Stepping on Legos

   

Once again moving from the abstract back to the near future again. What will 3-d printing diminutize or replace that we see as a popular institution? We have the Lego movie or rather the Lego industry at this point that we must consider. When I was young you graduated from Lincoln logs to Legos. A whole new world of creativity was opened to you. It was sort of like your first right of passage. Legos were of all shapes and sizes and you built the scenes that your imagination created. Then in my teenage years working at Target I saw general sets disappear of the shelves and saw licensed sets replace them. Next, Lego entered the realm of videogames and opened up their own amusement park. 3-d printing can now step in where Lego left to specialize. But will Lego brand their intellectual property to keep this from happening? While we continue to probe solutions and rapid prototype. Lego doesn't see their "tools" as being used this way. That doesn't mean Makers won't but that could definitely cause the two industries to butt heads.