The LEGO craze(big money for plastic bricks)

[Chock Full o Nuts]

Recently did some rewiring for a job at a LEGO store opened up near me. Chatting with owner a while back about it and prices. Well, he has a Star Wars ATAT worth about 1200. Gonna sell it to a friend for a good price...

Talked to job GC today and apparently had a good opening day. People lined up stripmall sidewalk waiting on opening. Did 20k sales on opening day. Damn.

Swung in there today on way home just to check it out. Will say some cool sets; but not K cool sets.

Sets with 4-5k pieces, well that's nothing. He's working on a Titanic at home that's 10k+... I'm out.

To each their own... I have plenty of patience for what hobbies I do, but I'm not dropping whatever-hundred on a pile of molded plastic pieces only to follow instructions on how to assemble the thousands. Put it together for me for what I paid!

Now things like models and such, I can get into. Painting, assembly, etc. A bit of skill and concentration.

I'd lose my mind putting together 10k preplanned pieces from instructions.

 

[SkyChief]

I'm old enough to remember when Lego sets didn't come with any instructions at all - only a warning to not step on them with bare feet.

 

[soap box]

Do they still have Legos for kids? i mean kids who don't have rich parents?

 

[phoenix2020]

I am quite the Lego enthusiast and collector, and for a time I did a fair amount of set flipping--typically the approach was buying one set for myself and another ~2 for resale, storing them for 18 months, then flipping them as they went out of production often at a 2-3x markup. I didn't really need the money, it was more for fun I suppose. It's a self-reinforcing process, you eventually are buying enough from the local store to attain a sort of "VIP" status that gets you invited early which makes it easier to buy more.

I gave that up maybe 5-6 years ago, it stopped being interesting and selling things is always a hassle with scammers etc., and I got to the point where the effort & storage weren't really worth it. I still have a few dozen extra sets I never bothered to get rid of and now they make for a stash of surprise gifts for Lego-enthusiastic nieces and nephews Now we just have fun making cool time lapses of sets being built!

 

[ataraxia]

Recently did some rewiring for a job at a LEGO store opened up near me. Chatting with owner a while back about it and prices. Well, he has a Star Wars ATAT worth about 1200. Gonna sell it to a friend for a good price...

Talked to job GC today and apparently had a good opening day. People lined up stripmall sidewalk waiting on opening. Did 20k sales on opening day. Damn.

Swung in there today on way home just to check it out. Will say some cool sets; but not K cool sets.

Sets with 4-5k pieces, well that's nothing. He's working on a Titanic at home that's 10k+... I'm out.

To each their own... I have plenty of patience for what hobbies I do, but I'm not dropping whatever-hundred on a pile of molded plastic pieces only to follow instructions on how to assemble the thousands. Put it together for me for what I paid!

Now things like models and such, I can get into. Painting, assembly, etc. A bit of skill and concentration.

I'd lose my mind putting together 10k preplanned pieces from instructions.

When I was a kid, I used to play with Legos, but only to build small houses or cars or something- stuff I would make up and put together. But I would have to use my imagination- it was not a thing to assemble with instructions.

But I can say that I can see the appeal of these really complicated things you have to read instructions to put together. They are fun for kids, and they teach patience, learning to read instructions, paying attention to detail, etc, etc....

When I was 8, I remember my dad got this huge model airplane set that needed to be put together- hundreds of pieces. It was an F-104 Starfighter, with HUNDREDS of little pieces that needed to be put together, and a massive instruction book for how to do it. Of course, at 8, I couldn't do it by myself- but my dad helped. I remember it took us many days to put that thing together. It was a great father-son bonding experience- I still remember it, and we still talk about it fondly. But it also taught me patience, and attention to detail, and grit and resilience in sticking with something until it got done, etc...

I remember when it was done, it was a breathtaking experience. What a work of art! There was so much beautiful detail, so many things like the details of the engine and the auto-cannon that were not visible to the outside observer, but which only my dad and I knew was in there on the inside. It taught me the value of hard work and appreciating what I was doing, even if it was not seen or appreciated by the outside world. It had its own intrinsic value. Lots of lessons learned from that little project.

Anyway, I don't know how much my dad paid for that model set, but I do know it probably was not $1200!

 

[VanceMack]

I dont get it, but I know a fair number of adults who buy the kits. I reckon its like a jigsaw puzzle for some.

 

[Helix]

Do they still have Legos for kids? i mean kids who don't have rich parents?

Yep. Older kiddo has a bunch of them from various kits. We build them first, and then he combines them to make wild new creations. The smaller kits aren't that expensive. The bigger, more complicated kits are.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

When I was a kid, I used to play with Legos, but only to build small houses or cars or something- stuff I would make up and put together. But I would have to use my imagination- it was not a thing to assemble with instructions.

But I can say that I can see the appeal of these really complicated things you have to read instructions to put together. They are fun for kids, and they teach patience, learning to read instructions, paying attention to detail, etc, etc....

