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Hello everyone,
I am really feeling very excited now to be back again to bring all of you another brand new continuation of the successful LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series! This time, the LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 offers more new and exciting elements that will leave a "wow" smiling expression at the end of this review.
Firstly, I will like to give my thanks to TLG (The LEGO Group) for being appreciative to provide me with such an opportunity to do an exclusive insight review for this new series and to the Eurobricks Staff and our Ambassadors for being so supportive to me to helm the Collectable Minifigures Series campaign for Eurobricks. Furthermore, with the community spirit and the love of our hobby, this is what keeps me motivated and continued to work hard to make this a reality. Lastly, I will also like to thanks to a special someone, "Belun" for being there for me. Thank you everyone.
It's time to walk down memory lane. The year 2010, had all of us going crazy over Series 1 and Series 2. This year 2011, TLG gave us more than 2 series and decided to launch Series 3, Series 4 and the current Series 5 which will be released worldwide from the period of August to September. I supposed after the end of this review, perhaps you can head back to the Series 5 poll statistics and amend your voting choice once more!
Name: 8805 LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5
Theme: LEGO System / Collectable Minifigures / Series 5
Year: 2011
Minifigs: 16 unique minifigures
Price for 1 box: USD N.A, GBP N.A, SGD N.A
Price for 1 packet: USD N.A, GBP N.A, SGD N.A
Resources: Brickset, BrickLink
An image of an 8805 LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 box
Did I mention that the new sky blue packaging theme is my favourite colour? Compared to the previous colour schemes, the new sky blue looks pretty soothing to my eyes. Below are some of the image links that portray the different angles of the box.
[Reference 1]
[Reference 2]
[Reference 3]
The 4 different colour packaging themes for Series 1 to 5 boxes
What could possibly contain within these mysterious packets?
Our new objective is to complete a set of 16 unique minifigures for Series 5!
At the start where we first seen some first-hand images of Series 5, most of us are not very impressed including myself too. We will thought the novelty of collecting these minifigures will eventually died off, but we are wrong. It was proven correct as more detailed Series 5 images shed to light and we are now facing another fanatic collectable mayhem, where more focused new relevant minifigure awaiting to be integrated into your existing collection. Let me show you how it can be done!
By the way, all of the names which I have used to represent the LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 are not official TLG representation but for me to use to associate with what we are familiar with. Thanks.
Front view comparison between Series 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 packets
At this rate it is going, I don't think I will have enough space to take all of these packets together. These packaging colours certainly complement with one another and it made me smiled to see how far this new innovative theme had gone.
Gone were the days of scanning barcodes. It felt as if it was a long time ago, since we last messed around with barcode scanners to search for these minifigures. Instead, we are now accustomed to the primitive method of touch and feel and for myself, it had brought me a huge success to acquire the ones I am looking for. There are dotted codes at the back of the packet right at the bottom but I had never used this method before. Unfortunately, I can't help you guys with the dotted codes at the bottom as I don't have much prior experience in identifying it. This is the back image of all of the past and current series packets.
Front view of the Minifigs Series 5 promotional leaflet
Back view of the Minifigs Series 5 promotional leaflet
1) The hardworking Graduate
This is a nice surprise for all hardworking graduates who worked very hard to earn their degree, sp they would all graduate together and attend the convocation. This is a lovely surprise and I just can't believe the designers had actually done it nicely. Not sure what faculty he is studying, but I could just assume he is a law graduate. A wonderful addition to our City civilian population! Perhaps, it's time to put up a graduation night for all of them?
Parts assortment
There are a couple of new elements like the graduation cap and gown. I am really impressed with the 2x2 printed flat tile with the wordings, "Certificate of Graduation". As for the gown itself, you will need to iron the edges, so they will not have to look like this after they have donned it. I remember I used safety pins to attach my gown together.
Even the smile on their faces specially elated!
Graduation Day
2) The fearless Gladiator
Ever watched the movie acted by Russell Crowe, "Gladiator"? This first of a kind LEGO minifigure, which puts the Gladiator together is a new class of its own, just like the Spartan. The Gladiator is an armed combatant who entertains his audience through physical combat which may sometimes resulted in a certain death.
For myself, this is one of my absolutely favourite minifigure as the given parts are extremely extraordinary and useful.
Parts assortment
The gladiator's helmet and sword are pure beauty. I do not know how to describe but it gave me an impression that the helmet was made up of bronze. It was sturdy and hard and it left me a very strong impression. You got to feel it with your own hands in order to appreciate more of what you have seen.
On the left side (facing front), he has a printed armour padding at the side of his elbow. I enjoyed very bit of quality details given to this special minifigure. I am also certain this will be as popular as the Spartan and Elves of the past series.
Never mess with these warriors of might...
New choice of weapon?
3) The stern looking Grenadier Guard
Attention! The Grenadier Guards are in LEGO town. Honestly, I can never believe that such precise accurate realistic traditional military regiement of our real life is being created in front of our very eyes. This is truly royal and classic iconic figure for the Great Britain. No doubt about it, for most army builders who want to build up a platoon. No need to fear, I am sure the distribution will surprise you.
Parts assortment
The tall bearskin fur cap is truly iconic and that piece of amazing new element helps to put this into proper perspective. Even though the rifle may look awkward from a certain angle but I am sure with some customisation efforts, it will looks nice and good.
Marching up and down
4) The freezing Eskimo
Another fisherman? This is different. Our Arctic friend, who is an Eskimo lives in his igloo and fish for his salmon beneath the thin frozen ice cap. His attire is very much suitable for the winter expedition with all of his furry gear all over him to provide warmth.
Parts assortment
It comes with standard elements like his usual fishing rod and his catch. Not sure why his fish is the same as our Series 3 Fisherman's breed, but it's still nice to see it in sand-green though as the previous release in Series 3 was very limited.
Where is my catch?
5) The stunning Cavewoman
I absolutely adore this stunning cavewoman. She is pretty gorgeous and well dressed for someone coming from a prehistoric era. Every bit of print is just so detailed. What's more important, is that the Series 1 Caveman finally got a companion after a long wait.
Parts assortment
It comes with a brand new hairpiece that felt like soft rubbery piece. You could wear the accessory of the bone on top of her hair and bring the new dark brown club around. There is printing behind her back which helps to add the details. This is an image of herself without the bone on her hair. Looks nice to me on it's own.
Shopping dilemma
Me papa Caveman is no alone longer anymore
6) The gigantic Godzilla
This gigantic Godzilla costume is adorable. Oh well, he is not that gigantic but more of a minifigure scale. He will works well in fun fairs, mascots, or even a green dinosaur to entertain children. All of us knew he was wearing a costume since we can see his expression. Definitely an entertaining piece of minifigure.
Parts assortment
The parts assortment are mainly of many new unique elements especially for its costume like the long tail and dinosaur head piece. He does not appears to be sweating but more like enjoying himself in this outfit. This is the side and back view of the person wearing the Godzilla costume.
I am not sharing it
7) The caring Zoo Keeper
She does looks like a sweet and caring Zoo Keeper, taking good care of the monkey. Her attire can also be classified under safari staff or someone going out for jungle expedition, like the Series 2 Explorer. If you notice the girl's facial expression carefully, you might also note her beauty spot too. I don't recall seeing any from the previous series.
Parts assortment
The main highlight of this minifigure is definitely the monkey. Even though the monkey is not as posable as the existing ones, but the prints are amazingly detailed and beautiful. Actually, I mistook it as a standing ornament but since there is a banana on her hand, I should assume that it is a "live" monkey.
Welcome aboard the Safari Journey
Evolution
8) The hardworking Woodcutter
Most of you will just undermine the Woodcutter and I am not going to do so. He is not just like your regular woodcutter. Instead, his prints on the torso is the most detailed among the rest. Armed with his trusty real axe instead of those puny little ones from the fire department. The fire department ought to borrow it from him instead.
Parts assortment
The axe and the cap are some of the new civilian elements introduced for this woodcutter. Whereas, the actual beauty is the torso of his front, back and side detailed printings. Don't you agree it is amazing?
Father and Son
I am not sure how I piece this two together, but I just had that strong feeling to do so. It looks meaningful to me.
9) The hilarious Circus Clown
Who needs another clown when we had one in Series 1? Oh well, you will be very mistaken if you choose to ignore this. In fact, this new Circus Clown complements very well with the other one. It needs two hands to clap and it is the same for this funny performance too, to have 2 hilarious clowns on the stage to make the audience laugh.
Parts assortment
The parts assortment are pretty good too, especially the pie which we can use for food items and the clown hat for some cute costumes make up. This time, we got a perfect white clown for his expression.
The happy and entertaining clowns
Welcome to our Circus Troupe
10) The slim looking Aerobics Instructor
On the music and let this Aerobics Instructor brings fun to your physical workout with her nice radio set. Sometimes, I do think she might be actually a dance instructor instead. Even though I may not be highly attracted to this minifigure, but it helps to bring in more variety to our boring City population. So far, for that, I welcome this!
Parts assortment
The parts assortment are quite standard and most of it comes in pink. The only interested item for myself, could be the pink radio set, other than that. I am not too interested in the rest.
Twin Sisters
Let's hit the rhythm
11) The witty Detective
Sherlock Holmes is back to solve crimes? Oh well, he is not the real Sherlock Holmes, but a detective who looks like one. I like his vintage looking brown coat and his cape. This is quite a decent looking minfigure.
