Every three months, new LEGO® elements are added to the Build a Minifigure towers in LEGO Stores worldwide and recently The LEGO Group have started including some pieces in exclusive colours or with decorations not found in sets. Erik H. (HokayBricks) has scrutinised October's offerings for you!
The parts described below are all completely new – they have not appeared in any officially released set prior to the 1 October 2019 Quarter 4 (Q4) batch of new parts for Build a Minifigure (BAM) Towers. All previous iterations of the parts have been referenced along with their origins.
NOTE: Unfortunately, the shipping process was delayed, so at time of publishing some stores may not have put out their BAM parts. If you’re interested in visiting your local store I would advise you to call and ask about them beforehand.
HEADS
Of the 10 heads stocked for Q4 Build a Mini, one is currently exclusive.
HAIR/HATS
Of the 10 hair/hat pieces stocked for Q4 Build a Mini, two are currently exclusive.
It was widely available in a Bright Red/ Red and Black color combination but it was also available in a Light Purple/ Bright Pink and Light Royal Blue/ Bright Light Blue color combination in 71019 The LEGO Ninjago Movie Collectible Minifigure Series - N-POP Girl (2017). I'm not actually certain whether the dual-molding on this piece creates the colored hair ties, or if they're printed on later. I'd be very interested to know, because if they are printed that's an extra (and I imagine rather complex) step that LEGO took to ensure this new and exclusive piece was perfect. But of course, only the best is good enough for LEGO, right?
"Hair with Ears" (Design ID 20592) is now available in Cool Yellow/ Bright Light Yellow with Black printing for the ears. This piece was originally introduced in 71010 Collectible Minifigure Series 14 - Tiger Woman (2015) where it was available in Dark Orange with Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange printing for the ears. It was also previously available in Reddish Brown (one set) and Bright Bluish Green/ Dark Turquoise (one set), both also featuring Black printing for the ears.
TORSOS
Of the 10 torso assemblies stocked for Q4 Build a Mini, one is currently exclusive.
LEGS/SKIRTS
Of the 10 leg/skirt pieces stocked for Q4 Build a Mini, three are currently exclusive.
Legs Assembly (Design ID 970) is now available in Bright Orange, also with a Halloween print! This new piece features cartoonish bat and jack-o-lantern printing in both purple and black. The printing is featured on the hips as well as both the front and sides of the legs.
Dual-Molded Legs Assembly (Design ID 970) is now available in an Earth Blue and Dark Brown color combination, unprinted. This piece was previously available with printing in 71022 Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure Series - Newt Scamander in 2018. I'm sure many of us will be excited to get this piece. I've seen several members of the custom minifigure community who have attempted to erase the printing from Newt's legs to make more accurate legs for their Captain America minifigs!
ACCESSORIES
Of the 10 accessories stocked for Q4 Build a Mini, two are currently exclusive.
"Terrier" (Design ID 26078) is now available in Black with a new print pattern. This mold was first introduced in White in 71013 Collectible Minifigure Series 16 - Dog Show Winner in 2016 but was also recently available in Dark Stone Grey in 71023 The LEGO Movie 2 Collectible Minifigure Series - Dorothy Gale & Toto. All three current versions of this mold have slightly varied print patterns. The Dog Show Winner version has its tongue sticking out, the Toto version features a shaggy hair print pattern on its sides, and the new Black version has more distinct printing around its eyes and mouth (since the black printing would be lost on the black plastic otherwise). I'm sure this will be a very popular option with both kids and AFOLs alike! I'm very happy to be able to add this new variation to my collection, though I do wonder why the black cat mold wasn't reintroduced given the Halloween theme of this batch of BAM.
Overall I’m definitely a fan of this batch of BAM pieces! They’re all pretty fun, and as a flesh-tone fan I’m happy to see that they’re all compatible with any hue of minfigure. It’s unfortunate that this batch has fewer exclusive new pieces than the previous one (which had at least 13!) but it’s still reassuring that LEGO is continuing this new tradition of surprising us with awesome new pieces on a regular basis. Which new pieces are you looking forward to adding to your collection?
Sources referenced in the writing of this article include BrickLink.com, Brickset.com, BrickOwl.com, RyanHowerter.net and the author’s own memory, which he likes to think is pretty good.
Help New Elementary keep publishing articles like this. Become a Patron!
Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Iain Adams, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!
You can also help us by doing what you perhaps do already - buying from Amazon. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de
Thanks to our 'Vibrant Coral' patrons: London AFOLs, Gerald Lasser, Big B Bricks, Dave Schefcik, David and Breda Fennell, Iain Adams, Huw Millington, Neil Crosby, Antonio Serra, Beyond the Brick, Sue Ann Barber & Trevor Clark, and Kevin Gascoigne. You're all awesome!
