New hands?

[Silverface]

Hi everyone!

I have been thinking for a while now, that wouldn't it be nice if Lego had similar hands with Megablocks? Wouldn't it be nice if minifigs could move hands in all directions, but in this case the hands would easily fall off . But if Lego would put back those old hands that they once had, (below) then the hands wouldn't fall off, and you could also move your minifigs hands in all directions.

What do you think?

[escortmad79]

Talk about going back to basics! I very much doubt they'll take such a backwards step as that! The hands we've got now are functional

[CMP]

Talk about going back to basics! I very much doubt they'll take such a backwards step as that! The hands we've got now are functional

I agree. The only thing I could think to change (but I'm sure they won't) is create a variant with the hand posed downward, so that if you put a sword in the hand, it would be like the fig is stabbing instead of slashing. It'd have a ton of other uses. But again, this is just wishful thinking, I find it very unlikely.

[Silverface]

Well, I didn't mean Lego have to take step backwards. Just a little improvement, that's what I mean... or is that too big step for Lego?

[davee123]

1) I think there's an issue with ball joints at that scale from a technical perspective. Getting them that small, and in such a tight space is probably pretty difficult to do consistently and well. My guess would be that you'd get really floppy hands (or really inconsistently floppy hands), and possibly a lot of broken hands and arms. They might be OK for hobbyists, but children play pretty roughly with their minifigs!

2) At this point, it's unlikely that LEGO would alter their minifigure design. If you had asked back before 2005, they might have considered it. But since then, LEGO seems to have realized the paramount importance of the minifigure to their success, so they're not likely going to screw with it. It was probably true even *before* 2005, but the last few years have really solidified the image of the minifigure even more!

DaveE

[Brickdoctor]

1) I think there's an issue with ball joints at that scale from a technical perspective. Getting them that small, and in such a tight space is probably pretty difficult to do consistently and well. My guess would be that you'd get really floppy hands (or really inconsistently floppy hands), and possibly a lot of broken hands and arms. They might be OK for hobbyists, but children play pretty roughly with their minifigs!

Yeah. They had this kind of functionality on the older Belville figures, and from what I hear strength was a major factor in switching to the current Belville figures, which lack the ball joints in the hands. (actually, they don't have any ball joints. The movement in the shoulders and hips is done with pieces similar to the KK2 action figure joints on a smaller scale)

[Aanchir]

I agree. The only thing I could think to change (but I'm sure they won't) is create a variant with the hand posed downward, so that if you put a sword in the hand, it would be like the fig is stabbing instead of slashing. It'd have a ton of other uses. But again, this is just wishful thinking, I find it very unlikely.

Actually, a lot of swords (for instance, the classic castle sword, the Pirates cutlass, and the Prince of Persia dagger of time) have a ball at the end so that a minifigure can hold them pointing forward at something. It looks a little awkward, but it performs that function fairly well without needing a new mold. It's a real shame that the rapier of the Musketeer in Minifigures Series 4 was not designed with this characteristic in mind.

I think hand molds with a ball joint would be completely unnecessary, and probably impossible at the scale of a regular minifigure.

[brickmack]

Well I don't think they would do that, as several people have said already, the minifigure is one of the biggest symbols of LEGO, they would be taking a HUGE risk by messing with it that much. A lot of people probably wouldn't be very happy about the change. I personally like the minifigure the way it is currently.