Inglorious Brothers
Musings and ruminations with Justin and Matt Harper on pop culture, music, movies and TV, gaming, comedy, politics, and whatever else might be swimming around in the zeitgeist.
Inglorious Brothers
LEGO S2E20
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On today’s show, we’re building the show from the ground, or should I say the baseplate, up, brick by brick by delightful molded plastic brick… That’s right, today, we’re talking all things LEGO. Why have we chosen LEGO for today’s show? Do you really need to ask that? Do you ever need a reason to engage with LEGO in any form? Was there ever a time in your life when LEGO wasn’t the coolest… something in the world? Exaaaactly. LEGO is and has been, for all of our lives at least, one of the coolest things that the modern human mind has ever invented, and it just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Literally billions of lives have been touched by this incredible creation that is so much more than just a toy. LEGO bricks are an ubiquitous part of human culture, and really need no introduction. So grab your favorite mini-fig, a couple of brick separators, and a set of plans for a wildly inventive MOC, and let’s build!
Rebrickable - this site mainly sells instructions for MOCs
The most complex set ever - Sagrada Familia 12,060 pieces
Wapi Bricks - this guy specializes in buying and selling LEGO
Tiago Catarino - logo set reviews
JK Brickworks - fantastic page that just does all kinds of cool original MOCs
Building Kyiv - All Proceeds Donated to UNICEF and other charities. Seamlessly fits into the world of small LEGO Architecture Skyline series models
Rapid Fire Spring Shooter - a LEGO belt-fed piston that works like a dream
CADA an after-market LEGO clone
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Subscribe to our other podcast, Beyond the Slipstream (it's about pro cycling, just fyi...)
It's the pop culture show with Cult Classic Swagger. This is Inglorious Brothers. I'm Matt Harper, and together with my brother Justin, we dive into the deep end of the zeitgeist each week to bring you cool talk and hot takes. No genre is too specific, no topic too broad, and no rabbit hole too deep as we open our minds and enjoy each other's company. Sound good? Then let's ride.
SPEAKER_00Up brick by brick by delightful molded plastic brick. That's right. Today we're talking all things Lego. Why have we chosen Lego for today's show? Do you really need to ask? Do you ever need a reason to engage with Lego in any form? Was there ever a time in your life when Lego wasn't the coolest something in the world? Exactly. Lego is and has been for all of our lives, at least, one of the coolest things that the modern human mind has ever invented, and it just keeps getting cooler and cooler. Literally, billions of lives have been touched by this incredible creation that is so much more than just a toy. Lego bricks are in a ubiquitous part of the human culture and really need no introduction. So grab your favorite minifig, a couple of brick separators, and a set of plans for a wildly inventive mock, and let's build.
SPEAKER_02If you pick like one single game company, you know what I mean? Like but Lego, Lego is is all encompassing. Like you might have a game from one company that plays on a system from another company that plays on a TV from another company. You know what I mean? Like Lego.
SPEAKER_00But don't forget that Lego is a huge part of the game game world. So so you know, I I would almost feel like it's it's it's a cultural phenomena at this point, like it transcends multiple genres, not just visual and physical, but digital and everywhere else. So I mean it's it's literally part of the entire culture.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and if you work at the other way, I'm pretty sure somewhere in my research I saw a Lego version of like a Nintendo NES.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Nintendo is even in Lego. I love it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so but it, you know, it's and it is it is wild because you do look at it as it this one singular company. It's not you don't look at Lego as you know Hasbro or Mattel or you know, um you know Kenner toys, where you had multiple lines of toys over the years. I mean, you know, there's few brands that you can really like be like, okay, that's only ever done that one thing. Um, besides Lego, I you know, really the only one that comes to mind is like Barbie. You know what I mean? Like Barbie has always been Barbie, but I do think that Barbie's owned by at this point is owned by one of those other, you know, Mattel or whatever companies.
SPEAKER_02Lego and Barbie, well, and and also, I mean, Barbie is just it a brand of doll.
SPEAKER_00And there's many.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like like like Lego can be molded and shaped to so so so many things, you know what I mean? Like the the the that's that's it's one of the you know, if you if you had to sit down and like come up with like a list of words to describe Lego, like somewhere in there for me would have to be like uh endless possibilities. You know what I mean? There is there there's literally no end at all to what you can do with this thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's it is it's limitless. It's imagination, you know what I mean? It's it's structure and it's it's fully geared towards if you want, you know, structure and model and and and very like rigid, but it can also be completely to the opposite end of that spectrum. And and that I think that's why it has such a broad appeal to so many, you know, different parts of of the the human nature is just simply because it can be for you whatever you want it to be. It doesn't have to just be a doll that you play with, you know what I mean? It can be a doll, it can be a car, it can be a you know, an animal, it can be a ship, it can be a city. It's it's literally, you know, the it's it is only limited by your imagination.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think I feel like you know, there was there was a moment in time where like as as a well I I know we're gonna we're gonna get into like our own let me just say this. Um I I feel like there was a moment in time when Lego crossed the threshold where it went from being when what being one being one thing to being many things. Well, no, no, no. Like, okay, so I would say like there was the the first big threshold was when it was probably when it went from just being like a collection of bricks that you could make stuff out of to like actually coming out with sets, you know what I mean? Like like a design concept where you buy the set and you put the thing together. I would think that in the very, very beginning it was just bricks, you know what I mean? You just bought a bag of bricks and you put them together however you wanted. And I'm sure for a couple of generations of children, that was endlessly rewarding. Then they then they get the idea to to do sets where you know they they would design the tractor and give you all of the proper parts, and then you would put the tractor together and you'd be able to look at it and then play with it, and it would look really, really cool, and you could tear it apart and build it again, et cetera, et cetera. Um, but I feel like the the real big break though was when they when they moved from simply offering representations of like miniature cars and vehicles and farms and buildings that were sort of on a relatively same scale, you know, scaled to the minifigure, etc. To like, okay, now now we're gonna we're gonna offer you like you can build a plant. I know that's much later on, you know what I mean? But but they they realized that you they could they could have designs that had nothing to do with minifigures, you know what I mean, that were of a completely different scale, that you know, that that were were not meant in any way to be on the scale of the worlds and upon worlds that they create that work with minifigures. You know, you can you can port a minifigure from your castle set over to your space set and it's all still the same kind of scale and do that, but there's this whole other part of the world that has nothing to do with that scale and that world. When they went there, that was like the audience must have just exploded, you know, and especially in the in the in the adult markets where you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00So the the three so the so I mean as far as the history side of it, um you know the company started out by making wooden toys. I mean, that's that's where it started. And then when they found injection molding is when they were able the when they switched over to making plastics. And so the first, the for you were you are correct. The first iteration was just bricks that interlock together, okay. And the thing that they lacked in that first generation of Legos was structure, so they didn't have the the clutch power that they have now, all right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so yeah, I love that whole story, like that whole innovation is just fascinating how they came up with it.
