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Tag: Lego

  • You Can Renew the Founder’s Mentality, Says Author Chris Zook

    You Can Renew the Founder’s Mentality, Says Author Chris Zook

    “Once your company is no longer small it tends to accumulate bureaucracy and you begin to lose the founder’s mentality,” says Chris Zook, author of “The Founders Mentality.” “That is the paradox of growth. Growth creates complexity and complexity is the silent killer of profitable growth. Complexity is also the silent killer of our lives in some ways. The solution is that every business should go through a sort of housecleaning to get to the core of the core of the core.”

    Chris Zook, the Best-selling author of “The Founder’s Mentality” and an Advisory Partner at Bain & Company, recently spoke at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference (ONE19) in Lexington, Kentucky:

    Massive Change Coming As We Shift to a Digital Economy

    What are the most predictable barriers to sustaining profitable growth for organizations today? Why is it that some companies age prematurely? Why do others continue to grow? As the global economy has shifted from an industrial economy to a digital economy people see massive change coming. Nearly two out of three people believe their main competition in five years will be a different company and have a different business model than it does today.

    Right now will be the slowest pace of change that you will experience going forward. Interestingly, it is also the fastest pace of change that you have ever experienced. The major barriers to growth are internal. Your company’s fate is in your hands.

    Starbucks Refocused On the Customer Experience

    Anybody could open a coffee shop. So how did Starbucks rise above all the rest to create a massively successful business in the coffee shop industry? For years the company’s trajectory looked like a high tech business. Then the founder Howard Schultz left and he turned the running of the business over to a management team. Then to the surprise of many loyalty scores from customers started going down. Same-store sales went down and this, in turn, caused their stock price to go down.

    Starbucks founder Howard Schultz needed to come back as CEO to figure out what went wrong and right the ship. Were people simply sick of Starbucks? Actually, Schultz found that the company was inflicting self-inflicted wounds. It wasn’t any single big decision, it was many decisions made inch by inch that were creating the issue. The stores became cookie cutter and cluttered with big aluminum machines that ruined the experience. Customers didn’t love Starbucks anymore. That changed when Schultz focused the company on the customer experience again.

    Maintaining the Founder’s Mentality

    This is an example of how even successful companies can lose the founders mentality. The founder’s mentality dies when everyone aspires to be in the front office. Strategic problems outside often reveal deeper challenges and root courses of a breakdown inside companies. Businesses should look at the indicators of internal health. The first of those factors is Insurgency. What are we really about? Are we building something for the long term and not quarterly earnings? What is our core? For example, what is the core of Nike? It’s not the sole of the shoe. It’s Nike’s bold mission of uniqueness.

    The second element of the founder’s mentality is what we call Frontline Obsession. When leaders move far from the frontline you lose the innovation engine and you lose talent. You also lose experimentation, frontline empowerment, and customers advocacy. Engagement levels are often lowest for those not interacting with customers. Generally, functions further down in the organization have lower engagement. Many companies erode from the frontline up.

    The third element of the founder’s mentality is the Owner Mindset. The founder is the owner. They feel that their company is their baby. But as the years go people move to the main office, away from operations and the customer. Sometimes, as with Michael Dell, this prompts the founder to come back to the company.

    Michael Dell Restored the Owner’s Mindset

    When Michael Dell of Dell Computers noticed that PCs and company owned and managed servers started to not be as powerful as they once were. At one time they ubiquitous with business. Then AWS and the cloud started replacing servers and this impacted Dell’s business model. By this time Michael had left day to day management of Dell. But just like Starbuck’s founder, Dell brought Michael back to restore the owner’s mindset.

    Michael Dell made a lot of bold changes including acquiring EMC, which at the time (2015) was the largest deal in tech history. Many people were openly skeptical. However, Michael Dell had a plan to simplify the company. He was actually going through the founder’s mentality playbook.

    He really rebuilt the insurgency from scratch. At one point, he notably said that he wanted to make Dell the largest startup in the history of business. Dell is now wildly successful again, having significantly changed its business model while empowering an entrepreneurial spirit once again.

    When I came to Lexington, Kentucky to speak today I asked about the early years of Alltech. Alltech’s founder, Dr. Pearse Lyons story is incredible. It is as incredible as Michale Dell’s. Dr. Pierce Lyons was way ahead of his time. He is is the quintessential expeller of these elements of the founder’s mentality.

    Every Business Should Get to the Core of the Core of the Core

    It is a fact that founder-led companies consistently outperform. A study by Bain showed that founder-run companies performed over 3.1 times more than others in the S&P 500. But organizations are just like humans in their life cycle. Initially, all founders of successful companies went up against established big companies. These companies often don’t immediately notice or care about your small startup. However, they eventually fight back. This forces you to raise capital and grow and become large yourself.

    Once your company is no longer small it tends to accumulate bureaucracy and you begin to lose the founder’s mentality. That is the paradox of growth. Growth creates complexity and complexity is the silent killer of profitable growth. Complexity is also the silent killer of our lives in some ways. The solution is that every business should go through a sort of housecleaning to get to the core of the core of the core.

    Renewing the Founder’s Mentality

    An example of this is LEGO. Over time, LEGO moved away from being a toy company and created other things like theme parks, watches, retail stores, and much more. At one point this diversification almost caused the company to go bankrupt. All of these ventures sucked out their ability to execute the core. Now realize that there are 71 lego bricks for every person on the planet. LEGO as a brand and a toy product is engrained in people. But LEGO had a serious problem to solve.

    They decided to go back to their core. They decided to simplify and they turned the company around. It’s a great example of how companies can over complicate things when they go after bright shiny objects.

    A question I’m often asked is can you renew the founder’s mentality? One company that did renew it is Domino’s. The company eventually stalled out when they didn’t invest in the next wave of differentiation. An investment company bought Domino’s and they started to make each franchisee like a mini founder. Their stated goal was to create a company of many founders. They also doubled down on technology and delivery. This strategy worked big time. Their trajectory of growth is like a high tech firm now.

  • Rue McClanahan Is Still Dead: Did Lego Start the Rumor?

    Rue McClanahan has been dead for five years. Somehow that was lost on some people. So they killed her again.

    Social media lit up yesterday with news that Rue McClanahan, famous for playing Blanche on The Golden Girls, had died. Facebook and Twitter both roiled with the news, as fans and saddened TV watchers posted tributes and spread the news.

    But, as any true Golden Girls fan would know, Rue McClanahan long ago departed this mortal coil to join Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty at that Shady Pines in the sky. Betty White has been the sole occupant of the lanai for a while now.

    Rue McClanahan died of a stroke in June of 2010. McClanahan was 76 years old. Some have called McClanahan the Original Cougar for her role as the over-sexed Blanche Devereaux.

    Perhaps it was the desire to round out the “they happen in threes” maxim by lumping Rue McClanahan in with the recently-deceased Christopher Lee and wrestler Dusty Rhodes that drove people to jump on the bandwagon. Or maybe some news is just big enough to pass around five years down the road for people who only climbed out from under a rock recently.

    But it can be excused, given the fact that it was CBS who first ran with the “announcement.” Presumably, an intern has now been axed. But not before it got tweeted out at large.

    If you follow this CBS link to the original story, it now leads to a video that claims that “for some reason” McClanahan’s death has gone viral. They even express wonder that the CBS obit for Rue McClanahan from five years ago is getting traffic again.

    Maybe it’s because they posted it again?

    Once their error was pointed out, many tweeters felt embarrassed. But people trust a national news agency to tell them straight.

    Or maybe it was the Lego Corporation that gave the obit of Rue McClanahan a bump. Could they be drumming up sales for their Golden Girls Lego set?

    There is already loads of interest in the set, which features the still-dead Rue McClanahan holding a lipstick.

  • Lego Jurassic World Trailer Arrives, Thankfully Contains Goldblum

    The most disappointing thing about the upcoming Jurassic World movie is its unsettling lack of Jeff Goldblum – but at least the folks over at Warners Bros, LEGO, and TT games know what’s up.

