The 'Golden Age' of Lego, is it now?

[Hey Joe]

I'd say the "Golden Age" would have been the early-mid '90s. Just seems like alot of themes then were really doing well - Castle, Pirates, etc. Plus, you can tell from the sets and packaging alone that Lego was making more money then ever and felt more successful.

Right now, I feel like we're in the "Modern License Age", which feels obviously license heavy. Granted, licenses are good for Lego, but they do make alittle less money having to pay for the rights to use such licenses. Now, you won't ever catch me complaining about licenses (I love my Star Wars Legos), but in a way it represents a new chapter of Lego in that we're seeing almost half of their sets related to a license. So, when we talk about the best of times for Lego, it's almost relative to what is being offered around that time.

Well, I'm glad this topic got bumped back into circulation as there were alot more replies than I'd expected when I'd originally posted and I was a bit overwhelmed, being new to the site (and the hobby) .

Anyway; are we sure that licensing increases the cost of the set in an adverse way? I mean, look at the price per piece of a lot of the City stuff, it's right up there if not higher than the licensed stuff. They spend big dollars on the licenses of course but perhaps they sell a lot more of the sets which allows them to achieve more economy of scale than they do with their in-house stuff?

I don't know, I'm just asking.

[Aanchir]

Yeah I agree completely that Lego diversified during these years. Can't deny that they've invented a lot of fine new stuff too.

And I have to admit that they did a superb job turning popular movie mediums into these small simple toys, yet very detailed and convincing toys!... even though I personally don't like that idea

But do you think that they actually grew stronger in recognition and sales? I know that they had some ups and downs recently... But my question is: are they making more money now comparing with 80s/early 90s Lego rage?

As I said before - Legos are not available in as many places as they were before... yet TLG can spend tons of money on licensing dozens of franchises... and they produce much more than before - judging after my observation

Well, keep in mind that in the early 90s the LEGO brand wasn't doing too well. Regardless of what brand recognition they might have had, their bottom line was suffering, and that's the primary reason there were so many major changes (some good, some bad) in the late 90s and early naughts.

I'm not sure what the situation for the LEGO brand was in the 80s; I wouldn't be surprised if they had a lot of sales strength and brand strength alike at that time. I was born in 1991 and didn't start collecting sets until around 1994-1995, so the LEGO I knew began in the 90s, and while prolific wasn't really any more so than the other hip toy brands of the day.

Today, TLG is doing a lot better financially as far as I know, although some of that has come as a result of changes that many perceive as a loss in quality (for instance, the switch to buying colorless granulate and dye instead of pre-colored granulate, the shifting of production to countries like the Czech Republic, Mexico, and China, and other cost-cutting measures). Licenses have also played a big part-- LEGO Star Wars in particular has done a phenomenal job spreading appreciation for the LEGO brand to an audience other than children and parents of children, helped by the success of LEGO Star Wars media like the video games by Traveler's Tales.

It should not be ignored that LEGO Ninjago has been the company's most successful single product launch (which of course owes itself in part to the company's increased strength over the past decade, so this isn't to say that TLG was somehow failing to meet their product lines' potential back in the 80s), LEGO Friends is seemingly one of the first girl-oriented lines to experience sales comparable to the boy-oriented sets (presumably even surpassing the "homemaker" sets that predate the minifigure), and of course LEGO has a much stronger media presence than it used to, with many video games, TV specials, and a theatrical film in the works. So I think the company is probably doing quite well in terms of brand recognition-- it's just somewhat hard to notice since their competitors in the toy industry have grown as well.

