The All Things LEGO Thread.

[Minifig]

Lego (trademarked in capitals as LEGO) is a line of construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of colorful interlocking plastic bricks and an accompanying array of gears, minifigures and various other parts. Lego bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct such objects as vehicles, buildings, and even working robots. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. The toys were originally designed in the 1940s in Europe and have achieved an international appeal, with an extensive subculture that supports Lego movies, games, video games, competitions, and four Lego themed amusement parks.

The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. In 1934 his company came to be called Lego. It expanded to producing plastic toys in 1940. In 1949 Lego began producing the now famous interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based largely on the design of Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were released in the United Kingdom in 1947. Lego modified the design of the Kiddicraft brick after examining a sample given to it by the British supplier of an injection-moulding machine that the company had purchased. The bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were a development of traditional stackable wooden blocks that locked together by means of several round studs on top and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they required extraordinary effort to be separated.

The company name Lego was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well". The name could also be interpreted as "I put together" and "I assemble" in Latin, though this would be a somewhat forced application of the general sense "I collect; I gather; I learn"; the word is most used in the derived sense "I read".

The Lego Group's motto is kun det bedste er godt nok which means 'only the best is good enough'. This motto was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. The motto is still used within the company today.

The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of the Lego Group's shipments were returned after poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones.

By 1954 Christiansen's son Godtfred Kirk Christiansen had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their locking ability was limited and they were not very versatile. In 1958 the modern brick design was developed but it took another five years to find the right material for it. The modern Lego brick was patented on January 28, 1958; bricks from that year are still compatible with current bricks.

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So what do YOU build with LEGO?

[Minifig]

I figured this would be a a good time to start this thread as a week ago, I bought set #8169, the yellow Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4.

It arrived today!

It has two models you can build. I built the Spyder edition because it has a convertable top, and has more yellow (my favorite color).

It's a pretty enjoyable build, there are a few hinky spots where things just don't look like they'll fit together or they're really weirdly put together and cause some internal structure issues, but the model is solid and beautiful to look at.

Over all, it's a fantastic model.

I have photos of the car every 10 stages into the model if anyone wants to see them.

The biggest complaint I have with the model is that it uses stickers and LEGO really, really needs to start using Plastic printing because stickers freaking suck.

The stickers are what brings the score down to 8 of 10..

Worth the 59 bucks though, and I'll probably be buying it's Blue police Lambo counter-part soonish.

[Dark_ph0enix]

Everyone who loves Lego, should read Microserfs, by Douglas Coupland:

[Old Pic]

It's slightly dated, but there's some awesome Lego related parts, that I'd imagine are pretty accurate, if you were to poll the peeps on Neowin.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Biggest issue I have with Lego is that they have lost the ability to inspire imagination...

As a kid, I had 2 Lego box sets. They were each a collection of random bricks, enough to build say a house, a car, a spaceship. Big boxes. But no overall agenda.

These days it all seems "Build this car", "build this boat" etc...

Please, if I am wrong, show me :)

[Azusa]

Biggest issue I have with Lego is that they have lost the ability to inspire imagination...

As a kid, I had 2 Lego box sets. They were each a collection of random bricks, enough to build say a house, a car, a spaceship. Big boxes. But no overall agenda.

These days it all seems "Build this car", "build this boat" etc...

Please, if I am wrong, show me :)

get you're self up to Edinburgh and go to Jenners their toy section has a lego pic'n'mix.

[Crisp]

Biggest issue I have with Lego is that they have lost the ability to inspire imagination...

As a kid, I had 2 Lego box sets. They were each a collection of random bricks, enough to build say a house, a car, a spaceship. Big boxes. But no overall agenda.

These days it all seems "Build this car", "build this boat" etc...

Please, if I am wrong, show me :)

Totally agree, this is what James May said on that weird toy programme.

Back in the old days you used your imagination to build things, these days bricks are shaped to look the part. It's just not as good as it use to be.

[Kaemon]

I need to get some more LEGO sets. I live about a hour away from a full LEGO store!!! :cool:

[Inklin]

All my lego got wrecked so it was trashed... it was left in the shed and water got into it from a leaky roof so it was basically contaminated and stained. :cry:

[Minifig]

Biggest issue I have with Lego is that they have lost the ability to inspire imagination...

As a kid, I had 2 Lego box sets. They were each a collection of random bricks, enough to build say a house, a car, a spaceship. Big boxes. But no overall agenda.

These days it all seems "Build this car", "build this boat" etc...