When I was 8, I remember my dad got this huge model airplane set that needed to be put together- hundreds of pieces. It was an F-104 Starfighter, with HUNDREDS of little pieces that needed to be put together, and a massive instruction book for how to do it. Of course, at 8, I couldn't do it by myself- but my dad helped. I remember it took us many days to put that thing together. It was a great father-son bonding experience- I still remember it, and we still talk about it fondly. But it also taught me patience, and attention to detail, and grit and resilience in sticking with something until it got done, etc...

I remember when it was done, it was a breathtaking experience. What a work of art! There was so much beautiful detail, so many things like the details of the engine and the auto-cannon that were not visible to the outside observer, but which only my dad and I knew was in there on the inside. It taught me the value of hard work and appreciating what I was doing, even if it was not seen or appreciated by the outside world. It had its own intrinsic value. Lots of lessons learned from that little project.

Anyway, I don't know how much my dad paid for that model set, but I do know it probably was not $1200!

That's a good bonding experience. But it was a sort of model that took some skill, right? Not just snapping blocks in place...

As far as age, have you seen some of the kids these days? Look like full blown adults!

While I was working there, one morning there were 'campers' sitting in front of the Gamestop a few doors down. Not a kid in the crowd...

I play some games on and off to this day. What's the big release coming out? (Curious,..Google...)
Some plastic Pokémon thing. Some of you may have taken off work for this.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

I dont get it, but I know a fair number of adults who buy the kits. I reckon its like a jigsaw puzzle for some.

Gimme a jigsaw puzzle any day. It's about fitting that piece. Not put another blue 3 round topped piece here...
Rinse and repeat.

 

[VanceMack]

Gimme a jigsaw puzzle any day. It's about fitting that piece. Not put another blue 3 round topped piece here...
Rinse and repeat.

I applaud the patience. My wife and her family are big time jigsaw puzzle fans...they sit around and have massive conversations while working on it together. I'm 3 pieces and out. I just don't have the gene.

 

[TypicalRussian]

Yeah it's a very popular hobby.

 

[NJBob]

Yep. Older kiddo has a bunch of them from various kits. We build them first, and then he combines them to make wild new creations. The smaller kits aren't that expensive. The bigger, more complicated kits are.

It seems Legos have taken the place of plastic model kits. I used to build model cars and paint them.

Still, I have no problem with Legos. I’d rather kids play with them than vegetate in front of a screen.

 

[Taylor]

To each their own... I have plenty of patience for what hobbies I do, but I'm not dropping whatever-hundred on a pile of molded plastic pieces only to follow instructions on how to assemble the thousands. Put it together for me for what I paid!

Now things like models and such, I can get into. Painting, assembly, etc. A bit of skill and concentration.

I'd lose my mind putting together 10k preplanned pieces from instructions.

Not for everyone, but a lot of people find it relaxing.

Of course, if you know what you're doing you don't even open the set. Resales far outpace the market - though you don't get the sweet capital gains tax rate.

 

[BirdinHand]

My son loves Legos.

He will build a set initially by the instructions, then takes them apart and they go into storage for his free builds - he’s always building something and creating new projects and designs

He has tens of thousands of Legos. I can’t even recount how many hours I’ve helped him with the storage system and sorting bricks into the storage system he now has.

He also loves the Lego Masters show.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

I applaud the patience. My wife and her family are big time jigsaw puzzle fans...they sit around and have massive conversations while working on it together. I'm 3 pieces and out. I just don't have the gene.

I have patience, but not for monotonous. I'm more this type.

You get a box of black plastic parts, rolls of white 'rail', and Chinese instructions! I'm in!

Not my pic, but same set. Talk about a bitch of measurements and tweaking. But cool as shit to watch.

 

[Helix]

It seems Legos have taken the place of plastic model kits. I used to build model cars and paint them.

Still, I have no problem with Legos. I’d rather kids play with them than vegetate in front of a screen.

Legos were different when I was a kid. They're much more detailed now. I also liked model cars and Lincoln Logs.

 

[Chock Full o Nuts]

My son loves Legos.

He will build a set initially by the instructions, then takes them apart and they go into storage for his free builds - he’s always building something and creating new projects and designs

He has tens of thousands of Legos. I can’t even recount how many hours I’ve helped him with the storage system and sorting bricks into the storage system he now has.

He also loves the Lego Masters show.

Good to get creative with it. Had my share of LEGOS early 80s. '50 piece set!'

You forgot to mention how many you have stepped on barefoot...

 

[whatnow]

Do they still have Legos for kids? i mean kids who don't have rich parents?

Our public library has a very popular after school Lego Club for children. Most of those Legos came from garage sales and Kijiji.

 

[soap box]

Our public library has a very popular after school Lego Club for children. Most of those Legos came from garage sales and Kijiji.

I have no idea what Kijiji is but I'm all for it!

 

[Napoleon]

And mortal enemy of bare feet everywhere.

 

[Rexedgar]

My sister was born when I was 8. When they returned from the hospital, my pops informed me that he had a surprise for me. Oh, is it more LEGOs?

My sister hasn’t recovered for decades……