Category: Community (Page 165 of 171)

Happy 122nd Birthday to Ole Kirk Christiansen

April 7, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

122 years ago today, the founder of LEGO was born. Ole Kirk Christiansen came from an impoverished family in Filskov, Denmark and trained as a carpenter. He started making wooden toys in 1932 and a couple of years later, the rest is history. Unfortunately, Ole never got to see how successful LEGO really had become. I like to wish the creator of one of the best toy companies a very happy birthday! Without him, this site or any other LEGO site wouldn’t have been possible. If you haven’t watched The LEGO Story before, I recommend you do so to learn more about Ole and the LEGO company. If you’ve watched it before, why not watch it again 🙂

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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LEGO Sets Returning From Space

March 25, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

According to collectSPACE, there will be 13 LEGO sets that will be returning to Earth from the International Space Station. For the past two years, the sets have been aboard the SpaceX’s Dragon but will be returning to Earth tomorrow and will be landing somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. NASA had an educational partnership with The LEGO Group to teach kids about space using the buildable bricks. The crew from the space shuttle Endeavour showed students on video how they built various sets under the effects of weightlessness and the video was then beamed back down to students back on Earth so students can learn how to build their own.

As you may have heard, there were spending cuts here in the US and unfortunately NASA was a casualty of those cuts. The spending cuts has suspended most educational and public activities which is a bummer because it seemed that the NASA/LEGO partnership was very successful. However, the end of the partnership wasn’t due to the spending cuts but just a coincidence.

When the sets are back on Earth, some be returned to LEGO’s possession and others will displayed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center for further educational purposes. Although the partnership is over for now, Leland Melvin, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Education, notes that NASA might be using the new LEGO Mindstorms EV3 in the near future and sending it up to the space station too. I’m curious to see what NASA can do with the EV3 in their hands.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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New LEGO Store Coming to Surrey British Columbia

March 21, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

I don’t usually write about new LEGO Store openings but I came across this post on Reddit where a user by the name of flawedless reports the company he works for is doing an expansion project and there will be a new LEGO store opening in the Guildford Town Centre in Surrey, British Columbia. Above is an image of what an unconstructed LEGO store looks like. The user also states that they’re hoping to open in August. So citizens in or near Surrey BC, you’ll soon be having a new LEGO Store to spend your money at. Who’s excited about this new store opening?

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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The LEGO Group Building Factory in China

March 18, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 1 Comment

Today, The LEGO Group announced that will be building a LEGO factory in China starting in 2014. The factory will be located in Jiaxing which has a population of 5 million people. The reason why LEGO decided to open one there is because of a few reasons. First, the location is near their existing regional distribution center and the city already has the facilities and infrastructure needed to build the new factory. Another reason why Jiaxing was chosen to have a factory there is because LEGO believes the location is perfect for the LEGO employees working there and has the best match with LEGO’s core values.

The factory is planned to be fully operational by 2017 and will have about 2000 employees and the size of it will be around 120,000 square meters. The investment amount into the factory will be “a 3 digit million Euro figure.” All the products made in the factory will be supplying products for Asian market and about 70-80% of all LEGO products in the region.

The LEGO Group has been moving to be more environmental conscience recently and this move adds to that by reducing the need to transport products all the way from Europe to sell in Asia. Although there will be a new facility in China, Michael McNulty, Senior Vice President, Procurement, states that “the same technology, automation and standards for employee safety and product quality as our LEGO factories in Denmark, Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico, and it will have a distinct LEGO look and feel.”

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LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles Exclusive Minifigure Revealed

March 15, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

USA Today has revealed the exclusive minifigure that will be included in the new LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles book by Daniel Lipkowitz. The minifigure included in the book will be a Special Forces Commander Clone Trooper. The book will retail for $18.99 and will be available this summer. For a limited time, Amazon is having a 43% discount on the book and you can pre-order it now for the price of $10.90. The Yoda Chronicles will be premiering on Cartoon Network on May 29th and there are also some short videos that have already started on starwars.lego.com.

LEGO Star Wars The Yoda Chronicles - Special Forces Commander Clone Trooper

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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The LEGO Group Becomes World’s Most Valuable Toy Manufacturer

March 13, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

According to Bloomberg, The LEGO Group has recently became the world’s most valuable toy manufacturer overtaking Mattel and has created three new billionaires in the process. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen’s three children has a combined “37% economic interest in the company valued at more than $5.3 billion.” The company itself, which is valued $14.6 billion, saw an increase in their sales in 2012 reaching 23.4 billion Danish kroner ($4.04 billion).

Gerrick Johnson from BMO Capital states that LEGO is “the world’s biggest toymaker in terms of net income, operating income and Ebitda” with a 71% growth margin. I’m no economist but a 71% growth margin sounds pretty good. Johnson values the company to be at about $15 billion but could be worth at much as $17 billion if he had used the variables that was used to value Mattel.

With the strong push from 2012 to 2013, it doesn’t seem that LEGO will be slowing down anytime soon especially with some new themes such as The Lone Ranger releasing next month and the Man of Steel sets in the summer. As a fan, you can expect us to help with LEGO’s sales by purchasing the sets when they come out and hopefully The LEGO Group can keep it’s title of the world’s most valuable toy manufacturer.

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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LEGO Ends Two-Year Promotional Partnership with The Sun

March 6, 2013 / Allen "Tormentalous" Tran / 0 Comments

In some major news across the pond, LEGO announced today they have ended their two-year promotional partnership with The Sun. This comes after a parent took his anti-Page 3 campaign to LEGOLAND and Wapping. However, LEGO denies that ending the partnership was not linked to the online petition but the partnership naturally ended on it’s own.

Fiona Wright, Lego’s vice president and general manager in the UK and Ireland, told one anti-Page 3 supporter: “The recent promotion in the Sun was part of a two-year agreement which started in 2011 as part of our marketing strategy. This is our final promotion with the Sun.”

The Guardian notes that:

The Sun said the partnership officially ended in November 2012, and that the recent “Lucky Dip” promotion used stock from the previous agreement.

There’s no word as of now on how LEGO will handle their polybag promotions.

**Via Brickset**

Allen "Tormentalous" Tran

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