The most detailed minifigure?

JBallz

Hello world wide library of all things Lego,

Just like to throw open a discussion on minifig detailing.  We are talking the all important arm printing, side leg printing, dual moulded legs, dual moulded arms and all the other nitty gritty little things that seems to blow my/our minds...

To my limited knowledge arm printing has been around for a little while here and there with selected minifigs getting the special arm treatment if deemed worthy i guess. Dual moulded legs came in a couple of years ago with the introduction of boots on super heroes and moulded arms are something new as well in the last year or two. Normally the extensive detail is reserved for CMF's or polybag minifigures. 

If anyone is able to list an actual timeline of the evolution of minifig detailing then arise and lay down your awesome!

My 3 favourite examples of fantastic detailing we have: 

Silver Centurion - 

Rocket Raccoon - 

and Syndrome - 

All of the above 3 have arm printing and side leg printing with Iron Man and Syndrome have dual moulded arms along with the printing... BOOM!

Obviously I loves me some minifig detail and am amazed and impressed with the new found high standard of work Lego is putting into these minifigures. 

The new Ghostbusters movie set is proof that it is becoming more expected in mainstream licensed sets (with the exception of Star Wars!) but the lack of even simple arm detailing on all general minifigures is something that could improve. 

We could still be some way from getting a City cop with the appropriate detail to match his fearsome persona.

If anyone else has any favourite figs that deserve a shot out please share!!!

Thanks.

MattsWhat

Well how about Schweinsteiger - printing on a dual moulded arm, side leg printing, front and back torso printing and a unique hair colour.  It's not my favourite, but it's another good showcase.

GothamConstructionCo

As much as I like the high level and detail of the minifig printing nowadays,
I can't help but feel that some of the charm is lost when compared to older mini figures.

Or am I looking at things through rose tinted nostalgia?

GIR3691

I see LEGO with a specific art style in mind. Stylized and not hyper-detailed. It's hard to explain without looking at specific examples. This of course evolves over time (white dots in the eyes, back printing, etc...) but there are specific figures I point to that have too much detail. It's outliers that break the general consistency of the line.

With the first Avengers wave, I started to notice the faces were starting to get too detailed. Black Widow had face lines that made her look like a 50-year-old. The Mos Esiley Cantina Luke Skywalker also has too many lines. He looks like David Hasselhoff. I'm glad that trend went away. Once you start adding too much detail to the face, it starts to look like a custom or a knockoff.

I appreciate arm and leg printing or double-molding, but if everything about it is hyper-detailed, it starts to look wrong. I'd equate it to how film shot at 48fps looks bad because I'm just used to 24. It's not as detailed or perfect, but it has a certain aesthetic that I like and I'm used to.

AnnaBuildsLego

My favourite is the Gold Knight from Castle. Just the right amount of detail, I think, and remains very impressive to this day. (Picture from Brickset)

tallblocktoo

Ha well I have a small Syndrome collection by default.   I think he must be one of the more common characters in the box or less desired figure not sure.  I actually love his hair it seems kind of fun but rather off topic for this thread but whats new.  But that racoon my goodness I love that!  i need to start Brick Linking some figures I think.  So many cool ones from past years!

bobabricks

I think if your looking for a figure with the most print, look towards the chrome figures, ha! Every surface has paint on it. Now the most detailed chrome figure would probably be TC-14

LuLego

This is a great topic this evening! I don't have much to add to the thread myself, due to only recent knowledge, but am going to follow this debate this evening to see how it develops.

xwingpilot

I think this printing is just the right level of detail for a minifigure.

raguramm

Darth Malgus from Star Wars has got to be one of the most detailed figures I've seen recently. 

Fauch

one of the most overpriced as well, I have his ship, but not him, as it almost doubled the price.



fantastic prints with nice subtle details on haldir. shame about the head being the same as legolas'.
great armour for king theoden.
incredible head for overlord but poor choice for the helmet.
honourable mention for ultron figures with metallized colors and very complex printing.

raguramm

He's overpriced but I need him to finish my minifigure collection :( sometimes I regret my decisions

brumey

JBallz said:

yay. my favourite one too!

flama with syndrome headpiece is not official

matticus_bricks

This particular Boba Fett from UCS Slave I is one of my favorite very detailed minfigs. 

