Scandinavian Blow (torch)

[SteveD]

Anyone speak whatever language this is (Danish?)? Just be interested to see if the story is the same as on normal ones...

[scoobydie]

I find this site quite handy
Not the most fluent translation without paying, but you get the general gist.
http://www.freetranslation.com/

[The Baron]

http://babelfish.altavista.com/ is another, but of course you do need the original language...

I recognise the little dots and circles from Asterix and the Vikings, so it could be Norse.

If that's what they're speaking in Norway this century... this coming from the guy who spent ages looking for a Mexican dictionary.

[slippy]

My money is on Danish.... as I recognise a lot of the words from my exciting times in the marketing department at LEGO UK (man, those were the days!). The first sentence is summat about the relationship between Action Force and Cobra continues, la, la, la - and I can see a couple more words.

If it's really that important to find out I can ping a copy of the image to an ex Danish colleague on email and see what it's all about. I'm 99.9% sure that the story is not porn or suggestive, so I should be safe!


Steve

[SteveD]

I'm sure Action Force weren't into porn on the cardbacks! Just a bit interested is all, as it's just stuck over the usual cardback bit on my Blowtorch, so wondered if it was like ATT where they created a whole new background story, or if it si just the usual stuff. I'll sit down and type it into Babblefish or something when i get a chance and see how it comes out.

[SteveD]

And Slippy - you worked for Lego??? Surely that's one of the best jobs in the world ever!

Was your desk, chair, the watercooler and everything in the whole office made of Lego? I certainly hope so!

[slippy]

And Slippy - you worked for Lego??? Surely that's one of the best jobs in the world ever!

Was your desk, chair, the watercooler and everything in the whole office made of Lego? I certainly hope so!

Hah - it certainly was. A cool job I mean. I could remenic...remenisce..remenice... basically I could yabber all day about what a great time I had! The pay was lousy as it was an 18 month student placement, but I got to do so much cool stuff like marketing, photo shoots for catalogues, product testing with kids, copywriting and of course, it was like living in Willy Wonka's factory at times!

Better than that, I had a couple of Welsh mates who were 'master builders' (actual jobs!) whose sole purpose was to sit in a small room surrounded by buckets on each wall filled with every element known to man or child... they had to get spares for kiddie requests, as well as make all the models for shops/expos using GBL temp glue and also test the Danish instruction steps. In my opinion though, having it at your fingertips 24/7 kinda takes the fun/aggro/whole point of LEGO away.... that 'rooting-in-the-box-for-the-last-specific-piece-to-complete-the-model' event. Oh the joy when you find it!

Trust me when I said I 'acquired' a fair few freebies and special LEGO related goodies, including some larger models, A4 box files shaped like LEGO, shed loads of unique and rare character key rings (some of which are on sale to public now) and yep - my desk name plaque made out of LEGO! Best of all, a prototype P-Brick/RCX Mindstorms unit of which 6 were made worldwide - heheh!

No watercooler though.

So yeah, cool job and helped me break into the advertising and design industry.... almost as cool as being at Palitoy in the '80s I'd imagine!

Steve


PS: Almost forgot: the best/worst thing during my time at LEGO, was that there were only 80-odd UK employees and back in '98 we all found out about the LucasFilm licence being acquired and had to all agree to a sort of NDA (non disclosure agreement) to keep quiet.

Of course being an impatient geek, I drove straight home that night and blabbed to my housemates the minute I got in... "we're gonna do star wars LEGO we're gonna do star wars LEGO - I want to see Indy as LEGO!!" I have to admit I was a little worried I'd get fired, but they kept my secret for a few more months until it was leaked unofficially. We all know how great the SW line went down, but that the sad thing is, it took almost 10 years to get the Indy stuff sorted due to the film issues - the 'adventurers' set was based on the early Lucas Indy designs when I was there, but that doesn't count!

So basically, I'm not to be trusted when it comes to massive geeky news.....

[SteveD]

A lego desk plaque! Now that's amazing! I'd have worked there for free just to get the desk plaque! Makes my shiny brass one seem somewhat less shiny now as I sit here looking at it!

[paulitoy]

-

Really enjoyed reading your post Slippy!

Totally Fascinating.

Makes me very envious....

[Lady Jaye]

My money is on Swedish. I recognize the grammar and, more important, I have stumbled across Swedish items before.

I speak/read Norwegian. As a result I can read Swedish and Danish quite easily as the Nordic languages are quite similar. Will have a look when home or when bored in the office at home. Now at work in Lyon and not possible to fart around.

Yes, Jaye knows his languages!