When did your collection reach critical mass?

[Legoist]

My collection is still very much a critical miss.

[brickmack]

My collection got to the point where I think I can build MOST things with the parts I have on Saturday, when I got enough sets and parts at a new LEGO store that my collection exceeds roughly 80 000 parts. I think I'll be able to build truly anything I want to once I get up the 1 million parts mark, but that might take a few years more

[brickquick]

I just realized that I have more Modulex than some of your entire LEGO collections! 42K just in Modulex!

kidding

you forgot the guys in good old germany

we're only to lazy to count our Modulex

... Maybe if I pass the million mark, that might be my critical mass point.

by the way ... do you have some coloured foil sheets left ???

regards

Chris (from Germany)

[brickquick]

two of my MODULEX projects

http://www.steine-in-muenster.de/45501.html

harbour in Münster M. 1:500

over 40 years old industrie M. 1:50

both are not ready

third one is coming soon

[Zoidy]

Not even bothering with part counts, but I'm already out of space. My old school collection is at my parents house and the little space that was allocated here as an interim measure has gone beyond bursting point.

I need a new house basically, with a Lego room!

[davee123]

I think the connotation of "critical mass" in my book is when your LEGO collection got TOO big. But sounds like what you're asking is when it got "big enough to do what you want".

For the most part, I found myself desperately wanting more bricks until I hit maybe 150-200k. At that point, I could pretty much build whatever I wanted (size-wise) without worrying terribly much. There might have been a few things here or there that were outside the boundaries of plausible, but I wasn't interested in doing projects that large.

When I hit about 500,000, it started becoming TOO much. Every time I buy a set, I now look sadly at all the useless parts like 1x4 red plates or 2x3 black slopes and think to myself "they'll never get used". There are still PARTICULAR elements that I want, but in general, the raw "stock" of brick is simply daunting. Before I married my wife (fellow AFOL), I had around 600,000, and now together we've got around 1,000,000. It's really too much.

Of course, if I kept my creations together, I think the critical mass point would be higher. A 500,000 piece collection with half of the pieces being used in MOCs is quite a different thing than a collection where most of it is loose brick.

DaveE

[Paul B Technic]

Once I had about 15 Technic sets I had enough pieces to build almost anything I wanted.

Paul

[Gryphon Ink]

Every time I buy a set, I now look sadly at all the useless parts like 1x4 red plates or 2x3 black slopes and think to myself "they'll never get used"... the raw "stock" of brick is simply daunting... It's really too much.

Well, since I'm very far from having any problems like these, I'd be happy to take some of those useless 2x3 black slopes, and any other parts that are just getting in your way, off your hands. Just to help you out, ya know?

[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

[brickmack]

I think the connotation of "critical mass" in my book is when your LEGO collection got TOO big. But sounds like what you're asking is when it got "big enough to do what you want".

For the most part, I found myself desperately wanting more bricks until I hit maybe 150-200k. At that point, I could pretty much build whatever I wanted (size-wise) without worrying terribly much. There might have been a few things here or there that were outside the boundaries of plausible, but I wasn't interested in doing projects that large.

When I hit about 500,000, it started becoming TOO much. Every time I buy a set, I now look sadly at all the useless parts like 1x4 red plates or 2x3 black slopes and think to myself "they'll never get used". There are still PARTICULAR elements that I want, but in general, the raw "stock" of brick is simply daunting. Before I married my wife (fellow AFOL), I had around 600,000, and now together we've got around 1,000,000. It's really too much.

Of course, if I kept my creations together, I think the critical mass point would be higher. A 500,000 piece collection with half of the pieces being used in MOCs is quite a different thing than a collection where most of it is loose brick.

DaveE

Oh I wish I had your problems. I've only got about 90,000 parts (Well "only" compared to a combine collection of over a million), and every time I try to make something big, I know I might not have the parts to make it. Fortunately I just got a lot of new sets and parts, so I've got enough to work with for the next few months.

[Brickdoctor]

If you ask me, you can never have too much LEGO. When you hit the point that you have piles of certain bricks you never use, then you start a BL business. Buy set, take pieces you want, sell pieces you don't, buy more sets with profits, repeat.

