Continuing with our subject of big (and out of production) LEGO pieces, today we're going to play with some Primo. In following the logic of naming conventions, this one's right out. If LEGO is normal size,
DUPLO makes sense as double size and
Quatro makes sense as quadruple sized. Primo (for those rusty in your Latin) would imply 'first' or 'one' and in my mind would be better suited for normal LEGO bricks. Then again in following convention, Uno is probably rightly the proper word. The use of Primo in this case would imply the first bricks you would get for your baby. These are warehouse club sized bricks coming in at 6x the size of normal LEGO bricks. A 1x1 Primo piece is the same size as a Minecraft module.
But in their German-type engineering spirit, the Primo pieces work almost seamlessly with System and DUPLO, not so much with Quatro. (Which makes sense since the difference between those 2 scales is 1.5x). They will however co-mingle on top of a DUPLO.
There is one awesome Primo brick that is 1x1 but instead of having a Primo stud on top has 4 DUPLO studs. This is awesome because it reciprocates what is already possible. Due to some sort of Divine Providence (Great Ole's ghost, no doubt), the anti-stud of a Primo brick fits perfectly over a grid of 2x2 DUPLO studs. Incredible.
As if that wasn't enough of a bonus, there's more. It'll cut a tin can, then a tomato with ease. It'll even accept many 4x4 round pieces up its underside. Plates, bricks, turntables, even the piece made famous by a recent Iron Builder challenge, the
Bionicle Tridax Pod Half. This latter piece is muy bueno for it almost acts as a ball and socket when used under a Primo with good clutch. There's now only 1° between Bionicle and Primo. Take that Kevin Bacon.
As big as they are shipping gets into the cost prohibitive range rather quickly. I was lucky to obtain mine via an early LEGO Find. But if you have a few in your collection you may enjoy using them in unusual ways.
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