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Kind of. From the LEGO Group's Corporate Responsibility report: Guideline for weapons and conflict in LEGO experiences A large number of LEGO minifigures use weapons, and are – assumedly – regularly being charged by each others’ weapons as part of children’s role play. In the LEGO Group, we acknowledge that conflict in play is especially prevalent ...

LEGO moulds bricks in the following plants: Billund in Denmark, Nyíregyháza in Hungary and Monterrey in Mexico. In addition, it has another facility in Kladno, Czech Republic, that handles painting and packaging for some of the bricks produced in Denmark and Hungary. The headquarters in Denmark is still where the most of R&D and product development ...

I believe it shows the target age range of the model - perhaps kids who've been doing all the harder Technic or more complex models - for example the VW Camper Van is rated 16+ - and might find it a bit "simplistic". Other examples include The Super Star Destroyer, also at 16+, the Tantive IV and Republic Drop Ship at 14+, and the Death Star and others at ...

Here you go, from a scan of a 1985 catalog at Retroist. (I'm still looking for a version without the Retroist URL smeared across the bottom.) The text reads, verbatim: Dear Parents and Children LEGO® is a brand name that is very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely appreciate your help in keeping it special by ...

There's a nice interview with LEGO Designer Mark Stafford on The Brothers Brick: From LEGO fan to LEGO set designer - the Mark Stafford interview The basic process was: The position was advertised, and Mark's portfolio was sent in. He was then invited to a two day recruitment workshop along with a number of other candidates. I've also read other ...

Their position has shifted over the years, in response to changing attitudes as well as commercial pressures, and the rising age of LEGO enthusiasts! Originally LEGO bricks were only available in bright primary colours e.g. red blue and yellow, with the conspicuous absence of green, aside from baseplates. It seems quite likely that this was a deliberate ...

Q: All of the LEGO catalogs are signed by Susan Williams. Is she a real person? A: No...Susan Williams is the personifcation of all those helpful Consumer Affairs people who work at LEGO. As for whether or not there ever was a Susan Williams at LEGO, we're not sure. http://www.lugnet.com/pause/legoqa.html

I believe that war sets have not been allowed from day one at lego, with the oft-quoted reason that Ole Kirk Christiansen did not was to reduce war to a 'state of child's play.' He was also reportedly a pacifist, and I have found a source stating that while lego may produce generic gun pieces, they will never directly model a contemporary gun, or likewise ...

It seems like you understand why there are unique minifigs, but I'll point it out explicitly anyway. Unique minifigs add character to sets, and add to playability. For example, I always wanted this guy as a kid: Without him, my pirates were just a leaderless band, but once they have a fearless leader with a peg leg and hook, things become a lot more ...

This may not really qualify as an answer, but basically I believe designers are responsible for calling for new parts. For each new part, a production cost is calculated, which takes into account a lot of factors. There were talks a few years back about how they had recently changed these rules, but they aren't public (to the best of my knowledge). What is ...

Pierre Normandin followed the path of "well-known AFOL doing tremendous sets" to "AFOL invited by LEGO to participate in secret projects from time to time" to "Actual LEGO designer" (I'd like to say "demigod", but he tends to frown at me when I do that). He was also one of the first groups of LEGO Ambassadors. But in any case, the most important criteria ...

LEGO has a list of open positions which you can consult. As far as I understand, the application process starts there and you have to register a profile to apply for positions. Some positions also list a direct point of contact who can answer questions on the specific position (usually the boss-to-be, I suppose). I'm not sure where a mathematics background ...

I have a memory - possibly false - of Lego boxes being labeled with ages like "8-99" in my childhood. – Joe Wreschnig That's correct. The Creator theme used to mark sets aged X to 99. I think the LEGO marketing team were going along with the idea that you're never too old to play with Lego. The Creator product line produced brick buckets and ...

LEGO has always been a bit iffy on it's stance towards war related sets, which might be part of the reason most custom part makers specialize in realistic guns. Being primarily a children's toy, they had shied away from depicting tanks and battles in the beginning. It might be said that as popular culture in general had an easier stance with "playing war" ...

I don't have a picture of the insert, but according to Matt Hamilton on meta, a very similar notice was once at the legos.com URL:

While the current plastic Lego "guns" are generally more tame (blasters, pirate pistols), that was not the case with wooden toys from the 1940's including this machine gun from 1945. It's about 18" long and makes a rat-tat-tat sound when turning the crank.

There is currently one public library in the WorldCat system that has cataloged LEGO Mania Magazine, but it does not have it available in digital form. Other LEGO Club magazine titles have been collected by some WorldCat system libraries, including: Brickmaster Magazine LEGO Club Magazine LEGO Magazine None of these titles appear to be available in ...

In my opinion, LEGO must follow clone brands very closely, and this for a number of reasons. The first, which is obvious and has already been mentioned, is that they want to protect their own intellectual property. As such, they'll want to take legal action as soon as possible when one of their trademarks/copyrights is infringed. The second one is actually ...

It is an indication for the target audience for that set. It is mostly to guide people with little knowledge about child development toward a set. It's a rough guide, how much the child enjoys it is very much dependent on the child. But 10 year olds will be less likely to enjoy Duplo and be happier with Star Wars LEGO. On the other hand, I really like ...

There is a page on the LEGO web site about Fair Play which is very much available and not "used to". The wording is a bit different, though: If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs".Also, the trademark should appear in ...

Even some of the classic sets had castles/knights with weapons, though most minifigs were decided in the non-violent category (astronauts, etc.). As other posters have noted, many of the new licensed sets (Star Wars & Indiana Jones) are more violent, though often in a fantasy setting.

The National Geographic Channel has a series called Ultimate Factories. As it happens, the episode that aired tonight was all about the LEGO factory in Billund. The show also looks at the LEGO manufacturing process, product development, and distribution network. If you want to know more about where and how LEGO parts are made, you couldn't do much better ...