Beijing 2008 In Lego

jedie noted an impressive rendering of the Beijing Olympics in Lego. Featuring 300,000 bricks, and 4,500 Lego people, it was built by the Hong Kong Lego User Group. Yes that exists. Amazing. I'm pretty sure that the lighting inside the water cube was not made using stock legos. At least, none in my giant cardboard box.

Comments

Countdown

[Anonymous Coward]

10 seconds until the IOC pulls this for copyright infringement. If you doubt this, then look up how they attacked free-Tibet protesters over using their symbol (in handcuffs).

Re:Countdown

[jandrese]

Yeah, I'm sure that one had nothing to do with being politically charged...

Re:Countdown

[JustOK]

check techdirt for what else the IOC is covering up.

Re:Countdown

[RDW]

No, the IOC is going to keep quiet about this one. Given the recent revelations about CGI fireworks, fake sports fans, dubious pianos, and the substituted singer, they're desperately hoping we won't find out that this is the ACTUAL stadium...

Where's the lego minitiature

[Daimanta]

of Tibetan monks being hauled away to prison?

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[AndGodSed]

You missed it.

It's right next to the Lego miniatures of politicians looking the other way.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[oldspewey]

Ummm ... I'm pretty sure it wasn't monks who were burning shops and killing people ... and there is even some debate as to whether it was everyday Tibetan householders targeting the Han Chinese, or whether it was the work of agents provocateurs sent in to create justification for the ensuing crackdown.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[haystor]

The monks were hauled away, disassembled and their bricks used in the construction of the water cube.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[Threni]

> of Tibetan monks being hauled away to prison?

They've been photoshopped out, just like the little un-cute singer and the paralysed dancer. Ssshhh...our little secret.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[Threni]

> Go back to believing the garbage that your "Mainstream Media" spews about China and trying to defend American imperialism as they fuck up the
> world in the name of "freedom and democracy."

You mean I have to choose between American imperialism and repressive Chinese human rights abuses? Can't I say they're both wrong?

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[d3ac0n]

if by "Freedom" you mean the freedom for your subjects to implement a puppet government under your control,

Let's list the "puppet" governments, shall we?

1 - Germany
2 - Japan
3 - Italy
4 - Poland
5 - France
6 - Austria
7 - Hungary
8 - Spain
9 - Belgium
10 - Greece
11 - Portugal
12 - Egypt
13 - Indonesia
14 - India
15 - CHINA (who were then re-oppressed by the communist chinese. But we DID free them from IMPERIAL Japan first)

Please add any other nations oppressed by the Axis powers during WW2 and freed by American "Imperialism" that I may have forgotten.

Since WW2:

16 - South Korea
17 - South Vietnam (failed)
18 - Afghanistan (work in progress)
19 - Iraq (work in progress, nearing completion)

Yep. Just LOOK at all those "puppet states" like Germany, who wouldn't even send assistance to Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein. Or France, who's recently voted out (by the people) government had back-room financial deals with Saddam Hussein's government in the oil-for-food scandal. Yep, real puppets there.

Face it smitingpurpleemu, you have NO argument. The Chinese Thugocracy has NO moral footing to stand on, and you have NOTHING to back yourself up with, so you fall back on empty DailyKos and DU talking points and useful idiot rhetoric.

Now Begone. The grown-ups wish to have a conversation.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[oldspewey]

you sponsored terrorists to attack our land, burn our shops, and kill our people.

Dude ... put the kool-aid down and back away slowly. Re-read your posts in this thread. Take a few deep breaths. Ask yourself whether it's even just slightly possible that the state-run media has planted a few ... let's just call them exaggerations in your head?

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[Rycross]

Yeah, from where I'm sitting you're both over-nationalistic douchebags.

The whole "Your government does bad things so you have no right to criticize my government," has never held ground here. We're individuals, not our government. Both the Chinese government and the American government does fucked up things. Its a colossal waste of time to cry about who is worse when the more important thing is working to improve things.

But then again, I find crybaby nationalists who can't stand a little criticism of their country to be annoying. Maybe if more people actually considered criticism and held their leaders accountable instead of going "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU WE'RE SO PERFECT AND AWESOME" the world wouldn't be in such a shitty state.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[Threni]

> Last time I checked, and "imperialist" government generally tended to take over smaller countries for the purpose of extracting wealth and resources. America does none
> of the above.

Check again. Look at US support for Saddam Hussein, when he was killing (his own) civilians with chemical weapons. They also encouraged the Kurds and others to rise up and fight the Iraqi army, only to stand back and watch them get slaughtered. Makes the line about "helping people remove vile and murderous dictatorships" ring a little hollow, doesn't it. This isn't propoganda - it's fact, admitted as such by some of the people responsible.

