Lego Goes Back to the Basics: Building Blocks 717
Decaffeinated Jedi writes "Slashdot recently covered Lego's plan to stop producing its Mindstorms line in response to the Danish company's worst financial loss in history. While the original article linked focused primarily on Lego's plans to cease production on various toy lines, Yahoo News now has a follow-up article that looks in greater detail at Lego's plan for the future. 'We are returning to Lego's former concept,' says Lego owner and president Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. 'We're going to focus on building bricks as our main product, concentrating on little kids' eagerness to assemble.' Kristiansen goes on to blame the company's financial woes on its attempt to follow trends rather than focusing on its more traditional products. In turn, the company's plan for 2004 will include a renewed marketing push for Lego bricks as opposed to licensed products like the Harry Potter and Star Wars lines. Toy researcher Joern Martin Steenhold also notes the following in the article: 'All research, including my own, shows that computer games and other electronic games take up only 20 to 30 percent of children's play time. Boys play with traditional toys up until the age of eight or 10, and it is in the zero to seven age range that Lego has its niche.' Zero to seven? What about the Slashdot crowd?"
Damn kids (Score:0, Interesting)
I still play with my Lego :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Boys play with traditional toys up until the age of eight or 10, and it is in the zero to seven age range that Lego has its niche.' Zero to seven? What about the Slashdot crowd?
I'm 38 and still monkey with Lego. When I was sick at home for a few days I had a little contest running with myself. I had built a small Lego "bridge" that could span a piece of legal paper lengthwise (14") then would place a glass of water on it. If the bridge didn't hold then I had water to clean up. If the bridge held for 5 minutes I'd tear it down then 're-engineer' it with less pieces than before. All the regular bricks, no cheating with the longer pieces.
When you're sick a bit of a mental challenge helps you forget the illness. (I was doing this with my Lego blocks from 30+ years ago but I have a lot of Mindstorms stuff too, it's leet)
FIRST Lego League? (Score:4, Interesting)
Great news for parents and children (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm beginning to have faith that I may be able to buy new Lego for my future children, as opposed to having them play with my mess of a collection.
Creativity (Score:2, Interesting)
I think it's a good thing they are forced to put demands on kids' creativity once again...
"What about the Slashdot Crowd?" (Score:5, Interesting)
On the other hand, Lego's problems lay deeper than a bloated product line. Lego toys are way, way too expensive. Even when I was a little kid twenty years ago, my parents bought me high quality knockoffs at Sears for like 1/3 the cost of Legos. I imagine that it's worse today.
Mental Age (Score:5, Interesting)
> of eight or 10, and it is in the zero to seven age
> range that Lego has its niche.' Zero to seven?
> What about the Slashdot crowd?
Perhaps he was talking mental age?
Seriously though a key trait of the hacker mindset is, I think, playfulness. That shows up in the way hackers mess around with language and Lego. And that playfulness is a key aspect of learning. How many times have you hacked something together "just for the fun of it": in reality half the fun was that you were learning.
The good news is that Lego is going back to the bricks. Great news Lego, that's just what we all needed!
John.
Concentrations spans (Score:4, Interesting)
As the old saying goes
"I'm sure my concentration span is...ooh look shiny thing"
Rus
I want basic bricks (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, I've been kind of surprised that Lego hasn't hit upon the idea of marketing kits directly to grown-ups, say a line of desk accessories (the pens struck me as lame).
When I got a Fujitsu Point 510 pen slate, I didn't bother to get a stand---thought about making one out of wood, but instead chose to use my old Legos (I've since added a pen holder and a stand for a CD-RW drive to lift it up behind the Fujitsu Stylistic I did purchase a stand for (was running low on Legos)).
Pictures of the Point 510 and stand should be here:
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/topic.asp?TOP
William
Okay: Mindstorm's going away. Which should I buy? (Score:4, Interesting)
- Have something mobile
- Have it be controllable via Linux
- Have it do nifty things
For those of you that've already bought/geeked out on/played with them, which models (that are still available) have brought you the most joy?
------------------
So will they close legoland? (Score:4, Interesting)
I recall being surprised that the parking lot for Legoland was nearly deserted, until I saw the admission price.
Anyway, I know I'll miss Mindstorms. I wonder what other lines they'll drop?
Good! (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm all for plain old blocks again. And I wouldn't be surprised if that leads to higher revenues again.
Re:First Post (Score:5, Interesting)
20 years ago, someone at Lego thought that they should be a huge powerhouse company, with their hands in everything. Why not just be a medium sized company, making a few million dollars of profit every year with your core business?
Walgreens pharmacy did a similar thing. It seemed like suddenly every single corner had a Walgreens on it- everywhere you looked, another frickin Walgreens. Now, craploads of them have gone out of business, and the corner is left with a VERY cheap building. They didn't do themselves, or anyone else any good by over-expanding. (My old neighborhood had an awesome coffee shop that leased a corner building. Eventually, the landlord sold the corner lot, the coffee shop went out of business, and nice shiny new Walgreens was built. 2 years later, it is an empty building, where once my favorite coffee shop, with a fireplace even, stood.)
What does that have to do with Legos? Over expansion- the urge to be big, instead of concentrating on what works for you.
Re:Concentrations spans (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Call me blasphemous, perhaps (Score:3, Interesting)
Ideas of Lego (Score:2, Interesting)
Why so much worrying? (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a mindstorms set, I really like the technic boxes, and I'm amazed Lego's sole interest for the future would be in 0-7 year olds. All of the young boys (7-10 year olds) in my neighborhood and family still seem to be getting huge piles of Lego blocks
Lego is like M$ (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm 30, in my office, and... (Score:3, Interesting)
Obviously, we're above average in terms of Lego consumption... but one question has always bounced around in the back of my head: If my regular bricks from the 1970s are still as new looking as brand-new bricks, why would I spend more money on the same bricks for my kids when I can just give them mine?
That has always been where Lego's corporate thought has failed them. Tinkertoys, while not the same brand nowadays as Lego is, broke... making you go out and get a new set. Very little of the Lego stuff breaks (it just tears into your bare foot when you step on one with all of your weight).
I wonder why Lego never... (Score:3, Interesting)
They already have some Lego stores in the mall, I don't think it would be too hard to add a bulk section.
Being able to buy a 1/2 pound of triangle, rectangle, or square pieces would be great if you are missing pieces or if you want to buy you kid or husband a heck of a lot of legos to foster their imagination.
Re:Great news for parents and children (Score:3, Interesting)
Lucas really wanted Lego to make Star Wars toys, but Lego had never done a tie-in before, so they didn't ask. So when Lego turned around and approached Lucas, it was pretty easy to get.
Some of the Star Wars Lego sets look interesting, like the AT-AT walker, but most are just a bunch of annoying custom pieces, from what I can see in the catalog. That's not appealing.
Re:Call me blasphemous, perhaps (Score:4, Interesting)
Also built some kick ass swords with those things. You could parry/thrust a few times before they'd break apart, first one to break obviously lost the fight!
Re:Great news for parents and children (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, they did show you ideas for alternate models w/ the same pieces...they still looked Star Warsy but were original, kind of like those "minirigs" back in the day.
My main random grip w/ Star Wars sets is that they chose to paint artoo's features way on the top of his head, so it looks like he's a blank bot wearing a cyber yarmulke rather than having a proper electronicky dome.
Thats such great news (Score:3, Interesting)
The technic sets were more creative, with little gears and small unspecific atomic pieces I could do neat things with. I never made what the original box intended.. but always had my own ideas usually a giant combined robot.. like transformers which could transform into a car.
I saw that harry potter set and thought you really cant do much with that. That was a doll set not a building block set. The markets kicked some sense into their heads now and I hope they dont just build bricks but atomic mechanical pieces
Gears, cogs, motors, rods, bearings, pulleys, screws.. things like that will help kids and motivate them to buy more sets for more pieces. Kids really REALLY dont want to build showsets of various movie themes unless they fall on the wrong side of the gender preference.
mmm... legos (Score:2, Interesting)
argh... sucks being a poor college kid.
