But, do those sets from 1979 really predate the space sets from 1978? I do see
a minifig-as-baby in <set:208>, also from 1978, but there's no examples of
either before that.
My conclusion is that the minifig was developed to be a grown-up figure, but
was also adopted (no pun intended) for use a child with the old-style big
people.
(...) Act'lly... (URL) the proto-minifig, as Todd and/or Suz commented below. (...) Well... maybe... Dave, tho', might've just gotten one of the baby-minifig sets before the Classic Space sets, so that would explain why he saw them first. -Shiri The (...) (24 years ago, 19-Jun-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.build.minifigs)
(...) What about: (URL) I don't personally recall seeing minifigs that long ago, but I know for certain that I had some at least as early as Christmas of '79! Dave! (24 years ago, 19-Jun-00, to lugnet.general, lugnet.build, lugnet.build.minifigs)