LEGO Brick 50th Anniversary 206
An anonymous reader writes "'The LEGO brick turns 50 at exactly 1:58pm today. This cool timeline shows these fifty years of building frenzy by happy kids and kids-at-heart, all the milestones from the Legoland themed sets to Technic and Mindstorms NXT, as well as all kind of weird curiosities about the most famous stud-and-tube couple system in the world.'" Of course, it all peaked in 1979 with the space set. These kids these days with their bionacle. bah.
too many custom parts. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:too many custom parts. (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:too many custom parts. (Score:5, Interesting)
Custom parts expand creativity (Score:5, Interesting)
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1) Space monorail system
2) the train set
3) the pirate ship (my brother and I each received one of the two ship models so they could battle)
No other toy or video game has captured my attention or imagination quite like lego has. My brother and I would build towns or space stations that would take up the entire floor of our bedrooms.
I also remember the christmas that my parents got me an erector set out of the blue... I had no idea what it was before then and had never asked fo
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Re:too many custom parts. (Score:5, Interesting)
I can't help but feel that people who claim 'Specialist parts have destroyed LEGO' have not watched any children actually playing with them. When my son is choosing a new set one of the key points he looks at are specialized parts as they allow him to build with far greater detail and/or on a far smaller scale then before (He has a very fine collection of minifig scale robots, aliens and monsters)
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I'll step up to that...
My boyfriend's 8-year-old got the Mars Mission set this xmas, and the three of us built it together. I would start rearranging things and goofing off and she would get very upset and tell me I was "playing with it wrong" - her goal was to get everything precisely assembled, and then give the astronauts names and complex social hierarchies (this gu
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I suspect that your experience has nothing to do with how specialized the pieces were, but rather the fact that your boyfriend's 8-year-old falls into the first camp: once something is built it is preserved. An interesting experiment would be to get
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I'm sure many of us remember seeing pictures of a (really well-done) model of some guy's church that he'd built to minifig scale, o
Re:too many custom parts. (Score:5, Insightful)
The kid never needed to figure out how to change the building plane because of all the L-brackets, hinges etc that exist in modern Lego. There is still plenty of creativity and problem-solving possible, for sure, but it's now rarer for a kid to have to figure out fundamental solutions with limited materials. IMO, that's what earlier Lego taught kids: fundamental problem solving. Mix that 'teaching' with a kid's creativity, and interesting creations are bound to happen. It's an important skill to be able to create something with the wrong tools, or no tools at all.
It reminds me of a bit in Zen In the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The main character wants to fix a loose throttle with a shim made from an aluminum can, and his friend wants to use factory shims, which would be basically the same thing, but not currently available and costly. There's no basic understanding of the problem, and the solution is to buy some product to correct it. IMO, too many 'ideal' Lego pieces promote the same mindset.
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NO it is not. The child's imagination will always go beyond what any amount of material can do. My 9 year old son was in a LEGO robotics competition. I saw those kids do some pretty cool stuff and come up with unique solutions to problems.
With just square bricks, how did you make a transmission?
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Re:too many custom parts. (Score:4, Informative)
There's been something of a renaissance in the last few years, what with the modular Cafe Corner [lego.com] (which has a whole blog [blogspot.com] devoted to it) and the creator houses [lego.com]. Not to mention lego's official 3d modeller which links in to their ordering system - design a model and they'll ship you all the parts for it in a custom box with a picture of your model on the front.
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Re:too many custom parts. (Score:4, Interesting)
You know, I had the same thought... My son, now 10yo, has been into Bionicle from pretty much the time they were introduced. Yeah, he essentially went from Duplo straight to Bionicle. In his mind, Bionicle is what LEGO is all about, though he does sometimes break out some of the other sets. And he has my whole collection of bricks from the '70s too, so it's not like he has a lack of standard bricks to play with. He prefers the Bionicle parts.
But you know, it's amazing what he comes up with with those "limited" custom parts. When he gets a new Bionicle set he first builds it according to the directions, and plays with it for half an hour or so. Then he rips it apart, adds it to the rest of the parts, and starts building new things. I don't think all the custom parts are hampering his creativity in any way. No, it's not the same as when we were kids, but it's still LEGO and it's still fun for kids to build new things.
(BTW, I was entering high school when the Space series was released, and I disdained it even then because it had way too many custom parts compared with the regular sets. So, all you young punks who think the Space series was the pinnacle of LEGO... Get off my lawn!)
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Bah, I'll return to my Meccano.
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My youngest son like Bioncles, but he does plenty of "real" Lego play thanks to his big brother's example.
Actually, I got my first Lego s
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You are foolish to think adding more piece types would stop a child's imagination from building something else with those parts.
