Minifigs
I remember the moment Lego evolved from being a chunky bunch of blocks (that a family friends kid had grown out of) and became a world of it's own. 1978 ties in nicely with that moment and now I see why, as the first smiling yellow face was introduced and would remain unchanged until the Pirates invaded in 1989 and I had moved on.
From Wired: "Some quick facts: Over four billion minifigs have been manufactured, or nearly four figures are sold every second, for an average of 122 million per year. The very first minifig was a police officer, and he has appeared in 41 different versions in 104 sets"
Check out gominimango.com for some more stuff, and don't miss the Flickr photo contest. The featured picture is titled "Mid-nineties: The Rise of Indie Rock" by Profound Whatever.
8th Sep 2008 - Tumblr