WEBVTT - How Did LEGO Take Over the World? 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:04.760 I guess what, Mango? What's that? Will? So I know 0:00:04.840 --> 0:00:07.640 you're always looking for a different get rich scheme. It 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:09.319 feels like every week you've got a new one in 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.520 the work. I'm not sure the starting a trivia magazine 0:00:12.640 --> 0:00:15.800 or getting into podcasting was the right thing. Well, I 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:19.040 have finally found this. This one is definitely going to work. 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:23.279 And the idea here is to invest in Lego sets. Yeah, 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:25.639 it's true. Actually I found this analysis from a couple 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:28.360 of years back, and it shows that over the previous 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:30.800 decade and a half, Lego sets that are still in 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.440 pristine condition, I've seen a twelve percent increase in value 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:37.960 each year over that time. Now that growth beats gold, 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:39.840 which I know you like to look into a good 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.480 bit as well, that's grown nine point six percent annually, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.040 and then D S and P five hundred, which grew 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.360 by a little more than four percent each year over 0:00:48.400 --> 0:00:51.000 that time. And actually, if you look on eBay, some 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:54.520 of the returns on this are even more extreme. There's 0:00:54.560 --> 0:00:56.960 the old Cafe Corner set which was released in two 0:00:56.960 --> 0:01:00.279 thousand seven. It's worth more than three thousand dollars on 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.800 some of these eBay bids. And then there's also that 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.480 crazy Ultimate Collectors Millennium Falcon seth from that same year. 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.399 It's not worth more than four thousand dollars. So think 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:11.240 about that, man, Think about how much money you could 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.319 be making from this. I know I really should have 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.480 been a hoarder in the early two thousand's, But is 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:18.800 this better than like holding onto baseball cards or like 0:01:19.000 --> 0:01:22.480 beanie babies? Mago? This is not a fad. Lego is 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:25.480 a way of life, you know, I don't actually I 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:26.920 don't know why I just said that or what that 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.200 even means. But we should probably do a little bit 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:33.119 more research on this. But it is really interesting to see, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:35.640 and you know, seeing those stats on Lego and the 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.920 fact that millions of Lego pieces are molded every single hour, 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:41.320 it made us wonder how Lego got to be the 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.039 massive brand that it is today. You know, what are 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.840 the most amazing things to be built from Lego bricks? 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:49.960 How have they been used to solve real world problems? 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.280 And of course, what is the science behind the excruciating 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:55.720 pain brought on by stepping on one of these things? 0:01:56.240 --> 0:02:20.320 So let's dive in. Ya Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome 0:02:20.360 --> 0:02:22.959 to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.440 I'm joined by my good friend Manues Ticket and on 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:27.680 the other side of the soundproof glass, with only a 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.360 couple of hundred or so pieces left on his Lego 0:02:30.480 --> 0:02:34.639 Taj Mahal, that's our friend and producer Tristan McNeil now. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.280 Building this thing has been no small feet for Tristan 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.760 because the Taj is actually one of the biggest lego 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:44.399 sets ever produced. It's just shy of six thousand pieces. 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.520 So you know, while that finished model does look pretty stunning, 0:02:47.560 --> 0:02:49.799 he's definitely had his work cut out for him. Yeah, 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.040 I mean, he told me the bill takes about twenty 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.800 five hours total and he's pretty much spent all week 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.160 on it. The crazy thing, though, is that the taj 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.280 Mall isn't even the biggest lego set on the market. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:01.440 There's a bigger one that just came out based on 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.320 the Hogwarts Castle from Harry Potter that only has about 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.200 forty more pieces. But then there's also this Millennium Falcon 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:11.040 one that came out last year and it's actually the 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:13.320 set with the highest piece count to date. It's got 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.080 a whopping seven thousand, five one pieces, and of course, 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.639 if Tristan wants to make that his next challenge, I'll 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:22.240 have to sholl out eight hundred dollars to make it happen. 