<![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities - Gizmodo Comments]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gizmodo.com.png <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities - Gizmodo Comments]]> http://gizmodo.com Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:25:26 EST Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:25:26 EST http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c4180366 So, I've noticed that pretty much all those commenting are dudes.

I want to know what year the girl Legos were released. Put the release of the chick Legos on the time line! I had a few sets of those because my brother was a hoarder and I LOVED them. I had this cool beach house looking thing. I think now they're called Belville or something. And they're even girlier and less complicated.

Anyway, Legos are fantastic!

Lesann620

]]> 4:349509:c4180366 Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:25:26 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c4022563 OK, so I'm late posting on this one....

Unless I wasn't paying proper attention to my history teacher - I'm pretty certain that Russia did NOT help Germany invade Poland. They were in fact enemies!

Lecture ends.

FizzyPopMan

]]> 4:349509:c4022563 Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:20:44 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c4015187 My first Lego was the Police Mobile Patrol from 1979 [www.peeron.com] I still have the motorcycle and the minifig that came with it (the car kind of sucked because you couldn't put a minifig inside). Since then I've collected at least a couple Lego sets a year and still have all of them, including the awesome yellow Lego castle. I remember the price was $100 and since it was so expensive it was the only present I got that year for my birthday. Like so many have mentioned... the fact that it was made of individual bricks instead of prefab walls made it that much cooler for scenes of mass destruction (which is really the best part of Legos... the fact that they can be destroyed by imaginary tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, meteors, monsters, etc and built back). I still enjoy playing with them and building them with my son.

dclough

]]> 4:349509:c4015187 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:25:23 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c4014972 @Oneon1isto:
Ice Planet 2000


Purple Dave

]]> 4:349509:c4014972 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:04:21 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c4014951 @himynameispizza:
Some of the _rarest_ minifigs are oddball exclusives like the LEGO Ambassador keychain (which features a hat that I don't think I've ever seen used in any official release), the "de Bouwsteen" minifig (not sure if this is an official minifig, or a custom one, but it was reportedly authorized by TLC), the Red Sox minifig, or the two First LEGO League minifigs. Or the Biff and Sandy minifigs that were created for the Mars lander promotion a few years back, and could not be _sold_ by The LEGO Company due to their contract with NASA (they were instead given out as promotional items). The most expensive Star Wars minifigs are Cloud City Boba Fett (with painted arms/legs), Cloud City Lando, Cloud City Leia, Jango Fett, UCS Falcon Luke/Han/Leia, and Leia from the original Millennium Falcon set. Darth Maul prices have tanked recently, what with him being readily available at Wal-Mart these past six months.

Now, of course, if you _really_ want to get into rarest minifigs, there are the 10,000 limited edition chrome-plated C-3PO minifigs, and the 5 solid gold C-3PO minifigs.


Purple Dave

]]> 4:349509:c4014951 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:02:11 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3960424 i thought the space sets were the best. i remember the uranium finder, and that big robot looking command center with the arms. the best part was building a new spacecraft from scratch using 3 or 4 sets.

hotaspiss

]]> 4:349509:c3960424 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:59:56 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3952796 wow i am the same age as lego!!! we got a set sent to us from England when i was 12. It was mostly red and white blocks with 4 wheels and a few blue, yellow and clear blocks. We used it for years but I don't think we ever built the things suggested in the booklet. It was so much more fun to invent stuff. My kids use it now as well as their own sets and they too have never been known to make the actual kit on the box.....far too boring.

highpriestess

]]> 4:349509:c3952796 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:45:27 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3940381 I know it's much newer than most of the ones here, but I really loved the Rock Raiders ones.

Oracle989

]]> 4:349509:c3940381 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:27:16 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3939756 I had the galaxy explorer and loved it as a kid. It gave an awesome core set of bricks for all my childhood spaceship design needs! totally desrves a top mention!

shagedy

]]> 4:349509:c3939756 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:04:30 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3932855 @spafles:

Oh yea, the shuttle pad set! I nearly forgot about that one. I had it too and it was also one of my favorites with the working Canada arm and the cool red tower structure with the fold out loading platform and I think an elevator too. Ah the memories! I always liked using those red truss pieces for different things when I went off making other things.

My biggest problem was that no matter how hard I tried, once I added the pieces from one set into my collection, I was never able to fully re-produce the original later as I was always missing something and had to improvise.

fsusmithc2

]]> 4:349509:c3932855 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:04:13 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3932459 Soooo many memories. 3 Day building spree with friends to build an entire city. I can still build my first kit from memory, a little Cessna style plane that I got when I was 7 or so. I can also still build the original space shuttle launch site from memory, and still have all the bricks.

comptrav

]]> 4:349509:c3932459 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 07:50:08 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3931048 @loslosbaby: So right! I built my own spaceships, cars, and houses. Soon, my brother and I started building things with launchers in them and competing against each other to see who's was stronger, who had the best structural integrity and more powerful guns. :) None of this 'Falcon' kit stuff!

hnkelley

]]> 4:349509:c3931048 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:55:37 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3930668 Put your hands up if you felt like rummaging through a box of lego was louder than the space shuttle. I remember feeling like I was losing my hearing after a night searching through a box of lego.

That swooosh, swoosh sound.

I remember when they brought out the floating boats with the foam interior that would actually keep the boat floating.

The best thing about the pirate ships was if you built up the seams, you could put it in the bath and it would sink slowly adding to the drama! I think I was able to make it float for about 3 minutes until it finally went down killing all aboard!

jayomatic

]]> 4:349509:c3930668 Tue, 29 Jan 2008 00:05:06 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3930361 We have four generations of bricklayers in our family. When wrapped boxes arrive in our home for gift giving celebrations the tell-tale Lego rattle prompts squeals from all of us. (84 yrs to 2 yrs)

My oldest son "Joneses" any time a set remains undone. It is only his deep love for me the Yoda I got for my 35th birthday remains in the pantry unopened.

"Mama, PLEASE, why are you waiting!" For 5 years now I just smile. It will be his college graduation gift in about 10 years.

Something worthwhile to hang over his head.

sonoratboy

]]> 4:349509:c3930361 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 23:29:54 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3929959 Why do non-Legomaniacs look down at Lego? Aren't 3D "puzzles" much better than flat 2D paper thingies? You can't get the same soothing sound running your hands through paper puzzle pieces as you can from sifting through piles of Lego bricks!

halfkorean

]]> 4:349509:c3929959 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:56:14 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3925436 Space and Pirates were my game...sigh...those were the days. Had all the Pirates sets. Always thought city was kind of boring.

A little later on, (because I might be called a pup) I got really into the different varieties of space they released, like the ice planet guys. Not sure if that's what they were called, but they rocked.

Anyone remember what they called those ice space guys? They were colored lots of white and blue, with neon orange accents.

I think my eyes are getting misty...

Oneon1isto

]]> 4:349509:c3925436 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 18:21:24 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3924290 You pups don't even know how hard we had it :)

We had bricks in about 8 colors, and, didn't even have big green plates! When roof tiles came out, we thought "wow, we can build tall, square rockets".

Modern legos are an apostasty :)

loslosbaby

]]> 4:349509:c3924290 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:19:56 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3923669 Ahh the LEGO. By the time I was presented my first set it had been mixed with a Technic set (not sure which one) and had two of the large green base boards to build on. After a couple of years they were joined by two of the large buckets (shaped like a LEGO with four large studs on top) with over 300 pieces in them. I never received any of the themed sets, instead relying on my imagination to build cars, speedboats, mansions, and my personal favorite, a Sikorsky Blackhawk MH-60 with water landing gear (made from 16 Technic tires) and rotating machine guns that I put together from a picture someone gave me. That helicopter went on to win second place in a model competition my high school AFJROTC had for our different flights (some guy with a 400 piece glue together model won it, lame). I still have all of those plus an aircraft carrier set my brother gave me a couple of years ago. I might just have to pull those out of the closet and revisit my childhood soon.

big.drizzt

]]> 4:349509:c3923669 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:55:25 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3923626 My parents purchased several ice chests full at a flood sale in to 70's. There were so many bricks from so many different sets and they were caked with mud. We dumped them into a plastic swimming pool and they soaked for a few days. I had a ton of Legos growing up. My first "set" was a tow truck that could be steered through the roof. In the 80's I got the HUGE construction themed set, lots of yellow pieces. I played with all my Legos for hours and hours. Great memories!

member57

]]> 4:349509:c3923626 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:53:50 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3923096 i absolutly 100% LOVE legos they are really cool. the Darth Maul lego guy is one of the rarest. (i think) well anyway i didnt know that it would take that many legos to reach from here to the moon! :O

bye,
himynameispizza


himynameispizza

]]> 4:349509:c3923096 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:34:10 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3922325 @briancarlstrom:
You mean for this construct? That would certainly explain why it's sagging in the middle... Incidentally, those are DUPLO-scale clones, not LEGO-scale.

@Jesus Diaz:
I can't speak for the bricks themselves, but those certainly aren't DUPLO characters sitting on the top. They all have one standard DUPLO stud in the center of the top of their heads. These have giganormous studs that are amost as big as the rest of the head itself. I also don't think they ever made them in robot flavors.



Purple Dave

]]> 4:349509:c3922325 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:04:08 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3922214 @briancarlstrom: I checked this info with LEGO and Google and both say LEGO bricks, even while there could have been other types in the case.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3922214 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:59:28 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3921800 @papaguru:
Indeed the famous yellow castle was first (#375 for Europe in '78, and #6075 in US three years later). It's also one of only three sets that featured shortswords made in light-grey ABS. From '84 on, they were made with a more flexible plastic, mostly in dark-grey (one set, the Armor Shop, had a black sword). More importantly, it is the _only_ set that featured red or white knight visors for the original minifig helmet. The next castle visor that would be released was designed to work with the modern helmet that's been in use since the days of Futuron.

Also, it's been pointed out that the original minifigs came out in 1975, and the articulated ones followed in 1978. Or 1977, depending on who you ask.

Of greater importance is the dismissal of BIONICLE, in spite of the fact that it was one of the few profitable themes during a short stretch of years when The LEGO Company was recording its first losses (keeping up with demand for the Toa sets in late 2001 both required and _paid_for_ the installation of a new part-molding production line). It's entirely possible that without this theme, they might have either gone bankrupt, or at least been forced to go public.

@Jesus Diaz:
Doh!

@scarbrtj:
I wouldn't, having twice transported it for display (I had to buy a large trash can to contain it, put the landing gear on 3-brick-high blocks, and remove key sections like the cockpit before doing so). It _is_ sturdy enough to pick up one-handed, provided you remove the dorsal gunner station and grab onto the superstructer as they intended. It's not at all stable enough to pick up from below (there's a disturbing amount of flex in the model if you do so), and some of the underbelly sections are going to start dropping off the superstructure due to being attached by so few studs. When I disassemble mine and rebuild it, I'm thinking of adding in some TECHNIC-based interior structuring to those sections that'll help keep them suspended better.

Also, on the "inventing the wheel" bit, The LEGO Company is, by quantity, the world's largest manufacturer of rubber tires, just as Mattel holds that same claim for clothing items.




Purple Dave

]]> 4:349509:c3921800 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:44:32 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3921004 I don't remember the exact time but I'm going to guess it was around when I was 6 or 7 my parents brought home this big box they had bought at garage sale, inside it was just a tremendous amount of different sizes and shapes of legos. The box was was around the size of a medium microwave oven. Over the next 7 years I would continously cover the living room floor, my bedroom floor, heck any floor with various lego projects until I was told to pick them up. Also in those years the box grew a couple of times till it was the size of a large microwave oven with legos overflowing the top. Somewhere during my middle teen years my parents gave them away and at the time I didn't care, now I can't stop asking myself why I let that happen. I just want to thank whoever is responsible for creating LEGO's for creating the only toy that unlocked my imagination.

swingarm

]]> 4:349509:c3921004 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:15:57 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3920718 Recently I was shopping for my son's birthday present. He's still too young for LEGO, but when i saw this ([technic.lego.com]) my heart stopped for a moment.

Naqaj

]]> 4:349509:c3920718 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:06:19 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3920392 Very cool to see this on Gizmodo (and Google!) I love those little plastic bricks so much that I now make a living building and playing with them! Love that castle ... also, this year is the 30th anniversary of the mini-figure!

wyndryder

]]> 4:349509:c3920392 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:54:52 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3919878 My first set arrived in 1976 and I still have many of those pieces and minifigs. Lifelong career dream since Age 5: Lego Master Builder. Or at least millions of bricks to build a life-size star destroyer.