    There will be Goldblum in the new LEGO Jurassic World game, for which you can watch the brand new trailer below:

    LEGO Jurassic World will include storylines from Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, as well as the upcoming Jurassic World. This trailer seemed a bit heavy on the original Jurassic Park, which nobody will complain about.

    Dinosaurs, LEGO, Goldblum. Folks, it appears we have a winner. The game is due out in June.

  • Lego Jurassic World, Avengers Games Coming in 2015

    If you’ve ever wanted to relive the magic of the Jurassic Park films (mostly the first one) in Lego form, well, you’re in luck.

    Warner Bros, LEGO, and TT Games have just announced the next slate of Lego video games and it includes LEGO Jurassic World and LEGO Marvel’s Avengers. The former is due out in June and the latter in the fall of 2015. Both will be available on all major consoles, handhelds, and PC.

    LEGO: Jurassic World will include storylines from Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III, as well as the upcoming Jurassic World.

    “This year will be the biggest yet for LEGO videogames with these incredible titles and several firsts for the series,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “TT Games are crafting humorous LEGO adventures, based on new stories and characters across some of the most well-known and iconic worlds.”

    Beyond those two major titles, LEGO is also putting out LEGO Ninjago: Shadow of Ronin on handhelds, The LEGO Movie Videogame on iOS, and mobile game LEGO Batman: Beyond Gotham

    “The LEGO videogame franchise remains a cornerstone of our business, consistently delivering fun, engaging gameplay and remarkable humor both kids and adults love,” said David Haddad, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. “We look forward to expanding the successful series with this very exciting line-up of new LEGO experiences for players of all ages to enjoy on console, handheld and mobile gaming devices.”

    The LEGO game franchise is one of the biggest in history, with over 100 million units sold.

  • ‘The Big Bang Theory’ in Lego Form

    ‘The Big Bang Theory’ in Lego Form

    The Big Bang Theory will soon be produced in a whole new way. Lego announced it’s going to create a set based on the hit CBS show. Following in the very successful footsteps of sets based on Ghostbusters, The Simpsons, and Back to the Future, this latest pop-culture institution will be forever cast in plastic and eventually sold on a collector’s market.

    The decision to make The Big Bang Theory Lego set was actually the result of a competition. Akin to a Kickstarter type of project, the ‘Lego Ideas’ program allows Lego fans to design their own sets and then others vote on them. Ideas garnering more than 10,000 votes will be reviewed by Lego. That’s when they get the chance of being made into an actual limited edition set.

    The Big Bang Theory Lego set was designed by two people who–during the competition–went by the names Alatariel and GlenBricker. They reportedly had some very stiff competition. Competing sets included an Apple store, the flying train from Back To The Future 3, some educational bird models, and two sets based on Doctor Who. The Big Bang Theory and the bird models were the only ones to make the final Lego cuts.

    How do you suppose Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco, Mayim Bialik, and the rest of The Big Bang Theory cast will feel knowing they and their set will be forever cast in Lego form?

    It’s pretty unlikely that the Lego sets will be played with by children. After all, they will come out in limited edition quantities. They will probably be scooped up by nerds (a term used to affectionately describe both adult Lego fans and fans of the show) who collect special edition Lego sets.

    Collectors had best stay tuned to Lego for production announcements. They’ll want to scoop up their sets and see how, over the years, they increase in value. Of course there will be those few enthusiasts who will set the little plastic figures up and put together the iconic living room set while watching The Big Bang Theory.

    Will you be one of them?

  • Lego Resume: Northwestern College Student Builds Her Way to the Top

    One college student’s resume has gone viral.

    Northwestern University student Leah Bowman constructed her resume based off of Legos, which has now been seen by a number of prospective employers.

    Bowman-who majors in Communication Studies: Integrated Marketing and Anthropology-started working on her creation via the Lego Digital Designer during her spring break in hometown Johnston, Iowa.

    The 20-year-old says that since Legos were always a big part of her Danish childhood memories, she decided to use the idea as an artistic way to land a summer internship at an advertising agency.