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Anonymous? (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Anonymous? (Score:4, Funny)
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The space set was awesome! (Score:2)
I wish they still made 'em like they used to. I still have my all my old Lego, and I wish I had more parts from the Space set. I seem to have an overabundance of red bricks (I wonder if that's common for everyone?).
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I probably still have it (or at least my parents probably do) in a box in their storage unit. One of these days I'll have to have them ship them to me and put it together in time for a 30th anniversary of the kit.
(Holy crap, 30th anniversary? I'm soooo old.)
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Re:The space set was awesome! (Score:5, Interesting)
I was at my parents' house for the holidays and my son (6) got some new Lego sets for Christmas. As he was putting them together he commented, "Dad, I'm better at building Legos than you are."
Now, I've heard some pretty insulting things in my time, but this one cut straight to the bone.
So, I walked (as calmly as I could) down to my parents' basement, found the two HUGE bins labeled "Lego," and dragged them up the stairs. I put down a blanket (so they'd be easy to spread out and clean up) and DUMPED out 15 years of disassembled creativity.
My son just stood there gawking for a few seconds. Yes, words can fail even a six-year-old. "I... I... I don't even know where to start!"
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Re:The space set was awesome! (Score:5, Funny)
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I still have them all, and now my 5 year old plays with them -- along with his new-school star wars legos as well.
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Before the idiotic "legos" starts appearing... (Score:5, Informative)
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You can use LEGO to refer to a single piece, or as a reference to the entire system.
You can also use LEGOS. Which represents a contraction of "LEGO Bricks" simply shortened to LEGOS Some will object to this use. They just failed to understand the spirit of LEGO and are failing to play well.
Just, whatever you do, don't Eggo your LEGO...
All other questions should be referred to Zack the Lego Mani
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To quote your link: "This is all a matter of protecting the trademark of 'LEGO' for the company (using it otherwise degenerates the strength of the trademark)."
I have absolutely no interest in using a clumsy, unintuitive wording just because the company in question would like so. Do you seriously write all your Microsoft-related text like this [microsoft.com]? I don't think so. Admittedly I have more respect for the Lego Group than Microsoft. Nevertheless, there's a limit where convenience overrides their wishes of
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Besides, overpricing issues aside, the company deserves the respect of just about everyone here, and you know it. So do them a favor and respect their trademark, just like you'd expect someone to respect the various OSS-rela
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Finally, this isn't an important enough argument to post AC, surely? Have the courage of your convictions, my friend.
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Since "lego" is Latin and the company is Danish I'd say it qualifies.
But you can use adjectives like nouns, if the noun is implied: the rich, the poor.
What's more you get nouns that are neither plural nor singular - air, grass, wood. If saying sand (omitting "grains of") is OK then why is it wrong to say Lego (omitting bricks)?
doublespeak (Score:2)
Technic's! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Technic's! (Score:4, Informative)
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Technic mastery (Score:3, Interesting)
Then moved onto hardcore Technic projects. Helicopter innards, airplanes with working controls(one even had pitch trim usin
AGREED: Technic's was/is the best lego development (Score:2)
Lego is for kids. (Score:3, Informative)
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You could make an optical drive from Fischertechnik using a light sensor and a piece of paper with black and white squares on it and a suitable turntable and motor arrangement, including a disc head that moved in and out. Great stuff!
Word :) (Score:2)
Next year I won the science fair, b
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Another thing I remember were Fleischmann model trains. We had whole bunches of them. We laid yards and yards of intertwined railroad in the attic, with stations, "rangeerterreinen" an
Get off of _my_ lawn. (Score:2)
It's spelled "bionicle [lego.com]". Not Bionacle.
I think you're getting Lego confused with Tentacle pr0n somehow.
innovation? assembly? (Score:5, Funny)
we used to get it by the box and be forced to think from day one about what we could build with it.
my civil engineering degree started with a room full of teenage would be engineers faced with huge amounts of Lego and a semi-serious challenge. whoever could build the lightest bridge out of the least bricks that would allow a 2kg train roll over it won the box of chocolates for their team. it broke the ice and got everybody talking to each other, lots of bridges collapsed in the testing zone that day.
and it got to engineers used to a career of sitting at a desk thinking about consuming chocolate.
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by selling a set with a plan to building the shape/figure on the front surely they are removing the element of innovation.
Not sure how you leap to that conclusion... It's not like you're obliged in any way to only build what's on the box. You can build that, then build something else, or never build it at all. It's a supplement to innovation, not a limitation.
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I think it is a positive thing that Lego sells to more of
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When I got LEGO sets, I usually spent time building the models from the included instructions... which not only was awesome because the models were great, but it also helped me understand how any new parts worked.
