71049 F1 Collectible Race Cars launches on May 1 and while it represents a departure from the LEGO Group's Collectible Minifigures theme, one thing is the same – scannable codes are back again.
May 1 has traditionally seen the release of a new cohort of Collectible Minifigures but 71049 is branded specifically as Collectibles, because there appears to be no actual minifigure to build; instead, the brick-built cars have unique helmets to give the impression of a driver sitting in the cockpit. There are the usual 12 to collect, and, having seen review copies of the sets, they again come with the scannable codes that were introduced with Series 25 in early 2024.
That means Collectible hunters will be able to use Brick Search’s minifigure scanner to find out which car is inside the blind packaging without needing to open the box first, avoiding the risk of buying cars you don’t want and making it easy to find multiples of the cars you do. Brick Search’s minifigure scanner also works with or without an internet connection and allows multiple codes to be scanned at the same time.
Brick Search, which is available for iOS and Android devices, will be collating the scannable codes and adding them to the app prior to the official release date, so the codes will be scannable as soon as the Collectibles hit the shelves. Head over to the Brick Search website for more information about the app.
71049 F1 Collectible Race Cars features cars in the colours of 10 Formula 1 teams, as well as a generic F1-branded car and a car for the F1 Academy, a female-only Formula 4 level competition. They cost £3.49 / $4.99 / €3.99 and are made up of 29 pieces.
Collectible Minifigures were previously sold in foil packaging, allowing collectors to find innovative ways – including feeling the bags – to decipher which minifigure was inside. The LEGO Group moved to cardboard boxes with Marvel in 2023, but these didn’t have codes on the base and fans were left with no way of knowing what was inside.
Some resorted to opening boxes in-store and leaving them on the shelves if they contained a minifigure they didn’t want, while others weighed boxes or used small cameras to peer into the box to get a glimpse of its contents. Scannable codes were not intended to make it easier to discover what minifigure was inside the box, but it was quickly realised that each code had a number that applied to a specific minifigure and could be read by Brick Search’s scanner.
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