Some of you may have heard little snippets of Lego news lately, and thought about coming to your resident Ridiculent Lego expert for a little fact finding. Well, the Lego hoopla coincided with my emergency appendectomy, so here's the post-game wrap-up:

1. Lego is posting its third-ever and worst financial loss.
2. Lego will return to its "core".
3. They're going to be reviewing the way they do licensed tie-ins. Although they've been selling lots of Harry Potter and Star Wars sets, apparently the licensing costs are high, so the profits aren't as great. Spiderman Lego's just don't fit in their new focus.
4. At first, people thought Lego was dropping the Mindstorms line, but it turns out that they will keep it going.
5. There have been some color changes that have a bunch of Adult Fans of Lego (AFOL) in a tiff.
6. A picture of Lego minifig Biff Starling landed on Mars with the Spirit rover, and a picture of Sandy Moondust will land with Opportunity. Children will be able to follow the adventures of Biff and Sandy as the rovers explore Mars.
7. You can listen to an episode of The Connection on NPR that aired on January 13, 2004, that talked about Lego's future.