Why Does LEGO Destroy Molds? LEGO History: Ep 2
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- Опубліковано 23 січ 2024
- Join us on a deep dive into why LEGO can rarely ever reissue older sets, and what led them to the decision to destroy molds if not used in 5 years!
Secret Life of LEGO Bricks PDF: drive.google.com/file/d/1K-Eb...
LEGO History Episode 1
Project Genesis: LEGO’s Bizarre, Failed Product Line of the Future - • Project Genesis: LEGO’...
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It blows my mind. Lego allowed the 1980s monkey mold to be destroyed, amazing how long it was used up until 2011. I definitely hope they include a new molded monkey for the next Lego pirate ship
The old monkey was my favourite. The articulation it provided was crazy.
i find it really strange, almost unbelievable that 5 years of storing a mold costs more than making a new one..
"Due to the intricate design and level of accuracy needed, each LEGO plastic injection mold can cost up to $200,000, with some going as high as $360,000."
yeah I’d love a more detailed explanation of what said storage involves than the book gives!
@@rylieaitch It doesn't make sense to me either. I can store an industrial CNC machine for a decade for less than 10K$.
Maybe the molds require maintenance, like if they're prone to corrosion, and that cost goes to employees... If you need one employee, making 70K a year for maintenance for every 1000 parts, cutting your molds down by 3000 saves 200K$.
So maybe what they meant is, it's cheaper to rebuild one or two, then store them all.
It's crazy that you can buy model kits made with literally 60 year old molds, but LEGO can't make it past 5. The whole point of injection molded plastic is to set off high initial cost of tooling a mold by using it tens of thousands of times.
@@Ranstone Or perhaps, on the _scale_ they would need to store all of the molds, its not economical.
Storing a single CNC machine? Yeah, buy a fucking storage unit for 100$ a month, dirt cheap. Potentially find cheaper ones.
Leasing a warehouse capable of fitting several hundred, or several thousand extremely precise metal molds without damage? Very expensive very quickly. And thats not accounting for shipping, or several locations if one isnt enough. Or the cost of damages if something went wrong during transit or storage.
Risk versus reward, storage isnt worth the risk, or profitable enough to justify keeping the parts. If they arent being used, its cheaper to dump them.
@@pauldeddens5349 I think you're onto it, this is a case where economies of scale work in reverse. More molds to store equals more expensive warehouses, more power expense to control the climate in those warehouses, more expense on security, more property taxes, etc. Look at famous market leaders of Lean Manufacturing like Toyota and they have a very similar policy to keep their warehouses as small as possible.
6:00 BRO crashed that BS scalper economy LMAO im dead
least based duckbricks moment
Biggest power move ever.
Not all heroes wear capes.
It would be amazing if they kept a copy of the molds in a vault like they do with sets just in case they want to bring back an old part. At least for special molded parts.
This was literally the point of the whole entire video. Its cheaper to destroy the mold and remake the mold than it is to just store the mold for even 5 years. This way they save costs and if the old piece needs to come back it forces them to update it to their new standards ultimately making the piece better.
@@CryNhnyeah but it would still be cool it’s not like it would put a dent in there profit
@@bradyblaze08 Not the way Lego sees it. One of the major issues during their financial struggles was making too many specialized parts. They never want to go back to that. Sure, they are the biggest toy manufacturer now. But it is because they cut unnecessary costs like keeping molds they weren't using.
I think the system is perfectly reasonable. And it does mean designers have to really think if they want to keep a mold around. Find a way to make it useful at least once every 5 years or lose it forever, unless you can prove the need to remake it.
@@CryNhn I made the comment before he brought that up.
@@CryNhn Yeah and molds wear out and need repair and the molds themselves are really heavy and bulky. Also the metal is expensive so it's better for them to be recycled.
14:18
"Lego keeps fan demand in consideration"
Counterpoint: G1 bionicle
To add to the counterpoint: ccbs pieces
Yeah, they'll probably release more System Bionicle anniversary sets like Tahu and Takua (and Onua's mask as an easter egg). I don't think they'd ever sink that many resources to remake the Bionicle sets properly, but as sure as hell, I'd go down to the store and get them immediately. And G1 would be one of the easiest to remake as most of the parts are shared among the Toas. But that's just wishful thinking
I don't think Bionicle's current active community is large enough to be a profitable target market in its own right.
