When did your collection reach critical mass?

[Clanure]

According to Brickset I'm around 25,000 pieces, but because I've purchased most of my bricks as sets, I find I don't have enough of a singular style brick (1x2 brick in white, etc.) to build much of anything. Small MOC's maybe, but nothing huge. I think that's just the way of it when buying sets (vs. bulk bricks on bricklink).

Clanure

It's been a little over two year since this post, and now I'm a bit over 100,000 (still not including PAB). I'm definitely finding it harder to keep everything sorted and in good order, but I'm nowhere near done. I have the hardest time spending money on stuff to help with organization though, because that's money taken away from more LEGO.

[TheLegoDr]

Mr Bill - I've said that to my wife before. She asked if there was ever such a thing...so I think I'm safe if I want to buy more. She is supportive.

Clanure - I agree. I want to buy storage drawers and whatnot to help keep things separated, but then it takes away a lot of money from sets and TLG is putting out way too many great sets these days...

[timmyc1983]

So I was curious as to my piece count so I just signed up to Brickset and I have just over 30,000 in sets plus I would guess at another 2000 or so in MODs/MOCs and I am no where near what I would consider 'critical point'.

If however, I were to move to a residence where I didn't have a LEGO room, I may find myself somewhat overrun by LEGO.... But I wouldn't mind, and I certainly wouldn't stop buying LEGO.

I think I will keep collecting as long as I have room to expand my city layout... And that right now has a lot of room for expansion, so Bricklink here I come I wouldn't disassemble my MOCs unless I really had to (ie moving or something) so I will just keep adding... And by the sounds of some of your collections, I have a long way to go

[Ingo Althoefer]

When I say "critical mass", I'm referring to the point when your

collection is large enough that you don't feel horribly restricted by it. ..

Hello,

I would like to look at the other end, namely "criticality from below".

There are at least three possible approaches with Lego.

(i) I want to build X. Which pieces do I need for it?

(ii) I want to build X. How can I achieve it with my pieces?

(iii) I have set Y of pieces. What can I build with them?

Concerning (iii) one might ask: How many Lego pieces are enough to

build something interesting?

Last winter we had 27 random pieces. "We" were a group of about 20

adults in a restaurant during a long dinner, 5 or 6 of us actively involved

in the Lego pieces, the others "only" watching, eating, and drinking.

Here are some of the results:

http://www.3-hirn-ve...lego-minis.html

My impression: These 27 pieces were definitely enough.

My conjecture: There might be some product inequality. When you

are a single person you need somewhat more pieces. When you

are a group, joint creativity may help to press out something from

a smaller set.

Ingo.

Edited June 15, 2013 by Ingo Althoefer

[Kivi]

From 'storage and available space' point of view my collection is already past critical mass, as I keep my finished and WIP projects dispersed in two rooms wherever there is some space left.

From 'brick count and availability' point of view, I doubt if my collection will ever reach critical mass. Even though I count them now in ten thousands, I virtually always lack one part or another so there is no other option but to get it.

[Vindicare]

When I moved to a smaller place and got all my stuff out of storage. Yikes. I know what I have, but didn't realize the space needed. Still trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to do this.

[KotZ]

I just counted most of my collection on Brickset (I have a few more sets and CMFs I need to account for but other wise I'm done) and I came out to 29,235 individual bricks. This is not including minifigures or bricks I've bought online or found in the most random places (I once found a Bionicle kraana mask on my street). With extra pieces, I definitely have closer to 33,000, but I don't know.

Is it at critical mass? I don't think so. As others have said, there is always that one piece we can't find. I certainly have that problem, especially as about all my sets from 2005 (I'm taking a guess here) are still built. Some from before that year are in mocs, lying around, etc. For me, critical mass is when I can have only a few sets around at any given point and the rest in storage. Will I eventually have to move pieces to bins? Probably, but I'll keep them in bags based on set, and I'll order new pieces if I need to.

[Captain Settle]

I doubt I will ever think I've got enough LEGO. When ever I see a set I like and can afford, I will get it. When ever I want to build a new MOC I will order more pieces. It's that simple.

[Hrw-Amen]

The trouble I find is not that the LEGO has reached Critical Mass, but the space available to store it has reached it instead! I really should not be buying right now as I have recently finished a large MOC, now sat on display in one corner of the living room. But I feel that for my next one I shall need lots of DBG, LBG, Tan and Dark Tan, so am ordering a few at a time from Bricklink as time goes buy. Small packages don't seem like much once a week and the wife will not complain about that. However I have reached the stage of sorting and storage where my storage containers have reached critical mass. I like to stick to one brand for my containers and sometimes i think i spend as much on them as I do on my actual LEGO!

[KingPixels]

My collection is very small. I started only a couple of years ago since I sold my enormous collection before that. I left my dark ages and I'm regretting the decision.

All I have is all the Avengers sets, all the Iron Man 3 sets (which I've broken apart now, they were awful builds), and about 6 or 7 other sets that I've bought for pieces.

Any idea how I can calculate a rough estimate of the amount of parts I have?