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.200 Good grief. Wow, Well, I'm guessing that's a little out 0:03:25.200 --> 0:03:27.680 of his Lego budget. I hope it's a little out 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.560 of his Lego budget. But you know, I know, Lego 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.640 mania can be a pretty powerful thing when it takes hold, 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.360 not to mention expensive. And you know, is it by 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.760 chance that Lego has held steady as the world's most 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.360 valuable toy brand for the past several years. Now, those 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.680 little plastic pieces, you know, they give these endless opportunities 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.320 for creative play, and that flexibility is definitely captured the 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.160 imaginations of kids and adults alike for you know, more 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:54.840 than half a century, that's right. In fact, this year 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:57.360 actually marks the sixtieth anniversary of the Lego brick as 0:03:57.360 --> 0:03:59.600 we know it, as well as the fort anniversary of 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.440 the Lego Mini figures that populated our Lego towns and 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.920 pilot our Lego spaceships. So to kind of celebrate all 0:04:05.920 --> 0:04:08.400 those milestones, I think now is the perfect time to 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.440 break down the little known history behind one of the 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:14.000 world's most popular playthings. Well, definitely, because for as long 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.560 lived as these two figures are the Lego Brick and 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.559 the Mini figure, the company itself is actually a fair 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:22.480 bit older, so today we definitely want to dig into 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:24.760 those early origins as well as some of the different 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.600 ways the brand has managed to reinvent itself throughout the years, 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.640 and a little bit later we'll also check out a 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:31.840 few of the more creative ways that Lego fans have 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.360 found to put their favorite bricks to good use. But first, Lego, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.240 I know you wanted to give a quick note on terminology, 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.120 right yeah, And I know it's a little weird to 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.520 be a stickler about terms when discussing a kids to it, 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:47.160 but one of our researchers was adamant about this. I'm 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:48.680 going to tell you, like how you said, one of 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.640 our researchers like, we don't know, it's gay. Of course, 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.240 you know, I want to avoid another lecture from him, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:58.760 so but it is kind of interesting. So the first 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.520 thing to keep in mind is that the word Lego 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:03.719 is actually an adjective, not a noun. And this is 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.039 something that's even reflecting the name of the company, which 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.640 isn't simply Lego but the Lego Group. And if the 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.120 company had its way no one would ever refer to 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.360 one of their pieces as a Lego, but as a 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.560 Lego brick, And of course that doesn't always happen. Lots 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.279 of people just use the word on soone when talking 0:05:19.279 --> 0:05:22.040 about the pieces, and that little slip up usually gets 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.360 a pass from the company and its fans, so long 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:26.800 as you don't compound the problem by adding an s 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.719 to the word to make it plural. And apparently that's 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.320 beyond the pale for most people, because the true plural 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:36.760 of Lego is just lego, never legos. All right, okay, well, 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:38.840 we will try our best, I think. I mean, there 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:40.840 are times where I'm just thinking, you know what, I'm 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.480 just gonna say Legos, Lego, lego, like to see how 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:45.719 much we can drive them crazy. But I think we'll 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.240 try to stick to those ground rules. And now that 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.440 we've gotten the semantics out of the way, let's go 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:53.000 back to a time before the Lego brick, and actually 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.719 before the company itself, because the family business that would 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.720 eventually become the Lego Group was actually established under a 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.440 different name. Now this was back in August of nineteen 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:06.279 thirty two. It's located in a rural village in Denmark, 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:09.279 and the business was started by this master carpenter and 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:13.240 woodworker named Old Kirk Christiansen. Now, in those early years, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.200 Old Kirk made a living selling things like step ladders 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.679 and stools, even ironing boards, but the business was slow. 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.720 This was you know, think about the timing. This was 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:23.840 during the Great Depression that had been brought on by 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:27.159 America's stock market crash just a few years earlier, and 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.719 so few people had the money to buy these expensive 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.760 or handmade furniture pieces, and so Old Kirk was struggling 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.479 to turn a profit with his woodwork. So I'm just 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.240 gonna guess here, that's when he came up with this 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.480 idea for wooden building blocks. I mean, this was nineteen 0:06:41.520 --> 0:06:43.800 thirty two, so so the wooden building blocks had been 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.799 around for for quite some time at least by that point. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.040 But the depression did motivate Oldkirk to seek out new 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:53.200 product ideas, which is what ultimately led him into the 0:06:53.240 --> 0:06:56.120 toy business. So he thought that, you know, despite the 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.080 financial strains of the era, people were willing to indulge 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.640 their children with the occasional gift, of course, provided the 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.880 price was low enough. But that spurtle Kirk to whip 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.200 up his own batch of brightly colored wooden cars and animals, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.640 and this was really just using the wooden scraps from 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:14.520 his workshop. That's pretty awesome. I love that the Great 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.280 Depression basically turned him into this like real life Geppetto. Yeah, 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:21.160 I definitely did, and that move it seemed like a 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:24.080 safe bet to Old Kirk, But sales pretty much stayed 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.960 flat for the first year, and in fact, Old Kirk 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.200 even went bankrupt at one point and had to take 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:32.840 a bailout loan from his siblings, but they actually insisted 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:34.680 one of the conditions for the loan was that their 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:36.960 brother would give up on toys and go back to 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.240 making furniture. But Old Kirk was pretty stubborn and he refused, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.200 but somehow managed to get them to loan the money anyway, 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.040 and he had become convinced that toys were the future 0:07:47.080 --> 0:07:49.960 of his company. All he needed was just a catchier name. 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:52.040 And you can decide whether you think he needed to 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:54.600 catch your name. The name of his business was the 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:59.440 Bill and Machine Joinery and Carpentry Business. Wait, so that's 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:01.960 what the shop was called after they switched to toymaking. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.000 It feels weird, like, like why would they think that 0:08:05.040 --> 0:08:07.920 would work. I know, well, thankfully all Kirk came up 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.080 with something much more evocative later on by truncating the 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.600 Danish expression like god, which means play well, he landed 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.920 on the word lego. So I actually took Latin in school, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.840 and I always heard that lego was the Latin phrase 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.280 for I put together. So here's the weird thing. You're 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:28.320 actually right about that that is the meaning in Latin. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.720 But that was actually just a happy accident, because apparently 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:34.839 all Kirk found out about this years later that this 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.440 is what it meant in Latin. But no matter what 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.319 he thought, it meant. That renaming effort definitely paid off 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.200 for the company, and it quickly grew from what was 0:08:43.200 --> 0:08:46.480 a six person operation in nineteen thirty four more than 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:50.160 forty employees by the early forties. Now, much of that 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.640 growth was due to the national popularity of Old Kirk's 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.240 adorable line of poll toys. You've definitely seen these kinds 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.440 of things before. You know, You've got the hand painted 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.200 wooden duck on wheels that it open and closed its 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.520 beak that you know as you pulled the string, and 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:06.280 pretty neat to see those things. But anyway, the Lego 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.040 ducks sold for barely more than a dollar at that point. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:11.360 This was when they were released in nineteen thirty five, 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:15.880 but as one of those earliest and most recognizable Lego products. 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:17.880 If you got your hands on one of these things. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.880 These days, a single duck can fetch more than two 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:24.600 thousand dollars at auction. It's so funny because like, these 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.520 are things that you see in like villages in India, 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.800 these pull toys. They don't feel that special. What made 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.840 them change from like wooden ducks to plastic bricks. It 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.840 definitely wasn't overnight. It was a pretty gradual change, and 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:40.800 much of it was brought on by necessity. So in 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.320 Denmark they've been under German occupation during the Second World War, 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:46.960 and by the time the war finally ended in nineteen 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.960 many of those materials that were traditionally used for consumer goods, 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.800 you think things like steel and wood, they were tough 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.200 to come by, and so that was a problem actually 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.120 all over the globe, not just there in Denmark. Now, 0:09:59.200 --> 0:10:02.200 the result of the shortages was that many manufacturers started 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:06.080 experimenting with a new development in plastics. This was called 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:10.120 