SPEAKER_00When they added the tubes in for rigidity, they realized that they were able to interlock the tops now with the bottom and that they would hold. And that that changed the game as far as the toy was concerned, because now it wasn't just something you could build on a table that was very fragile, you had something that you could literally play with. So, I mean, you could build a toy, and so there's your there's your second gen Lego is is your your you know locking blocks, and then the next big innovation that they had was the system, all right. And so they they realized that like you could have a system for these things, and you know, by giving it this order, you know, you could have so many more things, and then it opened up the possibility of like, okay, well, we have this size brick, and we have this size brick, and now what can we do with them? And it was just innovation after innovation after innovation, with your next step being the themes, all right. And so when the you know, you have the the the 1960s space race and 70s, you know, uh, you know, NASA and and and America's kind of you know in enthrallment, really the world's enthrallment with you know going to space and they started making, you know, so they started with like the city stuff and the police, and then it went to space, was their first real theme. And that's when you really started seeing the sets take off. And so that you know, slowly evolves into what we have now, but you're absolutely right. The impetus of it was imagination and what you could do, but you're right is that it's that innovation of turning it into a system that really changed the toy and made it take off.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, innovation is certainly like the the hallmark of that company from from the get-go. Um you know, the fact that it was born of a this Danish toy maker, you know, a guy that's literally just just in that is what toy making is, especially at that in that day and age, you know, is literally just pure invention for invention's sake. You know, let me come up with something that will please a child. Um, and then some of these key innovations, like you said, the the tube construction. Um I when I think about that tube, like like the guy that came up with that tube construction, and you and you really consider like how in how ingenious is this.
SPEAKER_00It was Ole's son.
SPEAKER_02Right. Um I mean, I don't know that my research showed that he specifically came up with that idea at that point in time. They were working with other people in their shops. But yeah, and it's like if you think about it, you know, so plastic, it's this new, this new material that's coming about, you know, during the time that this company is forming. And plastic is is such an incredible material because it has it has rigidity and bendability at the same time. You can bend it and it'll go back into its shape. And the genius of the tube construction, where you've got this this round knob, and you've got a it goes into a tube, and so but it doesn't go into the tube, the tube creates the force.
SPEAKER_00So on the underside, on the top side, you have like a female, but in instead of it going in or a male, instead of going into a female, the tubes that come down that provide the brick rigidity create four spots for the corresponding four from below to come up. If you're talking about a four-pattern brick, it's the negative space that the that is in between the tubes is where the the the top part of the brick goes. Right. So, and which is also which is what creates that clutch, all right. Because if you just had a negative space, it wouldn't matter, but because of the tubes, the tubes create a slightly smaller space, all right, that allows that that tightness.
SPEAKER_02So it's like pushing on the knob from all sides. Um and it's it's just like it's it's a god tier, like creative thought, you know what I mean? Like the the the the fact that that entire world for for for all you know all intents and purposes is reliant upon that one design invention. I mean, I wonder, like, were they thinking about that for a day? Were they thinking about it for a week, for a month, for a year? Like, I mean, it's literally it's literally probably a a trillion dollar, you know, company at this point, all that that is all hinged on this one idea of how we can make two plastic pieces hold together really securely.
SPEAKER_00Yes, and and it literally shapes the company for the next you know 60 years, 70 years. You know what I'm saying? It's that that modern brick was uh was patented in 1958. The hollow tube design inside the brick was patent was patented. All right, and so it's 1958 when that happens, and so you have you know the next what is that, 40, 50, 60 years, so you know, almost 70 years of you know, that company and that product is literally hinged on that exact moment. I mean, it is the the change moment that you know sets the the the the road for the whole for the whole thing. It's what makes it so unique.
SPEAKER_02And it can also, and and they the other crazy part about it is like you could go up in your parents' attic and pull down that Lego set that you had when you were eight years old 45 years ago and pop it open and grab a couple of those bricks and stick them right onto the thing that you just bought last week at Target, and they will work. I mean, that is is just unheard of.
SPEAKER_00It's simply and it's simply unchanged. It's only evolved, it has not changed, it isn't changed evolved in and iterated, and iterated, yes. And that's what's that's what's so amazing about it, is that it you they haven't come up with something that beats it.
SPEAKER_02No, you know what I mean. I mean to me there's there's something that's very like at the risk of sounding ridiculous, there's something that's religious about it in a way. It's like it is it is like a a something that is has arrived that in in nature that is perfect, you know what I mean? It's uh it's it's an invention, but it's like it transcends any single inventor. You know what I mean? Like it's it's it's it's a a series of of like very crucial designed designs that created a foundation that once that was in place, now it can go times a billion, times a trillion, you know what I mean? And and the the um the they didn't just make a toy, they they they literally invented a medium, they invented a an artistic medium that can be applied. It's it is as it's even more so than like paint, you know what I mean? Like it's more Lego is more versatile than frickin' paint, you know, the foundation of all Western art for the past 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00And it's and like I said, and it's steadfast. It it's it's it only it only evolves and you it doesn't change, and I think that's what's so damn cool about it, is that you know, and you're absolutely right, all right. You know, m my kids still play with the Legos they were given with, you know, John still has the Legos he was given as a kid. You know what I mean? Like he could still go and build with them, you know what I mean? He's got you know tons of I mean we have you know countless Lego sets, you know, all over the place. And you know, and there's been imitators and there's been people that have tried to capture the same thing. I know one of the things that one of the things that I played with as a kid was called constructs. And it was more like building material, but it was it was it had it had major limits and it would break, and you you know what I mean, and even though it was plastic inject, you know, molded injected plastic, it wasn't the same, and the system wasn't as good. And you know, God bless these guys for patenting you know their idea and making sure that that they were the only game on the block, and that's why, and it's the flawless nature of the design that has given it the longevity that it has, you know what I mean. I'm sure there were there were times when you know things were dire, but you know, they evolved and and got smart, and you know, I think that you know they went through some trouble like in the 90s, but you know, you get to the end of the 90s, the the mid to late 90s, and and you know, they start with the with you know getting the the rights to the different IPs, and that's it. You know, when they when when they connected with when Lego connected with Star Wars, it was it was two it was like two nerd supernovas colliding. You have the nostalgia of your the two most nostalgic things of your childhood and you know very popular children's IP at the time, all right, hitting at the same time. I mean you have it's like I think it's 99 when you get the Phantom Menace and and I when Lego I'm trying to think when Lego here let me look in my notes. I I'm sure I have it. Uh night, it's same thing. So it's it's simultaneous. So Lego Star Wars, and you know, George Lucas, goddamn genius, um ahead of his time, one of the one of the most brilliant toy marketers is of his IP that that there ever was because they didn't see the value in it, and he made that company off of those Kenner toys. All right, like I mean, owning the toy rights was was the key to his fortune. But having the foresight when those movies are coming out to to get together with Lego and make Lego Star Wars Lego sets, it's genius. It's absolute nutter genius.
