The Secret Life of LEGO® Bricks by Daniel Konstanski

Author:Daniel Konstanski [Konstanski, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781800181960
Publisher: Unbound
Published: 2022-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

All of these factors led to the development of new elements, the first of what became known internally as LEGO Technic shells. Included on two BIONICLE models released in 2008, 8941 Rockoh T3 and the larger 8943 Axalara T9, this new part was different from the LEGO Technic plates that had come before. It was designed to integrate seamlessly with beams connecting into them across multiple orientations in order to cover large areas. Only one type was created for this pair of BIONICLE sets: a curved shell that was based on an odd-numbered geometry of eleven and three studs, but designers immediately saw its potential and set about literally sketching out LEGO Technic future.

The lead LEGO Technic element designer who developed the part for these BIONICLE models sat down after completing it and proceeded to design over forty more shells of various shapes, sizes, geometries and orientations: large, small, angled, curved, straight and everything in between. The LEGO Technic theme had never pre-planned on such a massive scale before and the team pored over these designs, suggesting tweaks and developing a rough priority list. Over the next ten years they would slowly acquire many of them, using a couple of frames year by year.

Copious numbers of designs based on that first shell for BIONICLE proved that there was a whole class of elements waiting to be created that would open up lots of new opportunities for different types of LEGO Technic vehicles. That was, however, only the first of two outside factors that moved the theme into its final evolutionary stage towards breaking completely away from its System roots.

After the highly realistic and largely enclosed 8285 Tow Truck, the next LEGO Technic sets returned to the aesthetic established throughout the early 2000s of vehicles with open frameworks that allowed easy viewing of internal functions. Once the 2008 BIONICLE line inaugurated LEGO Technic shells, however, LEGO Technic team members immediately began to incorporate them, both the first variant and successive ones, as more of the initial forty designs became available. First in 2009 and then again in 2010, LEGO Technic products were made virtually entirely of their own beams, shells and connectors. Only an occasional transparent plate or cheese slope depicting a headlight, or some other small detail, sported studs. It was at this time that the second outside factor came into play: licensing.

In its final years, BIONICLE expanded to include a variety of large vehicles for its heroes to ride. The first LEGO Technic shells gave vehicles such as 8943 Axalara T9, released in 2008, a unique look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.