Where does the rise of microscale LEGO sets leave minifigures?

The LEGO Group has been experimenting with scale more and more of late – but where does that leave minifigures?

The LEGO Group has been playing around with scale more and more, with the ever-expanding expansion of the LEGO Star Wars midi-scale ship collection and a growing number of microscale display-centred sets. That's perhaps no less obvious than in the case of brick-built Diagon Alleys, of which we have three different scales on shelves right now between 75978 Diagon Alley, 76444 Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops, and the collection of sets like 76439 Ollivanders & Madam Malkin's Robes.

We've already touched on the rise of microscale LEGO Harry Potter sets and how they offer something unique that other models can't – but there's something they don't include at all: minifigures. Although characters are still represented through microfigures, the classic LEGO minifigure doesn't feature at all – aside from one minifigure head to recreate the enormous statue on the front of Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes.

LEGO Harry Potter isn't the only theme playing around with sets without minifigures. LEGO Minecraft, typically exclusively made up of minifigure-centred play sets, has been starting to build up more display-focused sets that include little to no minifigures, like 21265 The Crafting Table and the upcoming 21276 The Creeper. LEGO Star Wars 75407 Star Wars Logo controversially came out without any minifigures, unlike its Marvel counterpart, 76313 MARVEL Logo.

Outside of licensed themes, LEGO Icons 10362 French Café is almost at the right scale for minifigures but features none. 2025 is the very first year that the LEGO Collectible Minifigures theme released a series without minifigures at all, with 71049 F1 Collectible Race Cars.

Perhaps this is due to the growing and evolving adult market, with more and more people coming to LEGO for the first time since the pandemic. Where long-term collectors might value minifigures, it's thought to be themes like LEGO Icons, Botanicals, and Art that are tempting in new demographics – all sets that often don't include minifigures, or at least aren't centred around them.

The next logical step, then, is to tap into a similar desire for display-centric sets that don't have minifigures for licensed themes, experimenting with whether that will resonate with fans of Harry Potter, Star Wars, and so on in a different way. We can see it with 76444 Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops: even with no minifigures, there's still plenty of depth and references for fans to pick up on.

Removing minifigures as an element frees up room to be more creative with scale. That introduces new ways to return to familiar locations. Despite having three LEGO Diagon Alleys on the market, 76444 Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops still clearly stands out from the rest as something new and different.

It also allows LEGO designers to cover more ground in one set. Where Diagon Alley is split across multiple sets between 76439 Ollivanders & Madam Malkin's Robes, 76452 Quality Quidditch Supplies & Ice Cream Parlour, and 76417 Gringotts Wizarding Bank – Collectors' Edition, you can build the same locations and more besides in one fell swoop with 76444.

If the LEGO Group is indeed targeting a relatively new LEGO fan, one who wants display sets with detail but might not want to invest in lots of sets all at once, that ticks every box.

Considering there are more and more sets appearing without minifigures, the experiments appear to be a success. After all, there's not a lack of sets with minifigures and there's plenty of room in the LEGO system to cater to both markets. Within LEGO Harry Potter, for example, the LEGO Group is still bringing out miniifigure-fuelled sections of Hogwarts Castle all the time, with more planned for the summer of this year.

Yet the ongoing release of LEGO sets without minifigures speaks to the growing diversity of LEGO fans. Not everyone wants minifigures, while others still very much do – and the variety that this provides to us all is only a good thing in the long run.

76444 Diagon Alley Wizarding Shops is available to buy now for £169.99 / $199.99 / €199.99 at LEGO.com, Brick Deals, and other third-party retailers. The copy pictured here was provided for the purposes of this feature by the LEGO Group.

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