Pirate theater automata built from Legos*

This astounding mechanical Lego pirate theater, controlled by Mindstorm/Nextstorm robot Lego, marries the Victorian dramatic clockwork automaton with 21st century cheap computation and precision brick-making. And it's got pirates! Seriously, this one had me scraping my jaw off the keyboard as wave after wave of awesomeness emanated from my browser.

The Pirates and the NXTfied Theater (via Geekdad)

* Oh, I do love calling them "Legos." Legos, Legos, Legos!

• [Crashproof]

  Legos!

  You don’t build things out of block, you don’t build a house of card, and there are no engineering contests where you build bridges out of toothpick.

• [Wibbly]

  I find it odd that Cory takes such delight in your incorrect “Legos” terminology.

  Some insight into his personality I guess …

  Frankly, I don’t care what the company calls them, but it is worth bearing in mind that only North Americans use this bizarre plural. Europeans (and the Danish originators in particular) refer to the pieces collectively as Lego.

  We still love you Cory. Of course you can use whatever words you like. And we expect that you will …

• [Wibbly]

  (of course I missed an error in my first line … s/your/his/)

• [Darran Edmundson]

  “Victorian” dramatic clockwork automation dates back to the late 1700s and the work of Philip James de Loutherbourg, a French scenographer and painter working in London.

  We built a miniature version of de Loutherbourg’s “Eidophusikon” that used a mix of art and electronics to recreate the audience’s 1789 view, but then used VR to give a behind-the-scenes look at the 1789 technology.

  http://www.edmstudio.com/eidophusikon/index.html

• [tim1724]

  #18: no, the LEGO company does not ever use the term “legos”

  The following is a direct quote from their Company Profile (PDF), under the section “Using the LEGO brand name”.

  Please help us to protect our brand name:

  • The LEGO brand name should always be written in capital letters
  • LEGO must never be used as a generic term or in the plural or as a possessive pronoun, e.g. “LEGO’s”.
  • When the LEGO brand name is used as part of a noun, it must never appear on its own. It should always be accompanied by a noun. For example, LEGO set, LEGO products, LEGO Group, LEGO play materials, LEGO bricks, LEGO universe, etc.
  • The first time the LEGO brand name appears it must be accompanied by the Registered symbol ®.

  Thank you for helping us!

  Pretty standard for anyone trying to protect a trademark, due to the way trademark law works.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    Please help us to protect our brand name

    Screw that. Now we have a really good reason for calling them Legoes.

• [Wibbly]

  1. As previously indicated, if North Americans feel superior by perpetuating this error … note that it just makes them easier to identify when the revolution comes.

  2. Also … I think some of you should look up the definition of pedantic.

  3. BTW, that was sarcasm, for those of you who are sarcasm challenged … (see 1. above)

• [Rickyneck]

  Great!!!
  It is really inspiring ..

• [dd528]

  But, but, but…

  sheep
  deer
  aircraft
  trout
  zucchini
  lego

  I see no problem.

• [Robert]

  That poor dizzy fish!

• [Anonymous]

  Since the lego company uses the term “legos” I do not see a problem with it.

• [Joel Johnson]

  LEGO. LEGO. LEGO!

  This aggression will not stand, man.

• [Takuan]

  legoses

• [Boba Fett Diop]

  Well, it was certainly better than the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

• [monstrinho_do_biscoito]

  @9 my precious, my …. legoses

• [damiank]

  Some video!

  While I do remember the literature that came with (1980s) Legos politely asking the reader not to refer to the product as Legos but as “Lego bricks or toys”; I do not think it is bizarre or incorrect to use the plural brand name. It works for Hondas, Blackberries, Band-Aids, Coca Colas, etc.

• [bbonyx]

  Heh. My first interaction with Cory was after my site got posted here on BB (brickgun.com) and I emailed him to correct his pluralization. He responded that it gives him so much glee to irk people such as myself that he will always do so.

  Heheh! So now I just think of him as “Corie Doctoroe” as some sort of weak vengeance only in my mind. :P

• [stratojoe]

  I once made a statue of a pedant out of LEGO.

  It was sold to a man from Pokastahn.

• [Takuan]

  splendid, splendid, I think we have the makings for a proper war here…

• [Daemon]

  Awesome.

• [nosehat]

  Wow; great link! The backstage peek at the end was worth the whole price of admission! This is really inspiring.

  Why did I keep thinking of this, though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdTBvcjgBUQ

• [Ernunnos]

  I think you could compress this device down to the spinning shark with no loss of awesome.