LEGO Minifigures Series 1 (2010)

LEGO Minifigures Series 1 (8683), the 2010 wave that started the CMF line: 16 figures from the Zombie to the Spaceman, with a figure barcode on each bag.

LEGO Minifigures Series 1 is where Collectible Minifigures began: set 8683, sixteen original characters sold one per sealed bag in 2010. Sources disagree on the day. Brickset and Brickipedia give 1 May 2010 for Europe and 1 June 2010 for the US, while English Wikipedia puts the start at 5 March 2010. LEGO’s own 2010 product text promised each bag a figure with its accessories, a display plate and a collector’s leaflet (quoted by Brickipedia). The cast leans on archetypes nobody needs explained. The Zombie carries a shovel and a turkey leg, the Ninja a katana, the white-suited Spaceman a helmet and a ray gun, the Caveman a club and the Circus Clown a horn (Brickipedia, BrickLink catalogue photos). The Demolition Dummy is a crash-test dummy with a PA7 70 number plate, the Super Wrestler a caped luchador; the Deep Sea Diver wears flippers and the Forestman a feathered cap, bow in hand. What set Series 1 apart was the back of the bag. Next to the series EAN barcode sat a second barcode unique to each figure (Wikipedia, Brickipedia, Brick Fanatics), so anyone who knew the numbers could pick out exactly the character they lacked and finish the set without a single duplicate. Series 2 kept that barcode; Series 3 swapped it for embossed dots. LEGO.com no longer has a product page for 8683 (checked 3 November 2026) — the wave went out of production long ago.