A Million Little Bricks

by Sarah Herman

  2008’s race for the Stolen Treasure (7622) saw LEGO Indiana Jones re-creating the famous treasure chase sequence from Raiders of the Lost Ark, complete with minifigure-scale Indy whip. © Owen J. Weber

  From Willie Scott dressed up in her two-piece sacrificial outfit from Temple of Doom to Venetian vacation Indy in that unusual gray suit from Last Crusade, the range of character minifigures was not disappointing and TLG captured Indy’s various allies and nemeses with its usual creativity, also including weapons emulating those used in the films despite the company’s anti-war toys approach to play.

  Boosted by the release of two LEGO Indiana Jones video games (The Original Adventures and The Adventure Continues), the range proved to be popular with fans. In a 2008 press release, TLG cited LEGO Indiana Jones as one of the reasons for its financial growth in the first half of 2007, despite a global economic crisis and predictions of a stagnant toy market, stating that it had sold extremely well specifically in North America. But despite being a cinematic classic, and ideal play theme, it’s clear that the success of the sets was in large part due to the promotional tie-in to the movie and games. Unlike Star Wars, which has a dedicated universal fan base constantly being supplied with new media in the form of magazines, books, events, and new TV show The Clone Wars, Indiana Jones was only really introduced to LEGO toys’ core audience through The Crystal Skull. While the theme is currently out of production, rumors of a fifth Indiana Jones film mean the LEGO theme could return in the future, similarly to the recent reprieve of LEGO Harry Potter.

  Ben 10: Alien Force (2010)

  In 2009 the LEGO Group announced that they would be discontinuing the successful BIONICLE line that focused almost exclusively on buildable figures. In a letter addressed to BIONICLE fans, released in November of that year, the company revealed that while the last BIONICLE sets would be released in January 2010, a new flexible building figure would be available in the summer of that year, as well as another line targeting a younger audience through an “established third-party property.” This second new line was Ben 10: Alien Force, and in January 2010 six new buildable figures from that range were released for the 5+ age range.

  Ben 10: Alien Force was an animated cartoon series that aired on the Cartoon Network between 2008 and 2010. The titular character was a fifteen year-old boy who had an alien wristwatch device that allowed him to transform into different alien forms, each with their own special abilities and powers. In Alien Force he must use these powers to track down his missing grandpa and fight off evil alien enemies. The original six LEGO sets included a small number of pieces (the largest set had twenty-two) that connected similarly to BIONICLE toys to produce one of these alien forms. Through the LEGO Ben 10: Alien Force website, TLG encouraged combination building—using two or more sets to produce a larger alien hybrid—and produced instructions to create new imaginative designs.

  To defeat evil aliens and villains, Ben transforms into a range of powerful creatures, such as ChromaStone (an alien hero made from crystal). © Christopher Doyle

  With many BIONICLE fans unhappy about the cancelation of that line, the response to this new theme from the older LEGO community has not been particularly positive, with comparisons being made to the unsuccessful 2002 Galidor range, and comments highlighting the move away from the traditional building ethos of LEGO toys toward action-figure style play. In 2010 the Cartoon Network began airing Ben 10: Evolution, providing more story material for the LEGO Group if they want it.

  Toy Story (2010) and Cars (2010)

  Although LEGO toys never featured in the original Toy Story or Toy Story 2, mini figures and DUPLO people did feature, albeit subtly, in the third installment released in June 2010. This change is no coincidence, as TLG recently became the only company with a license to produce construction toys based on the movie and its characters. Arguably, by taking on a brand that is already well established and producing toys based on films that have an existing history of success, the company will hopefully avoid the short-lived nature of themes such as Spider-Man and Avatar or no success at all, as with Galidor. Notably, with this license, LEGO realigned themselves with Disney, who now own Pixar (the studio responsible for the Toy Story films), and with this association comes additional sales outlets and opportunities.

  Set 7590 captured the memorable climax from the first Toy Story film with a pullback RC. © Christopher Doyle

  The 2010 sets re-created the colorful Toy Story characters and settings faithfully, while maintaining elements of construction and interactivity. Sets capturing moments from the first two movies and the latest installment were released. Nostalgic sets featuring RC (7590), Evil Emperor Zurg (7593), and the Army Men (7595) were clever LEGO toy takes on beloved characters from the 1990s films. The largest set, Woody’s Roundup! (7594), with its boardwalk catapult, booby-trapped mine, and jail cell, offered real play value. Sets connected to the 2010 movie were all larger, focusing on key scenes such as the opening train chase sequence (7597) or the frightening climax in the trash compactor (7596). Unfortunately, other sets such as Construct-a-Buzz (7592) included a number of prebuilt pieces that restricted building and offered few alternatives to the action figure they were designed to create.

  Iconic animated characters Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear as LEGO minifigures. © Christopher Doyle

  The Toy Story world is one children already know, with characters they are familiar with, and designers dramatically altered one of their own staple components—the minifigure—to give children the Woody and Buzz characters. Unlike with LEGO Harry Potter, where Harry and friends received regular minifigure heads with identifying facial features to tell them apart, Toy Story minifigures have different leg lengths and head shapes to create more accurate depictions of the famous toys. A new horse was also created to capture Woody’s lanky steed, Bullseye.

