badchriss

What got you into collecting Lego as an Adult?

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We've all stopped one hobby and started another. Interests change.

Time is limited and young adults have lots of options.

Sometimes it's about money. Lego is expensive (and valuable). Strong factor for college kids.

I think for toys (action figures, Lego, etc) there's often a gap between when you stop playing with them and when you start buying them again but to display them.

Peer pressure can be a factor for some. Shouldn't be.

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I don't get it though. Sure, some of the people here lost contact with their Lego, but if you liked it then how was interest lost? Someone can force you to do something, but they can't make you like it. It's impossible. Were there other things to do? Or was it that they forcefully pushed themselves to leave it?

I'm sorry if this is coming out the wrong way, and I sound like a jerk, but I was really interested to know. All around me, people dropped Lego like a hot potato and kept telling me to do too. I didn't get why and I still don't. I've heard of the dark ages, but that specific part of it never got answered. Could I get some insight on this? Thank you for reading.

I have friends who stopped buying Lego sets, but still have their old ones on display. For them it just seems their interests changed as they aged, but they still hold to the "nostalgia" factor.

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I got my first lego in 1984 at age 2 and regularly got and bought stuff up until the late-90's. I slowed down then and only got the Model Team sets when they came out very infrequently. 5542 Black Thunder, 5561 Big Foot and 5563 Racing Truck were the last sets that I got. I built the racing truck while watching the Twin Towers fall on CNN.

That year, I also started college and eventually two new hobbies, watch collecting and photography. I read the LEGO catalogs for a year or three after that, but found nothing of interest. I pretty much wrote it off, but kept it all my old stuff anyway. I did buy two ISS space station sets and the first Minecraft set when they came out, but that was pretty much it.

Flash forward to earlier this year. LEGO announced: we're switching plastics somewhere about 2030. This got me thinking: what if I ever want to get back into the hobby? What if I have kids, will LEGO still be around and what it is today? It also got me to check out the website. Where I discovered that Model Team had made somewhat of a comeback with the large vehicle sets. So in june, I bought the VW camper. This was soon followed by the Ferrari F40 when it came out and finally the Mini Cooper. I also got the Parisian Restaurant modular, being a fan of architecture and highly detailed sets. Flash forward to now, with a Detective's Office added this month, a ton of the current City sets, the Ghostbusters set and I'm already ordering stuff from Bricklink to build new things.

So yeah, LEGO's got me hooked again.

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I don't get it though. Sure, some of the people here lost contact with their Lego, but if you liked it then how was interest lost? Someone can force you to do something, but they can't make you like it. It's impossible. Were there other things to do? Or was it that they forcefully pushed themselves to leave it?

I got heavily into the fantasy genre (literature, games, miniatures) as a teen and it's still a passion of mine. At the time, TLG didn't really do fantasy. When they started introducing fantasy minifigures (a ghost and a wizard) in the early 1990s, I got back into LEGO and have been hooked ever since.

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I don't get it though. Sure, some of the people here lost contact with their Lego, but if you liked it then how was interest lost?

It's likely due to the transition from the period when LEGO sets are bought for you and the period when you bought your own LEGO sets. As you grow up, your parents may buy you less 'toys' or buy you other things to encourage the experience of new interests. I wouldn't say interest is lost, but there are so many interests that it's hard for a kid to maintain them all, especially without a job and the ability to buy anything you want. Only after you have a job and things have stabilized, then you can consider buying things for yourself.

Edited by badbob001

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I don't get it though. Sure, some of the people here lost contact with their Lego, but if you liked it then how was interest lost? Someone can force you to do something, but they can't make you like it. It's impossible. Were there other things to do? Or was it that they forcefully pushed themselves to leave it?

I'm sorry if this is coming out the wrong way, and I sound like a jerk, but I was really interested to know. All around me, people dropped Lego like a hot potato and kept telling me to do too. I didn't get why and I still don't. I've heard of the dark ages, but that specific part of it never got answered. Could I get some insight on this? Thank you for reading.

Don't forget that for a lot of fans their dark ages began at a time when there wasn't such a thing as the world wide web. I don' t know your age, but when I was 13 in 1988 I just got frustrated about the limitied possibilities of building with Lego. To give you an example: I wanted to build a romanesque church with a half-round apse. It frustrated me that the only solution I could think of was very blocky. Nowadays, I would have searched the internet and found a solution involving 1x3's and round bricks, but this searching just wasn't possible in 1988. So I couldn't make the transition to building with more advanced techniques and therefore lost my interest in building with Lego.

