Would you be open to changes in the minifig to make it more poseable?

[TheLegoDr]

I like the Gollum arm in which you can place it one way and the arm is straight ahead and the other way it looks like he is holding something out to you or holding a beverage or shaking a hand, etc... But of course, you'd need more figures with bony shoulders then which may not be too appealing, especially for some figures. But that is one way to make more poses I suppose.

I hadn't noticed the Friends figures were all "flesh" toned, although they do have other skin colors as well, so that's a good start.

[Lyichir]

Anyone else annoyed that minifigures with the dress piece are a little taller than others? I suppose I can explain that it's due to heels. Not sure if a custom shorter slope piece would be the most practical solution.

For the official Lego Wedding favor set, it looks like they try to fix the height issue with a four-piece dress. But now the woman seems disproportionately short. This is probably due to the printing not going all the way. Perhaps it's best we don't change anything or just add 1x1 plates / shoes to all non-dress wearing minifigs.

I actually prefer the extended height. Those parts are typically used for long, elaborate dresses, so it's not unrealistic to think that the figs might be wearing heels under the dress! I agree that the solution for the Wedding Favor set leaves much to be desired, although I think that was less to shorten the fig than to give the dress a "train" that trailed behind the fig.

[TheBigRedCheese]

I think that slightly modded shoulders would be GREAT, [like the skeleton, but firm, as some one has already said] as would short poseable legs. Otherwise, I think the minifigure is what it is. Also, someone said that they'd like to see more arm mold variation other than the Man-Bat and bat creature wings, and I totally agree with that. Also, someone mentioned T-shirts. What I call "double-printing", where one piece, like say, an arm, has two colors on it, has already happened, but on an extremely limited number of figures. I only know of two, but I think more will come out soon. I am lucky enough to own the Target exclusive Superboy, and he wears a black T-shirt, which Lego recreated faithfully, with half colored arms and all. The issue is, for those who like the classic yellow, he has flesh arms, and for those who'd like some racial variety, Superboy is Caucasian, so there's that. Also, the collectible minifig line has a few of these, all of which are in the classic yellow, and one where the dude is wearing a light grey undershirt, so the sleeves of that are sticking out from his T-shirt. The Simpsons collectible minifgure line has ALOT of these, so for those going Lego T-shirt hunting, that's where I'd start.

On another note, I've managed to string an official Lego rubber band through the body, and then just make sure that it wraps slightly around the shoulder joint, and voila, the arms are "streched out". It is very hard to do on newer mini-figures, because of the "pegs" in the torso that help the waist tighten to the legs but on the older ones that don't have these, or they are less invasive, (like a 1980 something Space Guy :P), it is MUCH easier, and looks GREAT on both new and old. If done right, it looks kind of like this:

0

>---I---<

/\

Also, there are third party options, at least in the way of arm articulation. Disclaimer: I've never used this company, so try this AT YOUR OWN RISK.

http://crazybricks.b...air-ghost-white

or

http://crazybricks.b...ures-pair-black

There are also creative "purist" ways to make poseable minifigures, I actually think there's a thread here on Eurobricks about it, so there's that.

Edited May 28, 2015 by TheBigRedCheese

[MAB]

I wouldn't mind a shorter dress piece (not a regular brick slope) to reduce height, with longer pins like the minifig legs so that they stay in the torso better.

Otherwise, keep them as they are.

I wouldn't want articulated short legs, the custom ones available look rather stupid.

[alois]

The first minifig was a policeman, not a child.

[wendyw]

I second (third, fourth?) the call for smaller dress pieces. People do wear skirts and dresses without heals sometimes.

Other than that though, I'm happy for them to leave them as they are.

Also, there are third party options, at least in the way of arm articulation. Disclaimer: I've never used this company, so try this AT YOUR OWN RISK.

http://crazybricks.b...air-ghost-white

or

http://crazybricks.b...ures-pair-black

I don't know about their straight arms, but I've got some of their animal heads, top hats and accessories and they're all really, really well done. I can't fault any of them. If the quality of the arms is anything like those parts then you shouldn't have any problems with them.

[GallardoLU]

And why can't minifigures have short sleeves like Cinderella? Why is every minifigure either in long sleeves or no sleeves? T-shirts are so NATURUAL that it's weird that it doesn't exist in minifigure form. I wonder if they ever attempted a short sleeve with printing.