You can also help us by doing what you perhaps do already - buying from Amazon. Amazon USA: Amazon.com Canada: Amazon.ca UK: Amazon.co.uk Deutschland: Amazon.de
Products mentioned in this post were kindly supplied by the LEGO Group. All content represents the opinions of New Elementary authors and not the LEGO Group. All text and images are © New Elementary unless otherwise attributed.
The Harley hair has to be fully molded, because otherwise that means they'd have to be printing beneath the pigtails to get the hair ties on there. Also, orange prints terribly on black, so the orange hair tie should look more like dark-orange if it was printed.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I was very disappointed in this refresh. Last year in mid-November, I checked to see if they had any Santa Claus parts, and I found out they got them in the October refresh but had pretty much sold through all their stock (I had to hunt through the entire display to score a few of those new red elf caps). This year I made a point of checking first thing in October...and no Santa Clause parts at all. Furthermore, the only set they have available at the moment that even appears to include a Santa minifig is the City Advent Calendar.
One of the store employees told me all she'd run across so far was the torsos, but she showed me the entire contents of that case. Besides the torso listed in this article, it included the S16 Spooky Boy torso, and about half a dozen generic fall/winter designs. So, nothing for Christmas this year, it seems.
I'm really sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with that last year. Every LEGO Store has the authority to manage its Build a Mini pretty much however it wants so some choose to integrate everything immediately while others hold off. I can confirm that, at least for my store, the Christmas BAM pieces came in the same shipment as the October refresh but were in a separate box so that stores would be able to incorporate them at their own discretion. I imagine your store just hasn't put them out yet. (But fair warning, it appears that the seasonal pieces are the same as last year's.)
DeleteOh, that would suck if they just needed to find a different box. All I was shown was the box of torsos that included the one in this article.
DeleteAs for what parts they include, all I really care about is being able to buy more Santa suits. I've got a dozen bell-ringer Santas with red kettles that I place near the doors of large buildings on our club layouts in November/December, I've got Santa driving a car, and Santa-Saur landing on top of the Flintstones house. I've previously put Deadpool in a Santa suit on layouts, but that's what I used to make Santa-Saur. This year I took the suits from two of the bell-ringers to put Jack Skellington in, so I already need three complete suits just to catch up. I also only got a couple of the red elf hats last year, and wouldn't mind picking up more.
I'd have assumed that Santa suits would be a dime a dozen on BrickLink already...
DeleteI believe that the Santa Claus parts, like the Halloween parts, are seasonal releases, not quarterly like the typical BaM releases. So it stands to reason why the part count is less because LEGO may send out seasonal parts like Mr and Mrs Claus, and elves, later this month, or next.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what happened last year. I did ask, and was told they showed up on October 1st with the quarterly refresh. But given that they were sold out by mid-November, maybe they learned from that and have opted to start releasing seasonal stuff to be more time-appropriate. It'd be great if they are, since I've had to cannibalize two of my bell-ringer Santas just so I can add Jack Skellington to our Henry Ford Museum and Festival of Trees/Detroit Symphony Orchestra displays.
DeleteHowever, if that's the case, it really sucks. They're in the middle of an insane construction project on the only freeway that runs near the only LEGO Store in the entire state. It was originally slated to run 17 _years_, but they decided they wanted to shorten that up by, oh, a full decade. The result is that the whole process just gets worse in the short term so shipping will be less impacted in the long term. What it means for me is that getting to the store will become quite a bit harder in about 9 hours, when they shut off the current closest exit to start tearing it up. That stretch of freeway won't be done with construction for up to another year, and the stretch between there and where I work will be tied up until sometime in 2022. So getting there in the dead of night might be simple enough, but morning rush hour isn't really going to let up before evening rush hour kicks in full force. I was really hoping I wouldn't be looking at making any more trips up there this year.
None of the three Lego stores in my part of California had these this weekend. Not sold out, just hadn't arrived yet. Including the Downtown Disney location. I hope they get them before Halloween season is over.
ReplyDeleteUsed the 2xVIP occasion to buy up on several of the parts in the Stockholm store. (There was the opportunity to buy a pre-packed collection of three Halloween minifigs, as well, but the witch figure looked a bit mismatched, and the vampire was too similar to the ones I already have.)
ReplyDeleteBut then, the VIP system has become so cumbersome lately, so if I can't really use the points as intended, in the end it might just be pointless. (Pun semi-intended.)
is there a way to find out what the 10 of each item in this quarter are?..like the 10 heads,10 torsos,10 legs and so on
ReplyDelete