Man I love lego. My brother decided to get me a construction toy for my christmas last year (I was 31, just the right age) but he got me MECCANO. WTF? I demand lego!

I loved lego when I was a kid…. so much, nothing else touched it for a kids toy

btw I know this guy http://www.theory.org.uk/david/ David Gauntlett, he’s a lecturer in lego (ok it’s a fair bit more complex than that) but he has big boxes of work lego at home and has worked for lego as well

but he got me MECCANO. WTF?

Disown him.

Lego is no longer any good!

When I was young I had Lego and made endless creations. Creativity was central to the whole experience.

These days Lego comes in the form of complicated kits with a million specific pieces, with instructions which dictate a difficult sequence of assembly, with any mistakes made along the way causing frustration and disappointment. With old Lego, there was no right or wrong, no success or failure, just creativity and adventure.

These modern kits have sucked the fun out of the experience for youngsters, but it’s OK for Lego because they charge such high prices for these kits and they know the Lego experienced dad’s will enjoy the challenge.

If you buy one of these, my advice is throw away the instructions and let your imagination drive the exercise, build your abilities and self-confidence and just enjoy what you dreamt up.

My old man worked in the Lego factory in Wrexham when I was a kid so I ended up with boxes of the stuff 😀

I also remember a guy a few doors down from us getting a job with Lego as a model builder. He used to build all the big models you saw displayed in the window of Wooolies and the like. Getting paid to play with Lego seemed so cool when you were 9.

These days Lego comes in the form of complicated kits with a million specific pieces, with instructions which dictate a difficult sequence of assembly, with any mistakes made along the way causing frustration and disappointment. With old Lego, there was no right or wrong, no success or failure, just creativity and adventure.

These modern kits have sucked the fun out of the experience for youngsters

Robdob mentioned this earlier, and I agree. Browsing the Lego website, I notice there’s several ‘themes’, whereas in the beginning it was just boxes of bricks. Harry potter, Raiders of theLost Ark, Prince of Persia, Star Wars etc. I liked it when it was just simple ‘Legoland’ with innocent, happy scenes of little people all getting on well.

I had huge boxes of Lego as a kid, loads of Technic stuff too.

Really wanted the Technic car and spent ages saving up for it (over a year) and then couldnt find it for sale anywhere

Lad at school had this:

Great stuff, wish I still had it but it all got sold at car boot sales.

this is the best! I used to have just about every one of those sets… Sold them at a car boot sale for like £300 so I could buy my first stereo 🙁

My first Lego Technic:

happy happy days 🙂

“Lego’s great until you tread on it with bare feet at 2 in the morning in your kid’s bedroom! “

Right on the back of your heel as you shift your weight onto it. Marbles are pretty damn lethal in that respect also.

You can still buy the big boxes of random lego, but usually only from the website and from the various lego theme places, the one at Trafford park has tons of plain non-themed lego to buy, from boxes right down to individual bricks.

Still got the 8880 supercar in bits in a carrier bag! Tempted to put it back together.

Got most of the bits of 8862 Digger too, but it wasn’t that cool in practice – really needed a powered air pump.

Still got the 8880 supercar in bits in a carrier bag! Tempted to put it back together.

I just looked it up on eBay, over £100 for a boxed one….£300+ for an immaculate one in the US 😯

But what sort of sad act buys an ace toy then keeps it in the box? 😆

I have this little set in it’s unopened box. I think my mum might have bought it for me, but I was naughty or something probbly so she din’t give it to me. Can’t think why else it’s unopened.

Doubt it’s worth all that much really though.

The buggy type thing I had had moving engine parts, that was cool. Nothing like building your own x-wing to battle terrahawks 🙂

tron +1.

Several times over (is that possible?)

i’m the proud owner of a lego club gold badge for a train i made age 8. it had lights and everything. I also had the first lego computer controller, pretty basic, it could remember 8 moves on 8 different memories i think.

[edit] found a pic 🙂

it rocked.

this was the best one i owned, and probably one of the last.

