Any Lego Enthusiasts Here?

[Tom S.]

As most of you know, I'm not a youngster. So I've no excuse as to why, when recently killing time in a Lego store waiting for a house rental to become available, I became so enamored with a Lego kit. I have on occasion helped my grand daughter put together some Harry Potter Lego kits, so perhaps that was the foundation of my impetus, but when I saw that 3,854 piece Caterpillar D11 kit, I started salivating. Alas, I was traveling (went to New York to see Hamilton and revisit the 911 memorial), so buying it on the spot was out of the question... but I couldn't get that behemoth out of my mind.


So the day before returning, I ordered the kit from Amazon. Monday saw the Amazon delivery lady leave a large box on my front porch. Three and a half days later and I was anxiously waiting for the Lego App to down load on my phone so I could fire this beast up. I felt like Dr. Frankenstein shouting "It's alive" after the app made the BT connection and things started to move at my thumb's command! This thing it pretty amazing. It moves forward and back, raises and lowers the blade, tilts the blade both horizontally and vertically, raises and lowers the access ladder and you can watch the pistons go up and down. OK, in real life the thing wouldn't run if you could watch the pistons rise and retreat, but so what? Also, the frost tooth on the back can be raised and lowered. And like the real deal, you can turn on a dime with one track powering forward while the other powers in reverse. What's not to like? Well, maybe the price. Not that I'm complaining. This thing required a whole lot of engineering and is done incredibly well. Just the fact that an old guy missing a lot the brain cells he used to enjoy, could follow the directions without messing anything up (too badly) speaks volumes about the "fool proofing" that had to go into this model. To save you the trouble of Googling it, it sells for $499 and if you want the aftermarket lighting kit, that will set you back another $50+ bucks. But after the sticker shock wears off and you enjoy that triumphal moment of watching your creation come alive, you forget about the price (well, kind of).


Since the rule of pictures or it didn't happen rule reigns supreme here, I'll let them speak for themselves:

You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you can teach him to build a bulldozer!


Next on the agenda:

This model is discontinued and very pricey unless you shop around. Thanks to the strong US dollar, I was able to locate one in Germany and get it with shipping for less than what it originally retailed for.




Sometime next year Lego is releasing a crane that I will most likely acquire:

This guy couldn't wait and built his own version:

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TteS6q20VUY[/ame]

 

[bigwheelzip]

That is very cool, and a perfectly understandable purchase. I've probably spent that much time and money satisfying my middle grandson's LEGO cravings, and it was my pleasure to do it.


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[Ivan the Butcher]

I had 4 kids (now grown) and every Christmas or birthday cycle, there were at least 2 or 3 new sets. About 15 years ago I was at a yard sale and the woman was selling all her kids Duplo and Lego sets in two large totes for $10 a tote! I bought them both!!! I now have 9 grandkids, from 15 to newborn and when they visit, Grandpa is the coolest guy in the world! I ended up with 3 Thomas the Train sets, since there are triplet boys in the mix that really reduces the arguing! I have about 3 cubic feet of Legos and about 5 cubic feet of Duplos. I am a very rich grandpa!

Having the apartments for decades, you would be amazed at what people leave behind when they move, epically if they skip out over a weekend! First off: NOT LEGOS! not once! But my daughter was into My Little Ponys. I took home dozens. when we would have a bonfire of church picnic at out farm. The small kids would get tired outside and go in the house. They would get out the bins of toy, and the girls would gravitate to the Ponys, pretty soon there would be 5 little girls, 2 or 3 teens and a young married woman OR TWO, playing with the Ponys! I didn't know that each one has a name, special powers and a whole history, but just about any woman under 40 knows them!

Ivan

 

[OLDSTER]

My 50 year old son ( bachelor ) belongs to a Lego club at the hospital where he works. They build projects as a team, and have a beautiful display area in their office. I've seen the projects several times, and am amazed. He is currently working on an operating lighthouse.

 

[yaktamer]

Now you've done it. I gotta have one. I've been impressed by some of the gazillion piece, high dollar sets on those rare occassions when I stumble into the Lego store, but the dozer may be the best ever. I may start buying sets now and storing them until retirement. If wind up retiring full time to the great white north I'll need something to do when I'm snowed in.

 

[s&wchad]

I played with Lego as a kid, but it was nothing like they have today.

There were three shows running concurrently at the Suburban Showplace exhibit hall this past September: The Michigan Antique Arms Show, a commercial gun show and a Lego show.

The parking lot was packed. Attendance at both gun shows was mediocre, but the Lego show was booming! I spoke with a young family of four leaving the lego show with a medium sized bag of goodies and asked about the attendance fee. The dad told me he paid $5 parking and $14 per person admission, but was happy that their one son under 5 years old got in free. $47 sounded high to me, until he mentioned that he dropped $350 on Lego!

And I thought guns and ammo were expensive!

 

[two-bit cowboy]

I'm not a youngster.

I felt like Dr. Frankenstein shouting "It's alive"

No matter your "age," you're a kid at heart. That's all that counts.

Terrific read! Thank you.

When I was stationed in Germany I visited LegoLand in The Netherlands.

If you have a bucket list, you might consider adding it. It will cost you much more than the trip itself, although I think you're already hooked.

Thanks for the fun thread.

 

[jeffrefrig]

I had Tinker toys and an Erector set. No Lincoln Logs but my friend next door had them. We got pretty creative combining everything to make a ramshackle building or bridge. Legos weren't around, that I know of, in the '60s. I do know they hurt like all get-out stepping on them at night. I do know I got my foot impaled by one of my sisters' Jacks way back when. 2:00 AM screaming my mom & dad came out into the upstairs hall to find a jack stuck in my foot! Looking back it was funny. Yeah! Dad pulled it out & went back to bed to let Mom deal with me! That meant "Quit crying & go back to bed!" after the band-aid was applied over the burny red stuff. I'm surprised I didn't forget to go to the toilet after all that! And I held it in and stayed dry.

 

[Imissedagain]

Sent about 16 lbs of my boy's Legos to his 5 year old recently along with Lincoln Logs.
He'll be ready for the electric trains soon.

 

[sigp220.45]

Oh man, you've got me thinking. That's never good....

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

My son loved Legos as a kid from about 6 years old. I enjoyed helping him get started putting them together, then he would tell me that he could take it from here. Now, as a 40 year old, he is still into them and has most , if not all of the NASA models, among other complex kits.

 

[Eric300]

'That ain't your daddy's LEGO kit'...as the saying goes. Maybe if we had LEGO's like that when I was a kid, I might have had an interest. But I never could get into LEGO, Lincoln Logs, or Erector Sets. I did build a lot of model cars and planes (including flying balsa wood planes). And any toy that fired projectiles I was happy.

 

[JJEH]

I loved Lego growing up, our kids do now, but it just got so expensive. A few months back we saw a Lego Titanic at a Lego store.... for $800. Really?!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Hey, thought I'd add this distantly related item for you big kids with big property.

Back in 1988, we contracted to John Deere Dubuque Tractor Works for the 690D excavator design. A secondary Air Force work order was to modify it for remote control, allowing EOD bomb disposal in addition to earth moving. They were a hoot to play with.

Well, all these years later and they now can sell second-hand for not much more than the LEGOs, though the controller could be pricey if not included.

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[Rustyt1953]

The "Legoverse" according to JR.

 

[Baggy Wrinkle]

“The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” As for me, I’ll take a BMW or Audi sport sedan. Have fun with whatever gives you joy.

 

[Tom S.]

I had Tinker toys and an Erector set. No Lincoln Logs but my friend next door had them. We got pretty creative combining everything to make a ramshackle building or bridge. Legos weren't around, that I know of, in the '60s. I do know they hurt like all get-out stepping on them at night. I do know I got my foot impaled by one of my sisters' Jacks way back when. 2:00 AM screaming my mom & dad came out into the upstairs hall to find a jack stuck in my foot! Looking back it was funny. Yeah! Dad pulled it out & went back to bed to let Mom deal with me! That meant "Quit crying & go back to bed!" after the band-aid was applied over the burny red stuff. I'm surprised I didn't forget to go to the toilet after all that! And I held it in and stayed dry.

I grew up in the 50's wanting an erector set. Looking back on it, I think I figured out why I never got one. My parents bought me a chemistry set one year, and an electronics set another year, but I believe they were afraid of my mechanical abilitie and were scared I'd build something that would kill us all! Kind of funny when you consider how much mayhem some kids could do fooling around with chemicals or electricity but my folks were concerned about killer robots or something.

 

[Roger Kipwell]

I yearn for the days when Legos were just bricks and you built houses with them.

 

[lihpster]

I remember back in the '70s, the folks had some friends that had some boys about the same age as us. When we would go over there we would either ride bikes or play with the Legos. This is before all the kits and things, you just bought Lego pieces, and these kids had a closet 3/4 full of boxes and tubs of Legos. Sometimes we spent more time cleaning them all up than we did building things. I swear, they could have built a medium size garden shed with all the stuff they had.

 

[MRB1]

I stepped on them and jacks barefooted tooooo many times to get enthused about them.