plastic injected molding, and this is that process where melted 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.240 plastic is shot into a precise mold of whatever it 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.720 is that you're trying to make, and then once it 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.120 cools and solidifies, you simply pop them out and you've 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.640 got your finished item. And so it was a much 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.880 cheaper and faster way to make these plastic goods compared 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:28.240 to earlier ways of doing this, and so this breakthrough 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.960 is really what made plastics a viable alternative for the 0:10:31.000 --> 0:10:34.880 manufacturers at that time. So all Kirk had felt the 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.800 pinch from the lack overaw materials, so he decided that 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:41.000 the Lego companies should take a chance on plastic toys. 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.560 So you fast forward a little bit to and he 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:46.640 placed in order with the UK company for what ended 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.760 up being one of the first plastic injection molding machines. 0:10:50.400 --> 0:10:53.120 And the only problem was that the material shortage had 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.840 led the Danish government to ban the commercial use of 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.960 that machine until the following year. Fortunately they decided to 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.439 spend their time wisely, so old Kirk and his son 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:06.720 Gottfried were we're still able to experiment with the machine 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.079 and kind of study the various sample products that have 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.760 been included with it, and we're really trying to see 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.720 what they could make from it. Well, one product that 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:18.240 they stumbled into was this set of self locking building 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.360 bricks and it was made by a British company called 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.640 Kitta Craft. So they had these colorful two by two 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.360 two by four bricks that had this special design features 0:11:27.400 --> 0:11:30.240 that set them apart from the traditional cube shaped building 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.320 blocks of the past, because each one was hollow on 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.400 the bottom and had these four raised studs on the top. 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.760 This probably all sounds pretty familiar, and so the design 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.160 added stability to whatever structures the kids built because the 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.160 studs held each brick in place. So this is obviously 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:49.320 really interesting to me, but I'm not sure I like 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.640 where it's going. I feel like I'm a little worried 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.120 that you'rena telling me that Lego just didn't invent the 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:56.280 Lego brick, but they just kind of stole this idea, 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:58.800 and I'm not sure I can handle that sort of disappointment. 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:02.760 And I think the truth is probably somewhere in the 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:05.880 middle on this one, because once the Christiansen's were finally 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:08.640 allowed to put their machine to work, that's exactly what 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:11.800 they did. In fact, by nine, the Lego Company was 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.800 producing around two hundred different plastic and wooden toys, and 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.320 many of the plastic ones were simply new versions of 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:22.360 earlier designs, so things like the plastic planes or trains 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.720 or you know, different things like that. But among the 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.880 repeats was this new but somewhat familiar product called automatic 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:32.360 binding bricks. And as you feared, Mango, these were really 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.560 just a copy of these bricks made by Kittacraft with 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.720 a few small changes. But actually the lego version was 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.920 was honestly a bit inferior to the original the company. 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.440 You know, they just weren't used to making such small 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:49.000 parts and the technology was still pretty new to them, 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.440 and so as a result of this, many of those 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.680 hollow Lego bricks were prone to cracking or shrinking, which 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.120 is weird to think about now because they just seemed 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:00.880 so indestructible in these days. But you know, actually sometimes 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:03.320 it was so bad that once the plastic had cooled, 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:07.000 the bricks didn't even fit together. I mean, I guess 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.760 they're always growing pains, but it does feel crazy that, like, 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:12.080 if you're gonna rip someone else's idea off, at least 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.400 do a good job of it, right. That's always been 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:17.160 my philosophy. When I try to rip people off but 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.480 you know, you put the shottiness aside. I do want 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.520 to say an old Kirk's defense that Kittacraft bricks weren't 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:25.439 protected by a patent in Denmark, and the company reportedly 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:27.800 said it was fine for them to use the design. 