A Study of The Feet with LEGO Harry Potter Minifigures
The release of the highly anticipated LEGO Harry Potter Collectible Minifigure Series (71022) next month will introduce some new LEGO minifigure elements that are poised to change minifigures aesthetics forever.
For the very first time there will be posable short leg assemblies (I don’t even know the official name for these) which adds a whole new layer of articulation for our teen/pre-teen minifigures. Previously, kids and toddlers were represented with shorter leg assemblies that couldn’t move. Now with these new legs, our teenage minifigures can share the same ‘mobility’ as their adult counterparts.
Mini Leg
I first encountered this element in the Simpsons Minifigure series back in 2014 so this one is not new to the LEGO-verse.
These shorter leg assemblies were produced to denote that the minifigures were of a younger age or that they had a significant heigh difference from the normal minifigures that would also fit into the regular torsos.
They are exactly one brick height (9.6mm) and two bricks length (15.6mm) but cannot move like the regular leg assemblies.
This would be the first time that we are seeing ‘bare foot’ short torsos as with the Harry Potter with the Invisibility Cloak has Harry pottering around without shoes.
Medium Legs
These are the brand new leg assemblies that we are encountering for the first time in the LEGO Harry Potter Minifigure Series.
They are just one plate taller than the mini-legs and one plate shorter than the regular minifigure legs which make it exactly four plates (12.8mm) in height.
The new legs also has the same articulation as the regular ones which allows each leg to have independent forward and backwards movement.
The back of the leg assembly is able to receive a stud on each leg so they are able to sit on the minifigure chairs or even a 2×2 brick without obstruction.
As you can see that a regular height minifigure can sit flushed with the back rest of the chair whereas the figure with the medium legs has a gap between the torso and the backrest. However, they both clutch pretty well and have no issues attaching themselves to the chair element.
As mentioned earlier that the legs are able to clutch onto a 2×2 brick / plate properly without having any obstruction which is due to the half stud recess on the upper part of the back legs.
There are three ‘parts’ to the leg assembly and the middle connector is the same as the regular assembly so you technically would be able to swap the right and left legs with normal length ones although I’m not sure what future situations this might one find this useful.
Regular Legs
Tall legs or just simply regular legs have been around since 1978 when LEGO switched from the solid one-piece legs.
They introduced the first individual movable legs four decades ago which was a breakthrough for playability and a boon to LEGO photographers all over the world.
Just like the Medium legs, the assembly comprises of three parts. The central hinge, the left and right leg. Each leg is able to receive two studs each and have independent movement which allows for some really funky poses.
The legs stand at five plates tall which makes them one plate taller than the Medium-legs and two plates taller than the Mini-legs.
Skirts and robes
The LEGO Harry Potter minifigure series introduces us to a new skirt element which should be the replacement for the previous skirt element which was actually a 2 x 2 x 2 slope brick.
The first time I encountered a ‘skirt’ was the LEGO Collectible minifigure series Flamenco Dancer. Instead of the usual leg assembly, she had a 2 x 2 x 2 slope brick with prints on the flat side.
The new skirt element is actually one plate shorter than the 2 x 2 x 2 slope which makes it the same height as the regular leg assembly. One of the main gripes previously was that the minifigures who had the slope as skirts were slightly taller when standing next to those which had the regular leg assembly.
Another improvement with the new skirt element is that it actually has the proper connectors to insert into the torsos. The slope bricks only had the two studs on top which provided adequate clutch but it could be removed easily.
These new skirt elements can also be found on the Royal Guards in the LEGO Star Wars Snoke’s Throne Room (75216) set.
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