I’m sick and sniffly so I apologise but I just wanted to talk about a bunch of bootleg LEGO minifigures from China! Hope you enjoy!

All of these minifigures were bought on Ali Express.

To say I’m excited for the upcoming release of The LEGO Batman Movie would be a gross understatement. I adored the original The LEGO Movie and Will Arnett was definitely a stand out performance so to give that particular Batman his own movie and then populate it with every forgotten villain that only I would know? I feel like this movie is made for me!

So the lovely folks over at LEGO were kind enough to provide me with 70903 The Riddler’s Riddle Racer to play with and I’m positively giddy! This set retails for £29.99, features 254 pieces and contains two bags of assorted parts, a sticker sheet, one black plate and an instruction booklet.

As always, we dive into the minifigures first and for a £30 set, you get a lot of minifigures, most of which are favourites of mine. First up is the titular Riddler, looking both smarmy and indignant thanks to his swappable faces and the headpiece for his hat is at a lovely jaunty angle. Magpie wasn’t immediately familiar until I found out that this design is more based on her appearance in Beware The Batman and not the ludicrous 80’s design I knew her for.

In the realms of Rogues Galleries, you’re not going to get a more eclectic bunch than Batman’s baddies and we have two of the dumbest (and therefore two of my favourites) here with Calender Man and Kite Man. Much like most the villains in this movie, they appear in their super-dumb, yet super-endearing, original costumes and I love them because of it. Batman is much like the myriad of previous Batman minifig releases but, much like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2, now comes with a shiny new utility belt! It’s a nice little piece that changes up the status quo for one of the most prolific minifigures around.

The first brick-built segment of the process is Kite Man’s flying apparatus and it’s a perfectly good little glider pack, not pushing the boat out but still neat.

The titular Riddle Racer takes up the majority of the build, the first bag building much of the body work…

While the second finishes it off and holds the engine/weapon gimmick.

The finished Riddle Racer is a sleek little number that sadly only seats The Riddler but makes up for that with it’s sleek curves and overall awesome aesthetic.

The missile-firing gimmick is particularly strong too, easily launching missiles at least 6ft across the room!

As a fan of LEGO, I liked this set for having a cool looking vehicle but as a massive Batman villain mark, I adore the cadre of baddies you get in this set and, for me at least, that elevates this set to a must-buy! The LEGO Batman Movie range of LEGO sets are available from most major retailers now and you can look forward to the theatrical release on 10th February 2017!

Hot Wheels is an industry leader in small cars that go super fast and that’s cool but why am I suddenly covering a single car on Mint in Box? Because it has something to do with LEGO and you know what I’m like.

The Fig Rig is a relatively new addition to Hot Wheels’ ever-expanding fleet of cars but has already garnered much attention for it’s “compatibility with the leading brand”, which is a phrase used to refer to LEGO by knock-offs or third-party accessories. Though in this case, I’m sure Mattel wanted cross-play with it’s Mega Bloks brands but screw Mega Bloks. Hell, even their packaging depicts stylised LEGO Minifigures! Way to throw one of your own brands under the bus in favour of a competitor, Mattel.

As with most Hot Wheels vehicles, the Fig Rig is a stylised semi-futuristic pick-up truck, emblazoned with the HW logo. It looks pretty nifty but if you don’t fancy this colour scheme, there are 4 other schemes spread across the past couple years, because Hot Wheels likes to get their money’s worth out of every single mould.

The main selling point for this particular car, and why it has gained a bit of a cult following, is because of it’s LEGO compatibility. There are lots of mounting points for Minifigures and bricks, allowing you to customise the Fig Rig in a number of ways. This is a fun novelty but not without its flaws. While the bars for holding on to at the rear are fantastic; the ‘studs’ on the engine and bed of the truck widen at their base, meaning any connection is shallow at best and atrociously ineffective at worst.

