LEGO Team GB Olympic Minifigures Review (8909)

[Toys N Bricks]

In celebration for the London 2012 Olympics, LEGO has acquired the license to officially produce Olympic Athletes in the form of LEGO minifigures. Initally, I thought this set of minifigures would be released in Europe, but it turns out it is only sold in 2 European nations (Ireland and United Kingdom) making them even more limited! Team GB stands for the Team Great Britain which represents UK in the Olympic games so it does make sense to sell them only in the UK. However, these minifigures are so detailed that countries around the world still wants them!

Brief Information Review

Set Name: 8909 Team GB Minifigures
Pieces: About 7 pieces for each minifigure
Theme: Collectable Minifigures
MSRP:  £1.99 UK | €2,49 Ireland
Year: 2012


LEGO's Description

To celebrate the London 2012 Games, the number one selling toy in the UK market* is back with an exclusive special edition line of Team GB LEGO Minifigures. With less than 71 days to go until the UK’s biggest sporting event of the century, for the first time in history LEGO has launched a special edition range of Team GB Minifigures. The collectible range will only be available in the UK to commemorate this once in a lifetime event for the nation.

The Team GB LEGO Minifigures spark the sporting imagination, so you can stage your very own Games
At just £1.99 each, the Team GB LEGO Minifigures will be in stores from 1st July 2012 in John Lewis and other good high street retailers
There are nine exclusive Team GB LEGO Minifigures in the line-up:
Brawny Boxer: Punching his way to the top, this lean machine in blue is ready to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee for Team GB!
The Stealth Swimmer: Like a fish in the water, the Stealth Swimmer is ready to torpedo through the water into to pole position.
Relay Runner: Sprinting to reach the winningline, could this give Team GB a relay team victory?
Judo Fighter: Taking down her opponent’s one at a time, this mistress of martial arts knocks down anything in her way to grasp that gold medal.
Tactical Tennis Player: First on the court in his gleaming whites, this tennis ace will knock the white socks off of any competition.
Flexible Gymnast: Balance and co-ordination is the name of the game for this agile Olympic contender.

Enough information given so lets now have a look at the highly sought after London, England 2012 Olympic Team GB Minifigures!

Before the London 2012 Summer Olympics, the LEGO Team GB athletes are all excited to participate in the Olympic games to win their medals! The complete set of Olympic minifigures includes a Brawny Boxer, The Stealth Swimmer, Relay Runner, Judo Fighter, Tactical Tennis Player, Flexible Gymnast, Wondrous Weightlifter, Horseback Rider and Agile Archer.

Packaging Contents

Each individual Olympic Minifigure package contains a standard leaflet poster showcasing the other minifigures. Its a really nice poster! Also, each minifigure comes with default a medal as well as a printed white baseplate with the Team GB (the Lion/Britain flag) and Olympics Logo. Yes, its printed and not stickers!!

Brawny Boxer

First up, we have the Brawny Boxer. Compared to the Series 5 regular boxer minifigure, the Olympic version is clearly the winner with more details. He has the Team GB logo on his helmet and on his shirt.

The Stealth Swimmer

This is another nice minifigure to have. The Team GB Logo is printed on his swimming cap and is on both sides. When you compare this olympic swimmer minifigure to the Surfer from Series 2, the muscle pattern is similar. However, the difference is that the olympic version has driplets of water on his body. Nice detail!

Relay Runner

The olympics relay runner minifigure comes with a baton accessory. Details besides the Team GB logo includes even the sweat driplets on his head!

Judo Fighter

This is probably one of the LEGO Olympic minifigures that I'm not that big of a fan of. The Judo Fighter is pretty much a remake of the one in Series 2. Only difference is that its a female instead of a male, there's a Team GB Logo printed on it and the Olympic version doesn't get a minifigure trophy accessory. Otherwise, the details and printing are exactly the same. However, it is worthy to note that this is the only Olympic minifigure in the set that has the Team GB Logo printed on the back of the torso as well (see the picture near the top).

Tactical Tennis Player

This is another of my "not top of the list" minifigures in the Team GB Olympic Series. We've had quite a few tennis players (male and female) already in Series 3 and Series 7. This one is almost the same with just a Team GB logo printed on him.

Flexible Gymnast

Gymnast requires lots of skills. In the Olympic series, LEGO gave us a female Gymnast minifigure and it comes with a 3 piece bench for her to perform. This minifigure has one of the best Team GB logo printing as the Lion/Britain Flag is clearly visible!

Wondrous Weightlifter

While this minifigure is very similar to the Series 2 weightlifter, it does have additional details like the standard Team GB logo (on left leg). Like the Relay Runner, he also has sweat driplets.

Horseback Rider

Here we have the horseback rider. Her cape with her hair is actually "rubber" and not plastic.

Agile Archer

Finally, we have the Olympic Archer. One of his hand is black which I believe is to represent his shooting glove. All of the minifigures usually have perfect hair but its good to see the archer minifigure has fringe/bangs for his hair!

Conclusion

Well, thats all for the London Olympic Minifigures Review! Here's a picture of the complete Olympic Team GB series with their baseplates and medals together. All of the minifigures are exceptionally good except for some boring ones/repeats like the Judo Fighter, Tennis Player and the Weightlifter. However, the Team GB logos on them is spectacular which cancels out some of their cons. Overall, I would highly recommend getting this limited edition series. Its more to the expensive side if you live outside of the UK or Ireland but is still worth getting.

Win the Olympic Minifigure Series for Free!

Don't forget that until August 12, 2012, Toys N Bricks will be giving away the Team GB Minifigures. Yes, its a complete set of all 9 Olympic minifigures! Details can be found in our forums.

Article Link: http://toysnbricks.com/lego-team-gb-oly ... view-8909/

[Legobrandon]

Ah... you beat me to it!

But thanks for the well informative review. Any LEGO fan or CMF collector should own at least one of these fantastic figures.

It is hard to choose a favourite for me but my top two would be the gymnast and archer. The torso is very nice on the gymnast and I love the hair and facial expression on the archer.

[legohunter]

Nice review. Thx for the close-up photos.

The hair piece from tennis player made himself looking old and too mature with his face expression. He is looking like a politician to me.