LEGO Nostalgia

I used to go insane when building the castles. I would try my best to make all of the LEGO words face the same direction.

When I say all, I mean all as in there is a tower of ten 1x1 bricks. If you were to take it apart, you would see that I rotated every brick so the word LEGO was orientated to the brick below it.

I picked up two damaged packages from Wal*Mart. Original price $29.99 each. I talked them into selling them to me for $5.00 a piece.

Dunno if anyone brought this up yet, but here's what springs to mind when I think of Legos I miss from the olden days:

IMAGE(http://www.brickfactory.info/scans/0006000/6286/001.jpg)

But you folks hit many of the others. Particularly that castle with the wizard and the dragons, and the old spaceships.

Something you folks might be interested in:

We're making our kids a Lego table for Christmas out of an Ikea side-table and four Lego baseplates. Here are the instructions.

danopian wrote:

Something you folks might be interested in:

We're making our kids a Lego table for Christmas out of an Ikea side-table and four Lego baseplates. Here are the instructions.

Thanks! Putting that on my to do list, that's great!

jonnypolite wrote:
danopian wrote:

Something you folks might be interested in:

We're making our kids a Lego table for Christmas out of an Ikea side-table and four Lego baseplates. Here are the instructions.

Thanks! Putting that on my to do list, that's great!

That's pretty. I've got a folding table that I'm going to glue around 15 green 10" x 10" baseplates on. It won't be pretty, but it will be very practical and can be stashed.

Finished that grand prix car last night. It's a slick little kit. That car fits in the semi truck perfectly. I've been thinking. Eventually, I just need to get lots more bricks. It seems that all the regular old boxes of bricks are lots of primary colors. What I want is to be 1000 or so various bricks in black, grey, dark grey, dark green, and brown. Is there a practical way to get bricks of just those colors? I want to be able to build castles out of bricks.

It's sad when you look at the Lego star destroyer and start thinking: "That would be great just for the bricks."

You could go to the lego store at washington square and buy them in bulk, they have containers in the back you can fill up. Don't know if it's cost effective, but it's an option.

When I save up a bit, I am getting the new LEGO Mindstorms. You know, for my son, to teach him some programming. Programming is important, I taught my wife that. I will totally NOT play with it

jonnypolite wrote:

You could go to the lego store at washington square and buy them in bulk, they have containers in the back you can fill up. Don't know if it's cost effective, but it's an option.

Not sure if I'm happy that I know that's an option now. Also not sure if I'm happy knowing there is a Lego store nearby.

I will have to price out a big order of specific bricks to see how expensive that is. It might not be too bad.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I've been thinking. Eventually, I just need to get lots more bricks. It seems that all the regular old boxes of bricks are lots of primary colors. What I want is to be 1000 or so various bricks in black, grey, dark grey, dark green, and brown. Is there a practical way to get bricks of just those colors? I want to be able to build castles out of bricks.

It's sad when you look at the Lego star destroyer and start thinking: "That would be great just for the bricks." :)

The "Pick A Brick" section on the Lego website might have what you're looking for. There may be better places but I don't know of them.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
jonnypolite wrote:

You could go to the lego store at washington square and buy them in bulk, they have containers in the back you can fill up. Don't know if it's cost effective, but it's an option.

Not sure if I'm happy that I know that's an option now. Also not sure if I'm happy knowing there is a Lego store nearby.

I will have to price out a big order of specific bricks to see how expensive that is. It might not be too bad.

I am the ENABLER!

Be sure to check out the magic video system they have that generates an animation in front of you. You hold up the box, and the kit gets built on top! it's great:)

They also have (or had) the minecraft sets there. Had to hold myself back from buying those for future Xmas'es.

danopian wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

I've been thinking. Eventually, I just need to get lots more bricks. It seems that all the regular old boxes of bricks are lots of primary colors. What I want is to be 1000 or so various bricks in black, grey, dark grey, dark green, and brown. Is there a practical way to get bricks of just those colors? I want to be able to build castles out of bricks.

It's sad when you look at the Lego star destroyer and start thinking: "That would be great just for the bricks." :)

The "Pick A Brick" section on the Lego website might have what you're looking for. There may be better places but I don't know of them.

Well, the price isn't awful, but it's definitely not a steal. At $0.30 a pop, the 1x10 grey bricks will cost you $15.00 for 50. The 1x2 bricks are $0.15, so that would be $7.50 for 50 of those. I'll probably just save up a few hundred dollars and then just "go to town" on that website. I'll have to check the Lego store sometime, too. Do they have a 3D build program where you can design your own set? I thought that was a thing. I would love to design a huge castle and then buy all the bricks for it. I would spend so much time with a computer program that would let you design your own sets.

I do really want those Minecraft sets.

Edit: Lego Digital Designer! I know what I'll be doing tonight.

Tuffalo, you may already be aware (if you're not, i apologize in advance):

http://bricksandminifigs.com/Store_L...

That's cool! I don't have a car, so it would be hard to get to a location. I'll keep that in mind for a time I end up in Beaverton.

My girls were never into Legos but my son was. He had about twelve Star Wars ships, all put together, and stored them on shelves in his room. He would not play with them once they were built, but one day, they were all in a box, torn apart. Now a teenager, they are in the basement and never get touched. Hopefully he will enjoy them with his kid(s) someday.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
jonnypolite wrote:
danopian wrote:

Something you folks might be interested in:

We're making our kids a Lego table for Christmas out of an Ikea side-table and four Lego baseplates. Here are the instructions.

Thanks! Putting that on my to do list, that's great!

That's pretty. I've got a folding table that I'm going to glue around 15 green 10" x 10" baseplates on. It won't be pretty, but it will be very practical and can be stashed.

