I went to Toys R Us recently to buy my son a Lego set for Hanukkah. Did you know a small box of Legos costs $60? Sixty bucks for 102 plastic blocks! In fact, I learned, Lego sets can sell for thousands of dollars. And despite these prices, Lego has about 70 percent of the construction-toy market. Why doesn't some competitor sell plastic blocks for less? Lego's patents expired a while ago. How hard could it be to make a cheap knockoff? Luke, a 9-year-old Lego expert, set me straight. "They pay attention to so much detail," he said. "I never saw a Lego piece ... that couldn't go together with another one." Lego goes to great lengths to make its pieces really, really well, says David Robertson, who is working on a book about Lego. Inside every Lego brick, there are three numbers, which identify exactly which mold the brick came from and what position it was in in that mold. That way, if there's a bad brick somewhere, the company can go back and fix the mold. For decades this is what kept Lego ahead.
It's actually pretty hard to make millions of plastic blocks that all fit together. But over the past several years, a competitor has emerged: Mega Bloks. Plastic blocks that look just like Legos, snap onto Legos and are often half the price. So Lego has tried other ways to stay ahead. The company tried to argue in court that no other company had the legal right to make stacking blocks that look like Legos. "That didn't fly," Robertson says. "Every single country that Lego tried to make that argument in decided against Lego." But Lego did find a successful way to do something Mega Bloks could not copy: It bought the exclusive rights to Star Wars. If you want to build a Death Star out of plastic blocks, Lego is now your only option. The Star Wars blocks were wildly successful. So Lego kept going — it licensed Indiana Jones, Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story and Harry Potter. Sales of these products have been huge for Lego. More important, the experience has taught the company that what kids wanted to do with the blocks was tell stories.
Lego makes or licenses the stories they want to tell. And kids know the difference. "If you were talking to a friend you wouldn't say, 'Oh my God, I just got a big set of Mega Bloks,' " Luke says. "When you say Legos they would probably be like, 'Awesome can we go to your house and play?' " Lego made almost $3.5 billion in revenue last year. Mega made a tenth of that. But Mega Bloks may yet gain on Lego. Mega now owns the rights to Thomas the Tank Engine, Hello Kitty, and the video game Halo. And, on shelves for the first time ever this week: Mega Bloks Barbies. when you choose at checkout. Dispatched from and sold by XY Store. Building Brick Shaped Ice Cube Tray, Yellow Silicone Brick Mould - Yellow Only Mini figure shape ice tray in Blue Casey Charles Building Brick Shaped Ice Cube Tray, Silicone Brick Mould - Blue Product Dimensions17 x 11 x 1.8 cm 11,937 in Kitchen & Home (See top 100) in Kitchen & Home > Cooking & Dining > Kitchen Tools & Gadgets > Barware > Ice Cube Moulds & Trays
Date First Available13 Feb. 2013 Would you like to give feedback on images? Great quality - non stick. Use to decorate your birthday cupcakes / cake. Dishwasher, Fridge, Freezer Safe. Colour of mould sent at random - red / yellow or blue Building blocks, 10 bricks silicone ice tray Set of 3 Ice Cube Trays And Candy Silicone Molds for Robot and Building Bricks Theme See all 111 customer reviews See all 111 customer reviews (newest first) My daughter loves me making her jelly sweets with the lego brick shape. The silicon shapes work well and do exactly as required/expected Cubes look great, though plastic very flimsy. This did not clear customs for the uk so I was given my money back These were alot bigger than expected so more mega block size than lego but will make fun ice cubes!(id hoped to use them for icing to make lego bricks) gr8 item such a good price too compared to the 'official' branded brick oneTook a long time to come though
See and discover other items: silicone tray, silicone molds, silicone ice cube tray Even before I had kids I was always a big LEGO fan, it’s the architect in me. I love building things and I especially love anything MINI. The kids are really into LEGOs right now and while I always look forward to seeing what they create my one pet peeve would be stepping on loose LEGO pieces at night, that part is the opposite of fun. Whenever we go to Legoland or the LEGO store, the kids ooh and aah at the latest toys but I’m always drawn to LEGO’s line of kitchen supply section. I saw this LEGO Ice Cube mold and I just had to have it, not necessarily for ice but I knew it’d be perfect for chocolate! Turns out it makes the cutest LEGO minifigs in the whole world, because they’re edible! You can buy the LEGO Ice Cube Tray online. 6 ounces good quality chocolate In a double boiler melt down the chocolate until you get a nice runny consistency. Spoon or pipe the chocolate into the molds and place in the freezer for 5 minutes.