Citations › Source ID: 4

C1. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 34.

...as the company matured, a budget-management strategy was put in place that is still used to this day: frames. ... Product lines will receive a number of new element frames, colour-change frames and decoration frames. ... Some types of moulds are more expensive to make, so not all new part frames are created equal, either. Once the allocations are made, teams will sometimes trade frames both within their own groups and across departments. If an idea is especially good, a special case can be made for an extra frame or two.

'Frames' are used as a currency within the LEGO design teams to budget for new parts, existing parts in new colors, or new printed parts.

C2. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 22.

Clutch power is created by the opposing forces of studs pushing out and walls trying to pull back in. While the ideal strength’s value must remain secret, it is a defined number measured in newtons.

Ideal clutch power is described as the force (in newtons) required to take two pieces apart.

C7. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 22.

When the first 2x4 bricks were created, the first connector pair,
composed of studs and tubes, was also invented.

I was first introduced to the 'connector pair' terminology in Daniel's book.

C10. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 42.

Jan Ryaa himself tackled the upgrading of the blue track, which had remained virtually unchanged since its release in 1969. He had personal experience with the track’s main drawback: stability. ... No matter how careful he was, the layout inevitably broke. Blue track consisted of independent rail elements that were joined by a single 2x8 plate, each rail clinging for dear life to a single stud on each end. Jan realised what was needed: a special railroad tie element that could more firmly attach to the track. Ultimately this led to new rails as well, with small slots that clipped into this tie component. Jan’s personal challenge was to make the connections so secure that train layouts could be hung on a wall. Were it not for the heavier metallic rail elements needed to power the new 12-volt engines that also had to be attached to his rail tie, Jan would have succeeded.

Reason for slots where Train Rails (parts 3328 / 3229 / 3230) connect to a 2×8 Train Tie (part 4166).

C11. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 48.

The LEGO Group ... knew that retiring 9V was going to hit the fans hard. ... Power Functions returned to battery boxes, which meant that all the new train track, while compatible with the previous version from a connector standpoint, would not need metal rails. This had the advantage of making track less expensive to produce, thereby lowering the bar of entry, but it meant that new track would be incompatible with 9V train motors that relied on electrified rails. Furthermore, the element managers, predecessors of today’s element coaches, working in collaboration with designers, had earmarked all of the train-specific elements for deletion. From now on, trains would have to utilise windows and doors shared by other product themes.

Almost all train-specific elements were also retired when 9V trains were replaced with Power Functions in the late 2000s.

C12. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 49.

The LEGO Group has thousands of moulds in active use every year with even more on standby. Every one of them must be regularly calibrated, maintained, polished and stored in a massive climate-controlled environment. Prior to the mid-1990s, when computers began making it possible to store information in databases, designers relied on an analogue element archive, personal lists and their own memories to know which parts were available and which were not. Retiring elements and destroying moulds occurred rarely; normally only when a new or better element came along and replaced it.

Thousands of moulds are used every year.

C13. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 49.

Around the year 2000, a host of new moulds were created in a very short time for a number of themes that struggled in the marketplace. Many of the elements were highly specialised for a particular theme and were unusable when that theme ended. ... It was time to simplify the element library. Several veteran designers were asked to join a team to use their extensive knowledge of parts and colours to reduce the number of elements. They managed to reduce the number of moulds and parts needing storage by thousands. ... It took a whole decade, from 2000 to 2010, but by the end designers had assigned ID numbers to every element, created a company-wide database to manage its parts catalogue, called Easy Builder System (EBT), and began establishing standards for existing families of components that defined rules for when they could be added to.

By 2010, the company created clear standards for when new parts can be added to the catalog.

C14. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 49/50.

One example was the humble wheel. Over many years since its introduction, the number produced had ballooned to over a hundred different types, many with equal diameters and only slight differences between them. Such scenarios were commonplace across many element families. ... Wheels were a primary area of focus [in the early 2000s]. After cutting over 50 per cent of the variants, only forty-five wheels remained, along with a fresh new guide for developing tyres and rims only when needed.

The selection of wheels and tires was radically reduced in the early 2000s.

C15. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 51.

When an element does not make the cut, it is marked as retired and its mould is destroyed. This practice stems from a study that was conducted during the initial reduction in elements and which yielded surprising results. The LEGO Group found that for most moulds the cost of remaking them was less expensive than five years of storage. That finding became part of the calculus during yearly evaluations. If a strong case can’t be made for an element in the next five years, retirement is more economical than storing its mould.

Storing a mould for 5 years costs as much as making a new one.

C16. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 64.

Years earlier, after developing the stud-and-tube principle for the 2x4 brick and other widely used pieces, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen and his team had turned their attention to elements with only a single row of studs. Tubes sit in the centre of four studs, making contact with each stud when joined to another brick. But that isn’t possible when there is only one row of studs in a line – tubes are simply too big. Enter the bar. A bar is another fundamental LEGO construct. Generally, in elements with widths of only one stud, bars play the same role as tubes do in components with widths of two studs or more. At exactly two sections in diameter, bars are compressed slightly by studs when pieces join, creating that all-important clutch power.

The bar was initially created to improve clutch power in bricks that are 1-stud wide.

C17. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 64-65.

As the first [buildable] LEGO figures came together, someone proposed an inspired solution for the hand. It would be round, one module in diameter and the same thickness as a LEGO plate element, which would allow it to grip a single stud. The breakthrough, however, was making the stud hollow, leaving an opening equal in size to a brick’s bar. ... Suddenly, accessories didn’t need to have studs and could be much more realistically sized. Furthermore, a bar inserted into the hand was an incredibly strong connection, creating a grip far superior to any doll. This design would inform that of LEGO minifigure hands a few years later and give them many of the distinct qualities that make them so versatile and useful to this day.

The idea to create accessories with a bar-diameter handles arose alongside the 'buildable figures' in 1974, several years before the first minifigures.

C18. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 66.

... the need for heads to sit in the centre of a 1x2 brick, as was the case in many of those early experiments, was the inspiration for jumper plates, where a single stud is placed in the center of a 1x2. Jumper plates would make their debut a few years later in 1978 as a happy accidental byproduct of creating minifigures.

The jumper plate was inspired by the need to attach a head in the middle of a 1x2 brick when developing the Minifigure.

C19. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 66/67.

Heads would be six sections tall, torsos were eight sections, and legs would be an even ten sections, for a grand total of twenty-four sections, equaling exactly four regular bricks – the minifigure’s height to this day.

Establishing the proportions of the classic minifigure's head (1 brick tall), torso (1⅓ brick tall), and legs (1⅔ bricks tall).

C20. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 72.

When the final head design was completed and placed atop the ‘salt-pillar’ body, it protruded out over the torso’s back and front at a dimension which didn’t match any established proportion or value. Making it stick out a full section, or even half a section, would have made minifigure heads unrealistically large.

Explanation for why the width of a LEGO minifigure head is not an even number of units.

C21. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 74.

When a minifigure stands with its arms extended in front of it, the distance from centre to centre of its claw hands will be exactly two modules. Even so, the unique dimensional world in which minifigures exist became apparent. Half sections and half modules, or even quarter variants, are the domain of minifigures, necessitated by their need, first and foremost, to mirror human child proportions as much as possible. Raise a minifigure’s hands all the way up, the centre-to-centre dimensions of its hands equals seven and a half sections. Fully lowered, twelve- and three-quarter sections. No other element in the LEGO System is so irregular with its connection points and measurements

Because a minfigure's arms attach at an angle the distance between the hands varies based on the angle. The one regular measurement is that minifigure hands are two-modules apart when extended in front.

C22. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 74-75.

The answer ended up being a hand with two slightly curved sides extending out like claws. Their angles were set such that a single stud component could be clicked into place on the top while bars could be slid in between and held firmly by the protrusions. They were dubbed claw hands.

Origin of the term 'claw hands'.

C23. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 82.

To achieve more human-like proportions, an extra three sections of height were added, for a total of twenty-seven. However, none of the three components – legs, torso or head – are whole sections. The distance between the connectors beneath feet are equal to that of a minifigure, but the depth of the feet (toe to heel) was increased to six sections, equal to the height of a brick, allowing a more realistic proportion. That tiny bit of extra space means that legs can curve slightly at the back and the overall shape of the whole body is more realistic.