Re:First Post (Score:4, Interesting)
I spent hours working with the 'Technics'(sp?) sets they used to sell. These differed from the regular legos in that they came with a bunch of various sized gears, universal joints, steering knuckles, etc. The normal solid bricks have holes through which shafts may be run. I spent many many hours learning about gears, mechanical advantage, backlash, torque (I often wished for some metal versions of the plastic gears and shafts for high-load areas) and many other concepts.
I'd love to see all this plus a few specialized parts so that I could build a kit with which I could build any number of remote control vehicles. (I've never played with the mindstorms stuff, I dont' know if they have this kind of stuff).
Re:0 to 7? Zero? (Score:3, Interesting)
You have obviously not seen the large-size block kits they make available for young ages. While still requiring adult supervision (I've learned from experience with my own kids that anything smaller than an elephant represents a potential choking hazard), they seem to be very well-regarded by the very, very young.
Both my boys started banging around with the large blocks pretty much as soon as they were able to start gripping things. And they picked up on the "snap together" approach pretty quickly. Granted, most of the resulting designs represent a, shall we say, 'non-Euclidean geometry' view of the world, but they just love putting them together.
Many of the parents we know say they've seen the same things w/ their kids. So they might be onto something...
Re:what I would like to see (Score:5, Interesting)
This is a Good Thing indeed (Score:2, Interesting)
Often I have wanted to acuire some Lego to get back into that inspiring creativity again, but have been turned away by the fact that Lego sets didn't contain much Lego anymore. I wished, in fact, that they would go back to the way Lego was in the eighties when the parts were bricks and not for example a wing or a chair or some such single-purpose item.
So I see this as Good News. It will probably spark a revival among people such as me and, I suspect, many others who frequently visit this site.
Buckets!! Empty buckets! (Score:5, Interesting)
It was mostly empty and most of the bits were one or two square size!!
I was very angry!
New lego in the UK costs about 100 GBP per kilo.
Lego on ebay costs 10 GBP per kilo.
For the summer I bought 15 Kilo of lego, enough for 5 children to play with (no, I dont have 5 children.)
I bought it from ebay!
Sam
Re:what I would like to see (Score:2, Interesting)
Nth Post (Score:4, Interesting)
Back when Lego introduced a lot of the new stuff I couldn't see the point, as it limited the use of specialty items, which was IMHO unattractive. In my youth I made lots of stuff and spent uncounted hours developing my imagination with a few simple pieces. I'm sure my parents loved it, as it kept me busy and quiet while building things. Same applied to Erector sets, Lincoln Logs and Tinker Toys. Provide the kids with the basics and their minds will do the rest. Provide them with limited toys and they lose interest in a short time and expect something new.
There was also something like brown or red plastic girders and green plastic sheets which could be used to make buildings, houses, etc. which were really cool, but I can't remember the name of. I'd buy them if they were still for sale.
Once again, brick and mortar prove most successful.
Re:I still play with my Lego :) (Score:3, Interesting)
You're also the minority.
Side effects of IP (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Lego's importance cannot be overstated. (Score:2, Interesting)
For the next several months, I was building tons of mechs that walked in the same manner. It was fairly cool. (:
It works for Etch-A-Sketch (Score:2, Interesting)
I remember seeing on TV a while ago a story about Etch-A-Sketch [etch-a-sketch.com]. Talk about the "tried and true." Apparently, the company has stuck with this sole product forever and makes a boat load of money with it.
That's not to say, though, that I wouldn't buy a Python programmable version of the toy ;-)
Re:Mindstorms should NOT die, but be spin-offed (Score:3, Interesting)
I think it's a shame that they're phasing it out, but at the same time, I'd much rather spend the $100 on a bunch of plain old bricks. Enough normal bricks might make some of those specialty Harry Potter pieces usable.
~d (longing for the days of the old Castle sets, where you built the damn thing yourself rather than putting 4 pieces together)
Re:First Post (Score:5, Interesting)
This was nearly 20 years ago. I think they should've taken my advice instead of doing Star Wars co-marketing.
