Nanoblocks: An Alternative to Large, Expensive Building Sets

Jenny Williams
August 11, 2011
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/08/nanoblocks-an-alternative-to-large-expensive-building-sets/

I really love to assemble and build things, especially according to a set of directions. I know I’m not the only one out there. For some of us, it’s easier to follow the directions in the Lego manual than it is to come up with our own designs. And while I love Lego, and the few sets of it that I have, I can’t afford to buy the larger, $100+ sets. Yet I still long to build architectural masterpieces.

Enter Nanoblock. Domestically, Nanoblock only seems to sell a few sets, but with architectural ones such as the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, and Neuschwannstein Castle, I can build to my inner architect’s content without breaking the bank. Each of those sets retails for about $20.

The blocks in Nanoblock sets really are tiny — itty-bitty, even. Some of the smaller pieces can be difficult to hold, let alone put together or take apart. But with a (very) careful hand and an eye for detail, you can create completed works that also have the side benefit of taking up much less room in your house. But assemble these sets in a well-cordoned-off area. Using a tray or table with edges would be ideal. More than once, I’ve had to search the floor for pieces just a few millimeters across. Sets come with instructions for building. They aren’t as detailed as Lego instructions, but they are definitely clear enough for anyone to use.

Each set also comes with several extra pieces, with which you are supposedly able to build extra small things. But having already almost lost pieces myself, my suspicion is that the extra pieces are really for when you inevitably lose some.

If architecture isn’t your thing, there are also Nanoblock sets that are animals, figures, and even basic sets. Prices vary by size and complexity.

Nanoblocks are originally from Japan, and from what I can tell are widely known and available there. Here in the United States they are put out by Ohio Art (of Etch A Sketch fame). Several sets can be found at Amazon.com and ThinkGeek, while a larger variety are available through places like eBay and stores that specialize in Japanese toys.

Now I just need to save up for the Nanoblock Neuschwanstein Castle Deluxe Edition Set!

The Most Popular Toy Ever Made Is Lego: Survey

http://www.fastcompany.com/1681192/lego-most-popular-toy-ever-made-survey-firebox

The Most Popular Toy Ever Made Is Lego: Survey
BY Kit Eaton
Fri Aug 13, 2010

If you grew up thinking Lego was the bomb, better than any other toy in your collection, turns out you're not alone: A new broad-ranging survey of over 3,000 folks has revealed it's the most popular toy ever manufactured, even more so than Barbie, Game Boys and a dozen other pretenders.

Firebox.com, an online toy and gizmo gift store, and toy news website Toyology.com just announced the results of their survey of over 3,000 adults aged 20 to 40. The clear winner of the title of most popular toy across all ages and sexes was Lego--it was the top choice for men, and the second choice for women (beaten by the inflatable wonder, Barbie herself). Firebox's MD Christian Robinson noted it wasn't really a surprising winner--being so "timeless and popular" across all ages, but also because it tallies with Firebox's own sales experience, which has Lego kits as very popular sellers.

Though Lego's patent recently expired, and a host of cheaper competitors have now burst onto the toy scene, it looks like Lego's crown is not going to slip any time soon--and it's success in a whole new generation is undoubtedly being given a boost by franchises like the Lego video game series. It's also likely to continue to sell as the people in the survey group buy toys for their children and grandchildren: That's because the survey revealed a strong preference (78% of women and 63% of men) for old-fashioned toys over more modern ones, with almost half the respondents noting they still owned toys they had when they were growing up. This kind of strong emotional connection will definitely color purchase decisions made when buying gifts for today's kids (no matter how much they clamor for a DS or PSP game).

To keep up with this news, follow me, Kit Eaton, on Twitter.

Hottest Videogame Franchise: Rock Band

While Guitar Hero has betrayed its fanbase with bad versions featuring Van Halen (no to Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony, but yes to Wolfgang?) and Napster whiners Metallica, Rock Band has featured The Beatles and Green Day in two excellent games. But perhaps the clincher in how awesome the game is comes thanks to Lego Rock Band, which featured a Legos Queen in full "We Will Rock You" glory...

YouTube Video of the Week: Lego Star Wars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0z_TU4Gw5o

The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars story ever told

The original Star Wars saga as told by a kid with one heck of a LEGO collection.

Frank Lloyd Wright in LEGO

http://www.dangerousminds.net/index.php/site/comments/frank_lloyd_wright_in_lego/

Frank Lloyd Wright in LEGO
09.17.2009
Richard Metzger

I realize that I’m violating our strict NO LEGO policy here at Dangerous Minds, but this is awesome, a LEGO version of Fallingwater!

For sale on the Guggenheim Museum’s website:

LEGO® Architecture proudly presents what is perhaps the most famous residential home in the world. Frank Lloyd Wright´s masterpiece merges man with nature by implementing materials as well as extending lines from the surrounding land. Open to the public since 1963, Fallingwater attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world every year.

