Do you buy LEGO with your head held high?

aplbomr79 · January 2012

@the_real_indy:

I concur. I am 33, have 2 college degrees and a Masters (all paid for by myself), and when I purchase the LEGO at my Local TRU, the cashiers seem to feel the need to create a self-guided air to exalt themselves from the fact that I wish to spend a week's worth of their earnings on (what they consider) a 'toy' for myself.

What they do not realize is that I have struggled through college, paid my way, gained a Masters Degree somewhere along the way, coach 3 activities, and work construction during my summers - all in order to get where I am today... which is a comfortable living for my family. So my indulgence on myself (a simple 'Toy') - is nothing but a reward to me. I made the sacrifices, I paid the dues. They decided to stay idle and safe at a TRU/Target/Wally World. Enough said...

And yes, I know I come across as arrogant in this post - but I have no regrets on what the Good Lord has blessed upon me through my hard work and MANY sacrifices along the way.

Coolsplash · January 2012

I am 37, married and have a son. My full time job is in Pharmaceutical industry. I never spend anything from what I make from my job on LEGO but since I have been buying and selling and now buying stuff for people who do not have access to buy online like I do so it pays for my LEGO hobby. Not much but I manage.

I am easily the biggest Fan/collector of LEGO products in my country mainly because the product is not available easily and if it is, it gets retailed very expensive. You can say the local toy vendors keep the prices raised on purpose to discourage people not to buy LEGO. But being into LEGO I know the real prices so I just have to visit a store 2-3 times, then offer a price, and to my surprise I step out of that store with a good deal. But its not easy as always. So a lot of people ask me with something like 'Aren't you too old for a kiddy toy' but that makes me smile like a kid only as we all have a kid hidden inside us.

So we should never be ashamed and keep our heads up proud on our LEGO purchase as a lot of people only take LEGO as a kiddy toy, but what do they know ;)

Sherlockbones · January 2012

I'm never ashamed, when I go to my local Argos or Toymasters, they always ask me if I'm getting a LEGO set, I can remember when the first CMF came out, I spent a hour feeling for them XD

AvengerDr · January 2012

How can a regular kid enjoy the expensive sets? Unless s/he has very rich parents, how is he supposed to pay for them? When I was little I only received as a kid the very small sets and the medium sized one for special occasions..

Interestingly enough it was my girlfriend who by gifting me a TIE defender got me back into LEGOS :)

BTHodgeman · January 2012

Not ashamed one bit. It is a universal toy that everyone can like and use. If a cashier asks, I will tell them that it is for myself.

Brent

4WD · January 2012

I don't believe that you have "settle and accept" it at all. With the 16+ crowd, LEGO is becoming as popular as ever. Look at the TT video games that people love, the fan models that people are in awe over, and even several of LEGO's very own models. Thousands of hits for Lego Animations on Youtube. Celebrities admitting they like to build. If someone's laughing at you for buying LEGO, then they haven't exactly been paying attention have they? :)

drewsbu · January 2012

I will say this on another end - as a married man, I must apply the '48 Hour Rule' (those of you who are Garage Logicians know what I mean). If the items purchased remain in plain site for 48 hours or more, I can claim that I have always had them. The trick to this is to unbag and build or at least spread out the pieces. If you leave them in the box, you are not getting away with it.

hahaha I thought I was the only one that did that. My wife is no fan of my lego hobby. I normally get my sets shipped to my house and I have to race home before my wife gets home from work so she does not see the lego boxes waiting on the front porch. I hide the massive amounts of cardboard boxes in my pickup truck and dump it at my work dumpster. If she actually knew how much I invested into my lego addiction she would have a canary. She normally gives me a disgusted laugh when she sees the collection secretly growing in my mancave basement.

Redbullgivesuwind · January 2012

As you maybe be able to tell Im not really someone who cares about other peoples thoughts on me (see other posts). Someone did make a comment about my lego buying and with out going into detail they were put back in their place. To be honest if your friends or family dont like your hobby or think your silly etc etc they arent worth your time and werent really a friend in the first place. Soon you will get to the age you dont care and then look back and wonder why you did. So although it is hard hold your head up and buy it at your own pace.

Istokg · January 2012

Sigh.... you youngsters had it easy.... I invented coming out of the "Dark Ages" ;-)

That was in 1979 and I was in my mid 20s... Of course back then... I was the only AFOL I knew (looooong before the internet).