@@PlasticToa Surely not as profitable as other lego themes. Would need to bring in new people as well with some fresh ideas. Die hard fans would probably rave or criticize it to the ground. Its creation was lightning in a bottle. It's return (second return) would need to be as well. I'd be interested in a constraction spiritual successor too, though.
also, "Keep in consideration" does not mean "bend to uncritically"
It would be a huge shame if the original Kanohi molds are long gone and not in deep storage somewhere. Can always dream of them doing a limited run of original masks in modern day colors for the 25th anniversary or something.
I'd be happy with just a mask bag (with included stand for them) just for the celebration. Not even any figure or set; just that exciting feel of collecting the original mystery bag of lego before minifigures took it over ^^
99% impossible 😓
The original molds are almost definitely gone unfortunately, however it’s still possible for them to make new molds for a limited run. Although based on the video I wouldn’t bet on it at least for a long time until Lego’s operations change somehow. A limited run of masks is more likely than a full reissue of a set bc they’d only need six new molds for the masks, but they probably still wouldn’t do that today because they wouldn’t really be able to be used anywhere else across the system which is what they’re big on these days.
With modern scanning and cad, making identical versions of the originals wouldn’t be very difficult
@@michaelyocum7082I mean… they probably still have the CAD files/spec drawings, remaking identical molds is purely a cost issue not a technical/logistic one.
Monkey was far better than current one and was very cool
I love the monkey
We probably won't get further information any time soon, but I wonder if Lego is taking steps to document existing molds and make it easier to resurrect them in the future without incurring that initial design cost again; I'm sure they at least have a system to quickly and cheaply replicate molds for evergreen pieces that wear out all the time, and if the retired molds can be digitized for later reproduction they shouldn't be lost as easily.
its called "ebay" and can get you the result of the mold without having to redesign it, plus data storage isnt as costly so you can be sure there is information to work with if it comes up again
The molds are designed in CAD software (either by lego themselves or by a tool and die fabrication / machine shop) and injection molding components are designed for fabrication by a tool and die company. It isn't difficult to re-machine a new mold when you still have the 3D files and drawings for tolerancing, and mold texturing needed when they originally had the molds machined, it should all be documented in the drawings / digital files. He stated they only started using digital files in the 90s and Bionicle had a lot of 3D printed prototypes for the 2001 line, so Lego definitely has the 3D CAD files for all the Bionicle components.
"It is cheaper to remake a mold than to store it for 5 years."
"The cost of making a new mold is incredibly high."
These two statements seem at odds with each other.
While they may seem at odds, molds have to be kept under specific conditions to be kept useable, and when enough molds are being stored it is more expensive, (wether for single molds it is im not sure) while creating a new mold of an old part which is probably being brought back due to high fan interest (likely high sales), it can be considered more economical than exactly cheaper.
As an indie train MOC designer, I similarly find it necessary to keep track of what parts are still in production and in which colors. In the world of MOCs and instructions, the moment a part is discontinued, the prices go up on Bricklink so like factory designers, I find myself trying to use common parts in uncommon details to make it feasible in the long run, saving special parts for special moments. The fact they continue to use train parts in other sets is a much appreciated miracle, though I wish they'd bring back the 9v era of train parts.
I think the oldest part I ever used is the 1x1x2 window frame with glass from the 1970s in yellow but that part wasn't particularly valuable or missed by Lego fans so I don't think it will be re-issued, LOL.
In the video you said you would post a pdf for the secret life of lego bricks? I don't see it in the description
I also am very interested in this PDF and don't see it either...
Same here! It looks super interesting, I hope we can still take a peek!
As am I...! Hope the PDF link gets uploaded.....🤞
In a past video of his he shares the link 🎉ua-cam.com/video/L0l-GiPu9Xk/v-deo.htmlsi=OcA3mM3C32_y2-pA
The PDF link:
drive.google.com/file/d/1K-Eb6fXPY4W7ayLiX9CJ8gMVogsdx1zI/view?usp=sharing
It’s the very first link in the description.
drive.google.com/file/u/0/d/1K-Eb6fXPY4W7ayLiX9CJ8gMVogsdx1zI/view?usp=sharing&pli=1
I think if a new Bionicle series could utilize current parts more broadly, and keep the masks rare, they could justify making a bunch of unique molds (please remake the old masks as close as possible) while rebuilding bodies as more modern piece usage.