Am I the only person on Earth who owned (and still has many pieces of) the "Original" Yellow Castle? I think that was late 70's early 80s... long before that boring gray thing in the timeline. Minifigs had rectangular tabards and space helmets with new visors. They rode brick horses. It was beautiful!

coyoterepublic

]]> 4:349509:c3919878 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:36:02 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3918429 When I was 5 (1978), my parents took a trip to San Francisco, promising my brother and I a "present" when they returned. Upon coming home, I was presented with one of those "My mom and dad went to SF and I'll I got was this lousy t-shirt" t-shirts. Being a pain-in-the-rear 5 year-old, I flipped out. I didn't calm down until they pulled out the "real present", the biggest Lego set they could fit in the bottom of their suitcase. That was my first Lego set and was the start of years of building with them. Great times, and now I can't wait for my kids to be old enough for Lego bricks to stop being a "choking hazard".....

caryian

]]> 4:349509:c3918429 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:42:44 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3918068 Is that 1:58PM EST, GMT+1, or what?

P3nnst8r

]]> 4:349509:c3918068 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:28:58 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3917954 Billions of bricks have been sucked up by vacuum cleaners.

DeadWriter

]]> 4:349509:c3917954 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:24:19 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3917775 yeah, I had the yellow castle too. I got this little gem because I didn't wet my bed for a month. Actually now that I think about it I never wet the bad after getting the Lego castle. I always thought the grey castle was the dark night and the yellow was for the good guys. Also had a fire boat that did float. It was the greatest come bath time. Ahh the memories. My son plays with them now and I absolutely love having to help build it. He's to good at it now though, but I still get to play. ;-)

sacopaddler

]]> 4:349509:c3917775 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:17:25 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3917125 There is and will be no toy better than Lego. Even though things like N64s and C2Ds have captured my interest since then, I still have every set I got as a kid.

Oh, the memories of Christmas presents that sounded like Legos, opening them, then spreading them all over the floor and starting to build :D

The car/vehicle ones were the best...like the towtruck with the electric boom on it. I even had a "city" set (with people, cars, and trucks) and a "country" set (with 4x4 trucks, tractors, and bulldozers). Also built a racetrack to race the mini IRL cars :)

ry_ry

]]> 4:349509:c3917125 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:52:01 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3916578 I loved LEGO's when I was a kid (I'm 46 now). I still have two big sets of them, but they weren't those "themed" sets that everyone seems to be writing about. Mine were just a big box with a whole bunch of pieces. On the box were pictures of things you could make. There were no instructions on how to make any of them, you just had to look at the picture and figure it out. It really made you think about how to build what you saw.
Interestingly, I had my kids play with my old sets several months back and they loved it...for about 20 minutes. Then they were back on their DS's and WII. Different generation. So sad. I use to sit down for hours playing with them. But then again, I never had all the electronic stimula that kids today have and crave...

Michael


mjn015

]]> 4:349509:c3916578 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:32:44 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915935 My first set was a box that included directions to build a bunch of different things, the hardest being a big windmill. But over the years I would order all kinds of stuff from the LEGO catalog, amassing about 50lbs of bricks in a bin sitting in my closet.

Overall though, I think my favorite is the Ferrari F1 stuff, especially the technic racecar.

pharmerchris

]]> 4:349509:c3915935 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:05:05 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915852 Lego is totally sweet. I have a Lego Star Destroyer (the small one that only costs $100 as opposed to the $300 one) sitting around waiting for me to put together the table I bought to build lego on.

GeeCee

]]> 4:349509:c3915852 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:00:13 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915565 @FSUSMITHC2: I've got that car. I never had the instructions though. I would love to find them so I can add back the bits that have fallen off over the years though. Does anybody here know where to find them? Or just the set number?

ravloony

]]> 4:349509:c3915565 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:46:44 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915496 Also, BEST. TOY. EVER. sry for triple post.

Oracle989

]]> 4:349509:c3915496 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:43:31 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915473 @Oracle989: I also had the 40th anniversery set with the Silver brick in it. It had somethin like 300 bricks, 15 minifigs, and 3 base plates. The article made me wish i still had those LEGOs.