Secondly, not knowing that there were a lot of other teenagers in the world sharing the same love for Lego didn't help either.

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Even since I was...gosh, must've been, like....2, I got some Legos from some relative. I was hooked. For years and years, I got Lego for every birthday and every Christmas. But, as I grew up...I just...lost interest in them, and moved on. Yea, yea, dark ages, they're called. Although...nowadays, I'm very interested in combining Lego with graphic design, a skill which I was developing during my dark ages. So, yea, now I collect Lego as an adult purely for the purpose of photographing it and making it look pretty.

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I slowly lost interest in lego as it became 'childish' to actually play with lego, games consoles started appearing enmasse such as the super nintendo (i was born in 84), warhammer took over in my teens. Limited money meant sacrifices, and dam, warhammer was (is even more so) expensive!

Anyways, i got into a regular paid job decent enough for my age which gave me some financial freedom and started collecting star wars action fleet vehicles. At the time the imperial shuttle version was out, i always wanted it but never got it. I saw one on ebay and got it. Episode 2 had just came out and i loved the republic gunship. AF released one of those too so i got that but at the same time, saw that lego uad released a version also (7676 at this point). Just HAD to uave it, but it was a lot back then. After months of pondering, gave in, went to toys r us to get one and they didnt do them anymore!!! Went on ebay and got a not complete set so found out about bricklink. Then on ebay, saw Christopher Chambers ARC version which i fell in love with. Bricklinked it after getting his instructions and that was me hooked. I then got the large Spyrius robot with the little detachable spaceship head which i always wanted when i was younger but my parents could only afford to get me the small robot version. Then i bought the Spyrius Saucer, and was well and truly stuck in head first. There was no way i could get out of it then!

Fast forward to now, i have probably about £5000-6000 worth of sets/mocs and am unfortunately just getting into modulars... Love the halloween related stuff so get anything related to being spooky.

Thankfully i had a loving girlfriend who supported me and goes to exhibitions with me when i display :D

Edited by Fuppylodders

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Kids!

First it was something parent and child could do together that was fun for all instead of "dad-bored-out-of-skull-time". Plus nostalgia.

But dad certainly doesn't want to monopolize the kids bricks, so really it's his parental duty to start directing his hobby money toward buying his own.,,

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I think a lot of dark ages happened in the late 90's when lego was at its worst with bulky, stupid elements. I lost interest because my theme (town) was thrown closer to duplo than advanced build.

There's also a certain pattern I think with age, around 16 you get into other things and your budget is limited, so naturally the less important hobby falls short.

It was also a time with much less possibilities. no bricklink, no PaB, no bulk, not even devoted stores, no internet flickrs for inspiration, and most importantly for me no natural colors. Tan only started appearing around '98 in very limited amounts. LEGO has really evolved now, but there was a big stutter at that certain time when it didn't follow my rapidly expanding expectations.

Edited by Sven F

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Okay then, thanks guys!

Will things change this generation? Lego is at a very good position right now and is very accessible online. Some quick research and pictures will show that Lego is indeed for everyone. So will the same thing happen? Will people this time drop Lego for the some of same reasons listed above? Why?

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Of course they will, its a social thing. Some people will bow to peer pressure of 'why you still playong with a childs toy', some will simply do as sven f said, turn 16, have not a lot of money, prioritise other hobbies/social stuff, then there are those that will still stay in it.

But i do believe that there will be more people nowadays that will stay in it as it is so easy to see on the internet how far one can progress with it if they focus on it and create something awesome to themselves. Now there are forums where they can talk to likeminded people and that will help people stay in it too.

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I'll give my opinion on why I had a 'dark age' with toys then got back into it.

Lego was never my main love toy-wise as a child... That was Star Wars (I was born in 1973)... But I had some and like it. I was obsessed with Star Wars figures and getting any ships that I could but I was basically treated to one figure per month / 2 months and then a bit more round birthdays or Christmas. I remember my dad buying a black bin bag full of stuff for £5 in around 1981 from someone at work whose son had stopped playing with SW.

Once I'd got to 14 or so I had an interest in music and started going to concerts and by 16 had a much fuller social life that involved girls so 'playing with toys' was something I had no time for... I wanted to buy records!

After university and then early employment a colleague who was much younger than me bought the first Snowspeeder set and built it in the office... Fortunately the three of us who worked as designers all loved SW and so I was introduced back into Lego and the idea of having some SW stuff that was something more than just a figure... The build was the interesting part.

