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1.  

   

   Killercool (profile), Dec 22nd, 2011 @ 5:10pm

   
   

   Gah. Lego.

   I have accounted for entirely too large a portion of that $1 billion this year...

    

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2.  

   

   Michael Ho (profile), Dec 22nd, 2011 @ 5:21pm

   
   

   Re: Gah. Lego.

   For little plastic parts, I'm always surprised at how much Lego costs... I imagine that someday 3D printers might be able to eat Lego's lunch.
   
   Printing custom blocks would be cool, too.

    

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3.  

   

   Lawrence D'Oliveiro, Dec 22nd, 2011 @ 5:51pm

   
   

   Re: Gah. Lego.

   Why expensive? Because there’s no competition. After over half a century in production, you’d think any relevant patents would have expired, and there should be a thriving third-party market for Lego-compatible bricks and other products by now. But there isn’t.

    

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4.  

   

   Spike (profile), Dec 22nd, 2011 @ 8:41pm

   
   

   Yeah, because we all know an Align 700E Heli (no matter how modified), is a "toy helicopter".
   
   I stand at least 20 feet away from mine the whole time the blades are spinning and for good reason.

    

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5.  

   

   Michael Ho (profile), Dec 22nd, 2011 @ 11:54pm

   
   

   Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

   Lawrence,
   
   There actually ARE blocks that compete with Lego... but a lot of people think the knockoffs don't stick together very well and are made from cheaper materials. I've seen some generic "interlocking plastic bricks" that didn't have quite the same quality of Lego, but I don't know if that's why they don't catch on at toy stores... Lego certainly has better branding and market share than any of its competitors.
   
   Here are just a few other bricks that work with Lego:
   Knex.com
   MegaBloks.com
   best-lock.com
   
   But you're right that the patents have expired for Lego (and Lego also failed in its attempt to trademark its brick designs):
   http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/11/eu-court-says-l/
   http://www.techdirt.com/articles/2 0100915/01140511024.shtml
   
   So hopefully, there will be more innovation in plastic brick based toys!

    

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6.  

   

   Killercool (profile), Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 12:53am

   
   

   Re: Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

   That has been my experience.
   
   I remember about 6-8 years back, I had to destroy a Mega Bloks brick to separate it from a Lego baseplate. The softer plastic had deformed when connected.
   That may not be common, but it kinda destroyed any small chance of me purposely purchasing non-Lego bricks again.
   Well, that and, in my experience, the pieces don't even hold to their own brand bricks very well.

    

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7.  

   

   RonKaminsky (profile), Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 2:08am

   
   

   Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

   (Partially) because, of course (this being Techdirt), Lego has been successfully impeding competitor's market penetration via litigation.
   
   Once it was technically difficult to manufacture interlocking plastic bricks to the necessary tolerances, but I think that's much less of a challenge now. Frankly I think that the most important factor is the brand recognition that Lego has (I suppose that's the analogue of CwF for physical products?).

    

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8.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 5:50am

   
   

   Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

   Do you mean something like these:
   http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9713
   http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1005
   http://www.thingiver se.com/thing:11422
   http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:591
   http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5699
   
   ? ??

    

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9.  

   

   Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased) (profile), Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 6:31am

   
   

   Re: Gah. Lego.

   I figured we will probably end up with over 4,000 new LEGO pieces this Christmas. Gonna need a new laundry detergent tub from Sam's Club! I also thought of 3D printing your own LEGOs, as Michael said. They already have really good CAD files for LEGO building software. Once 3D printing becomes cheap and accurate enough to replicate LEGO's tolerances we should be able resurrect some of the old designs we had back when we were kids.

    

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10.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 7:18am

    
    

    Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

    I knew there was a reason I saved all our old blue-prints from the boxes.

     

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11.  

    

    ComputerAddict (profile), Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 7:41am

    
    

    Re:

    Boy is he gonna be said when the FAA tells him he can't sell the photos/video he is taking...

     

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12.  

    

    Michael Ho (profile), Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 12:34pm

    
    

    Re: Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

    Those 3D printed lego-like bricks on Thingiverse are pretty cool, but the build quality of those bricks are clearly much lower than the injection-molded ones!
    
    But I'm sure 3D printers will just get better and better...

     

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13.  

    

    Anonymous Coward, Dec 23rd, 2011 @ 2:16pm

    
    

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Gah. Lego.

    I agree. five years ago the ones I posted wouldn't even be possible, not they are. In a few years time, you won't be able to tell the difference. Technology always advances far faster then people believe it to.

     

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