The LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifigures 71023 [Review]

With LEGO having just announced its 21st set for The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, it’s safe to say they’re betting big on the film franchise. And just like the first movie in the series, that means there’s also a tie-in wave of the infinitely popular Minifigures theme (commonly called Collectible Minifigures, or CMFs). 71023 LEGO Minifigures – The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part will be officially available beginning Feb. 1, though they’re already beginning to pop up in retail stores. They’ll be priced at US $3.99 | CAN $4.99. Remember to check out our Feel Guide if you’re on the hunt for these figures.

This series features the main movie crew of Emmet, Lucy, Benny, and Unikitty, along with newcomers like Rex and a newly happy President Business. There’s also a contingent of characters from Apocalypseburg and The Wizard of Oz, plus Lucy’s all-girl band is ready to rock with all four members in the series. Finally, a sprinkling of the ever-popular costume characters is present with a giraffe and crayon. Let’s take a look at these figures one by one.

The packaging

As with previous series, these figures are sent to retail stores in display cases of 60. The overall styling is very similar to the CMFs from the first LEGO Movie back in 2014, though this time around the blue is a bit brighter. We encountered quite a few oddities in the packaging, though, so let’s get that out of the way before moving on to the figs themselves.

These blind packs differ from every previous series in one very distinctive way: they’re bigger.  The blind packs for the individual figures are about an inch taller and a little wider than previous series. The reason for this change isn’t obvious, since there aren’t any large elements in this series that are bigger than the large pieces in previous series. The bags are also made of a thinner plastic. Interestingly, the new plastic actually makes the figures easier to feel through the packaging.

Another change with this series is the addition of a second bag inside the main bag. Only 6 distinct characters out of the 20 in our case have this inner bag: Crayon Girl, Hula Lula, The Swamp Creature, Kitty Pop, Dorothy Gale & Toto, and Cowardly Lion. We’ve seen reports that others have found inner bags on different characters, so your mileage may vary. The inner bag contains most–but not all–of the pieces in the bag. The minifigure stand and guide page are not in the inner bag. With Dorothy and Hula Lula, it appears as if the bag is to separate an easily damaged cloth element from the rest. However, there doesn’t seem to be a particularly unique element that explains the bags on the other four characters.

It’s also worth noting that the guide sheet which is included with every character is now taped shut–except when it’s not. 15 of the characters in our case have taped guides, with each of the five untaped ones coming in the characters who also have inner bags. The Cowardly Lion, however, had a taped guide and an inner bag. All of the characters have a white minifigure stand. It’s a new color for a CMF series, but not a new color for that element, having previously appeared in white in four sets since 2016.

The minifigures

Another oddity we noticed is that our case–ostensibly brand new from LEGO for our review–wasn’t sealed. It’s not that it had been opened. The case itself bore no sign of ever having been sealed. This means we can’t verify 100 percent that the minifigure distribution in our case reflects that of a regular retail case. And in fact, we suspect it doesn’t, because we’ve seen reports from other reviewers and people with early access that each case of 60 contains precisely three full sets of minifigures. Ours was one pack off that target, suggesting that either the unsealed case wasn’t as pristine as it appeared, or the very real possibility that cases have slight variations. Additionally, our case was fairly close to having each full set of 20 in a single row–but not close enough that we’d guarantee if you grab 1 row you’d get a full set. Still, if you aren’t going to feel the packs, grabbing a row is probably your best bet with this series.

The minifigures in this series are:

Character QTY per case Character QTY per case
Remix Emmet 3 Candy Rapper 4 (3?)
Battle-Ready Lucy 3 Gone Golfin’ President Business 3
Apocalypse Benny 3 Apocalypseburg Abe 3
Giraffe Guy 3 Vest Friend Rex 3
Crayon Girl 3 Kitty Pop 3
Sherry Scratchen-Post & Scarfield 3 Dorothy Gale & Toto 3
Hula Lula 3 Cowardly Lion 3
Watermelon Dude 3 Scarecrow 3
Flashback Lucy 2 (3?) Tin Man 3
The Swamp Creature 3 Unikitty 3

Remix Emmet

Emmet has appeared nearly 20 times already in other sets, so chances are you’ve already got one or two versions laying about. Remix Emmet doesn’t offer a whole that’s remarkable, with a torso and legs that are identical to those of earlier figures. The coffee cup has only appeared once before in plain white with no printing, back in 2015 in the Simpson’s Kwik-E-Mart. Emmet’s head is two-sided, with new expressions for both, so before long there will be enough Emmet expressions to do proper stop-motion animation. The hair is also new and is very similar to Neville’s earmuffs from the Wizarding World CMFs, but this version has Emmet’s distinctive cowlick at the back. The 1×2 smartphone tile is also new, playing the movie’s theme song Everything is Awesome for Emmet to rock out to.