    The model of Bowman is accompanied by a Lego-inspired graphic designed resume with the headline: “Build the Perfect Account Service Intern!”

    Her resume outlines her obvious “eye for design” and “attention to detail.”

    She has even replaced the signature Lego logo with her first name instead.

    Bowman shared how searching for a job is quite challenging when going against competition.

    She wanted to do something that would make her stand out, and it looks like she achieved just that.

    Bowman told Mashable: “I’ve applied for dozens of jobs and had a handful of interviews, but sometimes there’s just another candidate that edged you out. I know I’d be a great addition to any team, but I needed a better way to communicate that rather than just sending in a boring resume.”

    Bowman ultimately wants to work for Lego, but she told Good Morning America Friday that any job would do.

    “I just want a job that gives me unique challenges every week and gain some great experience,” she said.

    Although her resume has grabbed major attention in the corporate world, Bowman has yet to secure an internship. She is quite aware that no matter how creative her resume may appear, it doesn’t guarantee her a job.

    “It’d be silly if I expected to be offered jobs based solely on a Lego set.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Legoland Closes After Threats To Muslim Family Day

    Legoland Closes After Threats To Muslim Family Day

    The Legoland park in Windsor, England shut its doors to visitors after receiving threats from far-right extremists.

    The park was scheduled to host a private event for the MRDF last weekend (Muslim Research and Development Foundation), and they have sold about 4,000 tickets for the event. When the information became public, threats started flooding the park’s Facebook page, voicemails, and email accounts. Legoland was forced to pull down their Facebook page, as there were plenty of abusive posts.

    The park decided to close the 150-acre park and the 150-room hotel for the weekend as a safety measure. In a public statement, the park said their apologies and offered a full refund for families who were affected by the incident. Some people have also received £10 vouchers.

    Families who were scheduled to visit the park were extremely disappointed about the cancellation. Legoland says that they understand the disappointment, but the safety of the visitors and employees must always come first. According to the MRDF, the event that they were supposed to hold in the park was open to all faiths, and the threats that came flooding on Facebook were an obvious attack on Muslims and Islamic people residing in the UK.

    The Thames Valley Police said that they are still investigating the connection of the threats with the event that was supposedly going to take place in the park. There are no further comments, as the investigation is ongoing.

    Last November, the Muslim group also held an event at Legoland’s sister park, the Chessington World of Adventures. The event pushed through without complains and threats, so the company is wondering what made it different this time around.

    The park’s cancellation last Sunday was the first time it happened since Legoland opened in 1996. It will reopen for the season on March 14.

    Take a tour of Legoland Windsor

    Image via YouTube

  • ‘LEGO Movie’ Outtakes Reel Released

    ‘LEGO Movie’ Outtakes Reel Released

    The LEGO Movie is a hit with critics. Though the film has been marketed as an average February movie for children, it turns out that the movie is actually a clever, subversive jab at conformity and authority. The LEGO Movie raked in cash over the weekend thanks in part to its quality over other movies released during the Hollywood wasteland that usually is February.

    Warner Bros. is Now capitalizing on the movie’s success with a bit more content for those who enjoyed it. The studio today released what it’s referring to as an outtakes reel for the movie.

    The LEGO Movie being animated film, the bloopers were, of course, pre-planned. Some of the outtakes fall a bit flat due to their scripted nature. Others spoil some of the movie’s gags for those that haven’t seen it. Still, those who are on-board with the silly humor of The LEGO movie may find the bloopers to be awesome.

  • The LEGO Movie Videogame Is Out Today

    The LEGO Movie Videogame Is Out Today

    The LEGO Movie just came out of left field as one of the early critical darlings of the year. All the trailers and pre-release content made it seem like your usual children’s fare, but it’s currently sitting at a 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with only one negative review so far. With reviews like that, you can finally feel good about taking your kids to a movie.

    After the movie’s over, the real battle will begin as your kids will no doubt want all the merchandise and other entertainment to come out of this movie. That’s where The LEGO Movie Videogame comes in as it takes the successful LEGO video game formula found in games like LEGO Lord of the Rings and LEGO Harry Potter, and applies it to the plot of the film.

    While the gameplay will remain largely unchanged from past games, The LEGO Movie Videogame will attempt something that hasn’t been seen before in Traveler’s Tales LEGO games:

    “We challenged ourselves to introduce a new element never-before-seen in any LEGO game and did that with environments made entirely out of LEGO bricks, giving players more authentic opportunities to interact with the world around them,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “This is a chance for every LEGO builder to collect LEGO instruction pages and harness the powers of the Master Builders.”

    After watching the movie with your kids this weekend, you can pick up The LEGO Movie Videogame starting today for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Wii U, 3DS and PC.

    Image via GamesHQMedia/YouTube

  • ‘LEGO The Hobbit’ Previewd in New Trailer

    ‘LEGO The Hobbit’ Previewd in New Trailer

    Last month TT games surprised nobody by announcing LEGO The Hobbit. Similar to LEGO Lord of the Rings, LEGO The Hobbit will allow players to explore Tolkien’s Middle-Earth as envisioned by Peter Jackson in The Hobbit: And Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The third Hobbit movie will almost certainly get its own LEGO game adaptation.

    Players will take on the role of a young Bilbo Baggins and dozens of other Hobbit characters, including all of the dwarves and Gandalf himself.

    The game will be coming to nearly every video game platform, including PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, 3DS, and PC. The content and graphics will, of course, vary from platform to platform, and it isn’t out of the question that LEGO The Hobbit will one day make its way to mobile platforms, as LEGO Lord of the Rings has for iOS.

    Warner Bros. and TT Games today released the first trailer for LEGO The Hobbit. Unsurprisingly, the game heavily resembled the Hobbit movies and uses much of the same dialogue and sound effects. This is augmented by the added silliness that has always been part of the charm of the LEGO video games:

  • Of Course There’ll Be A LEGO Movie Video Game

    For the past several years, Traveller’s Tales has been making LEGO video games based on franchises like Star Wars and Harry Potter. It’s continuing that tradition with a LEGO game based on The Hobbit next year, but it will also be making a game based on the LEGO company’s first foray into feature length films.

    Warner Bros. Games announced over the weekend that The LEGO Movie will be getting the video game treatment courtesy of Traveller’s Tales. The game, which follows the plot of the film, will take players across 15 levels with over 90 playable characters.

    The game’s developers say that this title will use a new “LEGO visual animation style which simulates the movement and feel of actual LEGO toy sets.” The trailer doesn’t really go into what that means, but most gamers are usually fine with whatever Traveller’s Tales puts out these days. After all, there’s not been a bad LEGO game in years, and you’d think Traveller’s Tales would want to go all out with the video game based on the first theatrical LEGO film ever made.

    The LEGO Movie Video Game will be released in February 2014 for PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, 3DS and PC.

    [Image: WBGAMES/YouTube]

  • ‘LEGO The Hobbit’ Officially Announced

    ‘LEGO The Hobbit’ Officially Announced

    Just over one year ago, Warner Bros. and developer TT Games released LEGO Lord of the Rings. The game became yet another successful LEGO video game, going on to be released even on iOS mobile devices.

    Now, with The Hobbit movies making millions in theaters, Warner Bros. is bringing a younger Bilbo Baggins to the LEGO games. The publisher today officially announced LEGO The Hobbit. The game will be released sometime in spring 2014 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, PS Vita, and PC.

    As only the second of the planned three Hobbit movies will have been released by next spring, LEGO The Hobbit will be limited to the story told in those movies (gamers can probably expect another LEGO Hobbit video game after the third movie has been released). The game will cover the events seen in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug using a quest system similar to the one seen in LEGO Lord of the Rings. Players will be able to take on the role of Bilbo, Gandalf, and all of the dwarves.

    “We are thrilled to depict the characters and environments of Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth in LEGO form with the LEGO The Hobbit videogame,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director at TT Games. “Our family-friendly take on these thrilling adventures will have kids and parents playing and laughing together as they build and explore in LEGO Middle-earth.”

