LEGO Ads found via Twitter

A collection of LEGO ads with some very clever pictures. I recently subscribed to the RSS feed (in Google Reader) for a search for “#lego” on Twitter. This is a great technique to follow “hashtags” that I learned on Amy Gharan’s blog.

Anyway, back to the LEGO ads. I don’t think these are real ads, since some of them seem quite out of character for LEGO’s style (especially the sex/drugs/violence ones). They seem more like what a designer might propose to the LEGO company for use in an ad. But anyway, this one was my favorite:

Airplane

LEGO survey of adult fans

This showed up in my email today. I filled out the survey, and encourage everyone else to do it too.

The LEGO Group Wants to Hear From You!

As Adult Fans of LEGO, you bring an important perspective to the LEGO Group. We respect your creativity and passion for our brand.

Please take a few moments to complete this short online survey to let us know your opinion on how we are doing.

We promise to listen to you and use your feedback to improve!

You might notice that the link refers to the LEGO Kids Inner Circle; this is because Satmetrix, which hosts that site, is also supporting our efforts to track AFOL opinions. Rest assured that this survey is for AFOL’s only.

Thank you.

Steve Witt
LEGO Community Relations Coordinator

Truthfully I didn’t have a lot to suggest. I think LEGO’s pretty much doing everything right these days. My only beef is the discontinuation of 9V trains but then, I understand why they are doing it. I just hope the new Power Functions trains that are supposedly coming out next year are good enough.

BrickArms Controversy in Mainstream Media

It would seem that BrickArms has garnered international attention. The article “Lego-Style Islamic Terrorist Figurine Sparks Outrage” appears on Fox News and similar articles appear in a number of other sources; see Google News report for the story for more.

The gist of it is that one of the “bad guy” kits that BrickArms sells has pissed off some Islamic organizations in Britain, who’ve raised a stink about it. BrickArms calls the kit “Bandit — Mr. White” without any implication that it’s an Islamic terrorist, but the Ninja-style headwrap it comes with, combined with a substantial arsenal of weapons, does remind some peole at least of a stereotypical Islamic terrorist.

The article quotes a source at LEGO disclaiming any endorsement of BrickArms, saying “The LEGO Group is committed to developing toys which enrich childhood by encouraging imaginative and creative play — and does not endorse products that do not fit with this philosophy.” They’re implying that BrickArms are not encouraging imaginative and creative play which sounds like pretty strong words. While I’m not a fan of the BrickArms and BrickForge products personally, I would not go so far as to say they don’t encourage imaginative and creative play!

It’ll be interesting to see how this shakes out. There’s a saying in Hollywood that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity as long as they spell your name right” and if that’s true, BrickArms is sure to have a big boost in sales. On the other hand, I wonder if LEGO’s lawyers might decide to send them some kind of cease and desist order if enough bad publicity is sent their way…

Via Dr. Miniman on Flickr in the Flickr LEGO group.

The trouble with the LEGO fan community

The trouble with the LEGO fan community is that it takes all of the fun out of getting a new Shop-At-Home catalog. Not only is there nothing new that I haven’t seen, but I already own several of the things marked “new.” When I was a kid, a new LEGO catalog was a source of great delight…

Ah well, it’s a small price to pay I guess.

BrickCon 2008 so far

BrickCon is going very well so far. There are tons of great models on display, many great deals to be had on LEGO, and some amazing news.Space Needle

I took a lot of photos yesterday and they’re all up on my Flickr account. The biggest news was the unveiling of a new castle set, the 10193 Medieval Village. I made a video of it and posted it on YouTube (but had to wait until 12 noon today so that BrickJournal.com could have an exclusive 3-hour early announcement). I also created a special photoset for just those pictures so you don’t have to dig through all the images in my BrickCon set to find them.

Interview: Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer

There’s a very interesting Interview on BoingBoing with Bjarne P. Tveskov, Classic LEGO Space Designer.

I grew up on some of these sets! I started collecting Space LEGO sets in the late 1970’s when I was a little kid, and spent most of my spare time building and rebuilding classic LEGO spaceships and bases.

RIP 9V Trains

Well, LEGO has finally made up their mind on the future of trains. Steve Witt has announced that the 9V system will be discontinued, to be replaced by IR-controlled, battery-powered trains.

The only silver lining is that the new system will be based on the new Technic Power Functions system rather than the much-maligned IR trains currently being sold. LEGO is working with AFOLs to design the new system, and I am really hoping they find a way to come up with a battery-powered system that has enough power for the needs of LEGO train clubs.

In the meantime, stocking up on 9V train parts might not be a bad idea….[tags]lego,trains,9v[/tags]

Save 9V Trains Minfig Protest

In BayLUG‘s recent exhibit at MoAH, Bruce Chamberlain set up a display of minifigs protesting to save the 9V trains line. Here’s a pic:


The Save 9V Trains campaign is a grasroots movement by adult LEGO fans to try to persuade the LEGO company to not discontinue the old, rail-powered, 9V train system. Last year LEGO introduced a new battery-powered, IR-controlled system which may be better for little kids, but the motors are underpowered and the system is not considered practical for adult train displays such as put on by the various LEGO train clubs.

If you want your voice to be heard, visit the Save 9V Trains site and register your opinion![tags]lego,trains,9v,save 9v trains[/tags]

Interview with LEGO CEO

I know this was posted a couple of weeks ago but I only just now saw it for the first time. There’s an interview on TODAYonline with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the CEO of LEGO, around his recent trip to Singapore. He touches on a very important point for LEGO fans – is LEGO going to be obsolete like a typewriter, or a booming industry like books? Both have been challenged by newer technologies and media, but the typewriter industry is dead while books are selling better than ever. Can LEGO pull it off? What do you think?

Via The Unofficial LEGO Builder’s Guide Blog (Allan Bedford).[tags]lego,ceo,interview[/tags]