Battle-Ready Lucy

It seems the crew is going to the ends of civilization in the new film, and they’re dressed to match. Lucy’s Wyldstyle outfit is looking a bit worse for the wear with dirty sleeves, and she’s traded her black legs for more survival-oriented ones with straps and pockets. The dual-molded dark brown and black legs are sure to be a sought-after element. Lucy carries a standard black quiver and grey binoculars, but oddly she lacks a bow/crossbow to fire the arrows.

Lucy’s hood is molded as a single element with the goggles and scarf. It’s designed to fit around the quiver. Underneath, Lucy’s head is double-sided with alternate cheery and angry expressions.


Apocalypse Benny

Always the optimist, Benny isn’t one to be discouraged by a little thing like the Apocalypse–or even the loss of an arm. In fact, now he’s even more spacey! However, apart from his arm, Benny’s blue spacesuit is identical to that of other versions. He does carry a sweet red toolbox emblazoned with the Classic Space logo (this one pristine).

Benny’s head is double-sided, with both expressions new. This classic-style squinty face is one of the best new LEGO expressions in quite a while, if you ask me.


Giraffe Guy

The costume characters have always been among the most popular figures out of any given CMF line, and it looks like they’re finally getting some screen time in The LEGO Movie 2. First up is Giraffe Guy, who might win the award for tallest CMF character ever. With a base of light yellow overlaid with orange spots, the coloring looks, um, spot on.

He carries the new leaf element from Neville in the Wizarding World CMFs, and underneath the hard-plastic giraffe suit his head is double-sided.

Of course, there’s no fooling us by calling him a generic “Giraffe Guy.” We all really recognize him. Too soon? Too soon. We miss you, Geoffrey.


Crayon Girl

Crayon Girl is the second costume character in the series, dressed as the mascot for an arts & crafts store, I’m guessing. With a large purple cone over the torso and a crayon drawing in hand, Crayon Girl is a pretty simple character. A handheld crayon would have been a great touch that seems to be missing here. The top of dual-molded lavender and dark purple crayon costume has a plume-sized hole, just like Series 18’s Firework Guy. The flower border around the wrapper are printed on.

Beneath the costume, Crayon Girl has a plain lavender torso with dark purple hands, and lavender dual-molded legs with dark purple boots. She’s also got a two-sided head, with happy and laughing faces. Presumably she’s just seen her excellent minifigure portrait. Truly a masterpiece!


Sherry Scratchen-Post & Scarfield

Next up is one of my favorite characters in this series, Sherry Scratchen-Post with her cat Scarfield. Introduced in the first LEGO Movie as as an adorable (but slightly crazy) cat lady, she showed up as a CMF in the first series from that movie. Now the apocalypse has hit, and what’s a cat lady to do but embrace it full on? Gone are the frumpy sweatshirt and fanny pack, and in their place a leather bodice with a fierce tiger medallion. She’s got studded pants with fringes inspired by a Roman legionnaire, with a brown torso and hips, and dark brown legs.Sherry sports leather and metal armbands, and if you look closely, you can even spot subtle white whiskers for warpaint. Her head is single-sided. Scarfield the cat has similarly embraced the wasteland raider lifestyle. Hopefully Sherry’s other cats Jasmine, Dexter, Angie, Loki, Bad Leroy, Fluffy, Fluffy Jr., Fluffy Sr., and Jeff all survived too. Scarfield is a new mold with a dark red mohawk and spiked collar, and he’s taken a few bruises along the way. The mohawk and collar are made of a soft rubbery plastic and seamlessly molded in.


Hula Lula

The first musician from what I presume is Lucy’s Popular Band comes up next. She’s LEGO’s second foray into the world of Hula, though Lula is decidedly more 1950s nostalgia than even the still-Westernized version from CMF Series 3. Lula is dressed in a yellowish green dress with a pink leis. She’s got a cloth skirt over a magenta swimsuit bottom, with a thin green line for sandals around the bottoms of the legs. She carries a 2×2 round tile record, a new design that also appears in 70828 Pop-Up Party Bus. In Lula’s other hand is a magenta microphone, which is carried by each of the other band members also. There’s a second as an extra.

Lula’s hair is lime green with a curl of pink printed on, and her head is two-sided with smiling and singing expressions.


