![]() There’s hardcore building sets for adults - stuff like the giant Bowser statue and the really brilliant Mario 64 ? Block, with huge piece counts, elaborate builds, and eye-bulging price tags. You can divide Nintendo’s Lego output so far into two distinct sections. Hey, shouldn't the Death Egg Robot be in space? | Image credit: LEGO Where Mario goes, Sonic surely follows - but what’s exciting is just how different Sonic’s Lego offering is. This has happened more frequently of late most prominently at first with Minecraft, but then with a Nintendo deal that led to the creation of Lego Super Mario. But perhaps the greatest and most exciting thing isn’t all those licensed Lego games – it’s seeing gaming cross over into the real-life toys. In fairness to the company, it was always pretty forward thinking – I have fond memories of several deeply experimental and delightfully weird Lego titles in the 90s. In the years since I was a kid, Lego has realized the power, reach, and significance of video games. While Lego and video games have long shared a close association, this might just be one of the best crossovers yet. Despite an increasing number of complaints about the rising cost of Lego and the lack of sustainability of the plastic toys, which aren't biodegradable, surveys and rankings show the Lego brand remains almost universally loved and trusted - a rare thing in the often-polarizing modern world.Earlier this week marked the launch of an exciting new collaboration between video games and one of the biggest toy companies in the world: Lego Sonic the Hedgehog. The launch of Lego Ideas in 2008, where users can submit concepts for new Lego products, is a social media strategy that’s since been copied by numerous brands (including us… send us your chart ideas!). Lego’s presence on Twitter and Facebook is also segmented into the most famous factions of the Lego-verse: Lego NinJago, Lego Marvel Game, and Lego Batman Movie are just some examples of accounts that Lego has whipped up to distribute specific content. The company’s YouTube channel features plenty of building, gaming, and how-its-made content, while its Instagram and Facebook pages mainly focus on personal stories, trends, and celebrity features. Lego produces unique content for all of its social channels tailored to the different platforms. ![]() Seeking a revitalization, Lego appointed its first non-family member CEO, Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, who sold off non-essential parts of the business and went back to basics: halving the number of LEGO pieces produced, cutting jobs, and - perhaps most crucially of all - asking kids what they actually wanted to play with. Sales plummeted almost 30% in 2003, pushing the company close to bankruptcy. However, by the early noughties, Lego was struggling. By the mid- 1960s, Lego was sold in 40+ countries, and, by the 1990s, the company was one of the world’s largest toy manufacturers. A devastating warehouse fire, which consumed the wooden toy inventory, forced the family to fully embrace their plastic future - a transition that marked the beginning of Lego’s meteoric rise. However, sales stacked quickly, with plastic toys accounting for half of Lego's production by 1951. Lego's foray into plastic - the precursor to Lego we know today, dubbed by Christiansen as ‘automated binding bricks’ - didn’t start until 1947, when the material was still novel. Two years later, he christened his venture Lego, a name derived from the Danish phrase " leg godt", meaning " play well". ![]() To sustain his livelihood, Ole Kirk pivoted to making wooden toys in the early 1930s, which he initially traded for food for him and his family. Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark, noticed that the demand for home construction and furniture was waning. Even with Lego’s modern legacy of movies, games, and theme parks, most of us think of Lego in its purest form: bright plastic bricks that can be built into whatever shape your creativity takes, from cars, to condos, to the Colosseum.ĭespite the playful design and imaginative spirit that Lego is known for today, its roots actually trace back to the Great Depression. ![]()
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