Anyone who reads regularly knows that I am not exactly the biggest proponent of the new LEGO Mixels theme debuting this winter. That said, when I walked into my local LEGO Store today and saw all of the LEGO Mixels Series 1 figures in-stock, I just knew I had to buy one and test out Mixels for myself. As I expected, these aren’t the most compelling LEGO sets I’ve bought this year, but the Mixels LEGO sets aren’t all bad either…

The Right:

Let me start off by giving props where they are deserved: LEGO Mixels are a clever idea that will fill an all-new niche in the LEGO world. I love the idea of kids (and collectors) being able to see new characters in the upcoming LEGO Mixels cartoon series, then head out to the store where they can buy completely brick-built polybag Mixels figures for just $4.99 each.

Considering that regular LEGO Minifigures Series blind bags sell for $3-$4 each, it’s amazing to be able to get a larger Mixels toy you can actually build from about 50 pieces for about one or two dollars more.

LEGO Mixel figures stand larger than regular LEGO minifigures–about the same size as LEGO Big Figs like the LEGO Hulk.

And boy, if LEGO’s goal was to target the Pokémon crowd, they seriously succeeded with Mixels. These are some of the cutest LEGO toys that I have ever seen. Man, these things are cute!

The biggest gimmick for the LEGO Mixels toys is the ability to combine the three figures of a species into one larger figure. I absolutely loved the larger gestalt Transformers like Devastator and Superion when I was a kid, and I’m ecstatic to see LEGO implementing the feature with their LEGO Mixels 2014 range.

The three fire-based Infernites “red” figures in Series 1 can apparently form the Tyrannosaurus Rex-like “Infernites Max” combiner, although I’m not sure how–Flain doesn’t include any instructions for building the larger Mixels gestalt figure.

41500 LEGO Mixels Series 1 Flain contains 58 pieces (a terrific value for $4.99) and took me under 5 minutes to complete. Mixels are clearly meant to be quick and easy builds that can be played with within a few minutes of purchase.

Flain features 7 points of articulation. Flain’s head is on a hinge joint, his arms can swivel diagonally upward or downward, his feet are on swivel joints, and–best of all–Flain’s hips are the new LEGO micro ball-joints that have a full range of motion.

The ball-jointed hips and swivel feet on LEGO Mixels Flain are far and away the highlight of the figure. Flain can do splits, ninja kicks, walk, run… whatever you want, as far as lower-body movement goes. Considering your everyday LEGO minifigures have legs that can only move forward or back, this is a huge advancement in such a small, cheap LEGO figure.

The Wrong:

While I think the LEGO 41500 Flain lower-body articulation is sensational, his upper-body articulation is awful. Having arms that can’t move forward or backward–at all–is a huge hindrance greatly limits the fun you can have posing the LEGO Flain Mixels figure.

Even worse, however, is Flain’s head articulation–or lack thereof. Basically, Flain can either look straight forward or look straight down. Flain can’t look up above eye level, and he can’t turn his head side-to-side in any direction at all. It’s really limiting, and a humongous pain considering how far out the flames on Flain’s head stick.

Also, for some reason that is beyond me, the LEGO Mixels Series 1 Flain figure comes with two eyes that are exactly the same. This sounds logical, until you realize that the off-center pupil of one eye will automatically be looking in the opposite direction of the other eye when flipped to aside to the other side of Flain’s head. The result is a perpetually cross-eyed LEGO Mixel toy that looks peculiar whenever you can see both his eyes at once.

Finally, I question LEGO’s decision to picture the actual Flain Mixels character on the front of the LEGO 41500 bag–the actual LEGO Flain model figure looks absolutely nothing like the character design shown on the bag. He just does not look like a faithful or authentic representation of the Flain character artwork shown on the bag in the least.

Overall: While I thought I was purchasing one of the highlights of LEGO Mixels Series 1, I think I may have actually done Mixels a disservice by buying 41500 LEGO Flain. Flain’s elongate and unposeable head really gets in the way (not to mention Flain’s cross-eyes stare), and his swivel arms that have no forward and backward movement are really disappointing. I think that the new ball-joints seen here in LEGO 41500 Flain’s legs have a lot of potential, but as a figure in and of itself, the fire-type Flain leaves me cold.

GRADE: C+