Mix, yellow or flesh

[Daniel Williams]

I've been getting comments like, "all yellow or all flesh k" and I ask myself what looks better. Certain faces are in just yellow and certain faces are in flesh, so what do u think? Should I listen to those who say all or nothing?

[JimBee]

Good question. Answer: You just don't. Have you ever mixed... (insert bad combination here)? Mixing the two bothers a lot of people, especially those who are biased towards one or the other. They just don't belong. If you really want to mix the two, then fine, but don't expect to get too much positive feedback.

I agree that there are good flesh heads and good yellow heads. The main problem with this is that while I have a wide array of yellow male heads, I only have two different yellow female heads. And while I have plenty of female flesh heads, my male flesh heads are limited to Indy and SW.

There's also the racial thing, but that's another can of worms...

[Peppermint_M]

Depends. What sort of MOC/Display is it?

I use both in mine, but I have an "in universe" excuse for this, so it will fit in.

[bamaker]

I say do whatever makes you happy with your LEGO. If you want to mix yellow & fleshies, then don't worry about what others say.

(Just understand that if you are asking for critiques of your LEGO models, then some AFOLs may not be happy with this integration policy. )

[Sandy]

I also mix my heads, but I often at least try to make up an excuse for it (like in my comics, fleshies are either sickly or belong to another race). You should just be brave and ignore the nay-sayers if you want to mix up your heads. Or you can choose not to. There's really no right or wrong way to create MOCs, other people just prefer to have them certain way.

I too think there's great faces in both yellow-only and flesh-only. Especially the heads of the female Indy-characters are really expressionate and fun. But since yellow has been the norm since the birth of the minifig, there's of course a much larger variety of it.

I'm actually waiting for more variety in other skin colors than just the two. It looks like Prince of Persia will offer much of that, even though there's still no female faces in the "minority" skin tones.

But yeah, this issue has been debated time and time again, and you'll probably find that AFOLs are quite divided on this matter. But as I said, do what you think is best yourself.

[BlueBard]

I would recommend you the non-racist position (even if a lot of AFOLs are going to disagree ).

BTW, if it helps you I used to have the same problem when the fleshie population was really growing in my city so I decided to consider them just as another Lego race, more particularly as a "nordic" one. Here's an example

[Svelte]

I'm actually waiting for more variety in other skin colors than just the two. It looks like Prince of Persia will offer much of that, even though there's still no female faces in the "minority" skin tones.

From what I've seen, all the figs are just ordinary fleshy - no variety at all, unlike last year's Indy sets.

[Ralph_S]

I would recommend you the non-racist position (even if a lot of AFOLs are going to disagree ).

Enlighten me please, what is the 'non-racist position' in this? Do you think that using one colour exclusively is racist?

If so I disagree. I don't mix yellow and flesh-coloured figures in part because it steers clear of any race issues, which is exactly why LEGO chose to make their figures in that colour in the first place. It's all a matter of perspective.

Cheers,

Ralph

[BlueBard]

Enlighten me please, what is the 'non-racist position' in this? Do you think that using one colour exclusively is racist?

If so I disagree. I don't mix yellow and flesh-coloured figures in part because it steers clear of any race issues, which is exactly why LEGO chose to make their figures in that colour in the first place. It's all a matter of perspective.

Cheers,

Ralph

Sorry if I offended you or someone I was just trying to explain my point of view about that yellow and flesh MFs could be considerated as two lego "races", not trying to say that choosing one of them may be inspirated by racist feelings or something

[Ricecracker]

It all depends on the situation. From my experience, many AFOLs believe that flesh figs should be kept to licensed themes, whereas yellow figs should be used for the other themes. I disagree. I feel that you should try out both on each MOC, because sometimes flesh figs do look better; even for evergreen themes. I do however, believe that you should stick to one or the other.

[Xenophilius Studz]

I've always mixed fleshies and yellows. Maybe it was because I got my first fleshies when I didn't really think it mattered. After browsing the forum for a long time, I conclude that most AFOLs like their skin tones separate.

I however, do not mind, though a lot of characters I saw in movies float around my town

Its your choice, but I put fleshies and yellows together as different races.

[RileyC]

I dont mind the different skin tones. I like flesh minifigs for the licensed themes but for the lego made themes I like yellow.

[Rick]

I get a somehow awkward feeling when I see MOCs/displays combining both. But that could be due to me not being particularly fond of fleshies. It's mainly because fleshies in all their realistic skin tones are supposed to represent different races, whereas yellow figs are not referring to any particular race. I mean, they don't look 'Asian' or 'Caucasian' next to fleshies. The fact that classic yellow figs are (intentionally) 'race-neutral' is one of the things I like about them ( FTW!). But I do understand that TLG wants to make licensed movie-themes as realistic as possible.

