History

The Collectible Minifigures line has been around since 2010, and in that time LEGO has taken the concept in a dozen different directions. Some series have been broad, throwing together pirates, monsters, mythical creatures, and office workers in the same blind bag run. Others have gone fully licensed or themed. Series 28 lands in the themed category, and the theme it picks is one fans has been hoping for single animal costumes started showing up.

This is not the first time LEGO has put a character in a full animal suit. The Chicken Suit Guy #71000-7Chicken Suit Guy
#71000-7 from Series 9 remains one of the great figures in CMF history. The Turkey Costume #71034-9Turkey Costume
#71034-9 from Series 23 turned heads with its enormous hip-mounted tail piece. The Hamster Costume Fan #71048-1Hamster Costume Fan
#71048-1, the Pterodactyl Costume Fan #71048-6Pterodactyl Costume Fan
#71048-6, the Pug Costume Guy #71029-5Pug Costume Guy
#71029-5: every time LEGO puts someone in a full-body animal costume, collectors go a little bit wild for them. Designer Tore Magelund Harmark-Alexandersen said it plainly at Fan Media Days: they just wanted to go full-on with animal costumes. Twelve figures, twelve new costumes, nothing held back. That kind of commitment to a single idea is what makes a great themed CMF wave.

For context, the previous series was Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse #71050Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
#71050, a licensed wave built around the animated film. My four-year-old son preferred that one, which is fair. Series 28 is a full pivot back to the original CMF spirit: original characters, original costumes, and the kind of weirdness that has kept this line going for sixteen years.

The Set and Its Place in the LEGO Lineup

At $4.99 per blind bag, CMF Series 28 sits right at the standard CMF price point. Each bag contains one figure, its accessories, and one of the new Plate Special 3 x 4 Lime Plate Special 3 x 4 with 1 x 4 Center Studs [Plain]
Lime that run across the entire series. The Lime base seems like a design choice to suggest an outdoor costume party and it works great.

This is an easy one to recommend as a full-series purchase rather than a casual grab. Because almost every single figure is strong, the blind bag gamble feels lower-stakes than usual. You might end up with doubles, but doubles of this wave are not exactly a hardship. Collectors will want multiples anyway, just to display both builds of the figures that have meaningful alternate faces. Parents of younger kids will find the figures hold up well as actual play figures. They are distinct enough that each one feels like a great character.

What’s in the Box?

Each blind bag in CMF Series 28 comes with one figure, one or two accessories, and one baseplate. There are no numbered bags to work through and no instruction booklet beyond a simple one-pager with a checklist on the back.

Instructions Booklet

Build experience is not why you buy CMF. Assembling each figure takes a minute at most, and the instruction sheet doubles as a collector checklist.

Parts Breakdown

Every figure gets a brand new animal headwear element. Twelve new molds in a single wave is a lot, and the quality is high across the board. Beyond the headwear there are new printed accessories, new hip elements, and new fabric components. The standout new element is the Ring with Bar Trans-Pink Ring with Bar Life Preserver with Trans-Pink pattern
Trans-Pink from the Crocodile. It is dual-molded in White and Trans-Pink , and it is a real upgrade over every previous life preserver element LEGO has made. It launched in three City coast guard sets at the same time, but the Trans-Pink variant is exclusive to this CMF wave. That alone makes the Crocodile a priority buy for parts collectors.

The Frog brings two Dome 1 x 1 x 2/3 Opal Trans-Clear / Satin White Dome 1 x 1 x 2/3
Opal Trans-Clear / Satin White pieces as bubbles, which are a new and exclusive recolor. The Food Egg White Food Egg with Bright Pink Tulips, Bright Light Orange/Green Decorations print
White from the Rabbit is an exclusive print on a mold that has been around since 2012 and will be familiar to anyone who has built Succulents #10309Succulents
#10309. The Brick 1 x 2 x 2 White Brick 1 x 2 x 2 with 'SNACK BOX', Parrot, Pellets print
White from the Parrot is one of the more charming accessory prints in recent CMF memory.

The Parrot also brings two cloth fabric tail feathers in different sizes, Hipwear Parrot Tail Long Blue Hipwear Parrot Tail Long
Blue and Hipwear Parrot Tail Short Red Hipwear Parrot Tail Short
Red , which stack together to create a staggered tail feather effect. Fabric elements always split the LEGO community, but these are well-executed and the staggered sizing is smarter than it looks at first glance.

The Peacock tail piece connects via the hip, similar to the Turkey Costume tail from Series 23, but this version is printed with intricate detail that the Turkey piece did not have. The Wool / Yarn Dark Pink Wool / Yarn
Dark Pink ball from the Cat is a welcome color for Dark Pink parts hunters. The Tile Round 2 x 2 Dark Azure Tile Round 2 x 2 with Yellow/White/Black Swirl, White Mountains print
Dark Azure frisbee from the Dalmatian is a new print on an old mold. The Goldfish torso with fins for arms has only appeared six times across the entire LEGO catalog, and Series 28 accounts for two of those six variants in a single wave.

