I’m off travelling for a few weeks: After attending the Fan Media Days in Billund, I am heading to a conference via Hamburg and LEGOLAND Germany, before attending the Fan Weekend at Paredes de Coura, in Portugal.

The Fan Media Days are over now, and I will write up more from then soon, but I a feeling a little far from home.

One of the surprising things at LEGOLAND Billund, is that often new release sets hit the shelves a few days early, and it was here that I found some of the new minifigure packs for the second half of the year, which is almost upon us. They don’t take up too much space in my luggage… so I picked a few up.

Today, I’d like to look at set 40343 – Minifigure Pack. Stop now if you don’t want any spoilers from Avengers Endgame.

This years minifigure blister packs take on a different form from those we have seen previously – with the plastic blister shaped like an oversized minifigure. This set features Spiderman, Maria Hill, and Ned. It has 49 pieces and cost around 100Kr (Approx $20) at the shop in LEGOLAND Billund.

The Minifigures

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This is the Spiderman figure we had to have. We have only had one ‘normal’ cinematic Spiderman included in sets this year, and this is a great way to get one without buying that set. He has detailed printing from and back, and also on his arms. He also has dual moulded dark blue and red legs, with printing on the front. None of these elements, so far, are new, but have only appeared in one set this year (76130 Stark Jet and Drone Attack). While we have a ‘standard’ Spiderman head print, we also have an alternative face (achieved via head swap). The alternative face features Spiderman’s mask partially lifted up, and probably chewing. Fortunately, this set also comes with a pizza to facilitate such a head swap. Spiderman also has a 2×2 radar dish with a printed web motif. this could be quite popular with stop-motion animators as an interim step between nothing and a larger web element being launched by Spiderman.

Peter Parker’s friend Ned has never before been seen in minifigure form. He has a medium flesh head with a smile on one side, and a scream on the other. He has a new hair piece made of a slightly softer plastic to normal, with a centre part. – it was previously used for Professor Flitwick in the Wizarding World Collectable minifigures. His torso also appears to be a new piece was previously used (with light flesh hands) in the Whomping Willow Set last year: the printed checks on a dark red shirt, but unfortunately has no arm printing. He has dark blue legs.

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Maria Hill has not been seen as a minifigure since she appeared in the Helicarrier set in 2015. In that set she is wearing a SHIELD Uniform. Here she is wearing a leather jacket over a white T-shirt. This torso was previously seen with Bruce Banner in 2017-2018 sets. This means there are no new parts to construct her figure. as such it looks a little generic, but suits her look as depicted in the trailers.

The Builds

This set features 3 little ancillary builds: a 3 rotor drone, a suit of armour on a pedestal and a jewel in a display case. The builds are relatively simple, with the suit of armour secured with a couple of black ‘ice cream cone’ elements.

In Summary

This set brings us a great Spiderman figure, as well as Ned and Maria Hill – both non existent in their current form in the Marvel Cinematic Universe sets. If you are not interested in these characters, they make great crowd fillers in your LEGO City.

In my opinion, this is a great little figure pack, and thematically, it fits in with my current state of mind…far from home! There are so many things to love about this set that I give it 4 out of 5 arbitrary praise units, limited by the nature of the builds, and the presence of only three minifigures in the box.

What do you think? Is this a set you will look for? ( Possibly exclusive to LBR/LCS and LEGOLAND Discovery Centres). Leave your comments below, and until next time…

Play Well.