Please, if I am wrong, show me :)

Came out in 1989 (was my first LEGO set ever, and still remains to be my favorite) , and had "custom pieces" (see the hull!), and you still "built this boat"..

LEGO's concept hasn't changed at all, you're just getting older.

[Piggy]

Came out in 1989 (was my first LEGO set ever, and still remains to be my favorite) , and had "custom pieces" (see the hull!), and you still "built this boat"..

LEGO's concept hasn't changed at all, you're just getting older.

I've always wanted that set. :cry:

[Darth Laidher]

I was a huge fan of LEGO intill i has like 15 then I had to give it up in fears of being made fun of. Even at 15 i was pushing it lol.I wish i could get back into LEGO's those were the days lol.

[DanLeto]

A house!

[RadishTM Veteran]

Got my LEGO sets up in the attic. I used to collect all the Police boxsets from CITY, I've given some of them to my nephew recently and he loves them :)

[Lee G. Veteran]

I want that set!

I'm tempted now to buy some LEGO kits. But they seem quite expensive, even if they're second hand on eBay.

[DigitalE]

My all time favorite set: 6915 Warp Wing Fighter. I was 7 years old when this set was released and I didn't have the money to buy it. Just a few months ago I found one relatively cheap on eBay :rofl:

[neufuse Veteran]

I have over $45,000 tied up in lego sets :blush:

at least one of each unopened in mint condition plus one to build..... gota love collecting.....

if you want to buy old sets..... http://www.bricklink.com/

[RadishTM Veteran]

if you want to buy old sets..... http://www.bricklink.com/

Damn you for posting that link, I just might have to go on a spending spree now to complete my Police CITY collection :pinch: :laugh:

[Dark_ph0enix]

Came out in 1989 (was my first LEGO set ever, and still remains to be my favorite) , and had "custom pieces" (see the hull!), and you still "built this boat"..

LEGO's concept hasn't changed at all, you're just getting older.

I can't remember if I got that set for Christmas, or as a Birthday present, but I totally remember that - Childhood flashback ftw :)

[neufuse Veteran]

Damn you for posting that link, I just might have to go on a spending spree now to complete my Police CITY collection :pinch: :laugh:

You are welcome :laugh:

[thealexweb]

My all time favorite set: 6915 Warp Wing Fighter. I was 7 years old when this set was released and I didn't have the money to buy it. Just a few months ago I found one relatively cheap on eBay :rofl:

Aww I had that, got it second hand, awesome :)

[Minifig]

Damn you for posting that link, I just might have to go on a spending spree now to complete my Police CITY collection :pinch: :laugh:

You could have asked me.. I've got a ton of references and links toward LEGO stuff. :happy:

[Angelic Marge]

I still have a big bag of Lego in the cupboard from when I was a kid,I passed it on to my kids who'll pass it on to theirs :cool:

[Kondrath]

I think Lego (It's hard for me to not call them legos -__-) and K'nex are two things I'd seriously sit down and play with at any age. I never liked building the sets though. I just built whatever I wanted...

lol, a few years back I use to have a neighbor who'd come over to my house to play with them. He was a HS grad at the time and I a freshmen. We'd both build a vehicle out of legos and then launch them into each other at full force. Which ever car remained in good health won :laugh:

Man that was fun...

I have no idea what happened to all of my legos Lego:(

[TehShopko]

I was a huge fan of LEGO intill i has like 15 then I had to give it up in fears of being made fun of. Even at 15 i was pushing it lol.I wish i could get back into LEGO's those were the days lol.

If/when you have kids, you can. :) My daughter is just now getting to the point where she can build something after picturing it in her mind. My son is younger, but he likes to play with them and make random stuff too. When they get a bit older, I went CRAZY in college for the robotic control sets. Being able to program the computer to give your creation some intelligence is such an amazing experience. I honestly think it will help take the "magic" out of electronics for my kids and teach them that they can create anything they see if they really want to.

LEGO is fun at any age. As I've grown older, I've stopped caring what anyone else thinks. Life is too short anyway, do what you enjoy! :woot:

[beanboy89]

We'd both build a vehicle out of legos and then launch them into each other at full force. Which ever car remained in good health won :laugh:

Me and my one friend used to to do that exact same thing, too. We even put Lego people in the driver's seat, and whichever vehicle came out with the least damage and the person still in the seat, came out the winner. I still remember my exact car design that was pretty much invincible. Good times.

I have all my Lego and (and K'nex) building pieces somewhere around. Might try to find them and dig them out.