What made you get out of your LEGO dark age?

[paanjang16]

It took me a browse through a thread about Lego in my local forum that my dark age ended. Was browsing through the thread and the posters was talking about the new 09 sets. That time it was early Jan 09 and people where taking photos of the 09 sets which was on display in our local Lego Shop.

The set that got my attention was the 7632 Crawler Crane from the City theme. It is so realistic!!! I pass by a large construction site everyday to work and back and there is always one of this machines on site, and to see 1 in Lego form was amazing!

So I then bought the set and brought it home, to the amazement of my brother and his friends in my house at that time (It was Chinese new Year then, and my brother's friends came to visit him).

Then came the Thunder Driller with the counter-rotating drilll. Again I bought it due to its realistic (ok, the drill is) design. After I got this, I got the Lego fever. I proceeded to dig my store to get all my vintage lego sets.

After that came the 8448, Grievous Fighter, Sith Infiltrator (new one),Motorised Dozer, Monster Dino, 8258, vintage sets, Galactic Enforcer, Robo Attack, Ariel Defence unit and most recently a vintage Launch and Load Seaport!!

Am I overbuying?

[WesternOutlaw]

Interesting topic. For me, it was Wild West in 1996.

[Dennimator]

My revival was different than most.

Ok, so when I was around 14, I stopped with Lego. I just figured I should focus on other things, and still was passionate for it, just didn't buy sets. Then, 1 year later, I was walking around Wal-mart with my girlfriend. She hit a shelf accidentally, and off fell a Lego set. It hit me in the head, and I picked it up and stared at it for a few moments, and my girlfriend asked what I was doing. I told her of my former obsession, and she told me to buy the set.

Now, 3 years later, I'm a TFOL at age 18 and my girlfriend is an FFOL. She loves Lego just as much as I do!

Perry

So I guess you got 'help from above' then...

[Legoist]

(some preliminary stages before the exit from the dark ages)

At some point in my mid 20s (near the turn of the century) I remember I suddenly had the distinct thought: "I feel like I haven't played enough with Lego bricks as a kid".

I started looking around the web and discovered AFOLs and their MOCs for the first time, I think the first of them were grim and splatter vignettes actually. I also found information about the Lego sets being produced at that time and I thought they were horrible and overpriced.

A few years later, when me & my wife were into family planning, I decided to search for my childhood Lego bricks in my parents' attic with the idea of resurfacing them for our future kids, and discovered they had all been given to charity

(finally out of the dark ages)

I finally ran out of tears for the previous loss, and started looking again for Lego news on the web, and found out that now the sets produced were miles better than before. Being a former Lego Train fan I was especially enthralled by seeing the Santa Fe and BNSF locmotives. When our first newborn finally arrived into the family, I decided it was about time to start buying some of these new sets because now the Lego designs were getting absolutely better than ever. But since I don't have a credit card to buy from S@H, I needed to see with my eyes one "wow" set on a shop's shelf to finally open the floodgate of my wallet, and it was this_

Although building this from instructions is not yet really about being an AFOL, I was really amazed by the Building Crane. It was something that Lego could have never done back in the 80s, and for me it was really the sign that this was the beginning of a new and greater "golden era" of Lego itself, so why not jump onboard?

Edited January 14, 2010 by Legoist

[lisqr]

Interesting topic.

For me it's LDD. I didn't have money to buy real lego. So LDD is a great alternative.

[Zzz]

[ben506]

I've actually had two dark ages almost, with one major one, and another that I regret. I originally put my Lego away when I was about 12, so around 2001 sometime, and only really noticed things like the more impressive Technic sets, but only when I actually went into a toy shop. When I was 16 (2005) I started to get interested in Star Wars, when Ep. III and the game Lego Star Wars came out, so moved back into the Star Wars sets. This lasted for a while, getting most of the sets available at the time (but missing out on the Millennium Falcon and a few others) until 2008, when I bought no sets. Fortunately I came back round to my senses in 2009, and started getting most of the Star Wars sets again.

[bamaker]

My original dark age lasted about 14 years, from 1985 to 1999. I had the early-80's space sets, but then got interested in girls, cars, music, etc., and didn't have time for LEGO. I didn't even think about LEGO, or look at a LEGO set for over a decade. Flashforward to my late twenties and I was collecting vintage Kenner Star Wars figures and hanging out in Star Wars collector sites. Around 1997-1998, I read about LEGO getting the Star Wars license and thought "cool." When the sets started coming out I picked up a few. None of them really blew me away, but they were fun. I had most of the Star Wars sets from 1999-2003, and picked up a lot of the Harry Potter sets. I was unaware of the LEGO community, or some the great MOCs that people were making, so to me LEGO were just kits to be built and nothing more. In 2003-2004 I sold my entire collection, including the early-80's space sets -- I had to raise money for a family van. And so began my second dark age.