Watermelon Dude

The third and final costumed character from this lineup is Watermelon Dude. Always a refreshing guy, he’s here to hand out watermelon slices and… advertise his watermelon cart? At just shy of four studs tall and wide, his fruit suit is a huge element that’s dual-molded in dark pink and green, with a white stripe and black seeds printed on both sides. The watermelon wedge is a little shy of the 72° that would be 1/5 of a circle, dashing our hopes of putting multiples together for a full watermelon circle.

Beneath the suit, Watermelon Guy sports an unprinted green torso with short sleeves, and dual-molded white and dark pink legs with a bit of green printed on. It seems an odd bit of printing, and beyond generally being in the color scheme, I can’t figure out why it’s there. Like the other costume characters, he’s got a two-sided head, with “cool guy” sunglasses on the opposite side of his wry smile. He carries a slice of watermelon. LEGO has made a 1×1 quarter circle tile printed as a watermelon before, and this one is the same design but with pink flesh instead of red to match the suit.


Flashback Lucy

This character’s name gives us our only pre-movie hint to how the Popular Band fits into the movie. It seems like Emmet and Vitruvius may not have been far off when they asked if Wyldstyle was a DJ, as she’s got a gold record album in her past, and of Bricksburg’s most famous pop tune Everything Is Awesome, no less. With a blue torso, magenta hips and boots, and a bare sleeve on one arm, it’s certainly apparent where Lucy came up with her alter ego’s name.

Lucy’s hair is the top-style ponytail from Wyldstyle in Medium Azure with purple highlights, and the flipside of her face shows her belting out the dulcet tones of the world’s smoothest earworm tune.


The Swamp Creature

Hailing from the land of the Monster Fighters, The Swamp Creature has turned out to be a leather enthusiast in the apocalypse. The lime green torso is an updated design from the green version in the previous iteration, and he’s picked up leather suspenders and a wicked tattoo. His legs are dual-molded with brown shorts and green leg bottoms. He carries a standard brown whip. Don’t ask why.

The head and mask are identical to those of the previous version, and the back of the head has a few small scales but no alternate expression.


Candy Rapper

Armed with a mean mixtape cassette, Candy Rapper is the third member of the Popular Band to fill the ranks of this series. Candy is dressed in the loud pink dress of a bubblegum pop singer, including a bright pink tutu that’s printed with dark pink and white stripes on top. Her legs are double molded with bright pink boots and white tights. The clear 1×2 tile printed as a cassette tape is only the second non-stickered cassette that LEGO’s made, following Star-Lord’s black mixtape.

Candy’s bright pink hair has some subtle printing for light colored highlights on the bangs and a silver star hairpin. She also carries a magenta mic like the rest of the band. As with each of the other band members, there’s an extra mic included. The head is double-sided, with a smiling expression on one side and a flirtatious wink on the other.


Gone Golfin’ President Business

When difficulty strikes, President Business can always be counted on to do the right thing–as long as that thing is golf. Dressed in fashionable sportswear for the links, President Business has a lovely knit sweater-vest, short sleeves, and tartan pants with dark green boots thanks to dual molding and detailed printing.

Up top, President Business’s distinct hairpiece is a holdover from the previous film, though since it’s unique to him, it hasn’t appeared in a set since 2015. PrezBiz’s left hand has a white golf glove by way of a white hand, and of course he carries a new element, a golf club. This hefty driver is flat silver and leans toward the realistic end of the spectrum for a LEGO accessory. The supreme ruler also has a double-sided head with opposite happy and nervous laughter expressions.


Apocalypseburg Abe

It’s been three-score and seven months since LEGO last released an Abraham Lincoln minifigure. Like many of his fellow citizens, Mr. Lincoln has hunkered down for the end of the world as we know it. His new persona positions him as an elite raider, and he looks ready to ride with Immortan Joe thanks to a totally metal skull-and-pistons belt buckle. Lincoln wields an axe, because of course he does, and his tophat is now decked out with a pair of goggles (though sadly they’re molded in).

Ol’ Abe’s got himself a raider emblem, too, which is displayed across the back of his coat. All fear the mighty the Tophatcheter. Abe’s head is double-sided, showing angry and shocked expressions.

 


Vest Friend Rex

The only new major character from The LEGO Movie 2 to feature in the CMF series, Vest Friend Rex is a cool guy with a tough attitude who’s got what it takes to always get it done, and a bit of charm to boot. Rex’s dark blue fedora is dual molded with his dark brown shaggy hair. LEGO’s ability to seamlessly molded colors together to achieve decorations without printing is improving each year, and Rex’s hat/hairpiece is a prime example. The dark brown vest that stretches around hat’s crown is molded in with only the pockets and zipper being printed.

