Brick Warriors
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other protective gear. When he finds one he likes, he copies it into a computer-assisted design program and starts tweaking it into something he likes even better. He keeps an image of a LEGO mini-figure on his computer, and uses that to test whether the accessories he designs are correctly sized and will attach properly to the LEGO piece. If his LEGOloving friends approve the design, he sends the file to a 3D printing business in California, which makes a prototype. After creating about a dozen new pieces, Hauge ships them to China—yes, even recent grads are into outsourcing—where a manufacturer creates a steel mold and injects it 1,000 times with ABS plastic. The ABS is acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, the same plastic used for LEGO bricks. A couple of weeks later, boxes filled with bags of 100 of each type of piece arrive in Greenville. Those bags cover much of the floor of a spare bedroom at Hauge and Taylor’s place. The walls of an office area are lined with color-coded plastic bins, each one holding up to 100 pieces of a particular item. Designing a new piece takes two to three hours, and the entire process—from design to prototype to production—takes three to four months, Hauge says. In addition to the accessory pieces, BrickWarriors sells custom mini-figures, created by sealing waterslide decals that Taylor designs onto the body of a standard LEGO mini-figure. Besides designing the decals, Taylor takes care of sales and distribution for the business. She fills about 100 orders a week. The custom mini-figures cost $10 and up. Most of the accessories sell for $1 each, but there’s a $10
minimum and the average order is $30, so there’s a lot of handling tiny pieces that goes into the $4 charge for shipping and handling. The inventory is rather complex, too—about 100 designs already, with many of them available in up to six different colors, and about 50 more in the pipeline. The best orders, Taylor says, are from BrickWarriors resellers in Sweden, France, Hungary, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom. They typically order 100 of each piece they want, “so they’re easier to pack,” she says. Although they grew up a couple of miles from each other in Brandywine Hundred—Hauge graduated from Concord High School and Taylor from Brandywine High—they didn’t meet until they were freshmen at Delaware. Because they work largely through the internet, their youth is hardly an issue when dealing with older and more experienced suppliers, Hauge says. “Nobody thinks we’re right out of college. They think we’re about 30,” Taylor adds, laughing. Next up for Hauge and Taylor is the Toy Fair and marketing their board game. While they have found success selling BrickWarriors pieces online, they want exposure for the game at brick-and-mortar retailers. Toy stores and shops that sell comic books and fantasy games are their primary targets as they try to develop broader distribution channels. “I don’t know anything about marketing games,” Hauge says. “But we designed a game, and had fun with it. Hopefully other people will have fun too.” Mitchell is already on board, saying he will host a “game night” at YoYo Joe’s when they’re ready to roll out the BrickWarriors game. By leveraging their product with LEGO, “the potential is tremendous” for Hauge and Taylor, O’Neill says. “All it takes is one break.”
Hauge and Taylor play the game they invented, Chains to Champions.
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