Welcome to part three in our series examining the evolution of LEGO® Dragons. In Part One, we looked at the development of the classic LEGO Dragon from 1992. In Part Two we followed the evolution of premoulded dragons, and examined the Legacy of Galidor in LEGO Creature design. Today, we are taking a look at the development of brick-built dragons, and the years where LEGO Bricks began to extend beyond the standard rectangular brick.
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The new LEGO IDEAS set 21353 The Botanical Garden boasts over 3700 pieces, 12 minifigures as well as 4 birds and 4 other animals. But its main claim to fame is the fact that it includes 35 different species of plant. With some interesting recolours already available via the existing Botanicals Collection, I thought it might be worth scouring the images of the set, and matching up the flowers with a list provided by the LEGO Ambassadors Network.
Although… That list might not quite be complete…
This won’t be a comprehensive review, as I don’t actually have the set in my hands, rather a tour in search of the plants matching the description. Once we are done, we will take a quick review of floral elements appearing in minifigure scaled sets over the years.
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It’s just past the 29th of August in some parts of the world, but it would be remiss to let the day go past without acknowledging that this was the day in 1977 that INTERLEGO AG (as they were then known) filed the patent documents for the LEGO Minifigure.
These little guys have been travelling with me, from time to time, since the late 1970s so I found them a cake.
Happy Birthday.
Patents were filed simultaneously in Australia, Denmark and the United Kingdom, with other countries to fill soon afterwards. Read on to see some of the Australian patent application documents.
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Regular readers would be aware that I’ve spent quite a bit of time looking at the LEGO City Space sets this year – and they have brought just about everything you could ask for from a LEGO Space theme, with the possible exception of a revival of vintage colour schemes and monochromatic spacemen. I recently discovered some more LEGO CITY sets in the bottom of that shipping box – those from the Fire Brigade. It has been a few years since I looked at this CITY Subtheme. However, since LEGO City has undergone a design renaissance over the last couple of years, I was keen to see how things might have changed and approached it with an open mind. However, at the end of the day, my inner space fan has found myself wondering if it is hinting at something else…
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We have been counting down to the 90th anniversary of the LEGO Group, which is now ( at the time of writing) only one more sleep away! We have travelled from the time that the company made wooden yo-yos and pull-along animals, and seen it pivot towards plastics and develop the brick. We have seen the Minifigure arrive and storytelling enter the fore. We have seen the company come back from the brink of financial collapse, to stabilise and start to grow.
As we travel through the 2010s, we get some new friends; storytelling becomes more animated, sustainability enters the agenda; and adult fans are asked for their ideas and become part of the acknowledged target demographic.
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Over the last few decades, LEGO Bricks have been competing with electronic platforms for the attention of the youth of the world. It was inevitable that they would start to get involved in games of their own – either developed inhouse or through external studios. This year, the company are celebrating 25 years since their first foray into such games. Today, we see the announcement of a Bits n Bricks, a ten part podcast charting their history.
With episodes dedicated to specific instances in LEGO Gaming History, the program was produced by documentary maker Ethan Vincent, who had already documented the making of LEGOs first Massive Multiplayer Online Game, LEGO Universe from 2008 – 2011, and games journalist, Brian Crecente, co-founder of Polygon.
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We love a good anniversary celebration here at the Rambling Brick, and recently, we have had plenty! Last year we saw 60 years of the Brick, 40 years of the Minifigure, 30 years of the Helicopter Transporter and 20 years of Mindstorms. This year we celebrate 40 years of Fabuland, 30 years of LEGO® Pirates and 20 years of LEGO Star Wars. And one more thing.
Today we celebrate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the first announcement of LEGO DUPLO®. The year of the Moon Landing, Woodstock and the airing of the first episode of Scooby Doo was also the the year that the LEGO Group first released the DUPLO Brick.
Aimed primarily at Toddlers, DUPLO Bricks have been the introduction to the LEGO system of play for millions of families over the last 50 years.
Forty years ago, we saw the change in LEGO® sets: the arrival of the minifigure. Now we had articulated figures to bring our models to life: no need to remove the torso for our figures to sit down. As part of #minfigure40 I received access to a large number of media assets: today, I would like to look at some of the features of the advertisements in the LEGO Town/City series, one of the few themes to have been continuously available in some form or another for forty years! The majority of these advertisements were placed in comics, or magazines featuring comic strip anthologies, and puzzles and kid’s news. They have been published in multiple markets – ands languages. I have attempted to translate them as well as an online translation engine will allow.
The art style is typically similar to that seen in contemporary catalogs: certainly I suspect the early advertisements were shot at a similar time to the catalogs for that year.
This week, we celebrate the anniversary of the submission of the minifigure design to the Danish Patent office. It was in the following year, 1978, that we got our first glimpse of the LEGO® Minifigure. However, development of an appropriately sized, articulated figure began sometime beforehand…
The LEGO Group have recently released some new picture, showing historically significant developments in the the life of the Minifigures. Many of the items shown here are on display in the LEGO House, in Billund, but some may not be at this time. Continue reading
This year, we have been celebrating forty years since the arrival of the minifigure. Here at the Rambling Brick, we have dedicated a number of articles, including a look at the changes in the basic structure of the minifigure; special minifigure features introduced in Harry Potter sets, as well as a look at the 40th Anniversary Costume Party Collectable Minifigures. Not to mention the Covert Anniversary celebrations that we have seen in LEGO® City sets this year.
Today we celebrate the submission of the patent for the original minifigure design, in Denmark in 1977. So…41 years ago, in order to have things ready to roll in 1978!
To commemorate this event, the LEGO Group has released a collection of images of historical interest, including copies of the original patent documents, images of prototype minifigures, moulds, minifigure design sheets and historical advertising material, as well as a timeline of significant minifigure events.
Over the next few posts, we will explore some of these materials, but first, let’s run the covering press release, and take a glance at the patent applications: Continue reading
