Does LEGO Need Small Torso for Small Legs?

super_curry_max

the look of the little legs with the regular torsos has always looked odd to me. why dont we have small person torsos yet? and why not articulated small legs?

CCC

You can get custom articulated legs. They don't look right though, especially when sitting. They are as deep as they are long. It just looks odd.

vitreolum

I've no problem with these, making a shorter torso as well would make an odd minifig, especially since they'd have to keep the torso as wide as it is.

graphite

I think they're fine. It doesn't have to look "right" it just has to look "LEGO".

LusiferSam

I completely agree. A short torso for short legs. I was building some of the Hobbit sets Monday night and was once again struck how odd Bilbo and Thorin look. For starters the arms are too long.

CCC

You can see the mini-legs here ...

http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/223087#Comment_223087

and @silentmode did a review on them here http://silentmode.tv/review/brick-fortress-mini-action-legs/.

CCC

graphite said:

I think they're fine. It doesn't have to look "right" it just has to look "LEGO".

I agree. If you shorten the arms, the the body is too wide, so that need narrowing. That means going to one stud wide bodies, which would be too narrow, or some intermediate width between 1 and 2 studs, which would mean they are not properly compatible with lego.

There are other things wrong with the shape of the lego minifigure compared to most humans. But for me, that is what makes them look so good. If they were just miniature Kenner style figures, I doubt I'd like them as much.

Steve_J_OM

CCC said:

There are other things wrong with the shape of the lego minifigure compared to most humans. But for me, that is what makes them look so good. If they were just miniature Kenner style figures, I doubt I'd like them as much.

Agreed completely. If you start getting hung up on accuracy and start making changes then before long it won't be LEGO anymore. Articulated legs? No thanks.

akunthita

I love the short legged minifigs! They are so cute! In fact I take great pleasure in making short legged characters; elves, dwarves, children... If you put the arms hanging down next to their body they look a bit odd, so I always have their arms up in at least a little bit of an angle. I think they are really adoreable and I wouldn't want LEGO to change them...(c:

madforLEGO

While the figures look a bit strange with short legs, you have to know that once a long long time ago LEGO minifigures were considered 'babies' or 'kids' to the large figures LEGO once had. Do not believe me? http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=268-1

I think people put wayyy too much stock into how realistic LEGO has to look... It is LEGO for crying out loud, all the figures have yellow heads (non-licensed that is). LEGO was supposed to be a scale and design all its own, now we have a ga-jillion parts put there and lose the multi-purpose that used to be for sets, all of the purpose of being more to a model scale.

Legogeek

"Does LEGO Need Small Torso for Small Legs?"

Simple answer - No. :-)

prevere

I prefer the preemie look.

LusiferSam

After thinking about it more over night I think Lego should just do away with the short legs. We got by perfectly fine without them until '02. There's no good solution with a complete overhaul to mini-figure, which given they're current track record would be a total disaster.

mrseatle

Just imagine how awesome the larger figs would be if they were developed and accessorized as much as minifigs.

CCC

LusiferSam said:

After thinking about it more over night I think Lego should just do away with the short legs. We got by perfectly fine without them until '02. There's no good solution with a complete overhaul to mini-figure, which given they're current track record would be a total disaster.

Why's that? I prefer to have the option of having shorter people, whether dwarves or children. Not being able to sit down is minor compared to not having the option of shorter people.

If you don't like them, you can always pull them off and replace them with longer legs. So far they have all tended to be single colour short legs anyway (although that is changing with Bart), so easy to replace with long legs in the same colour. Whereas if they did away with them, we could not have the choice of making some people shorter.

andhe

mrseatle said:

Just imagine how awesome the larger figs would be if they were developed and accessorized as much as minifigs.

Teh maxi-fig seems to be something TLG are definitely working on. Especially with the world of Superheroes. I've even seen a 2014 Chima fig that seems to incorporate the maxi-fig design.

That said it's only really the hands and arms that can be swapped.

jockosjungle

CCC said:

LusiferSam said:

After thinking about it more over night I think Lego should just do away with the short legs. We got by perfectly fine without them until '02. There's no good solution with a complete overhaul to mini-figure, which given they're current track record would be a total disaster.

Why's that? I prefer to have the option of having shorter people, whether dwarves or children. Not being able to sit down is minor compared to not having the option of shorter people.

If you don't like them, you can always pull them off and replace them with longer legs. So far they have all tended to be single colour short legs anyway (although that is changing with Bart), so easy to replace with long legs in the same colour. Whereas if they did away with them, we could not have the choice of making some people shorter.

I don't know, so the hobbits are smaller, etc. But is Harry Potter any the worse for having Harry the same size as Dumbledore?

But back to the issue at hand, surely a smaller torso and legs would require a smaller head as well?

CCC

jockosjungle said:

I don't know, so the hobbits are smaller, etc. But is Harry Potter any the worse for having Harry the same size as Dumbledore?

Or is Lord of the Rings any better for having Frodo smaller than Gandalf? I'd say yes.

jasor

it's all fun and games until the Short Leg Legion pickets the TH with signs saying "We want to sit, You stand for a bit!"

Aanchir

I think a short torso for the short legs would be kind of silly. LEGO minifigures in general have somewhat exaggerated, cartoony proportions, so realism is not really a factor. And the current use of a separate legs piece to determine height is better than having separate torso, legs, and arms in my opinion because it keeps things interchangeable. If you had entirely different figures for minifigures of different heights, then you could no longer use "adult" torso designs for "child" figures.

Note also that the design of the short legs piece is slightly different than the design of the regular-length legs, in that the rounded upper leg area is cropped at the top, thus creating the illusion that the upper body IS shorter and that the bottom couple millimeters of the torso piece represent the lower body.

This latter factor is also part of why I think most designs for articulated short legs fall short (no pun intended) of being practical. The articulation in the regular-length legs performs a more important function than just allowing for more creative poses. It also allows the minifigure's proportions to change when they sit. If short minifigure legs were hinged at the same point as regular minifigure legs, then not only would the figure's "crotch" sink to the level of the figure's toes, but the height of the figure would only change by 1.6 millimeters between sitting and standing poses. So one of the biggest advantages of articulated legs would basically be wasted on the short legs.

CCC

^ I agree, neatly shown by brick fortresses version of articulated mini-legs.

Legogeek

How about they make longer legs, for basketball players and ... tall people..... ;-P

scrumper

Woody and Jessie from toy story have longer legs.

Legogeek

scrumper said:

Woody and Jessie from toy story have longer legs.

Ha, didn't realize that (don't have any TS sets).

Too bad they don't seem to be for sale on PAB.

scrumper

They'd make a strange looking basketball team.

Aanchir

Legogeek said:

scrumper said:

Woody and Jessie from toy story have longer legs.

Ha, didn't realize that (don't have any TS sets).

Too bad they don't seem to be for sale on PAB.

Yeah, they haven't been available anywhere outside the Toy Story sets. I think it's kind of a shame. I agree that a CMF giant or basketball player could use those quite nicely.

Woody and Jessie also have longer arms than usual, so that the legs don't look so out-of-proportion. Same with Zurg, although he uses a 2x2x3 slope instead of articulated legs.