"Yellow-ifying" licensed minifigures

[Hive]

I'm a huge fan of the original idea behind making minifigs yellow, to de-attach them from any conceptions of race or colour. In the land of LEGO, all minifigs were the same - having a "fantasy" skin colour. And as such, I only use yellow-skinned minifigs in my collection. But of course, when buying licensed sets, that's not the type of minifigs you get. So whenever I get a licensed minifigure that I like, I "yellow-ify" it by replacing the hands and head with yellow counterparts -  given that the torso isn't "tarnished" with licensed skin colours. Those that have skin colours on their torsos, I sell on Bricklink (same for the heads and  hands).

I've done this with all sorts of licensed figures over time; LoTR/The Hobbit, PoTC, Harry Potter, Friends, Stranger Things. Of course, it's tough (and often impossible) to find heads that are as good and detailed - but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

Now... am I the only one who has this obsession?

[Anonknee Muss]

3 hours ago, Hive said:

I'm a huge fan of the original idea behind making minifigs yellow, to de-attach them from any conceptions of race or colour. In the land of LEGO, all minifigs were the same - having a "fantasy" skin colour. And as such, I only use yellow-skinned minifigs in my collection. But of course, when buying licensed sets, that's not the type of minifigs you get. So whenever I get a licensed minifigure that I like, I "yellow-ify" it by replacing the hands and head with yellow counterparts -  given that the torso isn't "tarnished" with licensed skin colours. Those that have skin colours on their torsos, I sell on Bricklink (same for the heads and  hands).

I've done this with all sorts of licensed figures over time; LoTR/The Hobbit, PoTC, Harry Potter, Friends, Stranger Things. Of course, it's tough (and often impossible) to find heads that are as good and detailed - but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

Now... am I the only one who has this obsession?

No sir! I have this same obsession. I don’t change existing licensed characters, I make my own yellowified super heroes up instead. 

[Mandalorianknight]

6 hours ago, Hive said:

I'm a huge fan of the original idea behind making minifigs yellow, to de-attach them from any conceptions of race or colour. In the land of LEGO, all minifigs were the same - having a "fantasy" skin colour. And as such, I only use yellow-skinned minifigs in my collection. But of course, when buying licensed sets, that's not the type of minifigs you get. So whenever I get a licensed minifigure that I like, I "yellow-ify" it by replacing the hands and head with yellow counterparts -  given that the torso isn't "tarnished" with licensed skin colours. Those that have skin colours on their torsos, I sell on Bricklink (same for the heads and  hands).

I've done this with all sorts of licensed figures over time; LoTR/The Hobbit, PoTC, Harry Potter, Friends, Stranger Things. Of course, it's tough (and often impossible) to find heads that are as good and detailed - but that's a price I'm willing to pay.

Now... am I the only one who has this obsession?

I personally prefer the more accurate figures with skin-tones, but this sounds like an interesting concept.

Do you have any images of examples of this you could share in this thread?

[Seaber]

I used to - I have Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Harry Potter minifigs. Once I started getting a lot of flesh heads I used them exclusively with Harry Potter figures, keeping the other two themes yellow. Then flesh tones spread to LOTR figs when official ones came out in 2012. Star Wars finally fell to the flesh in 2017.

 

I still use yellow heads on pirate/castle themed figures though, including the Pirates of the Caribbean minifigures. The fact the flesh printing on their chests was more yellow than the face and hands made it a lot easier in that theme though. 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Seaber

[koalayummies]

Is this the type of thing you're talking about, changing the hands and heads to be yellow?

I changed the hair too as I wanted to see what they'd look like as more generic City figures. These are all Harry Potter CMF.

Edit: here's another example, member AmperZand changed some of the Disney 2 figures to yellow as well.

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by koalayummies

[BaneShake]

This is an old photo of mine, but I played around with making a "classic" Superman based on A) Classic Yellow, and B) his younger days Tee-shirt and jeans combo he did in Grant Morrison's Action Comics.

[TheLegoDr]

Those HP torsos work really well with plain yellow people. Brilliant. I hadn't considered that, for whatever reason. I will always love classic yellow since it was my childhood (especially plain boring smiley). But I do really like the licensed skin tones. There is nothing negative about people having different skin tones. *shrugs*

\

With that said, you can modify your licensed skin tones with a yellow sharpie and make licensed-yellow versions of the real characters. I did it with an extra Jack Sparrow (since we had so many) and it turned out really well. I never got a picture of it and beats me where I put it. But I may have to do it on some other extras I have in the future, just for fun. But I rather like switching the pieces altogether to represent them (or other people entirely) with yellow.

Looks like my town just got a whole bunch of new torso ideas.

[Digger of Bricks]

On 12/26/2019 at 3:54 AM, Hive said:

Now... am I the only one who has this obsession?

Well, the thought had crossed my mind when I first saw the new torso print introduced for the Clutch Powers figure in 40342; because if it weren't for the character's initials emblazoned on both the back and front of the jacket, you would've had the perfect torso for a "yellow-ifyed" Indiana Jones! 

[Hive]

On 12/26/2019 at 5:15 PM, Mandalorianknight said:

Do you have any images of examples of this you could share in this thread?

Sure:

Will Byers, Harry Potter and Joey Tribbiani

 

Here, I haven't attempted to re-create the actual characters from which I took the parts per se - but are simply using them for random townspeople in my modular city (which the 3 above will become as well, at some point).

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, Hive said:

Sure:

Will Byers, Harry Potter and Joey Tribbiani

Here, I haven't attempted to re-create the actual characters from which I took the parts per se - but are simply using them for random townspeople in my modular city (which the 3 above will become as well, at some point).

These look great, Joey espeially looks like he ame that way

[Hive]

3 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

These look great, Joey espeially looks like he ame that way

Thanks. Yeah, I could find better heads for the other two. That's part of the fun process; finding heads that fit the character. But for the most part, I don't keep them as their "real" characters for long anyway, and instead repurpose them for my city. But I plan on keeping Upside Down on display for some time, so I'll be on the lookout for a better head for Will for sure. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know!

[Hive]

Another great example that I don't have assembled right now is this PoTC officer:

Give him white hands (for gloves) and a new head and he's perfect for regular Pirates.