  • ‘LEGO Lord of the Rings’ Now on iPhone, iPad

    For the past year or so, developers and publishers have been pushing more console-like experiences to the mobile realm. Square Enix recently released the ambitious Deus Ex: The Fall and Firaxis actually managed to put the entirety of XCOM: Enemy Unknown onto mobile platforms.

    Now, Warner Bros. has jumped into mobile. The publisher today released LEGO The Lord of the Rings on iOS platforms. The game was originally released one year ago for consoles and PC.

    Though the LEGO games have all been designed with video game controllers in mind, Warner Bros. has included two different control schemes in the iOS version of the game. One is the “Classic” control scheme that mimics the console versions and the other is a “Touch Screen” scheme designed specifically for the mobile version.

    It appears that TT Games has managed to port the full LEGO Lord of the Rings experience onto an iPhone. If the move is successful, mobile gamers can probably look forward to games such as LEGO Marvel Super Heroes in the near future.

    LEGO Lord of the Rings is available now in the Apple App Store for $5. It can be played on modern iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices.

  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Brings Brick Building Action To Retailers Today

    LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Brings Brick Building Action To Retailers Today

    Earlier this year, Warner Bros. and Traveler’s Tales announced that it was finally bringing Marvel to the LEGO universe with LEGO Marvel Super Heroes. Since then, a number of previews and trailers have confirmed that it will be the most complete Marvel game to date with over 100 heroes to choose from. Now you, the player, can finally take all these classic heroes out for a spin.

    Warner Bros. Games announced that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes is now available at North American retailers for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, 3DS, PS Vita and PC. The game will also be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One on November 15 and 22 respectively.

    “We are excited to finally bring LEGO gamers and Marvel fans the action-packed game they have all been waiting for with LEGO Marvel Super Heroes,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games Publishing. “LEGO Marvel delivers an original story told in classic LEGO humor and with more than 100 playable characters, the game also includes an impressive roster featuring some of the most iconic fan favorites, such as the Hulk and Spider-Man, spanning the entire Marvel Universe, including Stan Lee!”

    Marvel fans will be happy to know that LEGO Marvel Super Heroes not only features all their favorite heroes, but the most iconic locations from the Marvel universe as well. Some of the areas players will explore include Stark Tower, the Daily Bugle, the Baxter Building, the X-Mansion, Asgard, Doctor Doom’s Castle and more.

    As for the story, players can expect something along the lines of what they saw in The Avengers but amplified to include the entire Marvel universe. Also, Loki appears to only be a bit player this time around as Galactus returns as the central antagonist.

    “The collaboration with LEGO and TT Games, an uninhibited creative process, has resulted into an outstanding execution that will delight children and adults alike,” said Andreea Enache-Thune, Senior Vice President, Games & Digital Distribution, Marvel Entertainment. “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes reaffirms our commitment to quality. With every game build and every trailer that brought us closer to the finish line, our enthusiasm has grown exponentially and to say that we are excited to see this game come to life is an understatement.”

    So, how much is this game going to cost? Well, that’s the funny part as LEGO Marvel Super Heroes may have the strangest pricing of any game I’ve ever seen. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes will cost $50 on Xbox 360 and PS3, $40 on Wii U, 3DS and PS Vita, $30 on PC and $60 on PS4 and Xbox One. Given that LEGO games generally cost $50 on current gen platforms, it’s kind of surprising to see them raise the price to $60 on next-gen platforms. With the extra month of development time, there may be more content in those versions, but I doubt it.

    [Image: Machinima/YouTube]

  • Breaking Bad Unofficial Lego Set

    Breaking Bad Unofficial Lego Set

    You ever just want to relive the fantasy of being a kid even though you’re an adult? How about reenacting your favorite Breaking Bad scenes with this little number; a meth lab play set made with Lego pieces.

