Two years after Lego revealed a buildable model of the Transformers’ Optimus Prime that actually transformed, the heroic Autobot leader is finally getting backup with his second-in-command, Bumblebee, debuting as a 950-piece set that transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle — or at least a close facsimile thereof.
In recent years, thanks to the run of big-budget Transformers movies, Bumblebee is best known for transforming into a bright yellow Chevrolet Camaro.
But in the original ’80s toy line and animated series, Bumblebee’s alternate vehicle mode was the iconic Volkswagen Beetle.
WHEN OLE KIRK Kristiansen imported a newfangled contraption called a plastic-injection-molding machine to Denmark in 1946, people thought he’d lost his mind. Kirk Kristiansen was a master carpenter who made wooden toys sold under the brand name Lego (abbreviated from leg godt, Danish for “play well”). LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk Building Kit Friends TV Show
The machine cost nearly 7 percent of the company’s annual revenue, but Kirk Kristiansen reckoned there was no limit to what he could manufacture with the new technology. He could even redesign old-fashioned building blocks so that they wouldn’t topple over.
After making modest progress with interlocking indentations—a concept borrowed from another toy manufacturer—Ole’s son, Godtfred, set to work on a mechanism for binding blocks together.
After years of trial and error, he perfected the stud-and-tube coupling system that defines Lego to this day.
The system required the molding process to be accurate to within 0.005 mm. Godtfred filed for a patent the year Ole died.
Countless variations on the form followed over the decades—from roof tiles to Jedi weaponry—all of which can click with bricks from the Eisenhower era. Some 700 billion Lego pieces later, the result is a toy that never gets old.
LEGO blocks are colorful plastic bricks that lock together. Their design makes it easy for children to build their own creations. There are also LEGO kits that allow builders to make a specific project, such as a police station, school, or spaceship.
LEGO became popular in the mid-1900s and remained a popular toy well into the 2000s. It was one of the first inductees to the U.S. National Toy Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2000 many authorities named LEGO “Toy of the Century.”
Over the past nine decades, the LEGO Group has produced more than 400 billion (yes, billion) LEGO bricks and 9.6 billion minifigures — making it the largest population on the planet!
There are 10 LEGOLAND parks around the world, four feature-length LEGO brand-inspired movies and one LEGO House, incorporating activities and exhibits that all revolve around 25 million LEGO bricks.
LEGO HAS BUILT an empire out of plastic. It was always thus. The bricks weren’t originally made from wood, or metal, or some other material. Ever since the company’s founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, bought Denmark’s first plastic-injection molding machine in 1946, Lego pieces have been derived from oil, a fossil fuel.
The fiddly little parts that the company churns out—many billions every year—are today mostly made from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, or ABS. This material doesn’t biodegrade, nor is it easily recycled. If a smiling mini figure gets into the environment, it will likely very slowly break down into highly polluting microplastics.
When it comes to all things Danish, modern furniture, beer and pastries stand out, but arguably the country’s most famous export are tiny toy bricks. In 2016 alone, over 75 billion of the colorful plastic bricks were sold, and the 85-year-old company behind them reigns as one of the world’s most iconic toy manufacturers.
But if it weren’t for a series of fires—and an ingenious woodworker—LEGO may never have been built. LEGO Ideas 21319 Central Perk Building Kit Friends TV Show
The toy looks a lot like a modern LEGO brick, and according to LEGO the fact that its name was English, not Danish, was an homage to the Allied forces that liberated Denmark and put an end to World War II. The toy was inspired by a set of self-locking bricks invented by a British company, Kiddicraft.
(LEGO says Kiddicraft told the company it was fine to use the design, but in 1981 they formally bought the rights to Kiddicraft bricks from their inventor’s descendants.)Lego has improbably become the world’s biggest toy company by selling the same product for 70 years. It does this by constantly coming up with new themes for its little plastic bricks.
Lately many of Lego’s biggest moneymakers have been sets based on Harry Potter, Star Wars and other big entertainment brands—but the company has to share revenues with the owners of those franchises. Now it wants to come up with a new brand that it controls, a labor-intensive and risky undertaking.
Can it make something as beloved as Hermione Granger, Luke Skywalker or Thor?
Lego has doubled its sales in the five years since Christiansen took charge, and today rakes in more revenue than any other toy company.
Its $9.2 billion in sales last year was nearly as much as Hasbro and Mattel made, combined. But much of what Lego sells is stamped with another company’s intellectual property—and Lego pays licensing fees to make those Lego sets.