Minidolls are ½ of a brick taller than a minifigure, and their internal proportions are optimized for realism rather than an even number of units.

C24. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 82.

Mini dolls maintain a consistent hand distance apart no matter where they are rotated; it is always the same as a minifigure’s hands when they are fully down: from one hand to the other is twelve- and three-quarter sections.

The space between minidoll hands does not change when the arms rotate.

C25. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 88.

When the company decided to move ahead with Daniel August Krentz’s castle models, designers were encouraged to use elements already cast in grey, rather than recasting a variety of existing bricks in realistic grey. This was to reduce the risk of the company having to store large assortments of elements in what was perceived as a speciality colour. Frames were, after all, functions of both cost and physical space. Storing a large number of grey pieces until uses could be found for them was not ideal.

Budgetary concerns (as expressed in the bookkeeping concept of frames) is why the first LEGO Castle was yellow. Every unique element needs to be manufactured and stored in the warehouse until packaged into a LEGO set.

C26. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 88.

Through cutting and gluing existing bricks, designers affixed LEGO® Technic pins and receiving holes to the sides of standard 1x2 bricks. Pins could slide down into holes but still rotate, creating a strong yet mobile hinge. Incorporating such elements into the castle’s side walls allowed them to open, transforming tight interior courtyards into expansive play areas. It was a perfect solution.

The 1x4 Hinge Brick (parts 3830+3831) were invented to allow castles to open up and reveal their interior.

C27. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 91.

[Krentz, Knudsen, Pedersen] realised that the ideal approach would be to invent a simpler way to construct walls. Individual bricks require a lot of raw material for creating the spaces in which studs and tubes interact; faces and wall thicknesses result in substantial surface area. Eventually, these designers concluded that the perfect solution would be a part that had tubes on the bottom and studs on the top, with those surfaces connected by a sheet of plastic just thick enough to be rigid. Thus, the castle panel was born.

Panels were invented to reduce costs when designing large castle sets.

C28. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 98.

A rifle that resembled a flintlock musket, or blunderbuss, was eventually created for LEGO Pirates when it was launched in 1989, with designers arguing that they looked nothing like current armaments and were notoriously inaccurate anyway.

Explanation for why LEGO Pirates was allowed to have guns despite the company's desire to avoid military themes.

C29. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 101.

Designers decided to use a technology the LEGO Group had newly acquired: vacuum forming. ... Trying to make the walls of any 3D shape as thin as possible meant that any open expanse on the top lacked support and bent easily when bricks were pushed down while building on it. Rising to this challenge ultimately led to the inclusion of sections near the middle, which dropped back down to ground level as a pit providing support to raised sections around their perimeter. Such pits would become part of every variant of 3D baseplate ever produced.

Raised baseplates were vacuum-formed from a flat sheet. The pit in the middle was added to make the areas with raised studs more rigid.

C30. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 108.

Effort was made to try and limit runaway numbers of new fauna through a rule being implemented. Every new animal had to have uses planned for it for at least ten years. Recognising that dragons would be in danger of having limited applications, as much versatility as possible was infused into its design, starting with repurposing an unapproved creature. A crocodile had been created for LEGO Pirates, but was deemed redundant and unnecessary, considering the theme’s menagerie of other animals. When the launch of LEGO Pirates was delayed, the crocodile was officially dropped from the assortment. However, its design was complete, including all its parts. Designers worked their new dragon body around the crocodile’s existing tail and top jaw element.

Animals were only introduced if they had plans to use them in sets for at least 10 years. They also found creative ways to reuse moulds for multiple animals.

C63. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 120.

One element soon emerged as a cornerstone of the new vision: a massive, faceted, transparent quarter-dome. Futuristic societies imagined in science fiction during this time almost always appeared beneath such protective barriers; visually, domes instantaneously suggested the idea of an advanced civilisation. Once identified, a lot of time and effort was put into designing the quarter-dome element so that, when placed together in groups of four, they created an enclosed space beneath a vibrant full dome. Designers prototyped many sizes, shapes and colours and then experimented to see which kinds of models they could facilitate, until a final design emerged.

Origin story for 10x10x12 Faceted Quarter Dome (part 2409) which was inspired by Science Fiction worlds.

C64. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 122.

Most new elements are designed within the confines of a specific theme to meet its needs: different headpieces to distinguish one wave of ninja heroes from another or a distinctive aesthetic piece such as a log wall for a fort. Features to facilitate wider use are included when practical, but the needs of an element’s theme of origin take precedence.

Most parts are designed to meet the needs of a specific theme, with modest consideration for how it could be used elsewhere.

C65. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 122-124.

Sometimes a concept ... requires more than just a new piece or two: a whole family of elements is needed. ... the development of such a family is too great a burden for any solitary theme on its own. Overcoming that hurdle, however, would mean everyone would benefit, as often these big ideas would have wide application across multiple LEGO themes.

Platforms are families of elements developed above and apart from the normal set-design process by a dedicated team not associated with any specific theme. Their purpose is to create new types of construction opportunities, classes of pieces, or even whole building systems, which will have wide-ranging applications. Platforms are rare because of the huge upfront investment in both time and money, but such a high cost is justified because the new family will be useful across multiple product lines for years to come, and quite possibly forever.

...

A prime illustration is the family of elements referred to within the company as bow slopes and known
as sloped curves among fans.

Platforms describe a large group of related parts which are designed to be used across multiple LEGO themes.

Rollercoaster Track is a modern example, and Monorail is an earlier example created before the platform process was established. The Radiuses used across different curved elements is another example where a Platform was used to establish a pattern.

C66. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 129.

Ultimately, three proposals were brought back to management: first, a monorail; second, a new train-track system which would facilitate different types of trains; and third, a rollercoaster track system.

Each of these concepts was then put through the ultimate gauntlet: being scrutinised and tested by the LEGO Group target audience – children. ... In this case almost all of the young subjects expressed excitement for speed, motion, upward and downward movement, and action. Only one of the proposals matched all of those descriptions: the rollercoaster.

Rollercoaster was one of three platform-level investments considered in 2016, and won out because kids loved it!

C67. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 135-136.

Vehicle cabs would come in 1981 with a pair of elements called the 4x4 hinge roof and hinge roof holder, which were released alongside a pair of interlocking 1x2 hinge plates. Together, these four components initiated a new family known as finger elements, derived from their ability to join via protrusions that interlaced like two hands coming together. These types of hinge would be used extensively throughout not just LEGO Town but the entire LEGO product portfolio, until being replaced by friction hinges in 1999.

Finger Hinges were introduced in 1981.

C68. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 138-139.

The piece which emerged from this effort is known throughout the fan community as a ‘headlight brick’. Within the LEGO Group it is named for its creator: the Erling brick. This piece has become one of the most universally used parts in the entire element portfolio, having been included in over 5,000 sets to date.

...

Their first question was where the sideways stud should be situated. Placing it directly in the middle of the 1x1 brick’s face, by far the most aesthetically pleasing choice, was rife with issues. First, it meant the stud’s centre would be at a height of exactly three sections. While that may not seem problematic intuitively, Erling had enough foresight to see a major issue stemming from the fact that bricks are six sections tall but only five sections wide. Any brick attached sideways at a height of three sections would not be flush with either the top or the bottom of Erling’s proposed element, leaving an unsightly, and out of LEGO® System, gap of half a section. Accordingly, he elected to slide the sideways stud up ... Doing it that way meant an attached brick’s edge lined up with the top of Erling’s element, making it much more useful. Designers who developed what would later become known as LEGO® Technic bricks had placed the centres of their holes for snaps in the same location, so it is highly likely Erling was influenced by their earlier work.

...

Erling created a design which not only rotated a stud ninety degrees but recessed it so that it was only four sections away from the opposite face instead of five. This created a small lip at the bottom of his new component that was both a section tall and deep.

Being able to build through in two directions was not just a conceptual exercise; Erling made
it a reality by creating an opening that could receive a stud on the vertical wall opposite the one
which had the outward-facing stud. Erling Didriksen did not know it at the time, but he had just
laid the first foundation stone for a whole genre of building techniques, which would come to
be known as sideways building within the LEGO Group and studs not on top, or SNOT, to fans.

