40 years ago today the first LEGO minifigure was coming off the production in at the LEGO Factory in Billund, Denmark. Having created figures before, this style made it standardized example for future sets. For 40 years they have brought joy to kids and adults alike. In this post I'll dive into the history of the figure and share what is great about them!
History
Just a short history of how we got to the minifig we all know and love today. Back in 1974, LEGO had been around for a few years. They have built towns, cities, toys, etc. But what they had forgot all about the people! They came out with a figure called the "maxifigures". They had arms that could bend and twist, but sadly, no legs. But this wasn't satisfying customers much. So the next year they came out with a new figure. This one had legs, but they were one solid piece, so couldn't move. The head didn't have any expressions on it, and now the arms were molded into the torso as well! So you could have "people" in your sets but they just didn't really represent a person.
In 1978 a LEGO designer by the name of Jens Nygaard Knudsen came up with a design. The figure had a bending waist, with independent legs, moveable arms, rotating wrists that had hands that could clip onto tools and piping, and a head with a smile on it. The legs were also designed to stick to the studs of LEGO bricks and when bent the back of the legs had stud holes so that you could make the figure sit on studs, like a chair.
These became known as minifigures, or as most of us call them minifigs. They became the standard for LEGO sets from then on out. And over the last 40 years they have adapted. Faces have evolved to have more than just a smile, from scared faces to silly, and so many more! Some figures even have two faces so you can turn their head around and change the entire scene! Creating babies, a wheelchair, kids, teens, so many options. Then they each have their own themes, from space pirate, fireman, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Marvel, the list goes on and on. This year they celebrated by creating a series of collectible minifigures celebrating the 40 years with the remake of the original policeman and a birthday cake along with many others all ready for the party!
Although it uses the same mold, their faces tell a story that is always changing, and will always have a different story for any individual who owns them. We appreciate them because they can become whoever we want them to be, and live our dreams minifigure style!
I have posted the video released by LEGO in the creation of a minifigure and some cool facts!
· If the global population had grown at the same rate as LEGO minifigures, there would now be nearly 144 trillion of us living on Earth!
· Eight different molds are used for the production of every minifigure, and today’s molds are almost identical to the ones used in 1978.
· Take away the hair or any other headpiece and LEGO minifigures are exactly the same height as four LEGO bricks fitted together.
· If you stacked minifigures head to toe, you would need 20,750 to reach the height of the world’s tallest building, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
· Three LEGO minifigures even blasted into space onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft in 2011.
· The traditional neutral yellow color of the LEGO minifigure’s head was chosen to allow fans around the world to imagine themselves as part of the action in their play experience.
· The LEGO Group created 10,000 gold chrome C-3PO minifigures packed in random sets to mark the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.
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