(10 hours ago)Magnus Forsberg Wrote: We made all the Fabuland figures because it was fun to have a complete set of the all characters, but when we started adding the Friends characters it pretty soon became impossible to keep up with all the releases of figures/clothes/pattern.
This burst of complete figures lead to the decision to stop making complete figures and eventually abandon all the physical coloured parts.
However, it is still possible to make one complete shortcut, only using the uncoloured base parts. See it as a template.
Inline it, to add the prefered patterns, and reshape it into the position you want.
We are still adding Torso/Leg shortcuts for Friends figures.
A complete Friends figure (Legs+Torso+Head+Hairpiece) is something different than the Fabuland Figures IMO. A complete Friends figure is more akin to a complete (regular) Minifigure, which I would call a "sub-build" rather than an "Assembly". An Assembly is something that gets pre-assembled in the factory.
"Shortcuts" (in the more narrow concept) fall in-between as more of a convenience thing. Yet I don't think Fabuland/Technic/Duplo figures fall in that category either (except Technic figures with helmet, but that's a different topic).
@Rene:
Not counting in animals, large scale and special stuff like Little Forest Friends, Winnie the Pooh (1999) and Little Robots, there are 4 Main Types of Duplo figures:
Block Figures 1 (1977-1990): 2x2 Base, usually White heads with Stud on top. 3 Pieces.
Block Figures 2 (1991-2000): 2x2 Base, flatter than previous one, Yellow Heads, no Stud on Top. 3 Pieces.
Regular Figures 1 (1983-2003): Movable Limbs, mostly Nougat Heads, 9 Pieces. 2 different types of children exist.
Regular Figures 2 (2004-now): Movable Limbs, dual-molded (?) Hands. I think the only type currently in the library.
I didn't include the Block Figures yet because I thought they are simple enough to not cause issues, but they're probably the same. There are those "Finger Puppet" Figures from Basic 1981-1992 too, which work basically the same.
I would agree on picking the Torso colour as the "neutral" one.