A Lego minifigure, commonly referred to as a "minifig", or simply just "fig", is a small plastic articulated figurine available as part of the construction toy Lego, produced by Danish toy manufacturer the Lego Group. They were first produced in 1978, and have become hugely successful, with over 3.7 billion produced,
and the figure appearing in a variety of media, including movies, books
and video games (such as Lego: Star Wars). The figures are usually
found within Lego sets, although they are also sold separately as keychains and magnets. While some are named as specific characters, either licensed from film franchises (such as Star Wars)
or of Lego's own creation, many are unnamed and are designed simply to
fit within a certain theme (such as police officers, astronauts and
pirates). Minifigures are collected by both children and adults. They
are highly customizable, and parts from different figures can be mixed
and matched, resulting in a large number of combinations.
Similar minifigures are produced by other companies such as the Kreons from construction toy Kre-O by Korean company Oxford (subsidiary of Hasbro).
History
Early Lego minifigures without moving arms and legs
A precursor to the minifigure was released in 1975. These were at the
same scale as the current minifigures, but had a different design. They
had solid torsos without separate movable arms, solid lower body pieces
that were not moveable, and heads without printed features. They had a
small variety of headpieces in various colors, including caps, pigtail
hair and cowboy hats.
The first modern minifigures were released in 1978, with seven different figures in Castle, Space, and Town.For the next 11 years, minifigure heads were produced with a simple
facial expression, rendered as two solid black dots for eyes and a
smile, also painted in solid black. In 1989, minifigures in the Pirates theme were produced with different facial expressions.
The Pirates minifigures also included hooks for hands, as well as peg
legs; this was the first departure from the traditional body parts.
Another departure from traditional parts was the use of spring-loaded
legs. These legs are joined together at the top. These legs were only
featured in basketball sets, 2002-2003. Other leg variations include
short legs for children or dwarfs, or long legs (used in the Toy Story theme).
In 2003, the first minifigures with naturalistic skin tones (as opposed to the yellow
used until this point) were released, as part of the Lego Basketball
theme; these minifigures were also created in the likeness of living
people. The following year, the use of natural skin tones was expanded to all
licensed products; in which figures were created to represent film
actors and other living people. Popular examples include Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Batman minifigures.
By 2006, Lego had reportedly produced 4 billion minifigures.
There are at least 3655 different Minifigures produced between 1975 and
2010 and the number of new Minfigures per year is increasing rapidly.
In 2010 more than 300 new Minifigures
Design and construction
Minifigures generally feature six parts (widely referred to as tools in the toy industry): head, torso, hips, arms, hands, and legs; these six parts allow seven points of articulation: swivel head, swivel arms, swivel wrists, and swivel legs. Minifigures are usually packaged as three separate parts in Lego sets: head, torso and legs. The plastic is acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), a tough material that makes LEGO figures durable.
The plastic is melted into specially designed molds that produce the
different parts of the minifigure. Some of the molds are also
accessories such as weapons (swords, guns, lightsabers, etc.) or
everyday accessories(cups, food, tools etc.). Heads and torsos always
need further decoration, and sometimes the arms and legs do, too. This
difficult process is why the figures are more expensive than any other
Lego products. After being printed, the head is placed on the torso, the
legs attached, and the arms are snapped on. The figures are finally
bagged and readied for sale.
Use
Minifigure heads are cylindrical, and attach to a long, narrow
cylinder molded onto the top of the torso, which allows the head to
rotate. This feature also allows items to be attached to the figures
over the torso, such as air tanks, capes or breastplates.
The heads have a stud on top which is the same size as studs on
standard Lego bricks which could allow one to be placed on it. The head
is the only component of the minifigure which can be used for other
applications - blank minifigure heads have often been used in Lego sets
to replicate other objects such as lampshades and
electrical appliances.
Head accessories vary widely, and include hair, helmets and hats.
The legs rotate independently to 90 degrees forward, and nearly 45
degrees backward. Minifigures also connect to standard Lego bricks in
both a sitting or standing position. The hands of a minifigure resemble
the letter C, which allows them to hold many Lego accessories. There are hundreds of different accessories, including swords, axes, wands, cups, guns, and lightsabers.
