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Lego Secret Vault Contains All Sets In History

Posted by kdawson on from the memory-lane dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Gizmodo has an exclusive video and feature of one of the most heavily guarded secrets in Lego: the security vault where they store all the Lego sets ever created, new in their boxes. 4,720 sets from 1953 to 2008. Really amazing stuff and a trip down memory lane to every person who has played with the magic bricks. All combined, the collection must be worth millions, not only because of the collector value, but also because Lego uses it as a safeguard in copyright and patent cases."

10 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. cool tour, but no real surprise by zappepcs · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FTFS

    but also because Lego uses it as a safeguard in copyright and patent cases This is why this is no surprise to me. I believe that pretty much every manufacturer does this.
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    1. Re:cool tour, but no real surprise by WaltBusterkeys · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Still, it's pretty cool. Even if it is useful for trademark cases, you have to figure that sets from 50 years ago are there mostly just for the awesome historic value and as inspiration to the engineers.

    2. Re:cool tour, but no real surprise by fm6 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It may take an archivist's mindset to preserve a complete history of Lego or other manufactured product. But software? All you need are regular backups. The problem is that when geeks start a new enterprise, they try to do their own IT, and the boring stuff, like backups, doesn't get done.

      Also, before the Internet came along and made everybody need to be online and IP-compatible, most computers weren't networked, and those that were used a lot of different technologies. So basically there was no way a machine was going to get backed up unless the department it belonged thought to take care of it.

      Small wonder that so much old software has just disappeared.

  2. Re:Storage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's called compact shelving. Libraries have been using it for decades.

  3. You would think that but this is not the rule... by gmezero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What Lego has here is more the exception to the rule.

    And on a separate note, am I the only one here horrified to see these people handling these boxes with their bare hands. For crying out loud, I hope they at least made that guy wash his hands first before letting him finger everything up.

    Sheesh.

  4. Tearing Up. by thesolo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For Christmas in 1990, my dad bought me the Legoland pirate ship (#6285), as shown in the video, and a few other pirate sets. I put them together immediately and played with them for hours on end.

    My dad died suddenly in early 1991. Those lego sets were the last thing he ever gave me.

    Seeing that original box on the video made me feel 10 years old all over again. Thanks Gizmodo & Slashdot.

  5. Re:This journalist is so emo by jamrock · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here he is in this vault of cool stuff, and all he can talk about his his "feelings" and how life is all so hard. Remember journalists! The first rule of journalism is "Nobody cares about you and your life. If you are really lucky, they might just be interested in your subject, but they certainly aren't interested in you!"
    Are you disappointed that he didn't just present an illustrated list of all 4,720 sets? This wasn't scientific reporting, or a dry treatise on new mathematical discoveries, and even then the very best journalists do include a subjective element in order for other humans to connect to the story. The journalist was attempting to express how the tour took him back to his childhood, and judging from many of the comments here, he succeeded in evoking the same feeling in others. The best journalism has a human reference, and strikes a fine balance between being too removed and being too involved. Maybe he strayed too far over the line, but it's not true that the journalist's feelings about a subject don't matter or are unimportant to the story.
  6. Re:You would think that but this is not the rule.. by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You're one of those people that never played with his toys but kept them in the original box for collector's value, right?

    I never got that idea. It's a toy. Play with it! That's what it was made for. Yes, that means they ain't in "mint" condition after a while, but they gave me a lot of fun and very fond memories. No money in the world could compensate that.

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  7. Re:You would think that but this is not the rule.. by One+Childish+N00b · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To a collector, the collection is the fun, and the fond memories are inside those mint-condition original boxes. That row of original Star Wars figurines in their pristine presentation boxes are a point of pride and a symbol of an achievement.

    I'm with you on this one, and I smashed the shit out of a lot of what would probably have been very valuable collector's items in my youth, all in the name of fun, but I do understand the collectors' mindset.

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  8. Re:These are different by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why should I? What do you think I am, the government?

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.