What is your favourite minifigure? Results...
Posted by CapnRex101,
The LEGO minifigure is celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2018. We therefore invited Brickset readers to submit their favourite minifigure in preparation for a poll that would determine the most popular minifigure ever produced.
Your response was absolutely overwhelming and it quickly became apparent that we would need to divide the poll into categories before continuing. The final poll, containing the highest ranking figures from four separate categories, was published a couple of weeks ago and we are now ready to reveal the results...
Captain Redbeard is the winner! These results raise a few interesting questions and considerations.
What are the likely factors in choosing a favourite minifigure?
Choosing your favourite minifigure is incredibly difficult. More than 10,000 different figures have been produced since 1978 and numerous factors can be taken into consideration when deciding upon your favourite of them. These factors include:
- How detailed is the minifigure?
- Does the minifigure include any interesting pieces?
- Do you prefer minifigures which depict original characters or those from existing properties?
- Do you feel a personal connection with a certain minifigure, perhaps because it was among the first in your collection or you enjoyed playing with it as a child?
- Where applicable, how effectively does the minifigure depict a particular character?
- Where applicable, are you particularly interested in a certain character and does that affect your opinion of the associated minifigure?
Why is Captain Redbeard the most popular minifigure?
A range of different minifigures were produced between 1978 and 1988, although they all included the same smiling head and standard components were used consistently during this period. However, the Pirates theme, which began in 1989, brought about the introduction of heads that featured facial hair, varying expressions and even some new components to depict peg legs and hook hands.
Captain Redbeard epitomises this era in the development of the modern minifigure which is probably a factor in his popularity. Not only does the figure include some impressive facial hair, a hook hand and a peg leg but the designs on his torso are remarkably intricate. The success of this minifigure is apparent as similar designs have appeared on several occasions, most recently in 70413 The Brick Bounty from 2015.
Why did the red Classic Spaceman rank so highly?
Classic Space is held in high esteem by many LEGO fans and the theme exerted an indelible influence upon modern products, despite its age. The popularity of the Classic Spaceman was therefore unsurprising and can probably be attributed to the theme from which it originates, as well as the vast range of play opportunities offered by a character exploring space.
However, I was surprised by the apparent importance of the spacesuit's colour! Almost everybody who nominated a Classic Spaceman minifigure made reference to a particular colour, presumably because certain colours were naturally associated with different kinds of characters. The red spaceman proved to be the most popular by a considerable margin but white was also nominated by several people.
Why are Star Wars minifigures so popular?
More minifigures were nominated from Star Wars than from any other LEGO theme, hence we decided to reserve places for three Star Wars minifigures in the final poll. The popularity of the Star Wars universe definitely played a part in the nomination of so many Star Wars minifigures and might also have contributed to the high ranking of Boba Fett from 75060 Slave I, especially since Boba Fett is such a beloved character.
The popularity of a character is not the only decisive factor though. For instance, Queen Amidala received well over 300 votes in the final poll, despite taking inspiration from a relatively unpopular character within the Star Wars universe. That minifigure, like Boba Fett, is exceptionally detailed and matches its onscreen counterpart almost exactly so represents everything that one might hope for in a successful Star Wars minifigure.
Why did Johnny Thunder beat Indiana Jones?
Johnny Thunder, as well as the entire Adventurers theme, certainly took inspiration from Indiana Jones. However, LEGO's character ranked above the famous archaeologist in this poll, albeit only by a margin of 98 votes. The two minifigures share numerous characteristics so it is surprising that the popularity of the Indiana Jones films did not prove decisive here.
Instead, I think the enormous popularity of the Adventurers theme may have placed an important role. While Indiana Jones is based upon a licensed property which is potentially restrictive, Johnny Thunder belongs to an original LEGO theme so might hold greater appeal for some people. Nostalgia could also be a factor in this instance and that is definitely a consideration which can be taken into account when choosing a favourite minifigure.
Are you surprised by these results and have you identified any points of discussion based upon them? Let us know in the comments.