Fast forward a few more years and I was visiting my parents when the young child next door had a pirate ship smashed up by cousins so they brought it in and I put it back together mainly from the box and loved it.

Then I had my daughter... Through my wife's pregnancy I'd thought 'if it's a boy I'll get that massive Lego Falcon' and build it with him... But we had a girl and I never bought 10179... I bought the X-Wing set and was hooked. 7965 Falcon followed... Then 8097 Slave 1... Then TIE fighter.... All OT based. I got to get all the ships I owned / wanted as a child and build them. I then had an aim to get Lego versions of all the original Kenner figs. (We're close but there's a few they need to do).

My wife hates Lego (she hates it being everywhere as outhouse is quite small) but knows it's part of me. I have the odd Black Series 6" figure and I collect trade paperback comics for Batman and Hellboy. I'm old enough to not give a toss about peer pressure anymore and my friends might not share these interests but also know it's part of me. I think for some people there's an age point where that kind of confidence is harder to have.

As others have said, the Internet is also a big difference in people's lifestyle now. Even when I was at Uni there was no internet. My link with Star Wars and Lego as a kid were catalogues around Christmas as well as the toy floor of large department stores and I certainly didn't know about a Club to meet up and discuss things with likeminded people.

People will always go through waves of interest in things... Sometimes people will come back.. Sometimes they won't. Other things in life take priority and there needs to be an investment of time and money in Lego. It's whether people are able to find time for that investment with everything else that will vring them back or keep them in the hobby.

That was a far longer post than I imagined it would be.

Edited by Robianco

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My link with Star Wars and Lego as a kid were catalogues around Christmas as well as the toy floor of large department stores and I certainly didn't know about a Club to meet up and discuss things with likeminded people.

I too remember extensively studying the catalogues, even the catalogue from 1988 when I was fourteen years old and didn't buy Lego any more nor play with it. It kind of was the last thing that tied me to Lego before entering my dark ages completely.

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With all things that always advance like LEGO, people keep neglecting that everything eventually reaches critical mass.

In 1990 we had the Breezeway cafe which was then considered a fairly large set, but looking at it from today's perspective it's a joke with 180 pieces just very cleverly put together to give the impression of a building.

Today we complain when there's a slight reduction in size on a 2500 pc. set, we see the inclusion of stickers on an expensive set as a personal insult, no back-printing on a minifigure? Scandalous! There's no going back anymore, we will never again be satisfied with anything less, so if sets keep advancing, and our expectations keep going up, there will have to be a time when we'll have to accept that this is it, We probably live in the golden ages of LEGO (although such titles can only be given in retrospect) if that didn't put you back on the wagon, I doubt anything will.

Edited by Sven F

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I loved LEGO when I was a kid, but I lost my interest when I became teenager (or maybe I just felt that they were just too childish to play at that age). After that I haven't really been interested in the LEGO stuff, but occasionally I have seen some pictures of the modular buildings and I've thought that I'd really like to get them... but maybe the time hasn't been right to come back to the LEGO world...

... until last year. Both me and partner are big Simpsons fans and last year I saw those LEGO Simpsons minifigures in store. They were an easy way to begin collecting LEGO stuff again - theme was interesting (and maybe more "adult" than normal minifigures), they were cheap and small. I began to follow LEGO news randomly and in August this year I saw the announcement of the Winter Toy Shop. I used to love that kind of small and cute LEGO houses when I was a kid, I thought it would be a nice decoration for Christmas and I decided to buy it when it becomes available. After that I began to follow LEGO news more often and I became more and more interested about collecting the modular buildings, which I have admired for years. Finally last month I bought my first modular building, the Pet Shop.

Edited by temes

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I'm old enough to not give a toss about peer pressure anymore and my friends might not share these interests but also know it's part of me. I think for some people there's an age point where that kind of confidence is harder to have.

As others have said, the Internet is also a big difference in people's lifestyle now. Even when I was at Uni there was no internet. My link with Star Wars and Lego as a kid were catalogues around Christmas as well as the toy floor of large department stores and I certainly didn't know about a Club to meet up and discuss things with likeminded people.

I totally agree that there is a lifecycle effect, that is, a point in your life when you just don't care much what other people think.