> In fact, when we take over a country, we tend to SEND and SPEND large amounts of our wealth, manpower, and lives to build that country up into a functioning democracy,
> leaving the people there better off than before. This is the exact OPPOSITE of imperialistic behavior.

Every single poll in Iraq since it was invaded and occupied by the US has shown that the people of Iraq are not thankful, and want them to leave immediately.

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[HungWeiLo]

Because, you know, we have SUCH a vested National Interest in beating up Tibetans and Han Chinese in the Himalayas

United States involvement in the 1959 Tibet uprising.

an area of the world totally outside our influence

An area into the backyard of a competing superpower, and sandwiched between 3 known nuclear powers...and you're saying the U.S. has no interest in projecting a sphere of influence?

Re:Where's the lego minitiature

[Achromatic1978]

Ye gods. I don't know what's worse, that you capitalized "Freedom", or that you honestly believe that the US's aim in taking over countries is to "build up a functioning democracy".

that helping people remove vile and murderous dictatorships

Oh yeah, like in Chile! Wait, hang on, no, not like Chile at all. In fact, Chile was the original "9/11", the day President Salvador Allende was murdered and the democratically elected government that he led was brutally overthrown by an army coup sponsored by the United States of America. September 11 will remain for a long time in the minds of most Chileans as the day to remember their murdered daughters, sons, mother and fathers, who disappeared, and the families whose world was changed irreparably by Augusto Pinochet and his henchmen, the puppet government whose power was not based on democratic principles but the protection of the USA.

Or maybe you meant Grenada, a "flagrant violation of international law", according to 108 members of the United Nations?

Wait, I know, you're talking about Iraq! Except I'm not sure how anyone would actually call Iraq a democracy in anything but name only. The government is still a rubber stamp of the US military, over and above its constitutional representation of its people, including such 'freedom'-like joys as "preferred bidders" for oil contracts and all other manner of extracting money from the ruins of a country as being US companies. It's also rather difficult to have democracy in the 21st century when you're still wondering when they will turn your power back on, only 2,000 days after "Mission Accomplished!"

Or perhaps it was Haiti? You know, where it was decided that a "democracy" run by corruption so rife and endemic that elections were not recognized by the international community where apparently worthy of US intervention.

How about Nicaragua, where many amongst the populace were so sick of Somoza's brazen and open corruption, nepotism, and the fact that he was a dictator who had stolen land from hundreds of thousands of their country members, without any international interference, that they rose up and rebelled. Their heinous crime? Accepting help from - gasp - COMMIES! - in order to do so. What else was a good Freedom loving US president to do to "restore" "democracy", but to order one of his spy agencies to begin financing, arming and training rebels. Let's not overlook the fact that Nicaragua was in ruins, and the Sandanistas did a whole lot to try to rebuild their nation, but oh no, better dead than red, dontcha know?

Or maybe Panama - where Noriega, a nice, Freedom loving gun- and drug-running dictator, the kind we in the US try to install in countries - had many many meetings, and lots of involvement with the CIA, and ol' buddy of Ronald Reagan, Ollie North.

Actually, let's make the list shorter. Let's try to list places the US has invaded since World War II with the real and genuine aim, and perhaps even accomplishment, of helping a nation be a functioning, non-puppet, democracy.

...

It's a far shorter list, isn't it... ?

we are still the last, best hope for Freedom in the world

Let's not go blowing the "World Policeman" whistle too much. We've used it far too many times when we weren't being world policemen at all, we were acting in -our- interests, not those of that nation, nor the world. Acting in your own interest is not (inherently) a problem. Pretending you're the line between light and dark while milking your own interests, however, is.

Logo Olympians

[CanadianBeaver]

Hopefully it doesn't have a miniature BSOD during the opening Lego Olympics.

Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[curmudgeon99]

Is it just me or does it seem that the Lego Corp has lost their way? When I was a kid, we used the generic Lego bricks to build a million different things--all based on our imaginations. Now the little brats do nothing but assemble kids with of all things directions. What happened to make up your own ideas? I've now seen so many kids who are unwilling to build anything that strays outside of the confines of "the kit". The creative building childhoods that had been the last remaining birthright of an American is now fading fast. Kids will not grow up creative in the states and we will drift along and invent nothing new.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[spazghost]

There is still lots of creativity with Legos. Haven't you ever heard of factory.lego.com?

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[MagdJTK]

What?! TFA has a load of pictures of things which aren't from a guide.

"Kids aren't creative!"