Erling Didriksen designed the Headlight Brick (part 4070), which was introduced in 1980 and made SNOT building techniques possible for the first time.

C69. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 139.

In 1985, a variant was approved that consisted of a 1x1 brick with studs on every face except the bottom – five in total – which led to the name 1x1 with studs on five sides. This was greenlit because the single axis one could build through the brick along, top to bottom, remained consistent with the LEGO System. Both the initial Erling element and its five-sided cousin immediately saw extensive use throughout the LEGO Group product lines.

1×1 Brick, Studs 4-Sides (Part 4733) was introduced in 1985, making it the second SNOT element.

C70. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 141.

Unapologetically the spiritual successors of Town Plan’s mats, road plates were a fundamental element of LEGO Town, informing nearly every set, whether directly or indirectly, and influencing designers’ whole approach to the line. Initially, these large street pieces came in three variants: straight sections, curved sections and T-junctions. Crossroads would come two years later, in 1980. Each was manufactured on a baseplate that was 32x32 studs in size with the road created by omitting studs according to whichever shape was desired. Furthermore, every street, regardless of shape, was oriented so that its centre-line was perfectly centred on the baseplate’s edge. This feature allowed road plates to be completely modular, with each type seamlessly joining to any other.

Road PLates (now discontinued) were introduced in 1978 alongside LEGO Town and the first Minifigures.

C71. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 142.

Already only a single section thick, and flexible because of it, baseplates could not be made any thinner.

Flexible Baseplates are 1-unit thick.

C72. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 145.

One of the few new pieces developed for the debut of LEGO Town was a new window frame, to which could be affixed both windowpanes and shutters. Initially, designers incorporated them only where one would expect a window to appear. However, they soon realised that the frame, especially, represented an opportunity. In 1980, a transparent sheet was created, intended to mimic a pane of glass, which could fit inside the existing frame. Together, these sheets could cover a 1x4x3 area more efficiently than filling that same space with bricks.

Glass windows were introduced to work with new window frames.

C73. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 149.

for 1992’s LEGO Town sets, the company created their own imaginary, in-world energy company called Octan. Made entirely of existing elements, the new subtheme was realised by modifying colours and creating a new logo. Octan branding was used in all future gas stations as well as racing sets and, many years later, as a central part of THE LEGO® MOVIE™.

OCTAN was introduced in 1992.

C74. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 159.

LEGO World City had used the old finger hinges, which could prove tricky for little fingers to assemble. The new roof plate didn’t pivot to open; it simply attached somewhat loosely to a vehicle’s top so it could be easily removed. Designers intentionally omitted window pieces on either side of the cab so that children could reach their fingers in and easily pop off the roof plate.

4×6×⅔ Wedge Roof (Part 52031) was introduced as an alternative to hinged roofs that is easy for young kids to remove and reattach.

C75. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 159.

Wheel arches replaced a variety of different parts that had served the same purpose through the years. Doing so had the triple benefits of reducing the overall number of active elements, creating a distinctive component that defined the aesthetic of LEGO City new vehicles and making building more straightforward, since the same arches were used on all vehicles throughout the theme, which had not been the case before.

4×2½×2 Mudguard (Part 50745) was introduced alongside a LEGO City reboot to give the vehicles a consistent style.

C76. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 160.

Each year the company creates a balanced portfolio with a certain percentage of sets spread across all themes that are appropriate for younger ages. Sometimes this has been done in tandem with special branding, such as LEGO® Juniors or LEGO 4+. Other times, smaller sets from various themes are aged down, with no special branding. If a new theme is aimed almost entirely at younger children, space can be freed up elsewhere for an additional set targeted at slightly older children. Every year is a balancing act.

The LEGO Group aims to create a balanced assortment of sets aimed at different age groups.

C77. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 161.

In 2005, a key element was introduced that quickly rose to prominence: an updated version of the large 1x6x5 panel brick that had been resurrected from the 1970s for the final years of LEGO Town. In its revised form, the piece was moulded more like the old castle wall panels, with a single wall and ridges supporting it on the edges incorporating full plates and studs on top and bottom respectively. Like its predecessor, this allowed for a huge amount of surface area but also efficient use of raw materials. Thanks to parts like this, used in tandem with strategic open spaces, LEGO City buildings became bigger and bigger.

1×6×5 Panel with Studs (Part 59349) was created to replace 1×6×5 Brick (Part 3754) by creating a large piece that used even less plastic.

C78. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 162.

... another new element, the 2x2x10 girder. Girders were another example of achieving size through the strategic use of support elements to cover large areas with minimal material while not compromising strength.

In the early 2000s, a conscious effort was made to make models larger while using less plastic to save cost.

C80. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 163, 165.

LEGO Castle was developing the first non-military-based set in a generation: a village square with market that would become set 10193 Medieval Market Village, released in 2009. LEGO City designers had developed a potential farming subtheme that included a prototype pig element, as well as cows, the latter of which both teams jointly launched. Farming had never been rendered in LEGO System bricks before and served as the first experiment with subject matter that existed adjacent to LEGO City. Farming was just the beginning.

...

As with LEGO® NINJAGO® and LEGO Star Wars, novelty-driven sets relied largely on a few exciting new parts centred around their given setting. Since cows started the trend, animals have remained a consistent favourite, especially in the wilder settings such as jungle and underwater, and include leopards, sharks, crocodiles, stingrays and more.

LEGO Set designers are aware of the appeal of introducing new animal moulds with new themes or sets.

C81. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 169.

But LEGO Technic stands apart as a theme that evolved its own unique building system out of an existing one, eventually becoming something so different it must be classified as its own species. Both in the beginning, and at various stages throughout its history, LEGO Technic did not set out to become its own system; however, through key choices and element designs, that is exactly what happened.

While Technic began rooted in the classic LEGO brick, I'm not alone in seeing modern Technic as its own system.

C82. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 170.

Out of that need was born the first independent LEGO axle, which ... looked exactly like the modern LEGO Technic cross axle, so named for the shape of its cross section. These elements have remained virtually unchanged, aside from the establishment of rules governing their colours. Both cross axles and snaps – snaps are what designers call the pins that hold LEGO Technic elements together – are now colourcoded based on length or type. ... During the 1980s and 1990s, all cross axles were black, which made it easy for builders to mistakenly place similar lengths in the wrong places. Eventually, cross axles came in four different colours: red, yellow, grey and black. Each increase in length is assigned the next colour of the sequence so that no axle of the same colour is anywhere close to the same size as another that shares its hue.

Color-coding is used for Technic Pins and Axles.

C83. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 171.

Despite technically being new, the design of this anchoring brick closely mirrored the modified 2x4 Knud had come up with for the original LEGO wheel. Once again, holes were passed through each of a 2x4 brick’s walls. However, this time, instead of one hole per side, a bisecting tunnel was cast in between each pair of studs on all four walls; three on the long sides and one on the short faces.

The first Technic Brick from 1970 was based on a 2x4 brick, with holes on all three sides. (Part 3709)

C84. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 173.

the normal method of stacking System bricks would make a sturdy build, but would require too many elements. ... Their idea was to introduce holes through the sides of bricks into which pins, later dubbed snaps, could be inserted. Then a second brick with holes could be mounted across the pins, securely joining the whole assembly. Their goal was not to create a whole new building system, but simply to modify existing bricks slightly in order to open up new possibilities.

Jan Ryaa and Eric Bach placed holes in between the studs of the bricks, making a similar decision to their predecessors, who created the modified 2x4 for those first independent axles. They didn’t know it at the time, but this was a foundational decision. System bricks are based on even numbers of studs, which means that placing a hole between each pair results in an odd number of penetrations. ... this would prove a fortuitous, if inadvertent, feature. In many mechanical constructs like drive trains, the ability to place the axle from the motor directly through the centre of an element is highly advantageous, since it allows all the moving parts to be mirrored on either side of the vehicle.

The 1-stud wide Technic brick was created to build larger and stronger models.

C85. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 173-175.

Work began with the smallest possible gear, which was defined as being sized so that a pair of them could sit side by side in sequential LEGO Technic holes. This meant that each
one’s teeth needed to intertwine across the one-module distance between holes ... Accordingly, Jan and Eric determined that their gear’s nominal diameter should be a single
module. (In practice, LEGO Technic gears are not exact modules in diameter, especially when the teeth are included, but they are close enough that designers can use these designations for simplicity). Through trial and error, they further concluded that eight teeth evenly spaced around the resulting circumference worked well and left enough space for a strong centre
through which cross axles could be passed. Thus, the foundational gear relationship of eight teeth for every module of diameter was born.

Technic gears have 8-teeth for every stud/module in diameter (5 units)

C86. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 176.

By 1982 the line had become well established and was rebranded LEGO Technic. At the same time, a new part was added that greatly aided construction. Previously, the single snap invented by Jan Ryaa and Eric Bach had been used as the primary method of connecting various LEGO Technic bricks together. With an eye towards rotating functions, the two designers had designed the snap to fit securely but loosely in the hole. It was free to rotate without a lot of friction. While great for certain movements, it was less sturdy in some of the structural applications in which it was now often used. Accordingly, a new, tighter-fitting snap, known as a friction snap, was introduced, allowing for more secure model construction.

The Friction Pin was introduced in 1982, alongside the LEGO Technic brand.

C87. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 177.

LEGO Technic figures were taller than minifigures, with additional points of articulation, and hands that could grip snaps. The new figures debuted in 1986, in a four-set LEGO Technic subtheme called Arctic Action. The theme included vehicles for traversing frozen terrain, as well as explorers’ accessories that fused role play with the functionality of LEGO Technic. Arctic Action only lasted one year, but the LEGO Technic figure would go on to be included in various sets for many years and the large skis created for the figures were used extensively in the LEGO Space Ice Planet subtheme several years later.

LEGO Technic figures were introduced in 1986.

C88. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 153.

The first fundamental change was a drop in the target age range for LEGO Town most day-to-day subject matter. Sets that would previously have been intended for children who were a minimum of eight years old were recalibrated for children as young as five. Those three years are a major period for brain development and there are enormous differences between what a five-year-old can do versus an eight-year-old.

...

Enacting this new approach meant completely revamping the complexity level of many LEGO Town stalwarts, beginning in 1997 with firefighter sets. Some techniques were deemed too advanced for the new target age group, such as the use of windows with smaller bricks filling in the spaces in between. Instead, large, specialised elements were developed, while at the same time the level of detail was simplified. The garage-door elements that had been introduced a decade earlier were not age-appropriate so, instead of being enclosed, garages became partially covered parking spaces.

In 1997, in an attempt to maintain an audience despite competitive digital toys, The LEGO Group shifted their age targets lower, resulting in simpler sets aimed at younger kids. This resulted in larger, more specialized parts.

C117. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 178-179.

Designs [for outriggers] were either too bulky or caught on neighbouring parts of the vehicle. Solving the problem involved a new element dubbed a lift arm, which was distinctive in several important ways from other LEGO Technic components. Along most of its length, the lift arm was half the width of a normal brick, or two-and a-half sections. At one end, a full module of width was cast for extra stability due to its second feature: the inclusion of cross holes. Cross holes, so named for their shape, are designed to hold axles securely and keep them from rotating. Their inclusion at either end of the four-module long initial lift arm meant that lift arms could be joined to, and rotate with, a gear. Arranged in
that configuration, they became arms which could lift, hence the name.

Casting them at half a regular brick’s width helped with the space issue on the backhoe, but it wasn’t quite enough, which led to the final two, and arguably most important, decisions. Designers both rounded the lift arm’s edges and made it only one module tall, slightly less than the height of a regular brick. These features meant that rather than the blocky, ninety degree nature of normal bricks, lift arms were comprised of thinner profiles and graceful arcs that allowed them to fit in far tighter spaces.

They were perfect, solving all of the outrigger’s problems, and ended up being included in that role on two models in 1989: set 8862 Backhoe Grader and set 8854 Power Crane. The significance of lift arms was easily missed among all the other LEGO Technic bricks, but they began a new stage of evolution that would culminate in an entirely independent LEGO Technic System based on beams.

Technic Liftarms debuted in 1989, preceding the now-ubiquitous Technic Beams.

C118. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 183.

In what was at the time a radical departure, designers eventually elected to model their new part’s geometry more on a lift arm than a LEGO Technic brick. Accordingly, they cast it with the same nominal height of one module but, instead of making the width half a module, the width of this element was a full module in order to give it more strength. The first LEGO Technic beam had been born. Taking further inspiration from lift arms, the final connectors along each of the beam’s sides was done as a cross hole so that it could be anchored and turned, vital for making the Space Shuttle’s cargo bay doors open and close.

The first Technic Beam was actually a bent element. 1×7 Beam, Bent (part 32348) debuted in 1996's #8480 Space Shuttle.

C119. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 184-185.

During those first years, the combinations of beams and other elements were mostly decorative. Frameworks of LEGO Technic bricks would form a model’s interior, with beams contributing to certain functions and exterior details, along with tubes and plates. However, as the family of beams grew, its uses began to change. Initially, the shift was most prominent in a class of models that almost hadn’t existed before: small LEGO Technic vehicles. Due to the spacing required to pin LEGO Technic bricks together, small products had never been possible before. As the number of beams and half beams increased, their tight tolerances allowed for stable, small depictions of all kinds of vehicles, from motorcycles to aeroplanes, and more. Now, with smaller sets, children could experiment and see if they liked the LEGO Technic theme before moving onto higher-priced sets.

The introduction of a full range of Technic beams made it possible to design much smaller Technic models and reach younger builder.

C120. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 185-186.

MINDSTORMS was a new product line released in 1998 after a decade of development. It combined LEGO Technic elements with a new programmable, computerised smart brick. Known as the Robotic Control System, RCX, it was the end result of a partnership initiated by Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen himself with Seymour Papert, a renowned professor of mathematics and computer science at the US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). LEGO Technic team members were involved in creating the designs for robots that were constructed mostly from LEGO Technic elements.

LEGO Mindstorms was co-developed with Seymour Papert of MIT Media Lab and released in 1998.

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?

...

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.

C122. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 190.

Achieving the amazing looks of 8285 Tow Truck was a design challenge. Designers had to painstakingly make the transition from odd-number-based beams without studs back to System elements with even numbers of studs.

LEGO System is based on an even number of modules (the width of one stud) while Technic is based on an odd number of modules.

C123. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 189-190.

Early on, BIONICLE had followed a lot of the same rules as LEGO Technic, and its characters had classic open skeletons. Over the years, though, functions, mechanisms and internals had been progressively covered with more exotic armour and plating. Children loved it and, combined with the feedback they were sending in about wanting their LEGO Technic sets to similarly cover up, designers decided to test a theory.

...

To allow future LEGO Technic models to have enclosed interiors would require more specialised elements and, for some within the company, hesitancy over breaking fully from studs remained. In light of this, the final stage of LEGO Technic evolution came not from within, but from without in two different ways.

...

However, the 2008 line was slated to include several large battle vehicles akin to flying scooters or planes. They were not intended to be LEGO Technic style models inclusive of numerous, intricate functions. Rather, they were envisioned as tools for role play in the same vein as a pirate ship or police car; children could hold the models in their hands and swoosh them around a room. In light of this, while being made of predominantly LEGO Technic elements, there was no expectation that these battle vehicles’ interiors should be exposed for viewing. In fact, it would have been odd for them to be anything other than enclosed. Furthermore, BIONICLE had never included elements with studs in its building system and it would have been unusual to introduce such construction nearly a decade after the theme’s debut.

Technic Panels debuted in Bionicle vehicles since the theme did not have a history of exposed Technic studs.

C124. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 191.

All of these factors led to the development of new elements, the first of what became known internally as LEGO Technic shells. ... It was designed to integrate seamlessly with beams connecting into them across multiple orientations in order to cover large areas. ... The lead LEGO Technic element designer who developed the part for these BIONICLE models sat down after completing it and proceeded to design over forty more shells of various shapes, sizes, geometries and orientations: large, small, angled, curved, straight and everything in between. The LEGO Technic theme had never pre-planned on such a massive scale before and the team pored over these designs, suggesting tweaks and developing a rough priority list. Over the next ten years they would slowly acquire many of them, using a couple of frames year by year.
Copious numbers of designs based on that first shell for BIONICLE proved that there was a whole class of elements waiting to be created that would open up lots of new opportunities for different types of LEGO Technic vehicles.

...

[The] LEGO Technic team members immediately began to incorporate them, both the first variant and successive ones, as more of the initial forty designs became available. First in 2009 and then again in 2010, LEGO Technic products were made virtually entirely of their own beams, shells and connectors. Only an occasional transparent plate or cheese slope depicting a headlight, or some other small detail, sported studs.

LEGO Technic sets adopted the new panels very quickly, radically changing the Technic aesthetic from skeletal models to realistic, fully covered designs. A wide range of Technic panels was imagined from the outset and introduced over time.

C125. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 194.

Early on in the process, everyone agreed that the wheels need to be unique and define the entire scale of the Porsche and, by extension, all future cars. However, LEGO wheels and tyre size were governed by definitive rules. Any new scale of tyres would need to conform with these internal standards. Designers selected a diameter that was closest to the scale of car they thought would allow them to include all the relevant functions.

LEGO Tire and Wheel sizes need to conform to specific diameters, which can determine the possible scales when re-creating a real-world vehicle.

C126. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 197.

Two new components were developed specifically for the massive mining set, both relating to its bucket wheel, the construction of which proved challenging. After multiple prototypes, each of which ended up having a fatal flaw, the set’s designer created a curved gear rack which, with four copies, could be assembled into a full, smooth circle. This part went on to be a foundational element in the Ultimate Concept line: the giant turntable could be placed horizontally so that huge models could sit on it.

11x11 35-Tooth 1/4 Gear Ring (part 24121) was created for #42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator, but also to be used horizontally as a massive turntable.

C127. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 202-203.

The Cybots team wanted its proposed concept to stand out, so the designers set about creating a new type of LEGO element. Their objective was realistic, almost organic movement. Taking human limbs as inspiration, they used modelling clay to craft a ball at the end of an arm, which slotted into a receiving socket. Brick-built accessories supplemented this invention and the end result was something wholly different. It was clearly still a LEGO toy, but also very unusual.

The pitch went nowhere, but designers stored away the ‘ball joint’, as it was dubbed, into one of LEGO Futura many drawers. Nothing at the LEGO Group ever truly dies. Talk to any LEGO designer and you will hear stories of them developing a model believing it was a wholly original concept, only to be told upon showing it to a colleague that their idea had been fully developed years before, quite possibly multiple times. Fortunately, the ball joint’s story followed that script.

In 1999 Christian was brought in to assist with the launch of a new line called Slizer (or Throwbots in the US market). Designers had taken the earlier prototype components and developed them into a small collection of new LEGO® Technic elements which facilitated the construction of something completely original: buildable LEGO Technic figures. Each part was cast in exciting colours and, thanks to a special flexible arm, the Slizer robots could fling small disks. This balljoint concept also allowed the robots to pose and be moved in ways in which no previous LEGO product had been capable.

The larger Ball Joint popularized by Bionicle was originally created for a prototype LEGO theme called Cybots. The joint was created to allow figures with more realistic organic poses.

C128. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 204-205.

Creatures could be large or small, bizarre or recognisable. Construction was facilitated by a brand-new prototype friction hinge, which could lock into a socket then both rotate and articulate. Far from BIONICLE, which would go on to be compatible with LEGO Technic parts and marketed under that brand name, Genesis was separate and made up of detailed organic components meant to look like real, if slightly fantastical, body parts. There were no studs, pins or anything else in the whole system that were recognisable as LEGO DNA. These other-worldly elements were, however, just the beginning of Genesis’ unique new collection of parts.

Click Sockets were developed to add strong, posable joints to Project Genesis (which led to Galidor).

C129. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 205.

Realising that these parts suggested robots, the team naturally proposed an outer-space setting for the new line, dubbed for the time as simply ‘Constraction’, an amalgam of construction and action that referenced that these would be buildable action figures.

Constraction is the term for poseable figures based on the ball and socket joint.

C130. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 205.

LEGO Star Wars faced a very interesting challenge. Up to this point, LEGO designers had always come up with their own models – now they had to depict not only a fantasy world developed by others, but some of the most iconic movie props and vehicles in the world. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the required accuracy called for new elements, but management counselled caution. In the unlikely event that consumers didn’t embrace the new LEGO Star Wars theme, the LEGO Group would be left with some very specialised bricks and moulds which could be hard to use elsewhere. Designers were therefore charged with what seemed initially like two mutually exclusive mandates: to design new LEGO elements that would enable the creation of recognisable models from the Star Wars universe but which were also generic enough to be used in other product lines.

Parts designed for licensed sets have always aimed to have broader utility whenever possible.

C131. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 207.

Initially, the lightsaber hilt element followed standard LEGO design logic: a stud at one end and an open tube at the other end, which would receive the transparent bar that represented a glowing blade. In Lucasfilm’s initial review, LEGO designers were told, ‘You should probably make it so that a blade can be inserted on both ends.’ Confused, since the request was unprecedented based on films released to date, the LEGO folks asked why. ‘No reason in particular, but you should definitely do it,’ came the response.

Everything made sense after the first previews of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace showed Darth Maul igniting his double-bladed lightsaber. The change also ended up being fortuitous as, when lightsaber handles were made available for use outside the LEGO Star Wars line, their ability to connect bars end to end made them inestimably more useful: as downspouts for Modular Buildings, masts for miniature-scale boats, engines, antenna, a host of minifigure accessories and more.

Lucasfilm encouraged The LEGO Group to put a hollow stud on both ends of the lightsaber element before we saw the first double-bladed Lightsaber on screen.

C132. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 209.

During the 1980s, designers had considered making special heads for aliens in a prototype LEGO Space theme called Seatron. In the end, however, the decision was made to vary helmets, hair and armour but keep the basic minifigure shape unmodified. ... Even the LEGO Space subtheme UFO, released in 1996 and premised entirely on aliens, saw minifigures with standard heads made transparent but not otherwise modified. But the Gungan alien from The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar Binks, cracked that wall, starting a small trickle, which, before long, became a torrent.

The head for Jar Jar Binks was the first custom-moulded LEGO head.

C133. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 216.

Several vehicles, including TIE fighters, the Millennium Falcon and Jedi starfighters, were identified early on as ships that needed to always have some variant available on shelves. Accordingly, designers began allocating a certain number of new element frames each year to refreshing portions of those ships. New cockpit elements, wings, engines or bubble canopies provided stark visual distinctions from what came before, improving the overall accuracy of each new version.

...

A platform was tasked specifically with developing a key class of elements. Its name was shape elements. With graceful curves and facets, these pieces were used to create ever more movie-accurate spaceship hulls. Even as they focused on LEGO Star Wars sets, designers never strayed from their initial push to make components as widely usable as possible. Shape elements were embraced throughout the company, showing up in contemporary themes like LEGO Exo-Force, LEGO® Dino 2010 and beyond, all the way to the present.

Refining the appearance of iconic Star Wars vehicles was a major source of new parts, including a whole 'platform' dedicated to a range of new curved 'shape' elements.

C134. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022).

Concurrent with the rise of LEGO Star Wars was the transition in LEGO Technic from bricks to beams. Prior to the early 2000s, designers of LEGO System sets had used LEGO Technic elements sparingly, preferring to make their structures and frames exclusively of studs and tubes. As LEGO Star Wars models grew bigger, however, they demanded greater strength, which only LEGO Technic bricks could provide, with their ability to incorporate pinned as well as stud construction.

Slowly, the interior structures of LEGO Star Wars sets became increasingly reliant on LEGO Technic bricks until the methodology became almost universal. LEGO Star Wars rescued many such elements from retirement, including one whose future hung in the balance after the cancellation of the set it was originally designed for.

LEGO Star Wars was responsible for the increased use of Technic bricks within brick-based sets to increase strength of larger models.

C135. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 217.

