Recommended Posts

Thanks everyone for writing here, really interesting to know how you came out of your Dark Ages or not having at all... Any other stories? :tongue:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I slowed down a little on my collection when I went to college, but still kept up fairly well.  Then I went to grad school, and the lack of time and money hurt.  I was fortunate in that I never went a year without getting at least a tiny Lego set, thanks to my parents at Christmas, but I didn't follow much Lego for quite some time.  Sadly, I missed out on almost the entire Fantasy Era and all the Vikings.  Fortunately, I wasn't totally brainless, and did keep some tabs later in grad school, so I was able to pick up the Kingdoms Joust, the Medieval Marketplace, and the Cafe Corner.  I missed the Mill Village Raid and Market Street.  (I managed to finish Bricklinking Market Street just a month ago, so I finally have all the modulars.  Woo hoo!)

I kept picking up the modulars after grad school, but it wasn't until around 2010 that I really started buying sets again and getting back into Lego like I did when I was a kid.  Personally, I think the high quality modular builds kept my interest and allowed me to get back into collecting.  It was classic-castle.com that got me back into MOC building and it has been eurobricks that has continued and encouraged that, so thanks to all here!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I started playing with lego in 1989 when i was about 5 years old. I Always found the quality of Lego in the 90's inferior to the fantastic sets that where available from 1979 to 1992. As a kid I spend a lot of time watching in the catalogs that came with my first sets, dreaming of all these nice sets that where by than unavailable. 3 years ago I found out that all these old lego sets are again available on the secondary market. I guess I just want to make up for what I could not get in my childhood. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I only got into Lego just as of last year. A co-worker who was retiring was sharing with me her new experiences in the hobby.  She was describing to me what an AFOL was and that there were actually a large amount of fans who who were not just kids.  I didn't believe her at first and didn't really think anything of it at the time.  But one day I was at Toys R Us, and saw a Star Wars Darth Maul Sith Infiltrator set.  I decided what the heck, and bought it.  From that evening of building it, my life was never the same again.  The experience was so therapeutic.  

Fast forward around 10 months as of today, and I now own over 70 sets, love building MOC's and even started a Lego YouTube Channel and blog featuring 360° photography of some of my channel builds.  

My co-worker wants to visit Billund with her family and invited me.  I may have to take that trip.  :wink:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As a child (late seventies to late eighties) I was a big fan of the classic Lego themes, mainly classic space and town. I used to spend hours playing, building and modifying them. When I was eleven, my parents decided that I’m too old for Lego and simply gave away all my stuff. I was furious.

Twenty years later I’ve discovered BrickLink, and slowly started purchasing my space sets again - the good old 928, 918, 924, 926... but it was only the last few years I started discovering the advanced creator sets and understood that I’m a total ignorant about everything related to the modern types of bricks and about the whole concept of AFOLs and MOCs.

My wife is not a fan but enjoys seeing our kids and myself build together. My eleven years old was never a fan, but my nine years old can spend hours with her Lego Friends town; my six years old is a fan of the City sets, especially the fire department, police and aircraft sets; and even my two years old loves her Duplo sets and gets lots of tutoring from her elder brother and sister. We are planning a family trip to Billund in a couple of years.

I’m trying to build a custom build for the first time - the space shuttle based on KingsKnight’s MOC (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/152554-moc-lego-ideas-space-shuttle-saturn-v-scale/&page=1).  I’m slowly getting the advanced creator sets (London tower bridge, VW camper etc). One of my favorite sets is of course the Lego movie Spaceship - a tribute to the classic space theme I love so much.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Never did turn off from LEGO, I have loved it since I was young and carried on building and playing the older I got. Other hobbies existed alongside, but I was hopeless at video games, disinterested in make-up and fashion and happy with my main hobby being LEGO. I joined the online fan community and just continued onward. Like-minded people existed and were friendly, it was great!

It has become more accepted with TLM being released, people realise AFOLs exist. There is a TV series on in the UK for building LEGO in a contest setting. With LEGO becoming as huge as it is, there is more exposure to the epic sets that are a bit beyond children. 

I have never been ashamed for buying a set or felt I was too old and as I explain to people, I find LEGO to be the most successful form of cognitive therapy available to me. Building a MOC or a set really helps me deal with anxiety and stress in a constructive (:grin:) manner. 

Now family friends get me LEGO as a gift, ask if I have seen sets that impress them or what I plan on buying/building next. Their children know me as The LEGO Lady (cutely enough, one of my biggest fans brought his friend to meet me and they spent a while going through my photos on my phone). I just keep on building.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

About 5 years ago my son was born 6 weeks early. Ended up in the NICU, full of tubes, humidicrib, the whole bit. He's fine and healthy now, but at the time, well, not every baby makes it out of the NICU.

Anyway, prior to that, some LEGO had crept back into the house. Had an X-wing over my desk, a few other small sets built and displayed here and there. But I certainly wouldn't have described myself as an AFOL But on the second or third night, I got home and, pulled out the LEGO I had, might have even bought a set on the way home, and just sat down on the lounge room floor and built. It was just a way of working through all of the stuff was going on, and it slowly snowballed from there.

But that was it, that was the catalyst. And even now I still often just sit down and 'work stuff out' through building. (And I gotta admit, it's great sharing the hobby with the kids)
 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am, (was?) primarily a Transformers collector (official and otherwise) but a while ago I was keen to get some Lego sets just for some funsies and maybe look into collecting the Star Wars Black Series figures. Well, it didn't take a genius how to best combine those two directions into collecting Star Wars Lego. 

It started off as Rey's Speeder for Christmas after seeing TFA. I was keen to keep the nostalgia flow from seeing the movie alive and a SW themed Lego kit seemed the best way to go to scratch both of those recent itches. A couple of Microfighters later and I was still just buying little kits here and there for the fun of it. Fast forward to this February and for my birthday I picked up the A-Wing set. Well that was it, I was hooked. Since then I've been gobbling up sets, just looking for that sweet sweet fix. 

I have noticed that due to release schedules, the first quarter of a year is often very light on Transformers and other toy robots for me and invariably my interests will wander around that time of the year, often shifting back to TFs come the end of summer. This time though, I think Lego is here to stay. 

I had plenty of Lego as a child (early 90s sets mostly Castles and Pirates) and I had thought to maybe pick up some Ninjago or Nexo Knights to recapture some of that childhood magic but the SW sets are doing a fine job of giving me the tactile sensation of building Lego but the pure joy of once again swooshing around a Falcon or a Tie Fighter. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I felt compelled to log in for this topic. 

I left my dark ages in January 2015.  I had just returned from a deployment, there was about to be a lot of snow outside, and I wanted to do something like build a puzzle, or, better yet I thought, build a train set on my floor like I did as a kid. And then I thought, why not make it a Lego train? I always wanted those as a kid and could not afford them of course.  So I bought a Lego train set, the 60052 Cargo Train and built it and was amazed.  The feeling of emptying a brand new Lego box, the untouched pieces free of oils and play wear. 

Since then I've purchased many great sets, available modulars, retired Maerks sets and Horizon Express. My absolute favorite thing, and I've seen many in this threat mention, was to pick up my childhood Lego collection from my parents house. I had many amazing sets from 1985-1996.  Although in my opinion, the golden age ended around 1992. Basically once non-pirate sets had facial features outside of 2 eyes and a smile.  I've since had a blast restoring my childhood Lego sets from Bricklink, cleaning them, and collecting a few that slipped through my fingers as a child. 

My first son is on the way and I hope he enjoys Lego, I plant to support his hobby :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Two years ago I was at a friends birthday party who turned 32, and I saw his father enter the room with a huge toy store gift package. At first I figured it was for my friend's nephew, who was also there. But then he opened it himself and there was a lego technic truck inside. I never really thought about lego to be something for adults before that. (I did have a sizable collection of space theme lego when I was a kid, but I never really looked back to it.)

Since I didn't live close by I slept on the couch that night, and the next morning he and his girlfriend showed me a van (from the creator expert line) they were building. They gave me the instruction booklet and told me to continue building, while they went for a shower. It was such fun, that I immediately decided that I didn't have a reason not to buy a new set. When I came back I immediately ordered the ferris wheel and it went pretty fast after that...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When I was a teenager, I had my close calls with the so-called "dark age", but I've never really been taken by it as I've always had some degree of interest in LEGO, whether it was collecting some smaller sets like CMFs 
or simply checking up on the news, or peeking at what others were doing.  And with the come of The LEGO Movie during my later teens, the hobby seemed to become more accepted and less uncommon.
Unlike it did then, having it be accepted no longer bothers me in any way and even most of my friends and family know all about it now,
but it's awesome to see it gain more and more widespread recognition, which gives more opportunities to connect with other people who have the same interest, or who just plain like it.
And the come of the movie did its part in helping to pull me back to the light, at the time.

Now, a good amount of years later, I'm ready to thrust into being more active than I've been in recent times. I don't consider any of my periods of lesser interest as "dark ages" and am glad I've never fallen into one - going strong!

