50 replies to this topic

[Andy D]

How did your LEGO plans for 2012 work out?

In my sig, my plan (motto) was "less spending, more building"

Well, that did not work out exactly as planned.  I think I spent more in 2012 (so far) and I have built less, but I have spent more time here on EB (vbg).

I think I'll blame TLG, they introduced way, way too many new, great sets that I had to have (not built yet though).

Maybe I should not make a plan for 2013, or maybe I should plan to "spend more and build less" (will that work to spend less and build more?)

What about you? How did your 2012 plans work out for you?

Andy D

Edited by Andy D, 05 December 2012 - 05:16 PM.

[Blondie-Wan]

It sounds as though your LEGO plans for the year worked out very much like mine.

I spent as much as I could afford on LEGO (and perhaps a little bit more ), but haven't spent nearly as much time building as I'd like. In part this has to do with the lack of significant building space in my home, though. We have a room called "the fun room" in which I keep my LEGO (and which we use for a few other things, such as game storage and computers), and it's supposed to be a building / display area as well as a storage one, but it's in serious need of reorganization before it'll really be useful for building in. I have some specific construction projects in mind that I've been mulling over for literally years, but which I haven't really gotten around to doing yet. Hopefully this year...

Beyond that, though I spent a lot of money, I still haven't gotten certain sets I've been meaning to get, and I'm getting a little nervous about whether I'll be able to do so before they're gone (the Death Star being a prime example). There are actually a lot of smaller, less expensive sets that I've missed out on (so far), as well, though I'm hopeful I'll be able to pick up at least some of them.

[Andy D]

Somehow  I did not think I would be alone here...

I think part of my problem is organizational as well.  I have a room dedicated as my "LEGO studio", no excuse there, but I need to get it more organized.  I need to complete the sorting of my inventory  so I can find pieces easier when I do find time to build, and get some shelves installed for display space.  Though I did do one thing, I put some shelves in the closet for storage or parts, I just need to organize it.

Maybe my motto for 2013 should be "Get organized, start building"

Andy D

[Aanchir]

I mostly have managed to keep my LEGO purchases constrained to what I planned to get once the summer sets were revealed. And I bought many of the sets on a discount during Brickfair. With that in mind, I think I've met my own expectations on that front.

Other LEGO plans didn't work out so well. My Toy Fair coverage, as fun as it was to put together, took far too long for me to complete. By the time I finished covering all themes, Toy Fair news was no longer nearly as relevant to many people as it had been in February. Additionally, I have had a hard time making all the edits I should on The Ninjago Wiki and HEROsector01, and sadly there haven't been nearly enough people helping to keep these sites up-to-date. I only entered two Ninja Month contests here on Eurobricks-- my 8x8 Ultimate Battle entry was never finished and posted, though I doubt it could have matched the quality of some of the other brilliant entries in that contest. I also have a lot of work to do making sure I have my LDD reference files here on Eurobricks up to date.

And some things have exceeded my expectations. I was able to enter a LEGO building contest at my college, and while I didn't win, my team put together a quite good model IMO. I won the 16x16 category of the Ninja Month Ultimate Battle contest here on Eurobricks, which was a pleasant surprise considering how many talented entries I was up against. I have had opportunities to speak with Jay Vincent, one of the composers for LEGO Ninjago, and have joined Brickset, where I was pleased to be welcomed with open arms. I have done my part to report LEGO news I discover around the internet, and I strongly hope that bolstering my credentials within the LEGO fan community might do me well when I finally get finished with my Industrial Design education and apply for a product design job at The LEGO Group.

Overall, I will continue planning the same way in 2013: making my LEGO purchasing plans for the year as soon as sets are revealed at Toy Fair and trying to hold off on many of those purchases until Brickfair arrives and I can get great LEGO store discounts, as well as not making any major commitments that I can't get out of if schoolwork becomes a burden once more.

[ShaydDeGrai]

Well, I certainly spent more than I was planning on this year, and the year's not over yet.  I still have have all The Hobbit sets on my radar and I'm expecting my first purchase of 2013 to be a couple of the new TGV train sets when they come out.

On the building front, I've got a backlog of kits that is getting a little ridiculous (thank you LEGO for that special VIP Brick Friday event, I now have a three foot high pile of kits taunting me in my office)  I think I've built about the same number of kits as I have in prior years, I just bought a lot more, creating a bit of an assembly queue.

The one place I have been better about was MOC'ing.  I've been telling myself for years that I should make more time for it and my wife's been telling me that I should share my creations on the internet rather than just sticking them on a shelf to gather dust.  Well, here I am, and I've done more and bigger MOCs this past year than in the previous two combined, including two I'm rather proud of, my Argonath and my Minas Tirith. As the year drew on I had less time to both build and post things, but, in general I think I got moving in the right direction.

[Andy D]

@ShaydDeGrai  Those MOCs are excellent, I don't remember them on EB.  Thanks for the links.

Andy D

[LEGO Guy Bri]

ShaydDeGrai, on 05 December 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

including two I'm rather proud of, my Argonath and my Minas Tirith.

Those are some very impressive MOCs ShayDeGai. I'd be proud too!  