Names and collaboration (Score:2, Interesting)
Gender-neutral play (Score:5, Interesting)
Generally, they both play with (and share) the Duplo blocks (Legos are still a choking hazard), the Matchbox cars, the Mr. (and Mrs.) Potato Head, the Brio trains, my bass amp, and so on. There are also baby dolls (boy/girl twins, like them), various stuffed critters, and the Little Tykes kitchen our friends gave them. And books -- tons of 'em. Boynton, Little Golden Books, DK, Shel Silverstein poetry, Dr. Seuss, Pooh (AA Milne, not the Disney-fied crap), etc. They sometimes insist on taking a book to bed with them at nap time...
Does my son play with the trains more than the kitchen? Seems like it to me.
Does my daughter play more with the baby dolls? Again, seems like it to me.
Do we "direct" them in their play, shooing them away from any particular toy or "suggesting" to them to play with something else instead?
Absolutely not.
Re:I don't get the Slashdot fascination with Legos (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps someone doesn't need/want to get into the whole 'circuit boards, some metal, and an arc welder' project because they don't have the space, time or knowledge to do so.
I don't understand the difference between pencil and paper and crayons and paper, or why clay is different than making mud pies, or how a CAD program is going to give me something I can hold.
I'm not sure where you got your seemingly arbitrary distinctions of what makes a toy a toy, and what can be used for 'grown-up' work; apparently you are blinding yourself to the ease of use, standard sizes, flexible assembly and unique qualities that Lego has.
Clay, paper and pencils, metal, and CAD software all serve some purpose, but when I want ten little rolling carts to hold screws, and I want it in 10 minutes, I'll go with Lego.
I'll bring you a cup of coffee while you're in the garage setting up the lathe and wirefeed.
Lego are tools that happen to be toys as well.
Don't get caught up in limiting your free expression, use the right tool, or toy, for the task at hand.
Meccano (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I still play with my Lego :) (Score:3, Interesting)
Starting first with my brother and I, and eventually all our neighbourhood friends, we would build vehicles out of lego with the sole purpose of them being rammed into each other as fast as we could whip them on our basement floors. Whoever's car survived the head to head collision without falling apart won. With time we added a 'competition' level where the winner got to take any pieces that fell off his competitor's vehicle.
Our only rules were that the front wheels could not extend beyond the front of the vehicle, or be used as a bumper, and that a driver must be included in each vehicle, be able to see the road, and not be ejected from the vehicle.
We designed all types of vehicles, ones with dense walls, ones that ran low and had ramps, ones with horizontal 'loose' pillars running through that would put the stress on the back of the vehicle (ideally the rear wheels or a rubber wheel at the center of the rear axis) while applying focused pressure on the oponent's vehicle. In retrospect it was a lot like those 'battlebot' tv shows you see these days, minus the remote controls and goofy aparatus.
Much more fun than any dinky car ever proved to be. Good times.
Re:I still play with my Lego :) (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:First Post (Score:2, Interesting)
Check out PIXEL BLOCKS (Score:3, Interesting)
Pixel Blocks [pixelblocks.com] have only one shape, but 20+ colors. They're designed to attach to each other in three dimensions, to form models or images.
While they're still a bit expensive thanks to the company's small size and high overhead, they charge ~$7 for 200 pieces, instead of Lego's overall dime-a-piece average (~$7 fo 70 pieces).
Re:First Post (Score:5, Interesting)
I loved those things. In high school at one point we had a clock-designing project that I prototyped with the lego technics stuff; no hands or anything, just weight-driven thing with a primitive escapement and a big bar that swung back and forth to do the same job as a pendulum, all made out of lego.
That's the sort of thing lego was great for--you could have a good time building the (very clever) models from the instructions, but then you could also go do crazy things of your own. I hope kids are still playing with those things for many years. Except for being a bit pointy, they were the perfect toy--fun in the best possible way, because you could always do more with them.
