Each minifigure you get in a LEGO set usually consists of six components:
A head
One torso part
Two arms
Two hands
Two legs
One hip part
Arms, hands, and the torso always ship as one piece, as do the leg and hip parts. LEGO usually also includes headgear of some sort — a hat, helmet, hair, bandanna — something to cover that little bald stud! Finally, no minifig would be complete without accessories — tools, weapons, and so on. The old construction worker from the 1980′s is an excellent example:

But by taking apart the “default” minifig, you can do nearly anything. Here’s one of my recent favorites:

That’s Cloud Strife from the game Final Fantasy VII, as he appears in Kingdom Hearts. To create Cloud, I used Gilderoy Lockhart’s hair, Draco Malfoy’s head, and a purple cape from the Harry Potter line; Han Solo’s legs and Bib Fortuna’s torso from the Star Wars line (with Bib’s arms replaced with yellow arms and brown hands); a custom wing assembly I borrowed from my own flying Fury design; and a Buster Sword I created using three very basic parts.
Here’s the game art I used as the basis for my design:

I was fairly pleased.