The L-shaped 5x5 LEGO Technic brick was developed in the late 1990s for what would have been the largest LEGO model ever released and whose identity was so secret that designers are still not permitted to reveal it. Slated for release in 2001, this cancelled set was so massive that it justified the development of the L-shaped brick all on its own. Set 8466 LEGO Technic 4x4 Off-Roader was the only model to include the element for the first four years of its mould’s existence, showing that the LEGO Group had big plans for it. Just before the 5x5 was deleted from the element library, designers in the LEGO Star Wars team needed it. 10143 Ultimate Collectors Series Death Star, released in 2005, used several in its superstructure, but the major coup came two years later. Returning full circle, the L-shaped 5x5 served as an integral part of 10179 Ultimate Collectors Series Millennium Falcon, released in 2007 – the largest LEGO set at the time.

5x5, Corner (part 32555) was created for an unreleased set, but popularized by Star Wars sets like the Millennium Falcon.

C136. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 218.

Initially, special elements depicting guns were avoided in LEGO Star Wars. So, to create that most iconic of Star Wars weapons, the blaster, designers flipped an old megaphone piece around and placed a transparent nub on the end. By 2007, it was ready for an update, especially as shape elements were allowing for more-movie-accurate ships. Accordingly, two moulded blasters were created: a rifle and standard-size gun.

The first Star Wars sets did not include realistic blasters, but blasters of two sizes were introduced a few years later in 2007.

C137. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 224-225.

Friction hinges were the new standard for System-compatible parts since being introduced in LEGO® Star Wars™. Designers wanted to create joints with the strength of friction hinges so that they would be useful in all sorts of applications, but with the same mobility and poseability of Constraction ball joints. Ultimately, they devised a new composite part which utilised LEGO® Technic pin connectors and could rotate and articulate simultaneously. They also developed several types of receiving elements for the pins. These sported traditional studs and tubes so they could be built into models and used as anchor points for hip, knee, elbow, hand and foot joints on the figures. Other designers received enthusiastically the new system of hinges, which were used across multiple product lines upon release in 2004.

Development of Click Sockets for poseable figures in Knights Kingdom (2004) which could "rotate and articulate simultaneously".

C138. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 226.

Both LEGO Scala and LEGO Belville sets were open and spacious, giving the illusion of greater size by using large, porous pieces. Rooms would have supports only at the corners and many walls were constructed of enormous lattice elements, which imparted a convincing illusion of enclosure while actually being anything but. These techniques facilitated the creation of large interior spaces, necessary for hands to reach in and play with oversized figures. LEGO Harry Potter designers found they could achieve similar results through the use of columns and arches.

LEGO designers learned while developing Belville and Scala that larger sets at a given price point are possible by using "large, porous pieces".

C139. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 229-230.

once word got out that the LEGO Group had successfully turned two of the world’s biggest franchises into successful construction-toy lines, other potential partners came knocking. ... In every case, new frames were used primarily on developing the essential components for minifigures, accessories, animals, and any other iconic props that were part of the public consciousness around specific properties. These were taken in and given LEGO makeovers so that they were instantly recognisable as both LEGO elements and their subject matter. Batman’s cowl, Indiana Jones’ whip, the One Ring, Marge Simpson’s tall blue hair, Aang’s beloved flying lemur Momo, SpongeBob’s rectangular head, and, of course, numerous Jedi and Harry Potter characters – all leapt from concept drawings to sculpts, and finally onto production lines. ... Understandably, fans go wild over new novelty characters from beloved film properties, while LEGO designers are generally able to make most of the rest of the set from recoloured existing pieces. Special elements are locked to preserve novelty until such time as contracts expire, at which point all but the most iconic are released for wider use.

With licensed themes, most of the budget for new parts went to unique minifig parts and accessories, many of which became more widely available outside of the initial theme after the novelty wore off.

C140. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 233.

Speaking of points, those turned out to be a challenge. Initially the hairpieces were cast in ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), used for all previous minifigure hairpieces, but when samples came back from product safety tests, they had failed: the sharp points on the hairpieces could present a hazard. LEGO Exo-Force designers went back and forth, ultimately arriving at a solution utilising a softer plastic, which was, at the time, quite new for the LEGO Group. Unfortunately, this new material did not perform as expected: while the rubbery plastic looked great, it lacked proper clutch power. The never-before-seen connector pair of minifigure head stud and soft plastic tube turned out to be insufficient for achieving the proper function. All of which meant that the characters in LEGO Exo-Force were prone to losing their hair.

LEGO Exo-Force minifigures did, however, look awesome. As the LEGO Group expanded into more licences, a softer plastic would go on to be the answer for many product-safety concerns and the challenges faced by LEGO Exo-Force became a key lesson that gave value many times over in future elements. To this day, if a set contains rubbery plastic, safety concerns will have driven the decision. Furthermore, if the element is a headpiece, it has been adjusted to fit much tighter than the original manga wigs.

Softer plastic is only used for minfigure hair when safety concerns arise, because the clutch power is not as good as with harder ABS plastic.

C141. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 237-238.

Horns on Viking helmets may very well be a fiction, but thanks to years of Hollywood films they were absolutely the public’s perception of medieval Norse warriors. Grey horns sticking out from the side of a grey helmet just wasn’t right, and the LEGO Group did not yet have the expertise in casting dual-colour elements that would come in later years. One designer proposed a solution: develop the metallic grey helmet with two holes on either side into which a separate white horn, which he had specifically created for that purpose, could be placed.

The now ubiquitous Barb, Small (part 53451) was originally created as horns attached to the sides of a Viking helmet. ... The horn has been used for teeth, animal horns, claws and much more across hundreds of sets. Higherups caught that vision and approved the extra frame.

C142. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 266.

Setting out to create collectible ninja dragons, the development team wanted to avoid using constraction-style ball-and-socket joints, which didn’t look organic enough. Instead, the developers envisioned a new class of components: mini-ball joints. Each would work in the same way as their larger cousins, but, at a fraction of the size, they would not stand out so much in a model and be easier to conceal, while still imbuing excellent functionality.

Prototypes of mini-ball joints were made for inclusion in the collectible dragons envisioned for the first wave of LEGO NINJAGO. However, they turned out to be far trickier to get right than expected. Obtaining enough friction so that limbs wouldn’t droop, but not so much that they were hard to move, proved challenging on the drastically reduced surface area available. It quickly became clear that there was no way they could be perfected in time. Mini-ball joints were not abandoned, however, and all the kinks were eventually ironed out. Several designers who worked on LEGO NINJAGO went on to join the team for LEGO Legends of Chima and they resurrected them for a similar use. Mini-ball joints debuted in LEGO Chima in rideable creatures called Legend Beasts, with essentially the exact purpose for which they were originally envisioned. Those elements have gone on to be used extensively in numerous themes.

The smaller Towball joint was developed for the initial Ninjago release to create small brick-built dragons, but the parts took too long to perfect and debuted a few years later in LEGO Chima sets.

C143. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 268-269.

The term ‘big bang’ had floated around the LEGO Group before LEGO NINJAGO as the description of a new theme’s dream outcome: that it would produce a big impact on customers. LEGO NINJAGO, however, changed the term from an aspiration to the proper name for a new class of LEGO theme. This was accomplished by inadvertently creating the formula that every subsequent big-bang theme has followed. This formula consists of four parts: a well-developed universe to explore, strong characters for children to explore it through, a TV show or similar media for telling the world’s story, and the vague X-factor. X-factors are the great challenge of big bangs, and are what ultimately allowed LEGO NINJAGO to succeed so much more than LEGO Atlantis, which had the other three traits. X-factors are something cool and different that attract children who were not previously interested in LEGO toys. Difficult to pin down, and highly variable in their success, X-factors have become the de facto trait that distinguish big bangs from regular themes. LEGO NINJAGO spinners reign supreme as the single greatest X-factor ever developed, but every big bang which followed would have their own as well. Now, creating X-factors is a separate stream in the development process, with teams devoted exclusively to developing them, working alongside more traditional set and element designers.

A 'big bang' theme aims to create a big impact on customers by having a well-developed universe, compelling characters, a TV show, and a uniquely differentiated 'x-factor'.

C144. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 270.

All [new themes] involve new components or, in the case of roadways, new families of elements. The goal is simple: to bring novelty to a familiar context. ... This can be accomplished in two ways using parts: either by generating a range of new components or by effecting extensive colour changes on large
swathes of existing elements. LEGO Legends of Chima chose the most extreme version of option two: creating a whole new colour.

