Recently, the LEGO® Group announced the most sensational, inspirational, celebrational, Muppetational Minifigures series. Additionally, they sent True North Bricks a pre-release set! As a result, we’ve put together a Muppets Minifigures feel guide to help you identify the characters in store. You can check out the video guide below, or keep reading for the written version. I have tried to identify key objects in each blind bag. However, be warned, this series is a little harder than most to figure out.
Before you begin…
How do you identify Minifigures inside blind bags without opening the bags? With a lot of time, patience, and tolerance for funny looks thrown your way. For the last few Minifigures series, I have been fortunate enough that the LEGO® Group has sent them to me. Consequently, I have been able to feel the blind bags in the comfort of my own home at a leisurely pace. However, I have spent my fair share of time at Toys R Us and Walmart feeling up packets under the annoyed gaze or questioning glances of other shoppers. There’s really no other way to go about it though, unless you buy a whole box. Incidentally, Toys R Us will usually sell you a full box in my experience.
For any Minifigures series, the best way to go about it is to just pick up a packet and start carefully feeling your way around. I tend to shake the blind bag a little first to separate bits and pieces. The display plates and figure guides inside the bag tend to obscure parts. Therefore, it is good to try and separate things in the bag a little. Afterwards, I take a two-handed approach to feeling the blind bag with the thumb and forefinger of each hand, simultaneously. I ignore the actual Minifigure parts, and try to feel for smaller accessories. Generally speaking, the accessories will help you identify the character clearly.
KERMIT THE FROG
The easiest way to identify Kermit is by finding his banjo. You feel for a round plate with a knob sticking off the back. It will also have the guitar neck jutting out of one side. Additionally, Kermit comes with a rainbow. This is a semi-circular tile. While the banjo is easiest to find, I did identify Kermit with the tile one out of three times. Kermit is also one of four characters to feature the shorter, moveable legs. While not a characteristic feature, it might help you narrow down the search. Finally, Kermit’s head feels quite pointed, with a large gaping mouth. However, be careful with that feature. Several other characters have gaping mouths as well.
MISS PIGGY
Miss Piggy is the only character featuring a 2×3 tile in the blind bag. This tile is much smaller than the display plate also included in the bag. Additionally, it does not have any studs, so it is not easily confused with the display plate. Otherwise, Miss Piggy is challenging to identify. She has no other clear, defining traits. Like many other characters in the series, her head is specially molded and unique. However, through the bag, all these heads feel bulbous and amorphous. The more experienced Minifigure hunters among you may find Piggy’s nose and ears do stick out of the head a fair bit. Her luscious locks may also assist identification.
GONZO
Gonzo is probably the most nostalgic Minifigure in this series for me. I remember twice in my childhood when McDonalds included Muppets toys in their Happy Meals. McDonalds was always a special treat in my family. Getting a desired toy made it even more memorable. Interestingly, both rounds of Muppets Happy Meals yielded Gonzo in my youth. The first time, he came on a tricycle. The second time, I got him with a little airplane. In any case, this Minifigure reminds me of that Gonzo toy from my childhood. In LEGO® form, the chicken accessory makes him most identifiable. However, Gonzo’s nose also makes the character’s headpiece stand out from other characters in our Muppets Minifigures Feel Guide.
WALDORF
This was the first character I pulled out of the box. Truthfully, I had no idea who it was. I did not have the character guide in front of me and was going off memory to try and identify accessories. It took figuring out several of the other characters before I went back and figured out who this was. Waldorf is one of the four characters with shorter, moving legs. Additionally, his head is no help in identification. However, the character comes with two tea cups and saucers. Feeling for the small indent and handle of the cup helped me the most in finding Waldorf. Additionally, he includes a 2×2 tile.
STATLER
The actual Minifigure parts in this blind bag are no help in identifying Statler. The bulbous head is hard to differentiate from other characters, and the body is standard minifig fare. However, Statler remains easy to identify because he comes with a laptop. This computer consists of a Minifigure book in white. You can easily feel the separate components of the book. The back cover has two clasps sticking perpendicularly up from the spine. Additionally, the front cover feels like a plate with one rounded edge. The bling bag also contains a 1×2 tile printed to look like a keyboard. Be careful using the front cover of the book and the tile as identifying features though. Rolph also comes with with the front cover of a book, and Beaker includes a 1×2 tile.
