The buildings included are the White House, the Sears Tower and Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. My favorite is probably Falling Water because it is so cool.
If I was going to design a set from real life I would like to build a Disney castle.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Legos for Grown Ups.
I saw some amazing things when I was doing this project. Lego has made some architecture sets so you can recreate real bulidings like museums and famous buildings. These sets are very complex, and you would probably have to be an architect to design these.
The buildings included are the White House, the Sears Tower and Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. My favorite is probably Falling Water because it is so cool.
The buildings included are the White House, the Sears Tower and Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. My favorite is probably Falling Water because it is so cool.
Lego in real life
There was a man named James May in England who made a life size home from Lego bricks. It had running water, and built in furniture. It was pretty awesome.
Lego company donated the bricks, and they were supposed to move it to their theme park. They changed their minds when he finished it so it was later destroyed.
It had two stories and had a wooden frame for support. It had working plumbing and windows. Everything except the frame was made from legos.
Lego company donated the bricks, and they were supposed to move it to their theme park. They changed their minds when he finished it so it was later destroyed.
Lego Designer
Someday I would love to be a lego designer. I have look on the internet for information on what it takes to be one. I have learned that most designers have played with Legos since they were small children. You need a college degree, and engineering experience helps. You need to be creative and come up with original ideas, for example, Lego has made six different X-wing designs, each better than the last.
Lots of people want to be Lego designers, so there is a lot of competition. The advice that designers give is to keep coming up with original ideas and keep entering contests.
One designer said on his blog that they come from many backgrounds: "archeologist, a chef, architects and car designers, but what we all have in common is the joy of building and creating new and fun models for kids all over the world."
I want to be a Lego designer. I try hard to make really cool stuff. I enter into contests and try to come up with original ideas.
Lots of people want to be Lego designers, so there is a lot of competition. The advice that designers give is to keep coming up with original ideas and keep entering contests.
One designer said on his blog that they come from many backgrounds: "archeologist, a chef, architects and car designers, but what we all have in common is the joy of building and creating new and fun models for kids all over the world."
I want to be a Lego designer. I try hard to make really cool stuff. I enter into contests and try to come up with original ideas.
Legoland and Movies and literature
There are 4 Legoland resorts and 5 discovery centers. 3 more of each are planned to be made. Legoland was also a theme from 1969 to 1978.
Legos are sold just about everywhere. Variety stores like Wal Mart and Target sell lots of different kind, but better selections are found at toy stores. Legoland and the Lego stores sell the best variety of building sets. There is a website where you can buy individual pieces (like if you lose an important piece) called "pick a brick" (http://shop.lego.com/pab/). Here you can buy things in bulk too.
Lego sponsors "make and take" events where you can go to a local store and build things for free. I went with my sister, and we got lots of heads for Lego people.
Lego has made 4 Bionicle movies, and one Lego movie. The names are Mask Of Light, Legends of Metru Nui, Web of Shadows, and The Legend Reborn. The one non-Bionicle movie is called The Adventures of Clutch Powers. There are comic books that inspired the movies.
I got to meet a Lego comic book author at a meet and greet Lego event a few years ago. He signed a poster for me and my friend. I talked to him about Bionicle comics and brought one of my creations to show him. He was very nice and said to keep working on making new things.
I subscribe to a Lego magazine that comes once every two months. I have learned a lot about historic of Lego products, contests and what other people are making using Legos. Sometimes they have cheat codes for Lego games. Usually there is a comic story in them. I sometimes get catalogs as well, too bad they are too expensive. I usually make what I like from the catalog using bricks I already have.
Legos are sold just about everywhere. Variety stores like Wal Mart and Target sell lots of different kind, but better selections are found at toy stores. Legoland and the Lego stores sell the best variety of building sets. There is a website where you can buy individual pieces (like if you lose an important piece) called "pick a brick" (http://shop.lego.com/pab/). Here you can buy things in bulk too.
Lego sponsors "make and take" events where you can go to a local store and build things for free. I went with my sister, and we got lots of heads for Lego people.
I got to meet a Lego comic book author at a meet and greet Lego event a few years ago. He signed a poster for me and my friend. I talked to him about Bionicle comics and brought one of my creations to show him. He was very nice and said to keep working on making new things.
I subscribe to a Lego magazine that comes once every two months. I have learned a lot about historic of Lego products, contests and what other people are making using Legos. Sometimes they have cheat codes for Lego games. Usually there is a comic story in them. I sometimes get catalogs as well, too bad they are too expensive. I usually make what I like from the catalog using bricks I already have.
Video Games
Lego has released a lot of video games; probably around 39. Lego Star Wars: The Video Game is probably the most known Lego video game. Other licensed games are Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Each game has a central hub (eg: Mos Eisley Cantina for Star Wars).
These games are really funny and use a lot of humor. For example, Obi Wan's light saber stops working and by the time he gets is fixed, Qui Gon has already defeated everyone for him. You can also swap heads so you can put Princess Leia's head on Darth Vader's body, or add a beard or moustache or something. They have cut scenes you can watch, which are animated shorts where story points happen. These are usually really funny. For example, in one game a character who has a moustache and a big machine gun get hits by one blaster bolt and he disappear except his hat, his moustache and his gun.
Most of the games Lego has made have been for PC. Star Wars and Bionicle have the most Lego games at a count of four each. Lego Star Wars had an intuitive drop in/ drop out co-op system that would allow the second player to play without having to lose any progress in a level. This feature was used in later games like Lego Batman, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Indiana Jones.
Lego Universe is a Massive Multiplayer Online Game (or MMOG for short) and Lego's first MMOG. It was made with collaboration from NetDevil and released on October 12th, 2010.
I really like the video games, they are fun for me to play with my friends. If I could make a suggestion, I would want them to make a multiple player Bionicle game.
These games are really funny and use a lot of humor. For example, Obi Wan's light saber stops working and by the time he gets is fixed, Qui Gon has already defeated everyone for him. You can also swap heads so you can put Princess Leia's head on Darth Vader's body, or add a beard or moustache or something. They have cut scenes you can watch, which are animated shorts where story points happen. These are usually really funny. For example, in one game a character who has a moustache and a big machine gun get hits by one blaster bolt and he disappear except his hat, his moustache and his gun.
I really like the video games, they are fun for me to play with my friends. If I could make a suggestion, I would want them to make a multiple player Bionicle game.
BIONICLES!
My Personal favorite: Bionicle. It has the best storyline of any Lego theme. And they're just awesome. They have many strange pieces like the masks that they wear. At first, they were a replacement for Roboriders and Throwbots but they developed a story of their own that was awesome. They were originally going to be called The Bone Heads of Voodoo Island. Strange, right? There are more than 80 unique characters (not counting mini figures, which are just mostly copies of larger figures).
They are my favorite kind of Legos because the parts were so different from normal Legos. My first sets were Tahu Nuva and Kopaka Nuva. I loved the building part so much, I would take them apart and see if I could rebuild them from memory. The masks were another cool part because it was possible to switch masks between characters. There were six toa and one for each element: Tahu was fire, Gali was water, Kopaka was ice, Onua was earth, Lewa was air, and Pohatu was stone. in 2003, a seventh toa was released with the element of light named Takanuva.
What really makes these unique is the moving parts and ball and joint system. These characters move like really people to a point (because real people don't have swords for hands). They use a lot of gears and rubber bands, and they are balanced so the figures can be posed without falling over. One figure can even roll into a ball shape. They can all be stored in their canisters, there is a certain position to put each one into, and some attach to the lid of their canister. They come in all different sizes from one inch mini figures to as much as a foot tall. The color are really bright (except for the darkness characters, which is to be expected).
