's page today?
Posted on 01/28/2008 2:28:52 PM PST by Squidpup
On Monday, Lego is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the day it filed its first patent for the iconic plastic brick. Since the beginning, Lego sets have been themed, and the very first theme was space. Not long afterward, Lego added castle and pirate themes. One of the first major elements of the "System of Play" was the Lego Town Plan. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the company is releasing a new, updated commemorative Town Plan this year. While updated, it includes '50s-era elements like a gas station, car wash, and garage, plus a movie theater and, of course, a town hall.
The original Town Plan box from 1955 featured Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen's grandson Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen as a boy. The 2008 Town Plan box once again features him, this time as a grown man.
Over the years, the Lego brick has become one of the most recognized toys in the world, and millions upon millions of people have spent countless hours playing with the bricks and the sets they're part of. But Lego's first supplementary sets came out in 1956, two years prior to the company filing its patent for the now-famous plastic brick. In 1956, the company exported its first products to Germany.
This year, Lego is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Minifigure, small figures of people included in many Lego sets today.
Credit: Steve Scott/misbi.com
's page today?
Learn robotics with Lego.
My sons love their Legos. I think we have 1.5 billion strewn throughout our house at any give time. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve sucked one up in the vacuum, I’d be a wealthy woman.
That is cool!
H
I took my 6 year old’s Legos away until he cleans up his toys in the basement. Does this mean I have to give them back???
That’s where I was clued in - then did a search to find a decent story link
I went to a Lego Robotics contest several months ago.
The kits that the kids put together were impressive.
Lego's are certainly one of the greatest inventions. EVER!
Legos also has the huge LegoLands in Denmark, Germany, England and San Diego.
Many an hour of my childhood was spent creating towns, villages, forts, launchpads, etc. with Lego. I still have some in a box somewhere...
Between the Erector Set and the “Star Wars Android Factory”, LOTS of little tiny pieces got sucked up in my Mom’s vacuum cleaner !
A box?! I have a large BIN full of Legos. The boys have finally grown out of playing with them and now they’re in storage, waiting for the grandchildren to be born.
I bet we have a cubic yard of Legos.
Heh...we had so many Legos (and whatever the cheaper ones were...Duplos?) when I was little, that every so often Mom would get sick of stepping on them / sweeping them up and offer us a penny for every one we could collect. I generally made a couple of bucks each time.
I think they're long gone now. But we spent many happy hours with those...and Tinker Toys...and old wooden blocks.
The best toys are the ones that require a good amount of imagination and creativity!
A cardboard box full of Lego is what remains. Luckily, you can buy it by the pound on E-Bay (I have seen 30 pounds go for about $40).
One of my first wins on ebay 11 years ago was 16 sets, mostly very large sets (kids often want sets, not bulk) for $200. They were brand new, and half the list price. I gave some every Christmas and birthday for the rest of their childhood.
;)
THAT is a good deal. I saw one bulk sale of 70 pounds of Lego (yes, 70 pounds); it was a combination of about several dozen sets.
I like your idea of buying several complete sets and gifting them over a long period of time; that is efficient! How did you keep them hidden until it was time to wrap them?
In the garage, and a strict rule: If you see your presents, they go back. Actually, they were old enough that after the first few years they did see them and put dibs on this or that set. :D I had 3 boys to give them to.
What was the shipping on the 70 lbs?
*although I am done buying Legos! Some of these sets were discontinued themes, which made them harder to find.
One note: We were a military family and the kids were used to seeing things in boxes in the garage, so it didn’t seem strange to them or attract undue attention.
I think that the shipping was in the neighbourhood of $50. Some of my colleagues at work were tempted to “chip in” for the auction including the shipping.
It’s good that the “mystery” was preserved for a while. :-)
That Lego Castrovalva is amazing.
Duplo are the bigger ones for younger kids.
Mega Bloks is the cheaper one. Ask me, I’ve bought them all. Legos, Mega Bloks, Flexi blocks. Those were the days. :)
Ours were made by Tyco, as I recall, and it seems like they had some sort of other name rather than Mega Bloks, but you could be right! They were mostly compatible, but the bumps were a little shorter, so sometimes they didn’t grip as well. The real ones tended to get used first.
And yeah, now I remember the Duplos! I think we had a set or two of those mixed into the rest...
My 11 year old son went to a Lego Engineering School last year at a local college. They used Lego’s to learn about structures, building, cantilevers etc.
Lego’s are far better than any toy out there, especially for boys (except toy guns). I’m thrilled when I see a hald dozen boys piled around a mountain of Lego’s in the living room.
Have you seen this?
FischerTechnik is better.
The basic pieces are much more flexible: 
I missed the anniversary.
I love LEGOs.
Thanks for the ping!
But what did Google do???!!!111one
They celebrated with donuts and kool-aid.
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