Jump to content

Lego

Page semi-protected
Listen to this article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jacobin 357 (talk | contribs) at 21:00, 22 November 2023 (→Manufacturing). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

This article is about the construction toy. For the company, see The Lego Group. For the Italian newspaper, see Leggo. For other uses, see Lego (disambiguation).

Lego
Logo used since 1998
TypeConstruction set
Inventor(s)Ole Kirk Christiansen
CompanyThe Lego Group
CountryDenmark
Availability1949–present
MaterialsAcrylonitrile butadiene styrene
Official website

Lego (/ˈlɛɡoʊ/ LEG-oh, Danish: [ˈle̝ːko];[1] stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously colored interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Its pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Anything constructed can be taken apart again, and the pieces reused to make new things.[2][3]

The Lego Group began manufacturing the interlocking toy bricks in 1949. Films, games competitions, and eight Legoland amusement parks have been developed under the brand. One of Europe's biggest companies, Lego is the largest toy manufacturer in the world by sales.[4][5] As of July 2015, 600 billion Lego parts had been produced.[6]

History

Main articles: History of Lego and Lego timeline
Hilary Fisher Page's Interlocking Building Cubes by Kiddicraft, 1939

The Lego Group began in the workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen (1891–1958), a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932.[7][8] In 1934, his company came to be called "Lego", derived from the Danish phrase leg godt [lɑjˀ ˈkʌt],[9][10] which means "play well".[11] In 1947, Lego expanded to begin producing plastic toys.[12] In 1949 the business began producing, among other new products, an early version of the now familiar interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based on the Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which had been patented in the United Kingdom in 1939[13] and released in 1947. Lego had received a sample of the Kiddicraft bricks from the supplier of an injection-molding machine that it purchased.[14] The bricks, originally manufactured from cellulose acetate,[15] were a development of the traditional stackable wooden blocks of the time.[12]

Lego bricks
Two Lego Duplo bricks with a standard brick for comparison

The Lego Group's motto, "only the best is good enough"[16] (Template:Lang-da, literally "the best isn't excessively good") was created in 1936.[8] Christiansen created the motto, still used today, to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly.[8] By 1951, plastic toys accounted for half of the company's output, even though the Danish trade magazine Legetøjs-Tidende ("Toy Times"), visiting the Lego factory in Billund in the early 1950s, wrote that plastic would never be able to replace traditional wooden toys.[17] Although a common sentiment, Lego toys seem to have become a significant exception to the dislike of plastic in children's toys, due in part to the high standards set by Ole Kirk.[18]

By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group.[17] It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that led to 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 still limited, and they were not yet versatile.[2] In 1958, the modern brick design was developed; it took five years to find the right material for it, ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) polymer.[19][15] A patent application for the modern Lego brick design was filed in Denmark on 28 January 1958 and in various other countries in the subsequent few years.[20][21]

The Lego Group's Duplo product line was introduced in 1969 and is a range of blocks whose lengths measure twice the width, height, and depth of standard Lego blocks and are aimed towards younger children.[17][22] In 1978, Lego produced the first minifigures, which have since become a staple in most sets.[23]

In May 2011, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-134 brought 13 Lego kits to the International Space Station, where astronauts built models to see how they would react in microgravity, as a part of the Lego Bricks in Space program.[24][25] In May 2013, the largest model ever created, made of over 5 million bricks, was displayed in New York City; a one-to-one scale model of a Star Wars X-wing fighter.[26] Other record breakers include a 34-metre (112 ft) tower[27] and a 4 km (2.5 mi) railway.[28][29]

In February 2015, marketing consulting company Brand Finance ranked Lego as the "world's most powerful brand", overtaking Ferrari.[30][31]

Main article: Lego in popular culture

Lego's popularity is demonstrated by its wide representation and usage in many cultural works, including books, films, and art. It has even been used in the classroom as a teaching tool.[32] In the US, Lego Education North America is a joint venture between Pitsco, Inc. and the educational division of the Lego Group.[33]

In 1998, Lego bricks were one of the original inductees into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York.[34]

"Lego" is commonly used as a mass noun ("some Lego") or, in American English, as a countable noun with plural "Legos", to refer to the bricks themselves,[35] but as is common for trademarks, Lego group insists on the name being used as an adjective when referring to a product (as in "LEGO bricks").[36]

Design

Lego pieces of all varieties constitute a universal system. Despite variation in the design and the purposes of individual pieces over the years, each remains compatible in some way with existing pieces. Lego bricks from 1958 still interlock with those made presently, and Lego sets for young children are compatible with those made for teenagers. Six bricks of 2 × 4 studs[37] can be combined in 915,103,765 ways.[38]

Each piece must be manufactured to an exacting degree of precision. When two pieces are engaged, they must fit firmly, yet be easily disassembled. The machines that manufacture Lego bricks have tolerances as small as 10 micrometres.[39]