Additionally, the tops of the hands are approximately the same size as
the studs on standard Lego bricks, which allows Lego pieces to be placed
on top of them. These variations allow minifigures to be customized,
keeping with the modular design of Lego elements.
Design variations
While nearly all minifigure heads, torsos, arms, hands and legs are
the same size and shape, some sets have included figures that deviate
from the standard. The most extreme design variation was a minifigure
produced in an edition of five of the Star Wars character C-3PO, cast in solid 14-carat gold.
Torso
Minifigures built from special, uniquely molded pieces were first introduced in Life on Mars. Martians
are composed of five tools: two pairs of double arms, a mechanical
torso, a conjoined leg piece, and a head. This configuration is also
used for many Star Wars Droids; Battle Droids follow the same pattern, while Super Battle Droids feature a head fixed to a torso, General Grevious has space for four arms, and IG-88 has a head constructed of other Lego pieces. Other droids, such as Droidekas, Spider Droids and
Pit Droids, are constructed entirely from standard Lego pieces, yet are still generally considered minifigures. R2-D2 and other astromech droids are constructed from unique parts, with a separate top, body and legs. The robots of Exo-Force, Mars Mission
commander aliens and Bionicle miniatures have a design similar to the
Star Wars Battle Droids, but with separate legs, movable hands, and a
head affixed to a small torso. Hagrid, the half-giant character from the Harry Potter series, uses a larger minifigure body, with only the head being separable.
Skeletons,
usually found in Castle, Pirate, and Indiana Jones sets, use the
standard minifigure head, but unique torsos, arms, and legs designed to
resemble a skeletal structure; although different,
these figure parts
are still detachable.
Additionally, Pirate minifigures sometimes include peg legs
and hooks for hands, such as the Aquasharks and Aquraiders from
Aquazone and characters in the Adventurers and Orient Expedition sets,
most notably the villainous Baron character.
Head
Minifigures have also featured unique head sculpts that differ from the traditional cylindrical shape; the first was Jar Jar Binks, included in a Star Wars set in 1999, followed by Yoda, C-3PO, Harry Potter goblin figures, Kit Fisto, and Plo Koon. Kit Fisto was the first minifigure to not use an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene head.The minifigure used rubber instead. Traditional accessories, such as hats and helmets, cannot be placed on these non-standard heads. Some minifigures, such as Wookiees, Gamorrean Guards and Ewoks use a sandwich board piece which fits over the body. SpongeBob
has a sculpted Lego brick head that fits like a standard head, similar
to the ghost figures, except that these figures use short or standard
legs instead of a brick.
Head- and neck-wear
A modern "alien" minifigure, released in 1995, wearing a helmet. It has
an add-on platform from the Collectable Minifigure Series and a ray gun
from the Series 6 Alien.
A variety of clothing and accessories has been produced for
minifigures, including caps, hats, and helmets. In Lego Star Wars sets,
Clone Troopers and Stormtroopers have uniquely sculpted helmets,
adapting the original character designs to the minifigure format.
Exo-Force minifigures feature anime-style hair, as does the Nightwing minifigure from the Batman Arkham Asylum set.
Ghost figures have a full-body cape which attaches to the head of the minifigure, and a solid brick-like torso instead of legs
Legs
Some minifigures created to resemble female characters, particularly
in Castle and Pirate sets, use large sloped bricks instead of legs, to
resemble dresses or skirts.
However, these sloped bricks are taller than standard minifigure legs,
making some characters seem awkward when placed next to taller females.
Shorter legs, without joints at the hip, are sometimes used to create
minifigures which are shorter in stature than standard figures. Such
pieces were first created for Star Wars sets but have since been used
elsewhere, although primarily in licensed sets. Yoda, young
Boba Fett, and Ewoks in Star Wars, goblins and Dobby the house elf in Harry Potter, The Penguin in Batman, both SpongeBob and
Mr. Krabs in the Lego SpongeBob SquarePants set, The Hobbits and Gimli in The Lord of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit and the Dwarves from the Castle 2007, The Hobbit
sets, and the Minifigure series all use this shorter piece in the place
of standard legs. Some characters in Ninjago have snake tails for legs.