SPEAKER_02Well, I read that like their their actual all of the main like like the big patents that govern like all of the actual design of everything. Like they all ran out back in like the the the 80s or something like that. And so now there are there are companies that literally make like fake Legos, yeah. Yeah, they're completely fake Legos. And and not only that, but like they they have like they sell sets. I mean, they're they are they are companies that are literally a copycat of Lego, a hundred percent. The the instructions are written in the same, you know, because that's another another great thing about Lego is how like there's hardly any words at all in the instructions. It's all visual. Um, you know, you can be you can you can be illiterate and still build Lego. Um there but there's these there's these companies out there that like there's like Mega Blocks and a couple other ones that Cata C A D A. Um and gotta be honest, that stuff is pretty cool too. Like, I mean, but why why wouldn't it be? You know, if they were just basically doing the same thing as Lego, but just like you know, adding adding different designs. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's kind of in a way that's like that makes sense based on Lego's entire mission, you know what I mean? To to to have endless possibilities to be able to create anything you want. Then of course you could have an entire, you know, team of people doing things their way, you know.
SPEAKER_00And it and it also shows, you know, at least for their brand, like, you know, they're still the originator. They still, you know, I I I th you know, I'm sure that the the quality of their version of it is is still good.
SPEAKER_01Of course. Of course.
SPEAKER_00It's got the name. You know what I mean? Don't don't forget.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the le the name is the same. Right.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, you but when it evolves in the late 90s to go away from just your basic cities and space and you know, underwater and blah blah blah, and now you can connect the block with the thing you love. I mean, it's a it's it's it's just ridiculous. And then you know, it's only another five or six years before you have Lego video games. And I mean you had Lego video games in the 90s, but you know, it was all very, you know, you know, 90s video gamey. But when they made this the first Star Wars Lego video game where you were playing like as a minifig and building things and and playing Star Wars, like, dude, it's it's it's it's nuts because now you've got Star Wars in the digital, you've got Star Wars in the physical, you got Star Wars, you know, uh on you know, just everywhere. And it's it's and it gives new life, it gives new life to an to an older toy, and it hits into a completely another subset of that nostalgia-driven, you know, purchase where it's like I played with this toy as a kid, I watched this movie as a kid, these are together, I can do this, I can now build my own Star Wars world. And that's and that's genius. And I think that to me is what I find so interesting about it. But they've also done their own stuff like Ninjago and come up with their own storylines. And it's it's not just relying on other people's IP anymore, it's this o it's its own thing. And then you have you know, you bring it forward into the you know, into the the the you know the the present more or less, and you have things like the Lego movie and the the the Lego Masters television show, and it's now it's it's literally part of the pop culture, and it's it stopped, it ceased being a children's toy, you know, f 30 years ago.
SPEAKER_02Well, no, it never ceased being a children's toy, it just expanded as we were as we were talking about it. It evolved, evolved and iterated. Well, and because it bridges all all age gaps, right, and because it functions as a medium, um, it can have these sort of like like tripartite relationships with different different parts of IP. So you take the video game, for example, and you've got this triangle of relationships. You've got you've got Lego, you've got Star Wars, and you've got video games. And it's like Legos and video games that works together because it's cool just to be playing with Legos in a video game. Yep, video game, video games and Star Wars, those work together because Star Wars is a cool film, video games, and now you're playing Star Wars and you've and then Star Wars and Legos, those two things are cool together too. You know what I mean? Like, like they they all work together, and you you you take that same thing and you apply it to the movie format where it's like well, movies are cool, and this particular movie universe is cool, and Legos are cool, and movies with Legos are, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Like you do it with the with the with the TV show as well, and you can draw through lines into sandbox games like Minecraft, where you're building a world, you know what I'm saying, and and you you know, you're again your it's your imagination that is the only limiter in this in this scenario. And for me, as far as I'm concerned, it all starts with Lego. All of that is a through line from Lego, all right, because that is what opened the world up into building, you know, a world from just colored bricks, and that's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it gave it gave the world um it gave people that weren't the the tiny, tiny, tiny tiny fraction of humanity that are actually involved in designing things in the world, you know. That's like a tiny fraction, a a sliver of all of the people in the world are involved in designing the world. You know what I mean? But Lego made gave everybody in the world the opportunity to be a designer, you know, to think about creating things visually and in and in three dimensions, um it with with zero with zero consequences, like the as low stakes as possible. You're you're just building a copy of the Golden Gate Bridge. If it falls over, nobody dies. You know what I mean? And I mean, just what a you know, what a what a gift. What a gift.