They are my favorite kind of Legos because the parts were so different from normal Legos. My first sets were Tahu Nuva and Kopaka Nuva. I loved the building part so much, I would take them apart and see if I could rebuild them from memory. The masks were another cool part because it was possible to switch masks between characters. There were six toa and one for each element: Tahu was fire, Gali was water, Kopaka was ice, Onua was earth, Lewa was air, and Pohatu was stone. in 2003, a seventh toa was released with the element of light named Takanuva.
What really makes these unique is the moving parts and ball and joint system. These characters move like really people to a point (because real people don't have swords for hands). They use a lot of gears and rubber bands, and they are balanced so the figures can be posed without falling over. One figure can even roll into a ball shape. They can all be stored in their canisters, there is a certain position to put each one into, and some attach to the lid of their canister. They come in all different sizes from one inch mini figures to as much as a foot tall. The color are really bright (except for the darkness characters, which is to be expected).
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Newer Themes
There are a couple of new themes from lego like Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2.The replacement for Bionicle is called Hero factory and I don't like it. Some other new themes are Ninjago, a ninja theme, Pharaoh's Quest, an adventurers theme, Alien Conquest, a space theme, and Winne the Pooh. Different themes come out every year, and they are designed to appeal to different ages.
The most complex sets are aimed at older age groups, and the simple ones like Duplo are for much younger children. Many adults still build Legos.
With the Harry Potter sets, they have created many new sets with each movie that is released. They also add things that are not in the movie but were in the books. For example the first Harry Potter set included the Hogwarts Castle, with the main characters, also Diagon Alley and and a bunch of the traps like Fluffy's room. There was even a three headed Lego dog. These sets tend to have great attention to detail, including things like the flags on the castle, a working trapdoor under Fluffy. The Diagon Alley set had potions and capes for sale and a wand shop with lots of wands. It also had all the magical pets included like and owl, rat and frog.
The most complex sets are aimed at older age groups, and the simple ones like Duplo are for much younger children. Many adults still build Legos.
With the Harry Potter sets, they have created many new sets with each movie that is released. They also add things that are not in the movie but were in the books. For example the first Harry Potter set included the Hogwarts Castle, with the main characters, also Diagon Alley and and a bunch of the traps like Fluffy's room. There was even a three headed Lego dog. These sets tend to have great attention to detail, including things like the flags on the castle, a working trapdoor under Fluffy. The Diagon Alley set had potions and capes for sale and a wand shop with lots of wands. It also had all the magical pets included like and owl, rat and frog.
TOAST
I like toast.
I used lots of sources to put together all this information. I got a lot of information from my Lego magazines and my Lego Star Wars visual dictionary.
And a few websites
Brickapedia
The Offical Lego Site
Wikipedia
Mental Floss website
UK Daily News
Movie/game sets
There are lots of sets inspired by movies that are popular like Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Lego pays incredible attention to details like frogs in a potion shop or a flute for putting Fluffy the three headed dog to sleep to get to the trapdoor.
Strange Parts
There have been a lot of strange Lego pieces in sets like Mindstorms NXT and Bionicle. Throwbots had unique arms that were made for launching discs.
Whenever the designers cant figure out how to make a certain part of a set, they make prototypes of a new piece. Sometimes, the designers find alternate uses for existing pieces like putting a piece upside down. Very many sets use this concept. Professor Snape in Harry Potter had a glow in the dark head.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Stuff I Made
I have made some pretty cool things with legos and entered them into contests.
This one didn't win anything but I had a lot of fun with it. I've made around 5 versions of it but this one was my favorite. Tell me what you think of it.
History of Legos
Ole Kirk Christiansen was born in 1891 in the village of Filskov. The Billund Carpentry Shop and Lumberyard was built in 1895 and would later be purchased by Ole Kirk Christiansen.
In 1920, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen is born. He inherits the company in 1958. In 1924, little 5-year old Godtfred, set fire to some wood shavings in the carpentry shop and later set the whole shop on fire. In 1932, the first wooden toy (a yo-yo) was made and the carpentry shop is struck by lightning after nearly going bankrupt.
