Does anybody else find it hard to talk about Lego IRL

[Anonknee Muss]

I am somewhere between the ages of 18-25. Whenever someone mentions hobbies, I find it hard sometimes to talk about Lego, I was often bullied during high school because of my interest in Lego. 

Does anyone hide it (I don’t personally) or had similar encounters?

[Peppermint_M]

I put LEGO in my CV, it is my hobby and I will talk at length about it. I suppose the thing is, I can leverage a lot of what I do with MOCing and helping out here on the forums into desirable work skills.

Then, as hobbies go, it is pretty respectable even if it is toys. I probably do benefit from being a creative builder with a technical background in my employment history. (I have construction engineering qualifications, even if in this employment environment I am working in an admin job). 

So, I will say that my upcoming holiday is centred around a LEGOLAND trip and meeting my fellow LEGO fans, I will tell my colleagues when and where I am displaying. Heck, if someone asks about my weekend, I will probably pull out my phone to share some WIP photos on my latest project. 

I do think that Lego Masters on TV helped people's perception of LEGO as a hobby too. 

[1963maniac]

I have no one but the online community to talk LEGO with. Anyone whom I tell that Lego is my hobby just looks at me kinda funny. None of my adult friends or relatives get it. Even my adult sons who grew up with Lego and loved (past tense) them growing up really don't get the depth to which I take it. Technic is my main focus. And, I like making building instructions. I have had many hobbies over the years but, Lego has been there with me since I first saw them when I was about 8 years old. That was before the minifigure!!

BTW, what is "Lego Masters on TV"??

[MxWinters]

Nope, I have no issues with talking about LEGO in real life, indeed I am proud of the fact that I am a 30-something woman who plays with LEGO, its another thing that makes me unique. I also have no issue with taking my creations out in public to play with my them and if someone stops to have a looks at my model, I will quite happily talk to them about it. A few months ago I had a hospital appointment in Exeter, on the way back I stopped in Dawlish and did some tests along the sea front, I had an old couple stop and check out my lorry, we were chatting for about 10 minutes about my model. I don't see why I should hide the fact that I am a LEGO fan, if someone doesn't like me playing with LEGO, they can just keep walking or they know where my front door is.
It sucks that you were bullied at school due to your hobby, I was bullied at school (for different reasons) and it sucks. But think of it this way, having a LEGO hobby makes you different and unique, and that's a good thing, those other people clearly lack the intelligence to build cool models which makes them "normal" and therefore boring. If you are able to build awesome models out of simple plastic bricks, it shows your brain is capable of doing things other than pen-pushing if you wanted to. Don't think of you LEGO hobby as a guilty pleasure but as something to embrace and exploit, if people don't like it, that's their problem, not yours.

[Peppermint_M]

20 hours ago, 1963maniac said:

Lego Masters

It was a series on UK TV, Channel 4 in which pairs of builders created LEGO MOCs from a brief or for a challenge. It was a combination and AFOLs, kids and teens in pairs that were friends, family and in one, two good builders matched together. 

EB's own @JanetVanD was in series 1, which @NateDias won . The judges were a LEGO designer and a rotation of STEM professionals and a TV Personality/Celebrity. There have been two series and a special Celebrity version.

As it was on and advertised on national television, I have found a lot of people embrace the idea of an AFOL and talk to me about my creations. In fact, when I took my Yellow Castle MOC to photograph, some of the visitors that day stopped for great conversations. 

 

[Retro]

I think that where I live Lego is now quite normalised as a hobby for grown ups. I know a dentist and a doctor who have large sets at home. My immediate family members are all interested in Lego.

I have no problem if someone at work asks me what I was doing at the weekend to say I was building a spaceship out of Lego. 

At the same time, I don't have much need or inclination to talk to people about Lego. It's the same with any hobby. I love Bach and Schumann but I don't go out of my way to talk to people about it. I don't expect other people to be fascinated by my interests. Tolerant, yes.

Unfortunately, everything is harder when you are young and your peers can want to pick on anything that makes you seem different.

 

[1963maniac]

Whoever did the Lego Masters show, The USA needs you to come and do it here.

[Umbra-Manis]

2 hours ago, 1963maniac said:

Whoever did the Lego Masters show, The USA needs you to come and do it here.

Already happening! It was announced last week that it's coming to FOX, and they're currently casting. 

[Anonknee Muss]

Thanks guys and gals. All of your replies have been great. Fortunately I don’t get any weird looks or comments anymore but it still feels kinda weird. I don’t let anyone put me down about it though. @1963maniac I only have the online community too, I’ve actually looked into physical hardcore AFOL meet-ups but there none close to me.

[Luiggi-Brick]

I've been collecting toys for a while, I belong to a kind of club of many grown-ups that collecto toys here in Mexico City, they all like Marvel Legends action figures, Star Wars and some Mafex movie characters; I am the only one collecting LEGO, they all look at me as kind of the "curious guy" of the group, I mean, they do not really think that collecting LEGO fits in their standars, for them is as I am still being the little boy, but god damn it, WE ALL COLLECT TOYS!

[MxWinters]

21 minutes ago, Luiggi-Brick said:

WE ALL COLLECT TOYS!

A kids toy at that . Even though some AFOL still can't use a "kids" toy *cough* Power Functions *cough*.

[Luiggi-Brick]

Yeah!, I agree, for many of us are not just "toys"

[dr_spock]

They're not toys.  They are a sophisticated interlocking brick system. 

I'm in a LUG.  We talk LEGO all the time to each other and to the general public at events.  You could form your own club if there isn't one nearby. 

 

 

[neonic]

For me I think it's a bit of a ... don't how to call it, doubt? I mean I don't know if I can call Lego my hobby because I don't really 'play' with it. But, at the moment I'm busy to build a truck. I already had one, but because of my sister I had/want/need to rebuild it (long story). I also saw (before) great trucks and other creations on the internet so ... It's great to see what people build with just some bricks. Especially I like the use of bricks the other way it's 'designed' for. It inspired me.

 So, one the one hand I thought it's maybe pretty childish. On the other hand, I like to be busy with thinking and creating things and with Lego you can 'easily' build what you think off. In my case, a truck. Okay, maybe I've got a little bit too much fantasy and the truck would be a bit 'weird' maybe but that's also what I like of Lego. It's just a bunch of bricks, but you can build about everything with it. Okay, it's depends maybe a bit on your fantasy and budget but ...
 

For myself, I don't really talk about with much people about the 'renovation' of my truck, but I also don't really ashamed of it. In matter of fact, I just buy a bag of Lego today. If you do? You just had to think of hobbies of other people. I know people who has hobbies that I think ...
I think you should not worried about what other people think of it, fxxx them. Childish or not. The important thing is what you think. 
 

ps. If people say it's weird? Who do you think all those sets designing? ... exactly, adults. 
sorry for the, maybe, long story (some beers helps) but that's what I think. 
 

Edited July 25, 2019 by neonic

[Roadmonkeytj]

I get usually one of three initial reactions after saying that my Hobby is building displays out of Lego

A) "Seriously thats awesome!" 

B) "Wait you what? With Legos?" ... Generally this response immediately leads me to show pictures and then it is 50/50 if the then think its awesome or a waste of time/money

C) complete disinterest in Lego and usually illicits the response "So your a grown man who plays with Legos?"

Its not something I walk around intoducing myself as hey I build with Legos ... But it often comes up in conversation at work as most of my coworkers know that I build Collab Displays.  One of my coworkers is dumbfounded that my all lego air compressor is running 20psi.  But generally they are only limitedly interested in what Im building and less about lego in general. 

My LUG however is another story ... We can talk about all things lego lol.  And of course here as well lol.

[ArneNielsen]

During my 40 years in different jobs, I never met another AFOL at work. I have never hided the fact that I love LEGO, and have always had at least one LEGO build at my office (presently I have three). But even if none of my colleagues think highly of LEGO, they still respected the fact that I do.

At my last job, my boss tasked me with the building of two sculptures of DNA-strings (it was a genetic research centre), for which the centre payed me generously. At my present job, a department wanted to make a LEGO stop-motion movie as an introduction to new students, and they came to me to ask for bricks and minifigs.