--Bruce Fields
Educational? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm 32 and still play with and occasionally buy Mindstorms stuff. I was the first person, to my knowledge anyway
My last 2 projects involved cheating at games. 1 was made to automatically mash a button on a PS2 controller when it sensed a lightning flash in Final Fantasy X. The other jiggled my wife's Pikachu2 minigame until it was at it's happiest state. This isn't to point out how to cheat but rather how Mindstorms can be adapted to TONS of applications. I am looking forward to what my someday future children might do with them.
I definitely see them as educational toys for the teenage crowd and I don't know of anything in the same price range (which means I would pay more) with the same flexibility.
I understand Lego going back to the basics, I agree with many that they nearly specialized themselves into oblivion. I won't miss the movie tie-ins (my wife WILL miss the Harry Potter clutter though) and Bionicles was just too much to collect in the end (I tried). However, I really hope Mindstorms and the Technics line live on somehow.
Perhaps Lego needs to branch an adult-focused (ahem, not -that- kind) company so that the 2 lines (3 if you count their educational branch) can work autonomously and not pull each other down but still partner when it makes sense.
Re:Great news for parents and children (Score:3, Interesting)
The Star Wars Lego will be missed. The models were some of the best (space) Lego I have seen since the mid-eighties.
Reply from LEGO on Lugnet (Score:2, Interesting)
Rest assured, "our core" simply means our toy business. Which is to say, our toy product lines present and future.
Harry Potter and Star Wars are NOT going away any time soon. Licenses are not going to stop, simply continue to improve. We have to take (and have taken) steps to ensure we manage the peaks and valleys that licensing brings with it (Movie years vs. non-movie years, for example). We are still going to be going after the top licenses with the right brand fit.
In fact, we have announced what I think is going to be a great license today:Dora the Explorer
Mindstorms is not going away, but may continue to evolve. Like all technology products, Mindstorms will continue to grow and improve as consumers gain new technology knowledge and technology itself continues to get better and smaller.
Another fear I've heard is that the "What Will You Make?" line is going away. This is not true, and the 2003 product line showed great success and potential. Stay tuned for more great WWYM products in 2004!
More information will be forthcoming, as the changes progress.
Thanks!
Jake
---
Jake McKee
Community Development Manager
LEGO Community Development
Re:I still play with my Lego :) (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:First Post (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:First Post (Score:2, Interesting)
As for your double-sided block, I have something similar which I think came with an X-Wing model. Think of your standard 2x4 stud block, but with male connectors on the long sides as well as the top. Pretty damn handy!
Re:I still play with my Lego :) (Score:3, Interesting)
but then saturday she decided she wanted to do sculptures
and my cat loves to pounce large piles of lego.
birthdays, christmas, half-birthdays
They got too specialized (Score:3, Interesting)
A leg shaped block can really only be a leg. A block shaped block can be whatever you want.
Re:First Post (Score:3, Interesting)
They can afford to open new stores, see if they work out, and if not- close them.
This might work good for them- maybe 1/2 of the stores make it, and the other half close. Possibly this makes good business sense. But when you live in an actual 'neighborhood', or small town, it can really be a blight.
I live in a small town now, and it is surprising how many national chains come and go- restaurants, pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. The town I live in just isn't big enough to support some of these businesses. But, I think they look at a map, and like our centralized location, so they decide it is a good place to build. Do we really need an Applebees for every 60 miles of highway?
I've got different opinions on it though. For instance, the Walgreens example- they 'ruined' part of the neighborhood by putting in what is now an empty building.
On the other hand, there is a Standard Brands (or Sherwin Williams, don't remember, but it starts with an 'S') paint store in town. Not a franchise, but a corporate owned store. It's been there a few years. They don't do crap for business- but the corporate office keeps paying the 5 or 6 employees each month. Good, that means money is coming from out of town, and being deposited in our fair city. This is good for us. I've talked to the manager- he makes a decent salary, but is always worried that they will close the store because of lack of sales. This store went into an existing building- so they won't be leaving their corporate litter of shoddy cheap buildings when they leave.
The town I live in is small, but it is thriving. We have an economy based on agriculture and we are a bedroom community for the employees working at a nearby university. Somehow we do support two Starbucks though (and even more oddly, an EB Games, a Gamestop and a Gamecrazy...how long will that last?), and they are always crowded. But, someday if they try to put a Gap store in, I don't think the jeans/flannel/cowboy hats crowd will be rushing in to buy black turtlenecks. Besides, who will work there- yeah, the 'Almond Queen' used to live here, but she moved on...
Legos Imagination and Overspecialization (Score:3, Interesting)
I have played with Legos for over 40 years. I've built static models, moving models, even motorized and robotic models. From basic assembly skills to advanced robotic programming I have seen Legos change in a changing world. My son was brought up on Legos, and before we got a small inflatable pool for them I too stepped on them in the dark of night; Ouch!
Over the years I have followed the gradual trends, Duplo for smaller children, Techno for teenagers and the ever growing number of theme based kits. While the Robotic kits may be the big money loser, I believe that the real killer has been all those theme kits. For 20 bucks you can get a bucket with a few hundred unspecialized pieces, or 75 pieces of highly specialized blocks. Sure a race car or three little go-karts is much more like a toy, and many other things can be built with a specialized set, but collecting Legos through these specialized sets is both expensive and time consuming. Keeping specialized blocks (hands, hats and other smaller that 2X pieces) is is difficult at best. I've probably spent a week of my life at this point sifting through that sea of parts looking for some special piece or articulating joint or gear or axle to complete a project. Don't get me wrong, specialized pieces are definitely cool! But they become a huge waste of time if you don't spend almost as much on developing your own specialized storage system to deal with them.
Then there is the whole software aspect of Legos. (Anyone remember Micorserfs?) Lego spent quite a lot on Lego software. Now there are several 'virtual lego' products. I'm sure that we all remember the Lego diagrams that show how to build something. Those drawings are some of the cleanest engineering and assembly guides around. The software was supposed to enable end users to do that kind of thing, but unfortunately it crashed more machines than it loaded on in the first few go arounds. By the time that MIT's smart brick became the model for the Robotics kits there was even a slick, GUI driven programming model; one which I'm still torn by, because it's either the slickest tool for coding or one of those just over the edge towards madness gizmos depending on how the day/stress level/project deadline is. But you can't really build with Legos at the keyboard, nor can you read most displays from the floor, so I'm not sure that the whole Lego-Computer thing was very well conceived.
Now Lego with RFID tags might be something! Plug your Lego scanner into the computer and watch thOr maybe some kind of 'Etch-a-sketch' sized pad that could display how to build something would probably work better that a computer because you can use it right where you play with Legos. Your upgrade packs could come with inventory files so that the models that were displayed could be built with the pieces on hand. Hell, even a scanner to locate that missing piece could be incorporated!
I'd hate to lose a company like Lego, so I hope that they can 're-generalize and re-integrate' their product line into today's reality.
Re:Builder's Guides available? (Score:3, Interesting)
As an aside, I know of at least one architect who actually models structure out in Lego like it was a 3d sketch pad. Pretty much if it holds together with Lego, you can easily build it out of anything.
Re:Well, then I submit... (Score:4, Interesting)
Mindstorms came later, use a bubble-gum programming interface, and has no way of expanding.
I am all for stretching their minds. But there is stretching your mind to learn algebra, and there is stretching your mind to work out Kabbalistic numerology. One is applicable to everyday life. The other is suspect at worst, and completely in-applicable to anything else at best.
Re:Gender-neutral play (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't accept that. Our kids almost never watch regular TV. When they watch anything other than the movies we bought for them, it's commercial free "Playhouse Disney" (assuming that you don't count a "mini movie" promoting Disney World as a commercial :-) ). Still, our experience is just like the other poster's; our daughter loves baby dolls and My Little Ponies, and our son loves trucks, plastic power tools, and anything with projectiles.
We never encourage our kids to play with one or the other (although I admit that I'd rather my son not play with baby dolls), but that's what they choose without any obvious external influences.
And I thought I was too old! (Score:3, Interesting)
30 and counting.
For Christmas, my wife got me a set of Legos - perhaps intended to keep me away from the computer.
It worked! Now she hates both Legos and the computer...
I don't know, but there's just something about a mental challenge that I find irresistable.
