Last week when I went to pick up my son
from after-school care, I noticed that the coordinator was asking the children to
collect all the Lego mini-figures and hand them in to her before leaving. When she had collected them all, she
proceeded to count them. When she was certain all were accounted for,
she put them in a sandwich bag and locked them in the drawer of her desk. At the time, I didn’t think that much about
her actions. The mini-figures are
exceptionally cute and easy to smuggle away in a pocket – it’s not hard to
imagine that they would be the target of primary school pilfering. Later
though, I started to wonder…what is it about these tiny figures that make them
so appealing?
The first Lego mini-figure was released in
its modern form in 1978. It was a police officer. The police officer was closely followed by a
fireman, nurse, astronaut, knight, petrol station attendant and construction
worker. Each was four Lego bricks high
and had a yellow head and a simple facial expression – two black dots for eyes
and a curved black smile.
Standard Lego mini-figures are still four
Lego bricks high without hats and helmets.
In 1989, however, they were given different facial expressions and in
2003, skin colours were introduced. 41
different versions of the police officer have been released since the original and
there are now more than 7,000 different characters in circulation. (Although
male mini-figures still out number females 18:1).
With over 4 billion Lego mini-figures produced,
there is hardly a shortage and yet, mini-figures can be expensive. In 2013, a gold plated mini-figure was
released. Mr Gold has a top-hat, monocle
and jewel topped cane. 5,000 were
released world-wide and they are one of the most expensive on the market at an
estimated $1,500. A solid gold Boba Fett,
of which only two exist, is perhaps less attainable at an estimated $11,495. And
there are others. A solid gold C-3PO is
worth $10,450 and solid silver Boba Fett $6,270.
Even the orange C-3PO prototype is worth over $3000.
But these price tags don’t even come close
to the most valuable.
There is a set of Lego mini-figures that has
been valued at 2.2 billion. The set of
three comprise the Lego versions of Roman God Jupiter, his wife Juno and
Galileo Galilei, the astronomer. The
three are part of an initiative between Lego and NASA to promote space research
and they have been sent on a five year mission to Jupiter. The 2.2 billion price tag is a low estimate
of the cost of a mission to Jupiter to rescue the figures before they crash
into the planet in 2017.
So, instead of questioning the after-school
care coordinator’s actions as she protectively stashes her Lego mini-figure
collection, I may offer to help... and I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for the
elusive ultra rare mini-figure.
More about the Lego’s mission to Jupiter
can be found here:
SJ
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