The Brothers Brick

We recently received an advance copy of David C. Robertson‘s new book Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry.

There has been a lot of buzz about the LEGO Group in business circles for a number of years now. Much of this has been caused by the near-bankruptcy of the company and their stellar comeback, posting record profits yet again in 2012. Mr. Robertson’s book takes the reader on a journey deep inside the company and explains many of the internal workings that led to the rise, the fall, and the ultimate resurrection of LEGO. Mr. Robertson is a professor of innovation and product development, so some of the terminology was unfamiliar to me. However, his writing is accessible to the lay reader and the book gives a lot of insight into LEGO and their attempts at innovation, covering both their successes and failures. Some of the information may be familiar to the hard-core fan but I found that there was a lot of information regarding issues of which I was unaware. For instance, I knew that LEGO is an extremely insulated company and that the right hand often doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. What I didn’t know was that in the 90s they branched off into so many different markets and ventures that there were many divisions cut off from the main leadership and were never even asked to make sure their efforts were marketable, profitable or even if they had anything to do with LEGO.

Some of the points that Robertson explores are:
- How the leadership at LEGO in the 90s tried to incorporate the leading edge strategies of innovation strategies and nearly killed the company in doing so.
- The lose of control that the 90s leadership experienced by rapidly moving outside the company’s fields of expertise, not establishing any sort of reliable accountability or tracking of costs. As hard as it is to believe, the leadership didn’t even know which lines were making money and which weren’t.
- How the new leadership turned the company around by pulling back and innovating “inside the brick”…exploring innovations inside the realm of what they knew and could control.
- How and why certain innovations failed in such a spectacular fashion, such as LEGO Universe and Galidor, and why other innovations became overnight sensations, such as Ninjago, Mindstorms NXT, and the lines of LEGO video games and board games.

Overall, the book was quite interesting, easy to read, and gave me added insight into thought processes and decision-making that has gone on at LEGO. I would recommend it any LEGO fan.

Brick by Brick is available for pre-order from Amazon.com, and the book is due out on June 25th, 2013.

David Frank (AKA Fraslund) has created an outstanding LEGO rendition of that classic toy, Castle Grayskull, from the 80s television show, Masters of the Universe. David’s version is drop-dead gorgeous. He was able to perfectly capture the iconic gate and drawbridge, as well as the lesser known details around the sides and rear. David definitely has the power!

Check out the rest of the pictures. They are definitely worth it.

Guy Himber’s Pigs vs. Cows project is well underway, but still needs pledges! An exciting part of some the pledges is an exclusive PvC BrickArms crate that will be included with the Pig and Cow heads.

Also one of the $1000 pledges has been picked up so everyone will be receiving cat heads as well! As the picture states, the cat is still a work-in-progress.

Pledge now!

Spring is upon us and the makers of custom accessories are coming out with more new items to tempt us!

First up, BrickArms just released 10 new guns that run the gamut from World War II to Sci-Fi. Fans will be excited to see the E-11 and DL-44 come to production. Personally, I’m pretty excited about the Mosin Nagant.

BrickForge has a number of new items. These include gas masks, ballistic masks, face shields, tactical masks, night vision goggles and chin straps.

Brickwarriors made Dark Blue and Lime items available.

Finally, BrickFortress doesn’t have any new items but all of their poseable, stubby legs are on sale for $1.15. They have been on sale for some time now, so this may be the new, standard price. They recently ran a poll, asking which colors people would like, so we may see something new in the future. See our review for an opinion on these items.

Bruce Lowell (Bruceywan) has created a truly fun rendition of one of Nintendo’s iconic characters, Yoshi. From the bulbous nose, to the “Yoshi Egg”, from the shell on his back to the brick-built hills in the background, this creation is simply awesome.

Just when I think I’ve seen everything that could be done with LEGO, Blake Baer (Blake’s Baericks) goes and does something new. This Mindstorms-operated bookshelf safe is amazing. Actually it is more than amazing, it is incredible. Building the books and disguising a safe inside would have been enough, but Blake goes one step further and automates the whole thing. I love it.

You really have to check out the video to fully appreciate this build:

This was built as an entry for this year’s MOCathalon

Jubal Scharold (Sir Darc) has turned out a ship that really looks like a mover, The Blue Fury! Those beefy-looking thrusters give this a definite hot-rod feel. I’m also loving how the builder used the stacked, trans-blue radar dishes as an integral part in the engines themselves. Add to that some subtle angle changes and dropped nose, you end up with a rather menacing-looking craft.

