LEGO introduced a shorter version of minifigure legs back in 2002. It has been used for LEGO minifigure children, shortie characters from Star Wars, Ninjago and Harry Potter, and most recently the dwarves in the LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO The Hobbit sets.
Personally I love short LEGO minifig legs. They make the already cute minifigures even cuter. However there is one major flaw; the legs are not moveable, so the poor minifig with short legs can’t walk, can’t run, can’t even sit down – only hop around… Below I will show you some ways you can get around this minifigure handicap. 😉
➡ Custom LEGO Poseable Short Legs: Some brave LEGO fans resort to making custom poseable short legs by sawing down and re-gluing regular minifigure legs. This is however not for the faint of heart.
➡ Custom LEGO Poseable Short Legs by BrickFortress: If you are not up to hacking up your minifigure legs to make them shorter, there is another option. LEGO customizer BrickFortress offers professionally designed and moulded short leg-assemblies for LEGO minifigures. I haven’t tried them out yet, but Josh Wedin from the BrothersBrick reviewed them recently. Below is a quote from his full review LEGO Custom Roundup:
“The custom mini-legs fit very nicely and are constructed quite well. The clutch-power is good and the legs move well. They are currently available in 5 colors: Light Gray, Tan, Black, Brown and Dark Blue. They are slightly taller than the official short legs by LEGO, but the color match is good. The legs are also interchangeable with official LEGO legs, so you can use your normal hip pieces for color changes. My only complaint is a minor one. The plastic feels very similar to the plastic we have been seeing in the collectible LEGO minifigs. But that is an issue with many of the custom makers and isn’t a deal-breaker for me. I am really liking these articulated mini-legs and will be buying more.”
If you would like to try out the custom LEGO poseable short legs they are available at BrickFortress.com for $1.15 each in five different colors.
➡ LEGO Poseable Short Legs Project on CUUSOO: If you are a LEGO purist who only likes to use official LEGO elements you have another option; it is kind of a long shot, but it is worth a try. There is a LEGO project on CUUSOO suggesting poseable short legs. If the project reaches 10,000 votes LEGO will consider it for production. It may never happen, but by voting for the project you send a clear message to LEGO that there is a demand. If you would like to see details of this LEGO project and vote go to: LEGO CUUSOO Short Minifigure Parts Project
So what do you think? How do you like the short LEGO legs? Do you use them often? Do you wish LEGO made them poseable, or do you like them as they are? What do you think of the poseable LEGO short legs options featured here? Feel free to share your thoughts below! 🙂
Despite disliking custom pieces I think this would really help in animation
I was thinking the same thing. It would.
I agree! It’s almost strange that Lego doesn’t produce them like this… Nice.
Look at this video for proof:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxhP7F1CftE
WOW! cool! 😎
i don’t realy like how they did them in the video -__-
2002? Was it really that long ago??? Time flies…
I will be ordering these for sure. As JediToa mentions, I could really use these for animations.
creative thinking
I like it.
I will get some of these. I like the added articulation. It’ll work great with photography. Depending on how the height difference from the official LEGO short legs, they reflect the height difference between characters like Hobbits and Dwarfs.
When I shot Spongebob chasing Catwoman I had to put normal legs on Spongebob so he could fit on the motorcycle. I won’t have to do that once i get these mini-legs.
http://yodaarchives.com/2012/11/01/catwoman-cant-escape/
Yup just what i need!
Although i gotta wait for my wallet to be ready
Where does brick fortress ship from?
That’s a good question. I just sent them an email to ask. I will let you know when I get a response. 😉
Okay, I got back the following response: “Our primary location for stock and such is California. I am in Utah though. Thanks for letting your readers know about our products! Have them keep checking as we will be doing a poll for new colors soon!”
COME ON I’M IN MISSISSIPPI!!!!!
i’m on the east cost
What part of Mississippi? If you are near the AL border there a Brickfaire in Birmingham, AL. in a couple weeks. I was going to go but just had to replace two tires so not extra trips for me.
http://www.brickfair.com. jan 19-20
Oh, you are not going?! 😥
It’s very unlikely at this point. We’re vending at a comic show that’s 20 minutes from us. I’d need some one to help my wife during the day. Which wouldn’t have been too hard to find but once the tire blew out I took it as a hint to stay near home.
I had to replace two tires and need to replace the other two before I can make a three hour one way road trip.
Yeah, tires are expensive and you certainly don’t want to travel with worn out tires. So yeah, best is to take care of the priorities. There is always a LEGO convention somewhere else. 🙂
Great I live in the bay area
I really don’t know how much I’d want the short legs to be posable; I mean, surely there’s some reason LEGO didn’t do it in the first place – as long as they were making a new mold, why one for the entire pant and not for just a “short leg”? The short runing minifigs do look a bit strange; I guess the reason is they conserve the larger hump on normal legs, while the official short legs size that down (in fact they merge it with the rest). I can see how poseable short legs could really help in a Brickfilm or something of the sort, but in general the un-posable ones are good enough for me. I’m not one for cutting and gluing (though that Nesquick (?) fig looked really cute!) anyways, so I think I’ll just stick with what LEGO gives me… 😉
Wasn’t the NesQuik bunny minifig official? (Albeit rare…)
IDK, maybe it was for all I know, but it seemed like the pants were cut and glued version…
Plz…..
I’ve thought about this myself. I don’t know about durability, but they look cool…
Neat idea!
I HAVE TO GET SHORT LEGS FOR MY STOP MOTION ANIMATION VIDEOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE ONES THAT CAN MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lego will probably make moveable short legs one day…………………………hopefully.
Micah, I have hoped for that also, however LEGO just missed their best opportunity to introduce them with the Hobbit sets. Because they didn’t jump on the opportunity, I’m doubtful. However if the CUUSOO project reaches 10,000 there is hope, as it sends LEGO a clear message that fans want them. So if you like them and you waat LEGO to make them, please vote. 😉
Oh, just keep it real. The more times you splice and dice the less it would be considered a LEGO product . It might fall in a LEGO whan a be catagorey. Like those other brands who shall remain nameless.
this is the best idea ever since LEGO
Bought some of the Brick Fortress legs as soon as I saw the article as this has been a real bugbear of mine ever since the mini legs came out. I have found them to be excellent and really improves the posabilty of the figures especially dwarves and hobbits not to mention my fave Jedi master Yoda.
Lego should have come out with these a long time ago.
Dwarfs, Hobbits, and Yoda. I have to work some of these into my budget. How much was shipping?
Chris, shipping is very reasonable; less then $3 for 5 legs going Frist Class Mail. It is basically exact shipping fees. 🙂
Had them shipped down under and they came really quickly at a reasonable shipping price. Going to be ordering some more soon.
remember… LEGO denies many LEGO Cuusoo entries because they require new mold types to be made!
well, for the back to the future model, some parts will require new molds
I purchased some of the mini legs from brick fortress. I really like them the legs look better straight short legs. They are taking votes for the next color.
I’ve reviewed them on my site . http://yodaarchives.com/2013/04/09/these-mini-legs-are-made-for-walking/
Chris, thanks for sharing! Voted for dark-brown. 😉
Thanks, If Dark brown wins I’ll post new Hobbits pic once I get the dark brown legs. Ill do some other shot with the new color.
Sounds good! 😀
i got some of these in a official lego set today