To mark the 40th anniversary of LEGO® Minifigures, the LEGO Group has released a wealth of assets that span the last 40 years of design, production and more. As with all LEGO products, the initial design process begins simply with the spark of an idea and a good old fashion sketch pad. As you’ll have seen in my earlier article, the minifigure has evolved a great deal from prototype to the version we know and love today. But even with advances in technology and production, all characters begin life as a simple sketch. These shown below feature some of the characters who made it into Eighteenth Series of LEGO Minifigures.
Once an idea has been chosen, LEGO Designers will perfect its look and then the sketches will transformed into larger scale models, either crafted from clay or using currently available pieces. These are then scanned into advanced computer programs which will allow the LEGO Designers to create the perfectly crafted base on which a mould can be formed. LEGO element mould are an important part of the overall design process, they need to be precisely formed to produce perfect elements every single time.
Over the past 40 years the overall form of the minifigure has remained faithful to those created in 1978. But getting to the familiar form of minifigure we have come to love took a little time, with the prototype process beginning back in 1974. Over the four years before the first minifigures started to appear in LEGO sets, LEGO Designers creating many different versions of ‘people’ who would inhabit LEGOLAND. Just imagine if some of these odd looking creations were chosen over the four piece version used today.
Nowadays there are over 650 unique LEGO faces and over 8000 different minifigures, with the population growing every single day. Although the overall appearance of the minifigure remains the same, these days there are short legged minifigures, uniquely moulded head pieces and a vast collection of accessories and add-on elements, which adds even more fun to the wonderful world of LEGO Minifigures.