SPEAKER_00And then when you and think of how many how many generations those bricks have inspired to to build buildings and become architects and become engineers, and right, it's like self-fulfilling. Yeah, I mean it's it's and it's it's just so cool that this you know this toy from Denmark has had the ability to infiltrate uh into the global psyche like that. And that's an I like it's it's a fascinating toy in that sense that it's it's so much more than just a toy, but at at its core, uh it it's a toy. And you know, it's it's just is it's it's so so cool, and it's it's really neat too for me to have seen the evolution from when I was a kid to now. And like, you know, my wife is still enthralled with Legos. Like my wife collects the plant Legos, she's got like almost all of them. And like if she gets someone gives her a set of Legos for you know a gift, like she's super excited and is like, can't wait to build it. And you know, and for someone like her, she likes the rigidity of the set. Like for her, it's not the creative part of it, it's the it's you know, she likes the visual like at the end, you know what I mean? And I and and it's that's what's that's another part of it that's so cool, is that it's different things for different people and it doesn't it it doesn't discriminate in any way you're looking for one of your legs, you're looking for one of your Lego sets, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02No, no, I'm I'm I was looking for a book which I'll I'll share with you. Um to illustrate a uh a point though, you know, when you when you're saying like you know, it's it's it's so much so much more than a toy, and yet it's still just a toy, you know, you know, if if if I was headed to a desert island and you know, one of my choices for one of the things I could bring was a sack full of Legos, you you better believe, like a sack full of random Legos, bring it on. You know what I mean? Like even as a 56-year-old man with you know a world of entertainment at my fingertips and you know, uh 10,000 podcast episodes uh listened to under my belt and everything else, like in a pinch, I could sit down with a sack full of Legos and entertain myself for a good hour. Oh, god, yes. You know what I mean? Just be I mean, and that that gets back to like what I'm saying about it be having a religious quality to it because it's like in its simplest essence, it's amazing, and in its most complex, iterative, you know, 10,000th iteration, it's it's amazing as well. You know what I mean? It's got it's got this like transcendent quality that's just uh I mean, it's truly not to sound melodramatic, but it's like a gift to humanity that we have this thing, you know, and I mean it's so many things to so many people. And the the parallel of when you take like the simple idea of what this toy maker in Denmark a hundred and some odd years ago, the idea that he had, and then what had the way that it functions in the world now, there's a direct line. He's like, I want to create a system of blocks that people can do whatever they want with, and now it's a giant piece of IP that people do an infinite amount of things with, and you need only look, type type the word Lego into YouTube, and you will be down one of the biggest rabbit holes of your life, and every one of them you'll be like, This is amazing.
SPEAKER_00Well, I I can remember I can remember being in Disney when we all went, and I think it was like oh eight, something like that, and we went to the Lego store, and out front of the Lego store in Orlando there was like a sea serpent like that went in and out of like the wall, like was like in the water partially or whatever, at least it looked like it went in the water.
SPEAKER_02I just saw that like like two, three years ago when we were down there. We took the kids down there like like three summers ago or something. I saw that exact thing you're talking about.
SPEAKER_00And I remember just thinking in that moment, like, oh my god, like there's so you can literally do anything with this, and you can do it at whatever, you know, again, it's it's it's literally limited only by you know what you think you can do, and you can just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And they made that that they did like a I think it was like an X-wing or something like that. It's like the largest legs.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was like actual they made like an actual size, one to one scale. A one-to-one scale X-wing fighter.
SPEAKER_00Yes, which is you know absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_02But there was also like a Lego art exhibition, um, it was like the art of the build or something like that, um, that that did that traveled around. That's like a traveling art show that they put up in museums and stuff, and it came to DC a couple of years ago because I've been talking Legos with my guests for the past few days, and uh that's come up more than once. This this one artist that creates like like large-scale sculptures out of Lego, which is cool, man. Pretty wild as well. Yeah. Um, so I feel like we we touched on the history of the company. I mean, I I you know, I don't know how much detail you were hoping to get into with it. I mean, we we sort of like hit the the the big sort of transformative um moments, and I'm very much looking forward to getting into um the the uh you know my my personal history with it and some of the stuff that I that I really dig and I also want to go through some of the YouTube uh some of the different like YouTube creators and channels that I found out there. Was there anything else from the from the um from the history that we should uh we should touch on? I mean, I I feel like the the theme the theme parks and like the the company almost like hitting those hard times might be might be worth like a a a a small look.
SPEAKER_00Well, uh so what so some of the things that that happened is is they had you know one of the big like moments, they had a they had a fire in the factory, and and when they when the fire happened, they that was when they decided because they lost a lot of the wood product, they decided to go ahead and and just be like, we're we're just gonna make the the the plastic toys.
SPEAKER_02And I love the idea of like the guy being exasperated and like god damn it, we just lost three-quarters of this thing. You know what? Screw it. I'm done with wood, I'm done with wood, we're not doing it. Wait, you're crazy. No more wood. We're not doing it. Forget it. Go tell them we're you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00Like like it's so dramatic. So, you know, so that's 1960 when that happens. They decide to stop producing the wooden toys entirely and focus on the plastic construction. By 1968, they opened Legoland, which is like their first, like, you know, foray into like a place where you know people can visit. All right.
SPEAKER_02Did you find it interesting? Like, I've I felt like the Legoland thing seemed to come very like earlier in the evolution of this company than like I I necessarily would have expected. Like to me, that seems like a 80s 90s type of thing.
SPEAKER_00Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_02Like, I don't see Legoland coming around in the 60s, but I guess like they must have seen like Disneyland and been like our IP, you know, like our like our our shit's as good as their shit. If they can put up a theme park, we're putting up a theme park because we already know that everybody loves us in this country.
SPEAKER_00Six hundred thousand visitors the first year. Yeah. That's in 1968. Six hundred thousand people visited.
SPEAKER_02And I guess if you get that kind of play on your first year, you're gonna be like, oh, all right, this was a good idea. Let's put up ten more of these.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I mean, it's you know, 1978 they introduced the minifigure, which was one of the other like very revolutionary moments in in the game because where you just had these, you know, autonomous, you know, motor vehicles and different little you know, garages and buildings.
SPEAKER_02It's cool to think of like the toy makers. It's like it's like they had to take these steps, you know what I mean? Like they're like, okay, we're gonna create a building system. What should we make out? What should you know what should we make you know make make available? I don't know. Uh, how about the tractors, like those wooden ones we used to make? How about the barn, like that wooden barn we, you know, and then you're you're right, the the the minifigure arrives and suddenly it's like now it can be populated. Now we can do storytelling. Yes. Now we can now now kids are are writing narratives because like there's human beings in this world, and like that's yeah, that's a that's a hugely crucial step.
SPEAKER_00Well, and that and that brings around your your golden age of Legos of the 1970s and 80s, and that's when you got the town, the castle, and the space stuff. Right, right. So you get town, castle, space in the in the 70s and 80s, and you know, you the it it it builds on that. Then you get the in the in the mid-80s, you got the technic stuff, which is their kind of old like older kid version of Legos, a little more difficult. You know, that's when they introduced like motors and different things like that.
SPEAKER_02And so again, let's let's let's go back to those themes. Sure. Think of think about how ingenious those themes are. I mean, essentially Town Castle and Space. What is that? Reality, yep, fantasy, science fiction. Yes, boom. They they covered like the the vast majority of of all of like human storytelling with like those those three themes right there. Because you know, mythology can go into can go into castle, you know, and you know, any any kind of like technological science-y stuff can go into space, and then anything else is in the town. I mean it's just just mind-boggling.
