14 ms·

Lego Is the Perfect Toy

250 points by wallflower 10y ago

sampl 10y ago
there was value to the building experience, the sense of accomplishment, the spatial reading Toys like this are always so much more memorable--and meaningful. I made a list of gifts that help people build, hack, create, explore etc [1], would love feedback from HN. [1] http://wanderkind.org/ http://wanderkind.org/
anentropic 10y ago
Yes
6stringmerc 10y ago
Nice long-form overview and, from what I can tell, well-balanced trying to deal with legacy / reputation as a "smart toy" and somewhat inconclusive research on the whole. Intuition is a good "out" in this case, because not every toy works for every learning style for every child, etc. One thing I did see: >Marvin Minsky, the MIT scientist who helped pioneer artificial intelligence, has even said that “the decline of American inventiveness” can be traced to the rise of Lego, arguing that by becoming the most common construction toy, it’s pushed out construction toys like Tinker Toys and Erector sets that can get kids building simple machines. Whoa, those are some names I haven't seen in a while but did grow up playing with. Tinker Toys in particular. To me, the criticism isn't fair - those were toys and learning tools from a prior generation. I'm pretty sure the only reason I grew up with Tinker Toys was because I had a Grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression and was of the generation that enjoyed them. My Parents much more embraced Legos, and, quite simply, getting bags or bins full of used, miscellaneous bricks at garage sales was a huge creativity boost. Then, later, turn around and sell or donate them. Rarely did I see Tinker Toys or Erector sets around. Technics seemed to bridge the gap between Legos and higher-level engineering / complexity / use of motors. What does feel important about Legos & playtime, to me, is the manipulation of 3D space, coordination, and dexterity training. There is no such replacement via a 2D screen, and 3D / VR or AR aren't even close. The ROI on play time, age appropriate, with Lego-type hands-on exploration is worth keeping in mind. No batteries. Easy to clean. Hard to break. An Occam's Razor of developmental toys.
- mturmon 10y ago
  What a nice summary. You write "what does feel important...is the manipulation of 3D space, coordination, and dexterity training..." and I wanted to highlight this versus "making machines" -- Minsky, of course, being a big proponent of machines even for no purpose at all (the delightful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine). My kid has always enjoyed making shapes in 3D, but not so much the machines part. For 3D manipulation and creativity, she's spent more creative time with Magformers and the magnetic Y-ball and X-ball toys you can find at museum shops, than with Legos.
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  My grandfather bought me an Erector set, and it was one of the best toys I ever had - but it definitely required a larger investment of time and effort than Lego did. Before you even consider that you need to plan out or follow instructions to build a machine, it just plain takes longer to connect the various pieces, with the fiddly little nuts-and-bolts that you steadily lose over the years anyway. I have a kid, now, and I definitely look forward to getting to play... or watch someone play... with Erector sets and Lego and all those toys. edit: Thinking about it some more, Lego is Minecraft, and Erector/Meccano is Kerbal Space Program.
  - arethuza 10y ago
    I had a fair amount of Meccano, Lego and a weird thing called Philiform that was apparently a version of Lego created by Philips. I actually have fondest memories for Meccano - possibly as it was the one I played when I was older. Did used to get upset at my dad "borrowing" bits to help make repairs to cars, greenhouses etc.
    - rkv 10y ago
      >I actually have fondest memories for Meccano What really hooked me was that they were so well suited for electrical components. Adding gears to the axle and making it turn on its own.
  - mc32 10y ago
radicalbyte 10y ago
Perfect timing, I've just ordered the three big Technics sets from 2016. Technics is brilliant, even if my enjoyment with it is currently limited to following the instructions. I hope that it'll teach my kids a lot about engineering. The gear boxes in the big sets for example are genius.
- artursapek 10y ago
  For xmas I asked my mom to mail me my old Mindstorms sets (original yellow brick version). I want to share them with my 2 year old, who is already into Legos. I absolutely loved those things.
  - Yen 10y ago
    I have a fun memory of the yellow Mindstorms set. Apparently, the visual programming environment was just a thin wrapper on top of C, and people quickly came out with simple IDEs that let you program the brick in C. I tried to program a musical sequence, and was mystified when programs involving simple decimals didn't work. I didn't understand at the time, but the Yellow Brick didn't have any floating-point support! I eventually just faked it with a good-enough approximation of using integers to emulate fixed-point arithmetic.
jdcarter 10y ago
Perfect toy indeed, and I'm glad to see how they've captured the girl's market with the Friends and related series. Lego had attempted to market to girls several times before 2012 but failed. I appreciate how this interview spoke to the specific outcome of their market research, i.e. the larger, more detailed figures. It must have been crazy to suggest to Lego that they abandon the "minifig" format for a major new product line, but it turns out that's exactly what they needed to do. My own family experience is reflective: my daughter enjoyed building Lego sets (and got quite good at it) but didn't really engage with playing with them until the Friends sets came out. With Friends she can spend hours creating a huge narrative about their adventures. Now you can't find a coffee table in our house that doesn't have a couple Lego sets on it. And when other girls come over to play, they're drawn like magnets straight to the Legos.
