YMMV / LEGO Minifigures

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• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Occasionally, those unaware of the official names of the figures tend to come up with less-family-friendly concepts; "teen mom" (Babysitter), "BDSM furry" (Tiger Woman) and "drug boss" (Yuppie) come to mind.
  • Since LEGO stopped writing official bios after Series 18, more recent minifigures have no canonical background and therefore are left completely open to fan interpretation. The Series 21 Alien in particular is subject to this, especially thanks to its very generic name. Its orange outfit, its muzzle-like face mask, and its crowbar (a typical tool for many LEGO City crooks) have caused many LEGO fans to infer that the Alien is a crook; the Space Police Guy included in the same series draws parallels to the "human cops versus alien crooks" dynamic of the 2009-2010 LEGO Space Police line. However, other fans have suggested that the Alien is actually an engineer, miner, or some other worker, drawing comparisons between its outfit/crowbar and Gordon Freeman as evidence of its features not necessarily being indicative of a crook.
• Base-Breaking Character: Mr. Gold. Many LEGO collectors who had faithfully collected each series of 16 figures until then cried out in terror when many of them realized that their collections would never again be complete due to the extremely limited quantities of Mr. Gold. And, for that matter, should Mr. Gold minifigures belong to the adult collectors, or to the kids who form LEGO's primary demographic? And, on top of that, is it morally right to find Mr. Gold figures and then resell them for insane amounts of money?
• Broken Base:
  • Should you buy them blind and leave it up to chance? Spend time in the toy store feeling each bag (or, for the first two series, checking the barcodes) to get the ones you want? Or buy a whole box of them just for yourself?
  • The Simpsons series. Is it a neat way to get exclusive minifigure parts that include short sleeves and shorts, with an added bonus for anyone who is a fan of the show? Or is it a blatant cash-in on a show that is long past its prime? The LEGO Simpsons license already broke the LEGO fanbase this way, but it was even worse for this theme since the Simpsons series meant that fans had to wait extra long for the next series of original, non-licensed figures. To add fuel to the fire, there's a second Simpsons series to break the flow again. Several fans aren't happy.
  • Series 14 and its characters have gotten a lot of love, but also a lot of hate due to the series being themed (monsters) and the designs of some of its characters. Several people refused to believe they were real, calling "fake" (with no explanation), even though the pictures came from the Chinese factory that manufactures the Minifigures series.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Adult fans generally refer to more desirable figures as "Spartan Warriors", named after the minifigure from the second wave which is widely perceived as one of the most popular. Other major darkhorses include the Series 1 Zombie, the Series 3 Elf, and the Series 7 Galaxy Patrol, and the Series 11 Scarecrow.
  • The series 17 Rocket Boy...well, skyrocketed in popularity once it was discovered that his rocket costume masked a Classic LEGO Space insignia on the chest, and on a grey torso, lending itself to an entirely new color for the classic uniform.
  • The Classic Policeman from Series 18 was an instant hit with fans, being a faithful remake of the original minifigure from 1978.
  • The Brown Spaceman from Series 24 is a favorite for many of the same reasons as the Classic Policeman, being a replica of the Classic Spaceman from 1980s Space sets. But in brown, a new color for the archetype.
  • The The Wizard of Oz characters from The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part series.
  • The goat from Series 25. No, not the goatherd minifigure it comes packaged with, the actual goat itself. It's one of the most desired pieces among the fandom to the point where the poor minifigure is practically considered an accessory to the animal.
• Fanon: Many fans believe that the Series 24 Brown Spaceman's baby is a young Benny from the LEGO Movie franchise.
• Heartwarming Moments: The Skeleton Guy dresses as a skeleton because he doesn't want to be discovered by the monsters. However, they all know and don't care, since he's a nice guy and they think he can do whatever he likes. Does This Remind You of Anything?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The Series 2 Witch is often regarded as an unoffical minifigure of the Wicked Witch of the West. Fast forward to 2015, when LEGO Dimensions includes the film as one of its licenses, and an official Wicked Witch figure◊ is made. This figure was later included in the The LEGO Batman Movie The Ultimate Batmobile playset.
  • The Series 6 Genie is seen as an unofficial minifigure of the Genie from Aladdin. When the Disney line came along four years later, The Genie from Aladdin got his own official LEGO minifigure.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Overlapping with Periphery Demographic, many fans will buy certain Minifigures just for some of their unique/useful parts, rather than a desire for the character.
• Older Than They Think: The Team GB series (released in 2012) was the first with less than 16 minifigures. It had 9.
• The Scrappy: Adult fans generally refer to undesirable figures (or rather, those they don't expect anyone to want multiples of) as "Crash Test Dummies", named after the Crash Test Dummy minifigure from the first wave which is widely perceived as the least popular of that wave.
  • The Lady Robot, and subsequently, the Lady Cyclops are held in many fans' disdain for the overuse of Tertiary Sexual Characteristics.
  • The Monster Rocker from Series 14 has been dismissed for being a stupid idea (that is, Frankenstein's monster in a denim outfit playing the guitar). Many feel like the idea is a dumb waste of a slot in the series.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Any themed series (The Lego Movie 1+2, The Lego Batman/Ninjago Movie, The Simpsons, Series 14, Disney/Pixar, Harry Potter) has received hate for breaking the usual format of a series of assorted characters of any kind.
  • The second wave of Marvel minifigures, in particular, packages each figure in a cardboard box rather than a bag. While LEGO promoted this as more eco-friendly, collectors who previously squeezed the bags in the store to try and guess their contents lamented that now they would have a more difficult time searching for a specific character.
• Win Back the Crowd: From the first images of Series 14, the LEGO community was more on the "hate" side, with many complaining about the "rehashes" and poor designs. When the final series was revealed, reactions were much more positive, citing the creativity, extravagant printing, unique parts, and nice designs.

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