This second dark age ended in summer 2008. My wife & kids were visiting her family in Houston, I had just started a new job and couldn't join them. I was home by myself for a week. I had finished my vintage Star Wars collection several years earlier, and had lost all interest in all the Hasbro figures, but still went to toy stores out of habit. On one of these stops I walked down the LEGO aisle to look at the new Star Wars sets. Meh, cool but no big deal; but when I turned around, on the other side of the aisle were several of the 7093 Skeleton Tower sets. I bought the set on a whim, and then went back and got the 7092 Skeletons' Prison Carriage. After building the sets and seeing how cool they were, I got online and searched LEGO Castle sets to see what else was available. What I saw blew me away; I spent the next several hours poring over images of MOC Castles. I was hooked.

Since then, I have ended up getting all of the Fantasy-era Castle sets (except the few still mentioned in my signature), grabbed all the Agents sets, most of the Indiana Jones and the Power Miners themes, dabbled in the Coast Guard and Farm sub-themes, and rediscovered my joy of Star Wars. I found out about EB and other sites like Brickset and The Brothers Brick, and got involved in the local LUG. All in all, it's been a fun two years.

[PerryDaPirate]

So I guess you got 'help from above' then...

Ha ha ha, guess you could say that.

[wooootles]

Cafe Corner in 2007 had me thinking of collecting LEGO again after abandoning it due to crappy town sets

Green Grocer in 2009 is when I executed and reignited the love for LEGO

[xNick]

A few years ago between uni years I had money burning in my pocket and not much to do. I'd recently gotten interested in Formula 1 and by chance stumbled upon 8674 being sold at some random site. I picked it up on a whim and had lots of fun building it. Not much happened for a while until I randomly walked past the Lego section at my local Kmart and picked up 7741 because it was cheap and looked cool.

Fast forward to 2-3 weeks later and I picked up 6212 which got me 100% hooked. Been collecting the last two years again, focusing on the larger S@H exclusives and older town and space :)

[Davey]

It's funny, but getting married actually pushed me out of my dark ages. When Stacy and I got married in 2002, we had to clean everything out of our respective parents' houses. While moving my stuff out, we came across my old LEGO collection which had been packed away since we had moved from Illinois to Wisconsin seven years prior. We took it to our new house and it sat for a few months. Then winter came along and we decided to start building the official LEGO sets I had in my collection to see what was lost in the move. We built on and off for a couple years, but not really doing any serious MOC-ing. During this time the majority of our time and disposable income was going to fund our rally racing endeavor.

In 2005, we decided to step away from racing due to rapidly escalating costs and went looking for a new hobby. It was about this time that we discovered the online communities of LUGNET, MOCPages, and LEGOFan.org (anyone remember THAT one). That Christmas, we placed our first major order at LEGO S@H and began to get into the Train genre. We also found out about a couple local train clubs that were going to be displaying at a model train show near our town and decided to check it out. Once we met the AFOL's in GMLTC and TCLTC...we were hooked. Since then we've only grown more involved in the community and we've met so many amazing people over the past few years. This truly is one of the greatest fan communities in the world.

-Dave

[Mr Hobbles]

I was into it as a kid, but then I had completely forgotten about it until 10182 Cafe Corner.

This was everything I ever wanted as a child. When I small I went to Legoland, saw the awesomely detailed buildings and wished I had the parts to build some of my own. When I saw Cafe Corner I was stunned.

Since then I've bought every single one of the modular buildings, and I have a nice selection of City vehicles to go with them. I'm about to order my first modular house from Lego Digital Designer too, and hopefully not the last!

[Dodger]

I really wish I knew what happened to my childhood stuff. I had a ton of basic stuff in a big box, and seem to remember a few specialist sets also (can't remember specifics though).

But it was Star Wars that brought me back. I remember building the snowspeeder and a mate came round the house. Now he's a professional and serious guy. His first reaction was "Oh you're kidding me".

Then he picked it up, swooshed it and went "Vrrrmmmmm..."

[Fugazi]

My dark age started maybe 15 years ago, when I left my parents house to live with flatmates and at I the time I (probably rightly!) felt they would laugh at me for having LEGO bins in my bedroom! And well, I also thought I had exhausted the potential of the bricks. I was young and naive!

Still for the next 15 years I kept ordering catalogues, pestering about the uninspiring new sets, drooling at the better ones, indulging in the occasional McDonalds promotional set... Until recently when I stumbled by chance on the Neo Classic Space website and was amazed at the levels of intricacy and realism of what could be done when talented people put their minds and heart to LEGO building. It really was an eye opener for me, and lightning struck on that day!

In all truth, I'm not totally out of my dark age yet, as my bricks are 5000 miles away at my parents place, and they're not coming here anytime soon. However I do plan to buy some new sets this year and start MOCing! I look forward to sharing all of that with you guys and gals.

[Front]

My dark ages started around '83. I built a Ferrari Technic set in 2004.

I started working as an engineer at Lego early 2007, and fast became an AFOL and the owner of a quite many sets. I think that TLG will be my last employer, I like it.

[KurttKrueger]

Lego was my number one toy as a kid, and even when I 'grew out of it', I still used to pick up the odd Lego catalogue now and then.

