Why is Lego still so popular?

Lego has been a feature of many children’s toy boxes for many years and more than a few parents have discovered how painful it can be to step on a lost brick. But why has such a simple toy lasted so long?

Today, Lego sets come in many different types, as well as just the standard big box of bricks. You can now get Star Wars and City sets, to name just a few, and that’s probably the number one reason this toy has managed to stay at the top of its game.

Lego was first made in 1949 and the now famous interlocking bricks were originally called “Self Binding Blocks”. The first bricks were not very versatile and did not fit together very well. The modern brick style was first produced in 1958 and the basic design of interlocking bricks has not changed since then.

Even though the toy is now over 50 years old, Lego has managed to keep the brand fresh and relevant by staying current. Many of the sets on sale today are branded after movies, like Star Wars or Batman. So while the unassuming little plastic bricks will no doubt end up loose in the toy box as they always have, they begin life as part of an exciting, up-to-date action figure set.

However, unlike regular action figure sets, the bricks can be used to create anything. So while a Harry Potter figure can be discarded once wizards aren’t cool anymore, a Harry Potter Lego set can still transform into Power Rangers, Transformers, or whatever else is popular at the time.

In fact, most of the instructions for sets are probably lost forever after the first compile. After that, a child’s imagination begins to fly freely and he begins to create his own robots, spaceships and jet planes. And of course, parents are just waiting for an excuse to sit on the rug and lend a hand with construction projects, too.

Today, Lego is a multi-billion dollar company spanning theme parks, retail stores, and movies like the recently released The Lego Batman Movie. All of which help keep the building blocks modern and relevant.

The other thing that helps keep Lego relevant is that it’s not a boy’s or a girl’s toy. Those little plastic blocks will work just as well as a dollhouse as a fortress or a tank. These blocks are also durable, so they can be passed down from one child to another, or even from one generation to the next.

Best of all, you can spend hours creating a masterpiece and then rip it apart and start over. There is no messing with glue or paint and each piece can be reused in another model.

So why is Lego still so popular? Because a set can start out as one thing and then become anything your imagination can think of. While the sets may have gotten more complex and the figurines more detailed, the basic premise of Lego is that you can put it together any way you want, over and over again. Who could be bored with that?