Whereas I was biased toward the Cyclops and Mr. Good & Evil minifigures and had decided I was going to like them before I ever got them, that wasn’t really the case for this pair. I thought the Forest Maiden was a ripoff and I outright disliked the concept of a Roller Derby Girl minifigure at all. But, as they have many times before, LEGO surprised me…

The Good:

If I said I thought the Roller Derby Girl would be anything but a boring figure, I would be lying. But what could have been a dull figure ends up shining due to the great details LEGO packed into it. The Roller Derby Girl Series 9 minifigure looks anything but generic–she has a hardened, tough expression etched into her face. Her clothes have some cute decorations on them, and I adore the painted-on elbow pads.

 

The LEGO Roller Derby Girl minifigure has three accessories, and all three are essential to enjoying the figure. The roller skates clip perfectly onto the Roller Derby Girl LEGO minifigure’s feet, and I was pleased to see that she can stand up easily on the skates, even on one leg! And if you do want to use her LEGO stand, there are holes in the bottoms of the roller skates to allow that as well.

In addition, the LEGO Minifigures Series 9 Roller Derby Girl’s helmet is awesome–a plain blue helmet would have been expected, but instead she’s got a red star decorating the helmet–perhaps her roller derby team logo? It’s a little detail, but it makes the minifigure feel more complete.

Meanwhile, the LEGO Forest Maiden minifigure looks much less well… Merida… than I’d expected. Yes, she’s an archer, but she looks much more mature and wise than the star of Brave. I can easily see this Forest Maiden accompanying LEGO Robin Hood in the forest, and I really like the look of her flowing, reddish brown hair piece.

The Forest Maiden LEGO minifigure includes two accessories: a bow and arrow and a shield. The bow irritates me because of the mechanics of the Forest Maiden trying to hold it, but I love the fancy design on the shield.

The Bad:

I really dislike the way that the Forest Maiden minifigure holds the bow. Like all minifigures, she simply can’t get a good, natural grasp on the bow and pose with it properly because of her mold. I know that this is the way LEGO has always done bows, but I’d like to see some new innovations–perhaps a jointed handle–to make the bow work better.

Otherwise, both these LEGO Minifigures Series 9 entries are great–no complaints about the Roller Derby Girl, surprisingly enough.

Overall: Here’s a pair of LEGO Series 9 minifigures I was expecting nothing from, and I ended up liking both far more than I ever expected that I would. The Roller Derby Girl minifigure is a surprise favorite of mine from this minifigure series, and the Forest Maiden LEGO minifigure isn’t the derivative figure I’d expected either. LEGO has given us some wonderful female figures throughout these LEGO Minifigures series of blind bags, and both the Roller Derby Girl and Forest Maiden will make worthy additions to minifigure collectors’ collections.

GRADE: B+