For example, one of the most advanced sets I ever got was a moderately large rescue helicopter model (alternate was a hovercraft/swamp boat thing... not quite as cool). New parts for me in this set included
Timeline is wrong! (Score:5, Funny)
It should be this yellow one: http://guide.lugnet.com/set/375_2 [lugnet.com]
Why do I remember this? Because I was so green with jealously as I watched my older brother assesemble the one he got for his birthday. Oooo, how I hated that castle.
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Self Replicating Automaton (Score:2, Funny)
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Because I'm not enough of a geek yet... (Score:2)
6080 King's Castle http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6080 [lugnet.com]
6085 Black Monarch's Castle http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6085 [lugnet.com]
6073 Knight's Castle http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6073 [lugnet.com]
6074 Black Falcon's Fortress http://guide.lugnet.com/set/6074 [lugnet.com]
But, after that, they went to the molded baseplate for castles, so swinging open wasn't an option.
Happy birthday lego (Score:2)
Of course, the quality of Tente made me maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad, because each time you sticked one piece, another would drop at the other side of your creation. grrrr
Galaxy Explorer! (Score:2)
Legos Passed on to the Next Generation (Score:2, Interesting)
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Missing feature. (Score:2)
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Digital Camera. Notebook with a part count if you are truly anal.
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Plus it's awesome that nowadays you can share your creations far and wide for all time by publishing the photos online.
I mean, this is something that wasn't in many people's grasp 10 years ago, maybe even as li
News for Nerds! I say NOT today (Score:3, Insightful)
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Patent? (Score:2)
- Malcolm
How much did I like Lego? (Score:3, Funny)
The embarassing thing about it: I was 18.
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You think that's embarrassing? I'm saving up to buy that set off ebay and I'm nearly 26.
Why are they still so expensive? (Score:2)
Looking at the shops over here in Europe for Lego and Duplo sets for Christmas presents, the price seems pretty high, especially for some of the smaller sets that have only a few bricks and then some specialised pieces. How have the retail prices changed in real terms over the years? Have they gotten cheaper or have they become more expensive with all these character sets (Star Wars, Bob the Builder.
PS My favourite Lego add-on in the 70s was a large, motorised block that had a wired remote for forward and b
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I know how you feel.
Once I took all of my mideval minifigs, taped numbered slips of paper to the backs of each, and organized them into "red" and "blue" teams. Once placed on a "ruine
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I used to play that same game with my cousin! He was 4 years older, a true hacker, and he'd come up with some truly impressive designs (like rock-solid trucks), whereas mine were all
miss "erector sets" "panels and girders" (Score:2)
Specialized Pieces not the Problem (Score:3, Interesting)
I feel like the problem with Legos today is all the commercial tie ins, like StarWars and Spiderman. One of the greatest strengths, I feel, of the older Legos were that they were a set genre, but the unverse' story was largely untold. It was up to me, and my imagination to decide "why" the diffrent castle factions were at war. I got to experience the Galaxy exploders discover a medival civilization. I built a tyranical dragon lord who was defeated by the black knight using a futuristic laser gun found from the wreckage of a lost spacecraft.
I feel like the commercial ties "lock-in" a number of kids into highly-commercialized, pre-digested stories, where they are tempted to simply play out what they saw on TV rather than write new ones for themselves.
My wife is a teacher (first grade) and is disturbed (as am I) at how many students can't write or tell a story that doesn't include cartoon characters, and that it takes significant work to do something that we both feel came so naturally to both of us. How she does it, is that kids are not allowed to write about-or read books that feature TV or video game characters, or books made from TV/movies, in class.
I believe it is the creative play as a child that has done more for my career and personal development than anything else in my life.
Monorail! (Score:2)
One of the best sound bites I'll always remember from my childhood is the click, click, click of the monorail engine changing direction at an endpoint. At the time, that particular set was one of the most expensive available from LEGO, retailing at about $149.99 (in 1989 dollars!)
Oh, boy. (Score:2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFopAu-e7Vs [youtube.com]
Making a structurally intact case completely out of legos is challenging, especially when you're strapped for parts. This one needed some serious thought, but I did it all in one night
LL924 (Score:2)
Got that one for my 5th birthday. I could build it off by heart after two or three goes. By the time I was 11, I had designed and build my own 4-wheel drive, independent suspension all round, 3-speed gearbox, rack and pinion steering car.
Then they said I was too big to play with toys :-( and took it all away.
Re:Lego people (Score:4, Funny)
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Some of the neater Lego people sets is available through the Lego education line - stuff like the community workers set: http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?CategoryID=169&by=9&ID=420&c=1&t=0&l=0 [legoeducation.com]
or some of the Duplo people stuff like the "world people" set: http://www.legoeducation.com/store/detail.aspx?CategoryID=155&by=9&ID=1370&c=1&t=0&l=0 [legoeducation.com]
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