The changing face of LEGO

[WhiteHexagon]

I really miss the simple :-) minifig faces. It seems that every set I buy these days has some snarling angry expression, or silly half hair cuts. Is it just me, or is this getting worse?

Peter

[snefroe]

i remember several parent's groups complaining about this in the US a while back... I don't think it's that bad though. the city heads still look good to me. still, some :-) from time to time wouldn't hurt

[El Bucanero]

parents who complain about the expression of a LEGO fig? that's ridiculous, isn't it normal when a Viking is angry when a big snake is attacking the ship?

[ApophisV]

Once again a chance to complain about Minigun swinging LEGO figures! *sweet*

My Ex-Girlfriend mentioned to me in 2002 that LEGO had never produced any non-smiling minifig faces. Even the "bad and evil" pirates had a smiling mouth under their mustaches.

back then a LEGO face always was a classic Smiley with "additional painting" (hair, mustache, glasses), but ALWAYS featuring the classic smile.

Nowadays this smile only comes up in his classic form, every other face is designed completely from scratch.

And IMO it's a pity that the design of today's faces hasn't really anything to do with the old school LEGO look. (Look at the Exo-Force designs, they doesn't resemble any LEGO like face anymore)

[natelite]

And IMO it's a pity that the design of today's faces hasn't really anything to do with the old school LEGO look. (Look at the Exo-Force designs, they doesn't resemble any LEGO like face anymore)

agreed ....exo force could do without the funny eyes. the accents (like bandana, sunglasses, scar) are enough to differentiate hikaru from takeshi from ryo...etc. not sure why they can't just stick to round eyeballs. it's easier and better for moc'ing too.

[gylman]

As usual, I side with the old folks. Every fleshie I get goes into the parts bin, and there is a great big place in my heart for the smilies. I don't think all those angry, crazy, scary, etc etc faces have added anything to my enjoyment of the toy. To me the smilie is the face of Lego. Nothing else.

[Section8]

I really hate all the non-standard smiles of late. It was fine when they improved upon the classic smile with sunglasses, stubble, mustaches, etc, but lately it's gone too far. Especially when the classic smile is now the rarity in sets. I also really hate the pupils in the eyes. I haven't gotten too many new sets, but the ones I do have all get replaced with classic smiles.

[ghoulrealm]

I for one love the variety, even flesh tones. I don't see a problem here unless your'e a newbe to lego or younger and want some classic faces, but I have enough classic heads allready :-)

If they are too generic it gets's kind of boring for some.

I especialy like all the alien and monster faces from Star Wars and Harry Potter. *alien* Even better than that, is the specialty form heads like Doby, Jarjar,and *yoda* .

Yes, I like Jarjar but only in form, not personality.

[optimus-convoy]

Sure, I'll always love the classic smile, but I personally love the diversity of minifig faces these days. :-)

Though the flesh tones can get a little annoying sometimes. :-/

[JoeMI6]

I always think I'll be able to use flesh tones somewhere, but I always end up using the old standard :-).

[snefroe]

parents who complain about the expression of a LEGO fig? that's ridiculous, isn't it normal when a Viking is angry when a big snake is attacking the ship? I personal don't really suffer on these new faces, as long as they are yellow they look good to me. Snefroe, could you tell me where they were actually complaining about?

Once again, i posted outside the pirate forum!

well they were most of all refering to the heads of the city minifigs. a policeman for instance, can just as easily have a classic smiling face when he's controling traffic... there are many consumer groups who collect these opinions and just swing them into the media. trust me, sooner or later you'll get women's groups complaining about the lack of female figs in lego as well...

i think, btw, that the fleshies are a different matter. that's because of licenses...

[WhiteHexagon]

I only have a few fleshies so far, and that's too many. Although maybe the Micheal Schumacher one will be worth something one day now that he's retired.

I seem to remember that LEGO land Germany had minifig parts, anyone remember if these were classic faces? Maybe I just replace them all next time I vistit :-)

[Darkness Falls]

Flesh tones was an unexpected turn on Lego's part, but I don't see why everyone is so unhappy. With the original smile(which also holds a warm place in my heart), you can only customize a minifigure so much, but with newer faces, we can bring more characters into our ow nstories, characters that aren't so damn happy all the time.

[Zarkan]

I don't really mind at all. Fleshies and angry faces, or yellow and smiley faces, In my opinion, a lego figure is still a lego figure, due to his stubby form, cylinder head, and 2 fingered hands. ;-)

Besides. I haven't seen any angry faces in city or train kits so far. :-/

[oo7]

I actully don't like :-) s most of the time. I love the variation that licencened themes like SW ang HP add to the heads of minifigs. Diverse heads and facial expresions=more realistic figs=better figs.

But sometimes the fleshies can get pesky.

[STARWARS LEGO!]

Look at the imperial oficcers they are always smily they still have the smile yay but they are pink grri want :-) back

[Hobbes]

I already traded all my non-standard-smilie heads for :-) some time ago, so only :-) for me.

And now I've got fleshies from two 4856 sets >:-(

[WhiteHexagon]

Oh no, I just got a harry potter minifig and actually I quite like the fleshie, with the cute little scar an all. Oh dear, what's becoming of me. I must be ill!

[alex54]

Like the 80-90's nostalgic people, I prefer the smiles head. The way that TLC used to make some different heads (pirats, glasses, mustaches) was better than the new faces, even if they bring some diversity. But the fleshi heads make me :-X , I dislike those "real colored skin minifigs".

Keeping the :-) heads with additional parts doesn't mean that you can't have some burglar, just look what playmobile done and see that they made some bag guys with good faces!

[rupi]

And IMO it's a pity that the design of today's faces hasn't really anything to do with the old school LEGO look. (Look at the Exo-Force designs, they doesn't resemble any LEGO like face anymore)

agreed ....exo force could do without the funny eyes. the accents (like bandana, sunglasses, scar) are enough to differentiate hikaru from takeshi from ryo...etc. not sure why they can't just stick to round eyeballs. it's easier and better for moc'ing too.

That's it...I bought 2 exo-force sets and I didn't like the minifigs faces. I liked the colors, I liked the hair,... but something was wrong: the eyes. They don't look like lego faces to me.

Not to mention the exo-force robots, they are so ughly.

[Brick Miner]

back then a LEGO face always was a classic Smiley with "additional painting" (hair, mustache, glasses), but ALWAYS featuring the classic smile.

i always thought this was a very innovative method for creating different character archetypes, without loosing the classic look of the smiley... very innovative.

however, i don't mind the new style either, designing from scratch that is.

but one thing i don't understand is the redoing of character archetypes...

for example:

these two heads are nearly the same, why make two characters which are nearly the same ???

i mean, there are so many other personailties which have not been captured yet.

this guy was always one of my favorite expansions to the minifig expression.

i mean, the personality never existed before. great addition X-D

nice topic too ;-) BrickMiner

[Norro]

but one thing i don't understand is the redoing of character archetypes...

for example:

these two heads are nearly the same, why make two characters which are nearly the same ???

i mean, there are so many other personailties which have not been captured yet.

This really bugs me as well because it makes sorting/finding more difficult, as well as decreasing variety.

God Bless,

Nathan