Could Your LEGO Creation Be the Toymaker's Next Big Kit?
LEGO's "Women of NASA" set became the best-selling toy on Amazon in just 24 hours after its release. And while the company takes pride in creating gender-neutral action figures, brand relations director Michael McNally says he was happy to release this a-typical collection.
The LEGO set was created by Maia Weinstock, a deputy news editor at MIT and a self-proclaimed supporter of women, something she proved with this project.
“Women of NASA” celebrates women who have played critical roles in STEM educations and in the history of the United States’ space program.
But this is not the only successful playset crowdsourced by LEGO. Another fan idea and best-seller includes a “Big Bang Theory” living room set.
Enthusiasts can submit an idea to the LEGO Ideas website and gather support. Submissions will be reviewed by LEGO, and can ultimately result in a new product.
“What’s awesome...is that we get ideas that probably we didn’t have on our own,” McNally told Cheddar in an interview. “Then we can access the support, because if they get 10,000 votes from the fan community then we review them as a possible LEGO set.”
The holidays are approaching and McNally says Lego hopes to restock shelves with the now sold-out “Women of Nasa” playset. This is also the company’s best season he said.
The toy industry as a whole has been growing steadily in the past three years, with sales rising 16 percent from 2013 to 2016, according to market research firm NPD Group. The company said sales hit $20.4 billion last year.
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug