Minifigure Minifigures are small plastic figures just over 1 1 / 2 inches ( 4 cm ) , or four bricks tall . They connect to normal LEGO Bricks , and usually consist of 9 - 10 parts . The minifigure was designed by LEGO model builder Jens Nygaard Knudsen , along with other early minifigure designs . Design . A basic minifigure is composed of several separate essential LEGO pieces : head , torso , arm s , hand s , hips , and leg s . Minifigures typically come packaged as three separate parts in LEGO set s : head , torso / arms / hands , and hips / legs . Each basic plain minifigure has the same height as four normal stacked bricks . However , some head accessories can make minifigures slightly taller . The legs can rotate independently beyond 90 degrees forwards and approaching 45 degrees backwards , making a total rotation of 135 degrees . They also attach to normal LEGO bricks in either a sitting or standing position . There are long legs like those of the Toy Story character Woody , which can still rotate , and short ones like Yoda ' s or Dobby ' s , which cannot rotate . These short legs are most commonly used for children in the City theme . There are also tails that can attach the same way as minifigure legs , they are only used on Skales , Fangtom , Acidicus , Skalidor , Medusa , Kapau ' rai , Chop ' rai and Pythor . LEGO has made a peg leg that can fit in the leg sockets . A few LEGO arms , such as some of the Minifigures theme have printings on them . The hands of a minifigure are shaped similarly to a " U " or a " C " , which allows them to hold many LEGO accessories , as well as plates and tiles ( by their sides ) , or on the top of the minifigure ' s hand . There are hundreds of different accessories , including axe s , magic wands , cup s , gun s , sword s , food etc . The tops of the hands are also roughly the same size as the studs on LEGO bricks , allowing various LEGO pieces to be placed on top of them . LEGO has made extra pieces that fit in the hand socket , like pirate hooks or boxing gloves . Minifigure heads are cylindrical , and attach to long narrow cylinder at the top of the torso , which allows the head to rotate . This also allows special items to fit over the torso , such as air tanks , rucksacks , cape s or breastplate s . The standard heads ( LEGO has made other forms of heads for weird aliens and such ) also have a stud on top ( which is the same size as studs on LEGO bricks ) , which things can be attached to . Head accessories are varied , including hair , helmet s , hat s and hoods . These variations allow minifigures to be highly customizable . According to LEGO . com , most minifigures are coloured yellow to display equalization in ethnic society . The use of different tones of colour came about when LEGO decided that minifigures should look " authentic " to the way they were portrayed , this later expanded into licensed themes such as Star Wars to display correct characterization . Although , yellow coloration is still used in unlicensed themes , such as Ninjago , for purposes of equalization in ethnic society . History . Original Figures . The original LEGO figures were released in 1956 in HO scale in a Town Plan system supplemental set Traffic Police 1271 and later 271 . Early Minifigures appeared in 1975 were known as LEGOLAND Minifigures one year after their large counter part Homemaker Figure Maxifigure and followed by the Duplo figure in 1976 . The early minifigures were similar in height to modern minifigures , but have one - piece non - movable legs and a one - piece torso . They were blocky and their arms were depicted as being in their pockets . The figure ' s heads were the same as those of minifigures , but they were blank ( faceless ) . Their only range of motion was at the head . They also came with hats or hairpieces . In the LEGO Book , they were modified by the designers of the minifigures continuously , going through various stages with movable arms , circular hands , and textured faces . Eventually the designers settled upon what is considered a minifigure today . The first minifigure with movable arms and legs was a police man released in the year of 1978 , with seven different figures in Castle , Space and Town themes . Many Town minifigure torsos had a sticker instead of a printed pattern on one . The Castle minifigures have plain torsos , instead having a body part with a sticker / symbol on it . The Classic Space minifigures were the first to be printed , but their printing rubbed off easily . Until 1989 , minifigures ' heads only had a simple facial expression of two black dots for eyes , and a black curved smile . In that year , minifigures in the Pirates theme were produced with different facial expressions . The Pirates minifigures also included hooks for hands , and wooden legs , the first departure from the traditional hands and legs . In 1997 the release of the Western line of sets saw the introduction of the first minifigures with racial characteristics , with the Indian Minifigures . In 2003 , the first Minifigures with natural skin - tones – as opposed to the yellow previously used – were released as part of Basketball ; these minifigures also represented specific people . The following year , the use of natural skin tones was expanded to licensed products , such as , and Star Wars minifigures . As of 2003 , LEGO had produced four billion minifigures . There are at least 3 , 655 different minifigures produced between 1975 and 2010 and the number of new minfigures per year is increasing rapidly . In 2010 , more than 300 new minifigures were introduced . Variations . While almost all minifigure torsos , arms and legs are the same size and shape , some sets and themes have included figures that differ from this standard . The Alien Pirate and Alien Commander minifigures have a normal trans - green head with no expression , but have a neck piece that resembles the face of the alien , and a hat piece that resembles the brain . The minifigure ' s head then resembles a specially moulded head . Some minifigures for women , particularly in Castle and Pirate sets , have used large 2x2x2 sloped bricks instead of legs to resemble dresses or skirts ( slightly longer than legs ) . Skeleton s , in Pirate and Castle sets , have the standard minifigure head , but have specialized skeletal arms , legs and torso ( which are still detachable from each other ) - in addition , a new version of skeleton torso was produced with more articulate arms . Shorter legs , without joints at the hip , have been used for children , Yoda and Ewok s in Star Wars sets , Goblins and House Elves , such as Dobby in the Harry Potter sets , Dwarf s , in Castle , SpongeBob and Mr . Krabs in the sets , Short Round in the Indiana Jones sets , Stinky Pete and the Aliens in the Toy Story sets , and more . Pirate minifigures have had peg legs ( one leg and one peg leg ) and Hook s for hands , later used in other themes such as Adventurers , Alien Conquest , Alpha Team , and Legends of Chima . The minifigures Squid Warrior from Atlantis and the Alien Commander have legs that resemble tentacles . Hagrid , from Harry Potter , uses a larger minifigure , with only the head being separable . Lately , some minifigures , such as Woody have also had heads that differ from the traditional cylindrical shape . Traditional accessories , such as hats and helmets , cannot be placed on these different heads . Examples include Stinky Pete , Yoda , Ewoks , Dobby and Goblins as mentioned above . Some minifigures , such as Chewbacca , SpongeBob and Thi - Sen have head pieces that fit like ordinary heads , but end up covering more . In Orient Expedition , a subtheme of Adventurers , there are large figures ( Yeti , Tygurah , Jun - Chi , all of which were made of a large pair of legs and a torso ) . There has also been a taller type of minifigure leg , released in Toy Story , to allow for a height different between Woody and Buzz while allowing Buzz to remain taller than some others . Woody , Jessie and Zurg also had longer arms so they ' re more to scale with the longer legs . Child - friendly versions of minifigures , which are much more difficult to take apart , have also been designed . Plus , some of the newer figures have special features that can light up ( such as lightsaber s and flashlights ) . By pressing down on their heads , their flashlight part ( which is also a lightsaber handle and is one piece with the hand and arm ) lights up . While this adds a new feature , these minifigures cannot come apart into as many pieces , which could discourage those who wish to customize them . The top of their heads can come off , because inside of that is a battery . However , it is not especially easy to do so and can damage them . Their heads can also come off , but it is not suggested because the heads connect to the body where the electricity travels to the arm . Minifigures built from special pieces were first introduced in Star Wars . Martians are builds for five pieces : two double arms , mechanical torso , a combined leg piece and a head . This formula is repeated for many Star Wars droids . Battle droid s follow the same pattern , while Super Battle Droid s have the head fixed to the torso , General Grievous has space for four arms and IG - 88 has a head constructed from LEGO elements . Other droids , such as Droideka s , Spider Droid s and Pit Droid s , are constructed entirely from ordinary LEGO elements many of which were originally made for the droid minifigures , but are none the less often considered minifigures . R2 - D2 , and other Astromech Droid s , are constructed from specialized elements ; with a separate top , body and two legs . Recently , the robots of Exo - Force