SPEAKER_00And it's but what's it's it's mind-boggling in its simplicity. Yeah, yeah. Because it's it's so simple, but so complex at the exact same time, which is absolutely amazing. Um the the one of the landmark uh sets was was the Galaxy Explorer set. It's often considered one of the most influential Lego sets ever produced. And that's it's you know, it's so funny because it's like, of course, it was space. Of course, in the late 70s, 80s, you come you have Star Wars, you come out with a space set, like it's gonna, of course, it's going to a cap, you know, capture kids' imaginations. You know what I mean? And you get uh 89, they did they went to they got pirates in there.
SPEAKER_02So I'm looking at boats. I'm looking at the original Galaxy Explorer, it was set 497, and uh I I don't remember that particular one from my youth. What when did you say it came out? Uh it's 1979. 79, but it just sitting here looking at it, it's still like it is it is on point, like hidden. It's like a cool-looking spaceship. There's like a little like space-looking landing pad, and then there's like a little satellite station next to it. It's just it's so it's so perfect. It's like these like quintessential little elements that they that they render perfectly in perfect scale, and it's such a launching point for the imagination.
SPEAKER_00Look up that look up this set. All right. Look up the Black Seas Barracuda. All right. This is when Lego got into pirates, and this this set is unbelievable. All right. So this is 1989, is when they came out with the pirates. And I remember talk about the a touch point for the imagination. You know, you have those three original themes that we were talking about, and now you throw in pirates to the mix, and it just keeps building from there. It just keeps going. And you know, when you see a set like that, that uh that Black Seas Barracuda, I mean, that thing's unbelievable. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02It's incredible.
SPEAKER_00It it it I mean, you want to talk about a a thing to capture the imagination. You fill a ship with minifigures, and you're sailing the high seas. I mean, that thing is just absolutely bonkers.
SPEAKER_02And all of the details. What's the year on this thing?
SPEAKER_001989.
SPEAKER_02Oh, this was at 89? Yep. It's a little later than I would have thought, but yeah, it's all the details. I mean, they they've got they've got in addition to all the minifigures, uh, they've got at least as uh f three uh animals that I can count. There's a shark, there's a monkey, and there's a parrot hanging on the pirates. Um they've got they've got the maiden head or the what what do you is it's called the maiden head, the the the the bust of the woman on the front of the of the ship. Yeah. And of course it's a mini, it's a minifigure as well. She's holding like a a gold chalice. I mean, the detail is just stunning. I mean, that that's another thing this company just gets right over and over and over again, is the the level of detail. And they they and they they seem to nail the exact right details. You know, they've got a yard arm on this ship that's pulling up a treasure chest, right? It's a pirate ship. They've got the cannons, they've got the the parrot on the shoulder, they've got the eye patch. I'm sure if we look close enough, there's a wooden leg in there somewhere as well.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure. I'm sure. So then so the 90s is is is you know when their popularity is is peaking at its you know it's its zenith as far as the that early generation before you get to you know the Lego we know today. 95 they licensed their first video game.
SPEAKER_0297 I I think you should mention though, you didn't you didn't mention the um Lego technique.
SPEAKER_00I did. I started I said that's when they that's when they introduced um like motors and different things like that. So it was like a the next it was like your your older kids' Lego. It wasn't you know it was a little more complicated and and had a little more intricacies to it, and it allowed you to kind of do different things that you hadn't been able to do before as far as Lego was concerned. So it was again more of the same, but something completely new and different. It was the just the the logical evolution as far as you know what they you know what was next for Lego.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean it really is like a system of building materials and the fact that everything can be integrated together, that no matter what, whatever you want to attach to the thing that you're building, even if it's something that's got a motor or whatever, like it's still going to work. If you want, you can you know take the yard arm from the pirate ship and stick it on the side of your whatever thing that you're building with a motor in it. And I also think that the technique side of Legos is when you get to the the present day, it's essential, it's absolutely essential. Like if you watch Lego Masters, yeah, some of the best builds on Lego Masters are the guys that incorporate the technique stuff so that it's like it's not just beautiful to look at, but there's like cool stuff like moving around yes and gone on in there.
SPEAKER_00You know, one hundred percent. Um, another notable thing is in nineteen ninety seven, all right, there was the great Lego spill. More than five million Lego pieces were lost uh at sea off Cornwall. Yes, pieces contain the washing uh uh have been washing ashore for decades.
SPEAKER_02That is amazing. Wow, that would be so cool to have to have the sea belch up some Legos.
SPEAKER_00And then in 1999 is when their license themes began, and the first one that they licensed was Star Wars. And that's in my opinion where where Lego really like you know really changed to what we know today was with the licensing, because you know the fact the fact of the matter is they've taken all of the biggest IPs across all the different platforms from DC to Marvel to Star Wars to Pirates of the Caribbean to you name it, you name a blockbuster movie, and they made the Lego set for it. And that, you know, again, you talked about that that triple threat kind of crossover where you have the movie, the toy, you know, and it's all you know intersecting, and then on top of all of those, all of those IPs also got video games that started with that first original Lego Star Wars game, and so now you can do the Harry Potter Lego, the Lord of the Rings Lego, the you know, the Marvel Lego Lego uh video game, probably, in my opinion, might be the best one. Marvel Superheroes. That is a great game, it's just a good game in general. My entire family loved it. You know, it's an open world game where you can literally be any superhero as a Lego figure, you get their powers, and you get to fly all over New York City, or swing, or teleport, or whatever your Marvel superhero or villains ability was, and you had to unlock all of those, like, you know, a hundred different minifigures and different characters and different suits and like so many cool things that that opens up in in the digital world where you're where you aren't limited by gravity and space and time and all these different things. Everything can be done in an instant, and it gives you this even you know different type of dopamine hit. It's it's tremendous, man. Like this toy uh just transcends you know all of all of pop culture across the board and is still also at its root one of just the coolest toys you'll ever play with.
SPEAKER_02I think if like I was gonna devote more time to just like an exploration of it, I'd honestly like to hear I'd like to hear what the philosophers have to say about Lego. That's interesting. When you just consider its malleability, and like you know, when the when the first Lego movie came out, to be honest, like it was I I had a weird feeling because I was there was one part of me that thought, well, yeah, that makes total sense. Everybody loves Lego, so make a movie out of Lego, right?
