Are Lego Minifigs Technically Action Figures?

I recently got into a heated debate down at my regular coffee shop about what is and what isn't an "action figure", despite the fact that I tried to clear that up in an article a little while back. Yes, we talk about some strange things over coffee. Anyway, it didn't take long for one friend to bring up the famous Lego minifigs. If you don't know what a minifig is, they're the little people that come with any Lego playset. I remember the first Lego minifigs (which I assume is short for miniature figures) ever to come out when I received several Lego Space sets back in the late '70s. As soon as I saw them, I fell instantly in love with them! There was something about their perpetually happy faces and little c-clamp hands that sparked my imagination.

These days, you can find minifigs of all kinds, from everyday townsfolk to rampaging hordes of fantasy Orcs, and there have been minifigs made of such notable pop-culture icons as Batman, Spider-Man and Harry Potter.

But back to the debate. As I mentioned before, one friend felt that Lego minifigs are in fact action figures and another strongly felt that they are not. Each had some excellent points to back up their arguments, but it ultimately got us no closer to the truth. So I made of list of pros and cons as an attempt to further classify minifigs, and with a little help from you, dear readers, perhaps we can put this debate to rest.

Pros:

• They're figures of people or popular characters like most action figures.
• They're fully posable, with as many as 7 points of articulation, more than many legitimate action figures.
• They very often come with accessories, such as weapons, helmets and other gear.
• They fit nicely into vehicles, such as cars, airplanes and spaceships.

Cons:

• They're tiny, only about 1 3/4" in height, putting them well below the usual size for an action figure.
• They could be seen as accessories to the Lego building blocks and playsets, which are actually the main toy people are buying, not the other way around.
• They possess components that are in themselves building block pieces, such as their feet, legs, torsos and head, which can be taken apart and added to other building blocks, thus making them more like actual building block pieces that simply resemble action figure parts.
• They are unrealistic to the point of being abstract, geometrical representations of actual human figures.

So there you have it, the strongest points of either argument. So now I leave the debate up to you all. Tell us what you think! Are Lego minifigs action figures or not action figures? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments or make your voice heard in the forum poll.