Including the elusive Dragonborn Paladin, whom I never did find in the wild.
The first CMFs (collectible minifigures) I bought were from a Dungeons & Dragons series, released in autumn 2024.
Not very long before, Lego introduced QR codes on CMF blindboxes which you could scan to see what minifigure was inside a box. The idea was to stop people from tearing boxes open in stores. Well, people still did that. Obviously, they didn't get the memo on QR codes. I only knew about the QR codes from following Lego forums and review sites.
While I'm happy with the introduction of QR codes, it did lead to a different problem. Resellers -- and, sometimes, army builders -- could easily find a specific minifigure and buy them up. Popular ones have been sold at a pretty marked-up price.
This happened particularly with the Dungeons & Dragons CMF (71047), as tons of people wanted the Dragonborn Paladin from this series. So did I.
I showed up at my local store on launch day of the D&D CMF. Thought I was being smart to get there before too many D&D hunters showed up, if any. It was a weekday morning; surely most people were at work?
Arrived at 10:00am, an hour after opening. That, apparently, was not smart.
With the help of my husband and his brother, i scanned dozens of boxes and did not find a single Dragonborn Paladin -- the minifig I wanted most. I did find all the other minifigs on my wishlist. But clearly someone had beat me to it, bought all the Dragonborns and hardly touched the other characters.
I know this because every fresh carton contains 36 figures, three of each kind. And there were no Dragonborns in all three cartons on display.
My husband suggested checking a nearby Toys 'R Us. Good idea, because we found an even larger display of D&D boxes there -- 8 cartons!
Too bad, not one Dragonborn among them.
Could I buy one on Merukari? I sure could, at 4 times the original price!
In the end, I caved and bought a Dragonborn Paladin on Merukari . . . at nearly 4 times the retail price of 540 yen. Other than the sin of enabling resellers, it was not the worst idea. Half a year later, resale prices haven't gotten lower, at least not if you're buying a single figure. (Buying multiples could get you a "better" deal, namely 3 times retail price.)
Anyway, here's my expensive Dragonborn Paladin and why he's so highly sought after.
Firstly, he's just cool. And he comes with a ton of accessories and removable armor.
The armor can be easily reused in any fantasy or Castle setting. Which is why this figure was sought by army builders.
Plus, Dragonborns aren't a dime a dozen in the Lego world.
Generous amount of prints -- not only on his front and back, but also the sides of his arms and legs.
I like the print of a potion tucked into his belt, perhaps representing the Paladin's secondary role as a healer (the primary role being a warrior).
Anyway, there are so many great things about the D&D CMFs.
Every character comes with new Lego parts or prints. Many of the humanoid characters have both dual faces AND two heads -- for a total of four faces per character. So, there are tons of options for creating your custom Lego D&D party, since you can swap not only heads and accessories but also torsos and legs. Most of the hands aren't flesh-colored; it looks like the minifigs are wearing gloves, and that makes it easier to swap torsos.
The Halfling Druid was my second favorite in this series. Fantastic head piece, detailed torso prints. I love the bone necklace.
Where's the alternate male face.
The Druid is an animal summoner, hence the inclusion of a bird. This particular bird is unique because of the pattern on its head.
Using the female head.
Alternate female face.
The Aarakocra Ranger. In D&D, rangers can have an animal companion; in this case, a wolf cub.
The wings are "cape" piece, detachable to reveal a beautiful torso print (sorry for the dark photo). The Ranger has a small dagger in his belt.
The bow is a new style of Lego bow.
The only unfortunate thing about the Aarakocra Ranger is that he doesn't have holes on his bum (to connect with studs) for secure sitting. But no matter; it's such an amazing minifigure anyway.
The Elf Bard has a beautiful lute. He comes with a singing face and a smirking face.
And a pearl-gold rapier. Flashy.
The elf ears are attached to the hair.
Female singing face.
Alternate female face.
The Dwarf Barbarian has two accessories, a torch and a double-headed axe.
Battle roar face.
Lovely print of a horn, slung across her back.
Male face. The alternate face below has a chip in his teeth.
The shoulder fur is removable, and here you can see the torso print more clearly: the Barbarian is wearing a necklace or amulet of a double-bladed axe. Not sure why two rows of waist belts are needed . . .
Now onto the baddies! Here is a Mind Flayer and his servant brain-dog ("intellect devourer" is the proper term).
Wiki says brain-dogs can consume a humanoid creature's mind and memories from a distance of up to 3 meters. What's more, it can eat the victim's brain, reside in the empty space, and thereafter control the host's body.
The Mind Flayer itself is also a creature with psionic abilities (power of the mind). It, too, consumes victims' brains and controls them.
The Lady of Pain is a unique, "named" character, and she's featured in a highly rated 1999 computer RPG called Planescape: Torment.
She's a powerful being of unknown race who rules over Sigil, a city at the center of the multiverse with doors to every other plane.
The Lady's head and its protrusions are one single, seamless piece.
Comes with a transparent round brick, which makes her "float".
She carries a Cubic Gate, which can transport someone to another plane in the multiverse.
Szass Tam is another named character from D&D lore. He's a powerful lich (an undead spellcaster).
In one hand is a firebolt spell. In the other hand is a transparent red skull representing Szass Tam's necromantic abilities.
The cape and cowl are two separate pieces. The color scheme references the Red Wizards of Thay, ruling class of the land of Thay, led by Szass Tam.
And that's my little D&D collection.
Out of moderation, I decided not to collect these other four characters, though they're really nice too:
Tasha the Witch Queen, a named character in D&D lore.
You can't see it in the official image above, but the page in her spellbook shows a laughing mouth. "Tasha's hideous laughter" is the name of a D&D spell which causes its target to laugh uncontrollably for up to one minute, to the extent that standing up is impossible.
Tiefling Sorcerer. A tiefling is mixed-raced: half human, half fiend.
Her bright purple accessory represents the Magic Missile spell, a popular D&D spell that can be used by even the lowest-level spellcaster and grows in power as a character levels up.
Strahd von Zarovich is a named villain. I guess the wine chalice is a nod to his vampiric race.
Lastly, a Gith Warlock. Githyanki are a race of warriors once enslaved by mind flayers. Their skin tone is yellowish, though not as bright as the classic yellow used for this minifigure.
Here you can't see the torso and legs prints so clearly, but besides the giant orb necklace, the Warlock carries mysterious pouches on his belt front, one with a moon-shaped clasp. On his back, he has two potions and a key attached to his belt.
Here's a promotional image of the whole crew. Which is 3D, of course, as real minifigure legs do not bend like they do in the image above.
This is a wonderful set of characters, and I've enjoyed seeing photos of what Lego fans did with them. My favorite are these three:
Skyguy-365's display stands
sirwillis2's mini dioramas
TheEvilMayor's shadowboxes
The legodnd reddit constantly cool custom figures. Folks there have been making their own Lego D&D minifigures long before LEGO made any!