Edited by General Magma

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Never had a dark age. Always had LEGO. Was born disabled, with cerebral palsy, so my right side has never worked properly, outlasted the doctor's life expectancy for me, so sports was never an option, I got into LEGO really young,  now 20 some years later, that Disney allowed LEGO sets, it's 'worse' than ever for me. Had to have the Toy Story, Cars, now Disney line, 9V and PF trains...Rex, my favorite Toy Story character is my favorite minifigure...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know if I ever had a dark age, but I did take breaks from building LEGO and still do.  The most has been maybe 1-2 year breaks.  Then I get blown away with an incredible set such as any of the MODULAR ones and get back into building.

As for MOC's go just observing something cool will lead to interesting ideas that will develop into planning a MOC.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For me it was 100% due to my children.  Had a few smaller sets as a kid, but about 10 went into my dark age.  Till they were born, really had no interest in getting into the hobby, seamed expensive and too childish.  When my youngest was about 4 was really looking for something we could do together.  Really looking for anything to get her way from the television.  We got a few sets and I was hooked.  Now I'm more into the hobby then her.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've always been a fan of Lego but I've had my years of not being active building Lego (or having giving it one thought). 

About two year or so ago, me and my wife starting to buy small sets of Lego Star Wars and I guess it was about then I once again understood how soothing and fun it it is to do Lego.

Back when I had an Amiga 1200 I built a case for the external HD out of Lego and maybe 10 years ago I did a Blade Runner Spinner MOC (and that's when I found out about Bricklink) 

I'm not much of a fan of other Lego than Lego City and I'm about to start designing and building my own Lego City (got my Wife's blessing & support)

I've now built some of the old sets I got saved during all these years (I belive the earliest is from '79) and with the Internet its so easy to find instructions and others whom share the same love for Lego 

Edited by ingels
Fixed the spelling

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

oops, I am still writing this post, i clicked send by accident, where is delete button?

Edited by Kalais

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting stories :)

When I was a kid my favourite toys was always LEGO. And not sure why but I stored all my sets, instructions and boxes at my mother's house. I didn't really care for any other things but with LEGO I was like "Keep it please, don't throw it away".

Like maybe 20? years later I've seen with my wife The LEGO Movie.

The_Lego_Movie_poster.jpg

Wow, that movie bringed back so many memories. We was talking about it a lot. And I started looking on the internet how it was done. I wasn't sure it was stop motion or CGI, or some kind of mix of those 2 techniques. I am designer and I also was doing some stop motion earlier to so it was very interesting for me.

Then, while searching for LEGO movie details, I found all the AFOL communites, LUGs, MOCs etc. and got really into it. My wife bought Paradisa set (from her childhood), I took LEGOs from my mother's house. We started buying sets for bricks and bricklink single elements which I always wanted as a kid. It was crazy, I remembered not only sets, but particular pieces which I 've seen in catalogues and always wanted it.

As a kid I was doing a lot of MOCs, and now I am doing it too. I even started my own LEGO blog - https://bricks.kalais.net/

LEGO-Classic-Space-Base-01.jpgLEGO-Orcs-and-Humans-01.jpgLEGO-Skyscraper-01.jpg

And the most crazy thing is that I also back to LEGO stop motion animation which bringed me closer to the LEGO company. I got into some official LEGO Group projects. It was so crazy and unbelievable for me! My animations are on The LEGO Batman Movie Blu-Ray and are incorporated into The LEGO Ninjago Movie. I also made some commercials for LEGO. This is so crazy and so fun to make :) I love it :)

This was my 1st animation after Dark Age:

And here is the rest of my works:

The LEGO is awesome! :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I collected a few sets when I was between 5-11, then I found video games! (although I never could seem to put it away completely)

 I briefly came back to it when I was fifteen when I got a large Lego soccer set but once more I was more into playstation. Then when I was turning 21 I saw the 2011 police station advertised in a catalogue and asked for it for my birthday as it'd always been the set I had most wanted as a kid. That started me on the slippery slope and have not stopped since.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 7/31/2018 at 11:29 AM, Bricked1980 said:

@Kalais Your Ship in a Bottle animation is fantastic! :thumbup:

Thx :)

17 hours ago, Creativebrick Studio 117 said:

@Kalais the skyscraper MOC looks really impressive!  Looking at it more and more is giving me some ideas to build something.  That's how I get out of the dark ages :classic:

Haha! :) Have fun! :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Lego had been by far the most important toy in my youth (sixties, early seventies), but at some point, after several moves, my two wooden boxes and some loose stuff moved in some other direction (little nephew and from there off to other, further horizons). Occasional I would spend some time in front of toy stores, reminiscing, and with the emergence of Internet, I would occasionally read a bit about the flight Lego has taken since my time.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I came across Lego Ideas, and the Saturn V proposal. I loved it, but at the same time I thought it would be too limited for the way I had used Lego in the past. And it was too big and to vulnerable for my rather small apartment.  Nice to dream about, but not a good idea... And there were a few other ideas I liked as much or even better...