I’ve still got two copies of the lego club magazine with the pictures of my train in 8)

Doh

It’s this little set:

tron – Member

Got most of the bits of 8862 Digger too, but it wasn’t that cool in practice – really needed a powered air pump.

the truck in my last post had a compressor powered by 6 AA batteries. it was ok but as it was a dry system it gave up pretty quickly

I was at the Lego Discovery Centre today at the Trafford Centre(where the run in with the Range Rovers took place!!!!).
As an old skool Lego fan the difference now is as posted. The kit to make an aeroplane has a moulded nose piece in the shape of a nose whereas in’t good old days you had to make the shape in various regular shaped bricks, ramps and smooth flats. It seems to be marketed now on the basis that the kit you but can only make the models on the front so if you have a car kit and then fancy a lego bike, you had better buy a bike kit.

great thread – lucky enough to have got quite a few of the sets on this thread as presents. My eldest is just getting into Lego so I can enjoy it all over agian

My biggest retro-want is currently Bigtrak,

I still have mine, though it needs a bit of a rebuild after a young teenager discovered electronics on it.

Had most of the space stuff (LL928 is ingrained in my memory too), a lot of Technic. My gran sold most of it when I was “too old for it” and I’ve still not forgiven her.

All that survived was the two car chassisesises as mentioned, and the collectors’ Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. And the Star Wars and Mindstorms I aquired since.

Roller,

I was at the Lego Discovery Centre today

How is it, worth the entry fee as a kidless adult?

Getting paid to play with Lego seemed so cool when you were 9.

Are you mad? It seems cool now, and I’m 38.

My first ‘set’, as opposed to a random box of bits.

I can’t believe how primitive it looks now – spent hours and hours playing with and rebuilding it. Used to sit on my bedside table at night.

Can’t wait for grandkids 😀

Oh. My. God. 😯

That’s one of the first sets I had too!!!!

I’ve stull got the pieces actually! Sadly the propellor blades are broken. 🙁

if anyone has lego they actually want to get rid of for some weird reason let me know. especially technic.

oh and,
brickshelf. (home of all lego creativity on the internet)

Knock your selves out boys..

http://ldd.lego.com/

You can even buy your design and a box will drop through your letter box a few days later 😉

also, seen this..

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/final-specialized-lego-kit.html

i have this somewhere in the loft…. not complete, mind.

could even have a go at sticking it together as i’m ‘home’ visiting family for the next week or so…

There’s currently a legal case going on in the European courts about Lego.
Lego wishes to protect it’s design by registering it as a protected brand.

The court has decided that a form or shape cannot be considered a brand, only a name or logo hence Lego has lost.
They’ve gone for an appeal but seems unlikely to succeed.

Lego is ace. Last christmas my brother and I (26 and 28) were at home for a few days and spent far too much time building up these:

I do Love it and I can’t wait to have kids so they can inherit the lego and I can play with it all over again!

It seems that it’s going a bit too far these days: Lego MMOG

Anyone lost your instructions?

http://www.brickfactory.info/set/index.html

day 2 of lego rediscovery, found another box of the good stuff last night 😀 the older stuff is far superior to the modern stuff.

bet you get sore thumbs from pushing in the joining pins, those black ones were a pain, i must have lost all my kiddy teeth as a result of trying to get them out

some of my made up technic creations c.mid 1980’s

AA Truck + jeep

Ro-Ro with demountable bin + pneumatic lift etc

those were the days….

too many preformed components these days with lego…

and fighting stuff… lego was meant to be peaceful…

not that stopped a lego airwolf!

retractable wheels and powered rotors

shame it could not fly…

Getting paid to play with Lego seemed so cool when you we[b]‘[/b]re 39.

Cougar – Member
I was at the Lego Discovery Centre today
How is it, worth the entry fee as a kidless adult?
[/quote
Apologies if this was mis-leading. Only went the the Lego store. I asked one of the attendants about the centre before parting with £70ish for us all and one of his comments was the duration of the visit depended on how long you spend building Lego. Hhhhhmmmmm….£70 to spend a few hours building Lego? I will leave it for now as you can get half price admission if you go at four o’clock. Closes at seven so three hours sounds plenty.
Also Cougar, I inadvertently hit report post when copying your thread. If the STW moderators come after you send them my way and I will confirm the error. The downside of using an iPod!

I loved lego! I’m not sure if, at 24, I’m quite old enough to be allowed a renaissance yet though. There is a large box of technic in my parents loft.

I always wanted the yellow pneumatic crane. I fear if I have a few ales tonight and get on ebay, things could get expensive…

I’m going to get the lego trainset out when I go home to my folks at Christmas. It’s the old 12v stuff with a central rail providing the power and remote control points, signals, level crossings etc.