Oracle989

]]> 4:349509:c3915473 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:42:22 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915430 The first set i remember was one of those big kits that had no single use, but were more of a set of assorted bricks. A blue bucket with a folding handle and 4 large pegs on top that made it like a scaled up funny shaped brick. The first actual set I remember was a yellow submarine from the mid 90s. My lego collection, at the time it was 3/4 of one of the very large rubbermade containers(the 4 foot wide, 15 foot deep, 2 foot tall ones or something close) was given to my cousins. My uncle spent 2 months sorting them all and organizing them ,and doesn't let my cousins(abou 3 years old) play with them unless its supervised so taht he wont mix any sets. I always dumped it al out and grabbed a flat base and ust started building.

Oracle989

]]> 4:349509:c3915430 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:40:26 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3915407 @Kaiser-Machead: Sounds very familiar to what I used to have. We used to spend hours building forts and barricades and such for our G.I.JOE's and such, only to be called in for dinner when our sets were finished.

GOKOR

]]> 4:349509:c3915407 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:39:00 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3914779 Im 27 years old, and I still preserve a backpack full of LEGO pieces from my childhood. (which i haven't opened in years!!! )
Everytime that i need to clean up and let go my childhood stuff, the thing i find most hard to let go are those LEGO and some GI Joes and old video games related stuff LOL

EL_RIEL

]]> 4:349509:c3914779 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:09:50 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3914447 I have three giant buckets filled with over 4 dozen individual play sets, and this makes me want to break em out and start building again.

Kaiser-Machead

]]> 4:349509:c3914447 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:56:03 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3914378 Yellow castle ruled!!!

Rustabout

]]> 4:349509:c3914378 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:53:31 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3914230 wow just disregard that entire last statement I think I was a little over excited about lego's.

Hyruu

]]> 4:349509:c3914230 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:48:01 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3914212 I remember building my own star wars ships and playing with them when I and now I own them all from them would have been way easier to have the instructions when i was a kid but hey it helped me be creative.

Hyruu

]]> 4:349509:c3914212 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:47:12 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913850 This just made my day. I had the pirate ship, the castle, the Technics car pictured, and the Star Wars sets, of course. If fact, I just found them in my basement under about 10 years worth of God-knows-what. Maybe I'll relive the magic later on tonight...

@Jesus Diaz:

By the way, would it be possible for you to get in touch with a couple of the Lego masters Giz features every so often, Jesus? I'd be interested to get their take on this rather momentous occasion. In particular, where did they start and what techniques did they use to perfect their craft?

TJ

]]> 4:349509:c3913850 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:31:22 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913824 A castle. A big castle that came in a bucket. Glorious days.

Aaron Martin-Colby

]]> 4:349509:c3913824 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:30:09 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913686 With all the LEGOS I had, I never built one of their sets. I always made my own stuff. I didn't even know LEGOS had instructions until years later.

Jaymez

]]> 4:349509:c3913686 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:23:56 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913633 In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, Lego couldn't hold a candle to the German building toy, Fischertechnik. If you grew up loving Lego, you would have killed for a couple of sets of Fischertechnik. But it was much more expensive than Lego, and only sold in few places in the US. In the 90's Lego started to expand and become more complex while FT pared down production. The new sets you can buy today generally skew towards making one model, but with the older sets you could make ANYTHING. They came with no step by step written instructions: just a couple (2 or 3) pictures of how the models were made at different steps, which forces a kid to to be creative. The older stuff is still one of the most complex building systems available today, yet a 5-year old can use it to make simple car. Do yourself a favor and Google it, or check out Ebay US or Ebay Germany:

[en.wikipedia.org]

dcpmark

]]> 4:349509:c3913633 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:21:03 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913618 @briancarlstrom: Weird. I just got the data from them.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3913618 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:20:16 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913544 I had the pirate ship and the castle in the picture too!!!@jaydez:

spacecadetdavsot

]]> 4:349509:c3913544 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:16:34 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913420 Google used Mega Bloks, not Lego. The enclosure is on public display in the basement of the Gates building at Stanford. I've heard they were embarrassed about this in retrospect. :)

briancarlstrom

]]> 4:349509:c3913420 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:10:31 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913273 I think the first real set I played with was also the galaxy explorer, but could be wrong. I do remember the castle one. But mostly the pieces were all in one big plastic bin, and we just made random stuff out of it. I was way more into connex though (I think that's what it was called).

Rain-man

]]> 4:349509:c3913273 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 10:00:41 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913258 lego also produces more tires than any other tire manufacturer in the world...

eatmonkeygood

]]> 4:349509:c3913258 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:59:36 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3913056 i miss my pirates collection. My favorite lego project was making a brick-firing gun :-)

Nissan288

]]> 4:349509:c3913056 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:45:01 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912993 @Jesus_Diaz - Papaguru is right. I bought the yellow castle from the Nassau Hobby shop in Princeton, NJ with my first-ever $100 bill (Christmas, 1981). I was 9. My brother (5 years older) took his $100 and bought a bunch of Technics - but he played with my castle more than I did, and eventually ended up converting it to a giant yellow hospital (complete with X-ray and CAT scan). Our LEGOs were never healthier than that brief period of Socialized LEGOmedicine (although more than one minifig lost an arm or legs for "medical research" purposes...) LEGO FTW!!!

Snicker

]]> 4:349509:c3912993 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:40:27 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912941 @scarbrtj: Please share the finished Falcon!

Drezio

]]> 4:349509:c3912941 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:36:12 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912940 The very first set I got, but my dad built for me(spent an entire night on it), was a fancy train station, without the extra train set of course.

The first set which I built myself was the space shuttle launch station.

I can still remember all those evenings playing with my dad, building a ship and then destroying it by "shooting" plastic blocks at it with the lego cannons. Good times ^_^

spafles

]]> 4:349509:c3912940 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:36:08 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912879 It changed my life, and i'm pretty sure i wouldn't be what i am without it. Happy birthday Lego, and much love :)

psalmplasma

]]> 4:349509:c3912879 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:31:05 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912709 I finished the Falcon. You'd be surprised how sort of fragile it is. On the other hand, it's a really ingenious design.

scarbrtj

]]> 4:349509:c3912709 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:15:40 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912679 love the hitler plug

israeli

]]> 4:349509:c3912679 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:13:01 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912630 I gave my old LEGO block to my daughter. Some of them are now nearly 40 years old.

Galley

]]> 4:349509:c3912630 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:06:25 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912614 In Argentina I got a friend with whom I played all my childhood, we made histories from the pieces of lego, I must tell you now, with videogames, kids have lost that sense of imagination, creativity, although there are some virtual legos, it's not the same experience.
Moreover, Legos are just a very expensive toy, in south america, there are some cheap imitation so to have the same experience, but when you play a with a real lego, an unforgettable memory have just created.

Jesus Diaz funny and great timeline, "..or invade legoland" hahaha, LOL.


redvsblue

]]> 4:349509:c3912614 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:05:00 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912580 @fsusmithc2: I still have that Technic car, built by my brothers.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3912580 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:00:27 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912494 Ooh, Galaxy Explorer. My all-time favorite Lego set. It was awesome.

eric4758

]]> 4:349509:c3912494 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:46:20 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912483 I think my favorite set that I played with was the Shell service station. It was just a stand-alone single building but they also had a bigger one with a parking garage that I really wanted. They were part of the System or Town series back in the late 80's - early 90's.

Another drool-worthy set for me was the huge Technic car. Not the one in the timeline pic, the one that was like a sports car with blue seats if I remember right and a rear engine and pop-up headlights.

Then there was also the Lego Team series with the advanced details and such. I think I remember there being a big-rig as one of the models.

Lego rocks!

fsusmithc2

]]> 4:349509:c3912483 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:45:00 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912472 When I was a kid my Friday nights would consist of sitting on my bedroom floor plaing with a dresser drawer full of legos and watching TGIF.

I had that pirate ship and the castle in the picture. I miss being a kid.

jaydez

]]> 4:349509:c3912472 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:43:35 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912430 Best. Toy. Ever. My childhood would have been hollow with out them.

benjaminby

]]> 4:349509:c3912430 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:35:54 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912406 Ah... Brings back some memories! Happy birthday Lego brick.

PS- owned a pirate ship (among others) put it once in the bathtub and, to my utter disbelief, it SANK! That was the only disappointment I had with LEGO though :-)

pinolo

]]> 4:349509:c3912406 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:31:53 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912401 @enine: When they first came out, they were known as the 'Expert Builder' series; I never had the car, but I did have the crane kit.

