Duplo (Lego)

Lego currently makes Duplo sets licensed with Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, and Thomas the Tank Engine characters as well as a new castle theme. The convention is held at a different city each year. As of 2005 there are currently two other Duplo-related Lego systems:. The first was held in 1975 and it has occurred every year since. In the 2004 spring catalog there was a reminder that Duplo was now called Explorer, but that fall the well known Duplo name was back yet again with a new rabbit logo. Fans of fantasy get together yearly at the World Fantasy Convention. The name Duplo was dropped again in favor of Explore in 2002. Noteworthy in this regard are the science fantasy and dark fantasy subgenres, which the fantasy genre shares with science fiction and horror, respectively.

1993 brought a grey rail train system with a stop and start track. Fantasy subgenres are numerous and diverse, frequently overlapping with other forms of speculative fiction in almost every medium in which they're produced. These used internal screws to stay together. Modern fantasy, including early modern fantasy, has also spawned many new subgenres with no clear counterpart in mythology or folklore, although inspiration from mythology and folklore remains a consistent theme. In 1992, Duplo Toolo was introduced. Similarly, series of novels based on fantasy films and TV series have found their own niche. This included a Duplo people mother, father, and smaller child. Game companies have published fantasy novels set in their own fictional game universes; the Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance series are some of the more popular.

In 1986, a Duplo doll house with sliding doors was introduced. Role-playing games have in turn spawned much new art, literature, and even music in the genre. Also in 1983, set number 2700 was introduced with a model of a steam engine with two train cars. The 'pen & paper' role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was the first and is arguably the most successful and influential, though the science fantasy role-playing game series Final Fantasy has been an icon of the computer role-playing game genre. These figures have a moveable head, arms, and legs and look like large Lego minifigures, but the Duplo people cannot be taken apart for safer handling by small children. Fantasy role-playing games cross several different media. In 1983, other Duplo figures appeared, often called Duplo people. While fantasy art and fantasy films have been hugely successful, it is fantasy literature which has always been the most expansive and diverse.

The name Duplo was brought back in 1979 along with a new Duplo logo with a rabbit. Fantasy is a popular genre, having found a home for itself in almost every medium. The new sets included figures, doors, and 2 by 6 knob wagons that could act as a car or train. Fantasy writing saw renewed popularity, often influenced by these seminal works and, like them, borrowing from myth, epic, and medieval romance. Another new brick was a half arch. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. They included a head and body, but had no legs. Some of the most important contributors to the Sword and Sorcery genre include Fritz Leiber, Robert E.

Small figures the size of 2 by 2 knobs were introduced as well. Le Guin's Earthsea series. In 1977 the Duplo name was dropped in favor of Lego Preschool. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Ursula K. With these new Duplo sets, Lego is targeting children 1½ years old with the idea that when the children reach 3 the Duplo bricks can be used together with Lego bricks. S. This wagon, and its coupler system, is still sold today. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are milestones; other important works include C.

New additions included a round-topped 2 by 2 knob brick and a small 4-wheel wagon with two rows of 6 knobs. R. In 1975 Duplo became its own product, with five sets made up exclusively of Duplo bricks. R. In 1972, the Duplo brick with 2 rows of 2 knobs was introduced and continues to be included in sets today. Within the High Fantasy genre, J. In the product catalog for 1971, the sets were targeted at children from 1 to 2 years, but still sold mixed with Lego bricks, normally designed for ages 3 to 12. In the mid-1900's, two subgenres of fantasy became very popular and influential: high fantasy and sword and sorcery.

The following year, two more sets were added with blue and red wheel plates with 4 rows of 8 knobs. In the early to mid 20th century, much fantasy was published in the same magazines as science fiction (and often written by the same authors). The number 510 has been reused to name other Lego sets. The history of modern imaginary-world fantasy begins with William Morris, who pioneered the genre in the late 19th century with The Well at the World's End and other novels, and Lord Dunsany, who continued the tradition into the 20th. Both sets were designed to target younger children. In this way, fantasy has been so intimate a part of the history of our species, one might say that it's part of what makes us human. Set number 510 had 9 Duplo bricks mixed with 8 Lego bricks, while set 511 had 19 Duplo bricks and 8 Lego bricks. From The Odyssey to Beowulf, from Arthurian Legend and medieval romance to the epic Divine Comedy, in every known culture the world over, fantastical adventures featuring brave heroes and heroines, deadly monsters, and secret arcane realms have stirred the mind and inspired the soul for as long as we've had the ability to tell of them.

The knobs stick out less than current Duplo bricks, and the holes had four tags for a better grip with traditional Lego bricks. Beginning perhaps with the Epic of Gilgamesh and the earliest written documents known to humankind, elements that would eventually come to define fantasy and its various subgenres have been a part of some of the grandest and most celebrated works in all of history. The bricks were available in four colors: red, yellow, blue, and white. Though the genre in its modern sense is less than two centuries old, its antecedents have a long and distinguished history. The first Duplo bricks, with 2 rows of 4 knobs, appeared in 1969. Further blurring the definition, some suggest there is a distinction between the fantasy genre and "the fantastic", the latter being a fantasy-like element in other fiction. The most common sets are the farm, zoo, police station, fire station, airplane, and train sets. Some writers and critics prefer the term speculative fiction due to the frequent crossover from one genre to another.

Many Duplo sets have reappeared multiple times over the years. All three genres feature elements of the fantastic, of making radical departures from reality or radical speculations about what reality might be like, or might have been like. The Duplo product line changes from year to year — even the name Duplo had been dropped twice. As a genre, fantasy is both associated and contrasted with science fiction and horror fiction. Since 1977, Duplo has made sets with figures, cars, and houses. But, again, definitions and opinions on the proper classification differ. Despite their size, they are still compatible with traditional Lego bricks. A critical characteristic is that the world features some difference from Earth that is not a result of science or technology, but rather the result of magic or other anomalous phenomena.

Duplo bricks are twice the size of traditional Lego bricks, and are easier to handle for younger children. Characteristics of fantasy fiction and its many overlapping sub-genres are the subjects of debate among some fans and writers. Duplo is a version of Lego bricks from the well known Danish toy company, LEGO Group. . Baby bricks can be stacked on Quatro, Duplo, or Lego bricks but the large rounded knob prevents other systems from stacking on it.
. It has a single large round knob and is twice the size of Lego Quatro, making it four times the size of Duplo or eight times the scale of Lego bricks. In other cases, most frequently in works of modern fantasy in the high fantasy subgenre, the story might take place in a fantasy world that is wholly different from our own, complete with distinct laws of nature that permit magic.

Lego Baby (formerly called Primo) is for children as young as 6 months. In many cases, especially in older works of fantasy but in many modern works as well, this is explained by means of divine intervention, magic, or other supernatural forces. These bricks are twice the size of the Duplo bricks and can be used together with Duplo bricks. As with other forms of speculative fiction, actions and events in fantasy very often differ from those possible in consensus reality. Lego Quatro is for children 1 to 3 years old. In its broadest sense, fantasy covers works by many writers, artists, and musicians, from ancient myths and legends, to many recent works embraced by a wide audience today. The genre is generally distinguished from science fiction and horror by overall look, feel, and theme of the individual work, though there is a great deal of overlap between the three (collectively known as speculative fiction).

Fantasy is a genre of art, literature, film, television, and music that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of either plot, theme, setting, or all three.