Take a look at the Simpson figures, Bart, Apu, Homer, Snake, Milhouse, Willie, Comic book guy, Patty, Marge, Lisa, Martin prince, Itchy, Krusty, and Nelson. All have short sleeves (or at least 1 variant with short sleeves) there are also a few CMFs that have short sleeves now Carpenter, Genie Girl, Dino Tracker, and Pizza Guy. there may be others I haven't come across yet but not many, good news is that it will likely become more common as years go on.

[SuperGeniusCreator]

As long as it isn't flimsy and as long as it doesn't break easily, I'm all for more minifigure articulation, provided they don't change the overall look too much. I would especially like new articulated short legs (and a special short torso to go with it for better proportions). I would expect that changing the basic minifigure parts would be met with a lot of resistance, though, mostly due to how nostalgic the current design has become, having lasted from 1978-present with only very slight alterations (such as the minifig head's stud becoming depressed/hollow and the torso's leg-connection point becoming a tighter "X" connection from the older ": :" connection.)

[MAB]

There would be huge resistance. If people want action figures, there are plenty out there already. Minifigures need to be the shape they are to stick to a square based lattice system. If they start changing the ratios, they wouldn't fit in correctly. I don't mind specialised parts to modify the minifig, such as Bombur's beard and belly, but the underlying minifig is still there.

[Phoxtane]

Maybe just shaving a bit of plastic off the top of the minifigure's shoulder to allow the joint there to pivot up and down a little as well as front-to-back?

[Endriu]

The minifigs should stay the way they are. Dont like those licensed minifigs... prefer the yellow ones, dont really know why. Got myself the lone ranger silver mine these days and should I ever plan to do something wild west I will customize the minifigs into yellow...

[Itaria No Shintaku]

I didn't read all posts, but I really feel like they should articulate the short legs too... it's a pity...

[splatman]

TLG could add, but not change, any feature of the minifig. E.g., have articulated arms, like the Skellies, but at the same time, also keep making the classic figs. Even include both in the same set, to show everyone the classic fig is here to stay. better: include both classic and articulated arms in sets; let the builder choose. The torso would remain unchanged. Another part of the fig that has potential, is the head stud. Make the bottom of it thinner, giving it a sort of a tow-ball shape, so the head can tilt in any direction. press the head all the way down, per usual, and the difference is hidden. But leave the head raised a mm or so, and give the fig a boombox, and he can head-bang to his fave tunes!

TLG could also employ a stronger plastic for those parts that need it, but of course, there's the whole challenge of making sure it looks and performs the same, or close enough to not be obvious.

[alanyuppie]

Getting kind of sick of the limited range of motion of minifigures myself. I mean, there's so few options... But I wouldn't want them changing the look. I do wish though I could move those arms like... in more than 2 directions. And the legs.... I mean, some legs can't pose at all! Darn you short legs... you're why I can't buy Hobbit and LotR stuff!

I prefer my one direction minifigs coz they looked cute as they are.

[General Magma]

Posable short legs and shorter dresses - other than that, change nothing.

[Legononymous]

I agree with it would be nice to have an option. The Galidor articulation would be great. Is it feasible? Probably not. A lot of us enjoy the photography aspect of Lego and being able to show more of some animation.

[Tuinman]

the minifigs are fine the way they are. Only a shorter dress would be nice.

[Phoxtane]

The technology is certainly there to be able to mold joints into the arms and legs of minifigures without need for assembly. The hands on one of my Gunpla models came on a sprue of their own, like this:

While I did have to cut and trim the sprue off the hand parts, all the fingers are fully articulated along the knuckles and base of the finger. It would definitely be possible for Lego to mold elbow/knee joints into their respective parts with no need for later assembly, but I'm guessing that that particular mold technology is even MORE expensive than the current molds that Lego uses, and possibly would cost more if tooled to their exacting standards.

It's worth mentioning that that image is of the hand molds in the MG RX-93 Ver. Ka kit, whereas mine came in the MG RX-78-2 Ver. 3.0 kit. They look exactly the same, which suggests to me that Bandai is using the same mold for all of their articulated hand needs, which in turn suggests that that particular mold was very expensive indeed!

[danth]

Also worth remembering is that when the body proportions of the first minifigs were decided on, they were created to represent children, not adults. The short legs and large heads are more in keeping with the body shape of young children, after all. When System themes like Town, Castle and Space rolled up they suddenly had to pull double-duty as adults as well

I don't think this is true. The first minifigs came out at the same time as the first Town, Space, and Castle sets. Unless you count the earlier pre-minifig people with no arms and single-piece legs, but I don't know that they were intended to represent children.

