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Forum:	Models & Toys
Topic:	One small man: Lego astronaut minifig turns 30

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Your Reply: HTML is ON UBB Code is ON Smilies Legend	[QUOTE]Originally posted by Robert Pearlman: [B]<center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman01.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"></center> <BLOCKQUOTE>[i]The Lego minifigure was first manufactured and packed into a LEGO set the morning of August 25, 1978. Children of all ages and Lego employees around the world today commemorated the milestone by kicking off <a href="http://www.GoMinimanGo.com" target="AirLock">Go Miniman Go!</a>, a movement that aims to inspire generations of LEGO children to reconnect with the adventures their minifigures enabled them to live through creative, constructive Lego play. In 1973, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, son of the company founder, challenged designers to add a new dimension of play to the Lego building experience, leading to the first Lego figures - a family created from a combination of Lego bricks and special elements to build people. A smaller figure, a simple head on an unmoving body, was introduced in 1975. Godtfred's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, introduced play themes to the Lego System of building toys, signaling a need for a more realistic, moving figure that had more role play ability for children. Sketch after sketch led to the design of nearly 50 different prototypes and crude models before company executives chose the contemporary minifigure. A patent was filed in 1977, and the first minifigures were manufactured and put into sets for the world to enjoy -- in time for the holiday season of 1978 -- in the Town, [b]Space[/b] and Castle themes. The very first minifigure was a police officer, followed by a fireman, a nurse, [b]astronauts,[/b] medieval knights, a gas station attendant and a construction worker.[/i]</BLOCKQUOTE> The first minifigure astronauts shipped in 1978 came in red and white spacesuits with a moon and rocket logo imprinted on their upper torso. <center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman05.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="322"></center> Various changes to the basic design followed, but the first to appear with a NASA logo and to be modeled after a real spacesuit came in 2003 with the limited release Lunar Lander (10029). The two included figures wore Apollo-style spacesuits, consistent with the set's NASA-approved theme. Lego astronaut minifigures have flown on the space shuttle and in 2004, [URL=http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=3369&countrycode=2057&yearcode=2004&archive=true]landed on Mars[/URL] with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. <center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman04.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="240"></center> In the past three decades, over four billion minifigures -- astronauts included -- have been produced; that's more than 12 times the population of the United States. Every second, 3.9 minifigures are sold around the world. <center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman02.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"> <img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman03.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"></center> <a name="ussm"></a>[/B][/QUOTE]
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<table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="600"><TR><td bgcolor="#000000"><TABLE BORDER=0 cellpadding=4 border=0 cellspacing=1 WIDTH="100%"><TR bgcolor="#660000"><TD COLSPAN=2><CENTER>T O P I C     R E V I E W</CENTER></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Robert Pearlman</TD><TD><center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman01.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"></center> <BLOCKQUOTE>The Lego minifigure was first manufactured and packed into a LEGO set the morning of August 25, 1978. Children of all ages and Lego employees around the world today commemorated the milestone by kicking off <a href="http://www.GoMinimanGo.com" target="AirLock">Go Miniman Go!</a>, a movement that aims to inspire generations of LEGO children to reconnect with the adventures their minifigures enabled them to live through creative, constructive Lego play.In 1973, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, son of the company founder, challenged designers to add a new dimension of play to the Lego building experience, leading to the first Lego figures - a family created from a combination of Lego bricks and special elements to build people. A smaller figure, a simple head on an unmoving body, was introduced in 1975. Godtfred's son, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, introduced play themes to the Lego System of building toys, signaling a need for a more realistic, moving figure that had more role play ability for children. Sketch after sketch led to the design of nearly 50 different prototypes and crude models before company executives chose the contemporary minifigure. A patent was filed in 1977, and the first minifigures were manufactured and put into sets for the world to enjoy -- in time for the holiday season of 1978 -- in the Town, Space and Castle themes.The very first minifigure was a police officer, followed by a fireman, a nurse, astronauts, medieval knights, a gas station attendant and a construction worker.</BLOCKQUOTE> The first minifigure astronauts shipped in 1978 came in red and white spacesuits with a moon and rocket logo imprinted on their upper torso.<center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman05.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="322"></center>Various changes to the basic design followed, but the first to appear with a NASA logo and to be modeled after a real spacesuit came in 2003 with the limited release Lunar Lander (10029). The two included figures wore Apollo-style spacesuits, consistent with the set's NASA-approved theme. Lego astronaut minifigures have flown on the space shuttle and in 2004, <A HREF="http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=3369&countrycode=2057&yearcode=2004&archive=true" TARGET=_blank>landed on Mars</A> with the Spirit and Opportunity rovers.<center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman04.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="240"></center>In the past three decades, over four billion minifigures -- astronauts included -- have been produced; that's more than 12 times the population of the United States. Every second, 3.9 minifigures are sold around the world.<center><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman02.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman03.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="270"></center> <a name="ussm"></a></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Robert Pearlman</TD><TD>Lego is currently <A HREF="http://shop.lego.com/promotion/?SpaceMan" TARGET=_blank>running a promotion</A> on their website: Purchase $75 or more (maybe <a href="http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000586.html">buying this</a>?) and receive "an authentic, vintage Spaceman minifigure, on a removable 2x4 Brick magnet" with the quote "...in space since 1978." Just use code USSM at checkout...<center><a href="http://shop.lego.com/promotion/?SpaceMan" TARGET="AirLock"><img src="http://www.collectspace.com/review/lego_miniman06.jpg" WIDTH="480" HEIGHT="255" BORDER="0"></a></center></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>GoesTo11</TD><TD>Aaaaand... I feel old. <IMG SRC="http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/wink.gif"></TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>mark plas</TD><TD>This brings back old memories. I got my first set, the Alpha-1 rocket base, when I turned 5 years old in 1980.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#494949"><TD valign=top>Hart Sastrowardoyo</TD><TD> <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by GoesTo11: Aaaaand... I feel old.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You ain't the only one. I remember those being the first minifigs to not only have faces, but movable arms.</TD></TR><TR bgcolor="#333333"><TD valign=top>Jay Chladek</TD><TD>I think my Legos from childhood are still in storage, including a couple of the space sets from circa 1979-80. As such, I grew up with the space man figures and spent many hours playing with them.</TD></TR></TABLE></td></tr></table>

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