We have worked with Lego to painstakingly collect and catalog almost every minifig ever produced into a photographic timeline. You will be able to see the evolution of the iconic figure, from the very first sets in the 70s that you saw in our exclusive tour of the secret historic Lego vault to the latest and greatest ones in 2008. Sensory overload ahead.

1978
Introduction of the first minifigs as part of the Town, Space and Castle sets. They are all plain. The first female minifig is introduced two months after the first male minifigs.

1989
First changes in faces introduced with the Lego Pirates. They maintain the basic expression but add extra features, like eye patches and beards.

1990
The first specialized minifig appears in Lego Castle: a ghost.

1993
Lego Island Adventure theme is introduced. That means minifigs wearing bikinis and thongs. Lego truckers also appear in Lego Town. Obviously, there's a connection between truckers and thongs.

1995
The Lego skeleton comes out of the closet, the second specialized minifig. Aquanauts line introduced.

1996
Lego Western appears, at last opening the possibility of forming the Village People with Lego minifigs: The sets include cowboys and, for the first time ever, a different Lego race: Native americans. By the way, this contradicts the answers about race that Lego gave us in our Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego Guide.

1998
Adventurer Johnny Thunder, an Indiana Jones wannabe, appears. This comes before Lego ever got into the whole licensing of movies intellectual property.

1999
The now famous Lego Star Wars appears, introducing the first ever licensed minifig: Luke Skywalker.

2000
Lego Soccer scores a few goals with spring-loaded tabletop game action. This is a very bad year for the history of the minifig, however: Jar-Jar Binks minifig appears, the first figure with a molded head ever. It should have never happened. The minifig. And the movie.

2001
Lego Studios appears, so people can film movies with minifigs as characters. You know what that means (see bottom of post).

2002
Shorter legs appear for the same time. Now you can have short characters like Yoda. Double-sided heads are added too, so you can change the expresion of the minifig on the go.

2003
Real races are introduced at last, as part of the licensing program. Lego Mars Mission is announced, marking the return of astronauts.

2005
First Lego minifig with an electrical part appears: A lightsaber.

2006
Manga comes into Lego minifigs with Exo-Force, introducing new wacky hairdos made of rubber.

2008
Today, there are 4 billion minifigs in the world, making it the largest population on planet Earth.

You know what this grand finale means: Remember that the Go Miniman Go video contest deadline is tomorrow. If you want to participate and win one of the priceless classic vintage sets we are giving away, you need to send your 520 pixel-wide video (encoded as H.264 in high quality, if possible) using yousendit.com to jesus@gizmodo.com. [Go Miniman Go video contest]

Send an email to Jesus Diaz, the author of this post, at .