DailyDirt: Modern Toys, Not Just For Boys
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
There are a lot of new toys out for this holiday season. There's still some time to shop for some cool toys, and here are just a few examples of toys that are expanding their markets into other uses and demographics.- Lego topped $1 billion in sales in the US in 2010, but it's only now starting to seriously target girls who are 5yo and up. It won't just be pink plastic this time. [url]
- Toy helicopters are becoming pretty advanced, so it's not too surprising to see added hacks to make them more useful. Spending $15,000 to modify an RC helicopter for professional videography goes way beyond most toy budgets, though. [url]
- Normally, Nerf toys are pretty safe and squishy, but apparently, they can be used to extract teeth, too. Will it hurt? Not if used on already-loose primary teeth. [url]
- To discover more interesting business-related content, check out what the deal is on StumbleUpon. [url]
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Filed Under: girls, helicopters, teeth, toys
Companies: lego, nerf
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Gah. Lego.
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Re: Gah. Lego.
Printing custom blocks would be cool, too.
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Re: Gah. Lego.
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Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
There actually ARE blocks that compete with Lego... but a lot of people think the knockoffs don't stick together very well and are made from cheaper materials. I've seen some generic "interlocking plastic bricks" that didn't have quite the same quality of Lego, but I don't know if that's why they don't catch on at toy stores... Lego certainly has better branding and market share than any of its competitors.
Here are just a few other bricks that work with Lego:
Knex.com
MegaBloks.com
best-lock.com
But you're right that the patents have expired for Lego (and Lego also failed in its attempt to trademark its brick designs):
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/11/eu-court-says-l/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/2 0100915/01140511024.shtml
So hopefully, there will be more innovation in plastic brick based toys!
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Re: Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
I remember about 6-8 years back, I had to destroy a Mega Bloks brick to separate it from a Lego baseplate. The softer plastic had deformed when connected.
That may not be common, but it kinda destroyed any small chance of me purposely purchasing non-Lego bricks again.
Well, that and, in my experience, the pieces don't even hold to their own brand bricks very well.
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Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
Once it was technically difficult to manufacture interlocking plastic bricks to the necessary tolerances, but I think that's much less of a challenge now. Frankly I think that the most important factor is the brand recognition that Lego has (I suppose that's the analogue of CwF for physical products?).
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Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9713
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1005
http://www.thingiver se.com/thing:11422
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:591
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5699
? ??
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Re: Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
But I'm sure 3D printers will just get better and better...
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Re: Gah. Lego.
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Re: Re: Gah. Lego.
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I stand at least 20 feet away from mine the whole time the blades are spinning and for good reason.
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