LEGO!

[anarky]

This might be a dumb question, but adult Lego collectors assemble the sets as shown and display them, right? Or do you get tons of pieces and build weapons of mass destruction (or at least bitching super-sets)?

[Rollo Tomassi]

This might be a dumb question, but adult Lego collectors assemble the sets as shown and display them, right? Or do you get tons of pieces and build weapons of mass destruction (or at least bitching super-sets)?

When I was younger, I would do my own thing more. I remember pitiful attempts at X-Wings and the Airwolf helicoptor more than following the instructions.

But now, I like to build "what's on the box". But I also like dismantling it, setting it aside, and then building it later on. Especially with my kids.

But I've also bought enough loose LEGO lots off ebay over the years to have quite a collection of random bricks in various colors that I can stretch my imagination and freebuild. I havent gone so far as to order specific pieces to complete an idea like vyn has though.

I bought a HUGE lot off of ebay when I was living with my friend and his family in CA. There was a good chunk of LEGOs in there, but also there were a ton of TYCO pieces from the 80's. So I separated them out and gave them to my friends 5 year old boy as an introduction to building bricks. Without instructions we just kinda built whatever. A house at first, and then we built a really nice looking Airplane. Anyway, after that the boy was hooked and his dad buys him LEGOs all the time, which was something his dad wasn't into when he was growing up.

So I recruited a new LEGO fan. He really likes Star Wars and Atlantis.

[anarky]

Anarky Jr likes building and re-building what's on the package, but she likes just putting them together at random more.

It sounds kinda like I expected, between the two things I asked about. I guess it's like me with my Joes: about half are used as-is, and the other half taken apart for parts for customs I hope to get done before I die of old age.

[vynsane]

when i was a kid i built what was on the box and if i wanted to disassemble it, i put the pieces back in the box. the boxes were more geard towards that in those days, though, with the lift-up flap cover, large windows under the flap, and the removable tray inside. now the boxes are just like any other boxes. these days i buy sets that look cool or have cool pieces, build what's on the box (usually with my daughter, or my brother as was the case with the $100 space shuttle set i got for xmas). the cooler-looking ones stick around in their built state, but some get taken apart and sorted by piece type, fodder for "MOCs" ("My own creation" in the vernacular of LEGO enthusiasts). i figure i have all the instructions, i can just grab the pieces from the parts bins if i want to build it again.

[Slicker]

When I was younger we just had a "LEGO box" with thousands of pieces. My favorite thing to build was houses...and they always had to be yellow because that was the most solid pieces we had.

But later in life (like when I was 8 or so) I started keeping all of my sets together and with instructions and such. I've still got most every set from my childhood still assembled and with instructions. I used to have the boxes for most but I remember them getting thrown out.

[Rollo Tomassi]

When I was younger we just had a "LEGO box" with thousands of pieces. My favorite thing to build was houses...and they always had to be yellow because that was the most solid pieces we had.

But later in life (like when I was 8 or so) I started keeping all of my sets together and with instructions and such. I've still got most every set from my childhood still assembled and with instructions. I used to have the boxes for most but I remember them getting thrown out.

Yeah, I had one of those plastic sinktubs for washing dishes in, filled to the brim with all my LEGOs. When I wanted to go back and rebuild a specific set with the instructions, I remember sifting though all those pieces for hours looking for that one specific part.

The week before I left for college, I went and rebuilt every set, and then disassembled them and oput them in individual ziplok bags, so I could store them in the basement.

---------------

So today I recieved an ebay win in the mail. It was a Train station set from 1999. Made for the 9V trains, but I figured it would fit in well enough with the new stuff. Anyway, the person for whatever reason had SUPERGLUED all the figures together. Glued hair and hats on heads. Glued heads on bodies. And glued bodies onto legs. Who does this?! I was decidedly miffed.

[vynsane]

ebay [...] the person for whatever reason had SUPERGLUED all the figures together. [...] I was decidedly miffed.

i rest my case re: ebay.

[Rollo Tomassi]

TRU is having a 20% off sale on Legos, so I got the TRU semi truck and the police boat.

And they're making Pirates of the Carribean Legos. And a Lego PotC game similar to the SW and Harry Potter games.
Lego Captain Jack Sparrow FTW!!

[Rollo Tomassi]

I was watching a Fringe repeat that supposedly takes place in 1985. And there was a scene where the kid is wandering thru a toystore. They did a pretty good job of having '85 era toys like old GIJoe stuff and an Atari system. But in the background I saw a LEGO Atlantis box on the shelf. It was the red submarine lookin' thing. Tee hee.

[vynsane]

designed this in LEGO Digital Designer, thought i'd share here. this is the boilerplate post i'm submitting to other LEGO sites:

In designing this starfighter, I wanted to devise a way to easily reuse portions, such as the cockpit, so I wouldn't have to worry about that part of it in future builds. Thinking back to Blacktron, and how the pieces of the various vehicles could be swapped out inspired me to design modules that could be reused. I first designed a 'cockpit tub' that would have as many technic bricks as possible to act as "hard-points" for other modules to snap into, and quickly designed a 'canopy' module to accompany it. The nose came next, then I worked on the engine module for quite some time in order to perfect it. Finally, I created the 'undercarriage' which includes working landing gear.


Modular Starfighter, head-on by vynsane, on Flickr


Modular Starfighter, landing cycle by vynsane, on Flickr


Modular Starfighter top-down by vynsane, on Flickr


Modular Starfighter module breakdown by vynsane, on Flickr

[Rollo Tomassi]

The Garage set I got the other day (7642) had 4 minifigs with it and I just noticed oneof them has the classic Space Logo on his jacket. Kewl.

[anarky]

Need some Lego advice, guys....

The Easter Bunny brought A Jr a few of the cheapie Lego sets that Target had in their Easter section (a small firetruck, a Ninjagogo dragon, and a small AT-ST). No issues at all with the truck or dragon; in fact, as is normal, there were a couple of totally random extra pieces.

The AT-ST, however, was missing two pieces. They're both sorta weird, specialized pieces (the top of the foot and the middle of the hip, if you have this one, set #30054). Oddly, a similar-looking one was substituted for the hip (it looks the same except for the center hole, which is designed to accommodate a "plus-shaped" rod and too small for the connector to the walker's head). She did open the set prematurely, without permission, but no pieces went anywhere before I checked it out, and there's nothing anywhere on the floor, so I'm sure they weren't just misplaced. And they're so specialized, there's no substitute for them.

It looks like Lego has an order form for missing pieces, and has an option to specify they were missing from the package. How common is this problem? Have any of you run into it before? Will they charge processing or handling if the pieces were missing from the get-go (which could cost more than the set did originally, if they do)?

[anarky]

Make that one piece missing. My daughter apparently shoved the foot into one of the screwholes on the bottom of the table. Still need the other piece in place of the one they packed wrong.

[vynsane]

i've never had a missing piece, but it happens, and i know LEGO's customer service is top-notch. i'd be surprised if they charged you the S/H on replacement parts.

[anarky]

Turns out it's a false alarm. Upon closer inspection this morning, I put the hip piece on backwards, not realizing it had two differently-sized holes.