One of the staples of boy's toys for years has been the product of LEGO, a Danish company that used to make wooden bricks. Having moved on to plastic items later, the company went from offering fairly basic plastic bricks to small people and special parts to new themes like space and town, and beyond. Lately, they've licensed properties like Disney, Star Wars, and Spider-Man to help diversify their offerings and cash in on the ever-popular construction toy market which suddenly has many imitators.
Eventally, the company started to experiment with its other brands, introducing storylines into what was once exclusively free-form play. Some of their own brands included Bionicle, a spin-off of their Technic line which amassed a huge fan following and has done quite well for itself. Galidor had a number of toy figures but even its TV tie-in didn't help it succeed. Their latest venture, Knight's Kingdom, is brand new and has yet to hit most of the world. As such, fans are watching this construction set/action figure/card game with open, curious fans will be watching with open eyes.
There's no end in site for the classic toy bricks, but it seems that a lot of eras will come to an end in the near future. The once ubiquitous yellow-skinned figures are now being replaced with more accurate skin colors starting in 2004, and several brick colors have been changed for reasons not fully understood. The classic construction play theme remains, but with everything changing, like the introduction of the female-friendly Clickits craft sets, it seems like this isn't the same toy your parents may have grown up with.
If you're a LEGO fan, you should check out LUGNET. The site is filled with forums and archives with pictures of just about every LEGO product ever made, and is a great way to learn more about this long-lived toy brand.
Pages last updated Feburary 24 2004.