"These kids are being creative right now."

"Don't use facts to ruin my rant, you brat!"

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[Ethanol-fueled]

Because we old-skool lego'ers had to use our imaginations. Even with G.I. Joes we ignored the storylines of the canon and made up our own, sometimes even bringing -- *gasp* -- non-G.I. Joes into the mix.

Nowdays, kids don't play with toys -- their toys play them.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[frogzilla]

That's what I thought until I started to buy kits for my son. He did build according to the instructions. Then he proceeded to do what I had done, and what you are waxing nostalgic about, 20 years before. He built whatever he pleased. He built, destroyed, rebuilt, on and on. He would spend entire days surrounded by his Lego.

I think the blocks are all good. Old and new. He seems to have outgrown them now. He's 14 and he started with Lego when he was two or three. The thousands of dollars worth of newer generation blocks (and all of the instructions) are boxed away with the older generation blocks (with no instructions -- they got lost somewhere along the way) for future rediscovery.

I think that Lego blocks are _still_ the world's greatest toy.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[qoncept]

The really disappointing part is the number of special pieces. Nothing is made out of Legos anymore, they're all made out of the same parts as every other toy with Lego connectors instead of GI Joe rivets.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[Yvan256]

Nowdays, kids don't play with toys -- their toys play them.

But only in Soviet Russia.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[niceone]

Things have moved on. but the creativity is still there. You can still get buckets full of plain bricks, but you can also download lego digital designer - free CAD for lego! How cool is that? And you can order all the individual bits you need from the store. And it works in linux via WINE.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[eln]

Also, there are a lot more kids on my lawn these days, and they won't get off.

Seriously, have you ever actually seen kids playing with toys? The imagination is definitely there, and they do freely mix and match toys to fit whatever game they're playing, which is often something they're making up on the spot.

I have a 9 year old and a 6 year old, and they're constantly engaged in some form of imaginative play. Just because the play sets these days tend to be trying to encourage playing to a specific story line, kids rarely do that.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[Tacvek]

Hey that is a little harsh.

The Bionicles series is definiately a lot like that, and it is not defensible. But that is far from the only series.

The boxes of assorted bricks with no real directions still exist, but have been largely downplayed since around the time that Samsonite stopped distributing the Lego.

Then we have the standard themed sets (the Castle series, Star wars series, Harry potter series, etc). These contain bricks that are mostly like the classics, with some specialized pieces occasionally. Obviously the mini-figs are quite dominant in this set, but they are quite justified in that otherwise to have a village with people would require a much much greater scale.
That said, nothing can justify the BURPs [http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/6082 and http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/6083%5D.
One of the downsides of this level is the limited ability to build interactive models. There are openable doors, and working wheels turntable, and pivoting connectors, but all are fairly limited.

Of the themed sets, any vechile sets are terrible in the use of special peices. Like the recent Jet set. The whole hull of the plane consists of special non-generic pieces. However, there are still quite a few sets in production with no pieces that are not reasonably generic.

Next up we have the ever-popular lego model railroad. This does have quite a few specialized pieces, but justifiably so. Special track pieces are essential to be able to have powered rail cars. The power regulator, and locomotive chassis bricks are also critical. Then we have the genral rail car chasis. The powered headlight bricks are probably not essential, but add character. There are a few other specialized bricks to support building reasonable train cars. However, the sets still invariably include a significant number of classic bricks and plates. The whole Lego railroad line is intended to be used in conjunction with appropriate themed sets. The level of creativity possible with the train system sets is very high. A smidgen less creativity in environment and track shapes is possible compared to standard model railroading, but standard model railroading definitely does not make designing a new railroad car nearly as easy as the Lego train system does.

Then we have Lego Technic. This has many specialized pieces, but virtually all of them are generic, and can be used in a virtually unlimited number of potential designs. The ability to build interactive systems, and even motor powered systems is the best part of this series.

There was the classic Technic that used 1xn beams with holes as a major framework construction component. Beams were sometimes pinned together as part of the framework, but many models did not use this technique. Like with modern Technic, axles are an important component, and were occasionally essential to the model's framework. (not just the models functionality). The studless beams found in modern Technic made the occasional appearance, but were not that common.

Modern Technic is primarily based on the studless components, although some of the new models have re-introduced some studded bricks.

The original Mindstorms were for all intents and purposes part of the classic technic Series, but were of course programable to a much grater degree than any standard Technic set. (A few classic Technic sets had some very limited programability).

Mindstorms NXT is to Modern Technic as the Orginal Mindstorms was to Classic Technic.

Hmm... I think some of that ending was getting offtopic, but oh well.