AmishJohn

]]> 4:349509:c3912401 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:31:12 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912365 @papaguru: Well, I'm using the data that LEGO sent me on friday, along with their pics.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3912365 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:25:24 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912274 @jesus: seems the first lego castle was the yellow one, released in Europe in 1978. But it wasn't released in the states until '81, 1 year after the grey one (according to your timeline).

You can also tell the yellow one being older by looking at the horses: the ones that came by the yellow castle were made from bricks, instead of the two-peace-already-finished-in-the-box ones that came with the grey castles.

I also had a few grey castles, but they were much less fun than the yellow one: the yellow castle was entirely made from bricks, where the grey ones had prefab walls.

papaguru

]]> 4:349509:c3912274 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:07:21 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912259 Man, I love my LEGO!

NightBlade

]]> 4:349509:c3912259 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:03:33 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912243 50 years, sorry typo.

I never got any good pieces from Bionicle sets with one exception: The heads and masks make interesting engine-looking pieces that have the look of having a heat shield or something on it. The rest rarely get used.

Based on what I've seen though I wish I had snagged a couple of those Pod sets for the big pod. I've seen cool things done with those.

I have the original Lego X-Wing fighter my wife gave me on a stand on display still, mostly to commemorate the X-Wing that I made as a kid back when all this Star Wars stuff was first happening!
(The wings opened and closed on mine too!) :D

During our recent trip to the big Air & Space museum I actually stopped to reflect that I was surrounded by so much stuff that influenced how I built my own creations from Lego. (and other materials later)

Great stuff. I'll have to pull out the box later and build somethin' a little later. :)

strider_mt2k

]]> 4:349509:c3912243 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:00:37 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912238 The LegoTechnic car that's featured below the castle was alwaya the pinnacle of Lego for me. I was always fascinated with building it, and tweaking the features. The "working" motor, transmission, suspension, and even adjustable seats were the coolest thing for me in 1978.

More recent sets have improved on the design and styling, but there will always be a place in my heart for that chunky tired car, with the yellow seats...

tamoko

]]> 4:349509:c3912238 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:58:57 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912222 Wow, this brings back some memories. Lego is still a wicked "toy" and will always be thought of as a cultural icon. I still remember going thru the manuals and thinking "WOW!" when each thing was finished. Good, good times.

And yes, as Jesus said, Legoland is awesome!!

SnowLeopard

]]> 4:349509:c3912222 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:55:23 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912210 @papaguru: really? According to the catalog, that big one was the first one. I have the yellow one here too.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3912210 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:51:26 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912188 I had some of the armless minifigs. I had some of the tecnic before they were called that, they were called expert system or something like that

enine

]]> 4:349509:c3912188 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:47:05 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912183 @Jesus.Diaz: You depicted the wrong castle. The original castle was yellow and released in 1978 (in Yurp, at least).
It was the biggest set available at the time, and I had it! The best set ever (to me).
Nevertheless, thanks for this trip down memory lane. The blue railroadtracks, the figs made from bricks, the minifigs without arms, I rememeber 'em all.

papaguru

]]> 4:349509:c3912183 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:46:39 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912153 Me and my brothers had many of these. The LEGOLAND Space is always going to be my favorite.

It's not really all about special parts. LEGOLAND sets, including Star Wars, don't contain many special pieces at all. They have expanded the piece catalog, yes, but that has been going on since 1958. I agree with you, however, that BIONICLE is utter crap.

But LEGOLAND keeps being kick-ass.

Jesus Diaz

]]> 4:349509:c3912153 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:38:50 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912142 Aw, I had that castle set. The exact same one.
Gods, these days it's all about flashing lights and unique parts (think Bionicle). Most of those unique parts really only fit within their series, too.
But it's nice to know that kids still play with the same toys today that they played with 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. Kinda.

Hvedhrungr

]]> 4:349509:c3912142 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:33:28 EST <![CDATA[LEGO Brick Timeline: 50 Years of Building Frenzy and Curiosities]]> http://gizmodo.com/349509/lego-brick-timeline-50-years-of-building-frenzy-and-curiosities#c3912114 60 years.
LEGO ROCKS!!

-and wherethehellisthat FALCON???

strider_mt2k

]]> 4:349509:c3912114 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 07:26:09 EST