30 Years of the Lego Minifig

clikit writes "Today, the Lego Minifig turns 30 years old. Gizmodo is running a video contest with Lego, giving away Galaxy Explorer or the Yellow Castle sets and other unopened vintage sets. They also have an exclusive video from the factory, showing how the minifig is built. Check it out ... finding out how the little guys are made will make you smile." Scientists estimate that 98% of the minifigs created in the last three decades have lost a hand in a tragic vacuum accident, been melted by a magnifying glass, or been eaten by your dog.

Comments

Minifig = Lego People

[Teese]

For those who are curios about the arcane technical jargon in this post.

Re:Minifig = Lego People

[pavon]

And the reason for the name is because Lego also introduced larger figures at the same time (1974). This is actually the 30 year anniversary of articulated minifigs, as the originals didn't have movable arms or legs.

Re:Minifig = Lego People

[crabboy.com]

The larger figures didn't have any legs; they were actually multiple pieces. The shoulders rotates 360 degrees, the shoulder joint can be bent 180 degrees, as can the elbow joint. The wrist is a ball joint. The minifigs only have two joints that rotate; the shoulder and the wrist.

Re:Minifig = Lego People

[Anonymous Coward]

I think minifig is a fucking stupid madeupword and I refuse to acknowledge it. I've been a HUGE fan of Legos for decades and this word will not enter my vocabulary, thank you very much.

Re:What about blasters?

[Anonymous Coward]

Someone didn't get the joke

Re:Lego Bulletin Board?

[Jason Levine]

Looking on Lego's website, it actually looks like it would be easy to build. First I'd buy a Large Green Baseplate (10"x10") for $4.99 ( http://shop.lego.com/ByCategory/Product.aspx?p=626&cn=146&d=203 ). Then I would buy 2x2 flat tiles in various colors for $0.08 each and possibly some round 2x2 flat tiles for $0.11 each. (Sorry, no direct link. But you can search for "Flat Tile 2x2" on http://shop.lego.com/Product/Factory/PickABrick/PickABrick.aspx?cn=26 ) Assuming I buy 20 square flat tiles and 10 round flat tiles, I'm looking at $2.70. This brings me to $7.69 plus $4.95 shipping, or $12.64. Add in some more for clips and magnets to attach to the flat tiles as well as glue to bind the clips/magnets to the tiles. It should be under $20 for the whole thing. Now I'm tempted to try it.

Re:Character driven crap

[Chysn]

> For a new father approaching 40, the new range of
> Lego is abysmal. There's zero creativity in them.

Okay, I'm also a father approaching 40, too, and I've held a similar opinion of new-fangled specialized Lego sets for years. Sure, you could always buy the basic sets, but the space sets had these crazy single-tasking pieces.

My oldest son just turned six, and got a couple of the new Mars Missions space sets for his birthday. These sets are sweet. If you loved the Galaxy Explorer when you were ten, you'd have killed for the 7692 Recon Dropship set. If you just look at it, it LOOKS like it's chock full of pieces that you could never use for anything else. But it's not. The specialized pieces are not inherently less useful than the wing, tail, and window pieces of the Galaxy Explorer.

After years and years of junk, I think the Mars Mission sets are excellent.