I have a more or less standing appointment with a few friends for a 'tinker' evening once a week, and last summer, one of my friends showed up with a big box... Yep, he had bought the mighty Saturn V. Sitting beside him as he was building it, I could not help but grab a few bricks and build some small random stuff myself... You know, just trying...

rANPRqLl.jpg

And it was still fun to see what you could get and improve something... I decided to invest in Lego again as well. Not the Saturn V. But age and personal history led to one of those other Lego Ideas I had been keeping an eye on...

sJEqBfIl.jpg

Yellow Submarine! Just like rockets, submarines were notoriously impossible to build from old school Lego (All rockets looked like towers, and the yellow research submarines from Piccard and Captain Cousteau needed an awful lot of imagination to recognise when build with 2x4 bricks... The set was great. But at the same time, all the limitations I feared from the Saturn V were here too. I do not want to rip this one apart to build something else, it resides on the nautical shelve of my book case, and it will probably stay there. This is display-Lego, not building-Lego.

But reading up on online Lego, I came across the trade in old Lego; Bricklink, and -here in the Netherlands- Marktplaats. It turned out to be quite affordable to buy a shitload of random old Lego. It also turned out to be quite easy to find the old bricks I remembered from way back when. I even found the wooden boxes I once had.

1QQNxFml.jpg

And perhaps even more importantly: I could find all this information on Lego! Old ideabooks and leaflets (those I had, as a kid, never realising there were actual sets as well), the full history of Lego, even display models I remember seeing as a kid... This forum and the posts of Legohistorian Mr. Istok and a few others on Flickr fueled my love for old fashioned, studs galore, rather abstract Lego again.

Old Lego Submarines? Perhaps not the ones I wanted to build as a kid, but I remembered this one from one of those small ideas books. I could never build it back then, due to a lack of the right coloured bricks (i only had yellow macaroni bricks, but no other yellow building bricks, and I hated the usual multicoloured look of Lego projects even as a kid). Now I have more bricks...

kg9twwZl.jpg?1

I'm ba-ack...

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Around five years ago, my mother was moving house and asked me to sift through the contents of my childhood bedroom to decide what I wanted to keep, donate to charity, etc. Among the old books and plastic dinosaurs was my big red box of Lego from the 80s and 90s. I hadn't kept any of the boxes, but I found I still had the instructions for a large number of Castle and Pirates sets. I knew there was a collector's market for old sets so I thought, I'll take these home and who knows, maybe I can make a bit of money from them.

Big mistake!

Of course to work out whether the sets were complete or had parts missing, I told myself, I would first have to build them. I spent a good week sat on the floor, searching through that big red box and painstakingly assembling 6090 Royal Knight's Castle, 6078 Royal Drawbridge and 6086 Black Knight's Castle. I even had the hull and masts for 6285 Black Seas Barracuda, but sadly Captain Redbeard and most of his crew had not survived the Millennium.

As I built, I remembered how much enjoyment I used to get from my Lego creations and I decided to go online for a look at how the sets had changed since the 90s and what their new sets looked like.

Another big mistake!

I was immediately captivated by the variety of the CMF line (then around series 10), and realised I had some catching up to do if I was going to collect every single one (thanks, eBay!). Then the Lego Movie came out and of course I had to collect all the sets from that, and from there it wasn't long until I bought my first modular and passed the point of no return. I hate to think of how much I've spent on Lego since then (not such a great money-making scheme after all!), but I get a huge amount of enjoyment from it and can't imagine ever having another Dark Age. Especially if TLG keep pumping out Harry Potter sets...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 8/8/2018 at 11:11 PM, jan kusters said:

I'm ba-ack...

What a nice story :) Just wanted to give you a thumbs up and say that it's good to see someone having so much fun with the studded stuff. I like your attitude! :thumbup:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you... Still trying to figure out where to post all my old school builds. The forums are very centred on sets and modern building styles, and I feel my old style of building does not actually fit in there.

In the right forums (like my castlette in the castle forum) they might stick out like a sore thumb because of their old crude style. But in 'special themes forum' they seem out of place and hard to find for certain topic lovers. Still pondering that one...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.