LEGO® Minifigures review: 71032 Series 22

Kev Levell (@kevlevell) examines the LEGO® Minifigures 71032 Series 22. Buying these on 1 January 2022? Consider using our affiliate links, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. Products in this article were provided by LEGO; the author's opinions are their own.

LEGO® has reached Series 22 of their regular Collectible Minifigures. Eleven and a half years, a total of 38 sets, 599 individual minifigures and I am surprised that there are still such great and varied figures being produced in every new series.

Firstly, card boxes still won’t be replacing the blind bags in this series. Secondly, it’s another set of twelve, which I think we can now assume will be the norm. LEGO provided a shipper box of 36 packs and I had three full sets without any duplications at my disposal.

At the time of writing, I didn’t have the official LEGO names but for the purposes of identification my names are:

1. Maintenance Robot
2. Chilli Costume Girl
3. Minstrel/Bard (Lute Player)
4. Ice/Snow/Tundra Warrior
5. Girl with Foal
6. Ice/Figure Skater
7. Moon Warrior
8. Forest Spirit / Acorn Boy
9. Birdwatcher with Toucan / Ornithologist
10. Racoon
11. Space Alien
12. Man with racing wheelchair / Wheelchair Racer

As with most series, there is a broad range of new characters and while they might seem to follow the formula set by previous series, these figures are anything but formulaic.

There are just a handful of new parts here and I don’t expect to see many of them becoming any more readily available than they are here. Another welcome aspect to a non-IP licensed range of CMFs is recoloured elements, of which there are quite a few here.

The Minifigures

Maintenance Robot

Stylistically this feels somewhere between the Hazmat Suit guy from Series 4 and the CDA from Monsters Inc. It’s a wonderfully detailed figure, with prints galore, including front and sides of both legs, one arm, a back print and two prints on the droid’s head. The robot face is reminiscent of Spyrius, Time Cruisers and Exploriens droids, and is similar to the droid in Creator 31111 Cyber Drone.

• Minifig Helmet Welding with Visor in Yellow (13792)
• Mechanical arm in Yellow (62691)
• Tile 1 x 1 Half Circle in Red (24246) features new prints

I think it’s a pretty effective re-use of the older Welder’s mask, but I’m wondering why it is not the newer mask 65195 that we saw introduced in 2020. Perhaps because that would of course require a regular helmet to be included too.

Field guide feeling guide: welder’s mask, confirm with hammer or horn

Chilli Costume Girl

Looking very much like a Fresno Chilli Pepper, this one is hot! Well, 2500 - 10,000 on the Scoville scale is plenty hot enough for me.

There is an alternative expression with the Chilli Pepper too.

• New print for a milk carton on a regular 1x1 brick in Medium Blue
• Sassy (or is it saucy?) Minifig Hair Short Tousled with Side Part in Red (37823)
• Chilli Pepper costume (one of the rare occasions where there is no ID - or at least I couldn’t find it)

I think this fiery flavoured fancy-dress fan will be a hot addition to the costume minifigure collection.

Field guide feeling guide: (obviously) big pepper piece

Minstrel/Bard (Lute Player)

Perfect for an Alan-a-dale in your forestmen set up. At very least he’s another nice companion for the roguish Forestman outlaw from all the way back in series 1!

• Minifig Hat Forestmen's (reissue with Blind Hole for Feather) in Blue (88489)
• New coin print on Tile Round 1 x 1 in Pearl Gold (98138)
• Magenta Headwear Accessory Plume / Feather Small with Pin in Magenta (87693)
• Lute in Nougat (80503)

Field guide feeling guide: lute, confirm with hat or coins

Ice/Snow/Tundra Warrior

The hat and the collar moulds form a neat interface. It’s a strong looking character, so strong that I find myself imagining his warrior brethren, their families, sleds and shelters and I lament that this isn’t a theme in its own right.