Other legs include Genie smoke legs and Squid Warrior legs.
Customisation
Minifig customisation is the practice of modifying Lego minifigures.
This can be as simple as mixing and matching parts, or as complex as
remolding plastic. Some custom minifigures are made by affixing stickers
or decals to the figures. There are also businesses which sell custom
decals and molded minifigure accessories, many of which are inspired
from popular media such as films and video games. While a relatively
recent phenomenon, minifigure customisation has rapidly become popular
within the wider building community, although some maintain a "purist"
approach, using only elements produced by Lego.
Lego executives have for some years now been using personalised
minifigures in place of business cards, with email and phone details on
the front and back of the torso, and hair and facial features designed
to resemble each executive.
Minifigures theme
Lego Minifigures
The minifigures theme was introduced in 2010. Each series consists of
60 polybags per box, with unique and exclusive minifigures inside. A
new series is released every three to four months, with sixteen new
unique and exclusive minifigures in each series (excluding the 8909 Team
GB Minifigures, which includes 9 minifigures and also 71001 Minifigures
Series 10 which includes 17). The minifigures can be based on movies,
sports, fiction, history, or just average day life minifigures. Each
minifigure contains new elements in the form of accessories or uniquely
printed body parts.
Variations
Light up light-sabers
Other variations of the standard minifigure produced for Star Wars
sets included the light-up light-saber (L.U.L.S.) minifigures. These
figures were released as a part of the more expensive Star Wars Episode
III sets in 2005. These figures look like standard minifigures, but to
facilitate internal electronics, their parts cannot be removed; the only
exception to this is the headgear, the left hand and arm, and each of
the legs from the hips. When the head is pressed down, an LED
illuminates the light-saber blade. These figures rely on battery power
for their special feature. The batteries last three hours and are not
intended to be replaced, although replacement is possible. Many fans,
especially children, were amenable to this innovation. Others however,
particularly adult collectors, found these figures contentious,
considering them to be an unwelcome gimmick. The fact that in two cases
unique characters were produced solely as L.U.L. minifigs, with no
standard version available to collectors, was also an unpopular
decision. Following the initial release of these figures Lego announced
no more were to be produced, due to their unpopularity and more
expensive production. One set, the 7261 Clone Turbo Tank, which featured
an L.U.L. version of Jedi Knight Mace Windu, was even reissued with a
standard version of the minifig and an extra Clone Trooper figure to
make up the cost of the set. There was also at least one high end City
themed set (a Police Station/HQ) that included a police officer with a
light up 'torch'. Another L.U.L.S. minfig in police uniform appeared
without the 'saber' part of the light saber and a yellow LED in the
'handle' of the light saber, reusing the L.U.L.S. design outside the
Star-wars setting as an effective 'torch'. He appeared in a high end
City set based on a standard and well selling City Police HQ design. A
complaint about the set was that the L.U.L.S. minifig was contained in a
'try me' compartment of the box allowing customers (and excited
children) to wear down his battery while he was still on the shelf. The
set was discontinued after a year with a separate identical design but
with 3 extra normal minifgs replacing the L.U.L.S. minfig.
Magnets
Yet another variation on the minifigure is the magnet
figure, from such themes as Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones and City.
The magnet figures are not included in regular sets but are instead sold
in packs of three or more. Some of these include accessories and
display base bricks. These figures include magnets in their legs, which
allow them to stick to metal surfaces. Magnet figures are nearly
indistinguishable from stand figures in appearance. Unlike the LUL
figures, only the torso and the hips of magnet minifigures are
inseparable.
Microfigures
With the new Lego board games,
the Lego microfigures were released. For that name, they are about half
the size of the regular Lego minifigure. The microfigures have a fixed
head, small, non-movable legs which somewhat resemble normal minifigure
legs, and a hint of shoulders for arms.
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