Many thanks for your participation in this poll!
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52 comments on this article
Interesting, glad Boba Fett and the Red Classic Spaceman got into the top 3 as i don't know many of the older ones. Although i do have Johnny Thunder from set 7422. As for the spaceman i got to have my uncles space sets for a time, best one i had was 6980.
IMO an original theme (Pirates, Adventurers, Space, Dwarves, Dino) will (on average across such theme pairs) always be better than a licenced counterpart (Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Hobbit, Jurassic Park) because of
1) the lack of IP tax,
2) the lack of a pre-existing narrative by which to play
3) the freedom to design sets that work instead of being constrained by a movie actor or prop
4) the endlessness of the source material - there are only so many Star Wars vehicles, but literally infinitely many Space vehicles
I accept that there are great licensed sets and trash original ones, but the aforementioned reasons contribute to my personal opinion on this matter :)
For me, selection in the final poll was an easy one because I only own the Captain from the list. Therefore I had to chose him.
I originally had nominated the skeleton as this is a figure that you wouldn't expect as a childrens toy in the first place. Sadly, it didn't even make it into the second round.
Survey results are likely skewed. None of my top 5 minifigs were even in the final list so I picked Vader simply because I like Star Wars. Bet if you redo this poll and take out all the Star Wars figs, except Boba Fett, then Boba Fett wins by a longshot.
While it has been interesting to see how minifigures have ranked in the these polls, I must reiterate my previous post. I think this has been a missed opportunity by Brickset in failing to display the variety and diversity represented by LEGO minifigures. LEGO has made many different minifigures over the years and by showing very few female minifigures, this only seems to reinforce the stereotype that minifigures (and by extension LEGO in general) are 'boys' toys.
I'd say "be born in the 70's or early 80's" appears to be the most important factor in choosing a favorite figure ;)
(Full disclosure: I'm included in there and voted classic space man)
Nostalgia is probably a big factor, even for Star Wars. Johnny beat Indy, because Johnny is yellow.
Ra226... Would be interesting to repeat the survey in a few years when "born in the 90's or 00's" would be the main demographic instead of the 70-80's crowd. I'm sure we'd see many of the popular choices change as we change from generation to generation to.
redbeard won because he is a major evolution in the design of minifigs, but then, why not a fig with dual-molding, or arm printings for example? or is it the main reason boba fett did so well, and not because he is a very popular character?
though Ivy has a great level of details too, with arm printing and dual-molding and didn't do as well.
No Yellow Spaceman?
I’m glad I voted, I feel like my vote really counted toward something since it was so close.
It’s nice to see a conculsion to the poll. Congrats to the captain and all of his supporters.
I'd say an important factor in Captain Redbeard's popularity is longevity. The original Pirate series was released from 1989 to 1997, and Redbeard was part of it from beginning to end. Throw in re-releases of two of his ships in 2001 and 2002, and you've got a span of about 14 years (with a gap of 2 or 3 years) when Redbeard was available in sets.
I have not vote in the last poll for the Captain Redbeard, but as my 'classic' minifigure.
So I'm not surprise with the result. Also if you take in account that this figure appears in 14 sets from 1989 till 2002.
I think he really represents very well the LEGO worlds, not a Star Wars or Indiana Jones.
This is a pure LEGO minifigure which depict the second decade before the launch of the licenses themes.
Many thanks for the poll and the compilation of the results.
Its neat to see the variety of favorite characters from this page, I love Star Wars but my boy Johnny Thunder is my favorite.
I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan so I can't help but feel a little upset that Johnny Thunder won over him, but I won't make a big deal about it. Glad that Boba Fett is so high up, though!
Of course, thanks to all mods and creators of the poll - well received. And of course, I am quite pleased with these results.
I think Captain Redbeard has always held a place close to many older (AFOL) fans from a nostalgic perspective and it holds a dear spot for many of us. That alone probably garnered a lot of votes.
