Review: 71051 Animals Series 28 from LEGO® Minifigures

LEGO® Minifigures 71051 Series 28 fully embraces the joy of animal costumes. There are 12 different ones to collect, adding to the host of minifigures dressed as animals from previous years. Since this is a theme-based collection, I imagine it will be a "Marmite" series: love it or hate it, depending on whether minifigure costumes are your thing or not!

Products in this article were gifted by The LEGO Group; the author's opinions are their own.
This article contains affiliate links to LEGO.com; we may get a small commission if you purchase.

Page contents

• Accessories
• Crocodile
• Dalmatian
• Frog
• Peacock 
• Parrot
• Dolphin
• Koala
• Lion
• Monkey
• Rabbit
• White Cat
• Goldfish

71051 Animals Series 28

Release date: 1 January 2026

Price: 

• US$ 4.99 on LEGO.com US
• CA$ 5.99 on LEGO.com Canada
• GB£ 3.49 on LEGO.com UK
• AU$ 5.99 on LEGO.com Australia
• NZ$ 5.99 on LEGO.com New Zealand
• DE€ 3,99 on LEGO.com Deutschland
• NL€ 3,99 on LEGO.com Nederland
• FR€ 3,99 on LEGO.com France
• PLN 16.99 on LEGO.com Polska
• NOK 49,90 on LEGO.com Norge
• DKK 29.95 on LEGO.com Danmark

Other countries click here

We don't have the IDs for the all new elements at the time of writing, as LEGO Minifigures packs do not have an inventory within the instructions.  We will update the article once the full list has been added to the LEGO database in January. 

There's not too many instructions needed to construct the minifigures and the other side had a checklist to 'collect them all'. As usual, this series is in blind boxes, but it is possible to scan the QR codes on the boxes to select the minifigure, should you only wish to collect one particular minifigure or are looking for one of each to complete the series.

Accessories

New moulds and fabrics

Flotation ring with bar handle (7649)

The flotation ring is dual-moulded (or "2k" as TLG call it) in white and trans-dark pink, and it also comes in orange and white in the LEGO® City theme sets that are also released on 1 January 2026.

The smaller bar area is a typical 3.18mm bar in size, compatible with minifigure hands and any clip. The rest of the ring is 5mm, the size of a LEGO® Technic pin or a LEGO stud, and so it's a perfect fit for a LEGO Technic figure hand, or a spanner (4006).

The flotation ring fits into the ever-growing family of rings with bars. Some examples are shown above. Like the chakram (35485), the flotation ring only has a single section of 3.18mm bar but the rest is 5mm in diameter. The most recent example  3x3 Ring (7610) is not shown here but Tom will cover this new element in detail this week, in his upcoming article analysing new moulds in LEGO® Botanicals sets 11501 Tulip Bouquet and 11509 Flowering Cactus.

Looks like the minifigure will just need to hold on tight: despite coming with a minifigure, the flotation ring doesn't fit around the waist. On the plus side, they do fit around mini-dolls (and a micro doll and minifigure baby will both fit through the hole easily).  

You can read more about the development of this mould in our LEGO® City January 2026 moulds designer interview with Chris Stamp.

Parrot Tails (6578668)

There are two new fabric elements that come in a single small box with element ID 6578668.  The blue is larger than the red so that they sit together as the staggered tail feather of the parrot.

New prints

Other than the minifigures themselves, there are five new printed elements.

• 2x2 Round Tile with swirl and mountain logo 'frisbee' in Dark Azure (Element ID tbc)

• 1x1 Round brick with goldfish print in Yellow (Element ID tbc)

• 1x2x2 Brick with parrot snack box print in White (Element ID tbc)

• Egg with 1.5mm hole with flower print in White (Element ID tbc | 24946)

• 1x1 Round brick with bubbles print in Bright Light Blue (Element ID tbc)

Recolours

• Dome 1 x 1 x 2/3 comes in Satin Trans-Clear (Element ID | 6908) with the Frog, and two are supplied

• Plate Special 3 x 4 with 1 x 4 Center Studs in Lime (Element ID | 88646)

Each of the minifigures comes with a new recolour of the 3x4 plate we know from previous series. 

That's all the accessories: now let's take a look at each bag in turn to see what is also new with the figures.

Crocodile

• Crocodile headgear (115083) in bright green with print is a new mould
• Ring with bar handle (7649) in white and trans-pink is a new mould
• Both the torso and legs are bright green with new prints

Dalmatian

• Minifig Hipwear Short Tail Costume (79973) in white is a recolour
• Dog headgear (115084) is a new mould
• Both the torso and legs are white with new prints; note the side leg printing which is a nice touch
• 2x2 Round Tile with swirl and mountain logo 'frisbee' in Dark Azure (Element ID tbc) is a new print

Frog

• The Frog headgear (7838) is a new mould appearing here in lime with printed eyes
• The new print for the head is great, well the blowing face in particular as it goes with the bubbles accessories.
• 1x1 Round brick with bubbles print in  Bright light Blue is a new print.
• Dome 1 x 1 x 2/3 in Satin Trans Clear (Element ID | 6908) is a recolour,  two are supplied.
• Both the torso and legs are new prints, the legs are also dual moulded in green and lime.