The name Lego, is actually a combination of the two Danish words leg godt, meaning "play well". The first wooden toys were released in 1935 that were a duck and a train. In 1937, Godtfred, started making wooden toys. On march 22nd 1942, a short circuit causes a fire in the workshop. Then, in 1947, the company got its first plastic moulding machine.
Later that year, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was born and is the current CEO of Lego. In 1948, the workshop reached 50 employees.The well known Lego brick(known then as the automatic binding brick) was introduced in 1949. The first time Lego was sold outside of Denmark, was in 1953. Ole Kirk Christiansen died on March 11th 1958. In 1960, the warehouse that most of the wooden toys were kept in caught fire.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
More Lego History
There are lots of competitors with Lego, one that is well known is Mega Bloks. There are others like Tyco and COCO toys.
The Chinese toy company, COCO, was sued for copyright infringement and shut down.The reason they were prosecuted was because of "product confusion." This means that they tried to make their product look just like Legos. The design and packaging were so similar that people thought they were buying Legos when they were really buying COCO toys.
Most competitors create blocks that are compatible with Legos. they fit together so well that it would be hard to tell the two kinds apart. Some of the cheaper and more poorly made either don't go together well or cmpletely incompatible.
I have both Legos and Mega Bloks and I can tell you that they work pretty well together.If I made something from both, the Mega Bloks would be the weak points.
Lego and Mega Bloks have different kinds of sets. For example Mega Bloks make "Halo Wars" building sets, and Lego has a policy of not making war seem like child's play. I really like Halo, but I can only get that kind of blocks by buying the competitor's product. Also, Lego tends to be more expensive.
The Chinese toy company, COCO, was sued for copyright infringement and shut down.The reason they were prosecuted was because of "product confusion." This means that they tried to make their product look just like Legos. The design and packaging were so similar that people thought they were buying Legos when they were really buying COCO toys.
Most competitors create blocks that are compatible with Legos. they fit together so well that it would be hard to tell the two kinds apart. Some of the cheaper and more poorly made either don't go together well or cmpletely incompatible.
I have both Legos and Mega Bloks and I can tell you that they work pretty well together.If I made something from both, the Mega Bloks would be the weak points.
Lego and Mega Bloks have different kinds of sets. For example Mega Bloks make "Halo Wars" building sets, and Lego has a policy of not making war seem like child's play. I really like Halo, but I can only get that kind of blocks by buying the competitor's product. Also, Lego tends to be more expensive.
All Lego pieces have "lego" printed somewhere on them so you can tell they are real.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Blarg
I have a HUGE project for school and its on legos. I've learned a lot of cool things like the company originally made wooden toys like ducks and trucks, hey that rhymes. The workshop that the wooden toys were made in burnt down 3 times. the plastic legos we know today were at one point called "automatic binding bricks".Ole Kirk Christiansen founded Lego in 1932. He was born in 1891 and died in 1958.
Lego has made 558 themes and at the rate they're making them, there will be at least 1000 by 2050. My favorites are BIONICLE, LEGO Star Wars, and TECHNIC. If you want to tell me your top 3 themes, just leave a comment. Anyway, there were 26 kinds of wooden toys.
Lego has made 558 themes and at the rate they're making them, there will be at least 1000 by 2050. My favorites are BIONICLE, LEGO Star Wars, and TECHNIC. If you want to tell me your top 3 themes, just leave a comment. Anyway, there were 26 kinds of wooden toys.
Hi
I'm starting this blog as one of the qualifications for the Communications merit badge and to show one of the things I love which is Lego.
I really have no idea what to do with this blog. I'm going to post some facts about legos soon. If you have any suggestions leave them in a comment.
Here is a little about me, my favorite color is blue, my favorite games are Minecraft, Halo: Reach, and Portal. My favorite food is my mom's mashed potatoes.
Here is a little about me, my favorite color is blue, my favorite games are Minecraft, Halo: Reach, and Portal. My favorite food is my mom's mashed potatoes.
Here are a few pictures.
I love bacon
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