ANIMAL
Animal comes with a little drum set as an accessory. You build it from several small parts, and those are the easiest way to identify this character. Most often, I found the 2×2 round plate or tile helpful. However, the blind bag also contains a 2×2 round brick. While I did not use them for identification, the drumsticks are Harry Potter wands. In past Minifigures series, the two wands attached to the sprue have assisted me to identify characters. Animal’s head is not easy to use as a characteristic trait, but the more experienced Minifigure hunter might find it helpful due to its shaggy texture.
JANICE
Interestingly, I never knew this character’s name until making this Muppets Minifigures Feel Guide. I knew her by appearance only as the big-lipped rocker. You can identify this character most easily by feeling for the guitar. It is the standard minifig electric guitar with the knob on back for a character to grab on to. Additionally, Janice’s face it quite pointed. I used that as a secondary trait to help me identify the Minifigure. You can tell her pointed face apart from Kermit’s because the mouth is not open, and you can feel her hair and how it parts to go over her shoulders.
DR. BUNSEN HONEYDEW
This was one of the most anticipated Minifigures for me in this series. As a kid, I loved the skits where Honeydew and Beaker would experiment, invariable ending in Beaker blowing up or something. Honeydew is one of the four characters with shorter, moving legs. His head is also very round and easy to distinguish from other characters. However, I identified this blind bag most often using the Erlenmeyer flask Honeydew comes with. It is a very distinctive piece with a wide bottom, narrow neck, and stud on top.
BEAKER
Beaker is the Muppets character I remember most fondly from the show. If I had to pick a favorite, it is Beaker. As a kid, I remember finding the sounds he made hilarious. He is one of the few characters in this series that you can easily identify using his head. It is cylindrical with a little tuft on top. That makes it feel like a lit up flare or small tree. However, Beaker also comes with a handheld radio and a 1×2 tile that attaches to it. Remember, Statler also comes with a 1×2 tile, so only use that as an identification assist.
ROLPH THE DOG
I found Rolph initially by discovering a regular Minifigure head in the blind bag. However, you need to be careful because the Swedish Chef also comes with a regular Minifigure head. To differentiate, Rolph’s blind bag also includes a pedestal for the minfig head. This feels like 1×1 brick at the base, but flares at the top into a flat platform with a central stud. Rolph also has a sheet of music consisting of a minifig book cover. Earlier in the Muppets Minifigures Feel Guide, I mentioned Statler includes this brick as well. Rolph has no other book bricks, but be careful using this feature all the same. More experienced minifig hunters may also distinguish Rolph’s ears hanging off a very round head.
FOZZIE BEAR
The easiest way to identify Fozzie is through his banana. The curved shape with a stem is hard to miss. However, the blind bag also contains a few small bricks used to assemble a microphone stand. You will feel two microphones, two rods, and a small satellite dish piece. I found Fozzie’s headpiece hard to use for identification. But after using other traits to really ID the character, carefully feeling the head reveals ears and a hat on one end.
SWEDISH CHEF
This was another of my favorite characters from the Muppets. I remember him most from the Christmas special I watched year after year. As mentioned earlier, two characters in this series include actual Minifigure head pieces. The Swedish Chef is one of them. To differentiate, the Chef also comes with two whisks. They are easy to identify in the packet. However, the Chef’s head also helps, unlike with other characters. It is a large piece, consisting of the head and chef’s hat molded together. The piece narrows noticeably in the middle, giving it a distinct feel.
That concludes the Muppets Minifigures Feel Guide. Hopefully it helps you in your quest to find them all! The series officially arrives at the LEGO® Store on May 1, 2022. However, Toys R Us normally starts selling CMF series a couple of weeks in advance. The set number for these characters is 71033, and each minifig will set you back $4.99 in Canada. From my point of view, this is a great series. I grew up with the Muppets and have many fond memories of the shows, specials, and movies. There was a lot of nostalgia when opening these packets. Are you going to pick up these Muppets characters? Which are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments below or reach out on social media.
Until next time,
-Tom
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