Dimensions of some standard Lego bricks and plates[40][41]

Primary concept and development work for the toy takes place at the Billund headquarters, where the company employs approximately 120 designers. The company also has smaller design offices in the UK, Spain, Germany, and Japan which are tasked with developing products aimed specifically at their respective national markets. The average development period for a new product is around twelve months, split into three stages. The first is to identify market trends and developments, including contact by the designers directly with the market; some are stationed in toy shops close to holidays, while others interview children. The second stage is the design and development of the product based upon the results of the first stage. As of September 2008 the design teams use 3D modelling software to generate CAD drawings from initial design sketches. The designs are then prototyped using an in-house stereolithography machine. These prototypes are presented to the entire project team for comment and testing by parents and children during the "validation" process. Designs may then be altered in accordance with the results from the focus groups. Virtual models of completed Lego products are built concurrently with the writing of the user instructions. Completed CAD models are also used in the wider organisation for marketing and packaging.[42]

Lego Digital Designer is an official piece of Lego software for Mac OS X and Windows which allows users to create their own digital Lego designs.[43] The program once allowed customers to order custom designs[44] with a service to ship physical models from Digital Designer to consumers; the service ended in 2012[why?]|.[45]

Manufacturing

The Lego factory in Kladno, Czech Republic in 2008
Lego injection moulding machines, made by the German company Arburg

Since 1963, Lego pieces have been manufactured from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).[15][39] As of September 2008, Lego engineers use the NX CAD/CAM/CAE PLM software suite to model the elements. The software allows the parts to be optimised by way of mould flow and stress analysis. Prototype moulds are sometimes built before the design is committed to mass production. The ABS plastic is heated to 232 °C (450 °F) until it reaches a dough-like consistency. It is then injected into the moulds using forces of between 25 and 150 tonnes and takes approximately 15 seconds to cool. The moulds are permitted a tolerance of up to twenty micrometres to ensure the bricks remain connected.[42] Human inspectors check the output of the moulds to eliminate significant variations in colour or thickness. According to the Lego Group, about eighteen bricks out of every million fail to meet the standard required.[46]

Lego factories recycle all but about 1 percent of their plastic waste from the manufacturing process. If the plastic cannot be re-used in Lego bricks, it is processed and sold on to industries that can make use of it.[47][48] Lego, in 2018, set a self-imposed 2030 deadline to find a more eco-friendly alternative to the ABS plastic.[49]

Manufacturing of Lego bricks occurs at several locations around the world. Moulding is done in Billund, Denmark; Nyíregyháza, Hungary; Monterrey, Mexico; and most recently in Jiaxing, China. Brick decorations and packaging are done at plants in the former three countries and in Kladno in the Czech Republic. The Lego Group estimates that in five decades it has produced 400 billion Lego blocks.[50] Annual production of the bricks averages approximately 36 billion, or about 1140 elements per second. According to an article in BusinessWeek in 2006, Lego could also be considered the world's number-one tyre manufacturer; the factory produces about 306 million small rubber tyres a year.[51] The claim was reiterated in 2012.[52]

In December 2012, the BBC's More or Less radio program asked the Open University's engineering department to determine "how many Lego bricks, stacked one on top of the other, it would take for the weight to destroy the bottom brick?"[53] Using a hydraulic testing machine, members of the department determined the average maximum force a 2×2 Lego brick can stand is 4,240 newtons. Since an average 2×2 Lego brick has a mass of 1.152 grams (0.0406 oz), according to their calculations it would take a stack of 375,000 bricks to cause the bottom brick to collapse, which represents a stack 3,591 metres (11,781 ft) in height.[53]

Private tests have shown several thousand assembly-disassembly cycles before the bricks begin to wear out,[54] although Lego tests show fewer cycles.[55]

In 2018, Lego announced that it will be using bio-derived polyethylene to make its botanical elements (parts such as leaves, bushes and trees).[56] In 2020, the company announced that it would cease packaging its products in single-use plastic bags and would instead be using recyclable paper bags.[57][58] In 2021, the company said it would aim to produce its bricks without using crude oil, by using recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles, but in 2023 it reversed this decision, having found that this did not reduce its carbon dioxide emissions.[59]

Set themes

Further information: List of Lego themes
Lego sets of the Lego City theme

Since the 1950s, the Lego Group has released thousands of sets with a variety of themes, including space, robots, pirates, trains, Vikings, (European) castle, dinosaurs, undersea exploration, and wild west, as well as wholly original themes like Bionicle and Hero Factory. Some of the classic themes that continue to the present day include Lego City (a line of sets depicting city life introduced in 1973) and Lego Technic (a line aimed at emulating complex machinery, introduced in 1977).[60]