[Mazin]

Some explanation about the stores thing is also that there is a lot of fake Legos around. Small retailers prefer to order those cheap chinese crap than more expensive Legos as they used to. Personally I don't know how is it that government is not fighting this situation and officially allowes it to be sold . Although I've read that Lego managed to take over and destroy some fake toys in Finland which is a good sign

Yeah... Ninjago is a phenomenon... I didn't know that it's doing that well... quite surprising one as it's not so special in design and the whole ninja-mania was like 20-15 years ago

And about those animted shows or wideo games... it's pretty obvious that it's caused just by the technological jump... and a growth of the video gaming industry itself... we can't credit that just to changes in their marketing philosophy... they would do the same if it was possible in the 80s or 90s

I wonder if there is some kind of a list where we could compare those sales...

[natesroom]

You can always read through their annual reports.. they have 1999-2011 available still, online here:

http://aboutus.lego..../annual-report/

Obviously they were a Private corp before then so you probably wont find much info. However they did have a minus 290million in 98 versus a profit of 250million in 99

Edited November 16, 2012 by natesroom

[TheLegoDr]

I didn't know they were doing that poorly in the 90s. My main collection was 89-94, so as a kid I didn't realize if sales were down or not. I just liked getting sets. Clearly looking back at those sets in design some are still great to look at and some don't hold up as well. I do really like the licenses they are getting and the new printing and pieces that are available. Things are looking fantastic. The only downside is sometimes trying to incorporate some of the older less detailed figures with the newer figures.

[Aanchir]

Yeah... Ninjago is a phenomenon... I didn't know that it's doing that well... quite surprising one as it's not so special in design and the whole ninja-mania was like 20-15 years ago

Well, I think if Ninjago had come out when ninja-related toys and media were in their prime, it wouldn't be nearly as distinctive. TLG rarely designs themes with an obvious "follow the herd" mentality, instead trying to create themes that catch consumers by surprise.

Also, as for it "not being so special in design", it definitely does have a lot of traits that set it apart from other LEGO themes. Its whimsical vehicles for the villains (first with skull motifs, then snakes, then samurai), the expressive style of its brick-built dragons, and of course its spinner game all stand out as fairly new innovations for TLG. That isn't to say it's completely different than past themes-- it sticks with the four-main-protagonists model of storytelling that was used in Knights' Kingdom II and Exo-Force before it, has color-coded elemental heroes much like BIONICLE, and of course villains with skull motifs are older than dirt-- but it still stands out from past themes in how it implements these ideas.

And about those animted shows or wideo games... it's pretty obvious that it's caused just by the technological jump... and a growth of the video gaming industry itself... we can't credit that just to changes in their marketing philosophy... they would do the same if it was possible in the 80s or 90s

With video games I would agree, but toy-based television series have been pretty prominent since at least the 80s. I think a bigger part of it is that it wasn't until the naughts that LEGO had their themes follow a consistent story structure, perhaps in part because until the success of LEGO Star Wars, they worried that kids wouldn't be able to play creatively if they were working within the structure of a story being told to them, and perhaps due to the logistical challenges of localizing a story in regions throughout their global market. I'd say BIONICLE was probably the first really cohesive LEGO story theme (in that the various media could be pieced together to form a fairly cohesive narrative), although there was lots of story media before that, especially in the form of comics. I think BIONICLE did a good job paving the way for Ninjago with its heavy multimedia angle, and Ninjago will similarly serve as a powerful boost to future story themes like Chima.

[Mazin]

Oh absolutely. I like the way they did Ninjago villains very much! Those snakes are fantastic. Their design and the whole Ninjago idea would very well even outside Lego franchise - like if those were Hasbro or Tyco toys

But I would not entirely agree with catching consumers by surprise... they did at same cases of course... but still examples of Harry Potter, Indy, Batman or Prince of Persia seem to work as "following the herd" all the way

I would say that in the 80s they were much more into making pure childish themes, coming straight from kid's dreams and imagination, yound person's "fairy tale vision" of the world

Knights, Pirates, Space and big world around ( Town ) were the most fascinating things for a 6 or 10 year old. Well, perhaps Cowboys and Dinosaurs too...

I think that modern Lego television series are as much an effect of giving them more story and character, as the evolution of modern animation technics... the old way of animation used for TMNT, G.I.Joe or Transformers would not work well with Lego minigifigures.