    (image) Citizen Brick, a company that specializes in custom Lego designs, created a 500-piece play set called the “SuperLab Playset” which is based off the Emmy-award winning TV show, Breaking Bad. The set is based off a meth lab that was often seen in season three of the show. It includes a three figure set of all your favorite characters like “Chemistry Enthusiast” (Walter White), “World’s Best Grandpa” (Mike Ehrmantraut), and “Chicken Enthusiast”(Gus Fring).  The odd names for the figures are given due to the potentiality of copyright issues; Citizen Brick is not affiliated with AMC or authorized by Lego.

    (image)

    Just look how Citizen Brick markets the set, never uttering any words or names that can land the company in hot water:

    “Bummed out that your favorite show is going off the air? Well soothe yourself with the Citizen Brick Superlab Playset. Who knows what fun you’ll cook up with this deluxe set, chock full of realistic details, and three exclusive minifigs! Over 500 parts! Please note: Due to the sheer awesomeness of this building set, please allow added time for delivery. Sets ship approximately 2-3 weeks after time of purchase. This set is a product of Citizen Brick, and is not sponsored, authorized or endorsed by the LEGO Group, owners of the registered LEGO(R) trademark.”

    (image)

    Joe Trupia, the founder of Citizen Brick, told ABC news that he wanted to pay homage to what many consider to be one of the greatest television series of all time. Trupia declined to state how many units were sold and said that he was unsure of whether or not he wanted to print more.

    “When an idea crosses our path that seems like a good one, we tend to do that. We think of it as an expression of fan-hood for the show. It’s accelerated fan art.” Trupia told ABC news.

    And with the announcement of the toy, came the diverse voices of Twitter:

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    The play set is currently sold out and sells for $250.

    With only three episodes left of Breaking Bad, how will we BB-fans ever relive the magic?

    (image)

    (Picture source: www.citizenbrick.com)

  • Netflix Just Got A Bunch Of New LEGO Titles

    A bunch of new LEGO titles just went live today on Netflix, joining some that were already available.

    A spokesperson for the company tells us that the following titles were just added: LEGO Friends, LEGO Hero Factory, LEGO Atlantis, LEGO Bionicle, LEGO Bionicle 2 and LEGO Ninjago: Season 1.

    LEGO Ninjago: Season 2 will be available on 10/27, we’re told.

    Other LEGO titles are still available through Netflix’s DVD-by-mail service.

    As we’ve discussed in the past, Netflix is really amping up its kids offerings. They recently added all episodes of Goosebumps and The Magic School Bus from Scholastic, for example. That’s probably a good thing for Netflix’s sake, because competitor Amazon is doing the same.

    Netflix will soon be adding a ton more kids content thanks to a huge deal it made with Dreamworks Animation earlier this summer.

    Image: Netflix

  • ‘The Hobbit’ Trailer Recreated With LEGOs

    Back in June, the long-expected trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug was finally released. The preview gave Tolkien fans their first glimpse of the dragon Smaug, voiced in this adaptation by Benedict Cumberbatch.

    This week, the dedicated artists of the Brotherhood Workshop have re-created the entire trailer using only animated LEGOs. The artists claim that the project took two months and “countless” man-hours to complete. Even the teaser phrase cut-aways and title from the trailer were painstakingly spelled out in LEGO.

    The Brotherhood Workshop has also provided a side-by-side comparison of their animation and the original Hobbit trailer. It shows exactly how precise and detailed they were in their recreation:

    The entire project, from start to finish, has been chronicled on the Brotherhood Workshop’s Facebook page. The page states that the group is simply a few “quirky artists who love to be creative” and who dream of someday creating movies. The group has created LEGO animations in the past, many of them also Tolkien-related. In addition to a humorous take on the Battle of Helm’s deep, the group has also parodied the Harry Potter movies.

  • LEGO Marvel Super Heroes Trailer Teases Baddies

    Gamescom is in full swing and gamers are awash with new video game details. Warner Bros. and TT Games have now released the latest trailer for LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.

