LEGO Minifigures Series 5 (2011)

LEGO Minifigures Series 5 (8805), August 2011: 16 figures including the Royal Guard, Egyptian Queen, Gladiator and Lizard Man, with several bump-code schemes.

LEGO Minifigures Series 5, set 8805, surfaced first at a handful of places rather than in ordinary shops: Brickipedia records bags at LEGOLAND Billund, among others, in early August 2011. The official release followed on 22 August 2011 (English Wikipedia, Brickipedia). The wave is made up of the Graduate, Gladiator, Royal Guard, Ice Fisherman, Cave Woman, Lizard Man, Zookeeper, Lumberjack, Small Clown, Fitness Instructor, Detective, Evil Dwarf, Boxer, Egyptian Queen, Gangster and Snowboarder Guy. The Royal Guard is a British Queen’s Guard in a bearskin hat with a rifle; the Gladiator comes in a gladiator’s helmet with sword and shield; the Egyptian Queen holds a snake (Wikipedia, Brickipedia, BrickLink catalogue photos). The Lizard Man is a man in a dinosaur suit, the Zookeeper brings a chimpanzee and a banana, the Small Clown a pie, the Evil Dwarf an axe and shield, and the Gangster a carrying case and a pistol. Series 5 bags still had bump codes, but in more than one scheme. The blog Better Than Tomorrow published a code sheet on 5 August 2011, before the official launch; both Wikipedia and Brickipedia cite it, and it lists two different codes for the Gangster.