  Toy Story 3 also appeared in a few DUPLO sets that were more simplified versions of the LEGO sets. The year 2010 also saw a new addition to the DUPLO playroom. Disney Pixar’s Cars film was released in 2006 with a sequel in 2011; the Cars characters appeared in the DUPLO format in 2010 and in the LEGO format in 2011. The four 2010 DUPLO Cars sets included Flo’s V-8 Café (5815), where the cars go to fill up their tanks and have fun, and Mack’s Road Trip! (5816), which included highway signs and a cactus.

  Prince of Persia (2010)

  The new relationship with Disney was not restricted to animated films, however, and when theaters played host to Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time in May 2010, toy shops were busy stocking shelves with its new tie-in LEGO theme. Prince of Persia, based on a 2003 video game of the same name, is a fantasy adventure film set in sixth-century Iran. Dastan, the story’s protagonist and heir to the throne, teams up with a princess to stop an evil ruler unleashing a deadly sandstorm. History, desert landscapes, a brave prince, and the Disney label made this film an ideal project to team up with. While the film’s PG-13/12A cinema rating in the United States and United Kingdom respectively may have deterred parents from purchasing the sets for their younger children over Toy Story toys, for example, the LEGO Group did not shy away from the film’s violent moments with set names like Desert Attack (7569), the Fight for the Dagger (7571), and Battle of Alamut (7573). The Iranian-inspired structures and colors added to the theme’s historical context, as did the minifigures themselves with headdresses and robes to match the desert climate—Dastan even featured topless with muscles painted onto his torso. Sand and noble warriors were areas the LEGO Group has some experience in (e.g., Adventurers, Indiana Jones, Castle), but they added to the colorful tapestry with fitting weapons, camels, scorpions, and ostriches, which minifigures could ride!

  * * *

  The LEGO Group’s turnaround between 2001 and 2010 was remarkable. In 2004 many cynics thought it was high time the small Danish firm owned up to the fact that it just couldn’t handle itself on the world stage dominated by big multinationals like Hasbro and Mattel. Business minds saw the collapse of TLG coming
, and weren’t surprised when those deficits were announced. What might have made them sit up and take notice, however, was the immediacy with which Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen found someone to take his job, the certainty with which Jørgen Vig Knudstorp began making essential changes, and the way the world responded to the new face of the LEGO Group—with even more enthusiasm than before.

  Smart moves in uncertain financial times under its new Shared Vision strategy enabled LEGO to brace itself much better than other companies for the economic hit of global recession. Having sold properties and a 70 percent share in the LEGOLAND parks when the market was strong was something it would have struggled to do a few years later. The decision to regain control of outsourced production was made at the right time, saving LEGO from the PR debacle experienced by other brands such as Mattel, Marvel, and RC2 Corp in 2007 when a number of Chinese-made toys were found to contain excessive amounts of lead. The LEGO Group was seen as a trusted, reliable brand that made its own toys rather than palming off the responsibility to a third party. The chance to restructure and reassess before the financial problems hit the rest of the world meant TLG had already tightened its belt and plugged its leaks, hence why they were able to post an increase in profit and sales for 2009 and the first half of 2010. And while other companies were making job cuts in 2008, the LEGO Group was taking on more workers, with the average number of full-time employees rising from 4,199 in 2007 to 5,388—almost as many as worked for the company before the 2004 changes began.

  But as far as Jørgen Vig Knudstorp was concerned, the LEGO Group has a long way to go before it can rest on its laurels. In 2009 he said, “If I’m a little bit blunt, I’d say we are a traditional toy manufacturer with a strong base in Europe that’s really starting to drive its exports to the U.S. That would hurt some feelings in the company but that’s the truth. I’m talking about how little we sell in Asia or South America and about expanding in the U.S.” But expanding production and distribution to reach more children in more countries is just part of the challenge TLG faces if it wants to keep up with the competition. A toy manufacturer is only as good as the products it makes, but in today’s digital age, creating a good-quality toy is just part of a package deal. It’s plain to see a huge portion of the budget of any company goes on promoting the brand, reaching the consumers, and keeping one step ahead of the market, and this is no more obvious than in the toy industry, as brands try to connect with kids and parents to make sure their products are the must-have toys on every wish list. Television and the Internet are key tools involved in this connection process, and in this the LEGO Group is leading the way, determined not to miss out on the business opportunities these tools represent. “This company was founded on wooden toys, then moved to plastics after the Second World War,” Knudstorp said. “I think we missed out a bit on transistors and microchips and computers when they emerged. But we’re not going to miss out on digitalization. I’m committed to bringing this business into the twenty-first century by globalizing it and bringing in digital technologies.” Knudstorp’s commitment, combined with LEGO products, and the company’s new lease on life, makes TLG a force to be reckoned with and a future contender for the title of largest toy manufacturer in the world. Why not dream big? After all, that’s what LEGO bricks are all about.

