This is tricky to say because there are a lot of things that aren't necessarily "sets" per se-- like the LEGO collectible minifigures. Is each individual minifig a "set"? How about things like a picture frame that comes with buildable elements that stick on the frame? Hm.Brickset is a website that maintains a database of most everything that's made by LEGO. They categorize things into categories like "normal" (regular sets), "gear" (shirts, books, watches, pens, etc), "collections" (groups of things that are sold together), and others. So, we can get a rough idea using their "normal" category. Here's what they have to say for the last 10 years:2014 - 4672013 - 4392012 - 4282011 - 3612010 - 3172009 - 2682008 - 2562007 - 2302006 - 2542005 - 285For a bit more clarity visually, here's the number of distinct sets per year since 1980 (according to BrickSet's definition of a "normal" set):According to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego, an average of 130 sets are designed yearly in the US.
Some more fun facts from that page just for kicks: over 400 billion bricks have been produced since 1958, about 7 Lego sets are sold every second, 19 billion bricks are produced each year, and Germany is the primary buyer of Lego sets - seconded by the US.The best new minifigures of 2017 are female NASA heroes. On Tuesday (Feb. 28), Lego announced it would soon release a set of minifigures of five pioneering female scientists whose contribution to NASA has largely been underappreciated. It includes NASA mathematician and space scientist Katherine Johnson, 98, who is best known for calculating and verifying trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo programs and was recently celebrated in the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures. The idea was proposed by Maia Weinstock, a science writer and deputy editor at MIT News, through the Lego Ideas program that solicits fun suggestions for new toy figures. Weinstock’s idea received 10,000 votes of support on the site, beating out out 11 other entrants including a Star Wars Landspeeder.
Lego is working on the final design and pricing for the Women of NASA set, and said the official release date would be announced in late 2017 or early 2018. The new Lego figures could be a novel way to give young girls role models in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, which have traditionally not attracted or retained young women. Women are less likely than men to study STEM subjects in college and graduate school, and only 26% of the women who do get degrees in STEM fields work in STEM careers. On Tuesday, US president Donald Trump signed two bills aimed at encouraging women to build careers in STEM fields, posing with the sponsors of the bill along with his daughter Ivanka, who has been pushing for her father to support women in the workplace. One, the Inspiring the Next Space Pioneers, Innovators, Researchers, and Explorers (INSPIRE) Women Act, directs NASA to encourage women and girls to study in STEM fields and pursue careers in aerospace.
The bill gives NASA three months to submit a plan to Congress for how the agency can extend its outreach to K-12 female STEM students, specifically through current and retired astronauts, scientists, engineers, and innovators. The other new bill, the Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act, authorizes the National Science Foundation to “encourage its entrepreneurial programs to recruit and support women to extend their focus beyond the laboratory and into the commercial world.” While the bills have been criticized as being vague and largely symbolic, they are a step in the right direction. Lego has been pretty ahead of the curve when it comes to providing young children the opportunity to see themselves as anything they want, no matter their gender: a 1974 pamphlet from Lego reads, “The urge to create is equally strong in all child. It’s imagination that counts…A lot of boys like dollhouses, they’re more human than spaceships. A lot of girls prefer spaceships.
They’re more exciting than dollhouses.”Excited to see LEGO celebrating the accomplishments of women in space & aeronautics professions with @LegoNASAWomen. — Cecilia W.S. Leung (@CelestialCess) February 28, 2017Children (girls & boys) need to see that a women's place is wherever the hell she chooses it to be. — mildly facetious (@cadmus_photo) February 28, 2017 From hidden figures to Lego figures, love that @LegoNASAWomen will soon be inspiring little girls everywhere. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) February 28, 2017 Lego Architecture is a sub-brand and product range of the Lego construction toy, which aims to “celebrate the past, present and future of architecture through the Lego Brick”.[1] The brand includes a series of Lego sets designed by ‘Architectural Artist’ Adam Reed Tucker, and each contain the pieces and instructions to build a model of a famous architectural building in micro-scale. Adam Reed Tucker earned a degree in architecture at Kansas State University in 1996.
[2] While there, he sought a method to join his two passions of art and architecture, and hit upon the idea of using Lego bricks. From this, he founded Brickstructures, Inc., and began to design and build models of famous landmarks. His work was noticed by the Lego Group, and together they formed a partnership to release some of his models as commercially available Lego sets under the Lego Architecture brand. Sets in the product line contain a premium booklet, that – besides the build instructions – also include various information and pictures of the building itself. By the beginning of 2010, six sets had been released in the range, under two 'series'. Within the 'Landmark Series' are models of the Sears Tower (21000), John Hancock Center (21001), the Empire State Building (21002), and the Seattle Space Needle (21003). Within the 'Architect Series' are models of the Guggenheim Museum (21004) and Fallingwater (21005). In the beginning of July 2010, a seventh set, the White House (21006), was released.
An eighth set (21007) was released in November 2010: New York's Rockefeller Center. The ninth set (21009), Farnsworth House (Plano, Illinois), was released in April 2011. A tenth set (21008), The Burj Khalifa, was released in June 2011. The Willis Tower (21000) was also released in 2011, this kit was a re-issue of the original Sears Tower kit; the only change was the printed tile to reflect the building's renaming. An eleventh and twelfth set, the Robie House (21010) and the Brandenburg Gate (21011) were released in September 2011. In January 2012, it was announced that the next Architecture set would be 21012 Sydney Opera House. The set was released in March 2012. In June 2012, Big Ben (21013) was released. In July 2012, the Namdaemun Gate (renamed Sungnyemun Gate) (21016) was released. In September 2012, the Villa Savoye (21014) was released. The Eames House (21015) was scheduled and then canceled, as it never came out as a set. In June 2013, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (21015) was announced for the Lego Architecture series.
Its set number (21015) replaced the original Eames House after it was canceled. United Nations Headquarters (21018) came out next. In October 2013, Marina Bay Sands and the Eiffel Tower were both announced. The product range has been reviewed favourably by many commentators. Journalist Jenny Williams said "The scale on these kits is pretty small, though, so don’t expect exquisite detail. But creating with Lego bricks is quite a fun way to pay homage to great architects". ^ "Sears Tower now named Willis Tower". ^ a b "Release of two Frank Lloyd Wright Collection sets from LEGO Architecture". . May 9, 2009 ^ "The world’s tallest building in LEGO® bricks". . May 25, 2011 ^ "Modernist architectural icon immortalised in LEGO® bricks". . April 4, 2011 ^ "Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House Joins LEGO® Architecture series". . September 19, 2011 ^ "Sydney’s revered opera house immortalized in LEGO® bricks". . February 21, 2012 ^ "LEGO® Big Ben celebrates Victorian London’s greatest landmark".