Well can't know that for sure because TLG has never tried that but digital animation gave Lego a great opportunity

[Aanchir]

Oh absolutely. I like the way they did Ninjago villains very much! Those snakes are fantastic. Their design and the whole Ninjago idea would very well even outside Lego franchise - like if those were Hasbro or Tyco toys

But I would not entirely agree with catching consumers by surprise... they did at same cases of course... but still examples of Harry Potter, Indy, Batman or Prince of Persia seem to work as "following the herd" all the way

Of course. I wasn't really discussing licensed themes when I said TLG didn't like following the herd. Of course, even with licensed themes, TLG has an incentive to take risks with new ideas, as they've done successfully with the Harry Potter theme and unsuccessfully with the Prince of Persia and Speed Racer themes. If they wait too long to snatch up a license, they risk it falling into the hands of a competitor, which can be a bad thing if that movie franchise proves to have staying power.

I would say that in the 80s they were much more into making pure childish themes, coming straight from kid's dreams and imagination, yound person's "fairy tale vision" of the world

Knights, Pirates, Space and big world around ( Town ) were the most fascinating things for a 6 or 10 year old. Well, perhaps Cowboys and Dinosaurs too...

This is true. But of course those toys were existing within a different environment. These days, an idea like that is easy for competitors to copy (I recall reading in Brickjournal about how the LEGO Space theme had to be rushed to production when a member of the design team left LEGO to work with a competitor, and that was back in the infancy of themed LEGO sets), and thus to stand out on store shelves, designers have to make sure that their themes aren't just the basic archetypes.

It should also of course be noted that the media environment kids grow up in plays a role in what kids want... I personally feel that factoid-intensive franchises like Pokemon had a strong influence on BIONICLE, since because of those it became clear that kids at that time actually enjoyed learning lots of obscure terms and character names. I'd argue that BIONICLE went a bit too far in this direction, in that over time the confusing names and heavy amount of story info started to scare away potential fans, but it's still a good example of how the marketing of LEGO themes can be based on what kids come to expect of the things they enjoy.

Anyway, back on the subject of competitors, I think they are also a big reason why LEGO themes tend to cycle in and out more regularly today than they once did. Think about it-- the longer TLG keeps one theme on store shelves, the more time they give competitors to come up with their own spin on things. For instance, Ninjago could theoretically keep going for much longer, but then it would be only a matter of time before other toy companies decided that Ninja toys were hip again. And kids have short attention spans-- they won't necessarily care if something was fairly unique when it was new if what they see in toy stores is a bunch of sameness.

I think that modern Lego television series are as much an effect of giving them more story and character, as the evolution of modern animation technics... the old way of animation used for TMNT, G.I.Joe or Transformers would not work well with Lego minigifigures.

Well can't know that for sure because TLG has never tried that but digital animation gave Lego a great opportunity

Another good point. You can even see how the animation of LEGO Minifigures has improved since the early days of LEGO video games, when minifigures often had disproportionate bodies, cartoony eyes, and stiff movement. I imagine a lot of these problems would have been much worse in the days when hand-drawn animation was the only option.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Aanchir

[Mazin]

I didn't know that Lego's Prince of Persia was a failure! That's very interesting. Do you have more info on that?

BTW do you know the numbers - how much did they they have to pay for those licenses?

I am surprised that they didn't do John Carter of Mars. I know that the movie was a flop but it's adventorous idea would be a nice choice for Lego.

I'd like to create a thread about franchises that we would like to see as Lego, but have to look if there's a proper topic already

And yeah... Pokemon's influence on Bionicle is an interesting observation, couple of my friends mentioned about that too

BTW what competitor did that guy go to? I don't think Lego has any direct competitor... well maybe Mega Bloks... Tyco and Hasbro are obviously competitors but in a much different matter.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Mazin

[Aanchir]

I didn't know that Lego's Prince of Persia was a failure! That's very interesting. Do you have more info on that?