• Recoloured Light Bluish Grey husky in white with (ice) blue eyes (16606)
• Arctic or Mongolian style fur hat in Dark Blue and White (80504)
• Minifig Neckwear Fur Collar in White (26066) makes a reappearance here.

There are no spare parts in this pack.

Field guide feeling guide: find the round shield, confirm with the husky

Girl with Foal

The stable hand is a nice generic looking figure, not much here distinguishes her or typifies the character to the role, but the detail is great.

I imagine the Foal will be the real draw here though, and extremely popular too! Four and a half modules long, one module wide and just under three and two thirds modules high.

• Dark Red beanie hat and Black hair (52686)
• Foal (82445)

Field guide feeling guide: look for the foal, confirm with hairpiece or carrot

Ice/Figure Skater

A companion for the figure skater from Series 4, is this ‘Chris’ to go with our ‘Jayne’?

Minifig Hair, Front Quiffed Right (76925) has only appeared twice before, in Blue in 40516 Everyone is Awesome and Flat Silver in 10291 Queer Eye, I am really pleased to see it here in Bright Light Yellow.

Field guide feeling guide: trophy cup

Moon Warrior

I love this figure: again, like the Ice Warrior, it’s one that has me imagining worlds! I’d love to see an army of them, battling to save their Citadel against the Series 13 Goblins and their siege engines of doom! I think reintroducing one of the LotR elves’ hair pieces might have been a crowd pleaser here, but I’m happy with this hair new in Teal.

• Minifig Hair Mid-Length Wavy with Center Part in Dark Turquoise (90396)
• Weapon Sword / Shortsword Elaborate Hilt in Trans Purple (76764)

Field guide feeling guide: oval shield (if unsure confirm with hair piece)

Forest Spirit / Acorn Boy

Charm and whimsy abound with this cheerful little chap and the fun guy he’s supplied with!

• Acorn hat in Dark Orange and Reddish Brown (80512)
• Oak leaf (soft fabric)

“From Small Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow” feels very much like the story of all my LEGO builds!

Field guide feeling guide: find the stick (there’s two of them)... the acorn will confirm it.

Birdwatcher with Toucan / Ornithologist

This character calls to mind the Jungle Explorer with chameleon from series 19. I’ve seen complaints online already that this one is a bit “vanilla” in terms of CMFs but I have to disagree. It’s a good character, not only with respect to the printing, which it has to be said is very impressive but this is a good positive role model too… and the Toucan is brilliant!

• Teal fans get a second treat too Dark Turquoise Baseball Cap with hair in a ponytail Minifig Hat with Hair, Cap, Ponytail in Black (35660)
• Bag / Messenger Pouch with Long Strap in Dark Pink (61976)
• Equipment Binoculars in Dark Green (30162)
• Toucan (80513)

Field guide feeling guide: the hat was easiest to find, confirm with the toucan or the plant piece.

Racoon

This second costume figure in the series will be a popular addition to the collection, I'm sure. It’s already widely being called the Trash Panda, I suspect that is a name that will hang about.

Does the Light Bluish Gray hairpiece reveal that this is ‘Grandma’ making a fancy dress appearance?

• Minifig Head Cover (61876)

White sack was previously only available in Build a Minifigure stands & LEGO Ideas 21326 Winnie the Pooh… and while it is a welcome reappearance, it is the black sack that I would most like to see available again. The Trash can in an alternative colour would also have been nice to see.

Again, there are no spare parts.

Field guide feeling guide: locate the big old bin

Space Alien

A Trans Neon Green minifigure head is fitted (via a neck bracket) to the alien’s back, emblazoned with a hexagonal danger sign indicating: WARNING: Hazardous goop may explode!

Whilst I think the insect head piece is being utilised extremely well here, I just don’t quite see the character convincingly. I see the headgear, I see the mouth, I have to force myself to “see” the alien face - despite the impressively printed eyes on the antennae. To be honest, a reappearance of the Series 6, 13 or Series 21 Alien mould would have pleased me more.

