Random minifig of the day: old005

5 isn't very old. The "oldest" old figure is only 51.
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?M=old051&name=LEGOLAND%20-%20Red%20Torso,%20Blue%20Legs,%20Blue%20Cowboy%20Hat&category=%5BLEGOLAND%5DT=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}

I don't have that one per se, but considering the extreme variety of minifig elements at the time!, I can easily build it. I have arm-less torsos in every available colour of the time except yellow (because it was never made in that colour) and I have leg-less legs in every colour ever produced. The heads were all the same. I have the 'male hat' in all available colours of the time and 'female' hair in red and black. Of course, I also have 'belts' in all available colours at the time. I don't have any (old) cowboys hats though.

@Maxbricks14 said:
" @WolfpackBricksOfficial said:
"What happened to bro's arms"

Your minifig name would be young005 because you don't know what minifigs used to look like!"

Chat is bro secretly a Boomer

/j

Across time and space
The Universal Bobby directs the Cosmic Roundabout

A few years ago, TLG claimed these guys are officially named "Stage Extra", though I have never seen any historic source to prove this.

Maybe a crude translation from old concept material written in Danish...

Kids these days don't know how good they have it, back in my day our minifigs didn't have arms legs or even faces and we were happy with them. Mutter Grumble :D

He the man!

@brick_r said:
"You know, I just realized: one of the best things about shifting from these to the newer/'truer' minifig, is the fact TLG kept to same head shape and size, so everything used for these could be used with those (ex: hats, helmets, hair...)."

As I said the last time one of the "slabbies" was chosen for RMotD (https://brickset.com/article/100469/random-minifig-of-the-day-old007), I think it'd be funny to swap pieces between one of these and a modern minifig.

Send him back! He's not done growing!

Looking at the modern minifigure after this, I think it's quite an accomplishment. Taking a risk with tiny moving parts. And succeeding! I wonder how many minifigures (with legs and arms I mean) Lego has produced until today...

What a pokerface

@Lego_lord : They reportedly copied from playmobil. Granted, LEGO's figures are haldf as tall, but it's not that big of a jump...

These things are due for a revival, classic-spaceman style.

You know a bunch of these would be real good for a Lego chess board. Shame the mould was long gone by the time Lego hit that particular craze

@ecleme11 said:
"Kids these days don't know how good they have it, back in my day our minifigs didn't have arms legs or even faces and we were happy with them. Mutter Grumble :D"

These have arms and legs. They are fixed position, but they are definitely there.

@ecleme11 said:
"Kids these days don't know how good they have it, back in my day our minifigs didn't have arms legs or even faces and we were happy with them. Mutter Grumble :D"

He has his hands in his pockets!

Clearly a Noppera-bo. Luckily he's unarmed.

Don't know what the fuss is about, he's (h)armless....

I'll just go

Torso and face printings made a long way from here!

I'm as old as he is and with probably the same amount of mobility!

@TheOtherMike said:
" @brick_r said:
"You know, I just realized: one of the best things about shifting from these to the newer/'truer' minifig, is the fact TLG kept to same head shape and size, so everything used for these could be used with those (ex: hats, helmets, hair...)."

As I said the last time one of the "slabbies" was chosen for RMotD (https://brickset.com/article/100469/random-minifig-of-the-day-old007), I think it'd be funny to swap pieces between one of these and a modern minifig."

The "legs" might work as the skirt of a tight evening dress.

@jkb said:
" @Lego_lord : They reportedly copied from playmobil. Granted, LEGO's figures are haldf as tall, but it's not that big of a jump..."

Really? I don’t see that at all. Sure, the stocky proportions may be similar, but Playmobil has articulation more like minidolls than minifigs. The legs are locked together, the elbows are straight, and the wrists are fused. The legs and arms are also quite scrawny.

Perfect straight jacket torso for the insane asylum.

@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb said:
" @Lego_lord : They reportedly copied from playmobil. Granted, LEGO's figures are haldf as tall, but it's not that big of a jump..."

Really? I don’t see that at all. Sure, the stocky proportions may be similar, but Playmobil has articulation more like minidolls than minifigs. The legs are locked together, the elbows are straight, and the wrists are fused. The legs and arms are also quite scrawny."

Indeed, and at the time Playmobil figures had stiff arms and legs and had limited posability (which was upgraded in th 80's). The point was, they had SOME level of articulation, could hold items and were designed to be played in a re-arrangable play-world. Sounds familiar? LEGO saw Playmobil as their closest rival, and they wanted more interactivity for their own figs. And while you're at it, why not 1-up the competition? 1978, enter the minifig...

@Alpha_Tango said:
"Perfect straight jacket torso for the insane asylum."

I was just thinking the same thing.... it's kinda crazy how great minds think alike!

It looks like a game board piece.

@jkb:
Okay, idea rather than form, I can see. But it’s definitely not designed to look like a Playmobil figure.

@Alpha_Tango said:
"Perfect straight jacket torso for the insane asylum."

No, that would be this guy's torso: https://brickset.com/minifigs/min029/villager-(librarian) It was the first thing I thought of when I saw the Villager torsos.

I like how this hat stuck around for as long as it did!
51 years and counting (although nowadays is a slightly different mould of course).

This hat was around before minifigs existed. It survived the explosion of minifig accessories in the 80s and 90s, the crazy times of the late 90s/early 2000s, the great parts purge of ca 2005, the increase in minifig detailing of 2010 and onward brought on by the first CMF series, and the many, many leaps in advancements like printing and dual moulding.

In the 70s it was worn by many a proto-fig and some of the very first minifigs, in the 80s and 90s it was an occasional hat on town figs, at the start of City (now almost 20 years old itself) it adorned the first city policemen. And even today it's in use despite the existence of a dedicated police hat.

And that's amazing!

@Binnekamp said:
"I like how this hat stuck around for as long as it did!
51 years and counting (although nowadays is a slightly different mould of course).

This hat was around before minifigs existed. It survived the explosion of minifig accessories in the 80s and 90s, the crazy times of the late 90s/early 2000s, the great parts purge of ca 2005, the increase in minifig detailing of 2010 and onward brought on by the first CMF series, and the many, many leaps in advancements like printing and dual moulding.

In the 70s it was worn by many a proto-fig and some of the very first minifigs, in the 80s and 90s it was an occasional hat on town figs, at the start of City (now almost 20 years old itself) it adorned the first city policemen. And even today it's in use despite the existence of a dedicated police hat.

And that's amazing!"

The cowboy hat didn't last that long, last appearing in 2002 according to Bricklink, but it still had a respectable run.

@PurpleDave said:
" @jkb said:
" @Lego_lord : They reportedly copied from playmobil. Granted, LEGO's figures are haldf as tall, but it's not that big of a jump..."

Really? I don’t see that at all. Sure, the stocky proportions may be similar, but Playmobil has articulation more like minidolls than minifigs. The legs are locked together, the elbows are straight, and the wrists are fused. The legs and arms are also quite scrawny."

Playmobil actually was the first time any toy figures were even remotely posable. Was a huge breakthrough back in the 70s due to that. I can see where that claim would come from.

@Eightcoins8 said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @jkb said:
" @Lego_lord : They reportedly copied from playmobil. Granted, LEGO's figures are haldf as tall, but it's not that big of a jump..."

Really? I don’t see that at all. Sure, the stocky proportions may be similar, but Playmobil has articulation more like minidolls than minifigs. The legs are locked together, the elbows are straight, and the wrists are fused. The legs and arms are also quite scrawny."

Playmobil actually was the first time any toy figures were even remotely posable. Was a huge breakthrough back in the 70s due to that. I can see where that claim would come from.
"

If I remember correctly, I think it was Jens Nygaard Knudsen (inventor of the minifig) who said that in a documentary interview. Might have been another LEGO veteran, if I'm affected by the MAndela effect.

@Lego_lord said:
"Looking at the modern minifigure after this, I think it's quite an accomplishment. Taking a risk with tiny moving parts. And succeeding! I wonder how many minifigures (with legs and arms I mean) Lego has produced until today..."

Hard to get an exact figure, but more than 4 billion anyway.