What do mini-figs do on holidays? Part 3

In this final part, I will look at the differences in gender in terms of the accessories mini-figs are given, set release dates and the number of pieces each set have.

What do mini-figs do on holidays? Part 2

In Part 1, I primarily looked at the Leisure sub-theme sets that came with a single mini-fig. But what about the sets with more than one mini-fig. This blog will look at how mini-figs holiday when they aren’t travelling solo.

What do mini-figs do on holidays? Part 1

With summer fading quickly or spring emerging and Easter behind us for another year, I have decided to write this blog on the leisure activities of the Lego theme Town. Because, hey, even mini-figs need a break every now and again.

The builders of Lego Town

There isn’t a huge deal to say on the Construction sub-theme of Lego Town. There were a total of 20 sets released over 17 years between 1980 and 1997. The majority of these sets included only a single mini-fig. There were only three sets that included more than one mini-fig.  

18 of the 23 mini-figs in the Construction sets were all wearing a hard hat as would be appropriate in most construction settings. There were only seven mini-figs that had accessories other than a hard hat. These included jack hammers, shovels, brooms, spanners and road signs or cones.

Paradisa - an attempt at Girl Lego

Paradisa was one the many sub-themes of the prominent Lego theme, Town itself introduced in 1978. Paradisa has been one of Lego’s many attempts at including girls, or rather redirecting them away from ‘normal’ Lego to sets that fitted within gender stereotypes. There were a total of 18 sets produced between 1992 and 1997. The common feature of these sets was the large use of pink and white coloured bricks. Although other coloured bricks did appear in sets, the vast majority were pink, white, grey or green. A number of these bricks were only available in the Paradisa sets.

Why the Pirate Princess and the Governor's Daughter?

Until relatively recently, Lego was rather restricted in how they told the stories of their mini-figs. There were limitations in how the fantasy that developed around each set at the workshop made it into homes across the world and the imagination of children and adults. To portray the mini-figs, Lego would have to include each description through the instructions, only available through purchasing the set. However, that has all changed with the explosion of the internet and information accessibility. Lego has willingly jumped on board with their website, not only advertising and selling their sets around the world but also selling the stories of their mini-figs and bricks. It has given Lego yet another avenue to provide the stories associated with the humble brick to people all over the world, regardless of whether that set had been purchased or not.

Pirates and accessories - what do they fight with?

Pirate themed sets were the first to feature LEGO versions of firearms. In addition to firearms, Pirate sets also included a large number of other accessories like treasure maps, swords, shovels, axes, hats of all varieties, backpacks. Most commonly, imperials and pirates held cutlasses, pistols or muskets whilst islanders tended to have bow and arrows, spears and shields.[i]

For the 284 male and female mini-figs in the Pirate Lego set I analysed, there is a grand total of 669 accessories held or worn by a mini-fig in either the instruction manual or on the set box. However, the number of accessories doesn’t end there. In a number of sets there is a number of accessories sitting next to a mini-fig as they row a boat or eat food. In some cases the accessories that belong to a captured imperial or pirate are propped against the cell. I have excluded these accessories due to the difficultly in accurately attributing the accessory to a mini-fig.