[Karalora]

I agree that articulated short legs would be nice. While it doesn't really make a difference as to the sitting vs. standing height of the figure, short minifigs are very often associated with action themes like LOTR (hobbits and dwarfs), Castle fantasy (dwarfs again) and Star Wars (Ewoks) and it seems weird to have them so static while their taller buddies are running and flailing all over the place.

On the other hand, it's never bothered me that minifigs with dress slopes stand a little taller than minifigs with legs. It's just another facet of minifig stylization, like the trapezoid bodies and cylindrical heads.

[badbob001]

It's nice that we have short sleeves, but you have to wait for Lego to create the combination of colors that you need. One idea is to have the arms be two parts (three if you count the hands). In the same way the hands are attached, the shoulder part has a rod that fits into a hole in the forearm. Now we can choose the colors that we want. AND the forearms can be swiveled out to the side, though I'm not sure I have much use for this pose unless it involves guns.

The only concern is that it seems like the hands are made of a different type of plastic and this may force the arms to be made of the same plastic, which will introduce color differences from the rest of the body.

[Naijel]

It's nice that we have short sleeves, but you have to wait for Lego to create the combination of colors that you need. One idea is to have the arms be two parts (three if you count the hands). In the same way the hands are attached, the shoulder part has a rod that fits into a hole in the forearm. Now we can choose the colors that we want. AND the forearms can be swiveled out to the side, though I'm not sure I have much use for this pose unless it involves guns.

The only concern is that it seems like the hands are made of a different type of plastic and this may force the arms to be made of the same plastic, which will introduce color differences from the rest of the body.

I quite like this idea. It could help solve basic problems with minifig utensils/accessories such as a pirates who can't actually put their telescope up to their eye.

[Captain Dee]

Of all the ideas expressed I will speak on just two: legs and dresses.

I don't want posable short legs; in fact I don't want short legs, period (yes, I have a bunch). I would much rather have taller standard legs with the same type articulation at the knee that currently exists at the hip and then replace the short legs with the standard legs. I don't think it would be much harder than creating a new posable short leg design and it would improve the bodily proportions somewhat (for depicting adult minifigs at least). Will it ever happen? I doubt it - but it would suit my own purposes much better.

This leads to dresses and the fact that the current design makes the women taller than the men. High heals? I don't think so - the average woman on heals doesn't tower over the average man like the Lego people do. The men are just too short - specifically the legs, as already stated. The torsos look reasonable enough but the legs are just too short. The printed slope brick dress ladies look so much better because the bodily proportions are better and they look more like adults. Give them shorter dresses and they'll look the worse for it. I currently have more than 250 women in printed dresses (mostly Castle and Pirates themes plus some CMFs) and I think they're the best-looking minifigures Lego has ever made - just because of their proportions. Yes, the dresses are blocky, and no, full-length historic dresses didn't just extend out the back, but they still look nice. But I do agree that they need a stronger connection at the hips; the two standard studs break loose too easy, even with careful handling.

To summarize: I'd like new, taller legs with moving knees and stronger hip connections on the dresses; otherwise leave them alone. Neither option is perfect but it would be better than the current form. Arms are another issue, but I don't have strong feelings; I'm pretty happy with them despite their limitations.

Edited June 4, 2015 by Captain Dee

[Ardelon]

I wouldnt really want any change that would be outwardly visible. One that would fit this criterion and that I would like to see is poseable short legs, that would attach to hips like regular legs. Another of the discussed changes i would like are shorter dresses with pigs like legs, so they would attach more securely to the torso.

Another idea I kind of like is to make differently-posed arms, like the vampire/bat creature, but without the wings hanging from the arms. Though that would probably require that the arms seprate from the torso more easily and without the risk of cracking the torso or loosening the connection. I understand that switching arms is an "illegal" technique. But i would probably be fine with such a change.

What i expresly would NOT want to see is a switch so some type of Woody-style long legs. Those things look like stilts.

Some ideas floated here are interesting, like slightly shaving off the shoulders and lower neck so figs can slightly move their arms to the sides and nod/tilt their head. But I would have to see it to know whether it works of if its gone too far.

Another interesting idea is to attach the legs to the waist by just one peg, though the connection would have to be strenghtened.

[Giantorange]

I wouldn't mind movable legs on the Dwarf/kids minifigs, but other than that I like them as they are.