Why you should care about the latest LEGO Marvel minifigure series

The third LEGO Marvel series differs from the last two in some important ways, offering plenty of reasons to care about the Spider-Verse series.

LEGO Marvel has solidified in place as a recurring guest within the Collectible Minifigures theme, approaching its third series, but making some sweeping changes that arguably improve this series compared to the last two.

You can see how we ranked the three LEGO Marvel series, 71031 Marvel Studios, 71039 Marvel Studios Series 2 and 71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in our recent feature, but here's why you should care about the Spider-Verse series no matter how you rank it.

Same number of minifigures, but more character-specific pieces

71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has just as many minifigures as the last two LEGO Marvel series, but with more character-specific pieces than ever before. The number of elements that will debut in the series for that specific character includes Spider-Man India's hair, Spider-Punk's spiked mohawk and Spider-Bytes mask, totalling nine new character-specific elements.

71039 Marvel Studios Series 2 matches this, but only when you include the baby owl that accompanies Hawkeye, which is arguably not character-specific. 71031 Marvel Studios is falling behind with six new pieces, including Throg. 71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's increased focus on character-specific elements means it can most accurately depict its characters.

A controlled focus, covering more of a singular movie

71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is only based on one movie, instead of the multiple movies and series that have inspired previous LEGO Marvel minifigure collections. This refined focus means it covers less of Marvel's cinematic catalogue overall, but can do the one movie it represents justice more than the other LEGO Marvel minifigure series and their multiple represented projects.

With as many alternate-universe Spider-Man variants to cover in Across the Spider-Verse as there are, opting to focus on just one movie with 12 minifigures rather than including a couple of minifigures each for six projects. This consequently means we don't need to return to Across the Spider-Verse for minifigures any time soon, with the key cast covered all in one place.

The LEGO Spider-Verse on a budget

Another aspect of 71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's minifigures to consider is how uncommon multiversal Spider-Man minifigures are. The alternate versions of the popular character are typically reserved for the more expensive LEGO Marvel models, aside from Miles Morales. You can only currently get Spider-Ham in the £299.99 / $349.99 / €349.99 76178 Daily Bugle, for instance.

By comparison, £3.49 / $4.99 / €4.99 for a multiversal Spider-Man minifigure is a welcome change of pace for LEGO Marvel, making it easier than ever to depict the Spider-Verse in your collection. There are some rare and new characters in the last two LEGO Marvel series, but none of them carry quite as much star power as Spider-Man.

Unique minifigure bases

One area of 71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse that you might not have considered ahead of launch is the minifigures' bases. The familiar pieces appear for the first time (outside of LEGO store displays) in a transparent colour.

They're going to be useful for all kinds of custom builds, especially those that need a river of lava, and the colour scheme aligns perfectly with the portals that take the characters throughout the Spider-Verse in the movie.

71050 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse's 12 new minifigures launch on September 1 and are likely to be on shelves for three months at most, based on the retirement schedule of every other LEGO minifigure series to date.

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