A 'smooshers' guide to Minifigures

TheOrcKing · 2013-04-25T06:33:10.000Z

These Collectable Minifigures and the way of acquiring specific characters has come up in many a conversation, so I thought it would just be simpler to pool our info into this one spot like a "how to" guide for anyone. I'll start off with some things that work for me. 1. Understand the contents All the pieces inside each mystery bag are separated. Sometimes you will have a head get stuck inside a helmet or armor though which can throw off your game. To help reduce that problem or spread out the parts inside, take the packet at the top and shake it bit or gently smack it on the face of your palm. You can do this at the start of each packet you smoosh to feel it out better in the end or if one has you stumped. 2. Rule out the common denominators For the most part save for a select few (Chicken Suit Guy comes to mind) have these common components. 1 head, 1 torso, 1 pair of legs, 1 3x4 stand with 4 studs going across the middle, and 1 pamphlet. Everything else is parts that make up that character which brings me up to the next point. 3. Find out what makes each special It helps to know what parts are truly unique to specific characters. For example, Tomahawk Warrior is the only character from Series 10 with a Mohawk piece so you can feel for that besides the tomahawk weapon. A couple of characters will share a part like say a coffee mug, but they always have one part at least that is unique to them. 4. Feel with your fingers and nails, and do so with your eyes shut Since you are quite literally feeling blind, try to visualize what each piece is by feel using the tips of your fingers and edge of your nails. It can help to feel similar pieces you already own and eventually try doing so without even looking at the part. 5. Research and visualize your target For the stores that put out the retailers box, this makes smooshing much easier because you have an image of each character right in front of you. As for the norm where they just put a bunch of mystery packets on racks, it is much trickier and here is what I do. Look at the images for each Minifigure in the series and study each ones composition. Make a list you can printout showing the name of the character and his or her non common parts. I am going to use the Roman Emperor from Series 9 as an example simply because he is both the easiest and most difficult one to figure out. Roman Emperor - small hairpiece with many grooves, 2x2 tile It is crude but all that matters is it works for you when reading it like your own shorthand. I highlighted the 2x2 tile because out of Series 9, he is the only one with that part. Plus the hairpiece can be confused for some of the others. These are just some tips that help get me going and I tried the best I could to put what has since become second nature to me into words. Since this is a discussion about smooshing techniques, how about you share some of what you do to find the characters you want? Here is an easy method to having a visual aide and list taken from BuckeyeFanDan's reply. Buy any single mystery bag at random, then take out and keep the included pamphlet with you. A perfect reference doubling as a checklist. Brilliant!