The Monkey’s head print is also exclusive, which counts for something in a wave where the figure is otherwise one of the lighter entries.

The Build Experience

Peacock Suit

The Peacock start the series off as a great figure. The new printed hip-mounted tail piece is the star: detailed, colorful, and immediately readable as a peacock. The printing is intricate. The three-part buildable sunflower accessory is a slight oddity. It does not feel as connected to the figure’s personality as the other accessories in this wave, but the figure itself is so visually striking that the sunflower barely registers as a complaint. Both faces work well.

Cat Suit

This is one of the more modest figures in the series. The Cat Suit goes for a soft, minimal look that reads as cute but not particularly memorable next to the more elaborate entries. The Wool / Yarn Dark Pink Wool / Yarn
Dark Pink ball accessory is a nice touch and the color is welcome. The sleeping alternate face is charming. But the overall figure is light on detail and light on exclusive elements, which puts it closer to the bottom of the ranking in a wave that otherwise delivers consistently. Not a weak figure in any objective sense. Just the least exciting one here.

Goldfish Suit

The Goldfish is a great example of LEGO making a torso that work extremely well. The fins-for-arms approach is one of the more distinctive designs in the whole wave. The Brick Round 1 x 1 Yellow Brick Round 1 x 1 with Gold Fish print
Yellow is a fun accessory even if the figure can’t hold it. CMF 28 uses two of these torso variants in a single wave. The design of the torso, arms, headgear and accessory makes this one of the great figures of the series.

Monkey Suit

The Monkey Suit is not one of the headliners, but it has more going on than it first appears. The head print is the real story: one side shows the character wearing a bandaid, the other has a red tongue-out expression that is full of personality. This is the only set to include this specific head, which makes it worth tracking down for minifigure customizers. The banana accessory is entirely expected and about as exciting as a banana tends to be. A middle-of-the-pack figure, with a great head.

Frog Suit

The Frog is one of the best figures in the wave, and it snuck up on me a little. It took a moment to realize the accessory was a soap bubble blower rather than some kind of wand, but once that clicked the whole figure came together. The Brick Round 1 x 1 Bright Light Blue Brick Round 1 x 1 with White/Pink Bubbels, 'BUBBLES' print
Bright Light Blue is one of those accessories where the concept lands perfectly once you work out what it is, and the alternate face showing the figure mid-blow is very fun. The new headwear mold is great, the two Opal Trans-Clear (Satin White) dome pieces that represent the bubbles themselves are a useful new recolor, and the detail across the torso and legs is high. This one is going to be fondly remembered.

Koala Suit

The Koala has a lot of charm and a couple of small puzzles. The boomerang accessory is a great detail and a nice nod to builders down under. The eucalyptus branch is plain but contextually appropriate. The sleeping mask on one side of the head is a slightly unexpected choice, though there is logic to it: koalas do sleep a lot. That head is not exclusive, having appeared in a City set from 2023. For a figure with a brand new headwear mold, a non-exclusive face feels like a mild missed opportunity. Still a solid figure, and the midsize legs give it a distinctive silhouette in the lineup.

Dalmatian Suit

The Dalmatian is immediately likable. The tongue-out, out-of-breath alternate face is perfect for the character, and the spot printing extends convincingly across the arms and legs rather than stopping at the torso. The Tile Round 2 x 2 Dark Azure Tile Round 2 x 2 with Yellow/White/Black Swirl, White Mountains print
Dark Azure frisbee is a good new element that will find plenty of uses outside this figure. It makes the figure feel complete rather than padded out. Marvel fans will note that the spot printing parts have some potential for custom Spot builds, which is a fun bonus.

Crocodile Suit

This one is a personal favorite. The combination of the rubber duck accessory and the new life preserver ring creates a figure that immediately tells a small story: someone dressed as a crocodile, ready for a pool party. Or a Peter Pan MOC. The Ring with Bar Trans-Pink Ring with Bar Life Preserver with Trans-Pink pattern
Trans-Pink is a better piece than any previous life preserver LEGO has produced, and the Trans-Pink color is exclusive to this set. If you are only planning on buying one Crocodile, buy two.

Dolphin Suit

The Dolphin sits in the middle of the pack. The headwear mold has a built-in tail, which gives it more sculptural presence than the smaller headwear pieces, and the clam with the diamond accessory is a fun detail. The overall figure does not have the personality of the Frog or the Crocodile, but it is a well-executed design that will look good in a complete display. Not one that demands multiples.

Rabbit Suit

The Rabbit’s standout is the basket. The Bag / Basket Medium Nougat Bag / Basket
Medium Nougat mold has been in production since 2012, but the Food Egg White Food Egg with Bright Pink Tulips, Bright Light Orange/Green Decorations print
White inside it is exclusive to this set. The figure itself is pleasant but not a standout. Its seasonal nature does make it a natural display piece around spring, which is something.