Over the years, the company has licensed themes from numerous cartoon and film franchises and some from video games. These include Batman, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, and Minecraft. Although some of these themes, Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones, had highly successful sales, the company expressed in 2015 a desire to rely more upon their own characters and classic themes and less upon such licensed themes.[61] Some sets include references to other themes such as a Bionicle mask in one of the Harry Potter sets.[62] Discontinued sets may become a collectable and command value on the black market.[63]

For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Lego released a special Team GB Minifigures series exclusively in the United Kingdom to mark the opening of the games. For the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Lego released a kit with the Olympic and Paralympic mascots Vinicius and Tom.[64]

One of the largest commercially produced Lego sets was a minifig-scaled edition of the Star Wars Millennium Falcon. Designed by Jens Kronvold Fredericksen, it was released in 2007 and contained 5,195 pieces. It was surpassed by a 5,922-piece Taj Mahal. A redesigned Millennium Falcon retook the top spot in 2017 with 7,541 pieces.[65] Since then, the Millennium Falcon has been superseded by the Lego Art World Map at 11,695 pieces, the Lego Titanic at 9,090 pieces, and the Lego Architect Colosseum at 9,036 pieces.[66]

In 2022, Lego introduced its Eiffel Tower. The set consists of 10,000 parts and reaches a height of 149 cm, which makes it the tallest set and tower but the second in number of parts after the World Map.[67]

Robotics themes

Main articles: Lego Mindstorms, Lego Mindstorms NXT, Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0, and Lego Mindstorms EV3

The company also initiated a robotics line of toys called 'Mindstorms' in 1999, and has continued to expand and update this range ever since. The roots of the product originate from a programmable brick developed at the MIT Media Lab, and the name is taken from a paper by Seymour Papert, a computer scientist and educator who developed the educational theory of constructionism, and whose research was at times funded by the Lego Group.[68]

The programmable Lego brick which is at the heart of these robotics sets has undergone several updates and redesigns, with the latest being called the 'EV3' brick, being sold under the name of Lego Mindstorms EV3. The set includes sensors that detect touch, light, sound and ultrasonic waves, with several others being sold separately, including an RFID reader.[69]

The intelligent brick can be programmed using official software available for Windows and Mac computers, and is downloaded onto the brick via Bluetooth or a USB cable. There are also several unofficial programs and compatible programming languages that have been made to work with the brick, and many books have been written to support this community.[69]

There are several robotics competitions which use the Lego robotics sets. The earliest is Botball, a national U.S. middle- and high-school competition stemming from the MIT 6.270 Lego robotics tournament. Other Lego robotics competitions include FIRST LEGO League Discover for children ages 4–6, FIRST LEGO League Explore for students ages 6–9 and FIRST Lego League Challenge for students ages 9–16 (age 9–14 in the United States, Canada, and Mexico). These programs offer real-world engineering challenges to participants. FIRST LEGO League Challenge uses LEGO-based robots to complete tasks, FIRST LEGO League Explore participants build models out of Lego elements, and FIRST LEGO League Discover participants use Duplo. In its 2019–2020 season, there were 38,609 FIRST LEGO League Challenge teams and 21,703 FIRST LEGO League Explore teams around the world. The international RoboCup Junior football competition involves extensive use of Lego Mindstorms equipment which is often pushed to its extreme limits.[70]

The capabilities of the Mindstorms range have now been harnessed for use in Iko Creative Prosthetic System, a prosthetic limbs system designed for children. Designs for these Lego prosthetics allow everything from mechanical diggers to laser-firing spaceships to be screwed on to the end of a child's limb. Iko is the work of the Chicago-based Colombian designer Carlos Arturo Torres, and is a modular system that allows children to customise their own prosthetics with the ease of clicking together plastic bricks. Designed with Lego's Future Lab, the Danish toy company's experimental research department, and Cirec, a Colombian foundation for physical rehabilitation, the modular prosthetic incorporates myoelectric sensors that register the activity of the muscle in the stump and send a signal to control movement in the attachment. A processing unit in the body of the prosthetic contains an engine compatible with Lego Mindstorms, the company's robotics line, which lets the wearer build an extensive range of customised, programmable limbs.[71][72]

Clones

Main article: Lego clone

The last significant patent for Lego bricks expired in 1978.[20][73] Since then, competitors have produced blocks of similar dimensions and design that can be connected with Lego bricks.[73] In 2002, Lego sued the CoCo Toy Company in Beijing for copyright infringement over its "Coko bricks" product. CoCo was ordered to cease manufacture of the products, publish a formal apology and pay damages.[74] Lego sued the English company Best-Lock Construction Toys in German courts in 2004[75] and 2009;[76] the Federal Patent Court of Germany denied Lego trademark protection for the shape of its bricks for the latter case.[77] In 2005, the Lego Company sued Canadian company Ritvik Holdings Inc., which makes Mega Bloks, for trademark violation. However, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Ritvik Holdings Inc.'s rights to sell its product.[78] In 2010, the European Court of Justice ruled that the eight-peg design of the original Lego brick "merely performs a technical function [and] cannot be registered as a trademark."[79]

