Review ➟ LEGO Originals: Wooden minifigure
With a little delay we have received the new wooden figure of LEGO Originals, the first in a series of collectible wooden toys that LEGO will launch in the coming months.
I have to admit that I was skeptical when I received the preliminary information. I thought "What for?" A wooden 5: 1 scale figure without any decoration or movement … But once I had the figure in my hands, I have seen it as an essential decoration element for any LEGO fan. But let's go step by step…
The front of the box, which you can see above differs greatly from what we are used to in the sets. It is a much more minimalist design that suggests that the product is not a toy. The back of the box has the legal information, a picture of the figure with an example of what can be assembled with the pieces included in the set, and a curious message that says: "As every minifigure is assembled by hand from solid red oak, each product is unique".
When removing the lid, we can see a very elegant presentation, with the figure as a prominent element, along with a small book where the idea of this set is explained, and a small bag with pieces to be able to build some accessories that can be fitted in the hands of the figure. If we look inside the box, we can see that there is a protection in the area of the hands, which prevents damage to the box.
As we have said, the booklet is not an instruction book, but it tells us how the idea of this figure has been forged and there are some examples that some artists have done, customizing the figure.
The bag of pieces contains 30 basic bricks, which allow the construction of some accessories that the figure can hold. I don't think that for AFOLs it is precisely the interesting part of the set. It is much more interesting to use our bricks to build fantastic and imaginative accessories.
Let's talk about the figure. It is made of red oak wood. It is solid and the weight is considerable. This means that when you have it in your hands you don't have the feeling that it is a toy or a fragile product.
The figure is totally static. The only movement it has is the rotation of the hands, which are made of plastic. It is the only part that is not made of wood. As LEGO commented in the press release, it is the only way to ensure the movement of the hands without compromising the quality of the product. The wood would eventually be damaged by the friction of the rotation of the hands. On the back, the leg holes have been hinted. In this way it reminds of a plastic figure, but it is really only decorative and does not provide any functionality nor fit with anything.
The base of the feet has no marked hole where the figure would fit with a stud. In its place there is recorded product information. At the stud of the head, tehre is the name of LEGO, like in the first LEGO heads, that had the solid stud and had the name of LEGO, as do the bricks.
If we look at the figure on the side, we see that the position of the arms is necessary for the hands to be at an angle that allow to hold elements.
To fit something in the hands, 2x2 round bricks are needed. They do not fit as we are used to normal figures. The 2x2 round bricks simply slides on the hands. To show you, and since we are close to Christmas, you can see the minifigure holding a Christmas tree.
Conclusion
First of all we must make it clear that even if it is LEGO, it is not a toy. It is an element of decoration.
The figure is reproduced with extreme fidelity to the original one. In fact, it is practically assembled with the same pieces that are molded in plastic, but modeled in wood. We must bear in mind that it is wood, so it may be that the figure is not perfect, but there perhaps lies part of the interest of the article.
I was afraid that the figure would look weird without any silkscreen, thinking about the typical smile on the face of the minifigure, but it is not missed since, as I said, it is a decorative element, or somehow, It's art.
Perhaps what it's hardest for me is to link the figure with the original wooden toys of LEGO. Of course I understand the connection, but those were toys, and this is still a static object, with the only exception of the hands, which are plastic. We hope to see how will be the next sets of this series that will launch LEGO in the near future.
We thank LEGO System AS for providing this set for the review. The opinions are only mine.
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