Rex is, of course, known for his affinity for dinosaurs. Fitting a fullsize raptor in would have been a challenge even with this series’ larger blind packs, so Rex is instead accompanied by an adorable baby dino printed with lighter blue stripes. Rex’s head is dual-sided with brash confidence and smug determination.


Kitty Pop

The final member of the Popular Band quartet, Kitty Pop’s schtick is clearly of the feline variety. In addition to the white cat ears thanks to a recolored Catwoman hairpiece, she’s also got a white cat tail and her dress is covered with subtle leopard spots. As the band’s guitarist, she carries a white electric guitar with pink tiger stripes, and of course she’s also got a magenta mic. How she plays the guitar and holds a mic is one of her mysterious talents.

Kitty Pop is among the first LEGO minifigures to use the new coral color developed for The LEGO Movie 2. This new color is one of those that doesn’t translate well to pictures, and the name doesn’t help. In person, it’s incredibly vibrant and precisely the color of Plato’s ideal form of bubblegum. Kitty’s face is made up with cat whiskers and alternate expressions for smiling and singing.


Dorothy Gale & Toto

After the Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys showed up in The LEGO Batman Movie, the rest of the Wizard of Oz gang is finally here. First up is Dorothy, and she’s definitely not in Kansas anymore, though of course she looks as if she could be with her simple plaid dress and braided hair. For the torso, Dorothy’s dress is printed over a white torso, while the bottom is a cloth element that covers dual-molded legs with white tops and light blue bottoms. Her iconic ruby red slippers are printed around the edges of the legs.

Dorothy’s new hairpiece is soft rubber with painted bows, and her head has cheerful and fearful alternate expressions. Dorothy is accompanied by her dog Toto. Toto is a new color for the terrier mold that was introduced in 2016 with the CMF Series 16 Dog Show Winner, and this is the first time it’s been used since then.


Cowardly Lion

Everyone needs a bit of courage, though some don’t know they’ve already got it. The Cowardly Lion may be a bit bashful, but he’s ready to join Dorothy for some LEGO adventures. Almost entirely nougat colored with simply brown fur patterns on both sides of the torso and the front of the legs, the Cowardly Lion has flesh-colored ears and head, along with brown hands. The lion’s mane is a new element.

In back, Lion’s got a majestic cat’s tail. His head is double-sided with happy and sad faces, but most importantly, he’s got a medal to show his courage. It’s a lovely piece printed on a clear 1×2 tile, and is sure to be useful to fans outside of this setting.


Scarecrow

A slightly different take from most of the scarecrows that LEGO has made previously, which have tended towards the supervillain styling with the exception of the Series 11 CMF version, this friendly neighborhood Scarecrow is a kindly fellow who’s here to join his fellow Wizard of Oz travelers. Outfitted with a new hat element with a molded-in ribbon tie, the Scarecrow is dressed in dark green tatters with dark brown patched pants. He carries a 2×2 Certificate of Achievement tile which recognizes him as being outstanding in his field.

Scarecrow is one of the few figures in this series without a double-sided head, though like most of the others the torso is printed on both sides.


Tin Man

The final member of the Oz crew is the Tin Man. He’s done up all in flat silver except for the hands, which are dark grey. Although it’s not particularly noticeable, I do wish LEGO would produce silver hands, a color that is annoying still missing from the lineup. The Tin Man wears a silver bowtie, which is of course a new color for that element, and he’s topped with a funnel as a cap. The funnel is a new element which sits at a jaunty angle. Both the funnel’s tip and the handle have plume-sized holes.

In addition to the Tin Man’s torso being flat silver plastic, it’s also printed with silver front and back except for a few small streaks, which give it the weathered look that befits a metal man left out to rust. The Tin Man carries a heart-shaped tile printed with a clock just like the one the Wizard gave him. In his other hand he carries a solid silver axe. Like the Scarecrow, the Tin Man’s head is single-sided since it’s exposed from the back.


Unikitty

The final figure in this huge 20-character lineup is Unikitty, a fan favorite from the previous film. She’s already appeared in a myriad of iterations including her whole own CMF series, so while this version is technically new, it’s basically indistinguishable from numerous other versions except for minor difference in the expression. One interesting point, though, is that this version has returned to the Unikitty design used in the first LEGO Movie, and not the sturdier redesign with an inverted 1×3 tile used in the CMF line.

Since Unikitty is brick-built, posing options are limited. That’s made up for somewhat by the abundance of extra elements that are included, which is a surplus of one of each of the small bits.


Let us know in the comments which character you’re looking forward to most, and watch out for our Feel Guide soon.

71023 The LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifigures will be available Feb. 1 from the LEGO Shop Online (US $3.99 | CAN $4.99) and Amazon, as well as third-party sellers on Bricklink and eBay.