New element colours are, in some ways, more complicated than original elements. The LEGO colour palette has a set total number of entries that does not change, so the addition of a new colour requires the deletion of an existing one. This can be a monumental logistical effort, as the entire company must be canvassed to make sure no team needs the colour up for deletion.

Introducing a new color (usually) involves retiring a color which will no longer be available.

C145. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 272.

To that end, lions and crocodiles were selected as the initial warring tribes. Special ‘helmets’ in the form of these animals’ heads were moulded, but designers wanted more distinction. They wanted a new colour for the crocodiles.

Ultimately, LEGO Legends of Chima secured permission to introduce olive green, and used it extensively alongside traditional and dark green to create a distinctive aesthetic for the crocodile tribe. Their muted, marshy tones stood in stark contrast to the bright yellows and dark reds of the opposing lion tribe. Together, these colours helped give the whole theme the fantastical quality that designers wanted.

Olive Green was introduced with LEGO Legends of Chima to give the Crocodile tribe a unique appearance.

C146. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 278-279.

Lessons learned from LEGO Legends of Chima had also led to another conclusion: it wasn’t enough just to do colour changes and novelty figure parts. Coexisting with LEGO NINJAGO
meant the new theme had to be dramatically different visually. ... Greater differentiation was needed, and the answer was a new category of parts: structural elements. ... Shape elements may have been designed primarily with LEGO Star Wars in mind, but they were not limited to a galaxy far, far away even in their first year. That made them less expensive to produce, since other toy themes could quickly use them, but this also diluted their novelty. Structural elements would be different.

Structural elements could then endow a unique aesthetic or style impossible to achieve via the current parts catalogue. ... Once completed, they would be locked in the system, as with licensed themes, for a period of time in order to preserve their novelty, before eventually being released for wider use.

Rather than launch new 'big bang' themes using only parts available to all themes, The LEGO Group decided to debut many new moulds with a new theme, and keep them exclusive to that theme for several years to give it a uniquely differentiated appearance.

C147. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 281.

one of the team members picked up a prototype 3x2 studless plate which was being circulated for review as the latest expansion of the tile family of elements. In a moment of inspiration, he clipped off the last third from both long sides at an angle, to create a pointed end. This became the element on which powers would be printed, now known among LEGO designers simply as ‘the NEXO shield piece’. That description, while a good shorthand, is technically inaccurate, as the element became the power piece that was attached to a shield. Nomenclature aside, its distinctive look set the tone for the theme’s eventual aesthetic: sharp had joined heavy.

2x3 Tile, Pentagonal (part 22385) debuted as printed decorations which attached to shields in the NEXO KNIGHTS theme.

C148. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 281.

Structural elements needed to be created so that final set designs could be developed. That distinctive point on the power tile led to facets with dual slopes being incorporated into nearly all the theme’s family of pieces. LEGO® NEXO KNIGHTS™, as the theme was now called, was the first extensive foray into structural elements, which have since become the norm. Themes are assigned most new element frames in their first year, but reduced numbers of structural elements are also allocated to subsequent waves of evergreens, helping to inject a measure of novelty there as well. Sometimes the process can prove maddening to other teams hungry for a chance to incorporate the requisite ‘new shiny thing’ into their own models. That was the case with the ‘NEXO shield piece’, which ended up being unlocked earlier than originally intended due to high demand within the company. Other teams were allowed to use it, on the condition that they wouldn’t print anything on it for the first year. The LEGO® Creator Expert team was especially happy, as they were able to use it for an ornate floor on a massive LEGO Disney Castle set.

Even when new elements are created for a new big bang theme, they are sometimes leveraged more quickly in sets outside of that theme when the demand arises.

C149. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 282.

Almost all the new elements created specifically for the film were characters’ accessories, such as Wyldestyle’s hood, Unikitty’s tail, Lord Business’s overbearing hat, Metalbeard’s namesake metallic facial component and Vitruvius’s hair. All the villains’ minions were either existing figures with new prints or entirely brick-built. There was only one major exception, the Piece of Resistance, which figured prominently in the movie’s plot.

The unique pieces produced for The LEGO Movie were almost exclusively minifig parts and accessories.

C150. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 287-290.

'Why is this set selling so well?’ asked an executive. His curiosity was justified. Set 4886 LEGO® Creator Building Bonanza was nobody’s idea of a blockbuster, yet the numbers didn’t lie. Sales were exceeding all expectations by a wide margin, requiring more production runs than anticipated. While a good problem to have, Building Bonanza was such an outlier that it prompted something almost unprecedented: a special investigation.

The results turned out to be more important than anyone at the time could have imagined – and it set in motion a chain of events whose effects still reverberate. ... That strangely named set hailed from what was, at the time, a very traditional corner of the LEGO Group toy portfolio. LEGO Creator, launched in 2001, was the most recent incarnation of what the company called its free-building line. For as long as there have been LEGO bricks, these types of products had been sold. Containing mostly basic elements, they are intended to provide lots of raw materials for imaginative building with little to no formal instructions.

...

Then, in 2004, came 3-in-1 Building Bonanza. In this case the name referenced not the act of construction but the set’s subject matter, which consisted of options for three structures, each requiring a different level of skill to assemble. The most advanced was a two-storey house with dormer windows, a small lawn and a fence. It was an empty shell, with nothing inside, ergo management’s confusion when it flew off shelves. What was going on?

Sleuthing with customer service eventually yielded an answer, but it only deepened the mystery. Children were not buying 4886: adults were, and not just one copy but multiple ones. By this time, the LEGO Group had its ambassador programme in place, giving the company direct lines to the fan community. Utilising that communication pipeline, they asked a simple question: why are you buying so many of this one set? The answer proved revelatory. Fans explained that in their quest for novel and exciting themes, the LEGO Group had neglected sets based on everyday life. Houses had been staples of the product line during the 1980s when many of those now-adults were children and they loved including such vintage models in their displays. During the 1990s, houses fell out of favour. Building Bonanza was the first to come along in years, and fans were snapping it up in the belief that this might be their only chance for a long while. Management was surprised by every aspect of the answer and it got them thinking. Trains had proved successful with this emerging adult market; could it perhaps support other types of products as well?

Massive sales of a 3-in-1 Creator set helped The LEGO Group recognize the opportunity to create intricate buildings aimed at adult builders.

C151. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 290.

At that time, a major focus of the adult community was something called the Moon Base Project. It was an open-source venture which defined a universal set of measurements and rigid coupling specifications for modules of a Moon base. Anyone could participate as long as they complied with the established rules that ensured that any two builds, no matter who their creator was, could join together. Fans would then gather at conventions and assemble massive bases. This focus on modularity caught Jamie and Steen’s eye.

Almost immediately the designers realised that incorporating modularity precluded a neighbourhood full of different houses: it would not make sense for such structures to join together. However, an urban setting with closely packed buildings would facilitate such construction while also technically meeting the desire for houses. Like the Moon Base Project, they further concluded that for such a layout to work they would also need rigid rules for how models coupled together, which could never be altered. Accordingly, they began their design process by laying down constraints and measurements as well as brainstorming how they could make their models novel without any new parts.

The modular aspect of the Modular Building Series was inspired by the Moon Base standard developed by the burgeoning AFOL community.

C152. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 291.

Eventually Jamie and Steen established an approach with set widths for sidewalks and the spacing of connectors so that buildings could scale up to 16x32, 32x32 and even 48x48 baseplates. Horizontal rules complete, they transitioned to vertical, deciding that, if at all possible, each building should have a repeatable middle section so that fans who were inclined to buy multiple copies could, theoretically, stack floors up to infinity. Specifications were soon finalised, establishing their modular system’s foundation.

Standards for the new Modular Building series include horizontal spacing rules, as well as the desire for buildings to be designed such that the middle floor can be repeated many times to create a much taller building.

C153. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 292.

Simply put, the parts catalogue was not ready to support this style of building. Nowhere was this more obvious than windows and doors. The buildings for LEGO® Town and, later, LEGO City required little variation in these elements, so the parts catalogue had a limited selection. Urban buildings, however, rely heavily on different window and door styles to instil unique architecture and aesthetics. To complicate matters further, the great parts purge was in full swing, and many of the few pieces that had been available were now retired and those that remained were mismatched. A four-stud-wide by six-brick-tall window frame existed, but there was no corresponding door element to fit inside it. For doors, only a free-standing variant that was five bricks tall was available, meaning that café doors and windows would be mismatched.

