10 Amazing facts about LEGO Minifigures

When contemplating the purchase of a LEGO set, the Minifigures it contains are often an important deciding factor for me. I have even been known to buy sets JUST for the Minifigures that come with them. This says nothing of the hours I have spent feeling Minifigure packages, or designing my own characters in the LEGO store. Minifigures are an important part of any LEGO collector’s life, so here are 10 amazing facts that you may or may not know about them!

10. A lot of thought has gone into Minifigures. The first Minifigure went through 50 prototypes and three years of development. Nowadays, it takes LEGO designers over a year to design and produce a new Minifigure.

minifigmutliviewweb — It can take over a year to produce a new LEGO Minifigure design.

09. The LEGO Minifigure was born in 1978, and their basic design has remained the same since then.

minifigurehead — LEGO Minifigures first appeared in 1978.

08. Since 1978, over four billion Minifigures have been produced. This makes them the Earth’s largest population.

worldpopulations — Over four billion LEGO Minifigures have been produced since 1978.

07. Without its hat or hair, a Minifigure is exactly four LEGO bricks tall.

basicminifig4brickb — Each LEGO Minifigure is four bricks tall.

06. A Minifigure’s head is hollow in order to allow air flow and reduce the risk of choking in case of ingestion.

dsc_2855c — LEGO Minifigure heads are designed to help prevent choking.

05. In 2015, LEGO was producing 23 Minifigures every second. That is a rate of over 725 million Minifigures a year.

dsc_2862web2 — LEGO produces this many Minifigures every second.

04. Standing 725 million Minifigures side by side would stretch all the way along the Trans Canada Highway from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia and back again with 14 million Minifigures to spare.

canadaminifigsweb — The number of LEGO Minifigures produced annually can span across Canada and back.

03. About 4 Minifigures are sold every second around the world. That’s over 126 million a year, which is three and half times more Minifigures than there are people in Canada (as of 2016).