When it comes down to it, the Fig Rig mould is a fun novelty but not without it’s downsides. Between this and the Let’s GO go-kart that is also Minifig compatible, their worth taking a look at, especially since they’re roughly a £1.

(10) Olympics Team GB – Brawny Boxer
Released as a special series to tie-in with the London 2012 Olympics, the Olympics minifigs were a fun little bunch but the only one I cared for was the Brawny Boxer. I loved the Series 5 Boxer and to get another with an opposing colour was too good an oppurtunity to pass up! I believe this series was exclusive to the UK but if you can find them, I’d urge you to pick them up because they’re Olympic chachkies that don’t suck.

(9) Series 8 – Santa
Ho, ho, ho boy did I ever need this one. Hell, I needed two! The Santa minifigure is so multipurpose and to have one that doesn’t look like a bad kitbash (I’m looking at you, LEGO Advent Calender Santa!) is great. The series was also released around Christmas time so it tied in perfectly.

(8) Series 6 – Clockwork Robot
Ol’ Tick-Tock Automaton is not the first robot in the Minifigures Collection but he’s the one who I love. He’s got the aesthetic of an old tin wind-up robot toy, with a wind-up key for his back and everything, and brilliant tampo details that make this an eye-popping addition to any collection.

(7) Series 9 – Chicken Suit Guy
The epitome of a subline running through the 10 series of LEGO Minifigures, Minifigs in Animal Costumes. Chicken Suit Guy is just so damn goofy, you can’t help but love him. Look at that derpy face! Priceless. An interesting thing to note, his torso has no printing whatsoever making it unique amongst all the LEGO minifigures to date.

(6) Series 8 – Vampire Bat
Given the variety of different genres that the Minifigure collection draws from, the most prevalent is the horror genre; with vampires, mummies and Frankensteins joining the menagerie from series to series. The Vampire Bat is the latest that could join the ranks of the traditional “Universal Monsters” quite easily. I love his little manbat arms, they look dumb in any other position.

(5) Series 9 – Cyclops
Some Ancient Greece for you now, and the Cyclops is a very weird one. Despite obviously being based on a monster, he’s pretty adorable. His head piece makes him look grumpy but not in a threatening way and the double-printed face underneath includes a pretty sweet smile!

(4) Series 8 – Diver
Oh man, old-timey deep-sea diver, this guy is pure joy. You’ll notice that I love any minifig that has weird parts that you don’t usually see in LEGO and this guy was top of my list along with Santa when Series 8 came out. They did a great thing by using the magnifying glass for the helmet’s visor so you can see the minifig’s face clearly. He’s taller than other minifigs due to the “weight” studs on his feet.

(3) Series 3 – Gorilla Suit Guy
The first in the Minifigs in Animal Costumes collection, the Gorilla Suit Guy won points for the Minifigure Collection early one due to putting so much character into one minifig. He’s got a zipper on his back, a unique gorilla mask, giant banana and a face that shows how uncomfortable the suit is to wear. He’s chock full of character and I love him for it. ‘Ave a banana!

(2) Series 5 – Lizard Man
The natural enemy of Gorilla Suit Guy, Lizard Man was the minifigure that truly sold me on the Minifigure Collection, being the second minifigure I ever bought. This was my first step down the slippery slope of Minifigure collecting and I haven’t looked back since. But while I adore this minifig and he served as a gateway to yet another plastic crack habit he doesn’t win the top spot. That honour goes to…

(1) Series 4 – Hazmat Guy
This guy. This guy right here. Hazmat Guy was the first of the LEGO Minifigure Collection that I bought with the intention of keeping. He’s got a novelty costume, he looks terrified and its an occupation you don’t expect a minifig to have. He’s certainly not the most visually interesting but as someone once said: “I found him paranoid, jittery, delusional, and appalling at his job. I liked him. I liked him for his flaws.”

So that’s my Top 10 LEGO Minifigures, what do you guys think? I know a few other contributors collect minifigs and some who I’ve given minifigs to in the past but what are your favourites? Let me know in the comments below!