The Fallingwater kit contains 811 pieces/bricks.

Piece by Piece

http://www.portfolio.com/careers/job-of-the-week/2008/08/17/Lego-Builder-Nathan-Sawaya

Piece by Piece
by Christine Y. Chen
Aug 17 2008
For much-in-demand artist Nathan Sawaya, the Legos he uses to build large-scale sculptures might as well be gold bricks.

Job Title: Lego artist

Employers: Corporations and individuals

Openings: Word of mouth

Salary Cap: Six figures

Number of Jobs: About 40 Lego master builders

Who doesn't remember growing up playing with Legos—the small, colorful bricks that can be combined to create anything from airplanes to zebras? Most kids ultimately pack up their Legos and move on. But Nathan Sawaya never did.

The 35-year-old New Yorker makes a six-figure living as a Lego artist, creating large-scale works of art using tens of thousands of the plastic pieces. Among his recent projects are a 10-foot-tall replica of the new Trump Tower being constructed in Dubai for Donald Trump, and a four-foot-tall bumblebee commissioned by Fall Out Boy bass guitarist Pete Wentz as a gift for his new bride, pop star Ashlee Simpson. He says he receives hundreds of commission inquiries every month.

Though he played with Legos like most kids, they were the furthest thing from his mind when he set out in the working world. After graduating with a law degree from New York University in 1998, Sawaya became a Wall Street attorney, earning a comfortable six-figure salary—and working in a high-stress environment. To relax after long hours at the office, he would work on art projects at night, making sculptures using clay at first, then moving into more whimsical media, like candy.

One of Sawaya's first hobbyist projects with Legos was an eight-foot-tall pencil. Friends would come over to gawk at it, and Sawaya eventually set up a website, brickartist.com, to post photos of his creations. Visitors to the site sent in requests, such as Lego renderings of portraits of their children.

The hobby became the real thing in 2004 after he won a competition sponsored by Lego to find the best builder in the U.S. He quit his job and became one of Lego's "master model builders," creating sculptures for its theme park in San Diego. They paid him just $13 an hour, but it gave him good training for when he returned to New York to create his own Lego works full-time.

Sawaya now keeps 1.5 million Lego bricks, meticulously organized by shape and color into clear bins (he buys all his Legos in bulk). He sketches his projects first on something called "brick paper"—essentially, graph paper modified for Lego shapes—and takes anywhere from a few days to a few months to build them. At any given time, he's working on three or four projects, earning anywhere from a couple thousand dollars up to six figures per work, depending on the complexity of the project and how quickly they need to be built.

For his own personal fulfillment, he also creates more avant-garde works and has two traveling exhibitions of his work (here's a slideshow of some of his work).

Ironically, Sawaya says he now works more hours per week than he ever did as a corporate lawyer, although he also makes more money than he did then. Most important to him, though, is the artistic gratification he gets out of his Lego creations, particularly when he gets feedback from children who are inspired by his projects. "There are 400 million children out there playing with Legos," he says. "Who am I to say that they aren't artists too?"

The cutest Dark Knight this side of George Clooney

http://videogames.yahoo.com/wii/lego-batman-the-videogame/preview-1230744

The cutest Dark Knight this side of George Clooney.
By: Nate Ahearn

At this point Traveller's Tales' (TT) LEGO series has affirmed its place as one of the most simplistic and addictive franchises in the industry. The cute characters that resemble icons from some of Hollywood's most memorable creations are cool enough to make you feel like you're playing as your favorite heroes and villains but tame enough for the little tikes to easily enjoy.

The world of everyone's favorite caped crusader is the latest property to be assimilated into the LEGO mold. LEGO Batman brings an original storyline that features tons of villains and heroes that fans of the comic will instantly recognize, despite their blocky representations. You'll see the obligatory Batman and Robin along with Joker, Harley Quinn, Croc, Nightwing, Mr. Freeze and the Riddler to name a few from the ever-expanding list. TT is getting away with having such a large stable of characters by creating an original storyline that isn't confined to the movies like Indy and Star Wars were.

Both Batman and Robin have several costumes that they can put on, each of which granted them different powers. I saw the gliding rocket-powered suit for Bats and a magnetic suit for the agile Robin. Villains, who are fully playable, don't offer the same style of customizability, but they each have their own set of moves to fit their character. Freeze has his ice ray, Riddler can control character's minds and the Joker has an electric buzzer tied to his hand.

The core gameplay will feel very familiar for those who have worked their way through the other LEGO titles. There are always two characters on screen and the levels are constructed in a way that fosters cooperation to succeed. Sometimes Harley has to use her double-jump to get to a lever so Joker can open a door. Freeze can use his ray to solidify pieces of a liquid pool so Riddler can jump across and there are sure to be other similar scenarios. Now if only they had included co-op over Xbox Live.

