From video games to theme parks and now a blockbuster movie franchise, it’s no wonder that Lego is one of the world’s most powerful brands. Ahead of the first Stack in Dubai this weekend dedicated to everything Lego, a first-of-its-kind in the Middle East, the guys behind the four-day event have put together 10 facts about the plastic toys you need to know.
1. There are more than 4 billion minifigures
Lego first created the minifigure in 1975, but since then more than four billion have been rolled out. If you put them all together that wouldn’t just be a huge number of Lego heads, they could be considered to be the world’s largest population.
2. Lego predates the Second World War
Yep, Lego is pretty old alright! It was first created in 1932 by a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Kristainsen. Ole was looking for alternative income to making furniture — due to the Great Depression — and so decided to make children’s toys.
3. The name
The word Lego is derived from the Danish words Leg Godt, which means ‘play well’.
4. No gender
Lego wants children to use their imagination in play — that’s why the first minifigures were completely faceless. Without gender, emotion or role these figures could be perfectly adapted to whatever fantasy role the builder was trying to create.
5. They used to think AFOLs were weird
Apparently playing with toys that were designed for children was deemed to be weird if you were an adult. However, Adult Fans of Lego (AFOLs) were among the company’s most loyal customers and the company has now changed its tune after listening to their market.
6. They’re indestructible
Legos are robust. In fact, they’re practically indestructible, which is partly why standing on Lego bricks hurts so much. Some very determined scientists decided to find out just what it takes to break these plastic models so they built a repetitive motion machine to carry out the test to save their poor feet. A typical 2×4 brick managed to withstand over 37,000 impacts before any breakage occurred — that’s pretty impressive.
7. You get excess bricks for a reason
If you’ve ever built a Lego kit then you’re more than aware that you’ll always have a couple of bricks left over at the end. While this may be worrying after you’ve just finished a 2,000-piece Lego pirate ship, you’re actually given those bits for a very specific reason — they’re too small to be weighed. This means that they always chuck in a few more bits so that you never find yourself short.
8. Make Lego, not war
You won’t find a single Lego set that has a direct military theme — in fact, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that Lego agreed to have Star Wars licenced sets. This was because they felt the very name went against the company’s moral value that children shouldn’t enjoy war. This is still a deep value within the company and you won’t find many weapons that fall outside fantasy settings.
9. There are 7 Legolands
Yep, seven. They are in Denmark, England, California, Germany, Florida, Malaysia and Dubai, opening later this month at the Dubai Parks & Resorts. In addition to that, there are three more locations that will be opening over the next few years, these will be in Korea, Japan and Shanghai.
10. Create your set, earn money
Have you got an idea for a Lego set that you really want to see? Lego actively listens to their online community to come up with ideas for their next sets. Submit your idea, maybe mock it up using existing Lego pieces and if your idea gets 10,000 votes then someone at Lego will sit down and figure out whether the idea is feasible. What’s more? You could get royalties if it goes into production.
Don’t miss it!
Stack runs from October 19 to 22 at Skydive Dubai. Tickets, priced at Dh100, are available on stackitevents.com. They will be Dh130 at the venue. Children below 2 go for free. Group options are available for students.
