Thursday, November 14, 2013

You Know You've Made It When...

You know you've made it as an actor when you get turned into a Lego minifigure. I think it used to be when you were turned into any kind of action figure, but, these days, especially after McFarlane Toys came onto the scene in the mid-90s, almost anyone can get turned into an action figure. It ceased to be something difficult to achieve. However, it's still noteworthy to get turned into a minifigure even if minifigures don't look like the actors.

Even more noteworthy? Getting turned into two completely different minifigures. And, yes, okay, this topic completely came out of a conversation with my sons. They have a completely disregard for action figures because, well, all sorts of movies get action figures (or, at least, used to; I suppose that trend has died down somewhat in the last few years), but only the really cool ones get made into Lego.

Of course, this whole conversation started with Harrison Ford.
Star Wars was the first Lego franchise, so you can almost say this all started with him.
That's one of the very first Han Solo minifigures, back when they were still yellow like regular Lego minifigures. Now, they look like this:
And, of course, the second incarnation of Harrison Ford as a minifigure:
There ensued a long "discussion" of what other actors had two different character minifigs. [Don't ask why discussion is in quotes; just accept it.] Here's what we came up with:

Chris Evans:
Johnny Depp:
Samuel Jackson:
Ian McKellen:

Christopher Lee:

Orlando Bloom:
Those are the ones we came up with. Ones that have actual, physical minifigures. There are a few more that have two different characters but one of the minifigures is only in one of the Lego video games.

If you can think of more, let me know!

24 comments:

  1. Even Christopher Lee as evil Saruman can't diminish his cuteness as a minifigurine!

    I can't think of any more...I'd have to quiz my niece and nephew, they are at this age where this is what they want. My niece, especially.

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  2. Well I know some kids who think the real action figures are the Toy Story gang. Lego makes Woody, Buzz Light Year etc.

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  3. It helps when you are in some massive franchises. The Human Torch has the best pose of them all though, it's great.

    And seeing Tonto proves you don't have to be in something popular though, just associated with Disney.

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  4. ha ha I say the same about the Barbies... like Bella from Twilight and Katniss from HG. I love to daydream about one of my characters making it to Barbie dollhood. lol

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  5. Oh, how I love the little mini-figures. We have Indy, and a LOT of the Star Wars ones, of course. My favorite is Yoda. OYT bought him on eBay for an outrageous $10, but he's magnetic, so on the fridge, and has a lightsaber that really glows nicely when the sun hits it.
    Tina @ Life is Good

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  6. Rock'en the minifigures! We can expect great things from them, and I'm certainly pumped for the Lego Movie (which Boy 2 keeps asking to see the trailer for over and over again). Interesting enough, he's more interested in the City and Monster Fighter sets, which are slightly cheaper, so I don't mind so much. :)

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  7. Psssh, anyone can be a Lego person. I used to build myself as a Lego person all the time when I was a kid.

    See the guy in the middle? Don't you recognize him? That's totally me.

    Lego Bryan

    Oh, I've got one for you. What about the Harry Potter Lego series? Daniel Radcliffe was immortalized as a Lego, which is pretty damn cool.

    Harry Potter

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  8. Well, I'm all for writers as Lego figures. King? Rowling? Dickens? Salinger?

    Toys for passive kids or weird adults.

    No? Okay, maybe not a big hit.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  9. RG: There are a couple I can think of that should be on the list but they didn't get second minifigs for some reason.

    JKIR,F!: That's true. It would help if Woody and Buzz were real. Like Superman.

    Rusty: He does have the best pose, but that's because that a digital pose and not an actual minifig pose.
    (The Tonto figure is from when they still thought the movie was going to be a big hit.)

    Pk: I have some LotR Barbies that are pretty cool. And the James Bond set they did.

    Tina: We have Star Wars Lego all over the place. And some Avengers and LotR. Lego Lego everywhere.

    David: The monster fighter stuff is SO cool. I want those!
    And, yeah, my kids are totally holding their breaths for the movie.

    ABftS: My kids have built themselves as minifigures, too, but it's different when Lego does it. Or so I've been told.
    As far as I know, none of the people from the HP Lego have been made in any other sets.

    Lee: There's a store out here that has author action figures. I think they do have a Dickens. And a Twain? I don't remember. They have this whole line of famous people.

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  10. The history of minifigs! My son loves that store and his Dad has fun too!

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  11. I am so behind on this. I did know there were some lego figures but, I had no idea they were like this. Wow!

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

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  12. Samuel L. Jackson? I had no idea he was a Lego figure. Why am I not surprised?

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  13. Way more interesting than the yellow figures in my old Lego bucket.

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  14. Maurice: The Lego store down at Disneyland is amazing!

    Sia: They are pretty amazing.

    MP: There are some... just, um, not a lot. Like, they haven't made a Jane Foster minifig, so I couldn't put Natalie Portman on the list.

    Elsie: I'm surprised he has only two.

    Jeanne: I know what you mean.

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  15. How about Where's Wally? Parents could have all kinds of fun, finding Wally on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night while they are barefoot.

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  16. Legos are so cool now -- they're an example of a toy that has only continued to improve without really changing, at all.

    I don't have any idea who else might be figurines, but I do know that they sell them for about a buck or two in 'mystery packs,' and I picked two up once in hopes of enticing Mr Bunches into liking Legos more (they're sort of hard for him to use), and he got "Isis," and "A Bagpipe Guy," which I thought were okay but he had no idea what to do with them.

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  17. Legos are so cool now -- they're an example of a toy that has only continued to improve without really changing, at all.

    I don't have any idea who else might be figurines, but I do know that they sell them for about a buck or two in 'mystery packs,' and I picked two up once in hopes of enticing Mr Bunches into liking Legos more (they're sort of hard for him to use), and he got "Isis," and "A Bagpipe Guy," which I thought were okay but he had no idea what to do with them.

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  18. Lego's have really evolved over time. Def love the Johnny Depp figures. I wonder when they'll make the Duck Dynasty figures? :)

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  19. Fun post!

    I like how both Harrison Ford characters have the same smirk.

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  20. Kathryn: That is the fun thing with Lego.

    Briane: Yeah, we buy those packs. They're $2.99 (or $3.99?) around here, which I think is ridiculous, but my younger son and my daughter both think they are the coolest, so we get them from time to time.

    G_G: Oh, I hope not. >shudder<
    My oldest son has some Beatles figures that were made by a company similar to Lego, but they're not Lego.

    TAS: Oh, yeah, all the Ford characters do.

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  21. I had no idea my comment posted twice.

    I heard somewhere that Lego had a patent on the way their blocks fit together. Or something like that. That's why other companies have such trouble competing with them.

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  22. Actually, having now looked it up, the patent expired and Lego dominates because of licensing power:

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/12/13/167055503/why-legos-are-so-expensive-and-so-popular

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  23. Briane: I did know that they had had a patent on the bricks, which is why nothing was compatible when I was a kid. I also knew that some other companies have been making some compatible stuff, lately, so I should have known the patent expired.

    Mega Blocks has had, occasionally, some good licenses, like Marvel, but they don't seem to do so well there.

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