In that way, even if nobody understands why I collect and build with LEGO, they do come to me about everything LEGO, like buying old out-of-stock sets for their kids from me.

[Cylo]

Generally when I speak of it people don't seem interested at all, and often I do get some weird reactions when I tell them, apparently they think it is a toy for little kids. I've looked around everywhere and I could not find any die hard Lego fans like me so I mainly rely on online communities such as here to talk about it. 

[Anonknee Muss]

13 hours ago, dr_spock said:

They're not toys.  They are a sophisticated interlocking brick system. 

I'm in a LUG.  We talk LEGO all the time to each other and to the general public at events.  You could form your own club if there isn't one nearby. 

A sophisticated interlocking Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene brick system to be precise 

5 hours ago, Reaper said:

Generally when I speak of it people don't seem interested at all, and often I do get some weird reactions when I tell them, apparently they think it is a toy for little kids. I've looked around everywhere and I could not find any die hard Lego fans like me so I mainly rely on online communities such as here to talk about it. 

Pretty much me.

5 hours ago, ArneNielsen said:

During my 40 years in different jobs, I never met another AFOL at work. I have never hided the fact that I love LEGO, and have always had at least one LEGO build at my office (presently I have three). But even if none of my colleagues think highly of LEGO, they still respected the fact that I do.

At my last job, my boss tasked me with the building of two sculptures of DNA-strings (it was a genetic research centre), for which the centre payed me generously. At my present job, a department wanted to make a LEGO stop-motion movie as an introduction to new students, and they came to me to ask for bricks and minifigs.

In that way, even if nobody understands why I collect and build with LEGO, they do come to me about everything LEGO, like buying old out-of-stock sets for their kids from me.

That is so cool that they actually paid you for your work!

11 hours ago, neonic said:

For me I think it's a bit of a ... don't how to call it, doubt? I mean I don't know if I can call Lego my hobby because I don't really 'play' with it. But, at the moment I'm busy to build a truck. I already had one, but because of my sister I had/want/need to rebuild it (long story). I also saw (before) great trucks and other creations on the internet so ... It's great to see what people build with just some bricks. Especially I like the use of bricks the other way it's 'designed' for. It inspired me.

 So, one the one hand I thought it's maybe pretty childish. On the other hand, I like to be busy with thinking and creating things and with Lego you can 'easily' build what you think off. In my case, a truck. Okay, maybe I've got a little bit too much fantasy and the truck would be a bit 'weird' maybe but that's also what I like of Lego. It's just a bunch of bricks, but you can build about everything with it. Okay, it's depends maybe a bit on your fantasy and budget but ...
 

For myself, I don't really talk about with much people about the 'renovation' of my truck, but I also don't really ashamed of it. In matter of fact, I just buy a bag of Lego today. If you do? You just had to think of hobbies of other people. I know people who has hobbies that I think ...
I think you should not worried about what other people think of it, fxxx them. Childish or not. The important thing is what you think. 
 

ps. If people say it's weird? Who do you think all those sets designing? ... exactly, adults. 
sorry for the, maybe, long story (some beers helps) but that's what I think. 

This is a great perspective thank you!

[lego_guyon02]

When some of my friends found out I was really into lego shortly after I met them they thought it was pretty weird, but they kinda understood it because they played with lego when they were kids too. Other people weren't as understandable and tried to tease/bully me for it, though that didn't last long. I made it pretty clear to them there was no way they could ever be able to bully me using something I love, as its part of who I am. Never really heard anything about it since, though sometimes someone does start a lego-based conversation with me when they stumbled across a picture of a new D2C set or something similair and are wondering what I think about it.

I also don't really have anyone to talk to when it comes to lego, apart from all of you on EB ofcourse. My cousin does buy the occasional Technic set so he does like to look at / talk about my collection once in a while.

I'd say that in the end, it's important to just stay true to who you are and what you like. Don't let anyone pull you down just because you like something!

[ShaydDeGrai]

41 minutes ago, Guyon2002 said:

I'd say that in the end, it's important to just stay true to who you are and what you like. Don't let anyone pull you down just because you like something!

Excellent advice.

Growing up I was the classic outsider/geek/nerd/what-have-you.  I liked Lego, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Comic Books and all sorts of other things that were targets of ridicule by the "in" crowd.  Half a century later, movies based on comics are routinely headlined by Oscar winning stars and breaking the billion dollar box office mark;  Sci-Fi is a respected genre, shows like Game of Thrones has won more Emmys than the original Star Trek was ever even nominated for; and, respected engineering schools routinely use Technic parts for illustrating concepts and refining prototypes (at one point I was a faculty advisor to a graduate level Lego Robotics Lab).  So you never know, one day you're the unfashionable weirdo everyone picks on, maybe a few years later you're the respected expert in some area that everyone can't get enough of.  You can't predict it, so just make the best of today and be true to yourself.

[Vindicare]

I don’t really. I’ll get the occasional “is this for you?” at Target or Walmart, to which I of course say me. I have no problem talking about it if the subject of hobbies were to come up. 

I have one friend who is also into it, so I have one person to talk about it with, one friend who collects action figures, so he understands the toy collecting biz, & a couple friends who thinks it’s weird(but that’s mostly just teasing me I think).

[JanetVanD]

Honestly, for me, I experienced more stigma when I was a child playing with LEGO, because, at that time, LEGO was considered a "boy's toy" and I was (gasp!) a girl who was totally hooked on it. It took a lot of persuading to convince family and friends that, no, I didn't want a doll for Christmas/birthday, I just wanted more LEGO and, no, I didn't have too much LEGO already!

As an adult builder I've been fortunate to have only positive experiences when conversing with "outsiders" about my passion. They seem genuinely interested and usually ask intelligent questions. Perhaps joining a really great LUG and participating in the international exhibition circuits was what made the difference..... meeting like-minded people and sharing common experiences greatly boosts one's confidence. Exhibiting to the public also gets one used to talking about LEGO to non-AFOLs in a setting where it is easy to demonstrate what one is talking about.

This year I took the ultimate plunge and made LEGO my full-time work as well as my hobby, so now there's no escaping talking about LEGO to all sorts of people! But so far, luckily, the feedback has still remained positive.

[Peppermint_M]

I suppose it is also to do with your personal decisions on how much of yourself you share. I wear my whole self on my sleeve, so to speak. Sometimes literally (I have a LEGO Logo patch on one of my jackets). I think I am lucky that in the UK eccentricity is accepted as part of life. 

Case in point: About a fortnight ago I found the LEGO City space station on sale in the supermarket, so I bought that and a couple of beers that I had gone in for. At the checkout, the cashier commented that I was set for a great night with purchases like that.  The last time someone was a bit odd to me about it was actually from someone I personally know, and she is super basic and not known to be a particularly nice person.

[Littleworlds]

It really varies. On my side of the family, people don't really get it, while my partner and family are quite into Lego (maaaaybe not quite as much as myself!) - so that's an acceptable situation. And last christmas we actually got a lego set from our friends. Really a nice and quite unexpected move too.

All in all though I don't really talk much about lego myself. When we have a visitor, the topic inevitably comes up though (there is a lot of lego in the lounge). I also stopped feeling odd when buying lego at the stores. I didn't got asked yet, if its for me. I rather get the impression that most shop assistants don't really pay attention to what runs over the counter. I probably could put a severed head on the belt and they would probably just ask me if I want a bag.

[Roadmonkeytj]

On 7/27/2019 at 3:06 PM, JanetVanD said:

Perhaps joining a really great LUG and participating in the international exhibition circuits was what made the difference....

I think I can ralley behind this Idea.  Im not international but still doing the 3 shows a year that I do really does open up your confidence because people are very closed minded when it comes to lego "sets" and they realize that "you built that without instructions?!?".  It really is a confidence builder.  My post office worker actually knows when Im building a new layout lol.  This last time I went in and had two tubs to pick up lol and she actually asked me what I was building this time around.