Citations › Citation ID: 137

C137. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 224-225.

Friction hinges were the new standard for System-compatible parts since being introduced in LEGO® Star Wars™. Designers wanted to create joints with the strength of friction hinges so that they would be useful in all sorts of applications, but with the same mobility and poseability of Constraction ball joints. Ultimately, they devised a new composite part which utilised LEGO® Technic pin connectors and could rotate and articulate simultaneously. They also developed several types of receiving elements for the pins. These sported traditional studs and tubes so they could be built into models and used as anchor points for hip, knee, elbow, hand and foot joints on the figures. Other designers received enthusiastically the new system of hinges, which were used across multiple product lines upon release in 2004.

Development of Click Sockets for poseable figures in Knights Kingdom (2004) which could "rotate and articulate simultaneously".