By Rob Bricken in
Daily Lists, Toys
Thursday, May. 28 2009 @ 5:00AM
15) Medieval Town Woman
It was clear with this mini-figure that the Lego Group had decided it was no longer holding back when it came to mini-fig sex appeal. This pretty maiden is wearing an ornate dress that shows off her ample cleavage, a shock to those of us who thought minifigs were only distinguishable as female if they had long hair. Even stranger, the box art depicts her preening herself in the upstairs bedroom of an inn, waiting for.... uhh... a customer?
14) Forestman
We all knew that at least one of Lego's many Forestmen was Robin Hood, and that made for hours of swashbuckling, arrow-shooting adventure as the little green mavericks caused havoc for our Castle knights.
13) Captain Red Beard
The greatest captain of Lego's pirate crews was none other than Red Beard, complete with pegleg and hook!
12) Mermaid
The Mermaid is not just the most naked female Lego has ever produced; she's also one of the toughest, as evidenced by box art that depicts her leaving her place on the pirate ship's bow to fight beside her crew, cutlass in hand.
11) Police Officer
The cops have been a fun staple of Lego Town sets since the beginning, unless you've ever driven your Lego car too fast down Main Street. The early 1980s officer had the best, yet simplest design.
10) Darth Vader
This minifigure manages to perfectly capture the likeness of Darth Vader and also be as cute as a button on an Ewok's vest. For an added surprise, removing his helmet will reveal his adorably desiccated face.
9) Futuron Astronaut
These late-'80s Space figures had very appealing uniforms that were a combination of the original Space astronauts' uniforms and Star Trek: The Next Generation. And importantly, the astronauts finally had visors to protect their faces from the cold, sucking nothingness of outer space!
8) Fantasy Era Knight
Lego brought back the majesty of the original Castle sets with the Fantasy Era sets in the last couple of years. The new knights are based on the originals but have been made even better, with shiny, more detailed armor.
7) Blacktron
Lego reportedly stopped production of the original Blacktron sets early because they feared the minifigs would be seen as evil. That's because these astronauts, clearly shown to be the thieves and scoundrels of the Space theme, were bedecked in shiny black uniforms that made them all look like the Wraith. They were clearly the coolest minifigs ever produced, and remain so.
6) Skeleton
Kids somehow didn't mind the specter of death in their Lego sets despite the horror of seeing what cute little Lego characters look like after they die and rot away. Maybe that's because the skeletons were adorable, carrying that perpetual minifig smile into the netherworld.
5) Imperial Guards
With ornate uniforms and shakos, and armed to the teeth with the best the 18th Century has to offer, these little British guys certainly surpassed their foes, the Pirates, in style.
4) UFO Alien
UFO was a controversial theme among Lego Space fans for a variety of reasons, but most could agree that the alien minifigs were the most badass little plastic guys Lego had ever produced. Their detailed armor is elegant yet scary, and their freaky heads are translucent neon colors! Awesome.
3) Black Falcon
Lego's Castle theme has always featured some of the best sets and minifigs the company had to offer. The Castle soldiers made in the 1980s were among the greatest, and the Black Falcons were the coolest of these designs. Black, blue and silver (with a little bit of red, here and there), these minifigs were things of beauty.
2) Indiana Jones
Many Long-time fans of Lego tend to see the company's more recent trend of producing licensed sets as a sell-out, as the Lego Group did just fine creating its own themes and characters for several years, thank you. So, it's with trepidation that a licensed character takes the #2 spot. But there's no denying it -- from his excellent likeness to his awesome accessories, Lego Indiana Jones is sheer perfection.
1) Classic Space Astronauts
Lego's Space theme is one of its most popular, probably because the sets involve so much imagination, both in design and play. The Classic Space astronaut dominated toy shelves for the first 11 years of the minifig's existence -- and went pretty much unchanged during that whole time. It was available in five different spacesuit colors -- red, white, yellow, black and blue. With the Classic Space astronaut, Lego demonstrated how it could create an engaging design in the simplest of ways. With their one-color spacesuits, air tanks, awesome chest emblem of a rocket circling a moon, and classic Lego smiley faces, the original astronauts mini-figs were a flawless, utilitarian design. We'll even forgive the fact that their faces were left open to the vacuum of space.
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63 comments
Comments
Gareth said:
What else can be said? Lego is awesome. Thanks for the great list.
Anonymous replied to Gareth:
Where,s Boba Fett?
Glorious Cheese said:
Lego made a Sandy Cheeks minifig and I wasn't informed!? That's the greatest one ever ... unless they've made Patrick Star, too.
Archefox said:
Haha, I'm surprised that the slave bikini Leia isn't on the list somewhere.
Joey said:
Really glad to see Blacktron so high up here. Oh, the memories.
Anon said:
If you did a 'Greatest Lego Minifigs Never Made, this bunch would be top of the list;
Kris said:
I don't think the mermaid is the most naked figure ever. The Island Natives female is only wearing the grass skirt and a lei, as I recall.
monkey boy said:
SO HAPPY to see BLACKTRON on the list!
such a simple design, but man that black helmet/black visor combo really just kicked so much ass. whenever i built my own lego ships i always made sure the crew was nothing but blacktrons.
When Farts Have Lumps said:
Nice.
Kevin said:
Kris,
It depends on how you look at it. The mermaid's fish tail is naked, isn't it? So she only has her seashells. ;-)
But yeah, the Polynesian woman was very scantily clad, and almost made the list herself. I made sure to include the Islanders as a whole, though. Slave Leia was pretty naked, too.
cummins said:
Amazing list. I was hoping that the classic astronauts would take the top spot. I didn't even know some of these existed, well done indeed!
Also, I need a Lego skeleton in my life. Now.
Suleman said:
The medieval lady has the keys of the house on her belt, because she rules the day-to-day affairs of the house, especially when the lord is away killin' and huntin' and such. At least, that's how it was for viking women.
Dorkus Malorkus said:
I'd probably put Slave Leia as the most naked fig ever: http://tinyurl.com/5dbyla
Count Spatula said:
The best Lego figure I ever got was the Clone Chef. Due to a packing error, my Star Wars set came with the Chef torso. Hilarious, I still have him posed with a Lego rat in one and and a knife in the other.
Harlock Hero said:
"UFO was a controversial theme among Lego Space fans for a variety of reasons"
How, exactly? I'd like to hear those reasons, just out of curiosity. I remeber the UFO sets being some of my favourites as a kid.
Kevin said:
UFO gets dissed a lot by fans today because of its large, pre-molded and printed saucer pieces, mainly, which some people don't like because the pieces can't be used in much else. They never bothered me, though, as I think UFO was one of the best, most creative themes Lego ever made. I mean, there's actual flying saucers! That's great.
Harlock Hero said:
You can use them as cool looking wings for your other space ships! I do it all the time (or used to, at least).
Jen said:
I'm glad the original spacemen, knights, and police were represented, but you missed my favorite legoman: the construction worker.
Zach Oat said:
No Sam Sinister? The hook-handed, monocled, top-hat-wearing cad? Massive fail. He and my skeleton hang out all the time.
khaine said:
The castle sets were by far the bestest sets of all time.
After three and a half decades The Wife still gets me a little lego set for Christmas every year. The Spawnling will be old enough to play with them soon. That'll be fun.
Kevin said:
I always feel like a failure when I don't please Zach Oat, due to his status in the Toyfare pantheon.
Loafy said:
My neighbor across the street as a kid had a ton of lego. Mostly the Forest and medieval playsets from the 80's and well represented on the list (14 & 3). And yes, we played nothing but Robin (of Sherwood, BBC represent) Hood mixed in with King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and it was EPIC!
Bubette Duponte said:
Reads like an advertorial, but still an okay list.
Captain Flunky said:
Man, I just feel so fucking jipped, being born in the very early 70's means that my lego figures looked like the dudes in this piece of shit:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2669831065_5f40b939e6.jpg?v=0
bort said:
Man, I cannot tell how many times armies of forrestmen stormed lego castle to rescue the princess in my childhood bed room.
Hembree said:
Man...wish you hadn't done this list....(openly weeping) I WANT MY CHILDHOOD BACK!!!
David L said:
Great list! I am going to go and pull out my original castle, the one made of ones and twos and put it together!! My space ships never did get taken apart!
And I agree that Indy is one of the best of the new characters, but there was a proto-Indiana Jones in the late 80s/early 90s that was just as cool!
Chief Supreme said:
Knowing your style, I'm very surprised the Slave Leia minifig didn't make the list.
Captain Flunky said:
I can only hope that a playmobil list is in the near future.
smashpro1 said:
I never had that particular diver, but I love the detail on that wetsuit. It even has the "diver down" flag on it!
supermarioman said:
Zach's right, Sam Sinister was awesome. Johnny Thunder was a great series, Johnny should have replaced Indy.
I have a bunch of those diver guys, and yes, they are awesome.
They even came with little Lego spear guns.
khaine said:
Ahhhhhhh playmobil... those were fun too. They made good giants for the lego guys to fight...
awww come on - you can't tell me you didn't do it too!
JOBSQUAD said:
Haha, sweet list!
I have a LEGO Indiana Jones Minifig keychain
on my car keys in my pocket right now!
I had to replace my Joker after his face wore off.....
El Diablo said:
Nicely done... I didn't know they were called "minifigs".
Blacktron figs were TITS! In my opinion they were the ONLY Lego figs! The O.G. Classic Space Astroauts were Sweet... I remember the first ones were white and the damn chin part of the helmet always broke... I would cut the chin part off and have killer Buck Rogers figures!
I still regret that I was never able to build a suitable Buck Rogers mobile!... :(
Boba Fett was the only "modern" Minifig I HAD to have... I would have put him on the list.
Werd
Church said:
Now all I need is a brickfilm of them all doing "YMCA."
Pete said:
Blacktron was awesome, but the other one I loved? M-Tron. Used to stage gigantic Lego battles between the two forces.
Hachiko said:
Great list, must have been a bitch to compile.
You could easily populate it with 30 Star Wars or Knights minifigs alone.
Strange to see no ninja/samurai minifigs though.......
bigdonkey1 said:
i love the UFO sets. they're one of the earliest birthday presents i can remember getting
i don't like indy being at #2 becuase he's broken the heavy tradition of yellow skin. and i don't like that. infact that's part of why i've shy'd away from lego in recent years is that the figures and models are overly complicated or acruate to the source material that almost all of them are based on. and the ones that aren't based on something all seem to be the same G.I.Joe Esq bollocks that i never liked
but i may have to check out some of the fantasy line. i do love me some tiny lego knights
Στέλιος said:
Yes! Blacktron! I still have a Battrax. Should have been higher than the Indiana Jones minifig though, not just because it is Blacktron but because their design and whole theme were incredible. Plus Indiana Jones was a film tie-in not a real in-house line...
No problem with Classic Space though!
TimToyGeek said:
There are probably a couple of new ones just coming out that will get a spot in the list - check out Snake, the alien truckdriver from the Space Truck Getaway set from Space Police III, or Frenzy, a wacky green four armed alien. Then there's Dollar Bill, a money-themed henchman in the Agents line with a diamond for an eye!
They're only getting better, as far as I'm concerned...
Tim
"toy geek"
DrPluton said:
I miss the Wolf Pack (from Medieval series) sets and the astronauts based on the real-life space program. I would even mix things up and have my modern astronauts end up traveling through time (usually with the wizard) to meet the Wolf Pack only to have Magnetrons (coolest space set IMO) show up. It was a ton of block-tastic fun.
monkey boy said:
the magnetrons in my collection served one purpose: to get their asses handed to them by blacktron, who then stole all their magnet pieces and built cooler looking, sleek black ships with them. my favorite piece of all time was that blacktron...roller...thing. i forget what it was called, but it had lots of wheels, and detachable spacecrafts.
Niko said:
I remember my classic space astronaut minifigs. Oh how I miss my Lego collection.
Kevin said:
Monkey Boy,
I believe you're thinking of Battrax.
Kip said:
This is just about the coolest thing ever.
bobarobes said:
Those are all cool, BUT you totally forgot the Black Knight.
http://guide.lugnet.com/set/?q=6009_1&v=z
His awesome helmet alone was worth buying this figure. And although it looks like he has gray armor it's actually solid black all the way through.
Mikey said:
What? No Han Solo?
chad said:
cool list brings back some memories even though the lego minifigs risked being lost with other bricks sometimes. and sadly due to pc times some of those figs will never be remade and rereleased and also surprised the darth vader one was not higher on the list and no slave Leia minifig either
Phil-Z said:
Is it just me, or could that Medieval Town Woman figure be easily modified into a Sarah Palin lego?
Johnny Longtorso said:
My favorite remains the guy with the sunglasses and black helmet-hair -- a perfect Roy Orbison (or, for someone more contemporary, Rod Blagojevich).
mia said:
i was lucky enough to get a forestmen in my childhood. he was easily my favorite figure. HOURS were spent fleshing out his backstory. i even let him play with my Arctic sets, even though it didnt really make sense.
Phil said:
I still play with my legos after 20+ years and this was a good list for us Lego nerds. If you wanna get really particular pretty much all the Star Wars characters (read Boba Fett and Han Solo in Carbonite) should have been the list.
bradbury said:
There's a new wierd alien fig which definitely has a place here (just bought it yesterday):
http://www.fial.de/media/images/lego_8400_box_in_big.jpg
Chris Ward said:
Where's the glow in the dark ghostie? He even starred in that Zak the Lego Maniac commercial.
Bill said:
dude! lego joker kicks lego twoface's ass
Andre said:
I agree with most of this list, but where is Yoda and Sam Sinister?
Otherwise, great read thanks :)
LittleBigSteve said:
How could you do TWO astronauts and not include the Lunar Rover astronaut? With his realistic markings, boom-mic-equipped head, and (best of all) oversized, gold-plated, lift-up visor, he's the best astronaut ever.
Castle said:
Man Blacktron was my favorite.
I used to build the car from The Wraith and he was the driver. It looked awesome.
Awesome T-rex said:
My brother and I had tons of minfigs, we always, ALWAYS kept the chef fig together.
JB said:
Good list though none of the ninja/samurai minifigures are on here, also the Rockraiders and Alpha Team themes had a great assortment of minifigs.
Bane said:
Great list! I remember creating my own space aliens before the actual minifigs came out. I would take a classic space minifig, get rid of the oxygen tanks on the back, swap out the head with a transparent green, yellow, blue or red cylinder light and then put the helmet back on.
Anonymous said:
I think the spaceman on the first place is simple, boring and ugly like shit. Hey! You forgot the ghost. Put him on the first place instead of that fucking spaceman!
Klayton said:
What about the ghost from the early 90's Castle sets? The one that glowed in the dark, and hid in the dungeons of the King's Mountain Fortress! That one should be on the list. Anyone want to sell me one, I lost mine as a kid, and they are nowhere to be found at lego.com.
