Lego Hobby ... an AFOL perspective ...

[DrJB]

I'll start by saying I got my first technic sets in the early 80's (I was already a teenager, and many on here were not even born back then) ... it was a red tractor 851, a yellow forklift 950, and a dune buggy 8845 (with the spring shocks). I came back to Lego 10 years later while in graduate school, where a design course was being offered, with essentially the predecessor of the mindstorms brick. I've been on and off few times, yet some very elaborate sets (8845, 8043) exert a constant pull to bring one back into the hobby. I'm now of couse an AFOL, and spend countless hours, like many on here, with GBCs or mindstorms/technic.

Now, few questions for the community:

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60 ... heck I'd be playing with my great grand-son

4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts ...

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'

Edited August 28, 2013 by DrJB

[LEGO Guy Bri]

I received my first two sets (1638 Basic Set Blue Bucket & 715 Basic Building Set) in 90-91, but didn't really get into collecting until 96-97. So, I have built with LEGO for about 22 years. I had other interests in High School that pulled me away from LEGO for those years and a couple after. I did not collect from 2004-2009, it was only until I purchased 10159 Century Skyway, that I got back in. I would like to continue collecting/building indefinitely, but space for the endless run of sets will eventually require me to change the way I collect. Right now I don't do too much building and haven't opened a new set in a year or two

[dragofoscar]

I was born in the early eighties.

And guess what - I have taken the 950 set from my moms attic and it is on my shelf again ;O)

I came back in 2006 after over 20 years of non-Lego times.

[Kronos]

I built with bricks until I was around 14yrs old. Then highschool, girls, the ARMY, girls, then THE girl, marriage, kids, a house, and back to LEGO. 20+ yr dark age. I was drawn back in when my kids started building LEGO, and when I saw Images of the 8466. I was hooked. That was three years ago. Now I have a 50,000 (modest estimate) part collection. I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. My wife is super supportive, and my girls love LEGO.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Kronos

[jorgeopesi]

I play with Lego since I was child and I never forget my first Lego, my father assembled it while I slept, it was a (722). In subsequent years I played with many kinds of Lego but when I got the (8848) I fell in love with Technic and I continued with it until the (8880). The set that brought me from my dark ages was the (8265), my wife gave it to me and the last one I bought was the (8110), which disappointed me, since then I only buy parts and build MOCs. I can´t forget the grey crane from the (722) and I think I spent about 15 years without building and 3 since I started again.

[N-4K0]

1. I grew out of Lego around 14. I gained interest again around December last year and ordered my first "modern" set online a few days before New Years Eve.

2. I don't remember when I got my first set, but I guess around 6, so 8 years pre-dark ages and less than a year post.

3. Hard to say. I guess as long as possible. I'm not far away from 25, so I guess at least 30's.

4. I guess a mix of memories and interest in the new line.

5. Perspective? Not really sure what to add here.

Kronos - supportive wife, girls who loves Lego... sounds like you have the perfect AFOL-life

Edited August 26, 2013 by Error404

[allanp]

1) Never had a dark ages as such. For example I'de go out drinking at that tender age most people have a dark ages, then come back home...somehow... and, whilst pissed as two farts in the wind, build my new 8455 (ah, that was a good night/morning/whatever time it was!)

2) 23 years.

3) Haven't bought a technic set in a long time now that I think of it, they have all been more of the same old gearboxes and LAs, nothing new. I've been collecting technic for 23 years and never known it to be this stale and boring in general. Maybe it's already ended for me

4) Awesome new and/or improved parts in awesome new sets.

[nicjasno]

I'm building with lego since i can remember basically, and i do not plan to stop.

What drives me are not so much official sets, but the things that one can make out of it.

This is also reason, why i don't hesistate to modify bricks.

[Paul Boratko]

Lego in my house is very much a business as it is a hobby as my wife sells parts on Bricklink and I do the designing... She is also the set builder in the house in both Technic and system....

I'll be quite honest, getting back into Lego building saved my life back in the late 90's as I was spending way too much time working and then drinking... Building is about the only thing that helps me keep my sanity.. That is until I start talking to my projects, which I have been caught doing on numerous occasions...

I am also very jealous of you guys with such nice and tidy work areas... My work area consists of my dining room table and about 30 of those Stanely compartment organizers on the floor stacked up that I have to fight through everytime that I build... I get quite the workout shuffling them around during a typical night of building...

[Kronos]

Kronos - supportive wife, girls who loves Lego... sounds like you have the perfect AFOL-life

Thanks! I kind of think so, I'm grateful everyday.

[Lakop]

I got my very first lego set (see link) back in 1978/79, I was about seven and had discovered lego at primary school. They had a play room. That and my matchbox cars kept me occupied for many years, then another set three years later (rocket launch pad I think) followed by another set a few years later and that was it as we could never afford much but I was hooked and made whatever I could with what I had. First technic set in 1990, the big technic car.

