Citations › Citation ID: 140

C140. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 233.

Speaking of points, those turned out to be a challenge. Initially the hairpieces were cast in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), used for all previous minifigure hairpieces, but when samples came back from product safety tests, they had failed: the sharp points on the hairpieces could present a hazard. LEGO Exo-Force designers went back and forth, ultimately arriving at a solution utilising a softer plastic, which was, at the time, quite new for the LEGO Group. Unfortunately, this new material did not perform as expected: while the rubbery plastic looked great, it lacked proper clutch power. The never-before-seen connector pair of minifigure head stud and soft plastic tube turned out to be insufficient for achieving the proper function. All of which meant that the characters in LEGO Exo-Force were prone to losing their hair.

LEGO Exo-Force minifigures did, however, look awesome. As the LEGO Group expanded into more licences, a softer plastic would go on to be the answer for many product-safety concerns and the challenges faced by LEGO Exo-Force became a key lesson that gave value many times over in future elements. To this day, if a set contains rubbery plastic, safety concerns will have driven the decision. Furthermore, if the element is a headpiece, it has been adjusted to fit much tighter than the original manga wigs.

Softer plastic is only used for minfigure hair when safety concerns arise, because the clutch power is not as good as with harder ABS plastic.