The figures come blind packaged in these baggies, which, as far as I can tell, are impossible to open without a pair of scissors or a razor blade. Blind packaging is another expression for “crap shoot.” You have no idea what figure you’re getting and if you buy a handful of them like I do, you are bound to end up with some duplicates. In fact, the first two I opened were duplicates, which threatened to sour me on the whole endeavor straightaway. Strangely enough, I then proceed to open seven more before I got to my only other duplicate. The first two and the last two. Surely the Lego Gods have an odd sense of humor. Each figure comes with a simple black Lego block stand and a generic instruction sheet, which also shows all the other figures in the Series.

So here’s a rundown of my assortment. I don’t know the official names of these figures, so I just assigned my own.

• Surfer Dude (x2)
• Disco Fro Guy
• Safari Joe
• Weight Lifter Guy
• Roman Gladiator
• Skiing Guy
• Mime (x2)

I think they’re all pretty cool in their own way, except for the Mime. I suppose some might be happy to got doubles of the one figure that comes with multiple heads, but nope, I just hate Mimes too much to be happy about that. Getting two of these is like Lego sticking its thumb right in my eye. But then I suppose I could have had nine of them, so I shouldn’t complain too much. The three faces convey the three absolutes of the Mime emotional spectrum: Happy, Scared or Sad. I think what disappoints me the most is when I first opened the bag, I thought I scored some kind of Zebra-human hybrid.

On the other hand, I would have been perfectly fine with opening up five or six of these Roman Gladiators, as he is without a doubt my favorite figure of the bunch and a natural army builder. He’s so cool, he makes the other figures look lame by comparison. His helmet and gear are awesome and he even comes with a little cape. A cape!!!

Surfer Dude and Skiing Guy are both cool, although I could have done without doubling up on Surfer Dude. Skiing Guy came with a spare set of poles, so I’m pretty sure Lego expects me to lose these immediately. I imagine his gear will come in handy if you have any of the Star Wars Hoth sets, because you can turn your Snowtroopers or Rebels into Finnish Ski Patrols ala World War II.

Disco Fro Guy is just funny. I like him. Safari Joe is a cool little figure too, although his magnifying glass accessory is a bit of a reach. He should have come with a rifle. I did get an extra pair of binoculars with him, another piece that Lego is confident I will quickly lose. Weight Lifter Guy is just completely out of left field. I can’t see how he made it into the second series. He’s more like Series 47 material.

Normally I would point out how completely not worth two bucks a pop these tiny little guys are, but then again I suppose anything you can get with the Lego name on it for two bucks is probably a good deal. I’m definitely not the market these figures are aimed at, but I can still appreciate them. I don’t know if I’ll pick up any more, especially since the odds are against me for getting ones I don’t have, but I’ll be damned if I’m not tempted to go back to the store and start ripping them all open to find all the Gladiators.