Finished that grand prix car last night. It's a slick little kit. That car fits in the semi truck perfectly. I've been thinking. Eventually, I just need to get lots more bricks. It seems that all the regular old boxes of bricks are lots of primary colors. What I want is to be 1000 or so various bricks in black, grey, dark grey, dark green, and brown. Is there a practical way to get bricks of just those colors? I want to be able to build castles out of bricks.

It's sad when you look at the Lego star destroyer and start thinking: "That would be great just for the bricks." :)

You can buy bricks on lego.com. You can also buy them on ebay.

I spoke to LEGO and they told me the best thing to try is talk to your local LEGO store and maybe you can make a deal with the manager to order you specific cases of bricks. Like the ones they stock their brickwall with.

I would suspect that you would have to be a frequent customer first. When I worked for Software Etc. certain people would get a discount if we dealt with them all the time.

LEGO used to sell cases. I also see that they were running a program a few years ago where LUG (LEGO User Groups) could buy in bulk directly from them.

I sent an email to the program director asking for the specifics.

I have a great deal of LEGOs from my childhood stored at my parents' house. My favorite set is the Airport Shuttle: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?set=...

I was also lucky enough to have most of the Islanders sets, including Enchanted Island: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...

Many nifty space sets, mostly in M-Tron (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) and Blacktron II (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) with some Space Police II (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) and Ice Planet (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...).

I had some of the Paradisa sets. I loved this one because it came with multiple horses: (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...)

The last couple of sets I got before I "outgrew" Legos were some Technic cars and Aquanauts: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...

Most of these sets are in more-or-less buildable shape, although the minifigures and some of the other pieces are in a big bucket, and my Paradisa sets are all mixed in together. If I ever have children I hope they appreciate vintage Legos.

Demyx wrote:

I was also lucky enough to have most of the Islanders sets, including Enchanted Island: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...

Many nifty space sets, mostly in M-Tron (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) and Blacktron II (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) with some Space Police II (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...) and Ice Planet (http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=...).

Ohhhh! So good. That 6898 Ice Planet one with the rocket is the first set I remember buying. The green windshield for the 6989 one was the big window of the city hall of my Lego town. And that Enchanted Island set really brings back memories. I'm going to go cry now.

I think I have most of the BlackTron II and I think all of the M-Tron & Ice Planet sets in my attic.

I even bought duplicates and sent away for the instructions and built these:

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6862-1

http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6861-2

jonnypolite wrote:

Tuffalo, you may already be aware (if you're not, i apologize in advance):

http://bricksandminifigs.com/Store_L...

If I had the money, I would so do a Franchise as there isn't one near me...

If you're looking to specific types of lego in bulk you might want to try bricklink

It's a bit hard to figure out but it might be a bit cheaper the lego store.

Wow, Lego Digital Designer a sweet CAD tool. You could design a pretty sick castle with it from what I can tell. I just need to come up with something cool to design now.

jonnypolite wrote:

Tuffalo, you may already be aware (if you're not, i apologize in advance):

http://bricksandminifigs.com/Store_L...

Funny you mention that, I went to our local B&M store in november and was going to post some picks, but kept forgetting.
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/QFSZxLG.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/0s3vwZp.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/CZycAKV.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/PSxkcX5.jpg)
IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/DmRoOog.jpg)

Edit: shrunk pics, sorry

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Wow, Lego Digital Designer a sweet CAD tool. You could design a pretty sick castle with it from what I can tell. I just need to come up with something cool to design now.

Glad it is in your hands.

I wish someone would figure out how to get LEGO Universe running on a local server.

Can I just say that the whole "collector" thing with Lego really pisses me off? I think Lego is awesome, and so do my kids. We like building and rebuilding and playing with the stuff. It's bloody expensive, though, and nobody ever sells their Big Box of Lego because surely it's worth big bucks to collectors. It's annoying (and did I mention expensive?).

Actually, the price of Lego has decreased per piece since the 80's. They've just been putting more pieces into the sets every year.

But yeah, collectors ruin everything.

I find that looking around at garage sales and stuff can net you some LEGO's too.

Also, thrift stores.

When I worked in Jersey City, NJ we used to go to the Goodwill store. We found many, many LEGO sets that were missing a couple or NO pieces. Most of the time the boxes were damaged or had shelf wear, but the contents were complete.

In 2010 & 2011, I used to check in about once a week. There, I found a sealed Temple of the Crystal Skull for $12.99, The Battle of Endor for $24.99 and Battle of Almut for $19.99.
I also picked up The Temple of Doom for 7.99 (Regular price $89.99). It was missing 1 plate and 1 of the bags was opened. I called LEGO and told them the truth, and where I bought it. They told me to take a full inventory and call them back. When I contacted them again, they sent me the missing piece at no charge. I was shocked.

In Englishtown NJ (at the big Flea market), I bought an unopened Shuttle Launch Pad for $10.00. I also picked up an opened but complete Dark Forest Fortress for $10.00 from the same person.

Norfair wrote:

Actually, the price of Lego has decreased per piece since the 80's. They've just been putting more pieces into the sets every year.

But yeah, collectors ruin everything.

I am a (junk) collector of certain things. I have over 580 complete sets. I will never sell them, even though I am (on paper) broke. My wife keeps pressing me to part with some of them but I told her that when I die, my son can decide what he wants to do with them.

Now, to be clear. Series 1 Minifigures contain 16 individual little guys. I count that as 1 set. I have Series 1 - 10, but became so annoyed at that whole Mr. Gold fiasco, that I stopped. I think they should of had the 5000 special Mr. Golds that maybe you won a prize if you got one, but then sell regular Mr. Gold's to us common folk.

It's not really the collectors that ruin everything. It's the greedy collector's and others who sell things for more than the list price of the set.