I also believe there is a cohort effect. During the last 20 years or so there has been greater acceptance of 'kidulthood', i.e. enjoying as adults things aimed mostly at kids. When we were in our early twenties, adults didn't dress up as super heroes and attend comic book conventions, play fantasy/sicfi games or collect toys nearly as much as they do today. When I became an AFOL in the early 1990s, I thought I was the only adult who collected LEGO. I figured there might be others but without the benefit of the internet, I never knew for sure. I have a feeling that if the internet had not been invented, kidulthood and AFOLdom would not have burgeoned the way they have.

Does anyone know when the acronym "AFOL" was coined?

Edited by AmperZand

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Luckily I had a fair bit of lego as a child which had been stored in the loft during my dark ages..

Cant remember what I was up there looking for but all the lego I could find came down and from then on I've spent loads..

Bet my missus wished I'd never have gone up there.

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I got back into Lego in the beginning of 2014 with the castle 2 theme and the Star Wars rebels Animated series.

It started with getting just the Star Wars Ghost and the Phantom sets, because I like the series.

I was a Huge Castle and pirates fan as a kid, so i bought the 2013 castle, then the rest of the wave and so i got hooked again on the castle theme. To bad i missed most of Kingdoms from 2 years before, that was a superb theme in term of sets.

Because I was all out of castle stuff to get i started getting a few more Star Wars ships, like the A-wing and the Scout fighter and since them i'm hooked on Lego Star Wars despite being actually a Star trek fan, lol.

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As a kid i loved to play Legos and create my own worlds, if it was in space or in a war thorn medieval fantasy world. (althought they didn't had a fantasy theme in the early 80s)

After a long dark age, the first thing that cought my attention where Lego vikings.(yeah, that's already a long time ago for some :) )

But i really got into Lego again when Castle Fantasy theme was released and since Tabletop RPGs is another hobby of mine it was obvious (to me :grin: ) to merge both somehow. On the other hand i'm always torn between fantasy/historical and sci-fi theme (not lego but the themes in general).

Sadly i don't have the time, room or money to to pursue these hobbies at the moment.

But i'm not so sure if Lego is the right medium for my hobby anyways. Lego people are just too happy and nice for my taste, lol.

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For me it was the release of the Lego dimensions level pack (71201) w/ Marty McFly + hover board + delorean. I am no gamer and for the MSRP of $30 it is pretty pricy. But I love the Back to the Future movies I will purchase it.

I already did purchase the camper van + canoe (60057) and the emerald express (31015) but the 71201 set is what is keeping me an AFOL longer than previous ages.

Edited by Lego_v194

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I remembered what fun I experienced with my three sons while building with Lego. I have kept all their old sets and plan on adding new sets to the collection.

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I only played with them a little as a kid. I got into it around last year and I'm currently 21 years old. Minifigures sparked my interest and I began collecting those then thought I might try a set. Bought my first set sometime last year (Log Cabin - Creator) and had a lot of fun with it. I haven't really had the money to buy any sets lately but I'm saving up for my next one. It's just a lot of fun to build things and I love collecting the minifigures.

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I didn't get into Lego until I was older, around middle school. I was obsessed with stuffed animals as a kid so bricks and little brick people didn't interest me so much. I remember later going into a Lego aisle as a kid and seeing the Indiana Jones Fight on the Flying Wing set and wanting it, but ultimately got something else. The video games were what really got me into collecting, I wanted to collect the minifigures of my favorite characters in the game. Unfortunately since I got into it so late it wasn't long until I felt the pressure to "grow up", and hid my sets in my closet and got rid of the video games after a friend of mine saw them. She didn't say anything mean, just asked if I liked them and I lied and said no, they're kind of stupid and got rid of them later. Same with my sets, when she saw them I just said I was going to try to sell them to earn money for a car and didn't take them out of my closet until recently.

Later I developed more self confidence and decided to get the games and play them again for nostalgic reasons, which again got me back into Lego. While I haven't done much collecting lately, mostly just picking up a few low price sets because I have a money/space constraint, I've started taking out my old sets and minifigs and displaying them.

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I slowly lost interest in lego as it became 'childish' to actually play with lego, games consoles started appearing enmasse such as the super nintendo (i was born in 84), warhammer took over in my teens. Limited money meant sacrifices, and dam, warhammer was (is even more so) expensive!

