In 1958, the LEGO Group patented its now-legendary design and began to make sets like the Town Plan series. This series came with four tiny police officers posed in different positions, designed to ‘direct traffic’ through the Town Plan.
Children were using LEGO bricks to construct their figures – although these brick-built ‘people’ did not have any moving parts or facial features.
In 1974, the Minifig’s larger predecessor, the Maxifigure, was released. It was a building figure made from basic bricks and plates, along with a movable head and hinged arms. The heads included printed faces and even special hats and hair elements.
A year later, Minifigs were sold that had solid torsos without separate movable arms, solid and unmovable legs, and heads without printed features. What they did have was a small variety of headpieces like caps, pigtail hair and cowboy hats.
Finally, in 1978, the first modern Minifigs were released as part of the Castle, Space and Town sets. The torsos, legs and arm pieces were interchangeable, and they had two dots for eyes and a curved line for a smile. There were no gender or racial components, as the intent was that these factors could be determined by the child’s imagination.
In the 1990s, the minifigs hit a few firsts. A glow in the dark ghost was the first non-human Minifig, the first dress came in 1997, and later that decade, open mouths with more detailed eyes were being produced. Double faces and reversible heads were introduced in 2001.
Many new themes have been introduced and discontinued, including the inclusion of licensed themes in 1999 such as Star Wars, Harry Potter or Marvel and DC Comics.
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