Lego was the topic of another random Saturday seven years ago, but back then I only spoke about and showed my London bus.
You've also seen a picture of my Lego Snowglobe as part of my hallway Christmas decoration.
There's more. Not much. Lego is and always has been very much a matter of money and space both of which I prefer to spend on other things, no matter how tempting some of the projects may look like (I'm just saying cat).
There are stories, however. Of course there are, after all this is random Saturday. Old ones, new ones.
I couldn't tell you the exact age at which I got my first Legos. Back then, all of us siblings got one basic set which consisted of one baseplate - still the thicker ones then - and a bunch of bricks. We threw everything together in order to have more options for bigger projects. Basic set also meant basic bricks which we named after the number of bumps on each one (no idea if that was some official naming, but we added the Swabian diminutive -le to the numbers, so maybe not).
What I remember best was building tiny house models with limited wall height and no roof, tiny because the baseplates were small and because we didn't have that many bricks. Also no roof meant we could play in them by using the smallest bricks for the people living in the house.
Years later, my little brother had five boxes (four of them had been a lottery prize, size A to D) of Märklin's (the company is known among model train collectors and is located in my town) own brick version - the so-called Minex bricks (Märklin used the name Minex for several products, also metal construction sets or trains). You could do a lot with five boxes and the bricks were much easier to take apart which could be both an advantage and a disadvantage, but I remember having a lot of fun with those.
Afterwards, bricking (as I've heard it being called in Germany) wasn't really a topic for me anymore for many years - until one year my pal gave me the Yellow Submarine from the Beatles movie to cheer me up in a weltschmerz phase.
We spent a few evenings both working on our projects, having something to eat and drink, laughing a lot, always under the strict supervision of Ponder.
It was a lot of fun although it's amazing how many mistakes you can make on a piece that doesn't even look that difficult on the outside.
For my next birthday, he gave me the London Bus.
That really brought back memories of my first London visit (unfortunately there were only two) together with a friend and her five year old daughter. On the first day, we did bus hopping, randomly changing buses seeing where they would take us.
Again we started to work on our projects together, but then life happened and we finished them on our own. That's when I found that I wasn't made to be a lonely bricker. I gave up eventually and had to motivate myself hard to finally pick it up again. That's why it took me five months to get it finished! It's so cool.
Two more projects we did together again was the living room from The Big Bang Theory and the Santa Snowglobe (the weirdest snowglobe ever) which had been an extra gift with an order.
There's one more piece that has been waiting for me to work on it. It has been around for several years and I think it's really time to get started on it - the Lego Art set "The Beatles". With the box content you can make one of the four portraits and my first problem was to decide which one to make because, let's get this clear, if I make one I'm not going to rip it out again to make a different one.
To be honest, I wish the portraits were old black and white ones, but that can't be helped, can it?
Once I decide, I might turn this project into small WIP posts to motivate myself, so I won't give it up.
Which portrait would you choose IF you like The Beatles at all?
I am not affiliated with Lego in any way, except playing with it every, now and then.
That's quite the amazing collection of legos.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a fun mix, but there are so many cool sets, just way too many unless Lego is your main hobby.
DeleteMy oldest loved Legos. We bought the green plates and large boxes of blocks. When my two youngest grands were little, we bought them all kinds of kits. My granddaughter put them together and left them that way. My grandson would build the design, then he would tear them apart and just have fun with the blocks. I love the bus and the Yellow Submarine! Hmmm...I think, given the images, I would probably go for Ringo because it looks more fun. But, my favorite Beatle was definitely John!
ReplyDeletehttps://marshainthemiddle.com/
Yeah, my favorite was John as well, but I really don't like this picture much, same with Paul's picture. I know what you mean about Ringo looking like more fun, it seems to have more spaces that are not just one or two colors. No wonder it took me so long to decide!
DeleteCool projects! Love the Yellow Submarine especially. I’m so glad I don’t have to choose which Beatle to make. Ha!
ReplyDeleteI really hope to get done some more this weekend. The problem is that it's impossible to work on it and not lock myself in the room. Der Dekan and Lego studs - not a good combination how I found out the hard way during Crafternoon 🤣
DeleteIt's so funny - you published this piece about Lego art you acquired ages ago, and then my friend Andy told me he was taking his son Charlie to a "Make and Take" event at our Lego Store which was themed around ... the art sets! I don't know yet what they made and took but I thought that was an interesting coincidence.
ReplyDeleteI had basic Lego sets when I was a kid - amazed at all the colours now. I did have some Technical Lego and also just some rods and cogs and things - I was forever making "chocolate factories" with towers and wheels and things. I also built a tractor then demonstrated it in school assembly once. An only child here!!!
That sounds like a fun event!
DeleteI also had such a "coincidence" moment again today, about regular music charts the radio station for our state does every year. I just told her the story about the song "San Francisco" and me in regards to the charts about 20 years ago and right at that moment the song started in this year's charts!
It really is amazing and I can see how it can become addictive if it's your one hobby. I also like the idea of there being "rental shops" now where you can rent projects for a certain time, so you have the fun, but don't fill up your place.
My red telephone box arrived yesterday, by the way!