Friday, December 13, 2013

LEGO Minifigure Year By Year A Visual History



Decades ago the manufacturer of LEGO bricks found itself in a conundrum.  LEGO sets were selling like hotcakes but while youngsters could create buildings, vehicles and the like a very important component was missing—people.



LEGO came up with a clever solution: simple one piece figures that snapped into place on LEGO bricks-problem solved-or was it?



LEGO fans loved the  figures and wanted more complex figures-figures that were articulated and depicted more than a generic one-size-fits-all.



LEGO took its customers’ advice and began creating small figures with more personality and variety.  Soon figures popped up that depicted families and occupations.  It wasn’t long before figures took on themes such as pirates, spacemen, superheroes, movie themes, fantasy and specifically designed genres exclusive to LEGO.



Hard to believe that from a simple beginning in the early 1970s that LEGO figures would branch out to cover such diverse genres as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Lord The Rings, Ninjas, Batman and DC Comics along with specialized LEGO playsets based around the same themes. 



Literally thousands of figures have been created since those early days, some are which are very rare and very valuable.



DK (Dorling Kindersley) Publishing and authors Gregory Farshtey and Daniel Lipkowitz present the oversize hardbound book: LEGO Minfigure Year By Year A Visual History.

In it readers and LEGO fans are given a year-by-year tour starting with the genesis of and continuing up to recent times of the LEGO Minifigures history.



Full color photos of figures are accompanied by insightful text explaining the evolution of LEGO Minifigures, and their slow transformation from simple block figures to extravagant sculpted and highly collectible figures.



To sweeten the deal the book comes with three LEGO Minifigures: a Stormtrooper, Townsperson and Robber.



This more than just a book about LEGO Minifigures, it’s a time capsule of the past 40 plus years as reflected by the trends and pop culture phenomenon of each decade.