From Classic Toys To New Twists, Kids Go Back To Blocks - Polidicks

[URL="http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/19/193514522/from-classic-toys-to-new-twists-kids-go-back-to-blocks?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130619"][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/eblGWL0.jpg[/IMG][/URL] (You really should actually listen to the segment.) [QUOTE] [img]http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/06/19/istock_000015887619small-421db7ada5b3aa1ca39dd5247f4837e0aa3ddeea-s40.jpg[/img] [I]Legos and other interlocking toys are only one kind of blocks that remain popular with kids.[/I] [/QUOTE] [QUOTE] I visited Toy Fair in New York City hunting for ideas for our summer series about kids' culture. One of the big takeaways was the increasing popularity of construction games such as Legos. Sales shot up nearly 20 percent last year. Now, it seems, every major toy manufacturer is scrambling to add new games geared toward kids building things. Concurrently, I happened to visit the National Building Museum, where an impressive exhibition, PLAY WORK BUILD, showcases the museum's vast collection of block sets and building toys. It also takes blocks into the future – with the David Rockwell-designed Imagination Playground, an azure-blue block fantasy for the under-5 crowd. That prompted this story on blocks, which starts with a small business selling wooden blocks made in the U.S. (specifically the Unblock, designed and created by the Azmani family in Wisconsin) to the gigantic Legos, Hasbros and Mattels of the world, selling high-concept blocks that often seem like nothing so much as vehicles for cross-promotional licensing. That prompts the question — what makes a block a block? I asked Karen Hewitt, a toy designer who's written about the history of blocks. ... [/QUOTE] [url=http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/06/19/193514522/from-classic-toys-to-new-twists-kids-go-back-to-blocks?utm_source=npr&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20130619]The rest of the article.[/url]

I keep seeing dozens of tiny swastikas in that picture.

I love All Things Considered, I listen to it every night on my drive home from work. I usually sit in my car in driveway when I get home so I can finish listening to the segment. This one aired last night and was pretty interesting. I was obsessed with Lincoln Logs as a kid.

That author is terrible....he refers to them as Legos (incoming mass argument on the usage of the brand name)

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;41116218]That author is terrible....he refers to them as Legos (incoming mass argument on the usage of the brand name)[/QUOTE] It's LEGO. Not legos. GET IT TOGETHER.

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;41116218]That author is terrible....he refers to them as Legos (incoming mass argument on the usage of the brand name)[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sir_takeslot;41116433]It's LEGO. Not legos. GET IT TOGETHER.[/QUOTE] Most people argue against the the way GIF is pronounced despite what the author said, this is essentially the same thing. Not that it even matters.

[QUOTE=Sir_takeslot;41116433]It's LEGO. Not legos. GET IT TOGETHER.[/QUOTE] Exactly, LEGO is the common usage both singular and plural, although since it's a brand name, you're really meant to include the registered trademark symbol, but thats just a pain in the ass for common usage.

I'm gonna go buy some legos today. Ha ha, what now, Lego? I'm genericizing your trademark, and there's nothing you can do about it, hahaha!

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;41116653]Exactly, LEGO is the common usage both singular and plural,[/QUOTE] Or calling them Lego blocks/bricks when referring to them as plural, not just Lego

[QUOTE=Mingebox;41116762]I'm gonna go buy some legos today. Ha ha, what now, Lego? I'm genericizing your trademark, and there's nothing you can do about it, hahaha![/QUOTE] You'll go to bed tonight content and safe, and in the morning your bedroom floor will be littered with 2x4 bricks.

[QUOTE=RayvenQ;41116819]You'll go to bed tonight content and safe, and in the morning your bedroom floor will be littered with 2x4 bricks.[/QUOTE] you are now hired as director of torture at Castle Terror.

I still build shit with Legos from time to time. God I love Legos.

Gotta make a jif of some legos

Big surprise. Toys that can be re-used in an unlimited number of ways to create stuff is more popular than other toys. Same with Sandbox games and the number of hours people put into them compared to a linear shooter

I've always called them legos, does this make me hitler

[QUOTE=DrPyspy;41123207]I've always called them legos, does this make me hitler[/QUOTE] No. You're worse than him.

When do you think they'll start liking Bionicle again?

[QUOTE=Hidole555;41123909]When do you think they'll start liking Bionicle again?[/QUOTE] They won't. Bionicle ended. From what I understand, though, Hero Factory still hold a fair amount of sucess.

Get them to play Minecraft. An electronic version of legos

i really think minecraft has had something to do with the upsurge in building stuff though

I think anybody who calls them LEGO and not Legos is an asshole.

[QUOTE=gamefreek76;41128228]I think anybody who calls them LEGO and not Legos is an asshole.[/QUOTE] Just like anyone who says Pokémon instead of Pokemons is an asshole, right??

[QUOTE=gamefreek76;41128228]I think anybody who calls them LEGO and not Legos is an asshole.[/QUOTE] I think anybody who gives a shit is an asshole.

[QUOTE=Superwafflez;41122632]Gotta make a jif of some legos[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;4qsWFFuYZYI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qsWFFuYZYI[/video] ?

[QUOTE=gamefreek76;41128228]I think anybody who calls them LEGO and not Legos is an asshole.[/QUOTE] [B]everyone[/B] in britain says 'lego', as far as I know (but really who cares)

It's really not that strange. Kids dont want all those fancy toys with special effects and action buttons and stuff. Well, they might want it but they're probably going to get tired of it in an hour. When you were a kid, and you got a huge present with something in it, what did you have the most fun with? The actual present? No, you went for the huge box it came in! The box, unlike the content had so many possibilities! It was a house, a spaceship, a fort, a time machine. A stick was a gun, a sword, a magical wand. Combine the stick with the box and you were pretty much set.

[QUOTE=pansarkurt;41130316]It's really not that strange. Kids dont want all those fancy toys with special effects and action buttons and stuff. Well, they might want it but they're probably going to get tired of it in an hour. When you were a kid, and you got a huge present with something in it, what did you have the most fun with? The actual present? No, you went for the huge box it came in! The box, unlike the content had so many possibilities! It was a house, a spaceship, a fort, a time machine. A stick was a gun, a sword, a magical wand. Combine the stick with the box and you were pretty much set.[/QUOTE] Literally every toy I owned as a kid was a stick and/or box.

I legitimately never used the fancy toys I had. I was obsessed with bionicles for years. I could go outside in my backyard and play zombie survival or LOTR orc battle with nothing but a stick and my imagination. Fuck fancy beeping toys, give me building blocks and an imagination.

[QUOTE=Olas;41116484]Most people argue against the the way GIF is pronounced despite what the author said, this is essentially the same thing. Not that it even matters.[/QUOTE] [quote] Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs". [/quote] [url]http://aboutus.lego.com/en/legal-notice/fair-play/[/url] [quote] “The word LEGO is a brand name, and is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely like your help in keeping it special. Please always refer to our products as “LEGO bricks or toys” and not “LEGOS.” By doing so, you will be helping to protect and preserve a brand of which we are very proud, and that stands for quality the world over. Thank you!” [/quote] [editline]22nd June 2013[/editline] but on topic, the motion of more companies producing creative toys is great. Kids will learn to have fun through active creation rather than passive "watching x sing and dance and do some fancy stuff"

OP gets win rating for posting anything NPR. I think it's awesome that building-based toys and games are still massively popular with children. There is no substitute for the mechanical and problem-solving skills you gain by taking a pile of formless pieces and making something tangible out of them. You gain an innate sense of structures, loads, transferring a mental picture to an object, and the absolutely priceless ability to dig through a bin full of thousands of parts and spot the one you're looking for.