We can remember 2015 sets. They only had a mask for each 1-2 sets, 6 weapon molds for the entire year and 5 new part molds - generic armor, chest armor, gearbox and two head parts. With an approach like this, minding that some of the parts can be easily just made a reusable part of the system, Bionicle should be pretty much in line with the whole thing
While I am impressed these days by creative use of common parts, there was something magical about cool new molds that was exclusive to only 1/6 sets per wave. Some of my favorite bionicle pieces became mainstays like Guurahk's staff point, Keerakh blades, Pohatu Nuva claws, whereas others were never seen again, like the Hordika weapons
Thank you for the great LEGO pig from the auction on Christmas Eve!!
Hey Chris, appreciate the massive amount of work that is clearly going into the channel and it shows! Looking forward to seeing the channel grow as it deserves, cheers for the all the content mate
I gotta say, thank you for making the PDF version of the Secret life of lego bricks book.
Very kind of you, so that people who aren't able to track down or afford the physical copy can still read the information in the book.
Hey Chris, I really like this kind of format. Much appreciated, thank you. When possible, please also lift the mystery about the end of Lego monorails. I really want to know is the widely known outsourced production and patent story really true? Does your book include any details about this mystery? Thanks again!
You’re literally for the people, we appreciate the knowledge and you spending your money to do so. Keep up the epic history Vods really gets my gears cranking
it would be great to see a parts pack of the most expensive elements like the black feather plume or the white dragon plume pieces.
Thank You for the Konataniski book. What a huge, huge gift! I'm already tearing thru it!
What an extremely fascinating topic.
I also loved watching all these Money King Warrior Mech prototypes 👀.
Sick vid. As a newer watcher, I didn’t know you did these types of videos outside of your dense lore vids. Keep it up DB!
Really enjoying this history series you've started! Super cool to hear about the inner workings of Lego
I like this video. Really informative and well made. I like this narrated style better! ❤
To keep in mind too is that molds, over time, degrade. Even if stored.
So eventually, even stored molds loose precission and quality.
Really? Damn warehouse rats eat away the tool steel and lick away boron nitride coating?
I'd imagine it's not the rats, just the atmosphere. All things decay slowly over time, and I'd bet Lego is the kind of thing where even relatively small degradations can drop the quality below acceptable levels.@@VEC7ORlt
I got the emerald night as gift when it was released and its still one of best lego trains imo
Love your videos duckbricks!
Thank you so much for the PDF! 🙏👌 Keep up the good work!
Awesome vid. I am totally with Lego on what seems to boil down to a "Keep it Fresh" strategy. The Lego corporate turnaround is legendary, and to me, this is a key aspect of it. It also drives demand with the cap on production and the resultant scarcity, and resultant increase in perceived value, while keeping things forward thinking. I have a hard time seeing how the storage costs would factor in though. Of course I have not done the research. But, I was under the impression that molds cost in the hundreds of thousands range. The other reasons are more than enough to warrant destroying them imo. Anyhow I could watch vids like this all day. Your channel is one of the best. Keep it up!
Thank you so much for making a PDF of that book. Such a valuable resource!
He didn't make it, this PDF was distributed to original backers of the book. Not sure if it was supposed to be posted publicly, might be some copyright issues there...
@@rylieaitch oooooh
Always wanted to know more about this, so no surprise it's a highly-requested topic. Great video!!!!
They should do what Gundam does and keep reprinting sets from over 20 years ago
Yeah, even with the P-Bandai shit, Bandai does a great job with it, unless a kit is being replaced by an upgraded version (or is P bandai...), it's constantly on print. Aren't the Unicorn kits (constantly being sold) using 2007 moulds? It's funny how lego kits use much smaller and reusable pieces while gundam is mostly big sprues used on a single kit. Of course, sprues can be reused (IBO kits all use the same inner frame with different armor for example), but it's mostly separate stuff.
@@Morrowinder777 i recently got a reprint of the MG master gundam a kit from 2002
This was great! Thanks for sharing a link to the book! I had forgot that was released. Looking forward to reading it
I learned so much. Thanks for the lesson! I also thought it was cool about how the 4-armed piece was also able to make a return.
You're the man for that PDF!
Great new production value! Nice
Great video! I decided to watch because I was curious, but I left feeling very impressed by your work. Thanks for such an engaging and informative video! :)
Thanks for the pdf link. So stoked to read it sytarted last night after watching the vid.