  Ole Kirk Christiansen knew that for a company to survive hard times it has to be able to adapt. The many setbacks he faced in his efforts as a carpenter and as a toy manufacturer seem insignificant compared to the hurdles the LEGO Group has overcome since, and those it might face in the future, but in a sense they are very much the same. They taught him that just because someone says it won’t work, or it won’t sell, it doesn’t mean it won’t; that trends and crazes don’t always last; that a toy can always be improved upon; that a family business can’t survive with the help of family alone; and that success does not happen overnight. Like all wonderful things, it must be built, one brick at a time.

  CHAPTER 6

  Building Outside the Box

  One of the LEGO Group’s fundamental aims from the start was to educate children through play and to inspire creativity in young minds. Now sold in over 130 countries, LEGO bricks have long been a toy and a system of play that is commonplace in many a toy box and enjoyed by children across the globe; not only that but the brand has stood the test of time, still producing town-based sets that encourage the same play experience they did over 50 years ago. LEGO bricks were one of the few classic toys BBC TV series James May’s Toy Stories decided to feature in 2009—the result of the program was an entire house made from LEGO bricks, with LEGO furniture, staircase, and toilet that presenter James May spent the night in. The LEGO Group remains one of the few toy brands to still appeal as much (if not more) today than it did when it was first conceived. And it is one of the few toys to be used as an artists’ medium, an educative tool, and to bring together a global community—this one bound by its passion for LEGO. This world beyond the brick is what is explored here.

  Designs by You

  The LEGO Group has always encouraged its customers to think outside of the box, literally. As early as 1950, after the introduction of Automatic Binding Bricks, the company included black and white pamphlets with photographs of possible models children could build from the bricks. This evolved into catalogs that doubled up as building books with tips and ideas, and from those into the Idea Books of the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960 Idea Book (238), released in several European languages, was filled with photographs of children and adults playing and building with LEGO bricks. Some designs to spark the imagination of consumers included houses, boats, planes, animals, and even replicas of real buildings such as the Empire State Building and the SAS Building in Copenhagen. More recently the Creator sets encouraged unbridled building restricted only by the number of bricks in your collection. Over the years, TLG has also experimented with other types of building and shown that there is more fun to be had than what its printed instructions offer.

  Originally released in the 1950s as LEGO Mosaik, these sets were simply large base plates, which served as a background for a picture made up of lots of small bricks. This “2D” method of building was not particularly popular in comparison with the playable models children could also build with LEGO bricks and was discontinued after a short time. The idea has been revisited by the LEGO Group a number of times, especially with the Dacta sets (now known as LEGO Education). In 2000, however, LEGO Mosaic reappeared on a grander scale, inspired by large-scale models adult hobbyists were creating with the aid of digitizing photo software. Between 2000 and 2005, the LEGO website was home to the Brick-o-Lizer, which allowed you to upload a photograph, and order the parts and instructions required to build it as an image using 1 × 1 tiles. Although the tiles were only available in black, white, and three shades of gray, it was the first opportunity LEGO customers had to purchase parts to build precisely what they wanted. With a toy that is as varied as your imagination, this principle was soon developed into LEGO Factory (now known as Design byME), the latest way to transform LEGO elements into something that appeals to you.

  The year 2005 saw the launch of LEGO Digital Designer—a free program on LEGOfactory.com that allowed consumers to design their own LEGO models, upload these designs to the website to share with fellow fans, and design a custom box for their set. The website proved hugely popular, with 77,000 designs uploaded before LEGO announced customers would be able to buy their designs. And this is what has added to the system’s success. While there is much fun and creativity to be had in simply designing a house, vehicle, or fantasy world using the software, the real pleasure was that you could order them directly from LEGO via the website; as soon as 48 hours later, a box would arrive with all the pieces needed to assemble it.

  Design byME has been embraced by the LEGO community and vice versa. In 2005 three micro-scale Factory sets were released that had been designed by LEGO fans and then three more sets in 2008. The initial Factory designs were the result of a competition
that saw some 8,000 entrants vying for the chance to have their design sold all over the world. The winning designers received royalties, depending on the success of their creations. In addition, many fans bought each other’s designs directly from the website. Some notable Factory products include Amusement Park (5525) with pirate ship, ski slope, and robot ride, and Star Justice (10191)—a LEGO fan’s take on Space with a planet rover, two mini-spaceships, and a command base. The set also included four astronauts dressed in white and the cleverly conceived Star Justice droids. The Design byME website gives fans the opportunity to be as creative as they choose and to enjoy the models others have created. The site also hosts competitions with LEGO sets as prizes for builders to come up with the best designs (for example, a Halloween-themed model).

  The LEGO Group’s play sets are carefully designed to achieve a certain price point resulting in small, medium, and large sets to cater to a varied market of different consumers. The limits of the LEGO mind don’t account for the cost of individual LEGO parts and minifigures, meaning many of the models fans build with their extensive collections or design on their computers are just too expensive to produce and sell to customers, so it’s unlikely that Design byME or large buckets of bricks will eclipse the sales of the company’s play theme sets just yet. At least, with the 2010 release of online game LEGO Universe (see below), players can build with no limits and see their models exist in a world, albeit a virtual one.