In which Ricky raccoon goes to pieces, and we realise that these figures are a little more flexible than initially suspected…
Meet Ricky Raccoon. Like all Fabuland figures, Ricky has a few years behind him. He first appeared in 324 Ricky Raccoon and his Scooter way back in 1979 – forty years ago. The world population of Fabuland figures is not increasing (unless there is a super secret birthday treat coming our way).
In recent years, I have seen a few hybrid figures coming up on Instagram – classic minifigure bodies and Fabuland heads. Some look quite whimsical. Others are just a bit creepy.
I asked @herrsm from Stuck in Plastic how this look was achieved. It turns out that it all rests on gently removing the neck from the head. Unlike mini figures, Fabuland figures have an articulated neck: tilting to the side and nodding allow a level of expression no otherwise expected in such blank figures. There is a ball-socket joint in the torso, and a slightly extended stud at the other end of the neck.
Please note: Fabuland figures are ageing, and the plastic may be subject ot fatigue and deterioration. Please do not attempt to pull apart your favorite childhood figure for the sake of a party trick. Pick another on up on Bricklink for that! The Rambling Brick will not be held responsible for damage to antique ABS. I do the experiments so you dont have to…
But how far can this disarticulation of Ricky continue? And which aspects of it remain in line with the LEGO® system? I carefully dismantled Ricky with the aid of a pair of needle nose pliers and a firm pen.
I was able to remove the ned from the torso by applying firm pressure, but the pliers were necessary to remove the neck from the bottom of the head. The legs are held in place by a rod, approximately 2 studs long. I used my pen to start pushing the hip rod through, and the pliers to help pull it through once I had made a little progress. Like a Minifigures, the arms can be removed with a little gentle pressure.
The final results look a little like this…
As you can see, the rod is a little shorter than a 3 stud rod. It is also almost exactly 3mm in diameter, rather than the 3.18mm of the standard LEGO rod. This means that while my minifigure can hold it, the grip is not strong.
I reattached the limbs and neck and set about to investigate whether the arms and the head could be swapped between a minifigure and Fabuland figure…
The heads swapped fairly nicely and firmly. Not surprisingly, it left the minifigure slightly over balanced. The minifigure head was certainly undersized compared with the fabuland body.
The arms were also able to be interchanged fairly easily as well, from minifig to fabufig and back again. The Fabuland arms are straight, and have fixed wrists (similar to the Friends minidolls of today), while the minifigure arms are slightly flexed and have rotating wrists.
Thank you Emmet
Thank you Ricky.
So there were have it… the slightly interchangeable elements of the Fabuland Figures. I hope you found it interesting, if not a little creepy.
Don’t forget to join me on BricktasticBlog’s Facebook Livestream on Sunday Night (Australian time) as we race to build 75891Speed Champions: Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Race Car. We go live at 1200UTC/ 20:00AWST / 23:00 AEDT. That’s (Early) Breakfast on the East coast USA; Lunch time Europe; Early evening in Asia and late night on the east Coast of Australia. I look forward to seeing you then. Have a good weekend and
Play Well!
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