The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick a copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.

9 comments on “The LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifigures 71023 [Review]

  1. Dirk VH

    Swamp Creature is the result of breeding Mer-Man with Beast Man roight ? Luckily Mattel didn’t notice ;-)

  2. apodistagon

    President Biz – Perfection.

    Emmet – Most boring and lacklustre minifig made. He’s everywhere in every set. But looks the same. How lazy is that. Wish he had come with the green scarf he was wearing in one of the promo videos.

    Battle Ready Lucy – I wish her goggles were a separate piece. The hood is awesome. Won’t mind if there’s no goggles at all.

    Oz minifigs – Dorothy has exaggerated waist. Scarecrow hips is printed dark green on the front which looks out of place.

    Giraffe guy – I don’t collect animal or costumed minifigs. But he is well designed. Up there with dragon suit guy.

    Watermelon guy – Loud and ugly design and colours. Wouldnt look out of place among chinese knockoffs.

  3. Purple Dave

    People complained that we got “just another Emmet” instead of the Elf Emmet, but maybe about a week ago I did realize that this is the only version that can match that very prominent scene from the trailer as he exits the coffee shop.

    You wear a quiver, but not the crossbow. Other sets feature the crossbow to go with it, but you don’t take off the quiver every time you set the crossbow down for a few seconds.

    Scarfield is like the Sewer Babies. Cool, but immediately followed by the heavy reminder that they didn’t include the _rest_ of the group.

    Swamp Creature does have a new face print, though the differences are very subtle. Partly this may be because the previous version was printed in Europe, while all CMFs have been printed in China. The mouth is a bit more open, there are two full green lines below the eyes, and the scale patterns are a bit different. But the most significant difference is that the dark-red rim on the eyes is now black, reducing the design from five colors to four. They’ve made similar changes before. The clown pants print from the S1 Clown have been repeated on the recolored version with lime hair, and again on Tears of a Bat, but all three actually have different sized patches. The Lou Ferrigno Hulk minifig and keychain version have different color print for the torso muscles.

    I don’t remember Rex wearing that hat _at_all_, so I’m guessing it must be from one of his title card scenes, which he burns through so fast it’s hard to get a good look at all of his snapshots.

    Dorothy’s skirt bugs me now because I noticed that the cloth portion is squares, while the printed portion right below her waist is diamonds. In reality, that should be a single piece of cloth so the print should match the cloth. In practice, they may have decided it would be too hard to match up the stripes in the pattern, and figured this was a way to avoid that awkwardness. Well, it didn’t work.

    The Tin Man does not have a bow tie. He has a tuxedo collar. Check TLBM Alfred to see how it _should_ work. The MGM Tin Man costume had both, but the tuxedo collar definitely stood out more, while the bow tie got rumpled up and was often hard to make out.

    As I noted elsewhere, the Unikitty tile is a bit odd, since this and the two versions of Apocalypse Kitty (SDCC 2018, and Emmet’s house) use the old plate style, while the pop van, candy pack, and Wyldstyle suitcase come with the Unikitty TV series construction.

  4. Johnny Johnson

    I don’t so much mind the bland Emmett, because… it’s Emmett. There aren’t a lot of options for him. What I DO mind are the bland Unikitty and the bland Benny. There were much better options from the movie for them!

    I’d also rather have a different mascot from the movie than this odd watermelon one.

    These are mostly background characters with no lines or scenes, and that’s weird, but since I like the minifigs… I’ll just roll with it, haha.

  5. Purple Dave

    @Johnny Johnson:
    True, true, but this _is_ one of the few unique Emmets they could make for TLM2. Elf Emmet would be another even more unique version, but if they haven’t released it by now I kinda doubt they ever will.

    Unikitty could have been an Apocalypseburg version and people would have loved it (especially if they used the new neck solution), but I can’t really think of anything else they could have picked. Benny obviously has his Disco version. Maybe if they do a second wave we might see that one happen still (Whatever-That-Outfit’s-Supposed-To-Be Batman would be another popular pick).

  6. Brett Ross

    I’d sure like the Emmet mini figure for the latest LEGO Movie 2, because my sons name is Emmett and I’ve been collecting the figures since the first movie for him. Anyone know of the blind bag code to find him? Someone said 41S8, but that’s Scare Crow.

  7. Purple Dave

    I wouldn’t trust those at all. I’ve opened the three mascots, the four Oz heroes, both Wyldstyles, Benny, and Rex. I have three bags with 43S8, six bags with 44S8, and two bags with 45S8. I have a sealed Business with 44S8, and 2x sealed Benny with 45S8. So, clearly there’s no correlation between that code and the contents.

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