The LEGO Company and their amazing “interlocking bricks” have been household names for almost 70 years, but why? While A Million little Bricks, is to be read as a chronological history, broken down into decade-based chapters, leaving much of the critical reading to the audience, the book is nonetheless a valuable tool when approaching the company’s lengthy history and the cultural and economic impact it has had on much of the world. For those of us in this class, or other game enthusiasts, the LEGO fits neatly into almost every major theme in game studies, making it an interesting medium when approaching the subject.
Filled with mind-boggling and interesting facts, A Million Little Bricks depicts the LEGOS deep entrenchment in modern “play” culture. In 1999, the LEGO was listed as one of Fortune magazine’s “Products of the Century,” and by 2004 it was named the 6th most recognizable family-friendly “play” product in the world (p.166, 181). In terms of their production, by the 1990s LEGO was producing three million tires a year making it the largest tire producer in the world; producing more tires than any other single automobile tire factory (p. 29). Or due to the durability of the product, every LEGO ever created (since 1954) is considered by the company as still in existence, because of this the LEGO minifigures outnumber the American population 12:1, an estimated 12 billion inhabit the LEGO world (p.62). Even more striking is the incredibly diverse and loyal LEGO community. The popular LEGO blog, The Brother’s Brick, hosted on the largest AFOL (adult fans of LEGO) operated website Lugnet.com, boasted a readership of 1.5 million people stemming from 207 different countries and regions! (p.264). The unbelievable pervasiveness of this plastic brick and the inevitable influence it has on the globe is hard to ignore.
Read like a “capitalist’s” handbook, A Million Little Bricks highlights the LEGO company’s road to unprecedented popularity. Faced with potential bankruptcy during the Great Depression, Ole Kirk, the company’s founder, began making small wooden toys to help support his carpentry business. With little success, Kirk looked to some wealthy relatives to secure a loan; they conceded but with the intent that Kirk halt his foolish production of toys. Of course Kirk did not listen (p. 5). The modern LEGO brick we all know today was designed in 1957, with no major design change occurring since. The hard times were over; their pocket-books grew exponentially as the company continued to evolve the potential of their product.
Marketed to both boys and girls, in the late 1950s the toy was one of the first to depict both genders engaging within the LEGO on its packaging (p.33). Producing a cross-gendered toy was unique for its time, and the company continues to cite this as a major promise to its consumers. Kirk wanted to include everyone, and he would be successful not just in gender but globally as well. The product was an early “glocalizing” project. Just two years after the introduction of the modern LEGO, the product was selling outside of its home country, Denmark, with stores opening up in Germany. By the mid-60s the toy was popular in almost all of Western Europe, United States, and Canada (p. 45-46). Today the LEGO is officially sold in 130 counties, including Eastern European, Asian, and South American markets (p. 249). A literal LEGO world was a lofty goal of the original LEGO pioneers, and they did this by making LEGO a language-less company. By 1964 the company decided that no written words were to be used, all LEGO produced instruction manuals are picture oriented, thus allowing anyone who purchased the product to “read” them. Herman called it both, “universal and revolutionary” with all other construction based-toy company’s following suit (p. 34). Within twelve years LEGO had created a product that transcended gender, national, and language barriers, to create a world full of LEGO consumers. LEGO, in its simplicity, could be marketed to almost anyone, anywhere, because it could be sculpted into just about anything. An entire subculture has been created around a simple plastic brick. The LEGO company prides itself as a toy industry pioneer, characterized by its risk taking, and it has paid off. Beyond just diversifying their product, the LEGO company has managed to create a niche for almost every human on the planet to find a comfortable home.
Herman also cites the LEGO’s success, to the company’s ability to diversify, and make capitalist-informed decisions. The LEGO brand can be seen practically everywhere. Clothing lines, household décor, video games (including a widely popular MMO), board games, books, graphic novels, television shows, movies, and international amusement parks all champion the LEGO universe (p. 251-262). More than all these wonderful additions to the LEGO product line, they also facilitate the marketability of the LEGO itself. One ingenious example of this is the Design byME website. Marketed to AFOLs, the cite allows you to design a LEGO set and then buy all the components needed to build the proposed set in real life. The designs are then accessible to other frequenters of the cite for purchase. Thus LEGO not only is able to capitalize on their own designs, but also on the creativity and buying power of their most dedicated fans (p. 250).
Herman’s A Million Little Bricks, presents a detailed and objective case study into the success of the play industry. Themes like globalization, gender, capitalism, and video game culture are presented throughout the book and are presented objectively, allowing the reader to make its own judgements. LEGO is also presented as a valuable cultural marker, allowing the reader to not only understand LEGO, but the political, social, and economical environment that the company found its self in. LEGO managed to permeate the minds of the world’s youth, and through their nostalgic potential, its adults as well.
Herman, Sarah. A Million Little Bricks: The Unofficial Illustrated History of the Lego Phenomenon. New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2012. Book.