SPEAKER_00But there was another part of me that was just like, because wasn't the first Lego movie like did it's like it's Chris Chris Pratt's like the main, it's like this the city guy, and he's literally inside of like the Lego world of all of the different sets, like all the the sets cross over. You have Gandalf and you know Super. Right, right, okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I guess my thought was like why not just make a movie like about this guy, you know, interacting with all these things, but like what like what is the purpose of Lego being in there? Like, like why Lego what does Lego add to this movie? You know what I mean? This could just be a move a live action movie that's you know what I mean, just a movie, regular movie. And it's like Lego has this this it's like we it's it's like we have this comfort with Lego, you know what I mean? There's there's something that is so lovable about like the design of Lego to simply look at a two by eight Lego brick. It's like a pe it's like eating a piece of comfort food. You know what I mean? Because because it reaches all the way back to like your earliest childhood. You know, I can I can remember playing with Legos in the basement of of Mrs. Leonard's house where I got babysat when I was a kid. I didn't even think I don't think she was babysitting when you were a kid.
SPEAKER_00But I played with her kids.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So I spent I can't tell you how I how many I'm I there's I got some stories from that time, but yeah, no, I mean countless hours in the in the Leonard's basement. Yeah, it just opened it opened onto the it opened onto the big field in the back behind the Ruby's house. Same one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, the um I just absolutely I can remember playing with like space Lego sets in that basement and just absolutely adoring it. Like I feel like I I get it that it's like that must be where I fell in love with Lego. Like I don't think we had any at our house, and I got babysat down there and they had him there, and like it was incredible. And just a Lego brick is just like one of the most sort of just sort of like archetypal, just satisfying, like well pieces of design just to look on it is to is to be like, yeah, I I love the way that that looks when when that enters my eyeball, like I I get that dopamine hit like you're like you're referencing.
SPEAKER_00But think think about it, think about it like this too. You can look at that Lego brick, that two by eight Lego brick, the classic Lego brick, right now. You can see it visually. Hey, you can picture it in your mind, but if you saw one on an even on a screen, you know exactly what it feels like. You know that that you know its its density, you know how hard it is, you know that the corners are pointy, and that you can feel the roughness of the logo on top of the on top of the the cylinders, on top of the brick. Like you know what the bottom of it feels like. You literally every you and it's and it's ubiquitous across everybody. I mean, there are billions of people right now that know exactly what I'm talking about about this thing, and that is one hell of a cool thing that it is so prevalent and so quickly recognized, all right, across the world. And it's it doesn't matter race, creed, color, language, ethnicity, it doesn't matter, it's the same for everybody. All right, yeah, the fact that you can like you can imagine that brick and know exactly what it's like, and if you picked it up, it would feel exactly the way and you know it, you know it through and through. If you've played with Legos for five minutes, you know what a let what a Lego, the the feel of a Lego is in your hand.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I well, and I think what to bring it back to like the the appeal of the movies, I guess what it is in a way is like when you're a kid and you're playing with Lego, you know, you're flying the spaceship through the air and you're making the pirates fight with each other and all that kind of stuff. And when you're when you're watching the Lego movies, you're you're seeing you're seeing your childhood imagination rendered on screen, you know what I mean? I get that's what's satisfying about it. Okay, I figured it out. Like like yeah, it's it's it's really wild.
SPEAKER_00Um so so would you so let's let's let's use your your Leonard's basement analogy. Was that is that your earliest memory of Lego?
SPEAKER_02I think so.
SPEAKER_00I feel like I feel like my earliest memories of Lego is playing with like hand-me-down Legos, like the old Legos, and like coming up with my own thing, and then I can remember, you know, distinctly getting, you know, sets at different points in my life, and you know, uh adding to the collection, and then those sets would become part of the amalgamation of Legos that I owned, and that you know, all of a sudden I would I would tear all those Legos down and I'd build something new, and and and I can remember it just being one of those things that I loved to create with when I was a kid because I was a I was a G.I. Joe, you know, Transformers kid. So to me, the Legos were you know a part to they they were something that I was able to use to accent what I did with the action figures. And same with constructs. Constructs was the same way. I would build things with the constructs for my G.I. Joe's, for you know, my you know, Go bots or my Transformers or whatever.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's like that's like Lego truly functioning as a medium, you know, as a building material, you know, that that it can that can exist outside of itself, which is like one of the beautiful things. I mean, one of the applications that I used it and I built this over and over and over again was a football, a football goal post for playing paper football. Me and Steve Romer would play paper football. And, you know, when you first started playing paper football, you put your hands like this, and that was the goal. But then we were like, let's build a badass goal out of Lego that was like the same dimensions as like an actual football goal, and then like suddenly we were like, let's not even play paper football, let's just have content competitions where we're trying to launch these things through that goal post from like 20 feet away, you know what I mean? And it was all because we, you know, we had this building material there that we can make these cool ass goal posts out of, you know, and you you try that with like tinker toys, not the same.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and you bring up a great point about being able to play Legos with uh with somebody else, and what a what a great you know conceptual toy where you can you can give uh two kids a pile of bricks and they're both gonna come up with with different things based right, you know, pulled right from the same well. You know what I mean? But they're you're gonna have two completely different things because it's a it's it goes back to that imagination thing, which is it allows you to bring to life the thing that's inside of your head by what you're you know what you're looking at. You you look at the brick and you go, oh well I I think I could do this with it. Oh, that one does this. Oh, that gives me an idea. Let's let let me and and and it just starts, and you just start, you know, brick by brick, like you said in the intro. It's you know, and that's what's so kind of cool about it. You know, for me, you know, again, like I had the Legos and I had all of that as a kid, but it wasn't it wasn't my it was never my main toy, but I mean it was definitely a toy that that you know permeated throughout my childhood. But you know, when I got to be in a you know, when I got to be an ad an adult and I had a little money in my pocket, like all of a sudden I was buying Legos and I, you know, I had a my my kid really young. And so when he you know started getting in, you know, it was like this really cool thing for me to be able to like buy my kid Legos and play Legos with my kid, and and he loved Legos and I loved Legos, and so you know I got this whole like resurgence of it in my life, and then you know, I can remember playing that first original Lego video game, and you know, the the the Lego Star Wars video games, I think I played all of them, and they just got better over time, and you know, to me it was like the perfect marriage of like this toy that I love, this movie that I love, and I get to now experience this movie myself and you know go through the story, the story that I know and love, and get to interact with it and build in it, and you get to do all it, and it's just like it's so cool. And then I fast forward a couple more years, and you know, I have another son and he loves Legos now, and John still plays with Legos as an adult. And my wife collect my wife collects Legos, you know what I mean. My you know, my Legoing has has tapered off, you know, through the years, but you know, the what I the seeds I planted in my kids, you know, have grown, and you know, the seeds that my wife plants have grown. And now, you know, we got nieces and nephews, and you know, and it just continues, and I just I love that it's just multi-generational and it it provides this beautiful nostalgia.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I I guess I was in the Legos as a kid. Um I wasn't like it wasn't like a overwhelming part of my my diet. I would say I was like an average kind of Lego kid. And then like as an adult, like I've sort of always had an interest. Like I'm I am always if I go to a toy store or like we go to the kids want to go to Target and they make a beeline for the toy department, like my first stop is Legos. Like I just like looking at the stuff, you know what I mean? I like looking at all the sets. I like just stand there and be like, wow, they made a Lego set out of that, you know? Some of the just some of the inventive things and the different the different ways that they've applied Legos, you know, the endless different ways they've applied Legos.
