My last article about the recently released LEGO® BAM characters has been surprisingly popular but it seems not everyone is fully aware of BAM aka Build a Minifigure. The BAM service isn’t new and has been an in-store experience in LEGO stores for several years, but it has evolved. It began as a way to create unique minifigure creations from a small selection of pieces. In the early days of BAM, the pieces used to create minifigures weren’t anything special and would often be standard torsos, legs, and heads along with hats or hair.
As the popularity of minifigures rose, the BAM experience was tweaked and seasonal characters were introduced at various points, these included Christmas, Halloween and Valentine’s Day characters, with unique pieces themed to the relevant events. This change also saw characters pre-packaged in LEGO stores.
In the last couple of years, the BAM offering has changed again and now unique characters are released on a more regular basis as well as also introducing seasonal characters. This year alone has seen 13 unique BAM characters released. But the biggest change is the parts used to create the characters. The BAM parts are now mostly unique, offering special torsos and variants of special elements and accessories such as brick suits.
Build a Minifigure remains an in-store experience in most regions and can be found in most LEGO brand stores and certified stores globally. It can also be found at LEGOLAND stores. So if you don’t live near a LEGO store, like me, you are missing out on some great pieces. There was a glimmer of hope, that a similar offering to the LEGO store experience would be made available online. An online Build a Minifigure service was launched in 2022 allowing you to pick 5 elements to create a character. The part offering was super limited and soon dwindled before being closed down. Although the page for BAM online suggests the service could be brought back “even bigger and better”.
Some of the retailer partners who work with the LEGO Group to run LEGO stores in regions, such as Australia and New Zealand, without LEGO-operated stores, do offer BAM characters online.
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