7th February 2024
Think Comic-Con, and if you're a LEGO collector, you'll undoubtedly think of the exclusive, and now insanely expensive, minifigures. Getting your hands on one of these is like landing the Holy Grail of LEGO minifigures. However, another treasure to seek is one of the many exclusive sets that were handed out annually at the event since 2008.
In this article, we take a look at each and every one of these in order of rarity.
Non-Comic Con Exclusives
Production Run: Unknown
The Covid-19 pandemic messed up a lot of things, including LEGO’s 2020 line-up of Comic-Con sets. After the convention was cancelled that year, LEGO offered up the exclusives to regular customers via its online shop and selected retailers. These sets still retained some degree of rarity as they were produced in limited numbers and were only available in the US. Exactly how many were made is not known, but it’s likely between 10,000 - 20,000. There’s a plentiful supply of all four on Bricklink, so they can be picked up relatively cheaply.
Nebulon-B Frigate, Wonder Woman, Toad's Special Hideaway, and Taskmaster's Ambush
Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite
Production Run: 5,000
Between 2016 and 2017, BrickHeadz were the exclusive of choice. Boba Fett & Han Solo in Carbonite was the only non-superhero one to be made and it was also the most common, with a production run of 5,000 copies.
Millennium Falcon Cockpit & Sith Trooper Bust
Production Run: 3,000
Up next are two more Star Wars exclusives. The Millennium Falcon Cockpit was available at the 2018 event alongside two other similarly sized superhero dioramas. While they were limited to 1,500 copies, this set was produced in twice that quantity. Perhaps LEGO was expecting twice as many Star Wars fans to be in attendance.
The Sith Trooper Bust from 2019 was also restricted to 3,000 copies, and again, twice as many copies of it were available than the two superhero sets brought to San Diego that year.
Both of these sets were numbered from 1 to 3,000, with the Millennium Falcon Cockpit having the issue number printed on the box, while the Sith Trooper Bust had a numbered holographic sticker.
CubeDude - The Clone Wars Edition
Production Run: 2,000
LEGO experimented with CubeDudes in 2010, which can be viewed as a precursor to BrickHeadz, as they have the same blocky appearance and similar proportions. They had been a popular concept in the AFOL community in the preceding year and LEGO decided they would get in on the trend. It was a short-lived experiment though as only three official CubeDude sets were ever released and all were restricted to certain events. This Comic-Con edition was limited to 2,000 copies, with 500 available to buy during each day of the convention.
Superhero Sets
Production Run: 1,500
Superhero sets have dominated LEGO's offering at Comic-Con and all those brought to the convention between 2015 and 2019 had a production run of 1,500 copies (the same as most exclusive Comic-Con minifigures). These sets took the form of BrickHeadz or dioramas and both Marvel and DC were represented.
Spider-Man & Venom, Black Panther & Dr. Strange, Batman & The Joker, and Iron Man & Captain America from SDCC 2016.
Supergirl & Martian Manhunter from SDCC 2017
Ant-Man and the Wasp & Aquaman and Storm from SDCC 2018
The Dark Knight of Gotham City & Captain Marvel and the Asis from SDCC 2019
Collectible Display Set 6
Production Run: 1,250
As you can tell by the name of this set, it wasn't the only Collectible Display set. All six were given out in some manner during the 2009 SDCC. This one was distributed at the Preview Night, which anyone with a 4-day ticket could attend. 1,250 of those that did attend could bag themselves a copy of this Star Wars minifigure collection. As with all the Collectible Displays, none contained any exclusive minifigures, so it’s the packaging you’re really after.
Clone Wars Pack
Production Run: 1,200
This set was one of three brought to the 2008 SDCC, which marked the beginning of the annual exclusives. The set contained the 7670: Hailfire Droid and Spider Droid set, the 7654: Droids Battle Pack, as well as five additional minifigures, including four clone troopers and Captain Rex. It also contained an exclusive double-sided poster with one side detailing the minifigures of the year, and the other showing a comic book story.
Microscale Vehicles and Dioramas
Production Run: 1,000
If you love downsized LEGO sets, then you needed to be at Comic-Con between 2012 and 2015. Many of the exclusives during that time were microscale versions of locations and vehicles from the Marvel, DC, LotR, and Star Wars universes. From Star Wars we had the The Ghost Starship, JEK-14 Mini Stealth Starfighter, Dagobah Mini Build, Luke Skywalker's Mini Landspeeder, and Darth Maul's Mini Sith Infiltrator.