JBallz

That is a totally hot Boba Fett!

matticus_bricks said:

This particular Boba Fett from UCS Slave I is one of my favorite very detailed minfigs. 

Embow

Fauch said:

one of the most overpriced as well, I have his ship, but not him, as it almost doubled the price.



fantastic prints with nice subtle details on haldir. shame about the head being the same as legolas'.
great armour for king theoden.
incredible head for overlord but poor choice for the helmet.
honourable mention for ultron figures with metallized colors and very complex printing.

Actually, Haldir and Legolas have different heads. Haldirs' head was just reused for all of the generic wood-elves.

SantaMaria14

Lake Town Guy's

AdeelZubair

I'm only speaking on behalf of the ones I own which haven't been mentioned above:

Batman (the Dark Knight) from #76023 - The Dark Knight, Tumbler

        

Drax The Destroyer from #76021 - The Milano Spaceship Rescue




C3PO (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) from #5002948 - C3PO

   

Wonder Woman (Batman V Superman) from #76046 - Heroes of Justice: Sky High Battle
     


Honorable Mentions

• The Lord Of The Rings (Theme)
• The Hobbit (Theme)
• Iron Man (Character)
• Ultron (Character)

My Thoughts
LEGO don't print on legs that often, I find it to be helpful as those get damaged very easily; if they are printed they would be very hard to replace. However when they are producing detailed Minifigures like these they look rather odd when the vast amount of details suddenly stop at the hips. I like the mixture of the Batman V Superman Minifigures that have rather simple and effective torsos and then the flow between the torso and legs is natural. I'm not against full printing (I want more) on every single piece it's just it takes more care to look after them.

brumey

gonna try to get overlord from my nephew!   he s  so into nexo currently . shouldnt be a problem!

CCC

xwingpilot said:

I think this printing is just the right level of detail for a minifigure.

It's that type of printing I'm really not fond of. Print that goes from one part to another, especially two different coloured (base colour) parts often looks dreadful compared to that on same coloured parts. For example, those green pouches are a different colour on the torso compared to on the hips. To make it worse, parts printed to suggest continuity over the hips often do not match up anyway, again highlighted perfectly by that example. I think I'd prefer to see the pouches just made slightly smaller and raised slightly, so that all the pouch print remains on one lego part. This avoids both the colour change and the offset when printing.

Tatooine Luke is possibly one of the worst for too thin white print on a coloured part ...





The print going over edges is something I complained about with the thespian / actor back in Sep 2012 ... it means that you need to swap out those hips if you want to use the legs for anything else. At least in this case, any offset in printing doesn't matter too much.

http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/112534/#Comment_112534




They might as well glue the hips into the torsos on parts like that.


Saruman with robes often has a bad offset problem in his design ...

brumey

his armor is the greatest of them all

Fauch

Embow said:
Actually, Haldir and Legolas have different heads. Haldirs' head was just reused for all of the generic wood-elves.

ok. they just look very similar then. I wish I had that master of lake town. and the guard. hope my saruman will be fine. I think all the figs in battle of five armies had that problem, but my LOTR figs seem fine so far.

wunztwice

It's a shame LEGO isn't continuing Lord of the Rings, I see an awful lot of LOTR figs in this list.

richo

King Theoden. Somebody beat me to it though. I honestly think he is one of the best ever Lego Minifigures.

lluisgib

For me the most detailed minifig ever is this one. It's simply perfect. I love it!



From the face expression to the dress and the hairdress, I have no complaints and it's the perfect level of detail.

Lego_Fox

Has anyone seen the Drax minifigure from Guardians of the Galaxy? The tattooing is so detailed it is insane!

GallardoLU

Lego_Fox said:

Has anyone seen the Drax minifigure from Guardians of the Galaxy? The tattooing is so detailed it is insane!

adzbadboy above shared a picture of Drax, and I agree the printing detail is highly impressive on that one.

catwrangler

I'm really torn about this, because I'm delighted when I see an exquisitely detailed minifig, but then I pull out some 70s or 80s knights and really love the simplicity. For me that has a more classic Lego feel. But then again, I love how the greater variety and detail we have now (especially thanks to CMFs) lets me build custom minifigs of fictional characters I like who are never going to get their own Lego themes. In the end, I enjoy the simple and the complex designs and it's nice to have both. :)