Thomas Jenkins (@thomas_jenkins_bricks) reviews the recently revealed LEGO® Minifigures 71030 Looney Tunes, coming 26 April 2021. The products in this article were provided for free by LEGO; the author's opinions are not biased by this.
It seems we only just welcomed the release of a host of new Collectible Minifigures with series 21, but they’re back once more and feature a wealth of new moulds to represent Warner Bros’ iconic cast of animated characters. LEGO Collectible Minifigures 71030 Looney Tunes are available from 26 April 2021.
Like the previous wave of Collectible Minifigures, the Looney Tunes series of figures features 12 characters to collect:
- Bugs Bunny
- Daffy Duck
- Lola Bunny
- Marvin the Martian
- Petunia Pig
- Porky Pig
- Road Runner
- Speedy Gonzales
- Sylvester
- Taz the Tasmanian Devil
- Tweety
- Wile E Coyote
The LEGO Group sent us a box of the figures for review containing thirty-six minifigures. I counted three of each figure except Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote: unfortunately the box I received did not contain any Wile E. Coyote figures and instead contained three extra Roadrunner figs. Apparently this is not an isolated incident so hopefully this will be fixed when the figures go on release later this month.
With that preamble out of the way, let’s look at the figures, ‘¡Arriba! ¡Aribba! ¡Andale! ¡Andale!’
The LEGO Looney Tunes CMFs
There are so many new moulds featured in this new wave of figures and as each figure is pretty much a set in its own right, we’ll have a look at each figure individually and the parts they contain. I’ve included a side by side view of each figure showing their front and back and also a deconstructed view so you can see all the pieces (including spares) that appear in each bag. I’m sure that other review sites will give you a more comprehensive ‘feel guide’ so you have an idea of what to look for if there’s a particular figure you want to get your hands on but hopefully this approach will give you a decent idea of what to look (or feel) for.
LEGO Bugs Bunny
Like all the other figures in this series, Bugs receives a brand new head mould and it captures his likeness perfectly. These new body parts are really top-notch. Some of the other animal figures receive new hipwear to represent tails and the like, but the two rabbit characters (Bugs and Lola) don’t get such a cottontail part, this little detail is instead printed on the back of the torso.
Bugs’ accessory is a carrot, nothing special but a good fit for the character.
LEGO Daffy Duck
We receive another wonderful new head sculpt for Daffy Duck. He also has a recolour of the tail used by Donald Duck and family, Minifig Hipwear Tail Duck Costume (24779) in Black, to represent his backside. Far from despicable, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Daffy’s accessory comprises a Road Sign Clip-on 2 x 2 Square [Thick Open O Clip] in Bright Yellow/ Yellow printed with ‘Rabbit Season’. A bit of an odd choice for an accessory since we don’t receive an Elmur Fudd character in the line-up. Although Yellow is a recolour for this particular part, the very similar precursor to this element, Road Sign Clip-on 2 x 2 Square (30258), was available in Yellow. Let’s hope we see an unprinted version of this piece in the future.
LEGO Lola Bunny
The first thing I noticed about this figure are the beautifully decorated legs- the colours are bold and the lines are really neat and crisp. Let’s hope LEGO continues to expand the availability of minifigure parts with nougat skin tones, to see this part get some proper use.
A Technic Ball Joint in Bright Orange/ Orange (6307452 | 32474) represents a basketball which I assume is a reference to her introduction to the Looney Tunes canon in the basketball-centric film, Space Jam. While the unprinted part doesn’t read that well as a basketball, the lack of printing is a good thing as it grants some more versatility in MOC building. It’s a nice inclusion as orange has only appeared in two other far more expensive sets so far, 70435 Newbury Abandoned Prison and 21324 123 Sesame Street.
LEGO Marvin the Martian
Marvin is the only figure in the series to be built with a conventional minifig head. It’s printed with a massive pair of eyes and a new Roman Centurion-style helmet. They are nice parts and even though they don’t quite represent Marvin’s comically oversized head perfectly, the minifigure proportions are still quite charming.
The helmet is a single, dual-moulded element. We get a new cloth element for his ‘skirt’ and Weapon Gun Ray / Sci Fi - Rounded Heat Diffusers (16308) in Bright Yellowish Green/ Lime for the first time. I’m a fan of the wraparound printing on the legs, which remind me of the classic Converse basketball shoes.