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.560 And one other thing. It is worth noting that the 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:33.040 Lego group did eventually buy the rights to the Kittacraft 0:13:33.120 --> 0:13:35.720 bricks from the inventor's descendants, and this was sometime in 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:39.960 the early eighties. I think, oh, that's interesting, So maybe 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:41.880 there was like a little bit of guilty conscience in 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:44.240 there going on, but it's still nice to hear that 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:47.280 they made it right. And I am curious though, if 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:50.800 those automatic binding bricks were such poor quality, like what 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:54.000 made them such a big hit? Well, they definitely weren't 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:56.840 at first, and this was true the company's plastic toys 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.120 in general during the early nineteen fifties, and at that 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:03.079 time roughly half of all Lego sales were still from 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:05.840 wooden toys, whereas you know, you look at the Lego 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.720 binding bricks at that time, they actually only accounted for 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.240 like five or six percent of their sales. And so 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.080 to help turn this around, the Christiansen has made a 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.800 few key changes. First, in nineteen fifty three, they ditched 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:21.120 that austere sounding name and actually started calling the product 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.760 Lego Merston or Lego Bricks. And so by this time 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.120 Godfried was starting to take on a much larger role 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.240 in the company. He became really interested in finding a 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:33.400 clear focus for the company rather than kind of spreading 0:14:33.400 --> 0:14:37.320 those resources across so many different kinds of products. So 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.880 he eventually decided that the adaptability, that wide appeal, and 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.960 really the ease of production for something like Lego Bricks 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.000 made it the ideal choice. But still, even then, the 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.920 bricks weren't a hot seller yet, so there was obviously 0:14:50.080 --> 0:14:53.680 room for improvement. So Godfried and his father started tinkering 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.920 with the bricks design, and in nineteen fifty seven they 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:01.200 really stumbled onto their winning idea. Now, this breakthrough was 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:04.600 to add tubes to the otherwise hollow interior of the bricks, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.840 so that the studs had something to connect to. And 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.040 so these new studs and tubes that that kind of 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.920 allowed these bricks to snap together and hold tight and 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:15.760 and and of course still be able to pull apart 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:17.640 pretty easily when you try to pull them apart. And 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:22.320 so the company later called this clutch power. Sounds really strong, 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.120 doesn't it, But it's clutch power. But I mean, it 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.400 is pretty amazing how they were able to pull this off. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:31.000 But sadly, old Kirk didn't get to see just how 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:33.600 much of a game changer this new design would be 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.520 because they actually passed away the very next year. This 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:40.120 was in ninety, which was also when Lego Bricks as 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:43.560 we know them today we're first released. So I know 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.800 we mentioned earlier that's the sixtieth anniversary for Lego Bricks, 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:48.760 but it is weird to think that it's the sixtieth 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.920 anniversary of the death of the company's founder as well. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.560 I mean, that's kind of bitter sweet. Yeah, it was 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:57.600 definitely the end of an era for the company. And 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.720 actually just a couple of years after the US there 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.200 was a fire that broke out on the Lego warehouse 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.560 and the company lost pretty much all of their inventory 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.200 of wooden toys. So it really kind of rushed a 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.040 decision they probably would have come to anyway, and they 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:16.040 just decided to close the books on the wooden toys 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.360 and really place all their bets on the future of 0:16:18.360 --> 0:16:21.520 these plastic toys. That's pretty well so I know, Godfrey 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.080 took over after old Kirk's passing, and he definitely took 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.600 care of his father's legacy, like he helped the company 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:28.880 find a core product with that new style of bricks, 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.280 and the design was such a sound one that it 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.080 stayed exactly the same for sixty years now. So you 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:36.040 can actually go out and buy a Lego set today 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.040 and the bricks would all interlock perfectly with the ones 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:44.120 released or any years since then. And this connected quote 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:46.360 system of play as they call it. You know, it 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:50.320 