I reckon 2012 was a good year for me. I wanted to spend more conservatively this year and successfully quit buying classic town sets, even if it was a good deal. Roughly spending almost $3k less compared to last year... and who knows how much more in not having to buy those large under-bed storage totes. I still have a handful of the larger sets that I still would like to buy. Good news is they will be around a while.

MOCcing was ok, this year. I didn't build as much as I'd like to, but space and storage is still the biggest issue. That said, the remaining space, outside the totes, will be used for new sets. Looking forward to the new year I will be focusing more on work, so I have a feeling my MOCing will dwindle. Plus a new GTA will be out, pretty much the only reason I have a game console, at all . Spending less is also a goal after going a bit crazy the first 2 1/2 years after returning to LEGO    

[PsyKater]

ShaydDeGrai, on 05 December 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

Well, here I am, and I've done more and bigger MOCs this past year than in the previous two combined, including two I'm rather proud of, my Argonath and my Minas Tirith. As the year drew on I had less time to both build and post things, but, in general I think I got moving in the right direction.

You have been in Bookholzberg, haven't you?

[Peppermint_M]

Um....

Well, I made it to the EB 2012 event in Billund as planned, I attended Brickworld and participated in my first ever group display (we won!). As for spending... Well after two blowout go for broke purchasing sprees (totally related to my previous two mentions...) this past few months has been limited a little to mostly reduced-in-price sets and CMFs which is a good thing as I do still have sets sat unopened or only partially opened since January (post-Christmas sales...).

I have built plenty of MOCs this year, not only for the layout at BW, but I have about six or seven MOCs set down in varied locations about my building areas that I need to photograph.

As for other goals, I achieved my plan of figuring out new and interesting ways to build things and incorparate unusual or cool parts into a MOC. I ran a contest in Action and have more plans for 2013.

What I still have not managed is a comprehensive sort and organisation of my LEGO... In fact I went backwards in that respect....

[cimddwc]

Well, after my move into my new apartment in July, I didn't get nearly as much finished as I had intended – I still need one more railroad bridge, I'm still working on remote controlling the switches, I didn't build much more scenery than the walls... also, even though spending much time on sorting, I still got much left to sort, partially because I spent more than planned (but hey, you gotta get the bargains while they last)...

So I hope I can concentrate more on building after Christmas and next year, but we'll see. After all, there's no deadline here. :)

[TheLegoDr]

Good topic. I like that motto "spend less, build more." I think I recall seeing that when it was first mentioned and this refreshed my memory of it. I know I did not incorporate that line of thinking this year, even though I should have. I didn't keep track of how much I've spent this year, but according to Brickset I did purchase 73 different sets this year (I only counted CMF series 7 and 8 as one each instead of each individual figure, which was many). So I would say I definitely spent more than expected. This was also the first year I got into LEGO Star Wars, so that ate up some of my budget. With all of these great themes it was hard to pass up, but I think I did find more deals this year than last year including the awesome LOTR deal from Barnes & Noble this summer.

But this was also the first year I really got involved in EB contests and even a contest at Toysnbricks. So I would say I built more this year than normal. I had two mini-Modulars, one full sized Modular (as can be seen in my signature) and participated in both Harry Potter and Star Wars community builds. I definitely hope to do more of that in the future. I didn't get as much built as I would like. I still have lots of plans for other Modulars and then key scenes from the Harry Potter universe and now the LOTR universe, so sometime I will get around to building those. And I do have a few creations I need to sit down and photograph to post. I came out of the Dark Ages in late 2010, so 2011 was a catch up year and this was my first real year of buying/building what I want instead of what I need. Only a handful of sets that I am missing out on, so not too bad.

I would also like to organize/sort more bricks, which I've done some. We have a huge basement that is basically dubbed "the LEGO room" thanks to my wife, so I have the space to organize and build/display, I just don't have the time with the little one running around.

We'll see what 2013 brings with even more great themes/sets becoming available. I will have to think about some goals for next year.

[PocasNuckie]

All I know is I spent a lot more than I should have, and that brings consequences for 2013

[Kristel]

Andy D, on 05 December 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

In my sig, my plan (motto) was "less spending, more building"

I noticed this in your signature sometime during the year and it stuck with me.  I'm not sure I would go as far as saying it was a turning point, but I slowed down on my spending and focused more on building in the second half of 2012.  

More generally, I didn't know what to expect when I opened the Flickr account and joined EB in May this year.  The first MOC upload was nerve-wrecking for me to say the least, but I've been having a blast ever since.  My husband thought this was my mid-life crisis at first, but I don't think my love of building with LEGO is going away anytime soon.

[Andy D]

I am glad that my motto helped someone, maybe after reading some of the responses in this thread it will help me to build more.  Maybe spend less, (maybe not) but I definately plan to build more.  At the end of 2013 we will see how this works out.

After I get my Christmas display set up I plan to sort and then be ready to build after the first of the year.