LEGO Petunia Pig
I wasn’t familiar with this character, but apparently she was introduced way back in 1937 and seems to be a relative staple of the series. Minifig Hipwear Skirt (24782) in Bright Red/ Red is new, previously only available in Bright Purple/ Dark Pink but we’ve seen a printed, spotted version in Red with the Minnie Mouse minifig.
I love the petticoat print on the legs. It’s a bit of a shame the hoof print on the feet limits the parts usage in regular ‘human’ minifigures but maybe they would pass as a pair of dainty little shoes. The chin extends a little below the neck but allows for some articulation. She comes with a teapot and teacup.
LEGO Porky Pig
Porky wields a sign constructed using some pretty conventional parts and bears a new printed 2x4 Tile adorned with Looney Tunes’ most popular catchphrase, ‘That’s all folks’.
And that pretty much is all, folks. There isn’t a lot to say about him: his head sculpt is quite similar to Petunia’s minus the hair and, looking at the torso, LEGO still haven’t quite nailed the printing of lighter colours upon dark plastic.
LEGO Road Runner
Road Runner has the same torso as Chicken Suit Guy from CMF series 9: Torso with Bird Wings (11938), this time with a Medium Blue torso and Bright Blue/ Blue wings. The new head mould has a small 1.5mm hole atop to insert the bird’s plumage, which is also a new part. It might be useful elsewhere in- for example- a knight’s helmet, but I definitely see a squirt of water. We also get a new hip accessory to represent his tail.
His accessory is a bowl of feed, no doubt part of a trap laid by his counterpart Wile E. Coyote, and it uses Brick Round 2 x 2 Dome Bottom [Open Stud] in Sand Green which has only appeared in two other rather pricey sets thus far. The bowl is filled with Food Ice Cream Scoops (6254) in Yellow which, to my surprise, is a recolour (we’ve received them in abundance in Flame Yellowish Orange/ Bright Light Orange).
LEGO Speedy Gonzales
The cheese slope, as Slope 30° 1 x 1 x 2/3 (54200) is more commonly known, finally comes in a cheese print and I couldn’t be happier. And that’s not all folks, as we receive four of these delicious Yellow wedges with the Speedy Gonzales figure. The box art and instructions sheet show three of the elements alongside the character, so it appears that one is considered a spare -how generous!
Along with his newly moulded head, we get a new element to represent his tail, which I assumed could also be found in the Chinese New Year Rat minifig but I was mistaken. Unlike the other tail hip accessories, the underside of this one is hollowed out, so it can only be used in one orientation (if you care about those kinds of aesthetics).
LEGO Sylvester
If you tawt you taw a puddy tat- you did, you did. Much like Porky above, Sylvester’s torso suffers from the printing of (this time) white upon black plastic. His tail is a new print for Minifig Hipwear Cat / Monkey Tail Costume (15504) featuring a White tip.
He also wields a Sports Baseball Bat 4L with Medium Nougat Print , which is a pretty rare element having only appeared in three other sets since its first appearance ten years ago. The legs are dual-moulded with a black print, disguising the transition between black to white and it works really nicely.
LEGO Taz, the Tasmanian Devil
I was lamenting the lack of new accessories in this series of figs, but for me, Taz was the greatest missed opportunity. I was really hoping to get a unique tornado mould for his legs (something in the vein of the ethereal lower halves that are used to represent ghosts in the Hidden Side range) but we’ll have to make do with a newly printed Tile Round 4 x 4 with 2 Studs open. I shouldn’t complain too much as it is a pretty rare kind of element in itself: it’s only been available in two varieties- in Medium Stone Grey/ Light Bluish Gray (unprinted) and White with a polka dot pattern- unique to the sets in which they appear. A boat stud attached to the bottom of the tile allows the figure to spin, which is a reasonable compromise.
Taz also gets a Minifig Hipwear Tail Raccoon / Cat / Fox Costume (18277) in Reddish Brown, which is a recolour- it was previously only available in Dark Stone Grey/ Dark Bluish Gray until now. Taz hungry, so his accessories are a drumstick and cream pie.
LEGO Tweety Pie
In lieu of a dedicated new element, Tweety receives a brick-built mallet. I’d be disappointed if it weren’t for the new Brick Round 2 x 2 with Pin Holes in Dark Brown (14785). It’s curious the designers decided on Dark Brown rather than Reddish Brown to match the rest of the mallet’s colour scheme, but I’m grateful for this recolour. A 2x2 round printed tile and a boat stud would have finished this small build off nicely, but the exposed studs remind us this is LEGO.
