Minifigs or action figures?

[dyntar]

For me personally its not the designs or paint work that they put on the figures but the basic model of the figure. As long as they continue to stick to the cartoon versions of the characters when doing the paintwork its fine with me.. But the moment they start altering the basic design of the arms and legs...thats when they start becoming action figures.
I don't want my Lego figures to be able to bend at their elbows or knees. Lego figure can move the arm or leg up/down, head or wrist movements if they have any move poseability than that.. that's when i call them action figures.
just my opinion

[Athos]

If no change, then we'd still be playing with these guys

Now those guys belong in a vintage minifig collection. I'd like to snag a couple of those guys... I never realized the cowboy hat came in red and now I really want one...

Steve

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

I suppose I don't mind if TLG develops really specialized and detailed figures so long as the basics are still available. At the moment in pick-a-brick, on their website, one cannot buy a torso without any printing on it, unless you'd like black or grey, with grey hands to boot.

--FLK

[Aimsworth]

As much as I love the pose-ability of say... the Halo Wars/Iron Man MegaBloks lines... I think it would make the Minifigs too fragile, and as many have stated before in this thread... They would lose their iconic look. One of the reasons they survive so long regardless of owner is due to their structure.

And yes... I need to work on my photography/posing

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

As much as I love the pose-ability of say... the Halo Wars/Iron Man MegaBloks lines... I think it would make the Minifigs too fragile, and as many have stated before in this thread... They would lose their iconic look. One of the reasons they survive so long regardless of owner is due to their structure.

And yes... I need to work on my photography/posing

I think Aimsworth's photo speaks a thousand words. I also like that he's included one of the minifigure heads with glasses on. These are turning up everywhere. My favorite photo with this head is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/balakov/3985337156/. And, IMO, I think this figure is very much within the realm of minifig iconography. While having more detail than, say, the Yellow Spacemen from the '80s (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/4372606671/), it's very much within the same spirit (IMHO).

(It's also interesting that the microfigures now found in games have reverted back to the old arms and legs of the original minifigures.)

[puddleglum]

Minifigs or action figures?

Neither! They're dolls.

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

Minifigs or action figures?

Neither! They're dolls.

...that may be opening another can of worms.

[LEGOFREAK]

one cannot buy a torso without any printing on it

thats what brasso is for.

and you know, when the GI joe guys first came out (WAAAAY back) Stan weston used to get really angry when people called them dolls.

and my mom knows she can get my goat when she calls my action figures dolls.

they're not dolls. they can kill...

[ffilz]

What's annoying about Megabloks direction is that one can't build a large collection and variety of figures because there is just too much change.

For all LEGO's adding of detail, for the most part the minifig components are still usable together. Even when themes have introduced figures not so compatible with the minifig, accessories have still been usable (Fabuland, Belville, Scala, Mickey Mouse, and recently Toy Story). Sometimes even the figures are useable.

In a way, I'm actually more frustrated by the flesh tones of the licensed sets, they just don't seem usable with the yellow minifigs (though I did pick up a ton of basketball minifigs to get brown heads, but they mostly sit unused - I think I made two brown headed pirate captains when I was running the pirate game).

I won't get too up in arms about more detailed minifigs so long as the bread and butter keeps the basic minifig common.

If they came up with a scale compatible arm with more articulation, and it appeared in a few sets, I would probably make some use of it. The same with legs (I'd love to be able to have properly kneeling minifigs for example). I do like the tall legs from Toy Story and I hope we see more of those.

One thing I would love is if all the flesh head prints were somehow available on plain yellow heads also. Less likely but also nice would be yellow prints of torsos and legs.

Frank

[Athos]

I just don't like the new helmet on Boba Fett. It doesn't look very lego-like to me. I'm also not real fond of the anime style clone wars figures, though those at least still look lego-y to me.

Steve

[Sir Nelson]

and you know, when the GI joe guys first came out (WAAAAY back) Stan weston used to get really angry when people called them dolls.

Well, since Freak mentioned it, the GI Joe figures of that era were very much marketed to boys in the same vein as Barbie (sic) dolls were marketed to girls. However, since their limbs were removable/interchangable, much like the Bionicle and Ben-10 LEGO sets of this era, I'd not categorize them as dolls, per se. They were action figures, and you controlled the action. (Mike Powers FTW!).

And to LEGOFREAK: "I've got a tough assignment for you..."

[puddleglum]

doll - \ˈdäl, ˈdȯl\
noun
1 : a small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child's plaything

[Frank_Lloyd_Knight]

doll - \ˈdäl, ˈdȯl\
noun
1 : a small-scale figure of a human being used especially as a child's plaything

Well there you go. Since I'm not a child, minifigures aren't dolls -- by definition! You really like stirring up the coals, don't you.

[wobnam]

A Lego Minifigure, also known as a minifig, is a small plastic figurine available as part of the construction toy Lego, produced by Danish toy manufacturer the Lego Group. [...] Minifigures are collected by both children and adults.

Applying your logic to the above quote, Frank_Lloyd_Knight, I come to the conclusion that since I am not both a child and an adult, the figures I collect are not Lego Minifigures -- by definition.

[Ye Olde Republic]

Wiki entries don't count in a debate as anyone can edit it to say what they want.