Citations › Citation ID: 121

C121. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 187.

The other matter under discussion was the question of studs, which stemmed from an experiment that took place during the development of the range of models released in 2001. The flagship set 8466 4x4 Off-Roader was prototyped using two different construction methods. One version relied on a mix of LEGO Technic bricks for the internal structure, with beams, hoses and plates adorning the exterior, along with a variety of functions like a working suspension. The other version used only LEGO Technic beams, both for the details and the interior structure. It was not sturdy enough for release quite yet – there were still not quite enough connectors to lock all the beams together with the same strength as LEGO Technic bricks. Even so, everyone could see that they were only a couple of components away from an entirely independent LEGO Technic System with not a stud or tube in sight. That possibility raised the question: was a model without the iconic studs a LEGO model?

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Many models released from 2003 onwards were constructed exclusively of LEGO Technic beams, although some of the bigger ones still mixed old LEGO Technic bricks with new.

By 2001, The LEGO Group realized that it would soon be possible to make LEGO Technic sets without studded Technic bricks. They released the first studless Technic sets in 2003.