SPEAKER_00Um just I kind of love, you know, like you're talking about the plants and and especially like in the last you know 15 20 years with the landmarks and the like the art pieces, and we have we have a we have a Lego thing hanging on our wall. We have a Lego Iron Man like art piece that hangs on the wall downstairs, you know what I mean? And you know, it's it's it's so cool that you have, yeah. See, there's your Eiffel, there's your mini Eiffel Tower. I got it. I guess that's I guess that's Paris.
SPEAKER_02No, this is that's part, so that's part of the Skyline series. Hold on. Um the Eiffel Tower? Well, that's this is where I was going with mine. So yeah, it's got um it's got the Arc de Triomphe, it's got some of the townhouses, it's got the Louvre, it's got the Eiffel Tower, and then I think maybe that's like the maybe it's oh like Notre Dame or something like that. Um so yeah, when I after I became an adult or whatever, the thing that like sort of re re you know set my imagination was the architecture stuff. Um and I love that that they have you know created this. So they they basically it the the main line is called Lego Architecture, but then within that there's three different sublines. One of them is called architect, and that's like it's like showcases like famous building designs. Like that's where you would find like your falling waters, you know. Like then they have landmark. This is like sort of a different kind of level. This is like iconic landmarks, like individual, like skyscrapers, the Birj Khalifa or the Nush Fine Castle or whatever that are like like landmarks versus just like a design that's not like known that well in the popular culture, you know, the the such and such building or whatever. And then Skyline is the tiny versions of like great city skylines, right? Um and I have two. I have the Paris one, and then I've also got the London one. Um, that one's got like the London Eye, Big Ben, uh the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and St. Peter's Basilica, I think. Um, yeah, Big Ben in Parliament. Um and those are cool because they're all on the same scale, and you get like you get like five landmarks in one. And so, you know, we've talked about how like a little bit about how there's like all of this aftermarket Lego stuff that happens and stuff. So there are Lego itself has done skylines for like 10 different cities or something like that, you know, over the years. Some of them are still in production, some not. Um, but other creators have done damn near every skyline in the world, you know what I mean? Like if you can find and and you can find there's so there's there's there's sites out there where that just sell Lego designs that that so you can buy like a blueprint, just like you would get when you buy your Harry Potter Hogwarts thing that gives you all your you know 87 steps that you got to go through to put this thing together. You can buy plans with you know 87 steps in them to build something, but it's not from Lego, it's just from somebody else saying, Okay, here's the thing, and here's your sheet, and these are all the parts you need to get. And then, and then some of those companies, you can go to that site and and and buy their design, and then on the page where you're buying that design, they'll give you a link to another aftermarket company that can help you source the the bricks and the pieces, and and not only that, but you can there I saw one where it's like, okay, I've chosen like this design for like such and such building, you know, in Estonia. Um, I really want to build this out of Legos and I love this design. Okay, now I can I can go to this website that shows me a list of of multiple different aftermarket companies, and for this particular design, like I can reach out to into each of their databases and see how close they come to getting me all the bricks for this design. I'm not kidding you. Like, you'll literally see like this company can provide 97% of the bricks, this one's got 92%, this one's got 85%, this one's got blah blah blah blah. It's crazy. I also saw some stuff about like the the like per brick price and how if you're buying Lego sets like from Lego, like original Lego sets, like your per brick price is often in the like like eight to twelve cent range, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02So like if you multiply the number of pieces in that set, uh, you know, or if you divide the the cost of the set by the number of pieces in it, you're gonna get a price somewhere between like eight and twelve cents. But like aftermarket Lego bricks are like one to three cents.
SPEAKER_00Interesting.
SPEAKER_02So so they're they're they're way cheaper, but you you you you gotta work to find them. But this is one of the things that I that I absolutely love about this side of Lego, is that okay, you take a Lego set, go down to the like a basic Lego set that you build as a kid, you know, a little spaceship that's got like you know four 42 pieces, but there's still this process that you go through where you have to like, you know, you you gotta get all the pieces out of the box and you gotta sort them out, you gotta you gotta figure out what's what, you know, then you gotta follow the instructions to put it together, and then you got this thing. Then you look at this other stuff that I was talking about, where where you know I love this this building in Estonia and I want to do it, and there's an even more detailed mission that you have to go on in order to accomplish this thing. And now it involves like I have to go to three different companies and source these materials, and like it's gonna be for me to build this thing that I want to build that I just bought the plants for, it might take me six months. This I might be about to go on a six-month journey of exploration around the world trying to source these things, you know what I mean? But in and of itself, that is a beautiful, beautiful thing that you know that I'm sure is insanely satisfying to people, you know what I mean? And it and it's all it's all just like bigger versions of the basic process of of building a Lego, you know.
SPEAKER_00It it's but I mean But the the that goes right back to it can be extremely simple but also very complicated all at the same time and that's a be that's a beautiful thing. Um I compiled a a list of the top ten Lego lines of all time. All right. Would you would you like to venture some guesses over what the top ten Lego lines? And so this this would be you know like the main, you know, lines, like you know, Harry Potter.
SPEAKER_01I mean I would think I would think Star Wars and Harry Potter would both be up there.
SPEAKER_00So Star Wars is on the list, it is number one. All right, Harry Potter is not in the top ten.
SPEAKER_01Really? I guess it's it's it's too new, or maybe they're like too fucking expensive or something.
SPEAKER_00Um so Star Wars is number one. Obviously, it's it's the biggest IP that they have, and they have invested into it heavily. What do you think? The the rest of them I I are really honestly, you have a lot of common ones.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know, just read them off to me. I don't want to play the game.
SPEAKER_00All right. So number 10, so we already know number one, I'll go from 10 to 1. Number 10 was Lego Pirates. Lego Pirates is the 10th most popular set line uh in their history. After that, you have the Lego ideas line, which is the where they they give you, you know, a little more uh freedom as far as your design. Then you've got the Ninjago line, which was Which is ideas?
SPEAKER_02Is Ideas the one where you could do four different like four different designs in one?
