In praise of Legos

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

My brother had a pail of Flexiblocks when we were little. While they didn’t exactly suck, I have to say they were suck-ish. Mediocre, one might say. Building most things meant sticking them together top to bottom as well as end to end, thus negating the much-touted flexiness. And the blocks are between Duplo and Lego in size, so you definetly needed more than one pail to make anything good. Not bad for dinosaur jaws and such, though.

When I was in Denmark, we drove by the One True Legoland[sup]TM[/sup] (Ask for it by name!) and I got to see so many wonderous things over the fence as the bus whizzed by. Bastards wouldn’t stop so I could go see it, though. Some crap about “iteneraries” and “concert schedules.” I’m still bitter.

22

Alright. We all had them. You know, those made-up names for each type of piece. Spit 'em out, folks.

Up 'n downie: 1x2 solid that pivots 90 degrees up and down
headlight: 1x1 with a 2nd male part for a flat 1x1
spinny: flat 2x2 that had an insert that spun
round/square dot: red/blue/green/yellow transluscent 1x1
laser: long, either red, black, white or gray sword-like
Can’t think of much more, but I bet y’all have some.

23

One of my closest friends from graduate school and I once went into a toy store around midday on Christmas Eve, bought a couple of medium-sized sets of classic Legos (none of the fancy faces, firearms, etc. for us), took them to a dumpy little bar/restaurant that catered to the Chinese immigrant population on Buford Highway here in Atlanta, and sat there for several hours building stuff and drinking various beers from around the world. The staff (all Chinese) tolerated us with a mixture of bewilderment and bemusement – we were the only customers in the place the entire time, and we kept buying beer, so we at least were profitable.

One of my favorite things about having kids was having a good excuse to go buy sets of Legos and other building toys (my three-year-old just got his first set of Lincoln Logs the yesterday as an early Hanunkah present from Grandma).

It seems to run in my family, too; when my sister was in college, a large Lego set was the only thing she asked my parents for one Christmas.

Slight hijack: does anyone else remember a building toy from the late 60s/early 70s that consisted of flattened plastic rings, with four hollow cylindrical legs projecting from the bottom and a rounded plastic “button” on top above each leg, so that they could be stacked securly by fitting the hollow legs of one on top of the buttons of another? I recall spending nearly as much time playing with those as with my Legos, but I can’t for the life of me remember what they were called.

24

I loved Legos!! I played with them until I was like thirteen - this was six years ago, and they had some kickass Lego sets out then. For some reason, I sold them all at a yardsale! (What a cracker). I had a huge pail with the Lego thing on the top, and man did I have fun.

I never bought the kits - or if I did, I wouldn’t make what the pciture showed. I would create all sorts of crazy things, usually mansions and palaces on the big green piece. The exception was a huge Fantasy Island-Robinson Crusoe type jungle scene. I just built that one and left it on my desk.

Oh, the memories. Thanks for this thread, Inky-! :slight_smile:

25

I saw them at Target a few weeks ago, but they might be hard to come by now. I almost bought one, but decided on the Playmobil calendar instead (which also rocks).

And Inky – You’re right about today’s Legos. They are just too cool. I have been buying the little jungle adventure sets and the samurai sets for my son on birthdays/holidays and they’re great. Lots of times I’ll even let him play with me. :slight_smile:

26

Well, I’ve lost a few pieces, but I still have all my sets from as a kid. Is a five gallon tub and a medium sized suitcase considered alot? Probably not. I have a pirate hideout (huge), a technics racecar/airplane (large), a moon base (huge) and tons of other smaller sets, including a medium sized sorcerer’s castle (with dragon).

–Tim

27

Ahhh… Legos…

I have Legos that are older than some of my roommates.

I finally made the Great Pilgrimage* to Billund last summer, after 34 years of yearning. And it was worth it. Unfortunately, I was backpacking and couldn’t squeeze in any Significant Purchases. But I walked out with saltshakers, a little Lego space guy on my keychain, and about an hour of videotape… :slight_smile:

Besides, a theme park that serves excellent mashed potatoes as part of a fast-food entree rocks. (When you enter, go to the clock-sculpture with the bubbling water tubes, turn right, and go straight towards Pirateland. The fast-food place is on the right.)