Later I started working fulltime and studying so did very little lego. Once the studying stopped I started buying bionicles, got a battle droid 8001, technic ideas book 8891, technic guys in packs of three and some other sets. i've never actually stopped but became distracted by other work and lego became less. What brought me back fully was a challenge to build something I was showing someone else online. That led me to this forum and here I am. Lego is now my official hobby and it will remain so until the end.

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Horse

H

[Yiharua]

Since I was a child I remember having Lego at home. Back into 2009 I took my hobby with more strenght, joining comunities and participating in them. My very first Lego Technic set? 8265; ravishing...

I am too young to talk about dark ages or old sets :D

[FuzzyBallz]

I think I started building LEGO back in middle school with the pirate and police sets, then the castle sets as well. Took a very very long time before I got back into LEGO, easily 18-20 years. The Technic 8051 and 8068 got me back into LEGO. My LEGO collection consists of primarily Technic models, with a couple Creators sets here and there, plus a few Star Wars sets. I don't really do MOC, I like to build them as they are and display them on wall shelves in my room. My friends and family know I'm a AFOL, my employees know I'm a AFOL, it's my hobby, and anyway you look at it, it's cheaper than a lot of other vices out there that people do.

[Rook]

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby?

Other than my “dark ages”. Only about month. The wife was going through cancer and I was too busy to even have time “relax”. Actually relax was “I’m so wiped out I’m going to lie in this chair for a few minutes and try not to fall asleep.

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

4 to 14 years old = 10 years & 2001 to 2013 = 12 year. For 22 years total.

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60 ... heck I'd be playing with my great grand-son?

Until I have to sell my collection to be able to eat or until I die.

4. What brings you back: Memories of old LEGO, new sets/parts ...

Seeing builders building “updated” versions of old set.

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'.

I like bricks & chicks, I don't even mind people from the sticks, but I don't like no pricks or … ;)

[Aqualize]

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby

Born in the mid-80ies I guess I stopped playing with lego some years before the new millennium. Computers, studies etc. I think I started looking back at technic in 2009/2010. Definitely after I got my first job and getting money (8258 hell yeah). So away would be ~11 years.

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

9 + 3 years perhaps?

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60 ... heck I'd be playing with my great grand-son

Don't see any reason to stop.

4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts ...

Memories and new sets, yes. Since childhood I have the 8868 Air Tech Claw Rig but otherwise I'm not overly fond of old technic sets. I have bought a few after my dark ages but otherwise it's all new technic with liftarms. I buy nearly all the technic sets each year.

The memory part is space themes. M-Tron, Space Police 2, BlackTron 2, Ice Planet 2002, Spyrius. Now I have nearly all the sets in those series.

I try to not delve into modern minifig scale (I do have limit on my budget), but I've found recent City utility vehicle sets interesting...

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'

One of the best part regarding sets is that being AFOL and having a salary means I can always buy the flagship sets.

But I'm not doing building lego all the time. Had my hobby table full of Arduino parts and other electronics but a few months ago I cleaned it out and put lego back. But I always keep track and buy new sets. So I have a backlog in my wardrobe... 9398, 8070, 8109, 9394, 42002, 9392, 9396, 9393 and most recently, 42009.

As with many things it is good with variation. Sometimes I'm into programming (also my work), gaming (often games from childhood, not the newest), (real) tractors (I bought one this spring!), arduino and micro controller circuits. But always complaining about how little time I have for my hobbies. And I don't even have a girl friend!

[chorlton]

My birthday is in January so rememer my first sets being the 850 forklift for christmas, then 851 tractor with my birthday money. This would have been around 1981? What I mostly remember was going to the toyshop itself to buy the tractor and it was a proper, small, old shop. It had previously been a gentlement outfitters so had wooden display cases and shallow drawers which had previously displayed shirts and ties. These shallow drawers now held "Britains" diecast farm equipment nad plastic animals, then the display cases had stacks and stacks of Lego and other diacast models. I'd hav been about 9 at the time.

I studied Mechanical Engineering at uni from 89-93 and remember using my lego parts to model a 3-bar linkage project we worked on. We had to design a back-hoe attachment which would dig a horizontal trench without using computer assistance. The lecturer seemed quite impressed that we mananaged to prove the design with a working lego mechanism. That would be the last bit of technic building before a dark age.

(As an aside, I went back to work at the same uni a few years later and one of my colleagues interviewed for a job with Lego in Denmark in the late 90s. He came back VERY excited about what he'd seen but had signed a non-disclosure agreement so couldn't tell us what it was, just "that it was very very cool!". I think this must have been the first Mindstorms sets.)

My partner/girlfriend/mother-of-my-child bought me Mindstorms 2.0 and then 8421 around 2005/2006 which got me back in to it and I now have way more studless sets than I ever did in the 80s, when I thought I had a lot. I have an 18 month old daughter who is already entertained by HOG steering and pull-back motors. It's quite easy to build something small that she can just turn wheel on or chase across the floor. I don't see myself stopping this any time soon.

[trekman]

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby

When I was studying for my GCSE exams (1988/9), my small collection of 8859,8865 and 853 had to be put away. They remained in their boxes until I moved nearer home in 2004. By that stage I had already picked up a few job lots on Ebay, 8479, 8868 and the pneumatic loader to bring into a slightly more modern age. My first new set then was 8275 bulldozer, and have been picking up a new set each Christmas since 2004.

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

Since the age of 6

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60

I'm already in my 40's, and have a 10 year old who is my biggest fan.

4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts ...

I have enough of the main bits now, but new parts, if there are enough in a set, will warrant a complete set, otherwise I'm doing the old brickshelf.

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'

These AFOL sites, have helped to take away my shame, as up until the invention of the internet, I thought that it was a shameful thing for an adult to "play" with a child's toy. You guys have helped me a lot.

[N-4K0]

up until the invention of the internet, I thought that it was a shameful thing for an adult to "play" with a child's toy.

Exactly how I thought and felt before. I guess we've all been there.

[Foggy]

Born in 1980, got some duplo from someone then got a couple of space sets in mid 80's then in '88 for birthday got my 1st technic set, 8855, was so cute! Then 8825 and then in early 90's,think '94, stopped playing.

I went back into Lego and technic I think around 2007-8 when decided to buy the technic sets I used to see in the catalogues in the mid 80's(starting from 8849..looked at it so so many times at that time....then the arctic collection...then 8868,8856...).Haven't already bought all these old sets but bought a lot of new ones too, started with 8043 and 8110 then 8288, 8258 and so on...

So I guess I stayed away from lego about 13 or14 years.

Overall been assembling 11 years plus '08 till now..so 16 years.

As far as the future concers...don't know, maybe I would not stop, but who knows.. now I'm into it for sure!!

Memories? As said before,countless hours of my early childhood watching technic sets on the catalogues..most of all I remember 8849, and the arctic collection..8856 and 8868 that recreated the fork just looking it...and remember go to the local store buying the LEGO SERVICE parts..wheels,air cylinders, differentials..downstairs there was a white door and behind that a portion of wall with all the service white bags hanged on, I just had to choose which one to buy :wub: :wub:

""One of the best part regarding sets is that being AFOL and having a salary means I can always buy the flagship sets.""

so true, that's the best, when you work and can spend money on your passion/s and obviously internet era with sites like this where you can learn a lot of things to improve your abilities and building knowlage. Nice to be part of this community Ciaoo

Edited August 30, 2013 by Foggy

[skriblez]

About time i wrote in this thread i think. Lurking for a while :P

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby

Probably around 10-13 years as my dark ages. Computers took over my time.

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

Think i got my first set when i was around 3-4 i think.

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60

Til i can't build anymore i guess. It helps me relax and take my mind of work so ill stay with it for a long while.

4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts

Memories of all the sets i wanted when i was younger and the new sets.

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'

As i have a full time job i can buy most of the sets i want which is great :D Have put a limit on of how much i can spend each month so i don't go crazy and fill up my apt with Lego. Mainly Technic sets i have now but i do want some train sets and some Star Wars but for the moment its only Technic.

[quilkin]

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby

A couple of years, maybe, but the I didn't start until I was 40-ish when my children played with it (a bit). When I was 6 (1958) Lego was hardly heard of in UK, Meccano was the thing for mechanics, and other sets for buildings. So I got into Meccano.

2. How long have you been assembling bricks?

nearly 20 years now (on and off) but only 15 for Technic, my first set was 8074 I think.

3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60

I'm already over 60! And semi-retired so more time for these things now.

4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts

I'm not really sure, my interest seems to go in cycles between Meccano, Lego, and other things e.g. software. Before that I definitely had long 'dark age' for Meccano; sold my first big set when I was 15 and purchased a whole load more about 3 years ago.

5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective'

I now have a large number of parts of both Meccano and Lego (mostly Technic). Can't really decide which I like best, which perhaps explains my interest going in cycles. But I do feel that until I settle with one or the other, I won't be an expert at either! ...... does all this info make me the oldest respondent to this post?

[DrJB]

... I now have a large number of parts of both Meccano and Lego (mostly Technic). Can't really decide which I like best ...

Some people would 'cringe' just at the thought of comparing Technic to Meccano ... though I perfectly see your point. Those toys somehow 'defined' our younger years and some memories are well entrenched in them (or vice-versa).

My problem with Meccano is that, after assembling many bolts, the fingers start to hurt ...

Edited December 18, 2013 by DrJB

[nicjasno]

I always wanted to have a go at fischer technik :)

[DrJB]

I always wanted to have a go at fischer technik :)

well ... then there is Playmobil .... for the 'youths' of course.

Edited December 19, 2013 by DrJB

[Roene]

1) Stayed away from lego from 16 till 36, so 20 years

2) In total about 10 years

3) As long as nice new sets come out, I will be building with lego

4) New building style with studless brought me back

5) I now am more interested in building and the functions than the playability of a set.