[jamtf]

I do not mix yellow and light flesh minifig heads and try to keep those separated. However, I do use the dark brown (mostly the NBA type) and reddish brown heads (Lando, Bespin Guard, Spiderman ambulance driver, etc.) mixed either with flesh or with yellow minifigs. The brown heads represent ïn both cases the different race (in my Western or Pirate MOCs) while I consider flesh and yellow the "standard" minifigs (I try not to be discriminating towards anyone here).

Also, I think it is quite OK to use the newer dark flesh heads with yellow minifigs. TLC uses both the light flesh and dark flesh minifigs in the Indiana Jones theme while the dark flesh heads could also be used as Mexicans (Western theme), Spanish Armada (Pirates theme) as well as other hispanic people (suburban City lay-outs). Also, I think the dark flesh heads could be used as Western style Indians (painted Temple Guard face makes an excellent Indian warrior while Mola Ram makes an excellent medicine man or chief).

I guess it is all a matter of personal taste regarding what fits together well and what not.

[Ralph_S]

Sorry if I offended you or someone I was just trying to explain my point of view about that yellow and flesh MFs could be considerated as two lego "races", not trying to say that choosing one of them may be inspirated by racist feelings or something

No problem. I'm not easily offended, but obviously 'racist' is a rather charged term and I think you have to be a bit careful how you use it.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Peppermint_M]

Well, I have an "in universe" reason for my mixing. Flesh tone figures are Earthicans and yellow figures are Terrans. Way back when first contact was made with an alien race there was a big fuss on Earth and a lot of earth citizens chose to move out of the system to Terra (a specialy "made" planet for those humans who chose to have intelligent discourse with their fellow citizens of the universe) and thus to a different star. Over the course of centuries the skin tone of the Terrans has changed to one better suited to their local star.

I have less flesh tone figures due to my smaller licensed collection, this is also explained away by the fact that Earthicans are still quite insular and isolationist in comparison to Terrans, so there are less of them out and about.

I like to write stories to go with my MOCs...

[Etzel]

I don't mind people mixing yellow and flesh minifigs in their MOCs, let each one do their own way. But personally I don't like mixing them. I really have a big dilemma with the different minifig versions. On one hand I don't like that there are two different versions because there are a lot of heads I would like in both colours that just comes in one. On the other hand I like both the yellow minifigs that really "are" LEGO to me, and the fleshies that are more realistic. If I had to choose between the two I wouldn't know which to pick. I like them both and I often make MOCs in unlicensed themes with flesh minifigs because they sometimes fits better.

[Dr. Steve]

I do not mix the yellow and fleshies.

That being said, Its Lego, Do what makes you happy!

Happy Building

[Big Cam]

This is purely my opinion as most posts in this thread are.

But I personally think one or the other.

I love classic yellow, I mena hello, it's what a LEGO fig should be.

On the other had I love the flesh guys becasue they are more accurate. Since flesh is probably not as abundant as yellow, I think it depends on what you are building. personally though, I would'nt mix them in my designs.

[CP5670]

I don't have a real preference between them, but yellow only is an easy choice for me. I'm generally not interested in licensed sets and I don't think I have a single flesh minifig in my entire collection.

[Dennimator]

I´m actually using both (Flaming on..? ), and have no problem with it. Just look outside the window, and you will see people with alot of different skin colours. Heck, even the Simpsons (which, for those who don´t know, features yellow characters) have skin (i.e. flesh) toned characters in it.

Here´s my opinion, Mix n´match!

[dr_spock]

I have only one flesh tone in my collection. He came in a Lego pieces trade I did with my son. He's my "where's Waldo" minifig in the town layout.

[blueandwhite]

For me it's yellow or nothing. I grew up with yellow minifigs, and I will always have a preference for them. I don't like the mixture, if only because they represent two very different things. Fleshies were made in an effort to be more accurate to the 'real world'. Yellow minifigs don't represent any particular race. For me the original yellow figures have an innocence about them that I felt was lost when LEGO introduced flesh tones into the brand. Mixing the two just doesn't work for me.

At the end of the day I'm just happy that we still get non-licenced yellow minifigs.

[AllanSmith]

I own at least 2000 minifigs and they are all yellow. So when my minifigs take off there clothes at the local nudist camp they are totally yellow. I suppose I could use fleshies as store manikins

[Rick]

I suppose I could use fleshies as store manikins

That's what I was considering doing with my handful of flesh figs.