In 2020 and 2021, Lego sent cease and desist letters to small toy retailers and popular YouTubers in Germany. In 2021, the situation escalated when Lego let a container delivered by clone producer Qman block in the harbor of Bremen for trademark infringement, and to test for contamination with dangerous materials. The recipient toy retailer initiated an appeal for donations to import containers of Lego clones from China to Germany and donate them to children's homes, which received more than €350,000 within a couple of weeks.[80][81][82]

Official website

First launched in 1996, the Lego website has developed over the years, and provides many extra services beyond an online store and a product catalogue. There are also moderated message boards that were founded in 2001.[83] The site also includes instruction booklets for all Lego sets dating back to 2002.[84]

The Lego website features a social media app named Lego Life,[85][86] which is designed for children under 13 years of age. The app is available as a free download and only features Lego-related content. It was designed to be a social network for children to be inspired, create and share their Lego builds, photos and videos with a like-minded community, whilst also providing Lego content in the form of product advertising, images, videos, campaigns and competitions. The app incorporates a variety of child safety features to provide a safe digital environment for children, including the protection of personal information and the heavy moderation of all uploaded user-generated content and communication.[87][88]

My Lego Network was a social networking site that involved items, blueprints, ranks, badges which were earned for completing certain tasks, trading and trophies called masterpieces which allowed users to progress to go to the next rank. The website had a built-in inbox which allowed users to send pre-written messages to one another. The Lego Network included automated non-player characters within called "Networkers", who were able to do things which normal users could not do, sending custom messages, and selling masterpieces and blueprints. The site also had modules which were set up on the user's page that gave the user items, or that displayed picture compositions. My Lego network closed in 2015.

Before My Lego Network, there were Lego Club Pages, which essentially held the same purpose, although the design lacked complex interaction.[89]

Theme parks

Main article: Legoland
A model of Trafalgar Square, London in Legoland Windsor

Merlin Entertainments operates eight Legoland amusement parks, the original in Billund, Denmark, the second in Windsor, England, the third in Günzburg, Germany, the fourth in Carlsbad, California, the fifth in Winter Haven, Florida, the sixth in Iskandar Puteri, Malaysia,[90] the seventh in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,[91] and the eighth in Nagoya, Japan.[92] A ninth is planned to open in 2020 in Goshen, New York, United States,[92] and a tenth in 2022 in Shanghai, China.[93] On 13 July 2005, the control of 70% of the Legoland parks was sold for $460 million to the Blackstone Group of New York while the remaining 30% is still held by Lego Group.[94] There are also eight Legoland Discovery Centres, two in Germany, four in the United States, one in Japan and one in the United Kingdom. Two Legoland Discovery Centres opened in 2013: one at the Westchester Ridge Hill shopping complex in Yonkers, New York, and one at the Vaughan Mills in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Another opened at American Dream Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 2021.[95]

Retail stores

A Lego store in Toronto, Canada
The world's largest Lego store in Leicester Square, London

The first Lego store to open anywhere in the world was in Sydney, Australia, in 1984. Located in the Birkenhead Point Outlet Centre it was not only the first dedicated Lego retail outlet, but it also had displays including many iconic Australian items such as the Holden FJ, Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the Sydney Opera House as well as buildings from Amsterdam, dinosaurs and an English Village. Known as The LEGO® Centre, Birkenhead Point, the store closed in the early 1990s.[96]

As of July 2023, Lego operates 904 retail shops, called Lego Stores, globally.[97] The world's largest Lego store is located in Leicester Square, London.[98] The U.S. stores include the Downtown Disney shopping complexes at Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts as well as in Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The opening of each new store is celebrated with a weekend-long event in which a Master Model Builder creates, with the help of volunteers—a larger-than-life Lego statue, which is then displayed at the new store for several weeks.[99]

Business consultancy

Main article: Lego Serious Play

Since around 2000, the Lego Group has been promoting "Lego Serious Play", a form of business consultancy fostering creative thinking, in which team members build metaphors of their organizational identities and experiences using Lego bricks. Participants work through imaginary scenarios using visual three-dimensional Lego constructions, imaginatively exploring possibilities in a serious form of play.[100]

Video games

Main article: List of Lego video games

Lego branched out into the video game market in 1997 by founding Lego Media International Limited, and Lego Island was released that year by Mindscape. After this Lego released titles such as Lego Creator and Lego Racers.

After Lego closed down their publishing subsidiary, they moved on to a partnership with Traveller's Tales, and went on to make games like Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, and many more including the very well-received Lego Marvel Super Heroes game, featuring New York City as the overworld and including Marvel characters from the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, and more.[101][102] More recently, Lego has created a game based on The Lego Movie, due to its popularity.[103]

Board games

Main article: Lego board games

Lego Games launched in 2009, was a series of Lego-themed board games designed by Cephas Howard and Reiner Knizia[104][105] in which the players usually build the playing board out of Lego bricks and then play with Lego-style players. Examples of the games include "Minotaurus", in which players roll dice to move characters within a brick-build labyrinth, "Creationary", in which players must build something which appears on a card, or "Ramses Pyramid", in which players collect gems and climb up a customisable pyramid. Like many board games, the games use dice. In Lego Games, the dice are Lego, with Lego squares with symbols on Lego studs on the dice, surrounded by rubber. The games vary from simple to complex; some are similar to "traditional" board games, while others are completely different.[106]

Films and television

Main articles: List of Lego films and TV series, The Lego Movie, The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie, and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

The first official Lego film was the straight-to-DVD release of Bionicle: Mask of Light in 2003 developed by Creative Capers Entertainment and distributed by Miramax Home Entertainment. Several other straight-to-DVD computer-animated Bionicle sequels and Hero Factory movies were produced in the following years. Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers was released on DVD in February 2010, a computer-animated film made by Tinseltown Toons.[107] A computer-generated animated series titled Lego Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu began in January 2011 for the Lego Ninjago brand.[108] Another television series titled Legends of Chima began in 2013 for the Legends of Chima brand.[109] In December 2015, a television series titled Nexo Knights made its debut for the Lego Nexo Knights brand.[110] An animated series titled Lego Elves was released in 2015 and another titled Lego Elves: Secrets of Elvendale was released in 2017 for the Lego Elves brand.[111] In 2016, Lego Bionicle: The Journey To One was released for the Bionicle franchise and Lego Friends: The Power of Friendship for the Lego Friends brand.[112] In June 2019, an animated series titled Lego City Adventures was released for the Lego City brand.[113] In 2021, an animated series titled Lego Monkie Kid was released to support the Lego brand of the same name.[114]

The Lego Movie, a feature film based on Lego toys, was released by Warner Bros. in February 2014.[115] It featured Chris Pratt in the lead role, with substantial supporting characters voiced by Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell and Nick Offerman.[116] A contest was held for contestants to submit designs for vehicles to be used in the film.[117] After the release of The Lego Movie, independent Canadian toy retailers reported issues with shortages of Lego products and cited cancellations of Lego pre-orders without warning[118] as a motive to stock compatible, rival products.[119]

A spin-off of The Lego Movie, entitled The Lego Batman Movie, directed by Chris McKay was released in the US in February 2017.[120] A sequel to The Lego Batman Movie was planned and later cancelled.[121]

In June 2013, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing a feature film adaptation of Lego Ninjago. Brothers Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman were attached to write the adaptation, while Dan Lin and Roy Lee, along with Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were announced as producers.[122] The film, The Lego Ninjago Movie, was released in September 2017.[123]

In February 2019, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part was released, which was a direct sequel to the original film and starred Chris Pratt in the lead role.[124]

Books and magazines

Lego has an ongoing deal with publisher Dorling Kindersley (DK), who are producing a series of illustrated hardback books looking at different aspects of the construction toy. The first was The Ultimate Lego Book, published in 1999. In 2009, the same publisher produced The LEGO Book, which was sold within a slipcase along with Standing Small: A celebration of 30 years of the LEGO minifigure, a smaller book focused on the minifigure. In 2012, a revised edition was published. Also in 2009, DK also published books on Lego Star Wars and a range of Lego-based sticker books.[125]

Although no longer being published in the United States by Scholastic, books covering events in the Bionicle storyline are written by Greg Farshtey. They are still being published in Europe by AMEET. Bionicle comics, also written by Farshtey, are compiled into graphic novels and were released by Papercutz. This series ended in 2009, after nine years.[126]

There is also the Lego Club and Brickmaster magazine, the latter discontinued in 2011.[127]

Clothing

Kabooki, a Danish company founded in 1993, produces children's clothes branded as "Lego Wear" under licence from the Lego Group.[128] In 2020, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas and Levi's.[129] In 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Justhype and Adidas to produce apparel inspired by the Lego Ninjago theme.[130][131] In May 2021, Lego announced collaborations with Adidas to produce products inspired by the Lego Vidiyo theme.[132]