The need for new window and door sizes was made clear by the emerging LEGO Modular Building series.

C154. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 292-294.

There was another challenge with the transparent windowpane component which fitted in the frame – something which wouldn’t bother children but may very well annoy adults. It was called the bullet hole.

LEGO elements are made by plastic injection. Moulds with cavities in the shapes of whichever brick is being produced have molten plastic injected into them at high pressure. While small, that point of injection inevitably leaves a small mark behind, usually in the form of a little nub or circle. Part of the process of designing new moulds is to think through where these nubs will appear and hiding them as much as possible. In the case of the large windowpanes, their injection points had been placed right in the centre, about two-thirds of the way up, leaving behind a large, circular blemish, later christened the bullet hole by model makers. There was nothing to be done in the moment, but Jamie made a mental note of the problem and, as luck would have it, several years later was in a position to do something about it. ... Jamie Berard became an element ambassador and ... also reduced the bullet hole in the large windowpane and moved it to a corner so it would be less obvious.

Jamie Berard advocated for redesign of window glass to move the injection point to a less noticeable corner.

C155. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 293-294.

As an element’s moulds near the end of their useful lives, an internal operation called the reordering process kicks into gear. ... if a component is to stay in production, it goes through an evaluation to see if changes should be made to improve the part that would require modifying its mould. Input comes from across the company and changes may be suggested for a host of reasons, ranging from part usability to more efficient manufacturing. While often subtle, these minor alterations are sometimes significant enough to be noticeable, as was the case with jumper plates.

Jumper plates had been around since the 1970s and were designed from inception to fulfill a very specific purpose. They were a 1x2 plate with a single stud in the centre that allowed for moving construction over half a module instead of a full module. Underneath, they were just
like any other 1x2 plate with a centre rod for creating clutch power – and that was the problem. For years, model designers were frustrated by that rod, as it precluded having another brick’s stud attach directly to a jumper plate’s centre from beneath. If that type of connection were
possible, it would open up many new building opportunities. While making such a change may seem straightforward, it wasn’t – and evaluating all the pros and cons in a situation like this is part of the rationale for having a thorough re-ordering process.

In the case of jumper plates, nothing was cut and dried. LEGO elements are primarily intended for children and a key part of their design is not only ensuring that children can use them correctly but also to make sure, as much as possible, that they can’t use them incorrectly either. More often than not, if there are two ways a brick could be designed, simplicity wins out, even if that means less versatility. It is better for an element to work only one way so that children can’t go wrong, fail in building and get frustrated. This argument prevailed with the jumper plate over multiple reorderings, as different designers argued for eliminating the rod – each time their request was denied. Ultimately, it was the LEGO Creator team that finally prevailed, convincing everyone that, with the advanced building techniques they were employing on ever-more complicated models, greater functionality was needed.

Redesigning the underside of the 1x2 Jumper Plate to allow a stud to be attached at the midpoint took many years of advocacy from multiple set designers.

C156. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 295-297.

Even as that first set was being developed, LEGO Creator team members began working on a solution to the challenges being encountered. Right then and there they sketched out a whole family of windows and doors, with windowpanes to match: 1x2, 1x3, 1x4, with variants two studs high, three studs high, six studs high and so on. Being in the LEGO Creator theme, they knew that a windfall of new element frames allowing for a large number of parts was not on the cards. Instead, they campaigned for a doors-and-windows platform and obtained approval. A schedule for release, with new entries from their wish list ranked by priority, was developed as part of that process, with a 1x4 door six bricks tall at the top. Over the next decade most of their platform would become reality.

...

Set 10185 Green Grocer got to benefit from the new doors-and-windows platform prompted by Café Corner. ... Two new doors were now available, each sized to fit in the large window frame. Joining them were the first two alternative window sizes they had requested: 1x2 at two bricks tall, and 1x4 at three bricks tall with transparent panes to fill them. In short, there were a total of six new parts from the platform, an unprecedented, immediate windfall; filling out the rest of the platform would take years. Investment in these parts had been warranted because multiple other project teams had expressed enthusiastic interest, and all six components quickly saw wide use.

The Creator Expert team established a 'platform' to design a wide range of large and small window/door sizes to be produced across many years.

C157. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 295.

LEGO® Belville was being retired, which meant its catalogue of unique parts, which had previously been locked for use anywhere else, became available. Looking to add novelty, designers selected an ornate lamppost for inclusion in Café Corner. Although it had been intended as a one-off, managers in the warehouse said they would hold off on destroying the mould until after Café Corner was retired. When that piece proved popular with fans, it was included in subsequent Modular Buildings, becoming a staple of the line. Eventually, the lamppost mould ended up having to be renewed, which left the warehouse managers good-naturedly shaking their heads in bemusement. They wouldn’t be getting that space freed up on the shelves after all.

While now strongly connected to the Modular Building Series, 2×2×7 Lamp Post (Part 11062) was originally designed for Belville theme and saved from retirement by the Modular Building Series. It was even redesigned due to the theme's evergreen popularity.

C158. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 298-299.

During the 2000s, some designers had a ritual of making pilgrimages to the new-element wall. This is the place where prototype or freshly minted parts are displayed to let designers know they are available or to comment if development remains ongoing. Every piece has an intended use, of course, but one of the keys for the designers of LEGO Creator Expert and others who were experimenting with big builds was to not see purpose but instead see shapes. Pieces which caught an eye would be gathered, usually multiple copies of them, and brought back to desks. Designers might stack, place or position two at an angle to each other, looking for unique interactions, relationships and shapes. This was how Unikitty tails ended up being used as an architectural element in the roof of Modular Building 10246 Detective’s Office. Lined up together they yielded a very distinctive and pleasing look. Often these unique uses of parts are figured out ahead of time in isolation and then incorporated into models when opportunities present themselves. To this day, the team responsible for Modular Buildings had remained small and close-knit. They alone come up with subject matter for each year’s structures, and sometimes ideas sparked by pilgrimages to the new-element wall will lead to whole buildings, or at least parts of their architecture.

The new-element wall became a popular destination for LEGO designers, who found new ways to leverage parts in unexpected ways, especially as architectural details within the Modular Building Series.

C159. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 306.

In the bowels of the parts catalogue for LEGO Belville, designers also stumbled upon a part that had been created for that theme’s early 2000s fantasy subtheme. Originally used as crystals to top the spires of a palace, they were the spitting image of snowflakes. One of these was recoloured in transparent yellow and placed atop a large Christmas tree in the square beside the Toy Shop. It proved to be fortuitous that this part’s mould was saved from destruction as many of the sets based on the film Frozen have made use of it.

Snowflake/Star (Part 42409) was originally created for Belville and the moulds were saved from destruction by the new Winter Village series.

C161. BOOK: Daniel Konstanski, The Secret Life of LEGO Bricks: The Inside Story of a Design Icon (Unbound, 2022), p. 92,95.

The next idea from designers was moulded horses. Considering that jousting was supposed to be this theme’s focus, horses were a necessity and had dutifully been included with sets 375 and 383. But in both cases, they were brick-built and, while designers liked the size, each animal was inherently fragile and somewhat simplistic. If LEGO Castle was going to continue over the long haul, designers felt that something stronger and more realistic was needed. Until now, moulded animals had been resisted, since the company did not want to set a precedent and risk children not accepting future brick-built animals if they knew detailed, moulded versions could be made. The thinking was that such creatures would require more specialised parts, leading to a proliferation of elements.

Crafting the new LEGO horse began with tracing an existing brick-built version. Then, a skeleton of bricks was constructed, with clay added on top, to form possible body designs. Designers had wanted it to be articulated, but this meant more parts and manufacturing time, so they incorporated only a single function to make the horse’s neck move. All those designs led to a mix-up that resulted in a horse being produced for over twenty-five years that had one leg thinner than the other three.

Brick-built horses were replaced with a moulded horse to make it more realistic and more durable. This was especially relevant when introducing conflict in sets featuring two horses jousting.