SPEAKER_00That's the creator series. Oh that is on the list though. Um Ninjago, which is the the the the eight in the eighth spot, was their own IP. So they don't some people.
SPEAKER_02Don't some people like donk on Ninjago? Like, are there are is there like a subset of the Lego fandom that's just like F Ninjago, that's some goofy shit?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, but I mean it was something that it was so following the the line of the of the 80s, I mean, it what it was was it was an IP that they created, so they created a television show to help sell the toy.
SPEAKER_02Was it was the television show uh like just an animated thing, or did they look like Legos in the show?
SPEAKER_00They looked like what you went and out and bought.
SPEAKER_01They so they they the the the TV show looked like the Legos.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just like it, just like G.I. Joe did and Transformers did. Um then you have the creator uh one, so that's like the dinosaur where you get you have multiple one set, multiple, multiple different things you can build with it. You had Bionicle, which was another one of their you know own IPs that they did. And then you have really just your your classic Lego lines, number five, space. Fate space is the is the fifth biggest line. Then you have always been space there the castle line, it being in the fourth spot, then technic, and then city, which does not surprise me in the least that city is the is number two behind Star Wars, because you know, that is the essence of Lego. I mean, the the original system was to build, you know, was to be able to build cities and you know teach kids, you know, traffic patterns, and you know, there's there's so much you can learn just from the cityscape. And you know, you have fire, police, you know, you have you know, rescue, you have you know, stores, there's so many possibilities with the city. And so it's just it's it's really neat to me how it's evolved over the years, but yet it's it still really just fits in that classic bubble.
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah. Um what else did I have on my oh so I wanted to um like how how much how much of you engaged how much of you engaged with like like just like Lego on YouTube?
SPEAKER_00Uh I mean outside of this week not a ton, but I definitely hit a couple follows this week for sure, because there were some really cool things that I came across.
SPEAKER_02Well, I definitely saw a parallel um from our Red Dead conversation a few, you know, what is I don't know, it's probably been a month and a half now since we talked Red Dead. Um but um the way that Red Dead is this like incredibly expansive world that has also then spawned this other like massive world of fan-generated content, you know. Um, because like Lego, you know, Red Dead is is a it's it's a medium in a way, you know what I mean. You can go, I mean you you you know as well as anybody. You can go on there and create like little movies and stuff like that. You can use it using some editing tools and stuff like that. You can just like make really cool things with it that aren't the playing of that, you know, that's not the playing of the game. It's gameplay.
SPEAKER_00I've seen some like really cool stop motion animation done with Legos. I mean, there's so many cool things they do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like they're there so so there's just just an incredible amount of stuff. So some of the the the cool stuff that I've I've run into. Um I found a great newsletter called Tips and Bricks. I'm gonna link all of my stuff in the show notes, by the way. Um this like online newsletter, uh Tips and Bricks. It's like daily Lego techniques, MOCs, and more MOCs, we should uh point out, are um are called those are my own creations. They're basically like new original creations that like a person makes with Lego, um, not something that was made by the Lego corporation and sold. An MOC, my own creation. Um, and so like this site puts out like an MOC every day, like a new just like design. And there are Lego, you know, fans and creators and stuff out there that have you know unbelievable man caves filled with like massive cabinets with filing systems that have just like a zillion little drawers and every possible Lego piece you could ever possibly need. And you know, they can you can down you can order one of these, you know, you can read this newsletter, see one of these builds, and be like, yeah, I can put that together and just go into their collection and start pulling out things and you know.
SPEAKER_00How about how about some of those man caves where it's like entire cities? Yeah, just it's it's it's mind-boggling. Yeah. I mean, it it's it's it's one of the deepest rabbit holes you can fall down, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02So I was I was uh laying in bed and I just like went on the YouTube, pulled up the pulled up the uh the just just looked up Lego. I found one called um T D Bricks. I absolutely love this guy T D bricks.
SPEAKER_00He's uh I watched him build the the uh the cruise ship.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I saw him do one. He was like, I wanted to he's like, I have this dog that I love, so I wanted to make ten things for my dog out of Legos. He made the dog like uh uh a collar out of Legos, he made the dog a leash out of Legos, he made the dog a bowl out of Legos, he made a automatic treat dispenser out of Legos where the dog come up and like hit it with its nose and it would flick back and the treat would fall out, and like and then he was like, and I really wanted that like to I really wanted to build a dog house for my dog. Um, and he's like, so I got like a huge thing of Legos, and he goes out on his back porch and he starts like building the outer wall out of Legos, and he this wall, it was like, because the dog is like a golden retriever, someone's a fairly large dog. He's he's he's got like a three and a half inch tall wall going around the outside. He's like, I'm out of Legos already. This is not gonna work. I gotta rethink this. So he goes online and he finds somebody that's selling these like massive-sized Legos, so he buys like a huge pack package of like you know, 500 really big ass Legos, and then he builds his dog like a dog house, like an actual dog house out of like giant-sized Legos.
SPEAKER_00That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's like this guy, I mean, that's just one of just like a zillion videos. I mean, there's so many content creators out there that are literally like funding their entire life just by like doing cool shit with Legos.
SPEAKER_00Well, if if you decided to listen to our episode about Legos, drop a comment and tell us what you do with Legos and who we should check out online uh as far as your favorite Lego content creators.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um another thing I wanted to mention, I love how Lego will give us not one, but they'll give us three different versions of the same thing. Sometimes it's it's played out because it's over time. It's like they gave us this thing in '99, and here's now here's the 2014 version. Um, but sometimes they just mess with the scale. So I found if you scroll down in my show notes, I found the Taj Mahal. Yeah. Yeah. And like one of them is like one of them is like the like the original one, and then there's one that's like, holy crap, look how detailed that is. And then they've got like the tiny version, and this that was the book I was looking for. I have this book, it's called Lego Micro Cities. And you know, you can you can create these these tiny little buildings with Legos because they have every single possible shape you could ever need. You can you can make a really small, like not detailed version of something, but inst at the same time, it's instantly recognizable, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's really awesome. I love that. Well, I have absolutely enjoyed our conversation on Legos. We could talk for another two hours, I'm sure. But we've got to wrap it up there. Thank you everyone for joining us uh on our Lego journey today, and we will catch you on the next episode. Good luck.
SPEAKER_02Inglorious Brothers is a Harporama production and a part of the Harparama family of podcasts. You can find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Please like, subscribe, and follow, leave a five-star review, and most importantly, tell all your friends about us. Thanks for listening. Talk to you next time. And uh, oh yeah, uh Riva Derchy.