As adorable as this little bird is, I think he may have worked better as a smaller figure- like the minifigure version of Baby Yoda from the Star Wars line- as an accessory to Sylvester. That would open up a slot for an extra character (I miss Elmur Fudd!).
LEGO Wile E Coyote
I wish I had some insight to offer for this character but unfortunately, I didn’t receive one in my box to review.
Thomas Jenkins' MOCs using parts from Looney Tunes Collectible Minifigures
There are a number of new elements available in the new series of Collectible Minifigures but most of them are specialised minifigure body parts with somewhat limited use. I spent some time studying these larger elements, but I had a hard time seeing anything other than what they were intended to be. Perhaps a better builder than I can find a novel use for them.
I did find some more uses for the more conventional elements in the series though. Here is what I came up with.
Microscale LEGO Sarlacc Pit with Sailbarge
Did you think I’d make it through a whole article without mentioning Star Wars?
Speedy Gonzales’ whip like tail makes for a teeny tiny tentacles in this recreation of the Sarlacc Pit. I made a micro Sailbarge to complete the scene.
LEGO lily pond with toy boat
Marvin’s skirt was among the easiest of the new parts to reimagine. Paired with the Bright Reddish Violet/ Magenta flower elements I received with my 10280 Flower Bouquet, these make some rather nice little lotus flowers or lilies. Road Runner’s new hip accessory makes a pretty good splash effect to create the impression of speed in the toy boat. And I used Marvin’s green guns to make the bodies of the ducks.
LEGO hibiscus and water jet
My final build makes use of Petunia’s skirt to make a sort of hibiscus-esque flower. It took a bit of time to figure out how to create a stamen central to the flower and I settled upon the technique you can see below.
With just a little bit of persuasion, the square holes in the skirt will accept a Tile with Open O Clip (15712). I used a hotdog to provide a central attachment point for the stamen. Finally, I managed to use that Road Runner accessory in the hose to represent a splash of water.
Conclusion
Unless you’re a fan of the Looney Tunes franchise, there isn’t much that is particularly appealing about this new collection of figures. Make no mistake, the new moulds for the figure body parts are excellent- perfect LEGO minifigure representations of each character- but they are pretty much single-use parts: I can’t see them used for anything other than Looney Tunes characters. But I’m happy to be proved wrong.
There are some glaring omissions from the line-up- I definitely missed Elmur Fudd, Pepé LePew, and Yosemite Sam to name a few, but perhaps we’ll see a second series much like the Disney or The Simpsons figures.
For me, the highlights of the figures were the Lime ray gun and actual, honest-to-goodness Cheese Slopes but I expected a little more (perhaps ACME-branded) new accessories from this series.
READ MORE: New recolours in the upcoming LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 76199 Carnage
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A decent review (though disappointing that Lego didn't send you a complete set of figs...)
ReplyDeleteUltimately these figs feel like a bit of a miss for me. Some of them are good (Bugs, Daffy, and Porky Pig all look excellent), but others really feel like they miss the mark (Tweety and Road Runner's proportions feel massively compromised to make them work as standard figs). And the lack of new accessories is also a bummer... some of the figs make do with unique printed parts (the cheese and "That's all, folks!" signs beings standouts), but others fall short even there (with Bugs' standard carrot or Sylvester's baseball bat being especially disappointing). I'm not really a big Looney Tunes fan to begin with, so new parts would probably be the only thing that would've convinced me these were worth getting.
Monofig collectors at least might find use for the Light Nougat hips on Porky Pig–something I thought I'd probably never see due to the potential for making "naked" fleshie figs.
I am liking these and will be buying the lot.
ReplyDeleteYou got Daffy's tail on upside-down. Might as well just erase his beak, while you're at it...
ReplyDeleteI could have sworn they'd made a lime ray gun, if not this mold, then the original version. Turns out there's _no_ shade of green that's been produced. In fact, this is the first to be produced in the entire cool spectrum. Everything before this was a warm color (red, orange, or pearl-gold), or something in the B/W range.
Porky Pig's hips are new in Light Nougat. Good news for monochrome minifig collectors!
ReplyDeleteNice review but I'll pass on these. Spend my money elsewhere on Lego, of course.
ReplyDeleteLooney Tunes are much preferred to any racist Disney Legos.
ReplyDelete