Then, one day in 1999, I accompanied my younger cousin into a toy shop in my town and saw the first wave of Lego Star Wars. They blew me away. So I picked up 7130 and it went from there. Didn't buy loads at first, just the odd set. Then onto the sets I could never afford as a kid (some of the larger Forestmen sets), and then discovered Fantasy Era and just went nuts :D

I'm sitting in my office at home surrounded by Lego. The Death Star, Space Police III, Atlantis, shed loads of Fantasy Era stuff, the list goes on. And now, I have a three year old son to share the hobby with!

The most oft heard phrase in my office these days is 'Daddy, I play with Star Wars Lego?'

[desultor]

I had collected back in the 80s, or more accurately my folks formed my collection, with mostly City, and a good portion of Space and Castle. My landmark sets were the King's Castle, Public Works Center, and Mobile Rocket Transport. I was home-schooled for a bit, and this lovely bunch of educational Technic helped teach me some science:

Well music performance took over most of my free time until after college, and I picked up a few sets here and there (Star Wars Technic, Mini Star Wars, Adventurers). But what really brought me back was when I stumbled upon this amazing set:

I went nuts from there - nabbing most of the available Indiana Jones, Pirates, and Power Miners. And the future looks bright (and expensive) with Prince of Persia, Kingdoms. It's a great time to be a LEGO fan of any age!

This is an awesome thread - what great stories! I love that there's so many different reasons, and such a variety of sets or themes that never really appealed to me (e.g. Bionicle) hooked fans back in. LEGO really appeals to many different tastes with it's different themes, and I'm glad for it.

[David Thomsen]

It doesn't seem like much of a big thing, but one day on a whim I bought Thunder Blazer. It was a small, cheap, discounted Lego biplane... at the time it was going to be my 'one' set.

Of course, no one ever just has 'one' Lego set. After that I started collecting sets randomly because they were heavily discounted or I just liked them. Now I've settled down and am methodically collecting particular themes. Unfortunately most of these themes, Pirates and Indiana Jones, appear to have reached a conclusion. Oh well... if Lego don't want my money I'll spend it on other things.

[badboytje88]

As I slowly started slipping into my dark age, LEGO released these three sets:

Hermoine

Ronald

Harry

At that time I was reading the books en these sets apealed so greatly to me that I bought all three of them. Later I regretted doing this because they absolutely don't match with the rest of the Harry Potter sets. But today I am happy to onwn these three little fruity sets for all the little special parts they come with. It also was my first set with a Frog!

[legomaniac83]

I had a "Dark Age", but it didn't really last that long. I'll start at the beginning.

My first set was in the late '80s when this was waiting under the Christmas tree:

550

It took my Dad all night to build and he was so tired on Christmas morn. The price he paid that got me hooked haha

A couple years later, that Christmas was a doozie with these two great sets:

6540

6393

From then on, I was hooked, buying sets when I got allowance, brithday, Christmas etc. It was until I hit halfway through high school that my Lego hobby went downhill (1999-2002). Maybe it was the "juniorization" of most themes, or girls, cars, etc.

Not that I didn't care what Lego was making, it was the fact that so many things were going on, and that what Lego was putting out could have been much better. But, I still had the magazines coming, and still went to the Lego aisle everytime I went to town.

It wasn't until my 1st year of college that I started to get back into it, or come out of the Dark Age I guess.

New city sets were starting to appear, as with some Star Wars (not really a big fan though....), is what got me hooked again. Plus finding more and more of the sets on eBay that I wanted when I was a kid fueled the fire.

Here I am now, although my buying has slowed down because of more schooling and paying off loans. Still love the hobby, and I wont leave it behind. I have not had a year without Lego for Christmas, and my Father has got me the biggest Technic set every year since I started collecting again. I am close to the 500 set mark, and that will be a nice milestone. It's a great hobby and a great community around it. If it wasnt for great sites like this, I wonder how many people would still be in their Dark Age.

It was only last year I found my Holy Grail I have chased since it came out. 5571 Black Cat Truck. Bought it for $100 with box, manual and stickers not applied! (Missing a couple pcs, thank God for Bricklink!) I still can't believe it.

It's nice to read the stories on here so keep them comming!

[Zorbas]

The first contact with LEGO after many years was googling random stuff one day I was bored. I had a glimpse of googling LEGO too and after sometime I made an attempt to find the instructions of BSB on the web because I had lost the booklet during my childhood.

The deciding factor of leaving dark ages behind me was Eurobricks though.

I kept searching/googling for LEGO related material on the web, I ended up in here and that was it. If it hadn't been for EB, I think that I wouldn't have left dark ages. Seeing that there is an active community sharing creations and set reviews from the past and that many adults had the same enthusiasm about our childhood's favorite activity, woke me up.

[fenrir]

Lego Viking

[def]

Between 10 and 23 was a dark age, then I had three years of mild clarity I returned to my dark ages, for the sake of women, work, and money, and in my 33rd year, saw a half price Y-Wing... since then, a little regret. I've spent way too much on Lego, and also taken up too much of the little space of my apartment. But that highly greebled Y-Wing can take the lionshare of the credit for my current habit.

[simonjedi]

My return was quite like Mrtools.

I brought the lego star wars game, loved it. I brought Anakins Jedi starfighter a few days later