LEGO: The Building Blocks of Pop Culture History
Image Source: Science X
Legos have been the building blocks of people's imagination for years. From themed sets to create-your-own ideas, Legos have been there. The famous plastic bricks have been around for decades and have enabled endless creativity from both kids and adults alike. Legos have come a long way from when they were first introduced as wooden toys in 1932 to the plastic bricks we are familiar with. The sets have gotten bigger, compared to where they first started. It has even branched out into entertainment media, such as movies, and video games.
Lego was started by a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristiansen in 1932. The toys originally started out as wood, and he coined the term Lego from the Danish words leg godt, which translates to “play well.” Kristiansen coined their motto, “Only the best is good enough.” This is still the company’s motto to this day and its employees are reminded to never skimp out on quality. It is this emphasis on quality that allows Lego to last so long, celebrating 90 years in 2022.
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The first plastic bricks we are familiar with were created in 1949 and went by Automatic Binding Bricks. They were originally only sold in Denmark. The Town Plan was released in 1955 and was originally a masonite cloth, in which children could arrange their buildings to create an urban setting. It was the inspiration for what is now Lego City. The larger plastic bricks called Lego Duplo were created for toddlers. The mini-figures, which had become a staple in most sets, were introduced in 1978. As the years went on, and Lego franchise became more popular and continued to expand.
Legos have also evolved into movies and video games. The Lego Movie and its spinoff, The Lego Batman Movie are two of the most popular Lego-based movies. Early on, Lego created movies based on their Bionicle sets. These sets were aimed at older kids within the 8-16-year-old range. Later came the Lego Ninjago series and movies, based on the popular lego sets. Disney has released a few seasonal Lego Star Wars-based shorts on Disney+. These shorts have fans’ favorite Star Wars characters from all three trilogies come together in various stories. They are quite enjoyable and entertaining to see Star Wars from a Lego perspective.
Image Source: IGN
There are a ton of Lego video games out there based on popular movie series such as LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Harry Potter, and LEGO Avengers. There is also the classic LEGO Batman and even The Lego Movie video game. The games are rather simple and do not have very hard puzzles, which makes them perfect for all ages. The early games had no dialogue, and it was fun to have the Lego characters act out what they were trying to say. Now, most Lego games have dialogues, and a lot of them came from the movies they are based on.
The Lego bricks that we are familiar with have also evolved. The sets have gotten bigger, and more complex. There are now multiple sets that total over 10,000 pieces like the Titanic, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colosseum. These sets are absolutely massive, and perfect for a die-hard collector. There are even specific sets that are made to be displayed. Licensed sets are not a new thing in the world of Legos. Any piece of popular media that comes out, will probably have a Lego set associated with it. Through Lego Ideas, the Lego community can have input on what sets they would like to see next, and those sets could possibly be created in the future.
Image Source: YouTube
Legos have been a favorite for kids and adults alike. What started as wooden toys in Denmark, have now evolved into a phenomenon. Imagination is the key to what makes Legos so unique. There is practically no limit to what you can achieve with these simple building blocks.
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Source(s): Lego, Brickipedia
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