ejred

I must say one of the things that usually turns me away from LDD creations is the lack of real physics and the associated constraints. But in this case I have to give props for using the medium to excellent effect--very striking!

If I had a vote this would have been one of my picks. The color selection and polish are amazing. I must say I'm still acclimating to the idea of "adult" lego dioramas, but heck of a job!

If I had a vote this would have been one of my choices. I love the idea of a geriatric pirate resort island. The steamship is cool, and fits the "end of piracy" idea. But more gore maybe?

Kids! First it was something parent and child could do together that was fun for all instead of "dad-bored-out-of-skull-time". Plus nostalgia. But dad certainly doesn't want to monopolize the kids bricks, so really it's his parental duty to start directing his hobby money toward buying his own.,,

I thought this analysis of Lego prices was pretty interesting (http://www.realityprose.com/what-happened-with-lego/) Spoiler - the author believed prices were pretty stable over 2004-2012. I wonder if people agree with his analysis? These things are hard to compare but it seemed pretty solid. Have things changed in the last 3 years?

I've always found playmobil aesthetically appealing, and obviously it's a quality toy, but compared to lego it just seemed so... static. Like a fly trapped in amber. Legos were vastly better to me, because if I was willing to fudge a bit, they could be whatever I was interested in that week, or whatever I could imagine. With playmobil I was stuck with what the company had imagined

The "fiduciary responsibility" answer is that TLG is a company, and should do whatever will make the most money. Now I often think that's a too-convenient corporate cop-out. And TLG seems to want to "do the right thing" as far as companies go (but then that is also part of their brand positioning, so it's hard to separate from the profit-motive). My one-person perspective is that the big struggle for LEGO was always to broaden their appeal to girls. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was mostly a boy-toy for most of its history. Not completely of course, and I think not with great intentionality, but boys just seemed to be the predominant market for them, whether it was City or Technic or even just building blocks. They tried a few girl-oriented initiatives from time to time, and as far as I know they failed pretty badly. Friends, et. al., appears a much better effort, in part because not "dumbed-down," and therefore much more successful to moving girls into the LEGO market. So is all this LEGO's fault, or a "fault" of the kids for wanting the wrong things? In an ideal world I think you are right, we should not have these great gender divisions in toys, roles, and so much else in life. I suspect most of what we often think of as innate difference is socialized. But there's a lot of historical weight behind those social norms (as well as probably a pinch of physically-rooted difference), so they evolve only slowly. All of us will have to grind away together for a long time to get to a point of true egalitarianism--so while I guess LEGO should get their slice of that collective responsibility, it seems a bit unfair and probably futile to expect too much of them alone. For the most part I think they are just providing what their customers want. I agree that there is more TLG could do around the edges to have a few more girl figures in the boy sets, etc. But I suspect the ugly truth is that NexoKnights + Elves just sells a lot better than NexoElves would.

Thanks! Needed to jog some new thinking--those both look promising.

I want to mount two ship's wheels [4790b] together (supported by a bracket in-between them), in such a way that the two wheels are firmly connected and spin together--basically a secure pin-to-pin connection The pin on the wheel is frictionless, so a joiner-round [62462] or something like that won't work. Sticking a 3L bar [87994] into both the pins seems good, but then the whole assembly is bumped out another 1L, which is undesirable. I tried one of the small pneumatic T's [4697b], with one end in each pin and the center bar sticking out, but the connection seems weak. I could try cutting down a thin hose [75c03], but I cringe at the idea of damaging a lego, even in a good cause :) Anyone have any clever ideas? Is this a solved problem? Thanks!