Lion Suit

The Lion is a strong figure with one weak accessory. The mane headwear is excellent: sculpted with real depth and texture, and readable as a lion at any scale. I will for sure get a second copy to replace the very-much-not-so-great mane from Luna Lovegood #71028-5Luna Lovegood
#71028-5. The dual-color tail with its darker tufted end is a nice new element that adds to the overall silhouette. The leg printing helps ground the costume. And then there is the turkey leg, which is there because LEGO needed something and a turkey leg is a classic prop. It is not great, but in a wave where almost every other accessory tells a small story, the turkey leg just sits there. The figure does compensates with everything else it brings.

Parrot Suit

The Parrot closes the wave and it closes it well. My imidiate though is back to the classic Animal, Bird, Parrot Red Animal, Bird, Parrot with Coloured Feathers Print
Red . The wings-for-arms torso is a callback to Peacock, and the Parrot version updates that concept with wings that carry their own color printing. The large new headwear mold captures the curved beak of a macaw convincingly. The two fabric tail feathers, one larger Hipwear Parrot Tail Long Blue Hipwear Parrot Tail Long
Blue and one smaller Hipwear Parrot Tail Short Red Hipwear Parrot Tail Short
Red , stack together to create a staggered tail effect that reads as parrot-like from behind. And the Brick 1 x 2 x 2 White Brick 1 x 2 x 2 with 'SNACK BOX', Parrot, Pellets print
White is exactly the kind of accessory print that makes CMF special: small, specific, and funny. A great figure to close on.

The Finished Product

Displayed together, the twelve figures of Series 28 make one of the most visually cohesive CMF lineups in recent memory. The Lime baseplates do real work here, tying the figures together without making the display feel uniform. The range of silhouettes, from the compact Koala to the elaborate Peacock tail to the Parrot’s fabric feathers, creates a genuinely interesting shelf presence.

Every figure has two expressions to choose from. The alternate faces are not afterthoughts here: the Frog’s bubble-blowing face, the Dalmatian’s tongue-out panting, the Monkey’s bandaid-and-tongue combo, and the Cat’s sleeping expression are all genuinely good uses of the double-sided head format.

Play viability is high. These are not fragile display-only figures. The accessories are sturdy, the headwear is well-seated, and the figures themselves are standard minifigure construction underneath the costumes. They drop into any City, Friends, or custom build without looking out of place, because a person in an animal costume is, by definition, a person in an animal costume: plausible in any setting.

The Real Talk

The Good Stuff

Twelve figures, twelve new headwear molds, and not a single one that feels like it is just filling a slot. The parts selection is strong for any CMF wave, with the Trans-Pink life preserver ring alone justifying multiple purchases of the Crocodile. The Lime baseplates are a thoughtful touch across the board. The accessories consistently tell small stories about their characters rather than just existing as generic props. The Frog, the Crocodile, the Parrot, and the Peacock are all great figures. The whole wave has a tonal consistency that makes it feel designed rather than assembled, and that is harder to pull off than it looks.

The Not So Good Stuff

The Cat and the Dolphin are the relative weak points of the wave, though “weak” here only means “not as interesting as the other ten,” which is an unusually high bar. Neither brings exclusive head prints or groundbreaking accessories, and both feel slightly underdeveloped compared to the figures around them.

The turkey leg on the Lion is uninspired and feels like a placeholder rather than a considered choice. The sunflower on the Peacock is fine but disconnected from the character in a way that most of the other accessories are not.

It is also worth being upfront about what this series is not: it is not a high-parts-count wave in the traditional sense. These are minifigures. The build experience is measured in seconds. If you want something to sit down and assemble over an evening, this is not it. The value here is entirely in the characters, the parts, and the display.

Should You Buy It?

Yes, and probably more than one of each if you care at all about the parts side of things. For display collectors, buying a full set of twelve and then a second round of your favorites is the obvious move: most of the best figures in this wave have meaningful alternate faces worth showing off simultaneously.

For parents of younger kids, these make excellent play figures precisely because they are so immediately readable as characters. A child does not need context to understand the Frog or the Dalmatian or the Lion. They just work.

For parts collectors, the Crocodile is the priority purchase, followed by the Parrot for the fabric elements and the Peacock for the hip-mounted tail. The Goldfish torso is worth attention for anyone who did not grab it from its earlier appearances.

And for the builder who wants to display a complete CMF wave and have it actually look good as a group, this is one of the strongest waves for that purpose in recent memory. The lime baseplates, the variety of silhouettes, and the consistent quality across all twelve figures make Series 28 a display wave as much as a collectibles one.

Final Score

Build Experience: 1/10 - CMF figures take under a minute to assemble and that is fine, because that is not the point.

Design: 10/10 - Twelve figures, twelve new headwear molds, and no dead weight anywhere in the lineup.

Parts Quality: 9/10 - The exclusive mold, exclusive prints, useful recolors, and overall an amazing selection parts for such a small piece count.

Playability: 10/10 - Every figure has two faces, sturdy accessories, and enough personality to drop into any play setting without needing context.

Overall: 10/10 - One of the most cohesive and consistently strong CMF waves in years, and the one I am most glad to have on the shelf.