• Weapon Gun Ray / Sci Fi - Rounded Heat Diffusers in Dark Turquoise (13608)
• Minifig Cap, Bumblebee with Black Eyes Print in Dark Pink (12892). A Dark Pink version was previously available in BAM with all black antennae.

I’m not ignoring the presence of the Classic Space logo, I will deal with that a “bit” more at the end!

Field guide feeling guide: the raygun

Man with racing wheelchair / Wheelchair Racer

This is another instance of inclusivity that I think deserves applause. LEGO has been dealing positively with people who use wheelchairs for quite a while now and I’m happy to see it continue with another role model.

• Wheelchair chassis (80501)
• Cycle helmet in Medium Azure (80500)
• Wheel Wheelchair with Fixed Black Hard Rubber Tire in Black (24314)
• Bicycle Wheel with Black Tire in Trans Light Blue (92851)

The wheels both are recolours, which is great, as the front wheel has only been in trans clear until now and the back wheels have only been available in clear and trans green “lime slices” before. The black back wheels are one of those parts that just screams jet booster intakes to me… not that I’ve done anything about that just yet!

Field guide feeling guide: obviously it’s the wheelchair chassis, confirm with the helmet if you need to.

The new LEGO wheelchair chassis

The wheelchair chassis is a detailed little mould. Let's take a closer look.

It is just over 5 modules long, 4 wide and 1 high. 

I tried to find some other potential connections:

The plant part is too loose and fell out moments after the camera shutter closed, the spear tip is jammed in there, the round 1x1 brick is also jammed on the bushing. The bar clip is a pretty good attachment point (as you would expect).

The camber of the wheels looks to be set at about 10° which from my limited research seems to be somewhere between that advised for general wheelchair use and sports applications. I think it’s fair to assume therefore that the element designers have done their homework.

Conclusion

It’s a really nice set of figures, which sounds like a weak level of enthusiasm but I hasten to add I think each individual character here will excite and delight someone.

Overall I was impressed with the level of detail throughout. I’ve highlighted a few of the characters that provided inspiration for whole new LEGO worlds for me, but in fairness, even the characters that can slip easily into existing collections and displays infer a backstory. Well-designed characters do that.

Purple Classic Spaceman Shenanigans

Here we go then: Classic Space, on a Dark Purple torso, yeah, I’m excited too, so excited in fact that I imported helmets from Latvia and Czechia in order to do this:

...and how about this:

Brigadier Brown next, please!

Then there’s this:

Okay, so I got a little overexcited and very much carried away! But in my defence: Classic Space!

For those of you as equally excited as me, the helmet (as if you needed to know) is 2446 (aka 88415 or 30124), you’ll need legs (970c00), hands and a pair of arms (it was actually cheaper to buy the whole torso 973c00) but unfortunately, the essential air tanks (3838) don’t officially exist. I substituted the missing purple with black air tanks, but I wasn’t satisfied and wanted an alternative.

Flying Squad?

I’ll admit, the jet-pack is unorthodox, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I’d still like Classic Space logos on those slopes though!

If you do want to do anything like this, I have to advise you to move fast if you don’t want to be paying silly money for one helmet… if you are in the UK, it may already be too late as there were none available domestically when I tried to locate a couple in good condition in the middle of November.

Danju was only available in two sets in 2004, if you’re buying the whole figure, beware: there is an alternate Danju with the wrong colour helmet!

LEGO® Minifigures 71032 Series 22 are available from 1 January 2022. Please consider using our affiliate links when you buy from LEGO.com, New Elementary may get a commission: USA LEGO Shop | Australia LEGO Shop | UK LEGO Shop/for Europe 'Change region'. 

Editor: Chris Baginski

READ MORE: The 6+ LEGO® NINJAGO 'EVO' sets reviewed

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