I’m currently plotting to get a Mindstorms set. It’s just a question of money. <sigh>

And, Jack Batty, ldraw.org looks like it will be quite… addictive. :slight_smile:

Take the train to Vejle, then catch bus number 244. There will be a Legoland sign on the front of the bus. This is quite doable as a day trip from Copenhagen, by train about an hour and a half away. When I described my trip to the guy I was staying with, he said the equivalent of, "You went * halfway across the country???" But to me, it was just the same as crossing my home city to visit my father, a 1.5-h train ride with a bus at each end.
[SUP]Oh dear. I just discovered the Bulk Ordering section on Lego’s website…[/SUP]

28

I just named the Lego pieces by their appearance, in a very practical way. “Two by one, flat” or “Flat 3-nub ell.”
Makes perfect sense, right? :slight_smile:

And for those of you who cring at the thought of stepping on Legos, I give you this painful thought: I used to sleep on a bunkbed. The top bunk. Yes, one morning I jumped down and landed right on a pile of Legos.

shudder

29

I never had Legos. :frowning:

By the way, here is what a total dweeb I am: when I first saw this thread, I thought it was about EverQuest. “Lego” is the common name people use to refer to an Orc Legionnaire.

30

I am addicted to LEGOs. I can’t go a week without buying some small set. Yesterday, it was set 8507 Electro Throwbot - http://guide.lugnet.com/set/8507
I’m pretty sure that I am getting a Mindstorm set for Christmas. And some more Throwbots. And Star Wars LEGOs.
My current building project is a killer robot resembling Itchy the Mouse (from The Simpsons), which has a cockpit in the torso for a LEGO pilot. And I’m sorting my collection, putting each colour in a seperate tub.

Does anyone else have this LEGO person?-
http://web.pncl.co.uk/~huw/brickset/minifigs/pir-72.jpg

31

Okay, this is REALLY bothering me.

They are NOT LegoS. They are LEGO.
L - E - G - O

No S!

32

Oooh, I remember Legos.

I used to play with legos all the time. I had a huge bucket full of 'em. My favorite set was the space set. I remember it had a sort of story, too. But I don’t know whether it was the official Lego story, or whether it was something my friends and I just made up. See if you recognize this;

There are 2 main forces, Blacktron and Magnetron. The Blacktron clan has a white, red, and black uniform with a “B” on it. They are peaceful (?) people who mine asteroids for precious gems or something. The “gems” were those 1x1 square or round translucent colored legos (I once got one of those stuck up my nose and had to go to the doctor, but that’s a whole other story.) They keep the jewels in these little cool-looking lego boxes with openable front panels. The Blacktron Base was a really cool set, too, with blinking lights and stuff. And one of my first Lego sets was the Blacktron Moonwalker (?) which had a “laser” (translucent plastic rod) and two of those “satellites” (translucent things that looked like satellite dishes) on the front. Ahh, the memories.

And the Magnetron clan wants to steal the jewels from the Blacktron people. Their uniform was mostly red, with a little green and black. And it had an “M” on the front. I remember they had a really cool helicopter-thing that had propellers that were those “lasers.” But I don’t recall if there was a Magnetron Base. Anyway, the Magnetron sets had little universal joints with magnets at the end, which were presumably used to steal the little boxes that the Blacktron held their gems with.

Then there was the Space Police, who I think were the first Lego Space set, but they didn’t do much. They just made sure the Blacktron and Magnetron didn’t get too out of hand.

And they also came out with a bunch of new clans, like the Ice Planet and the Cyborgs (who had really cool robot Lego faces) but I didn’t get into them as much.

My friend (16, or possibly 15, I’m not sure) is actually asking for one of those Lego robot sets for Christmas. And I don’t blame him. Those things look cool! I’d love to get one of those and find out how to read/write from the digital camera/motors, and then program my own little robot thing in C/C++. I could make such a cool robot…

As for me, I also have an excuse to play with Legos without feeling like a little kid. I am going into a Claymation class in my school starting very soon, and I want to make a cartoon using space legos, and maybe use the aforementioned premise as a guideline for the story. It’s really fun to animate things with Legos. I took another (totally unrelated) Claymation course when I was a little kid, and I made a little animation of a Lego guy who builds a spaceship and then takes off (really cool! Fun to do.)

Man, Legos are cool. I wonder why I ever stopped playing with them now.