In terms of availability, I think it's that but even the sets themselves for which this minifigure could be procured were of the highest quality - BSB!
Even though I love the Indiana Jones minifig (my fav all-time), I totally understand Johnny Thunder being more poplular. I loved this theme too. It was an original/alternative take on Indiana Jones as well as the pulp adventures of yesteryear.
We were lucky to have both. I wish another 'adventure' theme would come along again. Some of those City jungle themes fall a bit into this category but while we wait for the next Indiana Jones movie, something along the lines of a 'Rocketeer' adventurer theme would be most welcome, especially by me.
I'm quite glad Johnny Thunder ranked so high. He was my pick for number one.
I think the new Han Solo fig from Betrayal on Cloud City is one of the best. If the poll was redone today I would vote for him. It's a really good representation of the character, the the hair piece looks great, printing is top notch and it uses conventional pieces.
Too bad Dr. Inferno from the Agents 2008-2009 series didn't make it. He is such a cool-looking figure, with lots of exclusive parts. (like hair, torso, head etc.) He is by far my favorite figure due to his looks and his metalic claw for a hand, which can be changed with anything. But i'm still happy that Johnny Thunder made it to 4th!
Funny, my personal top 3 turned out to be the final top 3
:-)
I'm not at all surprised by the poll at all. Many people adore the classic pirates and space theme of the 90's, which certainly inspired multiple future themes (that could arguably be said to be of a less quality than the 90's which was so new at the time, but that's debatable). I'm happy that Star Wars ranked so high, as it is one of my favorite themes of all time. However, I'm not mad that these original themes beat out ones based on properties, as they reflect a more classic appearance of the minifigure, all while retaining the unique charm. The newer figures are highly detailed, but certainly have less appeal to older fans. Anyways, these polls are really only subjective and reflect one's personal tastes in the figures.
TLG take notice....... make more pirate stuff :o)
Interesting poll you've run here. Thanks for your time and efforts.
The winner only got 15% of the vote, and the top four (Redbeard, Boba Fett, Classic Red, and Johnny) only took home 51% of the vote. If we did a final poll with just those four, I'm curious where the other 49% of the votes would land.
Like someone pointed out about Red Beard, he was available in sets for 14 years, just like Johnny Thunder appeared in sets between 1998 and 2003 (plus a cameo in 2014), while Indiana Jones only appeared in 2008 and 2009. Everyone knows the films, but not everyone will have known the minifig. I have both, though, and I still prefer Johnny.
@CapnRex101 I'm curious as to how many people voted in the final round compared to the earlier polls and what the percentage of Brickset members that represents. like @blidablat mentions, I'm wondering if some people might have abstained from voting if their choices were no longer on the list.
Thanks for organizing this poll!
@blidablat it'd be interesting to see the results under instant runoff voting, although coding the voting form to allow it might be tricky.
Never liked the pirates theme but I'm happy with Boba and red space man in the top 3. I picked the space man due to nostalgia but Boba is an impressive looking minifigure. Glad I have both in my collection :-)
@darkstonegrey - The semi-final polls received about 4800 votes on average but 6397 people voted in this poll, exceeding my expectations. Brickset has almost 200,000 members so 6397 is not an enormous proportion of the total. However, I think that is more than enough for a representative sample.
Thanks Brickset for this fun poll! I'm happy that my favorite Bounty Hunter and pick for favorite Minifigure came in 2nd. Also happy for Captain Redbeard; who will always hold a fond place in my heart as well as the helm of my proudly displayed Black Seas Barracuda.
Even though I voted for Boba Fett, I am glad to see a non-licensed minifig won.
This was a cute, but ultimately pointless poll. Mostly because the underlying logic was deeply flawed. The initial divisions were strongly skewed towards Star Wars and several themes (castle, for example) were barely represented. Moreover, the collectible minifigs line - which exist solely to sell minifigs - was split up among different groups. Those, if any, should have been broken off into their own group.
Clearly 4 subdivisions were far too few. I could see 8 divisions with the top two from each making it to the final round. (and frankly, 8 is probably too few - maybe 16 divisions with 32 making it to the semifinals and 8 of those making it to the final.
Like i said, cute idea, but it hardly says anything about popularity.
One might also divide minifigs up by year - what is the most popular minifig from 1988, 1989, etc.. and then take those as the final round. (minifigs that have multiple molds of the same fig would have a runoff round to see which one gets represented in the end).
So Benny is a blue spaceman and combined with the red spaceman there is a clear winner - YAY!!
Lego- bring back (Classic) Space. You’re missing a trick....
Even though I didn’t vote Redbeard that’s a pretty solid 1. Glad Johnny thunder did really well
@hewhocaves - The voting categories were divided according to the nominations given by Brickset members. Roughly a quarter of those nominations selected Star Wars minifigures, hence one of the four categories was focused upon Star Wars. While it might have been nice to expand the poll and cover a wider range of minifigures which were nominated, the line has to be drawn somewhere.
Ultimately, there are limitations in the running of any opinion-based poll. However, these surveys are supposed to be fun and I think the poll has succeeded in that respect.
Happy to see Redbeard at the top of the list, definitely my favorite classic minifigure! I remember him being the first minifigure I found myself staring at as a child, enamored with all his fine little details.
I'm kinda glad Redbeard won, although my initial vote was for Sonic.
Disappointed with the final list, as I still cannot believe that Poison Ivy and Sonic made it even this far.
My brother and I used to call the pirate captain in Lego Racers "Cheesebeard." I don't remember why. Did his red beard remind us of the wax rind of a Gouda wheel? Did his yellow car remind us of a slab of sharp cheddar? Whatever the reason, here's to Cheesebeard: circuit champion and Mr. Minifigure 2018!
This was a great poll. The results were fascinating and definitely interested me.
IMO captain red beard should not have won. Sure he’s iconic, but as far as design goes, it’s not as cool as other minifigs. I think boba get should’ve won
Thanks again everyone for putting this together!
IMO Captain Redbeard is a most worthy recipient of the title of "favorite minifigure," even though I personally voted for Queen Amidala because of how she "pushed the envelope" of minifigure construction. The entire poll was great fun. Those who feel a wider net should have been cast might consider organizing a bracket competition for next March, of course....
The official name for the winner is "Captain Red Beard". "Captain Redbeard" is incorrect.
@martinb - While I cannot speak for the release of the original minifigure in 1989, LEGO now refers to the character as Captain Redbeard, without the space.
I can't remember who I voted for, but I think it was Johnny. He perfectly exemplifies everything I love about LEGO's original properties: creative design, freedom of use, continued reference in modern sources, comedic parody, and cultural exploration.
Of the LEGO original characters on this list he is definitety the one with the most *character.* Others may be generic, or licensed, but Johnny has full stories built around him and is really grounded in the LEGO mythos (slightly more than Redbeard.)
@sklamb that's hilarious! March Madness is exactly what I was thinking when I read @hewhocaves comment! Maybe get Vegas involved w/placing odds and taking bets... make it interesting lol. It could be March Minifigure Madness, the ultimate competition to choose once and for all the best Minifigure ever made! @CapnRex101 you could double your rates for advertising during the entire month!
"You are no match for the great Captain Redbeard! So give it up, matey! Har, Har!" - Captain Redbeard (Lego Racers)
Got to say, I much prefer original IPs than licensed ones and am glad 3 of the top 4 were Lego's own, however gorgeous Boba Fett may be. Older, less detailed minifigures hold much more charm and that's coming from a 2000's guy. To be honest I'm surprised Indiana Jones himself was even voted on there as his minifigure is just another licensed one, nothing particularly groundbreaking or memorable. It has neither the simplicity or detail to fit on either end of the spectrum, unlike good old Thunder.
I had no idea Queen Amidala was an unpopular character. You learn something new and negative (thanks, internet) every day.