Exo-Force is hands down one of my favorite lines of Lego. Bionicle and Star Wars still take the cake, but Exo-Force is probably top 5 for me
Thank you so much for sharing the book!
This was a very interesting video! And THANK YOU for the PDF of the book!
Thank you for the PDF.
Hey, thank you so much for scanning The Secret Life of Lego Bricks into a PDF!
Nice video 👍👍 thx for the pdf aswell
Great video!!! Well explained, very clear and on point
Happy to help!!
I think the only way for a new bionicle theme to happen now is if they somehow made a bunch of half-mask parts that could go together in different ways to make masks, or details on armor, vehicles, engines, etc. If designed well, they could be better than the g1 masks too.
Weird to me that the company that's been using CG for their instructions since the 70s didn't start taking digital inventory until the 2000s
this explains why they didn't bring back the original hoodpiece mold for Ronan the Accuser.
Yooooo Duck well done. This looks like it belongs on the history channel 😂
Thrilled to see more Lego history content! There's nobody better I can think of to teach the world about all of Legos unique history
They’re amazing!
Thank you for being you sir
fascinating!! :D Also... I need to get my hands on some of those new pearl gold socket pieces!! :D
Never forget when lego brought back the Guurahk staff twice for the rahkshi starts and kopaka master
The guurahk staff never went more than 5 years without being used, so its mold was likely never destroyed. (Although, it's been 9 years now since it last appeared, so I think it's safe to say it's gone now.)
This seems like a pretty good excuse for someone to 3d scan these bricks and upload them online.
A piece that’s now retired that I could easily need more of is a palm tree trunk that appeared in various types and colours, as well as domes being produced in select colours.
There’s also quite a few minifigure parts like hair that I wish they could bring back. The again, it’s not impossible as they revived an old mould for the Chamille minifigure in Ninjago City Markets.
Why can't they just make updated versions of a set then??? Like, recreate Bionicle sets with the upgraded parts... so it'd basically be a superior version of the old set...
It'd still have the nostalgia, but it'd stick with the guidelines...
And thanks for the PDF
that's what the GWP was
As a Ninjago fan this news sorta broke my heart.
Its been so long since we last got the original Serpentine characters in a set, so far the only one we've gotten lucky with keeping around is Pythor. Does this mean we'll just never see these characters again in a physical set? Characters like Skales, Fangtom, Acidicus, etc.
(Edit) fixed grammar.
Lego might recreate the molds, like how they recreated the goat piece.
@@benlankhof7342 Hopefully, I loved the headpieces for the Hypnobrai and the others, they were just so unique and were perfect with minifig proportions. The newer fire based ones aren't baaaad per-se but the head sizes make them look awkward compared to the originals. They're too small.
Well covered video! It's always a shame to see things become limited edition and or impossible to access, unlike that book you made available as a .pdf! Good work :D
I imagine it would have been better to make two classications of parts, "evergreen" and "specialty". Evergreen part molds would always be available, while specialty parts would rotate out if unused.
Quite sure there is already a thing like that
youre collection is insane
If they really want to Lego can remake the molds. They may not keep the mold around, because molds for injection molding tend to be big and heavy, but every mold starts out as a technical drawing. Last century that would have been a blueprint (a big sheet of paper), nowadays it`s all digital. Modern molds are STL`s (stepfiles) you upload into your cnc machine. The cnc machine then can make a new mold if needed. The molds themselves are not that important to remake old parts.
also, molds wear out when used for production. You can only use it X times before the bricks producedare out of spec.
Great vid. Once hearing it, it all makes sense doesn’t it.
It's awesome that the book is available in .pdf form, I'm definetly giving that a read.
I don't like that the molds are destroyed simply for archival purposes. The thought of never seeing certain Lego elements every again is kinda crazy since Lego is a huge company and could definetly store every single mold if they wanted to. Another thing I don't like is that Lego owns Bricklink now. It just feels weird and kinda monopoly-ish, even though it might not be technically a monopoly, but a single company controlling a large chunk of the second hand market and tracking everything feels kinda iffy to me.
Yeah i still have a venator and am thinking of modfying it to boost its durability (of build). Also yeah i had some of those joint pieces break from other sets.
It's Legos loss and somebody with a 3d printers else's gain.
