NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Technology

<i>Shelley Howells:</i> Lego plastic sure isn't past it

3 Jul, 2003 10:07 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

With a 7-year-old kid in the house it's no surprise that, despite assorted feeble star charts encouraging tidy habits (or possibly as a direct result of them), no matter where you step, sit or bathe you'll be doing it in the company of Lego: Lego bricks, Lego men, Lego mother-trapping contraptions, Lego pen-holders and yesterday, a Lego cemetery plot in the herb garden. Bless.

As if that's not enough, I've started tripping over the stuff online too.

Some of the most famous online Lego has to be the epic Star Wars Trilogy made entirely from the plastic bricks back in the 90s. Making the "films" took the dedicated creator more than 2500 hours, from 1992 to 1996, and helped spawn the passion for making the Lego and action-figure spoof and fan movies that have since become an online staple. Can't find a Lego man or woman who looks the part for your toy-peopled movie? Head over to the site of David J Oakes home.sprynet.com/~djoakes/legopag2.htm, who customises Lego figures to order. His gallery includes anyone from Xena and Gabrielle to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, loads of DC Comics characters and a Teletubby or two.

Or you can create yourself in Lego online ("picture yourself in plastic") at Reasonably Clever www.reasonablyclever.com, a reasonably clever site that also includes a gallery of Lego-inspired tarot cards.

Another lovely thing is The Lego Treasure Hunt, an online puzzle/adventure game built from the blocks. The idea is to help Lego pirate Jim on his quest to find hidden treasure by exploring, solving puzzles and meeting with other Lego characters. It is entirely as daft as it sounds but extremely addictive.

Pirate Jim is a wholesome lad, but there is a dark side to Lego online. Sensitive souls may prefer to avoid Blockdeath: A Museum of Horrors, a gallery of gruesome scenes, from torture devices and executions to domestic accidents, all made of Lego, all rotatable for a closer look at the action. It is sick, hilarious stuff - the familiar perky Lego-man grin starts to look like the leer of a moulded madman after flicking through a few of these.

Equally spooky is the amount of time, money and effort that some adults go to to play with children's toys.

Like the guy who built a full-size working harpsichord of Lego www.henrylim.org/Harpsichord.html; the bloke who built a working office desk www.ericharshbarger.org/lego/desk.html from 35,000 bricks; the one who gets his kicks from building mathematical models www.lipsons.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mathlego.htm from Lego; the 20-year project to make a brick-shooting Lego machine gun www.silverlight.org/Cray/lego/machinegun.asp; whoever decided to scan 60s Lego ads from Swedish comic books www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/4405/scans.htm and the Polish artist who, controversially, created fake Lego Sets of Nazi concentration camps.


Those wee lumps of plastic sure get around.

Now they are about to go where no one (flesh or plastic) has been before - to Mars, on the two Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft.

To make the unmanned mission more interesting and easy to follow for kids, Nasa and Lego came up with Astrobots Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust. Okay, so there aren't actual toys on board (they'd melt out there, we're told), just a picture of each on a silicone DVD, but they still manage to write weblogs and emails about their mission. A very engaging way to keep up with the Mars voyage.

Even more fun (assuming a: you have the patience to wait your turn, b: your computer isn't a lemon like the ancient iMac I'm using) is the opportunity to remotely drive a mini replica Lego Rover across Mars-like terrain, seeing where you're going through the Rover's web camera "eye".

Few of the above sites are officially sanctioned by the Lego company whose own site has lots of kid-friendly Shockwave games, many of which inspire good, old-fashioned offline play.

Frankly, after peering through a few dozen Lego-worshipping twisted pages, you'll never look at the once-seemingly-innocuous blocks and figures in quite the same way again. And that's without seeing any Lego porn (find it yourself, weirdo).

* Email Shelley Howells

http://www5b.biglobe.ne.jp/~mbsf/sworde.htm

www.actionflash.com/the_lego_treasure_hunt.html

www.blockdeath.com

users.erols.com/kennrice/lego-kz.htm.

redrovergoestomars.org/astrobots


redrovergoestomars.org/drive.html

www.lego.com

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Technology

Premium
Technology

Tech boss's withering take on the Budget

22 May 07:46 PM
Premium
Technology

Budget 2025: $212m in cuts to existing business, science and innovation programmes

22 May 04:20 AM
Premium
Technology

Google NZ sends $1b offshore as it increases profit, threat of digital sales tax melts away

21 May 10:46 PM

Deposit scheme reduces risk, boosts trust – General Finance

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Technology

Premium
Tech boss's withering take on the Budget

Tech boss's withering take on the Budget

22 May 07:46 PM

Net reduction of $45m for the innovation sector.

Premium
Budget 2025: $212m in cuts to existing business, science and innovation programmes

Budget 2025: $212m in cuts to existing business, science and innovation programmes

22 May 04:20 AM
Premium
Google NZ sends $1b offshore as it increases profit, threat of digital sales tax melts away

Google NZ sends $1b offshore as it increases profit, threat of digital sales tax melts away

21 May 10:46 PM
Premium
Tech Insider: The Kiwis most likely to support an U16 social media ban; lawyer's AI horror story

Tech Insider: The Kiwis most likely to support an U16 social media ban; lawyer's AI horror story

21 May 05:00 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP