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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.
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).
of Tibetan monks being hauled away to prison?
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
Hopefully it doesn't have a miniature BSOD during the opening Lego Olympics.
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 :).
There is still lots of creativity with Legos. Haven't you ever heard of factory.lego.com?
I was wondering WTF was the difference between a brick and a lego.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
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!"
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.
I didn't realize that Lego had a "smog" building block.
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
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.
But only in Soviet Russia.
I thought they erred in not recreating the female Chinese gymnastic team, but I saw that the box was labeled "Ages 16 and up."
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It is well known that many serious Lego enthusiasts will take various stimulants and body building supplements to give them that edge.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
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.
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.
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