    As seen previously, players will take on the role of Avengers members, X-men, the Fantastic Four, Stan Lee, and practically any Marvel hero in the publisher’s history. Today’s new look at the game highlights the many Marvel villains that will be scheming to create Dr. Doom’s Doomray of Doom out of “Cosmic Bricks.”

    Dr. Doom, Doc Ock, Magneto, Silver Surfer, Loki, and other villains are all included in the game. Galactus himself is shown at the end of the video, a callback to the first LEGO Marvel Super Heroes teaser.

  • Lego Marvel Super Heroes Previewed at Comic-Con, Features Playable Stan Lee

    Though Lego’s most recent Lego video game announcement involves a game version of the upcoming The Lego Movie, the next Lego game fans are really waiting for is Lego Marvel Super Heroes.

    The last look Marvel and Lego fans got at the game was back in June, when a trailer showed off most of the current Avengers movie lineup in the game. This past week, fans at San Diego Comic-Con got another look at the title.

    Comics legend Stan Lee, fresh off his meeting with the Comic-Con Mech, was a part of the panel. He revealed the latest trailer for Marvel Super Heroes, which features some of the larger characters in the Marvel universe, including Hulk, Thing, Juggernaut, Blob, and Colossus.

    Lee also revealed that he himself will be a playable character in the game. Lee was also a playable character in last year’s video game version of The Amazing Spider-Man, complete with web-slinging superpowers.

  • ‘LEGO Movie’ Video Game Announced For 2014

    ‘LEGO Movie’ Video Game Announced For 2014

    Warner Bros. and TT Games announced that The LEGO Movie Videogame will be released in early 2014. That is to say, the video game version of The LEGO Movie will be released alongside the movie next year. The game will be released for seemingly every console: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita.

    Though previous LEGO video games have had distinct arcade/action-adventure gameplay mechanics, Warner Bros. is describing The LEGO Movie Videogame as something else. Players will be collecting LEGO instruction pages in-game to build LEGO sets. There are reportedly 15 “levels” and 90 characters “inspired” by the movie (most likely including Batman).

    The LEGO Movie is a children’s movie scheduled to be released in February 2014. It follows the story of a LEGO man named Emmet who saves the universe after being mistaken for a legendary hero called the “Master Builder.” The first trailer for the movie can be seen below, though if it’s anything to go by, fans of the LEGO games will have to hope the video game version of the movie will be funnier than the actual thing.

  • Here’s A 3D Printer Made Almost Entirely Out Of LEGO

    3D printers are becoming cheaper by the day, but the relatively high prices still keep the technology out of the hands of aspiring engineers. So, what’s an engineering student to do? Build one out of an old LEGO set, of course.

    Matthew Krueger, an engineering student, took to Instructables to show off his new 3D printer made almost completely out of LEGO. Here’s how he did it:

    This is a project I have been working on for the past year, it prints in hot glue and made almost completely out of legos. Based roughly on the first version of the makerbot, while it does print, I would call this more of a prototype than a finished project. I am using 4 power supplies (3v extruder, 7.2v for nxt, 12v fan, and 115 for hot glue gun) and having to manually turn the extruder on and off, (although i am working on that one) . Unfortunately, due to my lack of computer programming skills, every move has to be manually programmed from the NXT programming software, I have yet to find a g-code interpreter for the NXT.

    He says that he wants to continue working on this project, and improve the overall build. Part of that will be to shorten the height of the platform and reduce the wobble caused by some gear racks that don’t exactly play well with LEGO parts. He also wants to experiment in using wax and heat-melting resins as he finds hot glue to be somewhat unsatisfactory.

    Even with its flaws, a LEGO 3D printer is still incredibly cool. It might not have all the features of even the first open source Makerbot, but it’s still leagues above and beyond what most people can build. It’s this kind of innovation that makes the future of 3D printing and open source projects so exciting.

    You can see the LEGO 3D printer in action below:

    It should be noted that Krueger’s 3D printer isn’t the first to be made completely out of LEGO. Earlier this year, Marios Papachristou, a high school student in Greece, began work on an open source 3D printer that anybody could build with the right LEGO parts.

    [h/t: 3ders]