Darth Maul's Mini Sith Infiltrator & Luke Skywalker's Mini Landspeeder
JEK-14 Mini Stealth Starfighter, The Ghost Starship, and Dagobah Mini Build. Photo credit: Reddit - Flickr - Hamid
From Marvel, DC, and LoTR there was Rocket Raccoon's Warbird, Batman Classic TV Series Batmobile, and Micro Scale Bag End respectively.
Photo credit: Reddit - Flickr - Gnaat Lego
Star Wars Advent Calendar
Production Run: 1,000
Another set limited to 1,000 copies was the Star Wars Advent Calendar, which acted as a promotional set for the arrival of the first Star Wars themed LEGO advent calendar (7958) that would hit retail shelves a few months later.
This exclusive included all the miniature builds from set 7958, but wrapped them up in some unique packaging made to look like a mailed package from Santa. It also included a limited edition Star Wars holiday print. Like most Comic-Con sets, this was another example of the packaging being worth much more than the contents.
Batman and Joker Minifigure Pack
Production Run: 1,000
Are minifigure packs technically sets? It's the age-old question, but we've erred on the side of yes because this one has an interesting method of distribution. While the vast majority of Comic-Con exclusive sets were available to buy for winners of a lottery, to get this one, attendees had to visit different booths at the convention (such as the LEGO and Warner Bros booths) to collect the individual parts of the Joker minifigure. Attendees that presented a completed Joker to the Warner Bros booth could then receive the Batman minifigure and the set's packaging.
The set was brought to the convention to promote the launch of LEGO Batman: The Videogame, which was LEGO's first superhero themed game.
Neither the Batman nor Joker minifigures were exclusive to this set as they appeared in retail sets and another Comic-Con minifigure pack from 2006, which we'll get onto in a bit...
BrickMaster Sets
Production Run: 500
LEGO brought a BrickMaster sponsored exclusive to both the 2008 and 2009 San Diego Comic-Cons. BrickMaster was a LEGO magazine that was available through a subscription service to US based customers. Each monthly issue came with an exclusive model and two of these were incorporated into the exclusives.
The Indiana Jones BrickMaster Pack was available at the 2008 convention and included the 20004: Jungle Cruiser BrickMaster exclusive polybag and a small model depicting the opening to an ancient underground cavern, as seen in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull movie. Where this set really shines is packaging made to resemble the wooden crate housing the Ark of the Covenant.
Photo credit: Reddit - u/Samlowther1
The other BrickMaster set was the Mini Republic Dropship Mini AT-TE, which included the 20009 Mini AT-TE Walker BrickMaster exclusive polybag and a miniature Republic Dropship that can be slotted together.
Collectible Display Sets
Production Run: 300
These five Star Wars Collectible Display Sets were given out during the 2009 SDCC, with a different one available each day and one available at the preview night. They all included three minifigures on a large grey baseplate. The packaging featured a large transparent plastic window to view the minifigures, with a Star Wars image as the backdrop. Sadly, none of these minifigures are exclusive.
Commemorative Limited Edition Batman
Production Run: 250
The final and rarest minifigure pack to be given out at Comic-Con is the Commemorative Limited Edition Batman set from 2006. As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t the first time these minifigures had appeared before in a LEGO set and it wouldn’t be the last. As well as the book-style packaging, another unique feature of this set was the sound chip that was included, which played out the voice of The Joker.
The text on the front of the box saying “2006 Something big is building…” was a reference to the Batman theme that had launched earlier that year.
Antonios Pizza-Rama
Production Run: < 100
The rarest Comic-Con set, and one of the rarest LEGO sets ever made, is Antonios Pizza-Rama. This was one of only a handful of sets given out at the much smaller New York Comic-Con. It features a small brick-built pizza from Antonio's Pizza-rama, which is the fictional pizza restaurant chain in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The set's triangular packaging is truly unique and resembles the pizza boxes frequently found in New York pizza restaurants.
There’s a lot of mystery surrounding how many of these were distributed, but it’s reported that there were fewer than 100.
If you've enjoyed this article you might want to find out how rare Comic-Con minifgures are.
Posted by Graham on 7th February 2024
Graham is a passionate LEGO collector, who has a penchant for the Castle, Pirates, and Western themes. You can usually find him monitoring the latest developments and giving his opinion on what's hot and not in the LEGO world.
