Nelson Asencio says a bit about their development here:
"PREVIEWSworld: With Art Asylum you designed the Minimates body that's been used in countless characters and licenses. Tell us about that creation…
Nelson X. Asencio: If I remember correctly, it was around the year 2000. We were in the process of developing our IPs after we got some investors onboard. At the time, mini-figures such as Medicom’s Kubricks were hot, and one of the things we wanted to do was a “pre-school” line, so we created a few different items. We started our research and picked up as many different figures we could find on the market at that time. I sat down with the guys in the 2-D department and started brainstorming.
Also, in the early stages, we were using “Mimix” as a working title. One thing I knew was that I wanted it to be fully articulated since these mini-figures mainly had the basic five points of articulation. So, we hit the drawing board and started designing Minimates, playing with different points of articulations, possible ball joints, and also playing with proportions! Eventually, we came up with the body which has been used ever since!"