Minifigure


 * For the theme, see Collectable Minifigures.

Minifigures are the small (specifically 1.5 inches), plastic LEGO people, who populate the LEGO themes. Most LEGO sets include some Minifigures; LEGO has also sold collections of Minifigures as separate sets. They are also more commonly known as minifigs, figs, or "LEGO people".

Minifigures are known to inhabit their own LEGO Universe, and have their own Minifigure Language.

Design
Minifigures are composed of several separate parts: head, torso, arms, hands, hips and legs. Minifigures typically come as three separate parts in LEGO sets: head, torso/arms/hands, and hips/legs. Every basic plain minifigure has the same height as four normal stacked bricks, but when using a head accessory, it can make the minifigure taller.

The legs can rotate independently to 90 degrees forwards, and about 45 degrees backwards. They also attach to normal LEGO bricks in either a sitting or standing position. There are long legs like Woody's, which can still rotate, and short ones like Yoda's, which cannot rotate. LEGO has made a peg that can go in the leg sockets. A few LEGO arms actually have printings on them such as Boba Fett. The hands of a Minifigure make a shape similar to a "U" or a "C", which allows them to hold many LEGO accessories, as well as plates and tiles (by their sides). There are hundreds of different accessories, including axes, wands, cups, guns and even food. The tops of the hands are also roughly the same size as the studs on LEGO bricks, allowing various LEGO pieces to be placed on top of them. LEGO has made extra pieces that fit in the hand socket like a pirate hook. Minifigure heads are cylindrical, and attach to long narrow cylinder at the top of the torso, which allows the head to rotate. This also allows items that go over the torso, such as air tanks, rucksacks, capes or breastplates, to be attached. The standard heads (LEGO has made other forms of heads for weird aliens and such) also have a stud on top (which is the same size as studs on LEGO bricks), which things can be attached to. Head accessories are varied, including hair, helmets and hats. These variations allow Minifigures to be highly customizable.

History
Predecessors The original LEGO figures were DUPLO figures, but the first System figures were known as LEGOLAND Minifigures. They were similar in height to Minifigures, but have one piece non-movable legs and a one-piece torso. They were blocky and their arms were in their pockets. The figure's heads were similar/the same as those of Minifigures, but they were blank. They also came with hats. In The LEGO Book, they were modified by the designers of the Minifigures continuously, going through stages with movable arms, circular hands, and textured faces. Eventually they settled upon what we consider a minifigure today.

The first Minifigures with movable arms and legs were released in 1978, with seven different figures in Castle, Space and Town themes. Many of the Town Minifigure's torsos had a sticker instead of a printed pattern on one. The Castle Minifigures has blank torsos, instead having a body part with a sticker/symbol on it. The Classic Space Minifigures were the first to be printed, but their printing rubbed off easily. Until 1989, Minifigures heads only had a simple facial expression of two black dots for eyes, and a black curved smile. In that year, Minifigures in the Pirates theme were produced with different facial expressions. The Pirates Minifigures also included hooks for hands, and wooden legs, the first departure from the traditional hands and legs. In 1997 the release of the Western line of sets saw the introduction of the first Minifigures with racial characteristics, with the Indian Minifigures. In 2003, the first Minifigures with natural skin-tones – as opposed to the yellow previously used – were released as part of Basketball; these Minifigures also represented specific people. The following year, the use of natural skintones was expanded to licensed products, such as, and Star Wars Minifigures. As of 2003, LEGO has produced four billion Minifigures.

Variations
While almost all Minifigure torsos, arms and legs are the same size and shape, some sets and themes have included figures that differ from the standard. The Alien Pirate and Alien Commander minifigures have a normal trans-green head with no expression, but have a neck piece that resembles the face of the alien, and a hat piece that resembles the brain. The minifigure's head then ends up looking like a specially molded head. Some Minifigures for women, particularly in Castle and Pirate sets, have used large sloped bricks instead of legs to resemble Dresses or Skirts. Skeletons, in Pirate and Castle sets, have the standard Minifigure head, but have specialized skeletal arms, legs and torso (which are still detachable from each other)-in addition, a new version of skeleton torso was produced with more articulate arms. Shorter legs, without joints at the hip, have been used for children, Yoda and Ewoks in Star Wars sets, Goblins and House Elves, such as Dobby in Harry Potter sets, Dwarfs, in Castle, SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs in the sets, Short Round in the Indiana Jones sets, Stinky Pete in the Toy Story sets, and more. Pirate Minifigures have had peg legs (one leg and one peg leg) and Hooks for hands, later used in other themes such as Adventurers, Alien Conquest and Alpha Team. The minifigures Squid Warrior from Atlantis and the Alien Commander have legs that resemble tentacles. Hagrid, from Harry Potter, uses a larger Minifigure, with only the head being separable. Recently, some Minifigures, such as Woody have also had heads that differ from the traditional cylindrical shape. Traditional accessories, such as hats and helmets, cannot be placed on these different heads. Examples include Stinky Pete, Yoda, Ewoks, Dobby and Goblins as mentioned above. Some Minifigures, such as Chewbacca, SpongeBob and Talz Chieftain have head pieces that fit like ordinary heads, but end up covering more. In Orient Expedition, a subtheme of Adventurers, there were large figures (Yeti, Tygurah, Jun-Chi, all of which were made of a large pair of legs and a torso. There has also been a taller type of Minifigure leg, released in Toy Story, to allow for a height different between Woody and Buzz while allowing Buzz to remain taller than some others.

Child-friendly versions of Minifigures, which are much more difficult to take apart, are being designed. Also, some of the newer figures have special features that can light up (such as lightsabers and flashlights). By pressing down on their heads, their flashlight part (which is also a lightsaber handle and is one piece with the hand and arm) lights up. While this adds a new feature, these Minifigures cannot come apart into as many pieces, which could discourage those who wish to customize them. The top of their heads can come off, because inside of that is a battery. However, it is not especially easy to do so and can damage them. Their heads can also come off, but it is not suggested because the heads connect to the body where the electricity travels to the arm.

Minifigures built from special pieces were first introduced in Star Wars. Martians are builds for five pieces: two double arms, mechanical torso, a combined leg piece and a head. This formula is repeated for many Star Wars droids. Battle droids follow the same pattern, while Super Battle Droids have the head fixed to the torso, General Grievous has space for four arms and IG-88 has a head constructed from LEGO elements. Other droids, such as Droidekas, Spider Droids and Pit Droids, are constructed entirely from ordinary LEGO elements many of which were originally made for the droid Minifigures, but are none the less often considered Minifigures. R2-D2, and other astromech droids, are constructed from specialized elements; with a separate top, body and two legs. Recently, the robots of Exo-Force have a design similar to the battle droids, but have separate legs and movable hands, and the head fixed on a small torso. The Minifigures C-3PO and TC-14 have a special molded head for characters in the Star Wars franchise. There are also Skeletons of a newer kind, who have a similar design to the battle droids. They still have a skeleton torso and legs, but their arms now can move articulately. In addition, in 2007 new Battle Droid arms were released, allowing droids and skeletons to hold their weapons straight up instead of sideways only.

LEGO Storylines
LEGO has made several "systems," where there are particular sets that have a central theme or story. Some examples include the Orient Expedition, Star Wars, Alpha Team, Knights' Kingdom and Knights' Kingdom II. Some of the Minifigures from these sets are from popular movies or series such as Star Wars,, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Prince of Persia. Also, LEGO has some spinoffs or spoofs of popular series, such as Adventurers. Alpha Team was a theme where Minifigures in the team fight against Ogel. In 2004 the LEGO Group established sets that included Minifigures based on real actors would have their skin tone would change accordingly. Hence the flesh toned Minifigures seen in recent Star Wars sets. The Exo-Force storyline features Minifigures with colorful anime hair and eyes. The hair was also rubbery. LEGO's older themes also had some storyline aspects, although they were rarer and became much more common later on, when LEGO books and magazines were more common (mid-to-late 1990s).

Other LEGO figures
In some lines of products, LEGO has used figures other than the standard Minifigures. TECHNIC has used larger TECHNIC Figures since 1986. These figures are more realistic, although still angular, and have more degrees of motion, including knees and elbows. However, they cannot be easily disassembled; even hair is non-removable. Some included helmets. The Fabuland line of the 1980s consisted of larger anthropomorphic animal characters, which also could not be easily disassembled. Belville and Scala, LEGO lines aimed at girls, also have larger figures. They are similar to TECHNIC figures in range of motion, but have less angular legs, arms and torsos. Scala figures more closely resemble Dolls, in that clothes are separate from the figures and the hair is composed of strands and not molded plastic. More recently, LEGO has introduced BIONICLE figures, such as Toa, which are many times larger and have more flexibility in pose; they are also composed of separate pieces, unlike other large LEGO figures. In 2005, LEGO released BIONICLE playsets, with Minifigures of characters that previously only had large figures (Toa and Visorak/Piraka). While these Minifigures did not have movable parts, in 2006 LEGO released Toa Inika playsets containing Minifigures with movable parts, similar to the Robots from Exo-Force. Another type of Minifigures are the figures found in the Jack Stone sets, and they have carved faces, but are bigger, and do not have interchangeable parts. Similar large figures were also found in other four Juniors themes, such as the four Juniors Spider-Man and Creator sets. In 2010, LEGO has produced the successor of BIONICLE, Hero Factory, in which the larger villains have flexibility like the BIONICLE figures. The Heroes have single-piece arms and legs that can not bend at the elbows and knees. Skeletons are made up of several parts.

In the LEGO board games, LEGO has made Microfigures that are easier to move around a gameboard than average minifigures. They are made of one piece and do not have separate arms or legs.

Types
See Category:Minifigures.

Resources

 * 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_minifigure