LEGO is a Danish company born thanks to Ole Kirk Christiansena carpenter who, after losing his business, began to make toys from the wood he had left over.
And it all started because the first toy he built was a wooden duck for his children. They loved it and Kirk thought of producing it for sale. It was the year 1932but it would not be until somewhat later when he would discover kiddiecraftan innovative English toy invented by Hilary Fisher and consisting of square pieces of wood that fit together.
In 1949, Ole modified them and marketed his own versionthe self bonding brick which became the current LEGO. The first ones were made of wood, but interest in plastic immediately arose, an innovative material at the time, which allowed things to be done that wood could not.
The Manufacturing of plastic LEGO began in 1947, and in 1958, the inventor’s son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, patented the system. as we know it today.
LEGO has always recognized that kiddiecraft they were his inspiration and, in fact, he says that they were not opposed to adapting it when they contacted them. However, the story from the other party is not the same and they allege that they never knew anything, until they were surprised to discover that the Danish brand copied them.
Finally, LEGO acquired what remained of the rights to kiddiecraft in 1981 and reached an out-of-court settlement.
In 1974, they decided to add inhabitants to the LEGO world that could fit into houses and vehicles. Initially, the figures did not have arms, legs or the smile that faces should always have, but they did have their traditional yellow color.
What does the word LEGO mean?
Like the company, the name is of Danish origin and is made up of the first two letters of danish words leg Y godtwhich mean “play well”.
Out of curiosity, that name does not have plural. Or rather, the correct plural of LEGO is LEGO, not LEGOs, although we all use that last term and don’t be surprised if I miss it more than once throughout the text.
How many different current lines does the firm have
On his own official page, LEGO accounts for 41 different current product lineswhich they call themes.
Many of them are cataloged within franchises and collaborations that it has signed with other brands over the years. From stranger things until Minecraftpassing by starwarsHarry Potter or Marvel.
Removing those lines based on movies, video games, etc, you have these others to highlight:
- Architecture. Dedicated to emblematic buildings.
- BOOST line. With programmable models for children, which include sensors or motors.
- brickheadz.
- Brick Sketchesportraits of famous people, such as Mickey, etc.
- City.
- classical.
- Creator 3 in 1 with 3 models per box.
- Creator Expertthe most complex series to build for big kids.
- dots. Something different, to create decorative objects, bracelets, pencil holders.
- Ideas. Where the most voted creations of the LEGO community are brought to life.
- Art. For adults, where you build famous works or works based on music, painting, etc.
- Education. Special for schools.
- Originalsfor the most fans of the brand.
- minifigures.
- powered up. With lights, motors, etc, to give life to the creation.
- Serious Play. Another advanced line to think and learn.
- Speed Champions. With the mythical cars that you can only afford in LEGO form.
- technology. Yet another advanced line, with motors and radio control.
- extra. With extra parts and accessories.
What was the first LEGO ever built?
In the image above, a whole collector’s item shown by the Reddit user TotallySoon, you can see the first box of the LEGO system with the pieces as we know them.
If you look, it doesn’t even say LEGO yet, but that self bonding brick that we have discussed.
That box is numbered 700/1, while other smaller sets are numbered 700/2. LEGO has always numbered its series and sets, however those same set numbers were used for all basic boxes throughout the first half of the 1960s.
The cover of the boxes was the same, or very similar derivations of the theme of children building. However, the specific content inside varied and you had it on the back of each box. In addition, they focused on the construction of buildings, the initial focus of the brand.
Here below you have what is probably the first box already with the name of LEGO System.
How many LEGO sets have been made
It is practically impossible to know, especially when LEGO commercializes a design and, later, publishes the same design, but with fewer pieces, something different, etc.
Additionally, LEGO does not provide lists of designs, elements, and colors, but does publish set inventories on its Customer Service pages and, since 2006, on the back of all instruction manuals.
Nevertheless, several sources that collect the different references in their own databases they give these numbers:
- bricklink has 15824 cataloged sets, although they fall short, because they only catalog the ones that people own and report, not the produced ones.
- re-brickable has 15432 sets in your database.
- Bricket has more than 16000which is probably the closest figure.
In fact, Brickset, in a fascinating article, realized that their calculation of different designed pieces was around 18,000.
Some fascinating curiosities that you did not know
And for icing on the cake, some more interesting facts, so that you are a true expert in LEGO.
- All the LEGO pieces made of plastic, from the first box so many years ago that we have shown you, to the last one that leaves its facilities, fit together no problem.
- The manufacturing process is so precise that only about 18 parts out of a million are defective.
- There are more than 4,000 million LEGO figures manufactured and, yes, it is also the one that manufactures the most rubber tires in the world. Small, but the most.
- It has been calculated that, at Christmas, a LEGO set is sold every 28 seconds.
- The tallest LEGO tower he was 28.65 meters tall and used 465,000 bricks. It was a pirate ship mast with a treasure made of gold, yellow, and transparent bricks on top. It was built at LEGOLAND in California.
- There are enough LEGO bricks to get from the Earth to the Moon, well over 10 times.
- No military-themed LEGOsince its founder did not want to make war attractive to children.
And finally, LEGO It is the most important toy company in the world in figuresaccording to him Wall Street Journal.
As you can see, the history of LEGO is fascinating and full of very interesting details. In addition, not only does it not look like it will decline, but it has consolidated its leadership and we are sure that the most spectacular is yet to come.
