Anatomy of a LEGO® Minifigure: Every Part, Number, and Code Explained

If you've ever tried to describe a minifigure part to someone — “you know, the little hand thing... the C-shaped one” — this page is for you. Every part of a minifigure has a name, a number, and a logic to how it all fits together. Once you can read them, identifying and completing figures gets dramatically easier.

The standard minifigure: 9 to 10 parts

A basic figure breaks down into: a head, a torso body, two arms, two hands, a hip piece, two legs, and usually something on top — hair, hat, or helmet. In a set box they arrive as three assemblies (head / torso-with-arms-and-hands / hips-and-legs), which is why loose bulk always seems to contain a thousand torsos and never quite enough legs.

How the part numbers work

Every minifigure part carries a mold number, and the printed versions add a print code:

• Torso: 973. The plain torso body is part 973. A printed torso becomes 973pb followed by digits — 973pb1061 is one specific print, forever. That “pb” code is the single most useful number in minifigure identification, because torso prints are what make most figures who they are.
• Arms (3818 left, 3819 right) and hands (983). Usually unprinted; color is what matters — and arm color is one of the sneakiest differences between a common figure and its rare twin.
• Head: 3626. Printed heads get their own pb codes; the mold has variants (blocked vs hollow stud) that also date a figure.
• Hips and legs: 970 + 971/972. Modern legs also come in short (kids, dwarfs) and medium lengths — leg length alone can identify which version of a character you're holding.
• Headgear and accessories each have their own numbers, and some carry surprising value on their own.

Where do you find these numbers? Molded inside the part — inside the torso, under the studs, inside legs. Some are tiny; a phone camera zoomed in works better than squinting.

Why any of this matters

Because a minifigure's identity and value live in the details. Two figures with identical torsos can differ only in arm color, and one is worth forty times the other. Knowing that a figure is “973pb1061 torso + reddish brown legs + dual-sided head” turns “some knight guy” into an exact catalog entry with a market price. It's also how you answer the question every bulk sorter eventually asks: does this figure have the right parts? Every cataloged figure has a defined configuration — which parts, which colors, which accessories — so a figure can be checked against its official recipe. (That check, done automatically from a photo, is one of the main things I built Figventory to do.)

The FAQ corner

What parts does a LEGO® minifigure have? Head, torso, two arms, two hands, hips, two legs, plus headgear/accessories — 9–10 parts for a standard figure; special figures can have fewer or more.

Where is the part number on a LEGO® minifigure? Molded inside: inside the torso and legs, under studs on heads. Printed parts add a “pb” print code you can look up in catalogs like BrickLink.

Is my minifigure complete? Compare it against its catalog configuration — every official figure has a defined set of parts and accessories. Manually that means a catalog lookup; Figventory checks it from a photo, down to the arms and hands.

Thanks for reading — and next time someone says “the little hand thing,” you can tell them it's a 983... and watch them slowly back away from the conversation :)

— Matt