LEGO Minifigures Series 23 (2022)

LEGO Minifigures Series 23 (71034) list: 12 figures from September 2022, from the Nutcracker to the Knight of the Yellow Castle — and how to identify the bags without codes.

LEGO Minifigures Series 23 (set 71034) was released on 1 September 2022 (The Brothers Brick, Jay’s Brick Blog). Five of its 12 figures are wintry and festive — the Nutcracker, Sugar Fairy, Snowman, Reindeer Costume and Christmas Elf — and most of the rest are in costume too, which is why The Brothers Brick titled its review “Oops, All Costumes”. Like Series 21 and 22, it came in sealed blind bags, 36 to a case, and both reviewers’ cases held exactly three complete sets: there is no rare figure. LEGO also sold 71036, a pack of six of the same random bags (Brickfact, LEGO.com). LEGO.com had 71034 down as retired by 20 October 2026; the ColleX checklist numbers the figures 71034-1 to 71034-12. The Series 23 list, in BrickLink order: Nutcracker, Sugar Fairy, Snowman, Reindeer Costume, Christmas Elf (Holiday Elf on BrickLink and in the US), Cardboard Robot, Popcorn Costume, Wolf Costume, Turkey Costume, Ferry Captain, Knight of the Yellow Castle and Green Dragon Costume. The Knight topped Jay’s Brick Blog’s list of favourites: a child on a hobby horse wearing the crown emblem of 375 Castle — the 1978 Yellow Castle, LEGO’s first castle — with a shield first seen in 10305 Lion Knights’ Castle (The Brothers Brick, Jay’s Brick Blog). The Green Dragon Costume is the Series 18 Dragon Suit Guy redone in green; the Wolf Costume is the Big Bad Wolf of the Three Little Pigs in torn overalls, with a face for huffing and puffing; and the Ferry Captain, in a black-and-white ship with two red funnels, was compared by both reviewers to the captain of set 10294 Titanic. “Series 23 codes”, “bag codes”, “scanner” and “how to identify” are among the most common Google suggestions for this series, but Series 23 bags carry no code. LEGO began printing Data Matrix codes with Series 25 (71045) in 2024, and BrickNav and Minifigure Scanner both list the 12 figures of 71034 without a single code (checked 20 October 2026). The answer is feel. Jay’s Brick Blog gives a tell for every figure: the Snowman’s wide-brimmed top hat and bulbous head, the Reindeer’s square gift box, the Sugar Fairy’s ridged oval tutu, the Elf’s dome-shaped snow globe and the Green Dragon’s rigid, spiky tail.