Lego

[TheLibrary]

Settle an argument I am having with my cousin.

I like and enjoy Lego. I have a few sets, nothing insane. The most expensive being Hogwarts Castle.

Anyway, I just built some Lego and my cousin was here when I was dismantling it. He ask what I was doing, I thought it was pretty self explanatory and told him I was taking it apart. He asked why, as I had spent so much time putting it together. I said so I can rebuild it again when I wanted to and make a little game out of seeing if I can do it faster next time.

I have always done this. My Mother would buy us "building toys" (not Lego) for Christmas or birthdays and when we had built them and enjoyed them we were told to take them apart, so we could enjoy building them again later. This meant that we ended up with hours of fun all year round, especially school holidays (we didn't have much money so didn't go out much).

My question is; is this weird? He thinks it is.

I think that buying Lego just to build it once and then let it gather dust until you get bored and throw it away is ridiculously wasteful and expensive.

I have been told many times that Lego is so expensive and I am not going to say it isn't. I always thought that yes it is an expensive upfront cost but it is for hours/days/years of fun. I never understood people who complained. Now I'm wondering if most people are like my cousin and just build it once?

AIBU - Lego should be built once.
YANBU - Lego can be built multiple times and is always fun.

What sort of weirdo would throw Lego away? Sets gain value faster than gold.

DH likes the space themed ones and one of his favourites (Saturn V rocket which was used for Apollo 11 mission) was created first by fans I believe

Someone did do an unofficial Buffy school library build Buffy

The school was put forward as a Lego idea but didn't get through.

I'd love an evil Willow minifig with black hair and veiny face!

Really wished I grabbed the stranger things set when it was out!

I might get some Harry Potter lego from the attic to build today

Adult dd had these for Christmas last year. They are now on display. I love looking at them.

It takes considerable talent to take a set apart and rebuild it - they come in small numbered bags to make it manageable to sort and find pieces - never mind being able to do it faster the second time round.

We got a Chinese knock off Christmas set once and it was literally a big bag of Lego. No bother to ds whose brain is probably built of Lego but I would have gone blind trying to find each piece amongst the millions.

We sort our loose Lego by colour though that’s a bit pointless really. Does anyone know how designers/professionals organise Lego?

DS is only 5 so no way would anything survive being displayed in the house. Lego, like every other toy, gets put away after he's finished playing with it.

My brother displays his though. I find that strange

Organising by colour is a classic beginner error - looks pretty, can't find anything.

The professionals order by type and shape - there are sticker sets available with a sticker for every single lego brick shape ever produced

I’m not sure I would have built the castle then taken it apart straight away, but well done you!
Lego literally means let’s play. So of course you should build
and rebuild

That’s amazing - I’ll definitely have a browse and maybe show DS, he’d love that as he likes trying to build his own ‘sets’ too from free Lego! So interesting, I had no clue this was even a thing that Lego did.

Someone already had my idea!! I’m loving this thread, who knew there were so many Lego geeks on mumsnet waiting to share all their Lego secrets!

@BobMortimersPocketMeat

Ah, so they sort of make your idea into something more polished/better. Nice to know you get a cut 😂 can’t believe how much I’m learning about Lego.

@gotelltheoldmandowntheroad - the sets are not pointless at all. Following instructions is an a important part of learning. I love the process of following various the pages of the booklet, finding the pieces I need and building that section. And once that is done then I think it’s great for children to build something from their imagination. Both are very important. Like others I think you are being very controlling in not letting your DD play with her toys as she wants.

I'd echo this, following the instructions is also a really good way to understand how good models are constructed.

Dd and I love Lego, I’ve been buying it for years so do a mixture of building and keeping or breaking down and free building, on display currently we have the typewriter, treehouse, friends cafe, Stranger Things upside down and some Harry Potter stuff, we’re currently building the Daily Bugle and I have finally managed to find Titanic, although where we’re going to put that in a two bedroom house I don’t know.

the whole point of Lego is to enjoy it how you want.

I’ve just told DH I’d like the Home Alone house for Christmas. He got me the Death Star one year and I cried. Happy tears! MIL was be used! Loved doing it.

I don’t display things but that was displayed for ages. When we moved house the movers packed it really well and it’s still in the box.

we have loads of Lego up in the attic and I want to get it all down at some stage and sort through it and rebuild all the sets we have. No idea where we will put it though!

we were lucky enough to have been given sets that were never for sale by someone we knew who worked for Lego. I built one but not the other. That may be my Autumn project. And then the Home Alone house after Christmas.

and then I’ll build a Lego house in the garden to store it all in!

DS uses this Bricklink Studio

I was really disappointed this cat clock didn't make it past the ideas stage, I'd even picked out a spot in my kitchen to hang it

That reminds me, I've been meaning to put up some extra shelves...

Organising by colour is a classic beginner error - looks pretty, can't find anything

The professionals order by type and shape - there are sticker sets available with a sticker for every single lego brick shape ever produced

Unless you have the space, patience and a lot of storage, sorting by shape and type is hard to do.

If you need to sort in colour, try mixing two contrasting colours together, like red and blue, green and yellow etc. Makes it easier to see what you need than one solid colour. A box of black only bricks is a nightmare.

I only sort into parts and colours if I get a job lot I'm trying to sort into sets. Otherwise I love a good rummage in a box of mixed bricks!

Expensive but tempting! I'm sick of the amount of dust that gets on them. I've tried hoover attachments to suck it off (works a bit) and a blower to blow it off (doesn't really) but I've not tried little make up brushes, probably on account of not wearing make up 😁

If my daughter gets sets I put them in her big tub. I won't even let her try to build it as she's told to because for me that's not lego. Lego is freedom. Lego is creativity.

what if your daughter's idea of freedom is to be allowed to build her Lego exactly as she wants - even if that means building the actual set?

FWIW - i have my sets up and displayed because we are lucky enough to have space. I have a whole load of minifigs - some in display cases (not actual lego) and some arranged across door lintels (I stick the flat legos on by double sided tape) but they are awkward to dust (so i don't)

The whole point of Lego is to build it however you like.