EDIT: Actually, I should clarify: Obviously if you followed my exact plan, you'd eventually hit the point where your profits would be too low to buy anything more, so I should add that you'd have to buy multiples of sets, hold on to some sets for a while, and try to sell them when the price goes up. And you would have to sell some of the minifigs individually. And if you scratch 50% off at Black Friday, you buy a ton of all the most popular sets, sell them at 25% off, and everybody goes away happy. (except maybe TLG ) Otherwise you would need to continue pumping money into LEGO purchases, just not as often. I know some FOLs get to the point where the hobby is self-sustaining.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Brickdoctor

[Fallenangel]

I think the connotation of "critical mass" in my book is when your LEGO collection got TOO big. But sounds like what you're asking is when it got "big enough to do what you want".

For the most part, I found myself desperately wanting more bricks until I hit maybe 150-200k. At that point, I could pretty much build whatever I wanted (size-wise) without worrying terribly much. There might have been a few things here or there that were outside the boundaries of plausible, but I wasn't interested in doing projects that large.

When I hit about 500,000, it started becoming TOO much. Every time I buy a set, I now look sadly at all the useless parts like 1x4 red plates or 2x3 black slopes and think to myself "they'll never get used". There are still PARTICULAR elements that I want, but in general, the raw "stock" of brick is simply daunting. Before I married my wife (fellow AFOL), I had around 600,000, and now together we've got around 1,000,000. It's really too much.

Of course, if I kept my creations together, I think the critical mass point would be higher. A 500,000 piece collection with half of the pieces being used in MOCs is quite a different thing than a collection where most of it is loose brick.

DaveE

It's Dave Eaton! Didn't know you were a member here.

If you ask me, you can never have too much LEGO. When you hit the point that you have piles of certain bricks you never use, then you start a BL business. Buy set, take pieces you want, sell pieces you don't, buy more sets with profits, repeat.

To answer the topic question, mine hasn't yet... but I agree with davee123 that the supply of elements you know you'll never use becomes overwhelming after a while.

[Brickdoctor]

I was being serious.

Actually, I should clarify: Obviously if you followed my exact plan, you'd eventually hit the point where your profits would be too low to buy anything more, so I should add that you'd have to buy multiples of sets, hold on to some sets for a while, and try to sell them when the price goes up. And you would have to sell some of the minifigs individually. And if you scratch 50% off at Black Friday, you buy a ton of all the most popular sets, sell them at 25% off, and everybody goes away happy. (except maybe TLG ) Otherwise you would need to continue pumping money into LEGO purchases, just not as often. I know some FOLs get to the point where the hobby is self-sustaining.

[Fallenangel]

I was being serious.

Actually, I should clarify: Obviously if you followed my exact plan, you'd eventually hit the point where your profits would be too low to buy anything more, so I should add that you'd have to buy multiples of sets, hold on to some sets for a while, and try to sell them when the price goes up. And you would have to sell some of the minifigs individually. And if you scratch 50% off at Black Friday, you buy a ton of all the most popular sets, sell them at 25% off, and everybody goes away happy. (except maybe TLG ) Otherwise you would need to continue pumping money into LEGO purchases, just not as often. I know some FOLs get to the point where the hobby is self-sustaining.

I know, it's just that it struck me as funny for some reason. Your plan sounds like it would involve quite a bit of set hoarding, though.

[davee123]

It's Dave Eaton! Didn't know you were a member here.

Yep-- I'm not an aggressive poster by any means these days, but I'm still around on various sites :)

When you hit the point that you have piles of certain bricks you never use, then you start a BL business. Buy set, take pieces you want, sell pieces you don't, buy more sets with profits, repeat.

We've been running a BL store with actual *sets* for a while that we didn't need-- probably more effort than we'd be up for. Of course, the other issue is that the pieces we'd get rid of are most likely the ones that nobody would want!

For now, we've got overflow bins. I think if the overflow bins ever get out of control, we'd likely just give them to our local AFOL friends in the area.

DaveE

[Brickdoctor]

We've been running a BL store with actual *sets* for a while that we didn't need-- probably more effort than we'd be up for. Of course, the other issue is that the pieces we'd get rid of are most likely the ones that nobody would want!

For now, we've got overflow bins. I think if the overflow bins ever get out of control, we'd likely just give them to our local AFOL friends in the area.

Hmm... maybe you should try building an MOC with as many of those bricks as you can. Lots of black slopes can be...uh...a 3-foot tall TIE with SNOT wings.

[Modulex Guy]

For now, we've got overflow bins. I think if the overflow bins ever get out of control, we'd likely just give them to our local AFOL friends in the area.

DaveE

Ah yes, Overflow...

I have now created an "overflow" area in my house for all the extra stuff I have.

I have my wall of bins that I build from, but I also now have a large part of a storage room in my house where it is the boxes of PaB, loose bricks not in use and my MISB sets.

I probably have a good 60 or more MISB sets hidden away.

It almost sometimes makes me a bit upset looking at it all, I recently bought a mass of sets that went on sale/clearance and they went straight into the overflow pile, I have sets just sitting for about 4 years because I just never got around to them.

And like others have been saying, sometimes I look at my bins and think that the pieces will never get used, example: an entire PaB case of 1x2 white brick.

[Lego Otaku]

When it takes me an hour going through dozens of unsorted pieces just to find a single elusive 1x1 round trans-neon green, then I have too much ;)

I have 200 lbs (under 100 kg) worth of mixed pieces, some more that are sorted and a dozen or so unopened boxes waiting for me to play with.

[Ogre]

I don't keep a tally of what I have but however much it is, it isn't enough. there are always new parts, parts in new colours, rare parts and parts I've never seen before to hunt down. I need tons more tan and greys. There never seems to be enough of the right kind of baseplate. And I'm limited by a tiny budget. I'll never be satisfied. Unless I win millions in a lottery and can go nuts spending.

Did *I* write this?!?!?!

Seriously...get out of my head.

[Paul B Technic]

I have about 3200 pieces "spare" at the moment and that allows me to build almost anything I want.

[MikroMan]

The only thing my collection is, is critically underfed I've been into brick building only for a few monts - past 4 years, I've been only doing Technic and Mindstorms, so I haven't bought any classic bricks for some time. Due to this, my collection consists of a large amount of Technic, plus the sets given to me as a kid. And since I was given sets from multiple random themes by relatives, I rarely have a larger amount of pieces in unifrom color.

[Sid Sidious]

Right now I've been building and building and building for Brickfete. I ran out of a lot of stuff ages ago, so i use what's left. I think my collection is limited less by its size, but by how I see each part's usefulness.

[Saint]

Never !

My collection keeps expanding somehow .. And still I keep building stuff that requires just that part I just don't have enough of . A proportion of that I'll find afterwards .. perhaps I should start separating my LEGO into smaller bins I did that once.. but I keep forgetting to do that after I build something ... now it's almost sorted by colour.

Grtz Saint

Well... Just a small update I have my own LEGO-room right now, and I'm starting to figure out were everything will go. As a SW-figs collector, I wanted a few displays so I can display them proper... I have those but they take up to much room, so right now I'm building my first big showcase !!

The most time is spend figuring out what and where to store my parts, and it's getting to the point that I really want to know what I'm going to do with 9 kilo's of 1x16 technic beams

I really need a good plan someday !!!

[TheLegoDr]

Since this thread got resurrected, I will comment too.

I think there is a point where you end up hoarding sets/pieces/figures and it can be overwhelming. But there is also a point where you have enough bricks to satisfy what you do with them.

I have over 100k according to brickset, probably half of which is the older grays and whatnot from the 90s. That half sits in a tote unsorted and I don't even look at it. Out of the remaining pieces (I'm only assuming 50%, I don't know the exact percentage) I can handle pretty much anything I want to build. Naturally you will always run out of a certain piece and/or you'll have a stack of pieces you never use for anything, but ultimately I haven't really ordered much for actual MOCs. I mostly have only ordered certain figures I wanted instead of buying the set. With some of my planned projects I'll have to start picking up some more pieces only because I won't have enough of it in the color I need, but until then I can accommodate most builds I want to do.

The bricklink store is a good idea, but if you don't want to take the time to do it, it can be a bit daunting. I have lots of random polybags or pieces that I have no use for, but trying to sell something annoys me because I want immediate turnover and that doesn't always happen.

[Mr Bill]

According to Brickset I have about 200,000 elements. Since I do a lot of "Pick-A-Brick" (and drafts or Lug Bulks with my LUG) the actual number is a couple thousand more than that.

While my wife insists I now "have enough Lego" I still find myself needing more of certain elements as I build certain projects. I'm down to sorting the last half pound or so of several years of sets and made the mistake of saying to my wife, "I think I have too much Lego." Ooops!

But I still wouldn't describe my collection as having reached "critical mass" despite my need to shift and split elements into additional drawers as my sorting progressed...

--Mr. Bill