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Lego Expert Explains Minifigures

Fri, Nov 26, 2010

Lego Expert Explains Minifigures

There is a downhill skier, a traffic cop brandishing handcuffs, a disco dude and a Baywatch babe.

There also is a circus ringmaster, a skateboarder wearing a skull t-shirt, a cheerleader with pom poms, a Mexican wrestler, a vampire and, of course, Harry Potter.

This is not the lineup for a very misguided reality TV show. Instead, it is but a few of the characters created by LEGO in its Minifigures series.

Nevin Martell, author of of a book on the blocky plastic characters, was at the Colgate Bookstore today and explained the attraction of the tiny "people" and the answered questions about them and asked a few of his own.

Martell's book, Standing Small: A Celebration of 30 Years of the LEGO Minifigure,  explains how LEGO designer Jens Nygaard Knudsen actually carved the prototype figures out of LEGFO blocks.  They debuted in 1978: the first male Minifigure was a policeman and the first female was a nurse. It wasn't until 11 years later that the Danish toy-making giant game the figures detailed facial features, said Martell.

Martell told the astonished crowd that each year 122 million LEGO Minifigures are sold. That equates to almost four figures per second.

He also told the bookstore faithful of his own LEGO fascination. He said his parents gave him his first LEGO set when he was 6 years old. At 8 he received "th best Christmas gift ever", the LEGO spaceship. And, at the age of 12, Martell got a job to earn money to purchase a EGO castle set; he quit the job when he had earned enough money to buy it.

Martell, who is originally from Clinton, explained the simple secret of LEGO's popularity: "It's about the imagination."

The audience peppered Martell with questions, that illustrated both his and their LEGO geek credentials. After his presentation, Martell presided over a LEGO building contest.

Martell has also written books about the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes and musicians Dave Mathews and Beck.

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