This is a story about a multibillion-dollar international conglomerate, arms manufacturers, a German peace group and renegades who make miniaturized weapons systems out of small shops.
Not that those tiny weapons could actually hurt anyone. Well, not unless you stepped on one.
The conglomerate is LEGO, with worldwide revenues of $6.2 billion in 2019 from its toys, retail stores, theme parks and even movie rights. Its toy sets — which are intended to “inspire the builders of tomorrow,” according to the company’s mission statement — run the gamut, from skyscrapers to boats, police stations to castles. There’s even a kit to make Rome’s famous Colosseum. Nothing from the real world, it seems, is off limits. That is, except for anything modeled on today’s military.
“We have a long-standing policy of not creating sets which feature real military vehicles that are currently in use,” Ryan…