The build I played was a little rough around the edges with invisible walls impeding my progress on occasion and fighting animations that felt a step too slow. Still, there's no question that the same spirit that has been in past LEGO games is alive and well here. Building elaborate machines is just as cool as always and breaking apart environmental pieces to earn valuable LEGO blocks is as rewarding as ever.

LEGO Batman spans three chapters with five levels per chapter, but the real kicker is that once you beat a level as the heroic duo of Batman and Robin you can replay it with a set of villains as well. Twice the bang for your buck.

If everything continues according to plan it looks like LEGO Batman will pack the same iconic fun (the Batman theme from the 1989 film even made it in) as past titles but with far more playable characters than we've seen in the past. Look out for LEGO Batman to swoop into stores on September 1, 2008.

LEGO Indiana Jones Video Game

http://www.kidzworld.com/article/13067-lego-indiana-jones-video-game-free-game-download

LEGO Indiana Jones Video Game
Free Game Download

Courtesy of LucasartsWith the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull rocking theaters with the return of the world's favorite archaeologist-turned-adventurer, Lucasarts wants to give you a dose of his old-skool adventures. A LEGO dose that is. The LEGO Indiana Jones The Original Adventures game takes the first three Indy movies, wraps 'em up into a ball and throws them right at your funny bone. They let you play as the fedora-wearin' dude himself, his friends and even his enemies, through tons of hilarious adventure that will keep reminding you of the award-winning LEGO Star Wars games.

Lego Celebrates 50 Years of Building

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1707379,00.html

Monday, Jan. 28, 2008
Lego Celebrates 50 Years of Building
By Leo Cendrowicz

For devotees, Monday sees the 50th anniversary of an event in Copenhagen that transformed toys and revolutionized childhood itself.

It was at 1:58 p.m. on January 28, 1958, that then-Lego head Godtfred Kirk Christiansen filed a patent for the iconic plastic brick with its stud-and-hole design. Since then, the company has made a staggering 400 billion Lego elements, or 62 bricks for every person on the planet. And if stacked on top of one another, the pieces would form 10 towers reaching all the way from the Earth to the Moon.

But Lego's legacy lies less in numbers than in its creative influence. The colorful bricks have littered playroom floors for generations of families. But they have also spurred ingenuity among children that few toys can claim before and since. The company has always emphasized the importance of free-form play, and Lego's popularity can be attributed to the amount of imagination children use to build with the bricks.

The Lego company was founded in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund who had a sideline in wooden toys. He named the company after an amalgamation of the Danish phrase "leg godt," which means "play well."

The basic eight-stud red Lego brick was first sold in Denmark in 1949. But it took a further nine years for Ole Kirk's son, Godtfred Kirk, to file the patent for the versatile "Automatic Binding Brick" with its interlocking 2x4 studs. The plastic bricks are part of a unique system: tiny tubes inside give the knobs on top of other blocks more places to grip. They hold together well but can be taken apart easily by a child. And consistency has been key: the bricks produced today have the same bumps and holes, and can still interlock with those produced back in 1958. Fifty years on and the Lego Group is the world's fifth largest toymaker in terms of sales, after Mattel, Hasbro, Bandai and MGA Entertainment.

Over the years, the Lego group has built up the brand. It developed the larger Duplo series in the 1960s for younger children who had trouble handling the original tiny Lego bricks (Duplo is still going strong too). In 1968, the company opened its first Legoland theme parks, near its Billund birthplace. Parks in Windsor, England, Carlsbad, California and Günzburg, Germany followed, each using around 50 million bricks to create replicas of monuments and landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, Mount Rushmore, and the Sydney Opera House. Each park receives around 1.4 million visitors per year.

But over the past decade, the group has struggled to keep pace with changing toy trends: the basic plastic bricks find it particularly tough to compete with games consoles like XBox and PlayStation to attract kids' attention. After years of eroding sales, the company posted its first-ever losses in 1998.

Radical remedies were needed to restore the brick's reputation. Tie-ins helped: the company's link-up with Star Wars revived the brand, and even led to its own video games: Lego Star Wars II sold 1.1 million units in its first week of release in 2006. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, it would seem.

In recent years, a series of brutal job cuts, asset sales and cost-cutting measures have pruned the company down. Staff numbers have fallen from 6,000 in 2004 to some 4,500 today. The Legoland parks were sold in 2005 to Merlin Entertainments, part of the Blackstone private equity group, which owns Madame Tussauds and Sea Life. And critically, distribution, packaging and production has been outsourced to Eastern Europe and Mexico. As a result, the Lego Group turned a $374 million loss in 2004 into a $281 million profit in 2006.

The group itself is only planning low-key celebrations of the patent anniversary: a special-edition of its 1950s-style Town Plan set with three gold bricks, and a worldwide building contest with a grand finale at Legoland Billund. And for most Google users — itself a website which keeps building and growing in size — the homepage spelling of the company name in Lego blocks Monday will come across as just another of the web giant's quirks. But for the millions who grew up on the brick — and the millions more still fitting them together — that lunchtime visit to the patent office proved priceless.