The sets that made me give up only buying 1 and going for multiples instead

 I think the tipping point for me being out of control buying legos came with micro wheel creator set. 

I loved the yellow micro wheels set.  The amount of tires, multiple pieces in 1 color and idea book was fantastic.  Imstill worry im on video looking suspicious as I had the longest internal debate about should I or should I not buy all 10 sets left on the shelf.

The star wars minis sets were neat too and I bought multiples

I love the gray and yellow pieces, they can be in the yellow castle or classic space theme!  I really enjoyed the at st models due to the cool amount of small and gray detailed pieces.

In my days, we didnt have....

Ok, I went through lego manuals and ads tonight which I need to pitch, but can't.  I think they'll be worth a fortune or extremely rare, like our beanie babies!

 But what became so apparent and made me feel old is that even catalogs from the year I got married that there's no mention of the internet.   Where was the www.  It wasn't there.

And another thing I found in the pages was one thing that gave such memories...it was the last page of catalogs 

The accessories pages that had hard to find pieces that you could CALL OR MAIL away to get...no net.

I only ordered from that service 1 time to get universal joints so I could pretend to know how to use to make a rack and pinion steering unit!

What a difference the internet made.

Here's correspondence I found with lego in 80s by mail

I felt ike Ralphie in the Christmas story movie when he got correspondence from ovaltene...I didn't have rights and privileges but I was first class!!

 

Some pretty cool coupes and convertibles in heartlake city

 I don't care for the pastel colors necessarily  but heartlake city in legoland has some pretty cool convertibles and coupes!  I want to download instructions as I think these are really well designed.

Cool coupes!

Meanwhile over in legoland, at least one set made me think of looking cool in my younger years

Well the only similarity was the blue car and glasses..

I have a special place for cool cars like above as I remember leaving my future at the time wife after our first date and after we left I saw her in her cool coupe before she got on the freeway stopped at the light and I remember thinking I love that woman, the perfect hair and cool shades and car as below

She named her car "princess" affectionately.  Like lego sets, both the real car and woman with it are one of a kind and stood out from the others---Will never be made again and just go up in value with time!!

When I want more legos, I'll pull this blog entry out!!! She'll be so touched she'll hand over the $ no questions...

A simple lego set

 

I love this set in its simplicity.   It expresses the excitement of being at the airport before a trip...the anticipation of being early at the airport is so exciting.  I think the camera and "smartcart" are just really well done.  Sometimes the excitement of lego is imagining the lego worlds that this guy can explore.  So hope this little guy passes the covid and security checks to have  a good trip!!!

Saturday...the two best parts of Saturday in the lego room

 I always love Saturday am going down in my lego room.  It is so quiet and the only windows let light come in from the east rising sun and it hits the legos in a different light that just gives me hope that I can create the perfect lego moc, much like can create a great day ahead.  I always think if I actually started cleaning and organizing my legos, I could have a perfect set up by about 4p...but its the work from 730-4 that I want to avoid because its not as fun.

Source pinterest

Another time I feel a great surge of energy is at around 5p....it feels like there's a whole night to do whatever me and my wife want to do... tonight was a relaxing evening that I was able to go through legos I bought in dec....the sets were unbelievable cheap prices so tonight I got to sort and discover the new pieces bc some if them are new that I haven't seen before

Ahhh...the touch and feel of lego...the fabric of our lives...or is that cotton

I'd never seen these angled a frames before the lego dimensions starter set

Bars and clips are my favorite type of pieces!

I think gold and silver legos are so neat...I want to say pretty but in a masculine way

I loved the bennys space squad with throwback to classic space minifigs...I love just the standard happy face

The 2 pics above show how the gold pieces change color depending on light settings on camera...these would make a beautiful ornamental cross

Ha ha busted

I love the lego videotape...too bad were on bluray now

These pieces from lego dimensions are so unique there has to be a way to feature the holes in a building 

These were at big lots after Christmas on sale and 5$ each I'm kicking myself for not getting more but I didn't see another display with more until I checked out and was too lazy to go back

More holes!..well this was a nice evening sorting through my dec legos purchases...gotta love quiet Saturday nights

If the way to put legos is infinite, the same model can have infinite instructions

 I miss the lego 4 wide cars from the 80s...while I stumbled on the instructions on google images, I found the same car with multiple steps to build the same model

I included screenshots from repubrik, suncentral inc., bricks and brickinstructions.com, worldbricks.com

Well, the important thing is the car gets built regardless of how many different steps are needed!!!

This was one of the best lego cars ever...essentially the model t of legos...the double windshields,  the headlight bricks...people in this day and age dont realize how hard these type of pieces were to get enough of...and how we had to walk to school up hill both ways!!!man I'm old!

Major breakthrough with the little red bins!

 Well, by mistake and no idea what I was doing, I came up with the best idea ever...I present my bin storage solution 

I thought I could jd weld the plastic to metal to carry around to sort in different places...I left the middle part open

And duct tape just peeled off after a year

So the bins fit perfect in this wood frame from menards

No tools needed and the tight fit hold the bins perfectly!!!  Truly a bin/bin situation!!

Sentimental memories from lego idea book 6000

 To this day, I think the 6000 lego idea book left the most impression on me.  It was so amazing as a kid that there were so many legos and that they could make an entire world..  Now I look at the pictures and they take me back to the child years i.e. before school.  Me and mom would run errands and grocery shop and play, then pick up my brother from school.  Life was so simple and no worries, just play and it was good!  The lego book 6000 kind of shows how small my little corner of the world was.

Well those days are definitely over!  But its neat to think there was at one time such A simple real and lego world!

Pics from lego idea book 6000 from brickz.argz.com

 

A journey of a thousand miles

 Sometimes I remember when I was finishing college and volunteering in a hospital dept. How overwhelming it felt knowing the amount of schooling I knew I would need.  At the end of the tunnel from the garage to the hospital there was another tunnel that led to the dept. Where i volunteered.  There was a sign going the other way that said the well known phrase "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." And there was a person walking on the beach.  That picture inspired me and made me chuckle because it took 20 mins from the car to walk where I needed to get.

When I go to build a giant set of legos, I'm always amazed at how the most complicated models begin with a single step, then another and another etc...the beginning looks nothing like the end product.  Sometimes I have trouble seeing the finished product because the chaos of a  pile of lego next to a developing creation.  Sometimes I get too focused on the pile of chaos and feel overwhelmed.  Yet at the end there is such a feeling of accomplishment and you look back wishing you could do it all over because it was enjoyable.  All because you took a single step towards creating something.   I need to remember that when I look at my lego room ..although I like having so many containers and things it feels overwhelming...but after an hour of organizing it starts to look so much better.  

Screenshot from pinterest.de "lego gram"

More observations on lego stereotypes

 I have noticed just this year since November that target is getting more diverse and more expensive lego sets.  The boxes are black to indicate the toys are for grown ups

So in my opinion these sets are so specific for adults, the box tells you that 18+ implying that kids can't play with these and the adults welcome sign kind of indicates these are adult sets.

A recent article I read stated that adults like relaxing and following some one else's instructions, there's no mention of just creating what you want with legos.

So I came home and saw a neat link for clearance legos that let me to Walmart website and it said

Legos are listed here as "shop for boys", after all the attempts by lego to destroy the myth that legos are for boys.  I think lego did good coming up with different ideas for sets, but people unfamiliar with lego sell them or think that they are boys sets or girls sets or adult sets.

I guess I just wonder where this is going...are we going to have an adult, a kid, an age range on the box that people need to follow.  I just miss the sets with limitless potential and alternate builds.

And the prices are so high because of licensing fees...  in my area, these black box adult sets aren't moving since early December 

So keep being creative and play well with your own passions and ideas even if you're young or older!