‘The Simpsons’ LEGO Minifigures

The Simpsons LEGO Minifigures $2.99 – $3.99 Available at www.lego.com, LEGO Stores, Target, Wal-Mart, Toys R Us, other major retailers. Blind packaging, limited release.

It caught LEGO fans by surprise. The rumors about a “Simpsons” line of LEGO sets popped up about a month before it suddenly appeared last winter, as a LEGO Store exclusive. The Simpsons House playset cost about $200, and raised the question: Would LEGO put that much expense into making new sculpts for the six minifigures in the set if they weren’t going to do something else with them? Until very recently LEGO has been reluctant to make non-standard minifigures. Including six new sculpts in one set may be unprecedented. But with no other playsets on the horizon, what was the future of the Simpsons line?

For now, the future is the line of sixteen minifigures, currently in stores. They come blind-packaged in plastic pouches, so you don’t know which character you’re buying until you open it up. Unless you’re really good at fondling packages (yeah, I went there), in which case you can usually suss out which character you’ve picked up, with few repeat purchases.  LEGO has been releasing minifigures as collectibles since 2010, but “The LEGO Movie” and “The Simpsons” are the first licensed properties they’ve done. It’s a perfect way to populate your LEGO Springfield. 

a perfect way to populate your LEGO springfield

The sixteen characters included in the lineup: 

• Homer Simpson
• Marge Simpson
• Bart Simpson
• Lisa Simpson
• Maggie Simpson
• Grampa Simpson
• Ned Flanders
• Krusty the Clown
• Milhouse Van Houten
• Ralph Wiggum
• Chief Wiggum
• Apu NassfhefIdontwantolookthisup
• Nelson Muntz
• Mr. Burns
• Itchy
• Scratchy

Those are some solid choices; those are characters that are central to the series, but that you’d also want to include in any Springfield scenes that you’d be building out of LEGO, or sliding into your Star Wars or Batman or Christmas Village scenarios. There are some variations on the six characters that came with the house–the five members of the Simpson family and Ned Flanders. The minifigures from the house have lowered eyelids, making them all look either sneaky or (in my opinion) a little bit high. Homer has the necktie that he wears to work; Marge and Flanders are both wearing aprons. In contrast, the individually packaged minifigures are the “classic” version of the characters. Eyes wide open, no necktie, no aprons. 

A problem some people have with the Simpsons as minifigures is the same that people had with the Simpsons action figures from Playmates a few years back–they don’t look “right” in three dimensions. “The Simpsons” is one of the most two-dimensional cartoons currently on the air, and seeing characters who are usually flat as fully-sculpted figurines…they don’t necessarily look like you’re used to seeing them. That said, these are some amazing minifigures. The colors are perfect, they’re surprisingly proportional as LEGO people; and personally I love having Mr. Burns with Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish, and Maggie with her beat-up teddy bear (once shared with Monty). 

My favorite characters in the lineup are also my favorite characters on the show–the kids. Milhouse, Ralph Wiggum, Lisa and Bart, even the bully Nelson. Before the series shifted to become more and more Homer-centric, a lot of the show happened at the elementary school, and the kids made me laugh more than the adults did. Ralph’s sad-but-cute-but-hopeful Valentine to Lisa? “I choo-choo-choose you!” Amazing. I love the details that they worked into the accessories as much as the characters themselves.

Will these sixteen characters be the beginning and end of the population of Springfield? Personally, I’d love to see a Simpsons Series 2, with an additional sixteen minifigures. I assume a few of them would be variants on characters we’ve already got, but there are still dozens of other characters who seem like they’d fit the bill. If I were in charge of the lineup, here’s who I’d pick:

• Radiation Suit Homer
• Daredevil Bart
• Waylon Smithers
• Sideshow Bob
• Principal Skinner
• Edna Krabapple
• Groundskeeper Willie
• Moe
• Barney
• Mayor Quimby
• Comic Book Guy

…that’s eleven. Who would fill the remaining five slots? Variants of Lisa and Marge? Rod and Tod Flanders? Rich kid Martin Prince? Sherri and Terri (really only one minifigure, just buy two of them)? Bus Driver Otto? Patty and Selma? Lenny and Carl? Reverend Lovejoy? Troy McClure? Bumblebee Man? Dr. Hibbert? Dr. Nick? Radioactive Man and Fallout Boy? …whoever has to make those decisions will run into some problems when they get to the C-listers. I also wonder if LEGO would run afoul of uptight Protect the Children groups with a bartender and drunk, but they got Itchy and Scratchy made, so maybe they can do it. 

Some problems with the C-listers

I’m not the biggest fan of “The Simpsons.” I like it fine, I have fond memories of it, I think it’s a great show. But I don’t watch it much. What I’d really hope to come from this–and what will never happen–is a line of “Futurama” LEGO. The characters, a Planet Express spaceship…I won’t go on. Because it’s too sad to contemplate a world that can’t come about.

If you’re looking at picking up the Simpsons minifigures, you’ll need to act soon. They’re still available at Target, Wal-Mart, the LEGO Stores, and online at LEGO.com. But not for long. They’ve been out for a while now, and each of these waves of minifigures is only on the shelves for three months. The twelfth series of the “regular” LEGO minifigures is starting to come in and push the Simpsons out. So get them while the getting’s good.