LEGO Techniques - DUPLO Figure Breakdown

Maybe you don't get to play with DUPLO much but I do.  I am a proud LEGOpapa of three little kidlets.  We've had DUPLO around our house for at least 7 years, more if you count my small collection from my childhood.  So I was looking at a newer DUPLO figure the other day and realized that there could be quite a few parts in there.

The first thing I noticed was a small round rod that seemed to be running through the hips.  Just push this... okay, not JUST... apply some good force with a blunt metal object and the pin will slowly slide it.  Turns out it's a 2.75L bar but a little thinner on the end thirds.  So any old clip will grip the middle but slide on the ends.  However, the bar ends are thin enough to be compatible with Modulex.

After you remove the bar, the legs will pop right off.  Then the hips slide out.  The hips hold the arms in place so those are then freed.  The difference in the DUPLO fig from a minifig is that the DUPLO figs arms are ambidextrous.  That bar goes through holes in the legs, hips, and torso.

After that the hair needs to be addressed.  The hair has a 5mm rod with a pinch clip at the end.  This goes through the head and connects into the torso.  By carefully mangling the tip, you can get it to release and come off the torso.  It then slides right out through the head.

DUPLO fig, now dismembered into eight pieces.

The bar: