Tag: toy design

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Hotwheels Millennium Falcon

millenium falcon toy hotwheel star wars

I went to the store the other day and brought my second oldest son Tyler with me.  My kiddos expect to get something almost every time they go to the store because both grandmas spoil them.

As a toy designer myself I enjoy to navigate the toy sections.  This is especially fun when I’m shopping with one of the kids.  I like to see how they react to different toys and what they like.  We went to the hotwheels section because Tyler likes anything that has wheels.  We dug through the hotwheels and found some good designs but then we found the new section of hotwheels that are licensed with Star Wars and Lucas Film (now Disney).

It suddenly hit me how many toys are based off of movies and license.  Almost everything popular at the store is based on some sort of movie or TV show.  I got to thinking why?

I think the reason that toys and other products tied to movies or other shows are because they tell a story.  A toy without a story is what?  Exactly.  A toy without a story seems to be boring in our day in age.  This saddens me a bit because I feel every toy has a story – some that are not made up yet.  That makes toy design fascinating to me.  I look at the simple Millennium Falcon Hotwheels ship that I bought for myself that day and think about all that went into it.

The story of Star Wars, the designer of the original ship, the particulars in product development.  Millions of different interactions and decisions went into making that simple toy a reality.  Hundreds of people, thousands of hours, a bunch can of different materials…

That simple toy had a die cast top, an injection molded plastic bottom that consisted of more than one piece.  It came with a clear plastic stand that also allows one to “fly” the Millennium falcon by attaching it to your finger.  My fingers are too big for it but it’s a good concept – a good design.

After work a couple days later I went out to the desert and got multiple crash scenes of Han Solo landing the Millennium falcon in the west desert of Utah.  I sure do enjoy toys and have found my niche in product design.

I give a thumbs up to Mattel and Hotwheels for creating a quality design with the Millennium Falcon Hotwheels model.  A design that both kids and their parents can enjoy.  Thank you!

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Lego WALL•E


I am stoked that this set is finally going to be produced!  It was announced as the winner of the Lego Ideas competition: WALL•E

I think the Lego ideas platform is a fine example of excellent marketing and design.  It not only involves the user base of Legos but shows that the Lego company and brand cares about its customers and puts an emphasis on interaction and feedback.  It is a way to not only bring to market what people want to see, but also to include folks in the design process.  It is a great example of a crowd-sourcing idea that works very well for all involved.  It is a win-win situation.

I recently listened to the book Brick by Brick by David Robertson and Bill Breen.  It expounds on the details of how Lego almost went bankrupt until it changed its strategy and focused on making people their primary focus.   I enjoyed the book, and it brought many good ideas to the table to learn and implement.  This is partially why I decided to focus more on what I can give my customers rather than get from them.

It is interesting to see how such an amazing company like Lego was in dire straights only about ten years ago.  They sure have made a comeback and have diversified enough to remain interesting to young and old.   I will be purchasing the Lego WALL•E when it comes out!

I am excited by this Lego design and I think it’s an awesome toy.  Many creative minds went into designing the character Walle through sketch, animation, story and now Lego building.

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Building Lego is Work we Love


As a kid I thoroughly enjoyed building Lego.  I would work hard doing random things to try and make some extra spending money – which generally went to Lego sets.

I spent many summers traveling out to the mine with my grandfather.  We would ride the backhoe up some haphazard switchbacks he had scraped in the side of a steep colluvial fan.  Sometimes my grandfather would have us switch sides and basically use us as ballast so the backhoe would not slip.

I spent many long hours on a ladder leaned against the cliffs.  I would carry a three foot hammer drill up as high as I could get it and spend 20-45 minutes per drilled hole.  The difficult thing was the cliff was only a foot away.  In order to hold the hammer drill I would have to lean back two feet and hold that position while trying to maintain some kind of pressure.

Once we had made Swiss cheese of the cliff face we would then stuff each hole with dynamite and C4 detonation cord.  My grandfather carried a blasting cap inside his pocket – tinkling with his Wriggleys gum and prospector lens.  He really was an old-time character.  He would take a stick of dynamite and break it in half over his knee.  Then he would dig out the sawdust and nitroglycerin innards with his trusty old timer pocket knife.  He would then tape a blasting cap on the end of the detonation cord and shove it into the hole.  Electrical tape it right and use the end of a broken shovel to ram it down into the hole.

I just imagined how if the cliff blew, I would only hear a slight muffle and then there would be complete and utter blackness.

I mention mining with my grandpa because it was an adventure (We mined Alabaster).  It was a way to truly feel alive.  And that’s how I earned a lot of my spending money that went to Lego.  I loved how each set was created out of so many pieces that had the possibility to be anything I could imagine.  The possibilities were endless…  And so were the options I created to make money. From mining to selling cherries with my dog, there was always something to get me a few bucks in my pocket.

I have since looked back on my childhood and I realized that my days were full of work I enjoyed.  It was fun, creative, and hard.  But it never really felt like work.  I know have boys of my own and I have introduced them to the addiction of building Lego.  Lego is a toy I’ll gladly buy for them (and myself).  I have had many odd jobs from inventory to switch gear design over the past fifteen years but my favorite has been the hardest work that does not feel like work.

I have spent the past fifteen years designing and growing my Wowflutes until it has become my main focus.  I am passionate about making products that can be enjoyed, and ones that never get old.  Like Lego.

My goal with Wowflutes is to show that you can love what you do and be successful to.  I feel that too many folks are focused on earning money as their primary goal.  This is not a bad thing, but what they do not know is that the most successful individuals are those who are doing what they love.  The work does not feel like work but rather play, just like those long hours spent in my childhood working, playing and building Lego.

(see more of my Toy Photography)