Anyways, i got into a regular paid job decent enough for my age which gave me some financial freedom and started collecting star wars action fleet vehicles. At the time the imperial shuttle version was out, i always wanted it but never got it. I saw one on ebay and got it. Episode 2 had just came out and i loved the republic gunship. AF released one of those too so i got that but at the same time, saw that lego uad released a version also (7676 at this point). Just HAD to uave it, but it was a lot back then. After months of pondering, gave in, went to toys r us to get one and they didnt do them anymore!!! Went on ebay and got a not complete set so found out about bricklink. Then on ebay, saw Christopher Chambers ARC version which i fell in love with. Bricklinked it after getting his instructions and that was me hooked. I then got the large Spyrius robot with the little detachable spaceship head which i always wanted when i was younger but my parents could only afford to get me the small robot version. Then i bought the Spyrius Saucer, and was well and truly stuck in head first. There was no way i could get out of it then!

Fast forward to now, i have probably about £5000-6000 worth of sets/mocs and am unfortunately just getting into modulars... Love the halloween related stuff so get anything related to being spooky.

Thankfully i had a loving girlfriend who supported me and goes to exhibitions with me when i display :D

I'll give my opinion on why I had a 'dark age' with toys then got back into it.

Lego was never my main love toy-wise as a child... That was Star Wars (I was born in 1973)... But I had some and like it. I was obsessed with Star Wars figures and getting any ships that I could but I was basically treated to one figure per month / 2 months and then a bit more round birthdays or Christmas. I remember my dad buying a black bin bag full of stuff for £5 in around 1981 from someone at work whose son had stopped playing with SW.

Once I'd got to 14 or so I had an interest in music and started going to concerts and by 16 had a much fuller social life that involved girls so 'playing with toys' was something I had no time for... I wanted to buy records!

After university and then early employment a colleague who was much younger than me bought the first Snowspeeder set and built it in the office... Fortunately the three of us who worked as designers all loved SW and so I was introduced back into Lego and the idea of having some SW stuff that was something more than just a figure... The build was the interesting part.

Fast forward a few more years and I was visiting my parents when the young child next door had a pirate ship smashed up by cousins so they brought it in and I put it back together mainly from the box and loved it.

Then I had my daughter... Through my wife's pregnancy I'd thought 'if it's a boy I'll get that massive Lego Falcon' and build it with him... But we had a girl and I never bought 10179... I bought the X-Wing set and was hooked. 7965 Falcon followed... Then 8097 Slave 1... Then TIE fighter.... All OT based. I got to get all the ships I owned / wanted as a child and build them. I then had an aim to get Lego versions of all the original Kenner figs. (We're close but there's a few they need to do).

My wife hates Lego (she hates it being everywhere as outhouse is quite small) but knows it's part of me. I have the odd Black Series 6" figure and I collect trade paperback comics for Batman and Hellboy. I'm old enough to not give a toss about peer pressure anymore and my friends might not share these interests but also know it's part of me. I think for some people there's an age point where that kind of confidence is harder to have.

As others have said, the Internet is also a big difference in people's lifestyle now. Even when I was at Uni there was no internet. My link with Star Wars and Lego as a kid were catalogues around Christmas as well as the toy floor of large department stores and I certainly didn't know about a Club to meet up and discuss things with likeminded people.

People will always go through waves of interest in things... Sometimes people will come back.. Sometimes they won't. Other things in life take priority and there needs to be an investment of time and money in Lego. It's whether people are able to find time for that investment with everything else that will vring them back or keep them in the hobby.

That was a far longer post than I imagined it would be.

@Fuppylodders - I also went from lego to Warhammer, although I was never really a fan of lego, I got it as present by people who didn't really know what kind of toys I liked, which was before warhammer, mostly action figures and then I played computer games and read books. Anyway warhammer basically consumed all my money between the ages of 12 and 16.

@Robianco - Then after 16, it was basically went to only buy records for a couple of years, until 2005 then I started university which meant that extra money went to partying and it took until last year in october when I bought my first lego, and it was the Ewok Village! The only one I've not bought second hand so far (I'm still a student... taking it slow =) ) As I said, I was never really a lego fan, but Star Wars, megabluck yeah! And especially ewoks for some crazy reasons I don't know, and if I knew I wouldn't tell you =).

So a few month before my daugther was born, during last spring I was sitting on internet feeling abit like I think a few soon to come fathers are feeling when they sense that their life's gonna chance like not so many spontanous going out in the night, less long friends only vaccations and definitely no field work in Somalia for 6 months away from the family, that kind of feeling and I saw the Ewok Village just be some coincidence on internet, I thought I found at least some comfort to my missery!

Now I went from basically nothing one year ago too over 200 minifigs and filling 2m2 of lego sets! And the worst thing is not even the economical spending, but it's a crazy time consumptionn, hell, do you know how many FB groups and internet forums I'm active on, I need some megablocking help! hahaha

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