"Asian" minifig heads - anyone got a list?

[CappnRob]

I'm trying to put together some historial-ish looking Asian minifigues, and I was wondering if anyone had a list of all the minifig heads that could possible fill in this role, particularly with Yellows. I know the Ninja line had some good heads, but I'm trying to upkeep my variety so I want to avoid redundant heads between figures, plus a lot of those heads have sideburns and facial hair, it'd be nice to have some younger looking figures too. I also know of the Orient expedition ones, which make for some good evil guys if you don't mind the vaguely yellow peril inspired aesthetic :P

Some hairs to match would be nice as well. Cheers in advance lads!

[Aanchir]

Lots of options in the Ninjago theme. In particular, the LEGO Ninjago Movie has a number of great new faces, although which would be most useful to you might depend on what sort of expressions you need — many of the bad guys only have angry expressions and many of the civilians only have panicked/distressed expressions.

Overall, though, the average minifigure is simple enough in its level of detail that the facial features don't tend to be really specific to any one particular race or ethnicity. When the minifigure is given those sorts of characteristics, then as you mention with regard to Orient Expedition, it often starts to evoke rather unsavory racial stereotypes (like this figure's exaggeratedly pronounced lips, or the Indians' noses and narrowed eyes). So for a historical Asian setting, most of the faces you'd want to outright avoid are ones that have eyewear or facial hair that is too modern– or western-looking for your setting.

[gedren_y]

The heads of the Exo-Force minifigs are very anime in styling. There are only a few individual characters, but most of the heads are double-sided.

[CappnRob]

5 hours ago, Aanchir said:

Lots of options in the Ninjago theme. In particular, the LEGO Ninjago Movie has a number of great new faces, although which would be most useful to you might depend on what sort of expressions you need — many of the bad guys only have angry expressions and many of the civilians only have panicked/distressed expressions.

Overall, though, the average minifigure is simple enough in its level of detail that the facial features don't tend to be really specific to any one particular race or ethnicity. When the minifigure is given those sorts of characteristics, then as you mention with regard to Orient Expedition, it often starts to evoke rather unsavory racial stereotypes (like this figure's exaggeratedly pronounced lips, or the Indians' noses and narrowed eyes). So for a historical Asian setting, most of the faces you'd want to outright avoid are ones that have eyewear or facial hair that is too modern– or western-looking for your setting.

Well I don't mind faces looking "ethnic" as long as they're not my only options, lol! Even the Orient Expedition guys are useful if just for angry evil dudes (and in LEGO everyone angry and evil looks unsavory as hell regardless of implied or intended race). The Ninjago movie does have some good civilian faces that I like, too, yeah, I've been meaning to check into them.

[MAB]

CMF can be useful too. Sumo wrestler, various samurai, kendo.

I guess it depends what you mean by Asian, as there is also the snake charmer from the CMF - although he is obviously more South Asian than East Asian. And of course the Central / Western Asian Hun.

Edited October 26, 2017 by MAB

[CappnRob]

I am admittedly more looking for Chinese/Japanese "far east" aesthetics but I like middle eastern and central Asian looks too. The shirtless swordsman is a good figure for that, love his new molded turban.