Celebrating 40 years of the LEGO Minifigure - Old minifigures' advertisement (1978)

[WhiteFang]

Dear Eurobricks Community, 

Do you know 29 August 2018 marks the 40 years anniversary of the LEGO Minifigure? Because today was the original date that the first Danish patent was handed in 1977. The first ever minifigures' release only come about in 1978 and the launch is the reason why we are celebrating this joyous occasion. 

Well, TLG (The LEGO Group) had sent a wide arsenal of exciting materials, resources and past references where the Minifigures' history are first found. Eurobricks is one of the honoured sites to be able to receive these information and I am pleased to share them with our fellow Eurobricks members and to discuss your thoughts. More importantly, to remember the past and good old days of LEGO Minifigures in view of its 40th Birthday!  

The original super detailed high resolution images provided by TLG can be found in this Flickr Album. 

Henceforth, allow me to first share the humble beginnings of some these promotional advertisements in 1978. 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, stay tune for more upcoming sharing and short write-up in the coming weeks. 

WhiteFang

[neonic]

Great to see.

I see a lot of stuff I had when I was young and played with Lego. Actually ... I've never throw it away  Only for some reason the streets are lost. It's funny to see those Lego then, and what they build now. a Big change.

[Brick2x4]

Nice! Does anyone know what was the first ever Lego minifigure ever made in a comercial set?

[JopieK]

The first mining ever was the little girl in the homemaker set wasn't it?

Must have been 297, that one was released in 1978 (JopieK - 1). Apparently many more sets were released in 1978 that had minifigs in them though including the two illusive train cars that featured one with a yellow hard hat (until the toy story dump truck a few years ago LEGO did not release any more sets with a yellow hard hat so the prices became ridiculous (the hat was more expensive than the entire set in the end).

[parsom]

It's strange to be as old as the minifigure...

[makoy]

Very nostalgic.

So TLG, please give Classic Space and Castle a fighting chance once more. 

[Renny The Spaceman]

39 minutes ago, makoy said:

Very nostalgic.

So TLG, please give Classic Space and Castle a fighting chance once more. 

Oh, if only!

[Rufus]

Happy Birthday, little minifigure.    

[Laura Beinbrech]

10 hours ago, parsom said:

It's strange to be as old as the minifigure...

I'm a month older, so I really feel ancient now.

Also, customizing minifigs (by recombining pre-existing body parts & accessories, both LEGO & 3rd party rather than painting & modifying parts, that is) is pretty much my main bread & butter in LEGO.  I mean, yes I do like making vehicles and the occasional building, but you won't ever see me do any that are in mini or micro scale because I tend to see my structures & vehicles as homes for my extremely large & diverse collection of minifigs, and if it can't fit figures in it (unless it's a robot or something like that), I generally don't build it or try to scale it up until I can fit minifigs in it. 

I can honestly say that I probably would never have gotten as interested in LEGO or stayed as interested in it for as long as I have been without the humble minifig, so three cheers for LEGO minifigs!

[Borex]

Funny how these old sets look just as cool as new ones.

[Scene]

Worth noting that this is the anniversary of the "modern" movable parts minifig, as the static minifig of the same scale came out in 1975 ;)

[dartmar]

Really love seeing those old sets. Probably because I own quit a few of them and it takes me back to my youth.

Edited August 31, 2018 by dartmar