Lego turning 55 in 2013... So what do WE get?

[Artifex]

When Lego turned 50 in 2008 we got the 10184 Town Plan... I believe there will be a set celebrating Lego's 55th anniversary next year -- but I'm not sure what it will be.

I don't think it will be a new town plan, but it will probably be something along those lines. The more I think about it, the harder it gets to guess what Lego may (or may not ) be planninng.

This year's modular building is the town hall, which we also got in the 2008 town plan. We also got a hospital (well, sort of) and a garage (with a little service station) in 2012. Perhaps the next modular will be a movie theatre/cinema and the "anniversary set" a circus or zoo with lots of animals.

Yeah, I know how silly that sounds. A circus? A zoo? I don't think there's ever been any Lego set along those lines... What makes them perfect candidates, isn't it? Ah, the wishful thinking...

What do you think? Is there going to be a 55 anniversary set? And if so, what will it be?

EDIT: I was just wondering... An apartment building is another thing we seldom -- if ever -- see.

Edited June 28, 2012 by Artifex

[Ricecracker]

Moved to General Discussion and News as it doesn't really have much to do with Town.

[Vindicare]

I don't think we'll be seeing anything. 50 is a big deal, 55, not so much. I will be more than happy to be proven wrong.

[Rook]

Nothing 55 isn’t a noted year. 60, 70, 75 (maybe because 3/4 century), 80, 90, & 100 would probably result in interest.

[just2good]

Though 55 ain't a big deal, we might get another golden brick bucket, a special minifigure (heck maybe a LEGO store clerk in CMF Series 9), or even a modular building with a logo saying "55 YEARS OF LEGO" on it. A modular LEGO store would be cool, but that will most likely come during the 60th anniversary.

[Bilbo Baggins]

Maybe a commemorative brick

[CMP]

I doubt we'll get anything. Maybe in another 50 years we'll get something good.

[HawkLord]

Well, I think Lego should only really put out something to celebrate every ten years (and possibly the 75 year mark). Every five years might be a bit much and could pull resources from other great lines of the time. Personally, next year is going to have so much great stuff, I'd probably have to pass on a commemorative set anyway.

Edited June 29, 2012 by Hawkman

[Artifex]

Personally, next year is going to have so much great stuff, I'd probably have to pass on a commemorative set anyway.

Care to develop? Do I smell inside info? News from 2013 sets? Please say it!

[LEGO Historian]

I hate to be a stickler for details (well it never stopped me before... )

The 1958 date was ONLY the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the tube bottom brick... nothing more...

LEGO dates are so muddled (the official TLG site timeline mixes "first sales date" with "sales office opens date") that besides principle LEGO owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, I doubt that more than a few old timers at TLG really know the true LEGO dates.

But here they are....

LEGO sets (Automatic Binding Bricks) were first produced in 1949 (63 years ago) in Denmark.

LEGO sets were first sold from 1950-51 in Sweden for a short time (poor sales) and then reintroduced in 1955.

LEGO sets were first sold in Norway in 1953.

LEGO sets were first sold in Germany in 1956.

LEGO sets were first sold in Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal in 1957.

LEGO sets were first sold in Italy in 1958.

LEGO applied for their tube bottom patent in 1958 (Patent Pending)... and started using the tube bottom bricks that year.... hence the 2008 anniversary date...

LEGO sets were first sold in France and Finland in 1959.

LEGO sets were first sold in the UK/Ireland in 1960 and Australia in 1962 via a license to Courtauld's Corp. (a chemical corp.)

LEGO sets were licensed to Samsonite of USA/Canada in 1961... the first sets were produced from a Stratford Ontario plant and shipped to the USA from 1961-65. Canada sales started in 1962 from that same plant. TLG said that USA Samsonite was under-performing, and litigated to get the license back from Samsonite in 1972. So TLG LEGO sales started in 1973... and in 1998 there was the USA Silver Anniversary (25 years) bucket (only going back to the 1973 date, and ignoring the 1961-72 Samsonite years). Since Samsonite of Canada "toe'ed" the TLG line better, their license was not revoked... so Canada anniversary for LEGO uses the 1962 date... which explains their 35th anniversary bucket in the late 1990s.

All this is explained (country by country) in Chapter 73 (LEGO Sales/History by Country) of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide (2,800 pages on DVD or as a download).

Edited July 3, 2012 by LEGO Historian

[Omicron]

*snip*

Not to mention that the company started in the early 1900s and became Lego in 1934.

-Omi

[LEGO Historian]

Not to mention that the company started in the early 1900s and became Lego in 1934.

-Omi

Ole Kirk Christiansen (1890-1958) first started making wooden toys in 1932. 1934 was when the first LEGO logo was introduced. Ole got into the yo-yo craze back then... and when the bottom dropped out of the yo-yo market... he improvised... and used each half of a yo-yo as a wheel to wooden duck, or other wooden pull toys. Wooden toys ended in 1960, when the wooden toy factory burned down, and they concentrated on plastic toys.