was really revolutionary and it's still the driving force behind, 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:52.880 you know, the appeal of Lego products, not to mention 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.400 the retail success, and it's hard to think of any 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.080 other company that had been creating products, you know, fifties 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:02.080 sixty years ago, oh that would still be usable in 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:04.280 any way with something that they're making now. So it's 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:07.200 pretty remarkable. But you know, apart from being in a 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.960 related there, there's another big appeal of Lego bricks, and 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.199 that's their durability, because it turns out that a typical 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.720 two by four Lego brick can be put together and 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.840 taken apart more than thirty seven thousand times before they 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.600 lose that clutch that we talked about before, But we 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.440 know this thanks to a software developer named Philippe Canton. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:29.040 So a few years back, he built this stress test 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.560 machine that would continuously assemble and disassemble to Lego bricks, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.160 and this happened for ten days straight. Then finally, after 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:41.119 thirty seven thousand, one and twelve rounds of this, Canton 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.359 found that the bricks, studs, and tubes had become so 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.040 worn out that they no longer held together. So it 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:49.320 is possible to wear out your Lego bricks, but unless 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.879 you have a really bizarre sense of fun, I don't 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:54.520 think it's going to happen anytime soon. So I definitely 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.080 hadn't heard about that experiment before, but I did come 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.000 across this other stunt test where this group of engineer 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.960 is trying to figure out exactly how much weight a 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:04.679 two by two Lego brick can endure before it finally breaks, 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.960 which obviously sounds like a very worthy endeavor for these engineers, 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.840 But they basically took this hydraulic ram and used it 0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:14.840 to apply different levels of force to the brick, and 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.600 in the end, a single two by two Lego brick 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:21.119 was able to withstand a staggering four thousand, two hundred 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.920 forty Newton's of force, which is equal to about nine 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.240 hundred fifty pounds. It's not astounding, But the coolest part 0:18:28.280 --> 0:18:30.080 is that once the team had that figured out, they 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:31.840 were able to work out the number of Lego bricks 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.879 you could safely stack before they just collapse under their 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:37.639 own weight. And when you do the math, it turns 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:39.600 out that a single Lego bricks should be able to 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.800 support a whopping three hundred seventy five thousand other bricks. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.200 And if you somehow managed to stack that many bricks 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:48.040 straight up, you'd wind up with a tower that's over 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.520 two miles tall. You know, look at Tristan's face right now. 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:53.720 It seemed like he'd been ignoring us this whole time, 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.080 working on his kaj mahal. But once he hears this, 0:18:56.240 --> 0:18:58.280 I know this is going to be his next challenge. 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.680 That is little miles you are. But you know, I 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.320 do think that now we've talked about just how much 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.480 abuse Lego bricks can handle, it, it feels only fair 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.640 to mention the kind of punishment they can dole out, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:12.359 especially when they're you know, strown across the floor of 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:15.159 a darkened bedroom, as we both know this experience of 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.359 parents of of of younger children. Yeah, I mean, it 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:20.159 definitely sounds like you've got a story there, and I 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.080 want to hear it. But before we do that, let's 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:40.399 take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:43.840 and we're talking about Lego now, Mango. If playing with 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.400 Lego bricks is a rite of passage for kids, then 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:50.119 stepping on Lego bricks is probably the equivalent for parents, 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.360 wouldn't you think, Yeah, definitely. I mean, forget first steps, 0:19:53.480 --> 0:19:57.000 forget first words. I feel like the real parental milestone 0:19:57.040 --> 0:19:58.680 is the first time you use the bathroom in the 0:19:58.680 --> 0:20:00.440 middle of the night and you wind up with little 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.120 plastic cube just lodged into your barefoot. Yeah, and then 0:20:04.160 --> 0:20:06.840 your kids get to hear some of those first words 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.200 with your first steps on those Lego toys. I mean, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.280 it's it's a special kind of pain. I feel like 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:15.000 it's just so much worse than these other minor injuries 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.760