Lego is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) that accompany an array of gears, figurines called minifigures, and various other parts. Its pieces can be assembled and connected in many ways to construct objects, including vehicles, buildings, and working robots. Assembled Lego models can be taken apart, and their pieces can be reused to create new constructions.
Lego Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create advanced models of working vehicles and machines, compared to the simpler brick-building properties of normal Lego.
Lego Duplo is a core product range of the construction toy Lego by The LEGO Group, designed for children from 1+1⁄2 to 5 years old. Duplo bricks are twice the size of traditional Lego bricks, making them easier to handle and less likely to be swallowed by younger children. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego bricks.
This article lists notable events and releases in the history of the Lego Group.
Tyco Toys was an American toy manufacturer. It was acquired by Mattel in 1997, becoming one of its brands.
The history of Lego began in 1932 in the carpentry workshop of Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter who initially produced furniture but later started making wooden toys. The company was named "Lego" in 1934, a contraction from the Danish phrase "leg godt", meaning "play well".
A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. Construction sets are generally marketed as toys. One very popular brand of construction set toys is Lego.
Lego Trains is a product range and theme of the construction toy Lego, which incorporates buildable train sets. The Lego Trains theme became a sub-theme of Lego City in 2006. Products in the range have included locomotives, tracks, rolling stock, stations, signal boxes, and other track-side buildings and accessories. The theme is popular among adult fans, as well as children, and has spawned international associations and conventions. The train system is sometimes referred to as 'L-gauge' among Lego fans, in reference to traditional model railway scales. Lego trains use a nominal gauge of 37.5 mm, based on 5-stud track centerlines gauge, corresponding with a circa 1:38 scale.
Lego Fabuland was a theme and product range of Lego construction toys, aimed at young children. Introduced in 1979, the range aimed to fill the gap between Duplo and the standard Lego product ranges. Aimed at both boys and girls, the range encouraged storytelling, and was the first theme to be extended into books, clothing, and a claymation children's television show, Edward and Friends, that aired in the United Kingdom and Canada during the 1980s.
Lego Space is a Lego theme, which includes astronauts, space colonization, spaceships and extraterrestrial life. It was originally introduced in 1978. It stands as one of the oldest and most extensive themes in Lego history, consisting of over 200 individual sets. Lego Space has been marketed and sold under the Legoland and Lego System banners.
Toy blocks are wooden, plastic, or foam pieces of various shapes and colors that are used as construction toys. Sometimes, toy blocks depict letters of the alphabet.
Lego Creator is a Lego theme for generic models. Creator sets have few specialized bricks to create buildings, creatures, vehicles, and robots. Some sets featured instructions for three different possible builds from the bricks included and most sets in recent years have used the 3-in-1 label. Creator is also a parent theme to Lego Icons, a Lego subtheme for adolescents and adults featuring advanced building techniques and large piece counts, mostly known for Modular Buildings and detailed vehicles. Creator also has had several other subthemes such as X-Pods and mosaics.
Mega Brands Inc. is a Canadian children's toy company that is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Mattel. Mega Bloks, a line of construction set toys, is its most popular product. Its other brands include Mega Construx, Mega Puzzles, and Board Dudes. The company distributes a wide range of construction toys, puzzles, and craft-based products.
EXÍN Castillos is a construction toy. First introduced by the Exin Lines Brothers in 1968 in Barcelona, Spain, this plastic block toy was designed for the construction of castle-like-buildings. The company has most recently produced Castle lines toys for the Shrek movie franchise and others.
Lego Modular Buildings is a series of Lego building toy sets introduced in 2007, with new sets usually being released annually. Created in response to feedback and suggestions from the Adult Fans of Lego bricks (AFOL) and Teen Fans of Lego (TFOL) communities, the sets in this series are generally intended for more advanced builders. Most sets contain more than 2,000 total pieces and make use of unorthodox building techniques not usually used in previous official Lego sets. In contrast to most Lego sets aimed at children and adolescents, the suggested age of most sets in the Lego Modular Buildings series is 16 years or older. The Lego Modular Buildings sets have been received with positive reviews and are considered by Lego designers and fans as "adult collection".
Cobi is a Polish toy company with its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland. The company was founded in 1987, producing puzzles and board games. In 1992, it started producing building blocks with an interlocking stud and tube system, compatible with Lego blocks. Due to their popularity, the company switched to mostly producing building block sets.
Lego Toy Story is a Lego theme based on the Disney·Pixar's Toy Story film franchise. The first four sets were released on December 30, 2009, with an additional two sets being released on January 4, 2010. In May, five Lego and four Duplo sets were released under the Toy Story 3 sub-theme. For the release of Toy Story 4 there was one Duplo set based on the third film and 6 Lego sets based on the fourth film. These sets were released in March and in April 2019 this time under the Juniors line. The minifigures in the sets were also now redesigned.
A Lego clone is a line or brand of children's construction blocks which is mechanically compatible with Lego brand blocks, but is produced by another manufacturer. The blocks were originally patented by The Lego Group in 1961 as "toy building bricks", and the company has since remained dominant in this market. Some competitors have moved to take advantage of Lego brand recognition by advertising their own products as compatible with Lego, with statements such as "compatible with leading building bricks".
Lego Speed Champions is an auto racing-inspired theme of Lego building sets first released in 2015. It features classic and modern styles from well-known car brands.
Lego Icons is a series of Lego construction toys aimed at a demographic of adolescents and adults. Beginning in 2000 without an established logo or icon, Icons features models such as aircraft, sculptures, and world buildings, selling as exclusives with numerous specialized elements and complex building techniques. Icons is considered a challenge to both the target audience and Lego designers. All Icons sets are classified into specified sub-themes; however, the entirety of Icons is classified as a sub-theme of Lego Creator.