I don't mean to imply it was a failure (to be honest I have no idea of how well it did, but I have a strong feeling TLG picked up that license with the idea in mind that it could become a lasting film franchise. Since the film underperformed, that idea couldn't be realized no matter how strongly the sets performed.

BTW what competitor did that guy go to? I don't think Lego has any direct competitor... well maybe Mega Bloks... Tyco and Hasbro are obviously competitors but in a much different matter.

Historically TLG has had a lot of competitors in Europe, and today they have competition from Hasbro's Kre-O line and from Mega Bloks, as you mentioned. Other competitors are not as noteworthy at least here in the United States but still are cutting into TLG's success in other markets like Asia.

I don't believe the article specified which competitor the member of the LEGO Space design team went to (I may just be forgetting), but Tente is one that comes to mind that was around in those days.

Edited November 16, 2012 by Aanchir

[Grimmbeard]

The "Golden Age of Lego". To me, its definitely not now. I don't want to sound like a purist prick, but nowadays sets are way more expensive and more of a "toy" then they used to be. My favorite theme is pirates, so definitely to me the golden age is late 80s to early 90s.

Once STAR WARS was added, it all went down hill I think. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good Star Wars sets and MOCs out there, I'm even a fan of the movies themselves. But when TLG had the idea that they could buy other franchises, creativity went out the window. Just think of this old space commercial

You'll never see something like that again (sets made into different things). Now its "here's your Iron Man car or whatever, go play with it". I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this comment, but this is a stance I am quite strong on, and I'm sure some people will agree with me.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Grimmbeard

[Lasse]

I think the "Golden Age" of LEGO is the 1950s. When the 1950s started the LEGO brick was a failure, which could not sell. But during the 1950s TLG turned the failure to a success. In the end of the 1950s the LEGO brick was a very popular toy, which was sold in the most of Western Europe.

Here is a German LEGO commercial from around 1956:

In this old commercial you also see AFOLs. You don't see that in modern LEGO commercials.

In the period 1954-1959 TLG also had a mascot. He was very cute. I think it´s very sad, that they stopped using him as mascot.

He could be seen in the most LEGO catalogs from that time. Here is photo from my Danish 1958 LEGO catalog:

[Aanchir]

The "Golden Age of Lego". To me, its definitely not now. I don't want to sound like a purist prick, but nowadays sets are way more expensive and more of a "toy" then they used to be. My favorite theme is pirates, so definitely to me the golden age is late 80s to early 90s.

Once STAR WARS was added, it all went down hill I think. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good Star Wars sets and MOCs out there, I'm even a fan of the movies themselves. But when TLG had the idea that they could buy other franchises, creativity went out the window. Just think of this old space commercial

You'll never see something like that again (sets made into different things). Now its "here's your Iron Man car or whatever, go play with it". I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this comment, but this is a stance I am quite strong on, and I'm sure some people will agree with me.

No hate here, although personally I think the commercial is very similar to what we see currently for non-licensed themes. You see the set being built, then see someone showing off the play features. There are a couple key differences, though, particularly in the building segment. Most obvious is that the set is being built into numerous models, not just the "main model". The reason we see less of that today is probably related to the reason we see fewer pics of alternate models on the backs of boxes. Kids and parents become frustrated if they buy a set thinking they can build these models, only to realize that instructions for these alternate models aren't available anywhere. For a beginning LEGO builder, that can potentially ruin their building experience. On a more minor note, today's LEGO commercials show models being put together by hand from large, pre-assembled sections, rather than being built brick-by-brick in stop motion. The reason for that is that there are advertising laws in some countries that prohibit showing a building toy assembling itself.

