How to Identify LEGO® Minifigures: Every Method, Honestly Ranked
Somewhere in your house there is a minifigure you can't name. Maybe it surfaced from a childhood bin, maybe it came in a bulk lot, maybe a kid handed it to you with total confidence that you'd know who it is. Here's every real way to find out — including the ways that don't work as well as people hope, because I've personally tried them all.
Method 1: Photo identification (fastest for loose figures)
Point a camera at the figure and let an AI matcher compare it against the catalog. This is what I use for everything now — it's the entire reason Figventory exists — and modern matchers are genuinely good on assembled and partial figures. One honest caveat: near-identical variants (same torso, different arm color) can fool any photo matcher, which is why Figventory adds a verification step that compares your actual photo against the catalog entry down to the arms and hands. For a single mystery fig, Brickognize's free tool is also excellent — it's the identification engine I built on, and credit where due.
Method 2: Google Lens (the one everyone tries first)
I have to be honest about this one, because it's personal: the first time my Dad and I sorted through my childhood LEGO®, we used Google Lens on figure after figure... and mostly we just guessed anyway. Lens is great at recognizing that something IS a minifigure and occasionally nails a famous character. But it's matching against the whole internet, not a LEGO® catalog — so it hands you a shopping page for “toy figure” more often than an identity. Fine for a lark; frustrating for a bin. (The whole story of that night is here, if you're curious.)
Method 3: Part numbers (the manual method that always works)
Every torso and leg piece has a mold number inside it, and printed parts carry a print code. Pop the legs off, read the number inside the torso (a zoomed phone photo helps), and search it on BrickLink — a printed torso code like 973pb1061 resolves to an exact figure list. This is slow and completely reliable, and it's the method every serious catalog-diver learns eventually. Full detail in the minifigure anatomy guide.
Method 4: Print and accessory clues
Torso print first (logos, uniforms, patterns are the biggest tell), then head print, then headgear and accessories. Franchise figures give themselves away fast; generic City-era figures are the hard mode. This is really the human version of Method 1 — you're doing the matching with your eyeballs and a catalog's search box.
Method 5: The QR code (sealed Collectible Minifigure boxes only)
If you're holding an unopened blind box from Series 25 onward, the data-matrix code on the packaging identifies the figure inside — and dedicated CMF scanner apps read it well. Worth knowing about, but it's a different job entirely: it only works on sealed current-series boxes, never on the loose figures this guide is about.
Which method when?
- One mystery figure: photo ID, or part numbers if it's obscure.
- A whole bin of them: batch photo ID — this is exactly the bulk workflow, and the bulk-lot guide covers what comes after identification.
- Sealed blind boxes: the QR route.
- A rainy afternoon and a love of catalogs: part numbers, a podcast, and nobody judges you.
The FAQ corner
What LEGO® minifigure is this? Photograph it into a photo identifier, or read the torso's internal part number and look it up on BrickLink — those are the two reliable paths for a loose figure.
Can Google Lens identify LEGO® minifigures? Sometimes, for famous characters — but it matches against the internet, not a LEGO® catalog, so it fails on most figures. Purpose-built identifiers are far more accurate.
How do I identify minifigures without an app? Internal part numbers + BrickLink search. Slow, free, and always works.
Whatever's in your hand right now... I hope it turns out to be the rare one :)
— Matt