Maybe my new motto should just be "start building"

Andy D

[NiceMarmot]

I like both those mottos.  I did plan on spending less, and probably came close, since 2011 was my first full year out of my dark ages and so I had a lot of catching up to do. I would have spent considerably less in 2012 except for two things.  First, the Walmart modular sales in October. Buying a bunch of Grand Emporiums, Town Halls, etc, even on sale, does tend to blow the budget.  The other factor was rebrickable.com.  Once my son discovered that we had 92-something percent of the pieces to build all sorts of cool Star Wars sets, he pretty much insisted that we BrickLink the missing pieces. Who am I to resist? That probably accounted for a few hundred dollars of BL orders, but still a lot less than buying all those SW sets, especially the old ones.

I have resolved in 2013 to not buy sets unless they are 1) a really good deal, and 2) I really need the parts or the set is an instant classic.  Otherwise, I'll just BL the pieces I need. That should keep the expense down.  Except for the collectible minifigures -- I'll probably end up buying a ton of those.

My building was up and down. I got off to a good start with some really big (for me) MOCs for Guilds of Historica in the winter and spring, but then the really good summer weather this year in California meant we were outside a lot, and building suffered (although I'm not complaining). Work has been busy in the fall, so only in the past few weeks have I gotten back into building. So the first half of the year was great; second half not so much.  My building tends to closely track the kids' interest -- if the kids are building, then so am I, otherwise I'm doing something else with them.  My son's building is really advancing, so I'm looking forward to finally being able to do real co-building with him on EB-MOC-quality builds. That may or may not happen in 2013.

For 2013, I think I'm going to focus on more and smaller builds.  And also when I have a good idea, just start building.

[Etzel]

My 2012 turned out to be "spend less, build less", not the most productive year for me as an AFOL. But I still managed to get some MOCs together, attend some local LUG meetings and of course buy the most interesting sets of the year (mainly LotR and Collectible Minifigs). I thought I would start building more big MOCs this year but I still haven't build bigger than 48x48 studs. Maybe I need a bigger desk first...

I'm looking forward to 2013 and all what it may bring, but I'm not setting up any goals. I'll take one LEGO-day at the time.

[eurotrash]

Andy D, on 05 December 2012 - 05:14 PM, said:

How did your LEGO plans for 2012 work out?

2012 was the first year back since emerging from the dark ages in December of 2011 (curse you heavily discounted Alien Invader Tripod set at Wallyworld) and so it's been a hectic "buy set-build something else-order from BL-patiently wait for delivery-and-repeat" cycle.  What I have noticed is that my earliest MOCs from 2012 now look so primitive that I'm raiding them for pieces.  But I'm getting better and this forum has been an excellant resource and full of like-minded people who are so helpful and friendly.

I'm beginning to cut back on the Buy side, but I'm still building an evening or two or week and checking this site daily for inspiration.

So my motto for 2013 is probably going to be 'raid more, build more, until happy with the result (and must cut back on BL ordering)'

[dr_spock]

I didn't make any Lego plans for 2012.   I was flying by the seat of my pants.  I built a lot more MOCs for public display and events in 2012.  I seem to have developed a backlog of sets waiting to be built.

[PocasNuckie]

I have a backlog of 60 boxes so

[Andy D]

PocasNuckie, on 07 December 2012 - 01:34 PM, said:

I have a backlog of 60 boxes so

I don't feel so bad now.  My backlog is only 30 boxes.

Andy D

[johnnyvgoode]

I decided not to spend too much on Lego because spendings for this year were kind of something uncertain for me, but I set CMFs as a priority and set a part part of my savings for them. I ended up using a considerable part of my savings for 10225 and two minifig torches, but it was totally worth it!

[TheLegoDr]

I thought I didn't have any time to build anything, but I don't have any backlog right now. All of the unopened sets are under the Christmas tree. The problem is I'm usually a quick builder, so I don't get to enjoy it as much (because who has time to enjoy it?). So I can build the sets quickly and then display them, but it takes out some of the fun. I should work on that for 2013 for sure.

I do like the motto, get organized and build more. I think that would be a good idea for most AFOLs, but maybe just for me to build more. I want to do more MOCs for sure.

Kristel - Glad you joined. You have shared some really great MOCs, as can be seen in your signature.

[kermit]

I will be building my London Tower Bridge that I bought. I plan on separating out the pieces on the saturday before christmas and then building the bridge over the next three days. Oh yes and I forgot waiting up on Thursday the 20th to see all the idiots on the news that believe in that Mayan end of the world prophecy.

Edited by kermit, 07 December 2012 - 11:20 PM.

[soccerkid6]

I didn't really have any plans except to build a lot of MOCs which I did As far as spending goes I made quite a few BL orders but mostly small ones (well under 50 $) now I'm getting to the point where I have the pieces for most of the stuff I want to build so I'll probably cut back on spending in 2013, I practically never buy sets unless they're deeply discounted. So 2012 was a great year for me, I built a ton of MOCs and much more impressive ones than I could have imagined in 2011 and even won a couple contests

[Hawkman]

My plans for '12 went out the window once I saw the LOTR and Hobbit sets in person. At that point any sort of reserve just got lost and I spent alot more this year than I though I would. No regrets, though.

My goal next year will probably be to keep a tighter budget, but alot of that depends in how my other hobbies go as far as spending.