- 6stringmerc 10y ago
  Very interesting to get your perspective, re: what they studied, deployed, and you observed. Nice to hear success stories. Habits and 'tradition' can be tough to adjust or break, but when it works, quite cool. The "creating a narrative" is awesome, as in a lot of development research I reviewed for some studies, because that's how 'play' and development seem to grow naturally. Acting out. Imagining stories. Not the end-all be-all of things - but a noteworthy component.
  - secabeen 10y ago
    Yep, Friends is an example of the success of research, product development, and commitment over status quo. LEGO's research showed them that many girls wanted characters with names (Sophia, Emily, Sherrie, etc.) not mini-figures with roles (firefighter, policewoman, robber). Friends gives them that.
- Yen 10y ago
  A bit ironically, the 'Larger, more detailed figures' is is actually something Lego had already done, in boy-centered sets, several years before. http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure, http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys I'm a bit disappointed they didn't use the same design (or a similar one) for the new figures - there was a lot to be said for the full posability of the Technic figures. Also, the legs had holes in the side, allowing you to mount bricks either on their feet, or to the side of their legs. This allowed for building reasonably convincing exo-suits.
lordnacho 10y ago
Worth mentioning the CEO credited with the turnaround announced his retirement (to the board) this week.
- gpderetta 10y ago
  As far as I understand, a Lego parent company is getting set up (Lego Brand Group) and Knudstorp will be head of that company, while Lego itself will switch focus on just the brick themselves (a bit like the recent Google->Alphabet restructuring). Source: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/12/06/lego-names-new-ceo-and-creates-lego-brand-group-news/ http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/12/06/lego-names-new-ceo-...
wolfgang42 10y ago
My parents like to tell the story of when I got my first Lego set--the first thing I did was pull out the instruction booklet (with all the diagrams of 'models you can make') and put it in the trash, with the explanation "I don't need instructions." Most of what I wound up building with them was 'world of the Future' models, which demonstrated some vision of an ideal society. For example, I had a model street with some storefronts, and overhead wiring to support small single-person electric scooters which would run on the sidewalk alongside the pedestrians, and would be docked at special stations for the next person who needed them. (I struggled with designing an automated system to automatically redistribute them as necessary, using only relay logic which is what I understood at the time.) Another model was what I now recognize as a 'smart home', which featured occupancy detection, a (wired) telephone remarkably similar to Apple's 1983 concept phone[1] based on the Macs we had in our house at the time and an Apple Newton I had seen, and various other concepts (again, all based on relay logic and desktop computers!) Bear in mind that I was doing all of this when I was 10. Clearly this was not normal play amongst my peers, and I would not expect Lego to provoke this sort of thing in most people. However, it was for me a valuable tool in building a worldview which I still strive for today. My point in mentioning all this is that the great virtue of Lego is that it can be used for pretty much anything. Even if you get a set which is intended for "conflict play," it can be repurposed by the recipient to match whatever it is they're most interested in. (It's sort of like an inverse of the short story The Toys of Peace[2] in that regard.) [1]: http://www.mactrast.com/2011/12/apples-was-working-on-a-touchscreen-phone-prototype-25-years-before-the-iphone/ http://www.mactrast.com/2011/12/apples-was-working-on-a-touc... [2]: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.shtml http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.sh...
sixdrum 10y ago
Tell that to my feet when my kids leave them in the middle of the family room at night! Legos are amazing and are definitely the focal point of my kids (age 5 and 9) creative play.
glaberficken 10y ago
I have 6yo and 1yo daughters and one thing that strikes me with the current Lego range Vs the sets I had as a kid is the amount of rubbish decorative tiny parts that the most recent sets include. (I know you can still buy the basic box full of bricks, but these are sometimes hard to find)
notadoc 10y ago
Agreed, Lego is fantastic, and timeless.
dwe3000 10y ago
I still look at most of the modern, themed Lego sets with a sense of sadness. They seem to inspire the "you have to follow the instructions" mentality so apply demonstrated in the father in the Lego movie. The older sets did include instructions, but the older blocks seemed more generic to building a wide variety of things, versus the "this is a piece for the Batmobile engine."
- mcphage 10y ago
  Lucky for you Lego still sells tons and tons of sets that are just generic bricks for you to do whatever with: https://www.lego.com/en-us/classic/products https://www.lego.com/en-us/classic/products and the Lego Creator line which directly emphasizes being able to make a bunch of things with each set: https://www.lego.com/en-us/creator https://www.lego.com/en-us/creator That was one of the points of this article—people see their themed lines, or their Friends line, and say "why can't it just be like when I was a kid?"—when what Lego said was "why can't we do both, and more?"
- blacksmith_tb 10y ago
  I agree to a point, but unlike other pop-culture tie-in toys, the Batmobile etc. Lego set can be broken down and combined with other bricks. In my experience about half of the themed sets are quickly absorbed into my son's common pool for building other things, while others stay more or less whole (sometimes with some upgrades and repairs). Overall the experience is very good, I think - they are toy which can be mastered (well enough) by children, can build (fairly) durable things, and then recycle cleanly.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  Well even the older sets (25 years ago for me) had some specific pieces for boats, castles, space craft, etc. But you could still make your bat mobile engine something else, if you let your imagination run wild during a building process.
- xahrepap 10y ago
  I stopped buying Lego for a while because that's what it felt like to me, too. But a LOT of the newer sets now are built with very generic pieces. Each set might contain a unique piece or two. Also, I've noticed that my kids (<8yo) both get new Lego, build following the instructions, then within minutes they will be moving pieces around to better suit their style. Or completely destroying it and making something they want to build instead.
agumonkey 10y ago
I especially love the algebraic nature of LEGOs. Something the designers took care to respect over the years. Many things combine mathematically with so many other parts[1]. Sometimes in twisted ways, sometimes in absurd ways. - http://www.htxt.co.za/2016/08/08/local-master-builder-shows-off-the-beautiful-geometry-of-lego/ http://www.htxt.co.za/2016/08/08/local-master-builder-shows-... - http://www.themarysue.com/bendable-lego-geometry/ http://www.themarysue.com/bendable-lego-geometry/ (tolerance based curvature?) - http://brickset.com/article/23288/the-geometry-of-the-new-11x11-circle-gear-rack http://brickset.com/article/23288/the-geometry-of-the-new-11... There are a few pdfs listing the linear and angular ratios, can't find them right now. Enjoy your google fu. ps: for the sheer epicness of it https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/4gmsfp/finished_my_giant_imperial_star_destroyer_moc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/4gmsfp/finished_my_gi... [1] and as programmers I'm sure you enjoy that ;)
- Waterluvian 10y ago
  I loved that Lego was even units so you could end up having two things half way across your universe pretty much line up perfectly, or require just a few adjustments. But the fact that THREE flat pieces equaled a standard height piece drove me nuts as a kid. WHY NOT TWO OR FOUR?
  - LV8 10y ago
    One explanation might be that the flat pieces snap between two top studs on any other brick, when laid on edge. This would not be possible with a different ratio.
    - Waterluvian 10y ago
      Good point! Odd number allows for strong and simple joinery.
  - brandmeyer 10y ago
    > I loved that Lego was even units so you could end up having two things half way across your universe pretty much line up perfectly, or require just a few adjustments. This fact is extremely under-appreciated: the Lego system works the way it does because they have attained truly astounding tolerance control in a cheap injection-molding process. I remember a couple of years ago when a small startup promised a Lego-like replacement, but themed for girls. The hype got them plenty of sales, but the poor fit of the pieces meant lots of disappointed customers.
galfarragem 10y ago
During my childhood (80s) I only cared about 3 toys: lego, playmobil and zx spectrum. All the rest was crap.
tmaly 10y ago
I remember playing with a really old version of Technic as a kid. This was probably one of my favorite toys. I would build all sorts of interesting machines with the gears. I saw another mention of a raspberry pi driving Technic on here. Has any tried this?
- kbouck 10y ago
  Yes. Raspbian comes with a version of Scratch which has out-of-box support for LEGO WeDo/PowerFunctions. If you get the Lego USB hub part (9581), you can attach Power Functions v1.0 components to your raspberry pi via the hub. Works right away. The USB hub has two channels, so you can use it to control 2 motors, 1 motor + 1 sensor, or 2 sensors. The LEGO extension to Scratch has controls like: - Set Motor (A or B or both) to speed 0-100 - Turn Motor (A or B or both) on for x seconds - Stop Motor ... - Reverse Motor Direction - Read tilt/distance sensor value I've also worked out the IR codes (with the help of others' work) so if you hookup an infrared led to your pi and install LIRC you can imitate the Power Functions remote controls.
- douche 10y ago
  There are some really cool examples of people building working printers with Technic pieces and Mindstorms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZpAMWU1s8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZpAMWU1s8
notindexed 10y ago
Just some x y work but i think some here might enjoy the nostalgia 400k+ 2x2 Lego bricks pixel wall http://imgur.com/a/X5fHS http://imgur.com/a/X5fHS
- euyyn 10y ago
  Wow, where is that?
  - notindexed 10y ago
    In a 36m x 2,75m hallway http://www.alr.lu/ http://www.alr.lu/
douche 10y ago
I wish they would bring back some of the classic themes. There is kind of a hole right now, as there isn't a real Castle theme, a real Pirate theme, and Space has been subsumed into the Star Wars licensing for almost two decades. One thing I've always really wanted was a modular castle line, akin to the modular town building series, e.g. https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218
- DanBC 10y ago
  Holy crap "modular castles" would be ideal for the Lego Ideas website.
  - douche 10y ago
    It's nuts that they haven't done it already. The late 80s, early 90s crusaders/falcon knights/black knights sets could be put together in something approaching what I'm envisioning, but it was underdeveloped. The Medieval Market Village and Kingdoms Joust sets were natural jumping-off points for a modular castle system.
billpollock 10y ago
We have a few LEGO books that make people think.
- j_s 10y ago
  https://www.nostarch.com/lego https://www.nostarch.com/lego
problems 10y ago
Try stepping on it and you'll quickly discover its flaw.
billforsternz 10y ago
I often try to explain the appeal of programming to the uninitiated by saying it's a bit like building Lego models but you have an almost infinite supply of blocks.
partycoder 10y ago
One of the best toys I've seen are "snap circuits", which are basically one of those simple electronic lab kit "toys" only that they do not use cables. Instead you snap blocks together like legos.
- euyyn 10y ago
  Legos did that too! I had a spaceship and a boat in which a battery was connected to lights and a siren via bricks.
- kbouck 10y ago
  Lego power functions is exactly this (but for very limited circuits). There are battery boxes for power, switches (both mechanical, and remote-controlled), lights, motors, etc. The power functions pieces have special bricks which embed electrical endpoints which click together when the bricks are connected. The system is basically 4 wires - 2 which propagate the power rails to downstream pieces, and 2 more wires which are for PWM controlling of motor spin rate. I would love it if they added more electronic components to this set (eg. timers, sounds, more sensors, etc). If you like to tinker, you can cut apart these wires and hook up the control wires to an raspberrypi-controlled circuit. There's probably even more circuits possible with Mindstorms components, but I'm not familiar enough w/ Mindstorms to comment.
facepalm 10y ago
The only thing that is sad is superhero themes. There are much better stories out there.
gene-h 10y ago
One thing that really annoys me about lego, is that lego mindstorms kits are still relatively expensive despite tech improving. It is hard for most parents to justify this costs on a toy. In fact, the price has gone up with time rather than decreasing as would be expect. The newer kits are more expensive than the older kits by about $40 when adjusted for inflation.[0][1] Sure, the new kits feature an arm processor that runs linux and has bluetooth, but these things have gotten cheap. I am somewhat surprised the chinese haven't started making counterfeit smart bricks with the same capability. [0]http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/9747_Robotics_Invention_System http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/9747_Robotics_Invention_System [1]http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/31313_Mindstorms_EV3 http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/31313_Mindstorms_EV3
mzzingtime 10y ago
The lament over price and overly specialized parts is misplaced. Price per piece has not changed much, and there have always been specialized pieces in sets. While I've seen the trend of more kids just following the instructions (vs free-building from their imagination), the pieces still provide a lot of opportunity for creativity. Even better, Lego released their free Lego Digital Designer (LDD) software, which is a CAD-like program where you can build in 3d using the entire catalog of Lego pieces. It opens up many more creative possibilities. For example, using LDD, I was able to design my own take on the A-Team van. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/160590 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/160590 On the Lego Ideas website, customers can submit designs, and the Lego company will consider making them into official sets... Yet another way to stimulate creativity.
johnhenry 10y ago
Yup, perfect toy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXgB3lIvPHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXgB3lIvPHI
erickhill 10y ago
My son has a ridiculous bucket of Legos - more than I ever could have dreamed of as a child. I used to spend obscene amounts of money on branded Lego sets when a birthday approached. I soon realized that, while a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle van was really cool (seriously, it was), it only lasted about a day or two before it was reduced to pile of brick rubble and scooped back into the mega-bin. At that stage, the possibility of it ever being reassembled was virtually impossible for a 1st grader to figure out. The generic pieces were the way to go. Then, after what seemed like about a year, he started playing with them again. He showed me his long, snake-like sumbaraine with parts of dragon bits here and there which he'd found somewhere in that bin. It was awesome. It was unscripted and creative. It came from his mind, not some 30-paged instruction booklet. I was more excited to see that kind of creativity than I was the original dragon (which I was made to assemble eons ago). I recently felt a bit jaded about Legos. But my son brought me back.
jayajay 10y ago
Legos are dope as fuck.
PhasmaFelis 10y ago
From the article: "What he noticed was that they now play with physical Legos as if they were the video game, reenacting their races with the plastic pieces. This isn’t to say that Legos aren’t still good toys, or that there’s anything necessarily wrong with imaginary play mimicking the experience of a video game, but it’s certainly different from what most parents imagine they’re buying in a box of Legos. The question is whether that difference matters." Not only does the difference not matter, I'm not sure I believe that there is a difference. When kids play, they're acting out variations on stories they've encountered. I don't see a real difference between performing scenes from a video game and performing scenes from a book, movie, TV show, or real life.
frakr 10y ago
Isn't this just an ad?
talmand 10y ago
Lego is a near-perfect toy. Anyone who claims it is perfect has not stepped on one barefoot in the dark. After a few times you consider crawling across the floor probing the floor before you as if you were Rambo in a minefield.

250 points by wallflower 10y ago

sampl 10y ago

there was value to the building experience, the sense of accomplishment, the spatial reading Toys like this are always so much more memorable--and meaningful. I made a list of gifts that help people build, hack, create, explore etc [1], would love feedback from HN. [1] http://wanderkind.org/ http://wanderkind.org/

anentropic 10y ago

Yes

6stringmerc 10y ago

Nice long-form overview and, from what I can tell, well-balanced trying to deal with legacy / reputation as a "smart toy" and somewhat inconclusive research on the whole. Intuition is a good "out" in this case, because not every toy works for every learning style for every child, etc. One thing I did see: >Marvin Minsky, the MIT scientist who helped pioneer artificial intelligence, has even said that “the decline of American inventiveness” can be traced to the rise of Lego, arguing that by becoming the most common construction toy, it’s pushed out construction toys like Tinker Toys and Erector sets that can get kids building simple machines. Whoa, those are some names I haven't seen in a while but did grow up playing with. Tinker Toys in particular. To me, the criticism isn't fair - those were toys and learning tools from a prior generation. I'm pretty sure the only reason I grew up with Tinker Toys was because I had a Grandmother who grew up during the Great Depression and was of the generation that enjoyed them. My Parents much more embraced Legos, and, quite simply, getting bags or bins full of used, miscellaneous bricks at garage sales was a huge creativity boost. Then, later, turn around and sell or donate them. Rarely did I see Tinker Toys or Erector sets around. Technics seemed to bridge the gap between Legos and higher-level engineering / complexity / use of motors. What does feel important about Legos & playtime, to me, is the manipulation of 3D space, coordination, and dexterity training. There is no such replacement via a 2D screen, and 3D / VR or AR aren't even close. The ROI on play time, age appropriate, with Lego-type hands-on exploration is worth keeping in mind. No batteries. Easy to clean. Hard to break. An Occam's Razor of developmental toys.

mturmon 10y ago
What a nice summary. You write "what does feel important...is the manipulation of 3D space, coordination, and dexterity training..." and I wanted to highlight this versus "making machines" -- Minsky, of course, being a big proponent of machines even for no purpose at all (the delightful https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useless_machine). My kid has always enjoyed making shapes in 3D, but not so much the machines part. For 3D manipulation and creativity, she's spent more creative time with Magformers and the magnetic Y-ball and X-ball toys you can find at museum shops, than with Legos.
pavel_lishin 10y ago
My grandfather bought me an Erector set, and it was one of the best toys I ever had - but it definitely required a larger investment of time and effort than Lego did. Before you even consider that you need to plan out or follow instructions to build a machine, it just plain takes longer to connect the various pieces, with the fiddly little nuts-and-bolts that you steadily lose over the years anyway. I have a kid, now, and I definitely look forward to getting to play... or watch someone play... with Erector sets and Lego and all those toys. edit: Thinking about it some more, Lego is Minecraft, and Erector/Meccano is Kerbal Space Program.
- arethuza 10y ago
  I had a fair amount of Meccano, Lego and a weird thing called Philiform that was apparently a version of Lego created by Philips. I actually have fondest memories for Meccano - possibly as it was the one I played when I was older. Did used to get upset at my dad "borrowing" bits to help make repairs to cars, greenhouses etc.
  - rkv 10y ago
    >I actually have fondest memories for Meccano What really hooked me was that they were so well suited for electrical components. Adding gears to the axle and making it turn on its own.
- mc32 10y ago

radicalbyte 10y ago

Perfect timing, I've just ordered the three big Technics sets from 2016. Technics is brilliant, even if my enjoyment with it is currently limited to following the instructions. I hope that it'll teach my kids a lot about engineering. The gear boxes in the big sets for example are genius.

artursapek 10y ago
For xmas I asked my mom to mail me my old Mindstorms sets (original yellow brick version). I want to share them with my 2 year old, who is already into Legos. I absolutely loved those things.
- Yen 10y ago
  I have a fun memory of the yellow Mindstorms set. Apparently, the visual programming environment was just a thin wrapper on top of C, and people quickly came out with simple IDEs that let you program the brick in C. I tried to program a musical sequence, and was mystified when programs involving simple decimals didn't work. I didn't understand at the time, but the Yellow Brick didn't have any floating-point support! I eventually just faked it with a good-enough approximation of using integers to emulate fixed-point arithmetic.

jdcarter 10y ago

Perfect toy indeed, and I'm glad to see how they've captured the girl's market with the Friends and related series. Lego had attempted to market to girls several times before 2012 but failed. I appreciate how this interview spoke to the specific outcome of their market research, i.e. the larger, more detailed figures. It must have been crazy to suggest to Lego that they abandon the "minifig" format for a major new product line, but it turns out that's exactly what they needed to do. My own family experience is reflective: my daughter enjoyed building Lego sets (and got quite good at it) but didn't really engage with playing with them until the Friends sets came out. With Friends she can spend hours creating a huge narrative about their adventures. Now you can't find a coffee table in our house that doesn't have a couple Lego sets on it. And when other girls come over to play, they're drawn like magnets straight to the Legos.

