The LEGO Group’s evil plan to prevent LEGO fans from identifying the new Series 3 Collectible Minifigs has now been completely foiled. LEGO says that the barcodes were never intended to enable people to get past their cunning marketing ploy (ha!), so they eliminated the unique barcodes on the back of each Series 1 and Series 2 minifig bag.

Instead, the Series 3 manufacturing process seems to have put patterns of raised bumps on the flat part on the bottom of the package. FBTB Forums member that guy cracked the code yesterday, and I’ve confirmed that the dot method works with my own case of figs this evening.

Rick Theroux pulled all the dot patterns together into a handy-dandy cheat sheet:

The consumer wins! Nice try, corporate goons.

The dot patterns can be a little tough to distinguish in a few cases, so it’s also a good idea to know what you’re looking for and identify your Series 3 minifigs through the bag by touch.

Those of us in the Pacific Northwest have been lucky enough to have the Series 3 Collectible Minifigures shipped to our little corner of the United States significantly earlier than the rest of the world. Hillel and Jeff aren’t the only ones out scouring our local Fred Meyer stores first thing in the morning.

Since Series 3 packaging doesn’t have a barcode unique to each minifig and the “dot method” can be a little tough, it’s good to have other ways to get past LEGO’s ridiculous marketing ploy.

SEALUG member J Junker posted a great guide to figuring out which minifig is in the bag by feeling for specific elements. Here’s J’s method in its entirety:

Gorilla – it’s best to find the banana. Be careful though, the Pilot has goggles that can feel like a banana.

Pilot – feel for the backpack/parachute (and the goggles there’s an indentation in the middle that the banana doesn’t have).

Racecar Driver – feel for all 3 of these, head, helmet & hair. He’s the only guy with all 3.  Finding the visor helps too.

Samurai – if you find the sword, that’s the best. He’s also got an ‘armor’ chest piece that’s unique.  It collapses inward when you squeeze it from front to back.

Rapper – feel for the mic, and his hat brim is curved. Careful not to mistake for the Hula Girl… She has 2 maracas that feel like the mic.

Hula Girl – finding both maracas is the best. The hair also feels different, since it’s designed to be in the front and back. Easy to confuse with the Rapper by feel and dots.

Indian Chief – the headdress is pretty easy to feel.  It’s very big.

Baseball Player – the bat is a dead giveaway. One of the easiest to feel.

The Mummy – the dots are very easy to spot on this one. Really the best way to feel this one is to find the scorpion.

Sumo Wrestler – another where the dots help quite a bit. I only felt the trophy one time, so I ended up feeling for the ball of hair on top of his head the most.

Alien – the head has the 2 distinct spheres. I almost always felt the beam from the gun as well. Dots are good for this one too.

Space Pirate (Cyborg) – easy to confuse with the race car driver. If you can find his robot hand, that’s the best. Remember that both the alien and this guy have a ray coming from their gun (the gun: which is also a good way to narrow it down to one of the 2).

Tennis Player – the racket is the tell tell here.

Elf (Legolas) – I felt the back if the shield on the first one, but found the bow & arrow easiest from then on out.

Snowboarder – the snow board is as easy as the surfboard and skateboard were to feel. Both ends curve up.

The Fisherman – the fish is easy to feel, plus the rope on the fishing pole is very different than anything else since it’s ‘soft’.

Thanks, J!