Re:Next, Lego Will Make It a Creativity-Free Kit

[xaxa]

The real problem is if you go to these stores what happened to the real model kits. Where you get these plastic cut outs which you need to break off, chisels down, paint glue together (without melting the plastic from the highly toxic glue)....

One incarnation of this would be Warhammer (or some other toy soldiers), but it's very expensive. I had much more fun assembling and painting the models than I did playing the game; I was never very good at the tactics. I was good at painting though.

Another is the kits made for model railways (the buildings for age 12-ish, and the trucks a bit later on, since they need to be put together quite accurately). I lost interest in these after about a year, but sort-of went along with it for my dad for a while longer to keep him happy. There wasn't really much to do with the trains, once you'd got them set up and running round the track (and I wasn't allowed to do much of the setting up). I think it was more my dad's toy than mine. It's probably a decent hobby for someone who's retired, but there wasn't any way to involve my friends, which is why I preferred the Warhammer.
Take away the trains and you're left with a model town/village. I doubt many kids would be interested in that, train crashes were the best bit of the model railway :D (when dad's not looking, obviously).

Airfix still sell plastic kit models in the UK, you can get them in most independent toy shops -- I'm not sure about the big chain toy shops, I haven't been in one for years. I didn't like war though, so I never had any Airfix models (they all seem to be fighter planes and war ships).
Someone I know at university bought a manga robot city-stamping monster plastic kit from Japan, that would have been much cooler, but I don't know if they were available in England when I was 16.

I think everything else I did with toxic glue used balsa wood, card and anything else I could find.

Re:please....

[DanWS6]

I had no idea jocks were interested in Lego

Dude, it's made from leggos, it is nerd news

[DeadDecoy]

The Olympics may be for jocks but building anything in an extensive manner using legos is still awesome. What matters is not the context of the subject but rather the engineering creativity behind it, and I'd have to say, the love and detail in this project is impressive. On a side note, I have my doubts about a Hong Kong team building it. If the Chinese really built it, they would have conscripted their entire population to build a lego model up to scale :).

Re:Dude, it's made from leggos, it is nerd news

[Chris Burke]

On a side note, I have my doubts about a Hong Kong team building it. If the Chinese really built it, they would have conscripted their entire population to build a lego model up to scale :).

Well if it makes you feel better about the story's credibility, the members of the HK Lego User's Group were taken from their parents at the age of 3 to undergo years of rigorous Lego construction training.

Oh... 4500 lego PEOPLE

[GungaDan]

I was wondering WTF was the difference between a brick and a lego.

Re:Oh... 4500 lego PEOPLE

[CrazyTalk]

No, the inhabitants of Legoland are minifigs. It was a typo.

Who Knew?

[TheNecromancer]

I didn't realize that Lego had a "smog" building block.

Don't act so suprised

[fm6]

Featuring 300,000 bricks, and 4,500 Lego, it was built by the Hong Kong Lego User Group. Yes that exists.

Why not? It's not like The West has a patent on geekitude. If anything, the geek mindset is even more prevalent in Chinese-speaking countries than here. They didn't become so dominant in electronic products by growing rice.

Re:Don't act so suprised

[seasleepy]

Er... I think it's more surprise that that a Lego User Group exists, rather than surprise that people in Hong Kong have heard of Lego.

all I see is a big grey cloud

[peter303]

My browser must be broken :-)

Missing pieces...

[fahrbot-bot]

I thought they erred in not recreating the female Chinese gymnastic team, but I saw that the box was labeled "Ages 16 and up."

Re:Missing pieces...

[fahrbot-bot]

It's a political statement in that even though the Chinese say their female gymnasts are at least 16 years old, and their offical passports say they're at least 16 years old (or will be this year as per IOC rules), many of the gynmasts clearly are not that old - and this has been discussed in the press. It's also a joke in that the girls wouldn't be able to play with their own pieces....

Re:Missing pieces...

[Perf]

Or possibly because they don't have Lego diapers.

Pee in the cup!

[EmbeddedJanitor]

It is well known that many serious Lego enthusiasts will take various stimulants and body building supplements to give them that edge.

Mod parent funny, not informative

[Ethanol-fueled]

Hmmph, many jocks played with Legos as kids.

I'll bet a few Slashdotters even played sports when they were younger. Hell, I might even say that there are some who still play, if not watch, sports -- even if a few NFL games are more important than the entire olympics to them.

More photos (lots more)...

[I didn't]

HKLUG's photo album

Lawn?

[HiggsBison]

... and get off my big green Lego baseplate!

(There, fixed that for you.)