References

  1. ^ Brink, Lars; Lund, Jørn; Heger, Steffen; Jørgensen, J. Normann (1991). Den Store Danske Udtaleordbog. Copenhagen: Munksgaard. p. 845. ISBN 87-16-06649-9.
  2. ^ a b "Lego History-About Us". Lego. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  3. ^ "How a Lego Works". How Stuff Works. 28 June 2006. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  4. ^ "Lego Builds on Its Position as World's No. 1 Toy Maker". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Lego: the brick behemoth that wants to be as big as Disney". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 October 2023. Such innovations have propelled the family-owned toymaker to become one of Europe's biggest corporate success stories.. Lego, with essentially just one product in endless iterations, has become by far the biggest toymaker in the world by sales, and on a different level altogether in terms of profits.
  6. ^ "The message is the medium". Intellectual Property Office blog. Gov.uk. Archived from the original on 20 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  7. ^ Wiencek 1987, p. 16
  8. ^ a b c Lipkowitz 2012
  9. ^ "leg — Den Danske Ordbog". ordnet.dk. Archived from the original on 14 October 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  10. ^ "godt — Den Danske Ordbog". ordnet.dk. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  11. ^ "The Lego Group History". lego.com. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  12. ^ a b Wiencek 1987, pp. 45–46
  13. ^ "Improvements in toy building blocks, patent GB529580 of 25 November 1940 by Harry Fisher Page of Kiddicraft". espacenet.com. 17 July 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  14. ^ Glancey, Jonathan (28 July 2008). "Lego: a toy of gentle genius". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b c Pickering 1999, p. 15
  16. ^ "How we keep your data safe – Customer Service – LEGO.com MY". www.lego.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Wiencek 1987, pp. 46–52
  18. ^ Lauwaert, M. (2008). "Playing outside the box – on LEGO toys and the changing world of construction play". History & Technology, 24(3), 221–237.
  19. ^ Wiencek 1987, pp. 68–72
  20. ^ a b "Lego Celebrates 50 Years of Building". TIME. 28 January 2008. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
  21. ^ Gesley, Jenny (29 January 2018). "60 Years of Lego Building Blocks and Danish Patent Law". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  22. ^ "About Duplo". Lego. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  23. ^ "The history of the Lego minifigure". Toys to Remember. Archived from the original on 6 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  24. ^ Banks, Dave (28 April 2011). "Space Shuttle Endeavour Launches Tomorrow With a Special Payload". Wired News. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  25. ^ Eaton, Kit (29 April 2011). "Space Shuttle Endeavour: Made Of Spare Parts". Fast Company. Archived from the original on 3 May 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
  26. ^ Diaz, Jesus (23 May 2013). "This Incredible Full Scale Lego X-Wing Is the Largest Model in History". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 3 June 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  27. ^ Lee, Kevin. "Delaware High School Students Complete World's Tallest LEGO Tower Archived 22 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine" Inhabitat, 24 August 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.
  28. ^ Lofgren, Kristine. "The World's Longest LEGO Railway Stretches Nearly 2.5 Miles Long Archived 30 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine" Inhabitat, 19 May 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.
  29. ^ "Longest Lego Railway Archived 10 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine", 16 July 2013. Accessed: 29 March 2014.
  30. ^ Dill, Kathryn (19 February 2015), "Lego Tops Global Ranking of the Most Powerful Brands in 2015", Forbes, archived from the original on 20 February 2015, retrieved 20 February 2015
  31. ^ "Lego Overtakes Ferrari as the World's Most Powerful Brand". Brand Finance. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  32. ^ Chan, Derek. "Lego Educational Resource". Blogger. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  33. ^ "Lego Education (see footnote)". Archived from the original on 14 February 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  34. ^ "Lego". National Toy Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
  35. ^ "Lego". Wiktionary. Wikimedia. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  36. ^ "Fair Play". LEGO.com. Lego System A/S. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023.
  37. ^ "Learn to speak LEGO! – BASIC TERMS". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018., The Brick Blogger Archived 11 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
  38. ^ Roshanzamir, Ali (10 December 2013). "Matematik-professoren leger med lego-klodser". University of Copenhagen Faculty of Science. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  39. ^ a b "Company Profile, page 20" (PDF). The Lego Group. 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2012.
  40. ^ "Lego Specifications". Orionrobots.co.uk. 26 February 2011. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  41. ^ Dimensions Guide (13 December 2010). "Dimensions of a Standard Lego Brick". Dimensionsguide.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  42. ^ a b Corbet, Frances (September 2008). "Child's Play". Develop 3D. X3DMedia: 25–27.
  43. ^ "LEGO Digital Designer". LEGO. n.d. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  44. ^ "Build with Chrome". n.d. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  45. ^ "What happened to DESIGN byME?". LEGO. n.d. Archived from the original on 24 January 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  46. ^ "Company Profile An Introduction to the LEGO Group 2010" (PDF). The Lego Group. 2011. p. 8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2011.
  47. ^ "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego". Gizmodo.com. 26 June 2008. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  48. ^ "How Lego Bricks Work". HowStuffWorks.com. 28 June 2006. Archived from the original on 15 May 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  49. ^ Reed, Stanley (31 August 2018). "Lego Wants to Completely Remake Its Toy Bricks (Without Anyone Noticing)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  50. ^ Cendrowicz, Leo (28 January 2008). "Lego Celebrates 50 Years of Building". Time. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022. Since then, the company has made a staggering 400 billion Lego elements, or 62 bricks for every person on the planet.
  51. ^ "The Making of ... a LEGO". Bloomberg BusinessWeek. 29 November 2006. Archived from the original on 9 August 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  52. ^ "World Record". Lego. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  53. ^ a b Alexander, Ruth (3 December 2012). "How tall can a Lego tower get?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2012. The average maximum force the bricks can stand is 4,240N. That's equivalent to a mass of 432 kg (950lbs). If you divide that by the mass of a single brick, which is 1.152g, then you get the grand total of bricks a single piece of Lego could support: 375,000. So, 375,000 bricks towering 3.5 kilometers (2.17 miles) high is what it would take to break a Lego brick.
  54. ^ Mattise, Nathan (24 March 2014). "Lego bricks still last 30,000+ impressions during new and improved test". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  55. ^ Godske, Bjørn (29 March 2014). "Robot-test beviser det: Lego kan samles og adskilles over 30.000 gange". Ingeniøren. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  56. ^ "FIRST SUSTAINABLE LEGO BRICKS WILL BE LAUNCHED IN 2018". Archived from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  57. ^ Nader, Brittany. "What LEGO's Sustainable Packaging Teach Us About Innovation". www.standuppouches.net. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  58. ^ Ziady, Hanna (15 September 2020). "LEGO to phase out single-use plastic packaging". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  59. ^ Noor Nanji (25 September 2023). "Lego axes plan to make bricks from recycled bottles". BBC.
  60. ^ Wiencek 1987, p. 54.
  61. ^ "Lego Mindstorms and Harry Potter Will Continue". Lego. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  62. ^ Yates, Jack (17 April 2021). "Five things you may have missed in the new LEGO Harry Potter sets". Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  63. ^ "Lego enthusiast explains why the black market for the toy bricks is so lucrative". CBC Radio. 5 April 2021. Archived from the original on 8 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  64. ^ "Mascots Tom and Vinicius debut Lego look for Rio 2016". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 23 May 2016.
  65. ^ Meno, George (7 June 2008). "Designing General Grievous". brickjournal.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2008.
  66. ^ "The Top 30 Biggest LEGO Sets Ever". The Collector. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021.
  67. ^ "LEGO Is Now Slinging An Insane 1.5-Metre Tall Eiffel Tower Kit". www.bosshunting.com.au. 21 November 2022. Archived from the original on 22 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  68. ^ "Mindstorms History". Lego. Archived from the original on 31 August 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  69. ^ a b "About EV3". Lego. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  70. ^ "USFIRST.org". USFIRST.org. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
  71. ^ Wainwright, Oliver (22 July 2015). "The Lego prosthetic arm that children can create and hack themselves". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  72. ^ "IKO Creative Prosthetic System". Core77. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  73. ^ a b Austen, Ian (28 January 2005). "Building a Legal Case, Block by Block". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  74. ^ "News". Ccpit-patent.com.cn. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  75. ^ "Best Lock Petitions US Patent Office". Mass Live. 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  76. ^ "Lego Deleted as a Trademark". Marken Magazine. 21 July 2009. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  77. ^ "Court Ruling". Bundesgerichtshof. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  78. ^ "Lego v. Mega Bloks". Canlii. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  79. ^ "Montreal's Mega Brands face off in court with Lego". The Globe and Mail. 15 January 2012. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  80. ^ Lego bringt die treuesten Fans gegen sich auf Archived 5 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine Der Tagesspiegel, 21 February 2020
  81. ^ Rumoren in der Lego-Welt Archived 7 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, orf.at, 6 March 2021.
  82. ^ EXTRABLATT!! LEGO hat mächtig Angst und schlägt wild um sich! Qman soll vernichtet werden Archived 6 March 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Thomas Panke, 5 March 2021.
  83. ^ "Lego Website". Lego. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  84. ^ "Lego instruction manuals". Lego. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  85. ^ Lego Group (31 January 2017). "LEGO Group Launches LEGO Life, a Safe Social Network for Children Under 13". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  86. ^ Lego Group (7 February 2017). "LEGO Life launches quiz challenges to promote online safety for children". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  87. ^ Larson, Selena (31 January 2017). "Lego's new social network wants to keep bullies out". CNN Business. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  88. ^ Lego Group (16 November 2020). "The LEGO Group launches new range of activities to help the whole family feel empowered to act against cyberbullying". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 10 January 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  89. ^ "My Lego Network". Lego. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  90. ^ "Legoland". Lego. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  91. ^ "Now open: Legoland Dubai". Gulfnews. 31 October 2016. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016.
  92. ^ a b "Legoland". Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  93. ^ "Second Legoland theme park to be built in China". gbtimes.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  94. ^ "Legoland sale to Merlin Entertainment". BBC. 13 July 2005. Archived from the original on 24 May 2006. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  95. ^ "2 American Dream attractions delay opening date". nj.com. 21 April 2021. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  96. ^ "The First LEGO Store: Birkenhead Point Sydney LEGO Centre". Toltoys Kid. Australia. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  97. ^ Yates, Jack. "There could be over 1,000 LEGO stores worldwide in 2024". Brick Fanatics. www.brickfanatics.com. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
  98. ^ "Flagship Store London Leicester Square". Lego.com. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
  99. ^ "Lego Store Grand Openings". Access Winnipeg. 21 July 2015. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  100. ^ "Serious Play". Lego. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  101. ^ "Lego Marvel Superheroes Video Game". Marvel. Archived from the original on 17 September 2014. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  102. ^ "History of Lego Video Games". Movie Pilot. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  103. ^ Minton, Turner (23 January 2015). "Build Your Destiny with The Lego Movie Videogame on iOS". pastemagazine.com. Paste Media Group. Archived from the original on 10 July 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  104. ^ Gilbert, Brett J. (12 July 2009). "LEGO Board Games: Interview with Cephas Howard". BrettSpiel. Archived from the original on 18 August 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2009.
  105. ^ "LEGO Games". Archived from the original on 17 August 2010. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  106. ^ "Lego Games". Board Game Geek. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  107. ^ "LEGO.com LEGO Club : News & Extras". Club.lego.com. 23 February 2010. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  108. ^ Singh, Prerna (26 January 2021). "Ninjago Season 14: Everything We Know". The Cinemaholic. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  109. ^ Lowry, Brian (9 July 2013). "Beware the Batman, Legends of Chima". Variety. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  110. ^ Porter, Matt (8 October 2015). "LEGO Announces Nexo Knights Including New Building Sets, TV Show, and Mobile Game". IGN. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  111. ^ "Lego's New Netflix Series Isn't Very Lego, And That's A Good Thing". Kotaku. 24 August 2017. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  112. ^ Spangler, Todd (1 October 2015). "Netflix Orders 7 Original Kids' Series, Including Lego's 'Bionicle' and DreamWorks' 'Croods'". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  113. ^ Kelley, Shamus (14 May 2019). "LEGO City Adventures Trailer and Release Date Revealed". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  114. ^ Morgan, Stephanie. "Lego Monkie Kid TV Review | Common Sense Media". www.commonsensemedia.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  115. ^ "Warner Bros. Sets dates for the Lego Movie". The Hollywood Reporter. 23 April 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  116. ^ Kit, Borys (9 November 2012). "Will Ferrell and Liam Neeson join Lego animated film". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  117. ^ "Lego:The Piece of Resistance Offers Up Two Design Competitions for Fans | Collider | Page 207141". Collider. Archived from the original on 27 December 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  118. ^ "Lego shortage leaves independent stores with empty shelves". cbc.ca. CBC News. 15 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014.
  119. ^ "Canadian company Brictek thrives amid Lego shortage". cbc.ca. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 December 2014.
  120. ^ Levine, Nick (9 February 2017). "Lego Batman Movie installs giant batarang on London's South Bank". NME. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  121. ^ Seddon, Gem (15 June 2021). "Lego Batman 2 no longer happening as director reveals the sequel's scrapped story". gamesradar. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  122. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (27 June 2013). "Warner Bros. to Bring Lego's 'Ninjago' to Big Screen (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 4 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  123. ^ "Here's your first look at The LEGO Ninjago Movie starring Jackie Chan". The Independent. 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  124. ^ Whitten, Sarah (6 February 2019). "The box office needs 'The Lego Movie 2' to reignite ticket sales after a dismal January". CNBC. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2022.
  125. ^ "DK Lego Books". DK. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  126. ^ "Bionicle Graphic Novels". Papercutz. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  127. ^ "Brickmaster is Ending". Brickset. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  128. ^ "Kabooki". Lego Wear. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  129. ^ "LEGO Group x Levi's Collection". Lego.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  130. ^ Lego Group (10 January 2021). "HYPE. LAUNCHES ICONIC AND COLOURFUL STREETWEAR COLLECTION INSPIRED BY LEGO NINJAGO". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
  131. ^ Lego Group (24 February 2021). "NEW DROP FROM ADIDAS AND THE LEGO GROUP CELEBRATES PLAYFUL VIBES FROM LEGO DOTS AND NINJAGO". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  132. ^ Lego Group (27 May 2021). "Make the world your stage with new adidas and LEGO® VIDIYO™ apparel". Lego.com. Lego. Archived from the original on 11 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.

Bibliography

Listen to this article (15 minutes)
Spoken Wikipedia icon
This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 12 February 2006 (2006-02-12), and does not reflect subsequent edits.
(Audio help · More spoken articles)
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lego.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lego&oldid=1186393752"