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On Tuesday, Lego announced that it would no longer ask what the “thematic purpose” of a project is. Instead, customers who intend to display their creations in public will be asked to make clear that Lego does not support or endorse them.Asked whether it was in response to Ai’s case, the toy-maker said it had been asked whether it supports human rights and freedom of expression. In an email, spokesman Roar Rude Trangbaek wrote: “We always have and continue to do – this is at the heart of what Lego play is all about. We hope the new guidelines will make it more clear what we stand for.”Ai’s supporters had donated Lego bricks to him in various countries, and the artist said discussions online about Lego’s refusal to sell bricks for the Melbourne artwork had pressured the company. He said the new policy was a “good move,” and that he now planned to order lots of Legos.“Lego is a language which everybody can appreciate and should be able to use it according to their will, and that’s what all freedom of expression is about,” the artist said by phone from Germany.The Melbourne exhibition, which opened in December, was to feature 20 portraits of Australian pro-freedom figures made from Lego bricks.
Instead, it used similar bricks from a Chinese company, Ai said.“I couldn’t tell much difference and the price is much, much lower,” he added.Ai had previously used genuine Lego bricks to form the portraits of political prisoners and political exiles in a 2014 exhibition at the former island prison of Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay. Lego had raised no objection then, Ai said.A Toronto designer became a participant in a real-life Flashpoint-style event when police tactical officers showed up at his workplace over a firearms call that involved a Lego gun. "I've had numerous people either say, 'Oh my God, I thought Flashpoint was just filming,' or, 'This is totally going to be a Flashpoint episode at some point'," Jeremy Bell told ctvtoronto.ca on Thursday. "Yeah, it's pretty surreal." Flashpoint is a CTV drama, set in Toronto, about a police "strategic response unit." Late Wednesday afternoon, Bell -- a partner with the digital design firm Teehan+Lax, located at 460 Richmond St. W. -- was assembling a replica handgun made out of Lego that had arrived.
"It arrived yesterday and at the end of the day, I decided to put it together. I literally assembled it, handed it to a co-worker (who promptly broke it) and then put it back in the box," Bell wrote in a posting on his personal blog. "The SWAT arrived shortly thereafter." Across the street, Michael Dent was working in his third-floor loft. He saw what he thought was someone assembling a firearm, so he took some photos and called the police. "I don't really like guns right beside me -- and then it turned out to be Lego," Dent chuckled. But he added, "My girlfriend is moving in with her daughter and stuff, and it looks right into our loft where we sleep, so no, not cool." Dent said the door of the office was shut, and it never is, so for all he knew, someone might have been laid off "and about to go postal, so that's why I called." Bell was in his office and then heard a voice yelling his name and instructing him to come into the hallway. "At first I thought, 'who did I piss off?'
I wasn't worried about my safety ... but I certainly wasn't expecting to see an armed officer," he said, adding he couldn't remember what type of firearm was pointed at him. Bell said he knew he hadn't done anything wrong. "As soon as I realized they were actual cops and this was not a joke, I was, 'What else could it be? It's got to be the stupid Lego gun I put together'," he said. Police had him put his hands on his head and walk backwards towards them. "They cuffed me, pulled me into the stairwell and threw me against the wall. They spread my legs and checked to make sure I didn't have a weapon on me," he said. Bell said he told them where the Lego gun was, they went to check it out and then uncuffed him. He was handcuffed for about 90 seconds. After seeing the photos, Bell said he can understand why Dent called the cops, although to him, it's still clearly Lego. "There's like a million pieces on the table," he said, adding, it's not like he waved it around or took it out on the street.
Const. Tony Vella of the Toronto Police Service said no charges resulted from the incident, the response for which involved uniformed and tactical officers. "We have to take all the gun calls seriously because we don't know what we're getting involved in," Vella said. "There's the potential for public risk as well as the risk to the officers' safety." On his blog, Bell wrote: "The cops clearly don't take this shit lightly." Dent wondered what his phone call cost the city in taxes.Does your child love LEGO?Enjoy our LEGO Fan Festival, fun for the whole family. July 9 & 10, 201610 - 3 pm See our PHOTOSon Flickr What will we see at the event? Amazing, jaw dropping, outstanding LEGO creations built by hobbyist. These unique and detailed builds include... LEGO Robots & Mindstorms Creations City Layouts with powered Trains Space, Star Wars & Scifi Creations Art, Architecture & Design Planes, Trains & Automobiles Historical Buildings and Castles
Pirates, Steampunk and Vikings Mosaics & Sculptures and more... All made with millions of LEGO bricks by hobbyists from across Canada and parts of USA, Europe and Australia.Want to know more about events like ours... Check out this promo from one of our sponsors.... What can we do at the event? Enjoy the amazing exhibit at your own pace. You and/or your child can build in the "Look What I MADE" area. Visit our vendors for unique LEGO or LEGO related purchase, including custom pieces, minifigures, old and new sets. Speak with the builders of these wonderful creations, many of them will be onsite to answer your questions. Learn about the fun hobby of collecting, creating, discovering and building with LEGO. Enter the "Design a Minifigure" ContestVideo by Katrina McGuire featuring a past event in Toronto... Want to see our event but you dislike crowds? Visit us during our exclusive VIP Access. There are no strollers allowed in the venue, but the venue is 100% wheelchair accessible.