Space Villain's robot eye, the Evil Knight, Evil Robot, Alien Avenger, Evil Wizard, and Vampire Knight have red eyes. The other red-eyed characters aren't really much of a threat.
  • Red/Green Contrast: The Dragon Suit Guy is red, and his Distaff Counterpart is the Green Dragon Costume.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: The Spy was thought to be killed when Dr. Inferno's Volcano Base imploded, but he survived.
  • Requisite Royal Regalia: Naturally, this is sported by the Classic King with a new crown-and-hair piece and a new cape style with a separate piece for the ermine trim. The Classic Queen in Series 15 has a similar cape, and a Pimped-Out Dress in the same colors.
  • Retro Rocket: The Series 17 Rocket Boy, though it's a costume rather than an actual spaceship.
  • The Right Hand of Doom: The Fly Monster has one large claw hand.
  • Robot Maid: The Robot Butler in Series 26.
  • The Rock Star: The Punk Rocker and Rocker Girl of Series 4 and 7 respectively sort of represent this, but Series 12's Rock Star captures it best.
  • Rule of Cool: The Laser Mech's way of life, as the coolest, most awesome robot fighter ever!
  • Running Gag: Animal costumes and food costumes are a rather silly trend that span several series.
  • Shaped Like Itself: The Pizza Delivery Guy's pizza company is called "Pizza", according to his cap and the pizza box.
  • Shout-Out:
    • "The Deep Sea Diver once traveled twenty-ONE thousand leagues under the sea."
    • The Lumberjack's quote is "I'm okay!"
    • The Saxophone Player looks amazingly like Jake Blues.
    • As mentioned above, the Spooky Girl's appearance and personality are based on Wednesday Addams, and she appears to take some visual cues from Japanese horror culture.
    • The Fly Monster's claw hand is a reference to the 1958 film of The Fly. It's even on the same arm!
  • Shown Their Work: Many of the classic characters used in the theme are true to their original portrayals. The Monster is a kindhearted Tragic Monster, Medusa is mythologically accurate as a generic "Gorgon" would not be able to turn others into stone, and the Banshee is a sad character who has the unpleasant job of foretelling bad news, rather than being an evil spirit.
  • SkeleBot 9000:
    • The Evil Mech is a subtle example. It doesn't look particularly skeletal at first glance, but removing its helmet reveals that it has a lower jaw identical to that of a typical LEGO skeleton.
    • The Cyborg from Series 16 also displays a bit of this, as the bionic half of her face looks like a futuristic robot version of the classic LEGO skull.
  • Skilled, but Naive: Many of the characters are excellent at what they do, but don't quite know when to stop.
  • Sleepy Head:
    • Wave 6 features the Sleepyhead figure. He has two facial expressions; yawning and sleeping, bed head, is dressed in pajamas, and his accessory is a teddy bear.
    • The third wave of Disney minifigures features Princess Aurora. Her head has two facial expressions, one of them depicting her sleeping.
  • Snake Charmer: The Series 13 Snake Charmer has the stereotypical turban-wearing appearance, and comes with a flute and a cobra.
  • Snake People: Medusa uses this interpretation of the monster, recycling the snake tail from Ninjago in lieu of standard minifigure legs.
  • Space Marine: The Galaxy Patrol and Galaxy Trooper are heavily-armored space soldiers. The Alien Avenger is essentially an evil version of this trope.
  • Spiders Are Scary: This is the whole design motif of the Series 14 Spider Lady. The Spooky Girl keeps a spider in her pocket, and the Spooky Boy has one as an accessory. The Spider Suit Boy wears a spider costume and also has a spider accessory.
  • Super-Speed: Two of the figures included in the Looney Tunes line are the Road Runner and Speedy Gonzales.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Many of the monsters in Series 14 are similar to monsters in previous series or the Monster Fighters theme, though they are quite unique on their own. Case in point: while the mad scientist has been done before, the Series 14 one has a wacky appearance aided by a very tall head with gigantic goggles.
  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: The Businessman's bio repeatedly emphasizes that he is most definitely not a highly-trained secret agent.
  • Temporary Name Change: When Series 12 was added to the website, a number of figures from older series were temporarily renamed with more direct terminology. This included the Deep Sea Diver (renamed Scuba), Forestman (Robin Hood), Tribal Hunter (Indian), Kimono Girl (Geisha), Maraca Man (Mariachi), Egyptian Queen (Cleopatra), Ice Fisherman (Eskimo), Demolition Dummy (Dummy), and Calamity Drone (Calamity Droid). Their original names have since returned, with all references to their new names having been erased.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: LEGO has an obsession with giving their female characters this. Even the non-organic ones. The Alien Vilainess has lipstick, large eyebrows and lashes and a pink brain, and the Lady Robot uses a pair of semicircular meters and two pink rectangles at the waist to replicate the trademark "feminine curves". She has lipstick, eyelashes and lots of pink, too. The Lady Cyclops has a beauty mark, eyelashes, and lipstick.
  • The Good Guys Always Win: Much to the displeasure of the Evil Wizard, this principle guarantees his failure every time.
  • The Power of Rock: Literally, in series 14; the more the Monster Rocker jams, the more electricity he generates to keep himself animate.
  • The Unintelligible: The Deep Sea Diver can never be understood, because he never takes off his mask.
  • The Unpronounceable: The Alien Villainess's real name cannot be pronounced, according to her bio.
  • Toilet Humor: The Series 19 Dog Sitter includes a new poop piece to be cleaned up.
  • Token Human: The Skeleton Guy in Series 14 is not an actual skeleton, but a normal person wearing a skeleton costume in a series otherwise consisting entirely of monsters.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl:
    • The Looney Tunes line gives Lola Bunny and Petunia Pig this respective dynamic. Lola wears a basketball uniform and has a basketball as her accessory, while Petunia wears a dress and has a teapot and teacup as her accessories.
    • The Muppets line does with Janice and Miss Piggy. Janice wears jeans and her accessory is an electric guitar, while Miss Piggy wears a dress and her accessory is a magazine with her image on its cover.
  • Took a Level in Badass: The Vampire Knight is an updated form of Basil the Bat Lord from the Fright Knights theme, but with a more sinister aura and implicitly more power. Where before he was human, now he's a full-on vampire with prominent fangs, glowing red eyes of doom, and a more magnificent mustache.
  • Two-Faced: Mr. Good and Evil, due to a personality fusion, and the Cyborg, due to her patched-up battle damage.
  • Two Girls to a Team:
  • Troperiffic: It's a theme full of characters based on real life and all kinds of media and pop culture. Almost every character in the theme applies to multiple tropes (especially when their bios are taken into consideration), and a new group of 12-minimum Minifigures comes out about every three months...
  • Visual Pun: One of the Noir Detective's accessories is a scarlet-colored fish, or rather, a Red Herring.
  • Wicked Witch: Subverted. While the Series 2 Witch takes inspiration from the famous witch in Oz, she's not that bad. The Series 14 Wacky Witch tries to be the fairy-tale variety, but her copied plans never work out as well for her as they did for the more famous witches. Also played straight in the Disney line with Maleficent and Ursula.
  • Wizard Classic: The Merlin archetype is perfectly captured with the Series 12 Wizard.
  • Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: The Kendo Fighter uses a pair of bamboo swords.
  • World's Strongest Man: The Circus Strongman in Series 17 plays to this idea.
  • Wolverine Claws: The Trope Namer appears in the second Marvel series.
  • Yellow Peril: The Evil Wizard has a very subtle Asian vibe, which likely comes from the Flash Gordon character he draws inspiration from.
  • Zeerust: Deliberately invoked with the Retro Space Hero in Series 17, who has a classic Flash Gordon-esque appearance.

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