Edited July 14, 2013 by KingPixels

[krystalKING]

I'm at about 55K, and its not going to be at critical mass anytime soon, I need white bricks for this castle, green for this landscape, click joints for this machine ETC. Still, I find ways to improvise.

[rriggs]

I'm currently holding around 65,000 pieces and my two biggest problems are time for building and sorting after disassembling which is a real chore.

I tend to focus very much on Town/City and about 85% of my source sets are from these themes. My MOCs are also Town/City based so I tend to find I have the pieces I need (or very simple substitutes) for most things I plan.

I am lucky that I have plenty of space so I don't have any worries in that department.

If I had to put a date on it I would have said my collection reached critical mass sometime around 2008.

Cheers

Rog

[AncientDayz]

My collection just hit critical mass two days ago when I found out we are having our first little one. I just lost my sports/LEGO room and all my space! I will gladly give the space to my little one without a second thought, but now I have to figure out where to put 75,000+ pieces, not to mention all the built sets and sorting bins/cabinets. I think I need a bigger place!

[Cwertle]

I only have 22,212 pieces now according to bricklink. :/ But I'm young and theres time for it to grow. :D

[dvsntt]

oh man, I'm not even close. My collection of parts is pretty small.

[eurotrash]

Any idea how I can calculate a rough estimate of the amount of parts I have?

There's a couple of websites including Bricklink.com where you can obtain this information. Peeron is quicker to use though. Here's a link

http://www.peeron.com/

[Rook]

Today. As my "Angles of Light" reintroduces itself to long forgotten comrades in the wall bins of life.

[1974]

About now. I've got 250.000 parts/500 sets .. I can MOC without needing an essential BL buy, just the odd missing part here and there

[ShaydDeGrai]

I'm not sure I even know how to begin to answer that question...

I suppose one's collection reaches critical mass when one has so many of one part that they start spontaneously replicating on their own and you have to thin the herd or risk and ABS explosion as your closets and storage racks exceed maximum packing density.

It hasn't reached that point for me yet, but I swear every time I turn my back on my tray of technic pins, they multiply.

I haven't a clue how many pieces of Lego I own. My (non-AFOL but very understanding) wife occasionally points out that I have a lot, and I must concede she has a point. I do know that the most LEGO I ever purchased in a single day was just over 20,000 parts (boy that was a good day... ) I've been building my collection for over four decades at this point and I still find that I have "all the wrong parts" whenever I sit down to MOC something (wrong color, not enough of X, didn't even realize Y existed - now I need 100 of them, etc.)

Maybe it's all in my head and I'm subconsciously _designing_ my MOCs to exceed the bounds of my collection. But whatever, now if you'll excuse me I have a bricklink wish list to put together...

[AncientDayz]

...didn't even realize Y existed - now I need 100 of them...

I don't mean to post without adding anything to the thread, but I just had to thank you for the good laugh. This happens to me regularly :) Thanks - lol!

[kibosh]

I define critical mass as hitting that point when you have too much LEGO, and it makes building difficult. Can't remember how many X you have, no clue where Y might be, etc. I really need to get a better handle on my collection to make building easier.

[Saint]

Having too much LEGO doesn't make building MOC's difficult for me, having no room to store everything did make it more difficult. Now having a dedicated room to store my LEGO has inproved everything ( not that it's all that, in fact 80 % in for storage, and 20 % is for MOC display ) too a certain degree.

Well, I'm sorting red by red, colour by colour, and parting out only the stuff I build with right now, and still hope to inprove as I go along.

Yeaaaaa not critical at all !!

grtz Saint

[natesroom]

My collection just hit critical mass two days ago when I found out we are having our first little one. I just lost my sports/LEGO room and all my space! I will gladly give the space to my little one without a second thought, but now I have to figure out where to put 75,000+ pieces, not to mention all the built sets and sorting bins/cabinets. I think I need a bigger place!

Congratulations!!

As a side note i am able and willing to absorb any and all castle (historic) items that you may have to eliminate due to the needs of a newborn. Its a win win for both of us!...lol

[kibosh]

Having too much LEGO doesn't make building MOC's difficult for me, having no room to store everything did make it more difficult. Now having a dedicated room to store my LEGO has inproved everything ( not that it's all that, in fact 80 % in for storage, and 20 % is for MOC display ) too a certain degree.

grtz Saint

Lack of space is probably the bigger issue I am facing. :-/

[Andy D]

I'm thinking that "critical mass" means when your LEGO space implodes because you have so much LEGO or you question that it could implode at any minute.

I think I am getting close... I am in the middle of a sorting project of some 20,000 - 30,000 parts and I have at least 40 - 50 unbuilt sets of various sizes from modular buildings down to the 100 - 300 piece impulse set. Most of my unbuilt sets are either modular building size or sets close to 1,000 pieces.

As a result I think I am going to try to limit my new purchases to 12 sets per year. The modular building ( 3 copies), the Winter Village set (3 copies) and 3 copies of two other sets. Why 3 copies? One to build, one to mod and one just for parts. That would imply that my collection could expand at about 12,000 to 15,000 parts per year

My collection will continue to grow, but the growth should slow to a more manageable level.

I hope this works...

Andy D

Edited July 16, 2013 by Andy D