Today's LEGO commercials usually replace this part of the commercial with a short animation establishing the theme's premise and how the set fits into the theme as a whole. I don't think this is representative of a change in The LEGO Group's values, but rather just a change in the values of their audience, and possibly just a better awareness of that audience. Kids today aren't necessarily less creative than they once were, but for a kid a model set's appeal comes largely from the "coolness" of the assembled model, not necessarily from the individual parts. And so showing assembled models that there are no instructions for, whether on the box or on the advertisements, will lead to kids having false expectations of the set, and later feeling that they didn't get what they (or their parents) paid for.

[Grimmbeard]

No hate here, although personally I think the commercial is very similar to what we see currently for non-licensed themes. You see the set being built, then see someone showing off the play features. There are a couple key differences, though, particularly in the building segment. Most obvious is that the set is being built into numerous models, not just the "main model". The reason we see less of that today is probably related to the reason we see fewer pics of alternate models on the backs of boxes. Kids and parents become frustrated if they buy a set thinking they can build these models, only to realize that instructions for these alternate models aren't available anywhere. For a beginning LEGO builder, that can potentially ruin their building experience. On a more minor note, today's LEGO commercials show models being put together by hand from large, pre-assembled sections, rather than being built brick-by-brick in stop motion. The reason for that is that there are advertising laws in some countries that prohibit showing a building toy assembling itself.

Today's LEGO commercials usually replace this part of the commercial with a short animation establishing the theme's premise and how the set fits into the theme as a whole. I don't think this is representative of a change in The LEGO Group's values, but rather just a change in the values of their audience, and possibly just a better awareness of that audience. Kids today aren't necessarily less creative than they once were, but for a kid a model set's appeal comes largely from the "coolness" of the assembled model, not necessarily from the individual parts. And so showing assembled models that there are no instructions for, whether on the box or on the advertisements, will lead to kids having false expectations of the set, and later feeling that they didn't get what they (or their parents) paid for.

I agree. Times change, but I still think the golden age remains the same. And yes, I agree LEGO still has the same values ,even if they don't seem that way. (i.e chinese plastic)

Edited November 17, 2012 by Grimmbeard

[Mazin]

The reason we see less of that today is probably related to the reason we see fewer pics of alternate models on the backs of boxes. Kids and parents become frustrated if they buy a set thinking they can build these models, only to realize that instructions for these alternate models aren't available anywhere. For a beginning LEGO builder, that can potentially ruin their building experience.

Was that really ever the case? Well people can always complain about everything but did they really point those alternate models as a such a problem?

I've never heard anyone complaining about this matter before and as much as I know no one I talked to was actually anxious to BUILD THEM...

Even without the knowledge of english, or swedish or other languages we got our Lego sets in, everyone knew that those were only SUGGESTIONS.

Suggestions which were always considered to be a B class of the original... we were simply too busy and too crazy bringing those ships and island to life to actually think about alternate models... and then the whole imagination thing took over completely as we would build up everything we could possibly think of...

The reason for that is that there are advertising laws in some countries that prohibit showing a building toy assembling itself.

Is that possible even on the "free market"? I know that there were some restrictions about the lenght of animation in toy commercials in the 80s but never heard about restricting the way this toy should we showed...

If the free market rules were obeyed then anyone should advertise his product the way he wants - even by showing a completely different product in commercials than one that a customer would actually get... not mentioning having half an hour of animation in toy commercials

Of course customers' complaints is a different matter

[Aanchir]

Was that really ever the case? Well people can always complain about everything but did they really point those alternate models as a such a problem?

I've never heard anyone complaining about this matter before and as much as I know no one I talked to was actually anxious to BUILD THEM...

Even without the knowledge of english, or swedish or other languages we got our Lego sets in, everyone knew that those were only SUGGESTIONS.

Suggestions which were always considered to be a B class of the original... we were simply too busy and too crazy bringing those ships and island to life to actually think about alternate models... and then the whole imagination thing took over completely as we would build up everything we could possibly think of...