I mean despite supposedly listening to the community they refuse to bring back black pin-axels. It’s not even a retired mold it’s just a color that they used to make it in but haven’t for decades now and the second-hand prices have all gotten ridiculously high. Everyone likes the black ones way more than the blue ones, and I understand some of the arguments for the blue ones but they could still definitely use the black ones in a lot of cases so they’re more available for the people who want them
Fascinating!
LEGO may bring back molds, but the same can't really be said for colors...
RIP Sand Red and Sand Purple. Maybe one day they'll update those colors and bring them back, but probable not. Could you IMAGINE a LEGO Minecraft badlands biome with reintroduced Sand Red? Literal perfection. (Also, pour one out for Medium Green)
Bandai has been updating Gundam models for decades, and they somewhat regularly rerelease old kits despite them having new versions. You can get rereleases of 44 year old kits, made a few years ago. There's only one kit that will never be reprinted again, and that is because the molds were damaged at some point.
Lego could really learn a lot from that.
Why should they care? They're basically printing money these days.
This makes a lot of sense. I work at a university library and we throw away thousands of books in a decade. If you're not an archive or museum you're not supposed to keep everything indefinitely.
Lego is one of the few companies I trust to manage their product responsably and produce quality.
They are still a company, so I dont trust them per se. I'm not naive.
But they have proven themselves to focus on quality first, and finances to support that quality and make profit.
Rather then profit first and ship out whatever makes money for as little cost as possible.
Sad how that means a lot of the molds for the 4 Lego movies are pretty much gone now
I think the molds should be kept for at least Archival purposes. (Given it's not too big, I remember seeing some molds a while ago that were bulky and I believe that was just for a 2x4 brick.)
What does the T stand for in the EBT, you mentioned when talking about the Easy Builder System? Thanks!
Tool
That notion that Exo force is responsible for modern mechs lacking knees boggles my mind, given that the lack of said joints is my biggest criticism of Lego mechs today. It makes putting them into any sort of dynamic pose all but impossible.
What's happening at 0:30 on the left side of the shelf behind you ?? It looks edited ? are you hiding a new Bionicle or something ?
It is edited, the shelves dont line up at the top and bottom.
it’s a mirror
I just hope they keep the CAD files going forward, much easier to remake the mold or make upgrades. :)
your lego room is dreamlike
I did enjoy
First time i see you baller move on saving that book from being lost media respect
Petition to get Lego to re-use exo-force molds for an anime theme? Or re-use Chima molds for an eventual theme resurrection?
lol the design of the og bionicle joints weren’t the reason for breakage it was plastic quality.
You should do a video about Evergreen Lego parts. That is to say parts that they always make and don't discontinue
I wish they would bring back the monorail. I have the space unitron one from when i was a kid and i want more.
The Galador, Jack-Stone era was a dark time to be sure... I'm so glad those useless chunky pieces are gone...
Ultra chad to buy the book and share it with the people.
Never knew that scanners could scan pages into vectors!!
It’s sorta a wasteful practice, although with how technology has advanced. Digital 3d models are a good way to preserve designs of that caliber. Me I wish we’d get the helmet sculpt of the clone in my profile pic again and straight up 1 for 1 remakes like you mentioned. Instead of them discarding the older clones and other designs altogether. I sorta feel frustrated that LEGO will never make “those” clones again and keep pushing forward and updating everything. I do enjoy what we get, but I remember the simpler and much different times.
It would be fun if I did a video update on the 3D printing community especially for bionicle parts
It's surprising they kept the goat mold for 12 years without using it.
I hope we get the gremlins legs in black one day
I understand the destruction because of storage problemes, but why don't they keep a digital copy of it, so you can just use it even in like 20 years or more ?
This was a fascinating video. Thank you for making it. I still think there are too many new specialized molds, especially for minifigures. A serious person cannot say that we need a cat with a mohawk more than part #6044 (Slope 53 3x1x3 1/3 with Studs on Slope).
So they could bring back many Bionicle molds from the early years back with modern technology and better materials if the demand was strong for them? too bad they screw it up with the ccbs crap and bionicle of the 2010s.
Lego should still bring back Samukai's mold from Ninjago. They had the perfect chance to remake his minifigure in Day of the Departed and the Legacy lines but no.
A lot of respect to Duckbricks for posting the book FOR FREE online. You’re a legend.
Well that explains this year’s Ronan the Accuser minifig
Crazy
“Improvements”
We could have it all with pick a brick.
Huh, so with how Lego functions today compared to the 2000s my ideas for a Bionicle G3 would fit right in.