6stringmerc 10y ago
Very interesting to get your perspective, re: what they studied, deployed, and you observed. Nice to hear success stories. Habits and 'tradition' can be tough to adjust or break, but when it works, quite cool. The "creating a narrative" is awesome, as in a lot of development research I reviewed for some studies, because that's how 'play' and development seem to grow naturally. Acting out. Imagining stories. Not the end-all be-all of things - but a noteworthy component.
- secabeen 10y ago
  Yep, Friends is an example of the success of research, product development, and commitment over status quo. LEGO's research showed them that many girls wanted characters with names (Sophia, Emily, Sherrie, etc.) not mini-figures with roles (firefighter, policewoman, robber). Friends gives them that.
Yen 10y ago
A bit ironically, the 'Larger, more detailed figures' is is actually something Lego had already done, in boy-centered sets, several years before. http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/TECHNIC_Figure, http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/8714_The_LEGO_TECHNIC_guys I'm a bit disappointed they didn't use the same design (or a similar one) for the new figures - there was a lot to be said for the full posability of the Technic figures. Also, the legs had holes in the side, allowing you to mount bricks either on their feet, or to the side of their legs. This allowed for building reasonably convincing exo-suits.

lordnacho 10y ago

Worth mentioning the CEO credited with the turnaround announced his retirement (to the board) this week.

gpderetta 10y ago
As far as I understand, a Lego parent company is getting set up (Lego Brand Group) and Knudstorp will be head of that company, while Lego itself will switch focus on just the brick themselves (a bit like the recent Google->Alphabet restructuring). Source: http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/12/06/lego-names-new-ceo-and-creates-lego-brand-group-news/ http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/12/06/lego-names-new-ceo-...

wolfgang42 10y ago

My parents like to tell the story of when I got my first Lego set--the first thing I did was pull out the instruction booklet (with all the diagrams of 'models you can make') and put it in the trash, with the explanation "I don't need instructions." Most of what I wound up building with them was 'world of the Future' models, which demonstrated some vision of an ideal society. For example, I had a model street with some storefronts, and overhead wiring to support small single-person electric scooters which would run on the sidewalk alongside the pedestrians, and would be docked at special stations for the next person who needed them. (I struggled with designing an automated system to automatically redistribute them as necessary, using only relay logic which is what I understood at the time.) Another model was what I now recognize as a 'smart home', which featured occupancy detection, a (wired) telephone remarkably similar to Apple's 1983 concept phone[1] based on the Macs we had in our house at the time and an Apple Newton I had seen, and various other concepts (again, all based on relay logic and desktop computers!) Bear in mind that I was doing all of this when I was 10. Clearly this was not normal play amongst my peers, and I would not expect Lego to provoke this sort of thing in most people. However, it was for me a valuable tool in building a worldview which I still strive for today. My point in mentioning all this is that the great virtue of Lego is that it can be used for pretty much anything. Even if you get a set which is intended for "conflict play," it can be repurposed by the recipient to match whatever it is they're most interested in. (It's sort of like an inverse of the short story The Toys of Peace[2] in that regard.) [1]: http://www.mactrast.com/2011/12/apples-was-working-on-a-touchscreen-phone-prototype-25-years-before-the-iphone/ http://www.mactrast.com/2011/12/apples-was-working-on-a-touc... [2]: http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.shtml http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ToysPeac.sh...

sixdrum 10y ago

Tell that to my feet when my kids leave them in the middle of the family room at night! Legos are amazing and are definitely the focal point of my kids (age 5 and 9) creative play.

glaberficken 10y ago

I have 6yo and 1yo daughters and one thing that strikes me with the current Lego range Vs the sets I had as a kid is the amount of rubbish decorative tiny parts that the most recent sets include. (I know you can still buy the basic box full of bricks, but these are sometimes hard to find)

notadoc 10y ago

Agreed, Lego is fantastic, and timeless.

dwe3000 10y ago

I still look at most of the modern, themed Lego sets with a sense of sadness. They seem to inspire the "you have to follow the instructions" mentality so apply demonstrated in the father in the Lego movie. The older sets did include instructions, but the older blocks seemed more generic to building a wide variety of things, versus the "this is a piece for the Batmobile engine."

