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As evidenced by their success, Legos are a lot of fun to play with. But New-Zealand-based inventor Mark Stolten reckons he can make them more fun. Stolten developed Flexo, a series of tendon-like attachments that can be used to render Lego constructions flexible:
I'm curious to see what Lego's reaction will be: Will they buy Stolten's company, investigate legal action, or let it ride? In any case, consumers have voted for Flexo's desirability with their dollars: At press time they'd reached USD $103,411 on an $87,702 goal, with 13 days left to pledge.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Flexo Makes Legos Flexible
The plural of Lego is Lego
The LEGO will not be taking them to court I think, because for one thing, the basics of LEGO bricks passed out of patent quite a while ago. They are king of the "brick hill" because it is insanely difficult to produce all those bricks in quantity and maintain the precision needed to make it all work consistently. And that's the key: they all need to be exactly the same, every day, year in, year out. The plastic they use is expensive, the molds even more so.
Anyone who builds with them regularly can spot a knock-off in a pile of real bricks almost instantly. As an avid builder, I'd actually welcome another company being able to produce equal quality but cheaper costing bricks, especially for big projects. But so far none have come close.
Anyway- these connector bricks are an interesting idea, and if they come in many colors, I could see them getting used for sure, especially for shapes that are really difficult to achieve with standard brick choices. On the other hand, I can't see them selling millions of them either. Once you introduce flexibility you also get instability too!
This is an unbelievable product. I may just have to get Lego again as an adult.
Genius! its a great idea. LEGO's move now.
I think they'll be free of any negative legal action. There are many lego-like products out there. Mega Bloks is probably the most direct knock-off (not to imply their quality isn't good, 'cause it is).