LEGO Star Wars played a big part in the development of the minifigure

The development of the humble minifigure was, in part, influenced by the LEGO Star Wars theme, as revealed in a new interview.

The LEGO Star Wars theme continues to celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024 with a variety of special sets, exclusive minifigures, GWPs, a dedicated hardback book and much more. From prequel-based builds such as 75383 Darth Maul’s Sith Infiltrator to such previously unseen brick-built moments as 75387 Boarding the Tantive IV, the team behind the models seems to be covering all bases.

Included in a number of the 25th anniversary celebratory sets are seven limited edition minifigures for fans to collect, with the likes of Darth Malak, ARC Trooper Fives, Saw Gerrera and Cal Kestis all having been revealed so far.

The importance of minifigures is also highlighted in a new interview that appears in the latest issue of the official Star Wars Insider magazine. Inside the publication, the LEGO Star Wars team talks about a number of topics, including how the theme has played a major role in current minifigure design.

“Our designers do an amazing job of translating Star Wars characters into a distinctly LEGO minifigure form.” said Chris Gollaher, Lucasfilm’s director of product design for hardlines. “While there are clear guidelines on what can and cannot be done with a minifigure, the amount of variety we can achieve is incredible, and the LEGO Star Wars team are experts at doing that.”

“With innovations in print processes and other advancements,” Gollaher continued, “the level of detail that can be included now is stunning. We continue to look for new ways to capture the essence of our favourite characters, and I think that’s what makes the minifigures so enjoyable – essentially we have a standard template but with the right graphics and expressions, you know straight away not only who a character is, but often which signature moment of a story they represent.”

Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, LEGO Star Wars’ design director echoed those sentiments and added, “Star Wars has played a big part in the development of the minifigure. Before LEGO Star Wars, there were no sculpted heads; they didn’t exist until Jar Jar Binks for the very first range in 1999.”

“We’re always trying to improve on what has gone before,” added Frederiksen, “so a Darth Vader minifigure from 1999 is very different from the version that we launched in out current sets.”

The full interview can be found in the official Star Wars Insider magazine issue # 226, which is available in the US and Canada right now and published in the UK on July 25.

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