Articles

Last year, the editor to BrickJournal was able spend a little time with Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, the CEO of the LEGO Group. The result is this video, which is 25 minutes long.

Many thanks to Mr. Knudstorp and Jan Beyer of the LEGO Group for arranging this talk.

From the LEGO Group:

ANNOUNCEMENT:  The LEGO Group is boosting its support of the LEGO Community by appointing Tormod Askildsen as the new dedicated Head of LEGO Community Development. Tormod takes over from Richard Stollery who will now focus on the LEGO Club and other consumer loyalty programs. Richard says ”I’ve only been the Head for one year and I hope I’ve  kept the seat warm for Tormod who is the greatest ambassador for the Community. It’s good news that we are identifying more dedicated resources to developing the Community. It’s been a privilege to attend, meet and speak with members of the Community across Europe and the United States at a variety of events in 2007 and I would like to thank organizers and attendees alike for being so welcoming. I will continue to attend Community events and support Tormod in developing the Community as part of the CED (Community, Education and Direct) Division within the LEGO Group.

Tormod, who has been heading up the LEGO Factory project for the past year, has previously been responsible for interaction with the many LEGO Community groups as well as the LEGO Club and programs like the FIRST LEGO League. Going forward his focus will be fully dedicated to stimulating the growth and exposure of the LEGO Community. Tormod says: “The LEGO Community is quite unique – it consist of people of all ages from all over the world who have one thing in common; they like LEGO for what LEGO is”, - and continues “the community of Adult LEGO Hobbyists has a special status with the LEGO Group as a source for creative inspiration among LEGO employees as well as among LEGO loving kids and families who are exposed to their events and innovative LEGO creations”. Together with Tormod, Jan Beyer and Steve Witt make up the LEGO Community team. Jan and Tormod are based in Billund, Denmark and Steve is based in Enfield, CT, USA.

Tormod Askildsen and Richard Stollery

From the LEGO Group:

LEGO 9V Train Communication II

Dear all,

As promised in the first communication from the 1st of October we are informing you of decisions regarding the development of the new LEGO Power Functions train system. Using all the valuable feedback we received from the AFOL community, we have now reached some basic decisions about the scope of the future train system.  

We are still working on the details of the new Power Functions train system; however, there are certain features that have been decided. Some of these features are a new designed remote control with speed regulator, a new size rechargeable battery box with a built in speed regulator and finally we are exploring and seriously considering new track geometries thanks to the use of plastic rails.  As you know, this has been one of the most requested features from the AFOL community over the years.
 
In late April 2007 we arranged a workshop for a group of 5 AFOLs involved in the LEGO train community, and they worked on some of the possible solutions and defined the basic needs for a new LEGO Power Functions train system along with the LEGO design and engineering team. In this workshop it became clear what sort of elements and features to include in the new train system.  The result of this workshop was the design of prototype elements.  Detailed decisions about the specifications of the elements are still in discussion and will be for the next couple of months.

We wish to continue the cooperation with the AFOL community in the development of the Power Functions train system and in late November we had another workshop where we built on the experiences from the first workshop.  In the November workshop there were ten fans from around the world: Denmark, USA, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and United Kingdom. The idea was that the AFOLs and the LEGO team would build with the prototypes in order to determine what additional features to include, what to add to the concept and, finally refining it. This ensures that the new Power Functions train system gets input from the AFOL community and also ensures the features are as close as possible to what is requested by the AFOL community.
However, please keep in mind that the new train system first and foremost should be suitable for the use of children, and therefore it is consequently being tested by children as well as AFOLs.  There is an established budget for the initial development so while we would like to address all needs that are expressed; there is a high likelihood that we will be unable to address all needs.

You will be updated on the results of the workshop and the continued development of the train system early in 2008. We continue to value and appreciate your feedback and suggestions with regards to this project.

Richard Stollery,
Head of LEGO Community Development