This is not the first frog we have seen in a LEGO Minifigures series, thanks to Kermit the Frog.

I really like the printing and the dual moulded legs on the new Frog costume figure. A bit of DNA hacking gives an improved frog!

Peacock

• The peacock headwear (7773) is a new mould that is similar to the one used to the Turkey Costume in Series 23 but with more plumage
• The peacock torso is a new print and comes with the same Bird Wing Arm (11263) in blue as Road Runner from the Looney Tunes Series in 2021
• The fan tail with print in dark turquoise is a recolour of the fan tail (1612)  which came in the Turkey from Series 23 in 2022

Dolphin

• Dolphin with tail headgear  in bright light blue (7762) is a new mould
• Arm Shark Fin / Flipper (24074) is a recolour in bright light blue
• The torso print is very similar to the Shark costume torso from series 15; I don’t have one for a side by side comparison

Koala

• Koala headgear (7720) in light bluish grey with print is a new mould
• Minifig Head, Eyebrows, Half Closed Eyes, Sleepy / Sleeping Mask, 'ZZZZ' (6434845) was also used in 60367 Passenger Airplane
• The torso print is the same as for the Rabbit costume in this series but the Koala has no printing on the rear

Lion

• Lion tail (7721) in bright light orange is a new mould in a rubbery material
• Lion headgear (114471) with print in bright light orange/dark red is a new mould
• The bright light orange torso has a new fur print and the bright light orange legs have new dark red claw print

The lion's chest print is different from the Koala and Rabbit torso prints in this series. From left to right above we have Koala, Lion, and then Fox Girl from Series 19 and Racoon Girl from Series 22, who both share the same print despite being from different series.

Monkey

• Monkey headgear (114642) in reddish brown with print is a new mould
• Monkey tail (75513) in reddish brown is a recolour having previously appeared in Monkey Kid sets a few years ago in black and dark orange.
• The reddish brown torso and legs both have medium nougat prints

The monkey tail (75513)  is an interesting mould as the curl in the tail holds a 3.18mm bar comfortably.

A slightly less legal connection is a clip, thanks to the rubbery nature of the tail. The tail is wider than a 3.18mm bar, however the rubbery material has some give and its easy to push a clip on without damage, at least in the short term.

Rabbit

• Rabbit headgear (7715) in tan with print is a new mould
• The Rabbit torso has the same front print as the Koala torso, but the rear has an extra printed rabbit tail
• Egg with 1.5mm hole with flower print in White (24946)

This is not the first rabbit head mould of course – a few of the previous rabbit heads are shown above:

• Rabbit head (7715) from Costumes Series 28
• Minifigure Bunny Ears (99244)
• Nesquik Chocolate Bunny head (41875)
• Bugs Bunny head (6337287 | 74505) from Looney Tunes Series 

White Cat

• Cat headgear (7758) in white with print is a new mould; it differs from the previous cat head used for Cat Costume Girl in Series 18 in 2018.
• Minifig Hipwear Tail Raccoon / Cat / Fox Costume (18277) is a recolour in white
• The torso is a new print with printing on both the front and rear

The Cat headgear is similar to the Fox/Racoon headgear (45757). The snout of the Fox/Racoon is longer, but the cat has a slightly more curvaceous head opening, plus the side hair differs a little too.

Goldfish

• Goldfish with tail headgear (114574) is a new mould
• Arm Shark Fin / Flipper (24074) is a recolour in orange
• 1x1 Round brick with goldfish print in Yellow (Element ID tbc) is a new print
• Both the torso and the medium legs are bright light orange with printing on the front and rear of the torso, but just the front of the legs

The goldfish headgear is dual moulded in orange and bright light orange, with printing also.

Parrot

• Parrot headgear (114608) is a new dual mould in red and white with print
• Parrot Tails (6578668) in blue and red are new fabric 'moulds'
• The parrot torso has a new colour of the Bird Wing Arm (11263) in red with print
• The minifigure legs are a new colour combination of red and sand blue
• 1x2x2 Brick with parrot snack box print in White (Element ID tbc) is a new print

Conclusion

Having an entire series dedicated to animal costumes means Series 28 is probably going to be a divisive series. There are some folks who love the animal costumes and others who dislike them for their lack of usefulness for MOCs or city scenes.

The various new moulded headgear are well designed but not all of the minifigures have the same detailed printing. The frog, my favourite minifigure in the series, is a great example, having detailed torso printing on the front and back; arm printing; plus printed dual-moulded legs. The new face printing is both cute and also a little comedy expression for blowing things like birthday cake candles, a kiss, bubbles etc. 

The lack of new accessories is a little disappointing although I suppose this is because the minifigures with wings or flipper arms couldn't hold them anyway.  Some of the minifigures have plain legs (e.g. Cat, Koala, Dolphin, Rabbit) which is a also a little disappointing, although I imagine the budget was thrown at all the new headgear moulds. 

Overall, love them or hate them, this is a series with animal costumes that deliver on the cuteness. For me, I want an army of frogs.

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