

Lego 6-month profit surges to $177 million - neovive
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lego-6month-profit-surges-to-apf-2875988726.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

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axod
Lego have some truly awesome things. If you haven't tried it already, check
out the Lego Digital designer (Free download from lego.com). You can use it to
build models on a PC, then with one click see how much it'd cost, and _order_
it. They auto generate instructions of how to build it! Brilliant.

Also the console games are really good - Lego Batman/Lego indiana jones/Lego
starwars.

I think every single kid should have Lego. It teaches you so many things and
is just great fun.

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tybris
Years of trying to breed a new generations of super-engineers by providing
them with plastic building blocks throughout their early life finally paid of.

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neovive
This is an interesting example of how a very old company is breathing new life
into it's existing core product line and achieving growth that it hasn't
experienced in a while. If you walk into a Toys R Us store these days, Lego
has an entire aisle for it's products with large display cases showing off
it's newest product lines (mentioned in the article).

In some ways, Lego's offer similar benefits as online API's used to build
mashups; where all of it's various product lines adhere to the same standards
and can be used together in unlimited ways. Thus, the latest Star Wars Lego
sets can be used with sets purchased in the past.

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tdavis
When I was younger, my main motivation for acquiring a new set was almost
_never_ to build whatever was in it (in fact, I probably only built a few of
the hundreds I received); they contained pieces or modules I wanted for
ongoing projects.

Legos are pretty much the most efficient toy out there.

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sethg
From a business point of view, one of the impressive things about this is that
all the IP rights protecting Lego's core product lines expired long ago. They
can't stop anyone from making plastic bricks with bumps in exactly the right
places to interlock with Lego bricks.

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axod
It's surprising that the competition - megablocks for one - is so ridiculously
inferior. My son got some megablocks once, and none of them fit together
properly. You stick them together, then they pop off. Or leave cracks. I guess
they are filling the "cheap and don't care if they don't work" sector :/

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josefresco
This was the most interesting nugget from the article:

"The total global toy market declined somewhat during the first half of the
year," Lego said. "The total figure, however, represents significant regional
differences -- English-speaking markets reported a decline, while most
European toy markets grew during the period."

Any ideas from the HN community as to why this was the case? I thought the US
was mostly in the same boat as Europe when it comes to recession/consumer
spending. Or does this reflect a cultural difference?

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e40
I was browsing some Lego sets recently. Man, are they expensive. And, on
Amazon at least, it's a little difficult to even find the standard brick sets.
There are just so many themed sets.

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axod
<http://shop.lego.com>

You can even purchase individual bricks (Although obviously that'll cost more
than buying a set).

If you have a local Lego Shop though I'd go. They have a 'wall' where you can
fill a bucket with whatever pieces you want.

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jsackmann
_They have a 'wall' where you can fill a bucket with whatever pieces you
want._

Whoa. I had no idea. Now I know what I want to do when I retire: Become 12
years old again and live near a lego shop.

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axod
I'm slightly ashamed to say I was standing there working out how to fit the
most bricks into the plastic cup. (It's larger at the top than the bottom, so
it's quite a puzzle to fill with mostly square bricks) :) I'm 31, but really
still 10.

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BRadmin
Any reason why'd they publicly report financials despite being a private
company?

"The company is not publicly listed but has published earning reports since
1997."

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byrneseyeview
It's a good way to convince stores to invest in a long-term relationship with
Lego. If I'd had to guess, I would think they were marginally profitable, or
even losing money. And if I sold toys, that would factor into the decision to
order Legos.

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rfreytag
Home 3D printers like RepRap
([http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplica...](http://inventorspot.com/articles/engineers_build_selfreplicating_machine_14379))
seem certain to cut into Lego market share? You need a shape - just print it.

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sethg
My impression is that Lego bricks are engineered to very precise tolerances
(see comment above re MegaBlocks); I wonder how close RepRap could come to the
standard of a real brick.

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zandorg
I used to build these ridiculous 10-storey buildings from Lego when I was
younger, and we had a huge box of all kinds of Lego bits from proper sets. I
think Lego leads to making people programmers.

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tybris
Rarely do corporate results give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling as Lego
being reborn in the middle of a recession (or towards the end, actually it
doesn't matter. Go Lego!).

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seldo
I just got my 18-month-old niece a big set of Duplo (made by Lego, with blocks
too big to be swallowed by a 2-year-old). I'll make an engineer of her yet...

