Adding Minifig Categories

[Orion Pobursky]

I think we need a few more Minifig categories and would like community input.

I'd like to add:
Minifig Upper => for Torso Assemblies
Minifig Lower => for Leg Assemblies
Minifig Complete => for Minifig that come as complete assemblies (e.g. Smart Brick minifigs)

(we should probably also extend these to Figure as well)

If you have an alternate suggestion remember that categories are limited to 2 words.

[Jeff Jones]

the "statue" figures like the hordika minifigs and sebulba what would they be?

minifig complete or minifig body?

[Manfred Schaefer]

I think we need a few more Minifig categories and would like community input.

I'd like to add:
Minifig Upper => for Torso Assemblies
Minifig Lower => for Leg Assemblies
Minifig Complete => for Minifig that come as complete assemblies (e.g. Smart Brick minifigs)

(we should probably also extend these to Figure as well)

If you have an alternate suggestion remember that categories are limited to 2 words.

You mean we should use “Figure” instead of “Minifig”?
That would mean, for example:
Figure Head,
Figure Torso,
Figure Arm,
Figure Hand,
Figure Hip,
Figure Leg,
Figure Upper for complete upper bodies,
Figure Lower for complete lower bodies,
Figure Complete for complete figures.

For the figures Jeff mentioned, we could use “Figure Statue.”
I wouldn’t use “Complete” or “Body” for these figures, since “Complete” refers to something assembled, and “Body” tends to refer to an upper or lower body.

For “Minifig,” I’d stick with the classic modern LEGO minifigure; for large figures like the Hulk, I’d use “Bigfig” as the category; and for the Friends figures, I’d use “Dollfig.”

[Orion Pobursky]

While I love specificity, I think this is a bit overkill to have a category for each individual component. As far a Minifig itself, that's not going away. Figure is what we use for non-minifigs.

Since the torso assemblies are new, I want to break them out into their own category.  That's the primary reason for this post. I figured that if torso assemblies get a category then leg assemblies should too and Philo pointed out the new Smart Brick minifigs come as a complete unit so we should account for those as well.

[N. W. Perry]

Would heads also belong in the Upper category? Would make sense, as you can't get much more "upper" than that. (And also since heads were traditionally manufactured as part of the torso assembly.)

[Orion Pobursky]

No. Upper will only be for torso assemblies.

[Gerald Lasser]

it is a good idea to seperate the assemblies from the rest, the minifig category is currently at 4300 parts, that IS a lot. amd makes browsing through in LDCAD tideou, although the Minifig part bins already seperate them to a certain extent.

A seperate "Head" section might be good as well, we do have 500 standard heads and around 240 specialized ones.


There would still be a lot left in the Minifig category, i.e. the single pieces of the assemblies. splitting it into too small items is not good IMHO, e.g. "hands" thoese are not really a lot.

[Orion Pobursky]

We could do Minifig Leg/Head/Torso as well.

[N. W. Perry]

A head category seems sensible, otherwise it might not be clear that heads don't belong with "Upper". "Upper" is not the most accurate name, but probably better than "Torso" because arms and hands would also belong there.

Or, is the idea more about separating assemblies from individual components?

[Chris Böhnke]

the "statue" figures like the hordika minifigs and sebulba what would they be?

minifig complete or minifig body?

Those are not standardized parts and should be either the generic minifig category or something like "Creature", "Alien", "Robot" or the likes.

Note that TLG themselves tend to categorize those as either "Animal" or "Robot" parts.

[Chris Böhnke]

A head category seems sensible, otherwise it might not be clear that heads don't belong with "Upper". "Upper" is not the most accurate name, but probably better than "Torso" because arms and hands would also belong there.

Or, is the idea more about separating assemblies from individual components?

The "Upper"/"Lower" terms coincide with the official terminology.
https://brickset.com/parts/73835/mini-upperpart-no-4
https://brickset.com/parts/9339/mini-bod...part-black
https://brickset.com/parts/4292298/mini-...rt-no-1266

Note that since these are shortcuts anyways - the official ones did come with pre-assembled heads prior to 2005 (not sure it makes a difference in this discussion though).

[Magnus Forsberg]

What else should be included in Upper and Lower?

I would like to see the 2x2 slopes with printed skirt/dress pattern included in Minifig Lower, change category from Slope.
Are there more pattern that should be included?

[N. W. Perry]

The "Upper"/"Lower" terms coincide with the official terminology.
[…]
Note that since these are shortcuts anyways - the official ones did come with pre-assembled heads prior to 2005 (not sure it makes a difference in this discussion though).

Yes, I should have said "Upper" is not the most accurate name, if heads are to be excluded. (Not that I can think of a better one, since "Torso" is also inaccurate.)

What else should be included in Upper and Lower?

I would like to see the 2x2 slopes with printed skirt/dress pattern included in Minifig Lower, change category from Slope.

If heads don't belong in Upper, then slopes probably don't belong in Lower.

Maybe the key question is, are we really making new categories (grouping based on function), or just using "Category" to create a place for hand-arm-torso assemblies, and another for hips-legs assemblies? If the latter, should the category name somehow reflect that it's for assemblies?

[Gerald Lasser]

I did some counting:

Minifig --------------> 2867 (without heads)
Minifig Accessory -> 846
Minifig Footwear --> 13
Minifig Headwear -> 786
Minifig Hipwear ---> 42
Minifig Neckwear -->138

Headwear is 339 containing "Hair" and 447 being not related to "Hair"

Accessories: Difficult to make a sensible spli, Weapons, Food, Shield, Music Instruments, Sports Equipment?

Minifig, split makes most sense
-> Heads (3626 and aliases)---------------- -> 547
-> Other Heads (SW, Licences Alien, etc,) -> 245

Assemblies
-> Minifig Torso with Arms and Hands -> 860
-> Hips and Legs --------------------------> 281

Parts:
-> Arms -> 78
-> Hand -> 5
-> Torso -> 960
-> Hips --> 144
-> Legs --> 398

The remaining 171 contain Mechanicla Torsi, some parts without category etc.

[Orion Pobursky]

Ok. What's your suggestion based on this data?