I was saving my discussion of the release of LEGO 71002 Minifigures Series 11 for the official release date of September 1, 2013–but judging by the various store reports I’ve read and the fact that there are already hundreds of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 sets and individual up for sale on eBay, I might as well jump the gun as well and talk about the release of the first post-Mr. Gold LEGO Minifigures Series…

There was so much glamor and publicity surrounding the release of the LEGO Minifigures Series 10 Mr. Gold minifigure that poor LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 11 was always going to pale in comparison as far as hype goes. LEGO mistakenly left an image of Mr. Gold in the LEGO Minifigures Series 11 71002 carousel on their website for a bit, but sadly (or thankfully, depending on your point of view), the Mr. Gold minifigure is not making a return appearance in the Series 11 LEGO Minifigures blind bags.

But while Mr. Gold is going on a permanent vacation from the spotlight, sixteen new LEGO Minifigures have stepped up to claim some fame of their own! For those who need a refresher, the 16 LEGO Minifigures Series 11 figures are all shown on the image below (which, coincidentally, is the LEGO Minifigures Series 11 insert):

You might think that with 60 figures in a fresh LEGO 71002 Minifigures Series 11 case, you would get three complete sets of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 minifigures plus 12 extras. But you’d be wrong! In fact, you only get two complete sets in a case of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 because the ratios of figures per case are not equal. In point of fact, some LEGO Minifigures Series 11 figures are packed at a whopping six per case, some at four per case, and some are shortpacked at two per case.

The breakdown of the ratios of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 Blind Bags per box is as follows–

Six Per Case of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 71002: Welder, Yeti, Constable, Mountain Climber

Four Per Case of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 71002: Gingerbread Man, Barbarian, Evil Mech, Lady Robot, Scientist, Holiday Elf

Two Per Case of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 71002: Scarecrow, Saxophone Player (Jazz Musician), Grandma, Island Warrior (Tiki Warrior), Diner Waitress, Pretzel Girl

This is a very strange case ratio breakdown, if you ask me. Does LEGO really think that three times as many people are going to want the LEGO Series 11 Welder Minifigure as want Island Warrior Minifigure or Scarecrow Minifigure? Madness!

It also seems bizarre to me to only include two Saxophone Player minifigures in a LEGO Series 11 Minifigures case, as most people are going to want two of these to create their own LEGO Blues Brothers minifigures. I’m really not sure what LEGO was thinking with some of these case distributions.

The LEGO Minifigures Series 11 blind bags have an official release date of September 1, 2013 in the United States, so any 71002 LEGO Minifigures you find in stores error that date have been put out early in error. You can already find tons of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 complete sets and individual figures up on eBay, so if you don’t want to look for the series in stores or your area doesn’t carry the blind bags, they should be pretty cheap within a few weeks (especially with no LEGO Mr. Gold fiasco in Minifigures Series 11).

I’ll be picking up a handful of LEGO Minifigures Series 11 blind bag figures over the weekend, and will post in-depth photos and reviews of them sometime next week. You can ‘Like’ Bricks and Bloks on Facebook to have LEGO news, reviews and updates sent straight to your Facebook Newsfeed!