Re:Gender-neutral play (Score:2, Interesting)
Some of that is from her peers who are watching TV, but there really does seem to be a big divide in the way kids play. At home, where there is no pressure to conform to other kids, my daughter perfers nuture/manipulate activities to build/destruct-type play. She has all types of toys, except for weapons, and she has always preferred tea parties to smashing cars into each other. If anything, I've pushed her toward building since I'm incapable of doing the whole doll thing.
I'm actually a little sad to see the boys taking the backseat for what will probably be another six years. A lot of my good friends are parents of boys she knows from her preschool days, and they're starting to drift away.
Specialized pieces inspire MORE creativity (Score:5, Interesting)
As long as I'm being heretical, I'll say that the Star Wars sets are the best things that happened to Lego in ten years. Those models are much higher quality and piece count than a lot of what came before, they got lots of geeks like me involved in Lego for the first time in their adult lives, and many of the "specialized" pieces created just for Star Wars sets turn out to be very versatile and beautiful. (Printed designs on pieces have got to go, though, as does the entire ugly-as-sin Harry Potter line.)
Re:First Post (Score:3, Interesting)
As far as I'm concerned Lego has a place but it's a bit limited. Meccano lets me build all sorts of things I couldn't dream of in Lego.
You call it playing? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://www.lipsons.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/escher/
More topical, guess what's holding the CD containing 3.5 million peoples' names to Spirit's "dashboard"?
http://marsrovers.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/p/002/
Playing? HA! You better believe it's playing. And it's far more important than work, IMO.
Don't Panic! (Score:2, Interesting)
What about Legoland? (Score:3, Interesting)
Dolemite
_____________________
Re:Gas stations make more sense to me (Score:3, Interesting)
The Coke that I bought tasted great, better than in the USA, probably due to the cane sugar instead of corn syrup. The Pepsi was awful. I think that Pepsi allows its formula to be tweaked for local tastes while Coke has world-wide quality and taste control measures. The Yakult tasted like all the other Yakult that I have had.
Great idea, but... (Score:2, Interesting)
I love the idea that I may be able to walk into a store and buy just ton upon ton of blocks, but nevertheless feel that there are some parents that say, "Hey, look! Harry Potter!".
And they should keep the Mindstorms and Technic lines alive. (I don't know if they have plans to cut the Technic line, though I doubt it) Mindstorms, for the educational value, and Technic as the "step-up" set.
But all in all, this is a good move for Lego.
The myth of gender neutrality (Score:3, Interesting)
At *less than two*? No, I don't buy it. I agree that social things in school have a phenomenal impact on how girls and guys intract, but before that...no.
Perhaps. Of course, this rhetoric is also fairly recent feminist stuff, probably around the 1700s or so or later.
There *are* plausible biological justifications for girls and guys being different at mental levels. Almost anyone says "awww...cute" when looking at a baby. I cannot believe that this is entirely propagated via memes through society. The same thing is true of sexual attractiveness -- there clearly is a possibility for gense to pattern-match and attach to mental thought fairly high-level concepts.
Now, that being said, women get pregant. It's damned hard to run and hunt, say, a deer if you're pregnant. I'm not a woman, but I'd also suspect that it's a bit of a pain to be running when one has breasts heavy from lactating. Plus, a mother needs to be around to feed a kid milk for his infancy. This means that it's not exactly unreasonable to expect women to evolve traits beneficial to being around babies. Since there's clearly a benefit to having *someone* able to run out and get meat, and the only free person in a two-person-pairing is the male, it makes sense to expect men to evolve trais beneficial to hunting (and perhaps even to making war). Hunting can involve being away from a baby for a long time, and at least later forms of war, the same. There are clearly physical differences -- men are decidedly larger and more muscular.
Now, that doesn't mean that there isn't a positive feedback loop, where someone might be *slightly* inclined towards some set of interests and society tends to shove him (or her) faster and faster down a path. That doesn't mean that a girl must inevitably have "girlish" interests or a guy must have "guy" interests. However, it *does* mean that it's quite reasonable to treat claims that roles and interests derive *entirely* from society with skepticism.