A return to my old bricks

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Starting out as consultant at LEGO in Billund in 2007, doing the technical design on new bricks, and being full time employed since the start of 2008, I have really got back to something that was going on more than 30 years ago. And that is building with bricks. I am myself shocked to realise that I have bought close to 100 sets during 2008 (not counting Bionicle), and have built most of them. Quite some of these sets are multiples of smaller sets like Exo-Force from 2006, but still I got a big selecting of the lines of 2005-2008. This has learnt me a lot about how to build with bricks, but I am really still a novice. I have nothing to do with designing sets at LEGO, but only looks at the technical design of the individual bricks. Building is "home work"

I have learnt a lot about the technical design of bricks during these two years, while developing new bricks. This has mostly been Bionicle elements but lately I have been working on System bricks. System bricks need to be designed so that the building functions are maximized with all previously released bricks, or should I say the current line of bricks. There are some old bricks that do not fit the "rules" of the LEGO System, and would surely not be released today, but more on that later following the picture below. What most may not know is that new Bionicle elements need to have its building functions maximised too. Well it obvious that the dimensions of a cross-axle has to be within tolerances. But it is not so obvious, that you can't just design an element with random external dimension. Every element has to fit the Technic and to a lesser part the System building "system". This is a task that a designer may not pay 100% attention to, but I as a technical designer must do. Another very important task is to make sure that the toy is safe. LEGO is for kids, and nobody wants to design and release anything that could potentially be harmful or dangerous.

Now visiting my parents this christmas, I was glad to see that my father had found a small box of LEGO for me to see, me and my brothers old toys. The bricks were mixed with other old garbage and stuff, so some sorting had to be done. There should still be boxes to be found in the house, and I hope to have more to sort, maybe next winter.

The bricks are from the late 70's, and shown below is a small selection.

The first thing to note is the old minifigure without movable arms and legs, and with only a normal knob connecting the head to the body. These are seen along with the classic Space Minifigure. Did the old minifigure had print on the head ? Some of mine lacks those, and I can't see if it has just worn off.

At #3 old wheels are seen. There was maybe 25 of these but many were broken, as the metal axle har parted from the 2x2 brick. A not very ideal design. A better design is the similar wheels on a 2x2 plate, but still with a metal axle.

The wheels at #4 are all metal axle wheels fitting to a 2x4 brick with bearings fitted inside the brick. It looks like a very sturdy design but seems a bit "over-engineered" and may have been very expensive to produce.

Underneath the old minifigures are some plate-hinges. Some of these were broken too, but I think I as a kid was very rough in the handling of my toys The two shown are in fine condition though.

At #5 there is a small SNOT element, with two knobs and a technic hole.

A lot of the printed bricks were kind of worn, but not so the space logos. They may not look exactly new, but they are really fine. The box contained maybe 15 of the 1x4 bricks in different colours, with car headlight and grill printed on them. Many of those prints were really worn.

#2 is a small yellow element with a ball connected to a round 1x1 plate. This is a hand of one of the many figures in the box, the figures much larger than the minifigure. I am not sure about the production years of these figures, but most of the printing on the heads were in a bad shape.

The three grey plates at #1 is from Classic Space. They are surely not in production today, as they don't really fit into the System. You can't place these on a baseplate, as the triangle at the corner will collide with a knob on the plate (by the way the baseplate is a new one).

I hope you liked seeing some of my oldest bricks, I really enjoyed finding them again. The amazing thing is that I could remember most of them. Even my younger brother, who has not touched LEGO for 25 years, can remember some of the bricks and their described "faults", when I explain him over the phone, how they look. What an amazing iconic toy.

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[Alywin]

The three grey plates at #1 is from Classic Space. They are surely not in production today, as they don't really fit into the System. You can't place these on a baseplate, as the triangle at the corner will collide with a knob on the plate (by the way the baseplate is a new one).

Oh, those classic space wing plates are actually "non-system"...

Yeah, I did remember that they cannot put on larger plates, but that makes them become extinct... What a pity...

[puddleglum]

Oh, those classic space wing plates are actually "non-system"...

Yeah, I did remember that they cannot put on larger plates, but that makes them become extinct... What a pity...

Actually the wings were still in common use in sets as recently as 2003-2004 timeframe. But I really think the newer wedge pieces that have notches for studs are much more versatile and I'm glad LEGO made the change.

[Front]

Oh, those classic space wing plates are actually "non-system"...

Yeah, I did remember that they cannot put on larger plates, but that makes them become extinct... What a pity...

Well surely they are part of LEGO System, it's just that their use is rather limited.

Actually the wings were still in common use in sets as recently as 2003-2004 timeframe. But I really think the newer wedge pieces that have notches for studs are much more versatile and I'm glad LEGO made the change.

I did a check on bricklink, and you are right, I see some of these plates are used as late as 2004. My initial thought was that the use had been stopped much earlier, because of the inability to build right under the "triangle". Anyway, I think if a designer proposed a new element with a limitation like this, they would need good arguments before the element would end up in production. Probably a comprimise would be reached allowing better usability of the element.

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[brickzone]

Yes, it's interesting to look at the differences with some pieces designed long ago (even now some are still used) and recent additions. I do prefer the recent wings (and wedges) with cut-outs, but it is added functionality at the expense of aesthetics.

The thing about those old wheels, the larger ones, is that they were the first wheels I had in Lego, and the tires are still used (e.g. on the jeep in the Indy chase set). They were rather tricky to pull in/out of the holder, and the versatility of the modern equivalent is evident - the use of the technic pin allows mounting just about anywhere, and indeed technic axles.