Parts assortment
The parts to identify a witty detective must includes a magnifying glass. The cap is pretty cool as it contains print on its side. Personally, there is some intellect charm in this one.
Can you see our faces?
Discoveries of different natures
12) The evil dark Dwarf Warrior
Apart from the mentioned Gladiator, this will be my ultimate favourite minifigure in this entire series! Yes, we had Dwarves in the year 2008, but this one is not a repetitive same old design! It's actually a representation of a brand new Dwarves clan that appears to be dark, sinister and evil. Can you feel its fierce and unfriendly aura? I just got to have this and this will definitely pose a problem for me to amass as there are many army builders out there.
Parts assortment
It comes with standard dwarf warrior outfit such as the helmet, double axe, beard and shield. All of it are new colour elements and designs. I really appreciate this minifigure very much and I can't wait to lay my hands on more of these. Even the shield appears to be nasty looking. This image shows the nice torso of the dwarf clearly without its beard on.
Friends or Foes?
13) The unbeatable Boxer
Our Series 1 Wrestler, finally have a deserving competitor to spar with. This boxer is giving no quarters to the Wrestler, even though he has no boxing gloves. This is a very unique minifigure as it comes with boxer gloves instead of the usual typical minifigure hands. Just note his teeth and torso carefully, and you will notice he is a gold champion.
Parts assortment
This image shows the best parts of the boxer as it entails dual expression plus the removal of the boxing gloves which will allow to re-attach to other minifigures.
World Wrestling Tag Team
14) The wise Pharaoh Queen
If you are a huge fan of Egyptian Adventures, then this Cleopatra look alike will make a fine ruler. Bits of those Egyptian hieroglyph can be found on her torso and hairpiece. As long the designers keep up the good job of coming up with excellent female minifigures like this, it will continue to make us, AFOLs to go crazier over such female minifigures.
Parts assortment
There is nothing special, other than the minifigure itself. The green snake is commonly available in past sets. It is certainly an excellent addition to this settings.
Ancient Egyptians Kings and Queens
I am not going to end up like that
15) The dangerous nasty Mafia Gangster
At first glance, it reminds me of our Eurobricks Mafia Games that we had, and at the same time it also chanced upon like those goons chasing after poor Indiana Jones. This Mafia Gangster is not to be messed with as he has a violin case with him. Don't expect him to play classical with this.
Parts assortment
If you want to build up a mob, then this minifigure is the one for you. The best part about this is the violin case but it does not comes with a Tommy gun and the actual LEGO Tommy gun can't fit in there and you could only placed a revolver gun like this in here. I like that black suit though. It kinds of remind me of those Italian Mobsters.
16) The daring Snowboarder
I am going to hear the usual same ranting of having another snowboarder. I think it complements very well with the female Series 3 snowboarder. Furthermore, it adds more variety on the snow mountain action.
Parts assortment
The parts assortment is quite average but the fact that the snowboard is a different printed design enhance the value of this whole outfit. The blue winter outfit including the beanie makes a fine combination.
Extreme Winter Sports
A general comparison for the Collectable Minifigures Series 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
So, what do everyone feels about the current LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5? Did everyone feel disappointing or did you simply forget the disappointment and awaits to embrace the new series.
In my humble opinion, I think TLG have done an excellent job to keep most fans of LEGO including AFOLs to be very occupied to collect these collectable minifigures all over again and again for the past 1 year plus. Some of you may have grown weary of collecting but some people like myself continue to conquer and take on these collecting into another level. I, for one will not give up any of these 80 unique LEGO Collectable Minifigures.
It has come a long way to see Series 5 evolving into present context and completing the whole theme into the legendary 80 Collectable Minifigures. In any LEGO past or present themes, you can never see more than 80 unique LEGO minifigures in a single theme and this has proven wrongly. In all of mine past reviews, I have attempted to integrate all of the past series together to associate them with one another, so we could learnt to appreciate why these minifigures are produced in the first place. It might not be clear when the first few series are launched, but to me, the blurred vision is no longer there and I understood the meaning and beauty of having this theme continuing.
It is not about building bricks. It is all about innovation and uniqueness of what this one and only special theme can bring and will bring without any bias or licensed constrains. Generally, this is a great job done and I truly considered all 5 LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series truly great legacy.
My only wish is to see the continuation towards LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 6 and beyond.
General Statistics for Minifigures Series 5
Disclaimer: 1 of the Aerobics Instructor is left out by mistake.
Below is the combination which I have received from my box,
3 Graduates
3 Gladiators
5 Grenadier Guards
3 Eskimos
4 Cavewomen
4 Godzillas
5 Zoo Keepers
4 Woodcutters
4 Circus Clowns
4 Aerobics Instructors
4 Detectives
3 Dwarves Warriors
5 Boxers
3 Pharaoh Queens
3 Mafia Gangsters
3 Snowboarders
Based on the above, I managed to achieve 3 full complete sets of 16 unique minifigs each. It means I have only 12 remaining random spares left. It also means we are back to the standards of Series 2 distribution level. No more 2 complete sets when we buy a full box. Read down to find out what are the remaining spares I have.