This edgy version of Little Red Riding Hood, by Evan B., depicts her in the midst of an anti-wolf vendetta. This build is quite striking. I think this is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The girl is nicely done, the landscaping is good, the wolf and the blood effect are well-thought out but when all the elements are put together something special emerges. I get a real sense of the character and her pain when I look at this build. Well done, Evan, well done.

This was built as an entry for the annual MOCathalon on MOCpages

Ralph Savelsberg has now long been known for his beautiful renditions of historic aircraft. His latest does not disappoint and I learned something new today as well. I was not very familiar with the Thunderchief but I have remedied that situation. Quite the impressive plane and quite the impressive build.

What do Hogwarts, the Batcave, the Shire, a four-foot Borg cube, and an eight-foot Space Needle have in common? They were all at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle this last weekend!

I spent three days immersed in nerd-culture and am only now beginning to recover. What an awesome time! This was the second year that SeaLUG has put on a display at ECCC and it was definitely a success.

There were many highlights throughout the weekend but a big personal highlight was getting my Patrick Stewart, Christoper Lloyd and Batman mosaics signed.

The display itself was like a “Who’s Who” of impressive builds. Alice Finch brought her incredible Hogwart’s. Wayne Hussey and Carlyle Livingston brought The Batcave, Shawn Steele brought his Space Needle, Dan Parker brought an enormous Borg Cube, there was a collaborative build of The Shire, a Miniland-scale BrickCon, DisneyLand, Mosaics, Space Ships (with Space Kraken) and much, much more.

The entire weekend was full of good times, good food, catching up with old friends (Hi Will!) and making new ones. Celebrity sightings were a common occurence. I’m told Felicia Day came by and checked out the LEGO display. I attended the panel she co-hosted with Wil Wheaton but missed her apperance at the Sealug tables. Panels, sessions and workshops are a huge part of comic book conventions. I attended several, including Patrick Stewart’s (yes, he is awesome). Mariann Asanuma got LEGO on the agenda running a panel on “Building with Lego – for a Living!”

The convention attendees seemed to be impressed with the display of LEGO creativity. There was a constant flow of traffic at the tables on Friday (the only day that wasn’t sold out), but Saturday and Sunday were packed. People were lining up around the corner to check out our LEGO creations. I heard cries of delight all the way down the display and quite a few people wanted to know how to get involved with the hobby. We passed out SeaLUG business cards and BrickCon bookmarks like they were candy and people wanted even more information.

For many it was the first time they had seen what adults could do with the amazing little bricks we play with and it was a whole new world to them. So, to sum up, SeaLUG had a great time at Emerald City Comic Con. If there is a similar event in a city near your LUG, I highly recommend getting involved. It’s a great way to spread the word about your LUG, show off your creations and to meet new people!

OneLUG is already known for incredible Lord of the Rings creations. Our readers may remember The Last March of the Ents that they did last year. These three mosaics, depicting the heraldry of Gondor, Rohan and the Uruk-hai, are exceptional.

The redoubtable Iain Heath (AKA Number One) has boldly gone where no one has dared go before. This is Star Trek: The Next Generation as it should have been. With relatively few pieces and lot of moxy, Iain has managed to capture the true nature of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Doctor Beverly Crusher, Counselor Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Worf and Wesley Crusher.

Come see this in person later this week at SEALUG‘s LEGO display at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle.

Schfio made them and they are too adorable for words.

Tama and Friends is Japanese Anime series that originally ran in 1994.

This gorgeous river fortress was built by Soccersnyderi for Guilds of Historica.

I really like how the castle spans the river and the landscaping is quite nice. All the pieces really seem to mesh and create something special here. You also have to love the roof on the main tower.

The tenth year of the CCC was a big one! We had over 400 entries and many of the honorable-mentions would have been winners in previous years. Check out winners and enjoy some Castle-Greatness!

Here are some of my favorites among the winners:

Best Castle – Ras al Jabar by Fianat

Best Winter Scene – And the Band Played On by SlyOwl

Best Misc. – Visit by LolinoLL

The Master Builder will announced as soon as we can figure out who wins. It is an extremely close race.