Back when I were a lad, Lego was real Lego. Just blocks, boards and building talent. Tiles were stretching the concept a bit, but they came in handy, so I let it slide.
Then came the little Lego men - they always annoyed me. If I'd have wanted a little Lego man, I'd have built one myself, thankyouverymuch. Out of Lego. Shortly after, they introduced the abomination that was Space Lego. Ready made aerials, rocket boosters and suchlike, with a couple of Lego nubbins stuck onto them almost as an afterthought. And don't even get me started on Wild West Lego... (Little plastic horses. Horses, for God's sake! That's not a building block, that's a bloody doll.) In sheer disgust, I decided to grow up and put away such childish things.
Anyway, I'm digressing (and starting to foam at the mouth a little). None of that little rant has anything to do with the following idea. Although I do feel better for getting it off my chest.
So - pills these days tend to be be sold in blister packs. You know the kind of thing I mean - thin plastic bubbles on one side, with a tinfoil covering on the other through which the pills are pushed. This is kind of the same thing, but with no pills and a coating of strong adhesive (covered by a waxed-paper strip, a la double sided sticky tape) instead of the tinfoil. The blisters themselves are not hollow but solid, and are the exact size and shape of Lego nubs. The whole shebang comes in a roll, like duct tape.
The point? Suddenly everything becomes Lego. Cut off a section of tape, peel off the backing, and stick it to whatever you want. Lego handles for beer cans. Lego tailfins for your car. A Lego doorknocker for your front door, which visitors can cusomize themselves if you're a little tardy in letting them in. DIY can be tiresome and a bit of a chore, but Lego's always fun - suddenly installing a new shelf in the bedroom or a toilet-roll holder in the bathroom is literally child's play.
And for those of you into body-modification: let rip with the tape, and let your creativity run free. Non-permanent, non-toxic, eminently modifiable - only drawback is it hurts like hell when you tear the tape off afterwards.-- lostdog, May 14 2004 (?) some amazing creations with just the basics. http://www.lipsons....nder.co.uk/lego.htm [po, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] LEGO Compatible Adhesive Tape https://www.indiego...tape-nimuno-loops#/Baked? [Wrongfellow, Mar 14 2017] Hey, leggo 'o me-- normzone, May 14 2004 You also need the counter part, Lego-holes, to stick to the bottom of your shoes if you want play Lego-man on your Lego-carpet.
Yes, if you use small size flat head screws you can mount Lego blocks to wood blocks to merge the technologies. For best stability screw should be placed in the center between 4 nubs.-- kbecker, May 14 2004 I need this... [+] Brilliant!-- zigness, May 14 2004 Bravo!-- phoenix, May 15 2004 string all the children together on a class visit. +1-- po, May 15 2004 Pure genius.-- Detly, May 15 2004 I+-=+-- FarmerJohn, May 15 2004 + for the rant. Take away all the single purpose crap, and there is bugger all left in the way of basic blocks. Leaves nothing to the imagination of the kids. - for the invention of a system to make it worse! Result: neutral.-- Ling, May 15 2004 // Everything becomes Lego //
My lifelong dream! (I used to take apart other toys and such just to find out if in some odd way they could be forced into Lego compatibility).
But the space-sets were cool, dammit, (except for the men). And don't even *think* about touching my technic gears.-- RayfordSteele, May 15 2004 (+) The kids would love lego bandaids.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, May 15 2004 //And don't even *thnk* about touching my technic gears.//
That's different. It's Lego++.-- Detly, May 15 2004 "Look, I got another ouchy! Can you stick another minifig to me?" "That's the 4th one today..."
"Daddy! Please disconnect me from the wall! I promise to clean up my room!"
"With this brick, I thee wed."-- RayfordSteele, May 15 2004 [RayfordSteele], as an engineer you would have appreciated my homemade Lego adapter set: I glued pieces together from different sets of construction toys to make adapters for Lego-to-tinkertoy, Lego-to-erector, Lego-to-Lincoln Logs (and other permutations). Great for really big construction projects -- when I was a kid, that is. Hmmm, maybe I'll see if those are someplace up in the attic...-- booleanfool, May 15 2004 Lovely. You could also sell Lego-Velcro adapters and then the whole world would be accessible by rapid-construction technology.I agree with your Lego fundamentalism rant by the way.-- hippo, May 15 2004 I've always thought that Lego-lovers of the world should unite. Although admittedly it might be a bit hard for them all to snap apart again afterwards.
[2 fries] - odd you should mention that. This idea grew from my Swiss Army Casts idea, where I fleetingly mentioned moulding Lego-nubs onto plaster casts for kids.
Excellent link, [po]. The Escher stuff is mind-boggling, but the mathematical shapes are truly stunning.-- lostdog, May 15 2004 Wow! Now I can *finally* finish the Lego croissant I've been working on! Brilliant!-- spacecadet, May 16 2004 Rant: I agree with the rant on the points taken, but on the other hand, it has kept Lego competitive in a toy market where otherwise they'd probably have gone under; moreover, some of the non-block stuff they've come up with over the years is kind of fun, taken on its own, and has consistently encouraged more imaginative play than just about anything the big US toy makers have come up with. (You can still buy sets of basic blocks in various sizes, without any frivolous parts, by the way. No one's forcing you to buy the other stuff.)
Idea: [+]-- oxen crossing, May 17 2004 I walked past some fresh graffiti on my way to work today. It was quite artfully done, but it did set me thinking about this idea again. Looked quite nice, but it suffered from being executed in only two dimensions.
Imagine a "jogger" who just goes round and round the block. Hidden in his back pocket, he has a Lego tape gun, and with every pass of a specific wall, he sticks on another swatch of tape. After a few passes, the target wall is nub-rich.
Then comes the Lego graffiti artist, with backpack full of pre-made Lego uber-blocks. Trusting to the steady hand of his jogging mate, this plastic artist clips his chunks into place on the target wall, and forms a pre-planned 3D graffiti masterpiece.-- lostdog, May 18 2004 ...pushing nubs into holes.-- FarmerJohn, May 19 2004 + Excellent idea. But wouldn't it only work on flat surfaces?-- Saveloy, May 19 2004 Can't say I agree with the LEGO fundamentalism, loved all the gimick pieces. But here's something that's pretty absurd: LEGO computer games. Not a fan, myself.-- mexchiwa, May 19 2004 That flaming lostdog is too clever for words-- The Kat, May 19 2004 -- lostdog, May 19 2004 Kat is obviously right.-- po, May 19 2004 Hairdryer motor? Why didn't *I* think of that?!?!-- RayfordSteele, May 19 2004 I was taping and clamping motors in to Lego creations long before I bought the very first motorized set. By the way, if you make a six foot high Lego windmill model with an improvised powerplant, take cover before you spin it up the first time.-- Gromit, May 20 2004 //Hairdryer motor? Why didn't *I* think of that?!?!// - self preservation ?-- neilp, May 20 2004 duplo tape too, for the playroom.-- neilp, May 20 2004 Brilliant +.
Was it just me or did anybody else make lego vehicles but deliberately not push the blocks together completely - just enought to keep together but much easier to pull apart than normal - so that when they crashed they would 'explode'?-- dobtabulous, May 20 2004 Yes.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 27 2004 The edge of the tape will have be a guide for the next bit of tape so all the nubs, on tapes next to each other, are in the correct place. Cities on the ceiling, nice-- wjt, Mar 15 2017 random, halfbakery