My remaining spares
0 Graduates
0 Gladiators
2 Grenadier Guards
0 Eskimos
1 Cavewomen
1 Godzillas
2 Zoo Keepers
1 Woodcutters
1 Circus Clowns
1 Aerobics Instructors
1 Detectives
0 Dwarves Warriors
2 Boxers
0 Pharaoh Queens
0 Mafia Gangsters
0 Snowboarders
Data Analysis
Based on the data given, I have drafted my analysis accordingly. Buying 1 full complete MISB box will allow you to achieve 3 maximum complete unique set and we are finally back to the same distribution of the LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 2 distribution level. I really hope this is not a mistake and I hope everyone of us will get the same distribution.
So far, each of the 16 unique minifigures have an equal chance of getting 3 out of 48 packets, when the box is opened and consumers will buy it separately. That will be 6.25% probability based only on 48 packets. When you add the remaining 12 spares into the calculation, 7 unique minifigures are only available at 21 out of 60 packets and this translates to 35% in total and 3.5% each, which makes it even harder to achieve by just doing it randomly. Whereas, the probability of getting the Grenadier Guards, Zoo Keepers and Boxers are on the higher note, since they are available at 15 out of 60 and this translates to 25% in total and 8.33% each.
However, the likelihood that this percentage will be lowered by at least half due to the introduction of the dotted system and fanatic LEGO hunters like ourselves who are scrambling to search for the ones that they are highly desired by many. Even so, I am still glad that TLG managed to bring back the 3 complete set distribution again as I am sure it will make fans who buy full boxes to be happier again. I am also happy to note that one of the popular minifigure which is the Grenadier Guard is available at 5 minifigures for each box. At least, it helps to ease the load of the searching this likely popular minifigure.
To conclude and summaries, based on the probability demonstrated by this review, as an example, here are the results,
High probability
1) Grenadier Guards
2) Zoo Keepers
3) Boxers
Total range: 25%
Each: 8.33%
Medium probability
1) Cavewomen
2) Godzillas
3) Woodcutters
4) Circus Clowns
5) Aerobics Instructors
6) Detectives
Total range: 40%
Each: 6.67%
Low probability
1) Graduates
2) Gladiators
3) Eskimos
4) Dwarves Warriors
5) Pharaoh Queens
6) Mafia Gangsters
7) Snowboarders
Total range: 35%
Each 5%
A few close up images of my current Collectable Minifigures Series collection
To conclude, the LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 5 is remarkably amazing. I, was first disappointed with it when I first saw it but until I see those actual stuff with my very eyes, there is no doubt about it, that these minifigures have scored real high in my ratings. With plentiful of new and re-make designs being introduced and minimum usage of filler and plus the very fact that one box is able to provide at least 3 complete sets upon buying a full sealed box helps to increase the desire of collecting it. Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this current series too. The Gladiator, Grenadier Guard, Cavewoman, Dwarf Warrior, Pharaoh Queen and Mafia Gangster are mine favourite Series 5 minifigures ever and it will be another hard challenging time for me and the rest to find them all.
Do note that there are no longer contains the placement of spare parts from Series 3 and beyond.
Summary review
Playability: 9/10 (More unique and possible new themes expansion for your LEGO collection.)
Design: 9.5/10 (Very detailed parts and accessories such as the palette, ornamental fan, etc Also include back printing for some other minifigures.)
Price: 9/10 (Still reasonably priced for detailed unique minifigures despite of its price increase.)
Overall: 9.2/10 (If you are reading this review, then you should continue buying this Series without giving much thought.)
I gave it a "5" based on my Review Score Card.
What about yours?I hope every one of you enjoyed reading this simple review of mine. Comments and Criticisms are strongly welcomed.
Pictures can be found in My Flickr and My Brickshelf (When moderated)
Will be updating these links soon.
Special Eurobricks Bulletin
We have come to the end of this pictorial review. I believe it will be a no surprise for you especially if you have been active in Eurobricks for the past one year. Watch out for more new upcoming excitement right here in Eurobricks LEGO Forum.
Please do not discuss this inside this review. Kindly leave your thoughts in this discussion topic.
Edited by Rufus, 28 June 2011 - 07:50 PM.
Indexed
! Superb pictures, good writing and funny comparision shots with other older figs 
! 
That figure's detail is excellent.
. Gotta catch'em all! 
).
![[Reference 1]](http://www.eurobricks.com/staff/whitefang/8805review/2deeplink1.jpg){kind=link}
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