I have no firsthand knowledge of this, but all I know is that this has consistently been given as the "official" reason for why alternate models aren't shown on the backs of boxes anymore unless instructions are available (either in the set itself or online). And it doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. "We" may have understood that they were only suggestions, but it should be remembered that we probably wouldn't be AFOLs if LEGO building didn't come naturally to us. For others, the ability to build straight from the imagination is not nearly as intuitive.

Also, if the "suggestion models" are largely ignored by the people who aren't becoming frustrated with trying to replicate them, then they're not really doing anyone much good. On the other hand, pictures or video showing off the completed model's functions, showing it from different angles, or giving a snapshot of a possible story you could tell with the set will all offer an incentive to buy the set that shouldn't lead to disappointment for anyone once they have the set in hand.

Is that possible even on the "free market"? I know that there were some restrictions about the lenght of animation in toy commercials in the 80s but never heard about restricting the way this toy should we showed...

If the free market rules were obeyed then anyone should advertise his product the way he wants - even by showing a completely different product in commercials than one that a customer would actually get... not mentioning having half an hour of animation in toy commercials

Of course customers' complaints is a different matter

There are a lot of laws regulating advertising, especially advertising for things targeted at kids, because kids are extremely impressionable and could easily become misled by an ad for a toy showing it doing something it can't really do. ADVANCE Copenhagen, the ad agency that has been making ads for LEGO products for decades, has a lot of LEGO ads on their YouTube channel (here), and they give insights into many things that wouldn't be legal in ads today-- for instance, showing a helicopter set flying without showing hands holding it in

, or showing the "magic building" from the ad above in

.

Not going to get into the economics or politics of the role of regulation in a free market economy, but in general a lot of governments have historically been willing to stop short of an absolute free market for regulations that are meant to protect their citizens, and children are often viewed as some of the most vulnerable when it comes to advertising.

[AndyC]

I used to love trying to build the alternate models, just from the picture on the box, although I wasn't always successful. I never once imagined there was any reason to complain about not having instructions, though with friends we often wondered if they existed somewhere. I could well believe that other people may have asked and, less tolerant children/parents might have been upset by it.

[Lyichir]

The "Golden Age of Lego". To me, its definitely not now. I don't want to sound like a purist prick, but nowadays sets are way more expensive and more of a "toy" then they used to be. My favorite theme is pirates, so definitely to me the golden age is late 80s to early 90s.

Once STAR WARS was added, it all went down hill I think. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good Star Wars sets and MOCs out there, I'm even a fan of the movies themselves. But when TLG had the idea that they could buy other franchises, creativity went out the window. Just think of this old space commercial

You'll never see something like that again (sets made into different things). Now its "here's your Iron Man car or whatever, go play with it". I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate for this comment, but this is a stance I am quite strong on, and I'm sure some people will agree with me.

A lot of people have already given well-thought out responses to that, but I'd like to add that the era of alternate models lasted well after the debut of the Star Wars theme, so linking the apparent "decline" to that is a bit misguided. I recall Star Wars sets as late as 2006 with alternate models on the back of the box, some of which were actually models of never-released canon vehicles (like Dash Rendar's Outrunner/Outrider as an alternate model to 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer).

[Mazin]

There are a lot of laws regulating advertising, especially advertising for things targeted at kids, because kids are extremely impressionable and could easily become misled by an ad for a toy showing it doing something it can't really do. ADVANCE Copenhagen, the ad agency that has been making ads for LEGO products for decades, has a lot of LEGO ads on their YouTube channel (here), and they give insights into many things that wouldn't be legal in ads today-- for instance, showing a helicopter set flying without showing hands holding it in

, or showing the "magic building" from the ad above in

.

Not going to get into the economics or politics of the role of regulation in a free market economy, but in general a lot of governments have historically been willing to stop short of an absolute free market for regulations that are meant to protect their citizens, and children are often viewed as some of the most vulnerable when it comes to advertising.

Wow! This means that this

would be banned now too? I guess ships would... but what about those two funny fellows - they're mascots, not toys, right?

