LEGO® Minifigure Guides

Six guides in, it was getting silly not to have a front door for them. So: this page is the library: everything I've written, organized by what you're actually trying to do. I keep these updated in place as I learn more (no reposting, no “2026 edition” games), which means a guide you read last month may have quietly gotten better.

Buying & sorting bulk

• Bought a Bulk LEGO® Minifigure Lot? Here's the Whole Workflow... the full path from “tub arrives” to sorted, identified, and priced. Start here if a bin just landed on your doorstep.
• How to Sort Bulk LEGO® Without Losing Your Mind... the sorting system I actually use, including the parts I learned the hard way.
• Buying LEGO® Minifigure Lots on eBay: How to Read a Listing Before You Bid... the photo-reading skill (stripped lots, mismatches, clones), the four shots to request, the money math, and the buyer protections nobody reads until they need them.

Identifying minifigures

• How to Identify LEGO® Minifigures: Every Method, Honestly Ranked... photo ID, Google Lens, part numbers, print clues, and QR codes, with honest takes on which works when.
• How Accurate Are LEGO® Scanning Apps? (And Why Even the Best Ones Miss)... from someone who builds one: the five ways photo identification misses, what the advertised percentages actually measure, and a symptom-by-symptom fix guide for when your scanner is not working.
• Anatomy of a LEGO® Minifigure: Every Part, Number, and Code Explained... every part named and numbered, and how to read the codes that turn “some knight guy” into an exact catalog entry.
• LEGO® Minifigure Part Numbers: The Reference Table... the lookup asset: BrickLink numbers and LEGO® design numbers side by side, the pb/c/d code grammar, and the cross-catalog collision traps.
• LEGO® Torso Part Numbers, Explained: From One Loose Part to the Exact Minifigure... the five-step walk from a single printed torso (or a head, legs, hair, or a plain arm) to the exact figure it belongs to, using the catalog the way it actually thinks.
• What Set Is This LEGO® Minifigure From? The Complete Lookup Guide... the full lookup, plus the honest answers nobody warns you about: the 47-set generics, the magazine figs, and the mash-ups from nowhere.

Completing & valuing

• LEGO® Minifigure Repair: Missing Arms, Loose Legs & Replacement Parts... figuring out what's missing and sourcing exact replacements, often for less than a dollar.
• LEGO® Minifigure Variant Differences: Telling Near-Twins Apart Before You Price Them... the reference for the moment the catalog shows two near-identical entries: the seven axes, the sixty-second dating table, and which differences actually move the price.
• What Is My LEGO® Minifigure Worth? An Honest Answer... the four-step framework: exact identity, sold prices, condition, and the tub math.

Sets & missing pieces

• Is My LEGO® Set Complete? How to Actually Check (Without Counting to 2,056)... what “complete” actually means on each marketplace, which of the three disagreeing inventories to trust, and the twenty pieces that decide the answer.
• Missing LEGO® Pieces: The Complete Playbook (New Sets, Old Sets, Bags, and Stickers)... every route to a missing piece, bag, sticker, or instruction booklet: the free service, the phone call nobody knows about, and the smart aftermarket path for used sets.

The numbers

• How Many LEGO® Minifigures Are There?... the dated, honest census: what each catalog actually counts, the billions-of-units story, and why every undated answer is already wrong.

More are coming... the drafts pile is real. If there's a guide you wish existed, I genuinely want to hear about it: matt@figventory.app. And if you'd rather skip the manual methods entirely and just photograph the pile... the identifier is right here. The guides work fine by hand too.

— Matt