have a design similar to the battle droids , but have separate legs and movable hands , and the head fixed on a small torso . The minifigures C - 3PO , Protocol Droid and TC - 14 have a special molded head for characters in the Star Wars franchise . There are also Skeletons of a newer kind , who have a similar design to the battle droids . They still have a skeleton torso and legs , but their arms now can move articulately . In addition , in 2007 new Battle Droid arms were released , allowing droids and skeletons to hold their weapons straight up instead of sideways only . There have also been very rare minifigures released , such as a 14K gold C - 3PO which only 5 were made , a bronze Boba Fett and a silver TC - 14 . LEGO Storylines . LEGO has made several " systems " , where there are particular sets that have a central theme or story . Some examples include the Orient Expedition , Star Wars , Alpha Team , Knights ' Kingdom and Knights ' Kingdom II . Some of the minifigures from these sets are from popular films or series such as Star Wars , , Indiana Jones , Harry Potter , The Lord of the Rings , The Hobbit , Pirates of the Caribbean , and Prince of Persia . Also , LEGO has some spinoffs or spoofs of popular series , such as Adventurers . Alpha Team was a theme where minifigures in the team fight against Ogel . In 2004 the LEGO Group established sets that included minifigures based on real actors would have their skin tone would change accordingly . Hence the flesh toned minifigures seen in recent Star Wars sets . The Exo - Force storyline features minifigures with colorful anime hair and eyes . The hair was also rubbery . LEGO ' s older themes also had some storyline aspects , although they were rarer and became much more common later on , when LEGO books and magazines were more common ( mid - to - late 1990s ) . Today , TV series such as " " and " " and short films such as " The Yoda Chronicles " are often released , explaining the themes throughout episodes . Other LEGO Figures . In some lines of products , LEGO has used figures other than the standard minifigures . TECHNIC has used larger TECHNIC Figure s from 1986 to 1999 . These figures are more realistic , although still angular , and have more degrees of motion , such as at the knees and elbows . However , they cannot be easily disassembled ; even hair is non - removable . Some included helmet s . < br > The Fabuland line of the 1980 s consisted of larger anthropomorphic animal characters , which also could not be easily disassembled . All parts of Basic figures inspired by DUPLO Figure and Fabuland Figure were also firmly fixed together . The two variants of this figure were used in 3 + building sets between 1981 and 1991 . < br > Belville and Scala , LEGO lines aimed at girls , also have larger figures . They are similar to TECHNIC figures in range of motion , but have less angular legs , arms and torsos . Scala figures more closely resemble Dolls , in that clothes are separate from the figures and the hair is composed of strands and not moulded plastic . < br > More recently , LEGO introduced BIONICLE figures , such as Toa , which are larger than normal minifigures . They are also composed of separate pieces , unlike other large LEGO figures . In 2005 , LEGO released BIONICLE playsets for the first time , with minifigures of characters that previously only had large figures ( Toa and Visorak / Piraka ) . While these minifigures did not have movable parts , in 2006 , LEGO released Toa Inika playsets containing minifigures with movable parts , similar to the Robots from Exo - Force . They followed this with the release of playsets containing the Toa Mahri in 2006 , which were largely similar except for the addition of a new specially - moulded arm element . < br > Another type of LEGO figure is found in the Jack Stone sets , called 4 + Figure s . They have carved faces , but are bigger , and do not have interchangeable parts . Similar large figures were also found in other themes , such as the 4 + Spider - Man and Creator sets . < br > Another different minifigure is the Skeleton . They are made up of several different pieces , only one of them ( the head ) used in regular minifigures . In the LEGO board games , LEGO has made Microfigures that are easier to move around a gameboard than average minifigures . They are smaller , made of one piece and do not have separate arms or legs as said above . They also do not feature any poseable components . In 2012 , LEGO made the Mini - doll figure , which is more realistic and 3 millimetres taller than a regular minifigure ( with no hairpiece ) . So far , over fifty mini - dolls have been produced . Initially , they were exclusive to the Friends line , but in 2014 , they were adapted to a new wave of Disney Princess theme sets . In 2014 , LEGO introduced the Mini robot in Hero Factory sets .