Seriously they're making idiots of us...

I didn't mean that I am after the free market, there's never been such a thing in the history, as there were and always will be some regulations of the "free market"... I am just surprised by those inconsequences and stupidity of those regulations

I know that there is so much lying in commercials, I feel being cheated every day - in McDolands or in a bank... and I think there should be some ethical control... but this is just madness.

Maybe they should ban those "quick building" hands since this is also "unreal" and can mislead kids

Edited November 18, 2012 by Mazin

[Aanchir]

Wow! This means that this

would be banned now too? I guess ships would... but what about those two funny fellows - they're mascots, not toys, right?

Seriously they're making idiots of us...

I didn't mean that I am after the free market, there's never been such a thing in the history, as there were and always will be some regulations of the "free market"... I am just surprised by those inconsequences and stupidity of those regulations

I know that there is so much lying in commercials, I feel being cheated every day - in McDolands or in a bank... and I think there should be some ethical control... but this is just madness.

Maybe they should ban those "quick building" hands since this is also "unreal" and can mislead kids

I don't entirely know the justification behind not allowing "magic building" in commercials but allowing "quick building", but I imagine the presence of real human hands makes things a lot clearer for kids that the scene is in fast-forward. It also might have something to do with offering a sense of scale so kids can see how small the pieces are as it's being built.

I agree, that Pirates commercial probably wouldn't be allowed to show the ships themselves being built that way, but the figures playing with them might still be fair game since the ad makes it pretty clear they're not a part of the product being advertised.

Regardless, it's not as though showing hands "quick building" a model instead of showing "magic building" does any real harm to the advertisements. Perhaps they make the commercial feel a little less "magical", but I personally think that sense of realism really cuts to the heart of the LEGO experience and shows that it is a tactile, hands-on activity rather than purely a matter of dreaming up a model.

Edited November 18, 2012 by Aanchir

[Kierna]

Definately the golden age for TECHNIC. More complex parts than ever before, an entirely new building system REALLY getting into swing (studless beams) and radio control functions which were a dream when I was young. Mechanical functions are as detailed as you like, the colour palatte is small enough to have a good coherent collection of parts if you buy a few sets to get started.

Not to mention mindstorms, which is more attractive and functional than ever before. Self balancing motorcycles, indeed!

Technic is truly an adults product. Perhaps not neccesarily the kits, but the parts and the medium itself.

Edited November 19, 2012 by Kierna

[vexorian]

That LEGO mascot is going to give me nightmares for the rest of my live.

LEGO have a better mascot now, it is called the LEGO minifig, it is also awesome and iconical.

[adreva11]

Id say the golden age is now wide varity of themes, CMF bringing new custmers and some great sets (helms deep , arkham asylum ,) and Erobricks

[Grimmbeard]

Id say the golden age is now wide varity of themes, CMF bringing new custmers and some great sets (helms deep , arkham asylum ,) and Erobricks

I do like the CMF. They are a very good idea that keeps kids and adults coming to the store. Though I do wish each series good have a sort of "theme" to it, i.e one could be space, another series space, etc. This probably wont happen, as they can make more money by having various themes altogether, but it would be nice.

[Hey Joe]

I think the "Golden Age" of LEGO is the 1950s. When the 1950s started the LEGO brick was a failure, which could not sell. But during the 1950s TLG turned the failure to a success. In the end of the 1950s the LEGO brick was a very popular toy, which was sold in the most of Western Europe.

Ok, great point.

So, looking back at the posts I think maybe a consensus could be reached (if such a thing is possible with Lego fanatics)?

How about this:

• Golden age; The 50's, the beginnings of popularizing and systematizing of the bricks.
  
• 
  
• Silver age; Late 80's - early 90's, advent of Pirates, Space, etc.
  
• 
  
• Bronze age; 2009-ish to now, how to categorize this age?
  

What do YOU think?