mcphage 10y ago
Lucky for you Lego still sells tons and tons of sets that are just generic bricks for you to do whatever with: https://www.lego.com/en-us/classic/products https://www.lego.com/en-us/classic/products and the Lego Creator line which directly emphasizes being able to make a bunch of things with each set: https://www.lego.com/en-us/creator https://www.lego.com/en-us/creator That was one of the points of this article—people see their themed lines, or their Friends line, and say "why can't it just be like when I was a kid?"—when what Lego said was "why can't we do both, and more?"
blacksmith_tb 10y ago
I agree to a point, but unlike other pop-culture tie-in toys, the Batmobile etc. Lego set can be broken down and combined with other bricks. In my experience about half of the themed sets are quickly absorbed into my son's common pool for building other things, while others stay more or less whole (sometimes with some upgrades and repairs). Overall the experience is very good, I think - they are toy which can be mastered (well enough) by children, can build (fairly) durable things, and then recycle cleanly.
hkmurakami 10y ago
Well even the older sets (25 years ago for me) had some specific pieces for boats, castles, space craft, etc. But you could still make your bat mobile engine something else, if you let your imagination run wild during a building process.
xahrepap 10y ago
I stopped buying Lego for a while because that's what it felt like to me, too. But a LOT of the newer sets now are built with very generic pieces. Each set might contain a unique piece or two. Also, I've noticed that my kids (<8yo) both get new Lego, build following the instructions, then within minutes they will be moving pieces around to better suit their style. Or completely destroying it and making something they want to build instead.

agumonkey 10y ago

I especially love the algebraic nature of LEGOs. Something the designers took care to respect over the years. Many things combine mathematically with so many other parts[1]. Sometimes in twisted ways, sometimes in absurd ways. - http://www.htxt.co.za/2016/08/08/local-master-builder-shows-off-the-beautiful-geometry-of-lego/ http://www.htxt.co.za/2016/08/08/local-master-builder-shows-... - http://www.themarysue.com/bendable-lego-geometry/ http://www.themarysue.com/bendable-lego-geometry/ (tolerance based curvature?) - http://brickset.com/article/23288/the-geometry-of-the-new-11x11-circle-gear-rack http://brickset.com/article/23288/the-geometry-of-the-new-11... There are a few pdfs listing the linear and angular ratios, can't find them right now. Enjoy your google fu. ps: for the sheer epicness of it https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/4gmsfp/finished_my_giant_imperial_star_destroyer_moc/ https://www.reddit.com/r/lego/comments/4gmsfp/finished_my_gi... [1] and as programmers I'm sure you enjoy that ;)

Waterluvian 10y ago
I loved that Lego was even units so you could end up having two things half way across your universe pretty much line up perfectly, or require just a few adjustments. But the fact that THREE flat pieces equaled a standard height piece drove me nuts as a kid. WHY NOT TWO OR FOUR?
- LV8 10y ago
  One explanation might be that the flat pieces snap between two top studs on any other brick, when laid on edge. This would not be possible with a different ratio.
  - Waterluvian 10y ago
    Good point! Odd number allows for strong and simple joinery.
- brandmeyer 10y ago
  > I loved that Lego was even units so you could end up having two things half way across your universe pretty much line up perfectly, or require just a few adjustments. This fact is extremely under-appreciated: the Lego system works the way it does because they have attained truly astounding tolerance control in a cheap injection-molding process. I remember a couple of years ago when a small startup promised a Lego-like replacement, but themed for girls. The hype got them plenty of sales, but the poor fit of the pieces meant lots of disappointed customers.

galfarragem 10y ago

During my childhood (80s) I only cared about 3 toys: lego, playmobil and zx spectrum. All the rest was crap.

tmaly 10y ago

I remember playing with a really old version of Technic as a kid. This was probably one of my favorite toys. I would build all sorts of interesting machines with the gears. I saw another mention of a raspberry pi driving Technic on here. Has any tried this?

kbouck 10y ago
Yes. Raspbian comes with a version of Scratch which has out-of-box support for LEGO WeDo/PowerFunctions. If you get the Lego USB hub part (9581), you can attach Power Functions v1.0 components to your raspberry pi via the hub. Works right away. The USB hub has two channels, so you can use it to control 2 motors, 1 motor + 1 sensor, or 2 sensors. The LEGO extension to Scratch has controls like: - Set Motor (A or B or both) to speed 0-100 - Turn Motor (A or B or both) on for x seconds - Stop Motor ... - Reverse Motor Direction - Read tilt/distance sensor value I've also worked out the IR codes (with the help of others' work) so if you hookup an infrared led to your pi and install LIRC you can imitate the Power Functions remote controls.
douche 10y ago
There are some really cool examples of people building working printers with Technic pieces and Mindstorms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZpAMWU1s8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yZpAMWU1s8

notindexed 10y ago

Just some x y work but i think some here might enjoy the nostalgia 400k+ 2x2 Lego bricks pixel wall http://imgur.com/a/X5fHS http://imgur.com/a/X5fHS

euyyn 10y ago
Wow, where is that?
- notindexed 10y ago
  In a 36m x 2,75m hallway http://www.alr.lu/ http://www.alr.lu/

douche 10y ago

I wish they would bring back some of the classic themes. There is kind of a hole right now, as there isn't a real Castle theme, a real Pirate theme, and Space has been subsumed into the Star Wars licensing for almost two decades. One thing I've always really wanted was a modular castle line, akin to the modular town building series, e.g. https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218 https://shop.lego.com/en-US/Pet-Shop-10218

DanBC 10y ago
Holy crap "modular castles" would be ideal for the Lego Ideas website.
- douche 10y ago
  It's nuts that they haven't done it already. The late 80s, early 90s crusaders/falcon knights/black knights sets could be put together in something approaching what I'm envisioning, but it was underdeveloped. The Medieval Market Village and Kingdoms Joust sets were natural jumping-off points for a modular castle system.

billpollock 10y ago

We have a few LEGO books that make people think.

j_s 10y ago
https://www.nostarch.com/lego https://www.nostarch.com/lego

problems 10y ago

Try stepping on it and you'll quickly discover its flaw.

billforsternz 10y ago

I often try to explain the appeal of programming to the uninitiated by saying it's a bit like building Lego models but you have an almost infinite supply of blocks.

partycoder 10y ago

One of the best toys I've seen are "snap circuits", which are basically one of those simple electronic lab kit "toys" only that they do not use cables. Instead you snap blocks together like legos.

euyyn 10y ago
Legos did that too! I had a spaceship and a boat in which a battery was connected to lights and a siren via bricks.
kbouck 10y ago
Lego power functions is exactly this (but for very limited circuits). There are battery boxes for power, switches (both mechanical, and remote-controlled), lights, motors, etc. The power functions pieces have special bricks which embed electrical endpoints which click together when the bricks are connected. The system is basically 4 wires - 2 which propagate the power rails to downstream pieces, and 2 more wires which are for PWM controlling of motor spin rate. I would love it if they added more electronic components to this set (eg. timers, sounds, more sensors, etc). If you like to tinker, you can cut apart these wires and hook up the control wires to an raspberrypi-controlled circuit. There's probably even more circuits possible with Mindstorms components, but I'm not familiar enough w/ Mindstorms to comment.

facepalm 10y ago

The only thing that is sad is superhero themes. There are much better stories out there.

gene-h 10y ago

One thing that really annoys me about lego, is that lego mindstorms kits are still relatively expensive despite tech improving. It is hard for most parents to justify this costs on a toy. In fact, the price has gone up with time rather than decreasing as would be expect. The newer kits are more expensive than the older kits by about $40 when adjusted for inflation.[0][1] Sure, the new kits feature an arm processor that runs linux and has bluetooth, but these things have gotten cheap. I am somewhat surprised the chinese haven't started making counterfeit smart bricks with the same capability. [0]http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/9747_Robotics_Invention_System http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/9747_Robotics_Invention_System [1]http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/31313_Mindstorms_EV3 http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/31313_Mindstorms_EV3

mzzingtime 10y ago

The lament over price and overly specialized parts is misplaced. Price per piece has not changed much, and there have always been specialized pieces in sets. While I've seen the trend of more kids just following the instructions (vs free-building from their imagination), the pieces still provide a lot of opportunity for creativity. Even better, Lego released their free Lego Digital Designer (LDD) software, which is a CAD-like program where you can build in 3d using the entire catalog of Lego pieces. It opens up many more creative possibilities. For example, using LDD, I was able to design my own take on the A-Team van. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/160590 https://ideas.lego.com/projects/160590 On the Lego Ideas website, customers can submit designs, and the Lego company will consider making them into official sets... Yet another way to stimulate creativity.

johnhenry 10y ago

Yup, perfect toy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXgB3lIvPHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXgB3lIvPHI

erickhill 10y ago

My son has a ridiculous bucket of Legos - more than I ever could have dreamed of as a child. I used to spend obscene amounts of money on branded Lego sets when a birthday approached. I soon realized that, while a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle van was really cool (seriously, it was), it only lasted about a day or two before it was reduced to pile of brick rubble and scooped back into the mega-bin. At that stage, the possibility of it ever being reassembled was virtually impossible for a 1st grader to figure out. The generic pieces were the way to go. Then, after what seemed like about a year, he started playing with them again. He showed me his long, snake-like sumbaraine with parts of dragon bits here and there which he'd found somewhere in that bin. It was awesome. It was unscripted and creative. It came from his mind, not some 30-paged instruction booklet. I was more excited to see that kind of creativity than I was the original dragon (which I was made to assemble eons ago). I recently felt a bit jaded about Legos. But my son brought me back.

jayajay 10y ago

Legos are dope as fuck.

PhasmaFelis 10y ago

From the article: "What he noticed was that they now play with physical Legos as if they were the video game, reenacting their races with the plastic pieces. This isn’t to say that Legos aren’t still good toys, or that there’s anything necessarily wrong with imaginary play mimicking the experience of a video game, but it’s certainly different from what most parents imagine they’re buying in a box of Legos. The question is whether that difference matters." Not only does the difference not matter, I'm not sure I believe that there is a difference. When kids play, they're acting out variations on stories they've encountered. I don't see a real difference between performing scenes from a video game and performing scenes from a book, movie, TV show, or real life.

frakr 10y ago

Isn't this just an ad?

talmand 10y ago

Lego is a near-perfect toy. Anyone who claims it is perfect has not stepped on one barefoot in the dark. After a few times you consider crawling across the floor probing the floor before you as if you were Rambo in a minefield.