Did not tell any friends that I had LEGO.... no... they wouldn't understand then (or so I thought). However I did a toy store display where a relative of mine knew the owner... and my MOCs impressed the store owner so much that she contacted the local newspaper. Next thing I knew it snowballed and I got contacted by TLG Enfield... even got a letter from Peter Eio (USA LEGO President back then). I also was invited to be on TV in Canada (I live just 5 miles from the US/Canada border).... for THE JOURNAL... a daily 1 hour info show that was doing a special on 25 YEARS OF LEGO IN CANADA. At this point I was terrified, since all the friends and co-workers I knew had no clue... and I was on TV throughout Canada, including all the border cities (such as Detroit and Buffalo)...

Well all that silliness for nothing... my co-workers all got together and drove 15 miles across town to see my display window, and were all very supportive of me, as were all of my friends.

Everyone was impressed and I breathed a sigh of relief. That same year I was also mentioned (page 30) in THE WORLD OF LEGO TOYS by Henry Wiencik... the only AFOL mentioned in the book.

So when I go to a toy store and purchase LEGO today... embarrassment is the farthest thing from my mind...

Gary Istok
..... blazing the LEGO trail... so that you all can raise your head proudly...

P.S. I'm kidding on that last one... but somebody had to be first! ;-)

jonboy2000 · January 2012

I'm 37 and have been back into Lego for the last 4 years. My younger brother has dealt collectable toys for years but funnily enough didn't really sell much lego. Now we are mad about it and have constant conversations about it speculating etc.
There was a funny incident last year when his wife could over hear us when she was out in the kitchen. She came back into the room and said "for a moment there I thought you were talking about something really serious and then I realized you were talking about lego".
Most of my friends know I'm into it and find it amusing. Some other people I know think it's a bit strange until I tell them some of the profits I've made on sets.
Embarrassment sifting through CMF's seems to be a common theme. After the 1st 2 series I gave up on feeling the dots and the packets which is why I'm a few short on series 3 and 4. Now I just buy a box and sell what I don't want. I probably spend more time selling them but I can't stand standing in a shop for hours sifting through them all. At least I can sell the figure from the comfort of my own home.

omgitsrenzo · January 2012

woah so ... after re reading this thread again..I got inspired. Previously ( in my last post) only around 3 other people knew about my lego obsession... But now over 545 people on my facebook and all 259 followers I have on tumblr know... It was kind of hard being a 16 year old still liking legos...but hey its what I love so Im proud of it !

krklint · January 2012

@SapmiSatan, I'm proud of you! Hold that head high!!!

Side note for you, the last two people to visit my home, both female (one 24 and the other 44) both thought my Lego obsession was extremely amazing! Right now I have my modular buildings and the Emerald Night on display. They loved them!!! They were amazed by the how detailed the buildings were on the inside.

With this in mind, I hold my head high every time I buy lego. Why, because when I'm confident in who I am, it comes across as sexy ;) (Yup, I said sexy :) Now, I'm not going to lie, I get a few odd looks now and again too. Do I mind? Nope. Why? Because those odd looks fade when you are confident in who you are. And if anyone asks me if they are for my kids (I'm 37), I tell them I am not a father. The bricks are for me.

Coolsplash · January 2012

@Istokg, I am speechless reading what you wrote. This calls for a loonnngggg private message to you which I will manage very soon :P But, I am honored to know such a passionate AFOL like you and hope to learn A LOT more from you. Keep it up Sir :)

Another thing I would like to add with respect to this thread, lately its kinda fun to make the wife give me a 'Oh honey please grow up' look whenever me and my kid discuss LEGO with such passion. So dear brother and sisters, keep your head and spirit high.

lulwut · January 2012

No, I get the gift receipts to fool everyone at the registers. Muwahahaha.

tdhbr · January 2012

I'll admit that sometimes at the checkout counter, I turn to my wife and reaffirm, "Timmy doesn't have this one, does he?" If only there were a Timmy... :o)

If you need a real Timmy to buy for, I'll volunteer. I can even prove that's my name. And I'll always say that I don't have it.

omgitsrenzo · January 2012

I'll admit that sometimes at the checkout counter, I turn to my wife and reaffirm, "Timmy doesn't have this one, does he?" If only there were a Timmy... :o)
If you need a real Timmy to buy for, I'll volunteer. I can even prove that's my name. And I'll always say that I don't have it.

uhh... can I volunteer to be Timmy's little brother ?

bellybutton290 · January 2012

@jmoney001 I too am 33 and feel exactly the same as you (now). I didn't at first though, the awkwardness was alot more frequent early on.

Jezzatheshed · January 2012

I find Lego can break down barriers for me so I'm never shy about it. It in fact seems to have the opposite effect to what you think it will have. Most people have had Lego at some time in there life so it can be a great conversation starter and Lego minifig Keyrings are often to be seen these days and give huge clues as to what people are interested in.
I can honestly say Ive never met an unfreindly Lego fan (dealer yes- but fan no!).

bazzert · January 2012

The latest issue of USA Hockey has a nice article about Patrick Kaleta who is a professional player for the Buffalo Sabres and an avid lego collector. There's a picture of him with his pretty extensive collection. He sounds like an all round great guy.

GIR3691 · January 2012

I'm 20. I was still getting twitches of shame until recently. I would take the campus shuttle over to the mall and hit the LEGO store, returning with a big yellow LEGO bag and having to carry it across campus back to my dorm. After a few times doing that, I just stopped caring. Also buying cartloads of LEGO at 50% off clearance a couple weeks ago was fun. First time I went shopping with a cart other than to get groceries. I just stopped caring what other people think.

I enjoy when people see what I do and get nostalgic, saying it's really cool.

Amiko · January 2012

If the LEGO is placed on a shelf above me then yes... I do have my head held high.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Ernst · January 2012

I'm 48 years old and I could use my son for excuse but I don't care if people know I collect and love LEGO. In fact I tell a lot of people and directly ask if they have old LEGO they don't use anymore. In toyshops I don't care either.

Shenmue9999 · January 2012

I'm 27 but I look like I'm 17 so i have not been ask if the Lego is for me but when i take my kids with me people ask if it for my sister and my kids are like that's my dad. i get a lot of i can believe u have kids this old and the Lego thing never comes up but if i was ask i would not have a problem with telling someone that there for me.

roxio · January 2012

I'm 37. I remember scoring 10 x 7668 @ £4.97 each in Tesco.
Could see the smirk on the spotty young male cashier. Kept my head held high. When he asked who they were for l said 5 for me, 5 for eBay to pay for the 5 for me. Really ? Oh yes, son, really.
And they did pay for themselves and more as they sold on eBay for £15-£20 each. Which equals more £££ for more lego !

zerrminator · January 2012

I'm 30 and I hold my head up high when buying Lego. I actually just got back into it after my brother bought me a set for Christmas, the Lego City Truck. Don't be ashamed if you collect or play with Lego. It's the creative and innovative people that do well in this world and Lego helps fuel that passion. People made fun of me in school that I played too many video games and now I'm very well off ($$$) as a career Game Designer :)

Hold your head up high

Jenni · January 2012

I waited to comment because the vast majority of LEGO in this house is for my daughter and husband, my two sets were bought online. However yesterday I bought Tower Bridge and the mini-modulars. While the LEGO store clerk asked my daughter if the bridge was for her (she carried it to the desk), she wasn't serious, and I had no problem buying the sets and walking through the mall with them.

Last week I did chicken out of telling a very good friend exactly how much I spent on Cafe Corner though :).

Galidorneveragain · January 2012

Try being a teenager in your late teens buying Lego...

Toys R Us are usually fine with me when I buy Lego in bulks, the most recent being spending over £100 on the new Superheroes Lego aswell as some old Toy Story.

But at my local Argos, the employees their are usually very 'bitter' towards me when I purchase a Lego set and find it very funny that some one of my age is buying Lego.

stagus · January 2012

Head held high here....can't beat a bit of literation!

I'm 42 and hold a fairly senior position at work. I genuinely don't care what people think of my hobby (for that read more addictive than crack cocaine!). I recently wandered into Smyths and picked up 7 different Superhero sets and 3 City sets in one go. The sales clerk looked at me slightly oddly but I just don't give a hoot!

Friends were a bit derogatory at first but now they love it. Pictures posted on Facebook now get lots of comments (positive) and as I now cast my mates in the pics they all want involved.

I can feel your pain if you are in your teens however. Peer pressure and the snide remarks I can imagine are tough to take. Only advice I would give is stay strong. Just because you don't follow the rest of the sheep doesn't mean you are weird, it only means that you are an indidual. I have 3 kids (including two teenage sons) who do their own thing. Not Lego for the lads unfortunately but equally they don't follow the crowd. I would much rather they are their own person as opposed to being a chav or one of the thousands that seem to feel the need to be orange in colour all year round!

streeker · January 2012

I'm pretty short, a shrimp really, so I have no choice but to hold my head high.

poppypiesdad · January 2012

I work , i pay my bills , taxes, i take care of my family, horses, dogs and cats , my disposable income , after everything is mine well after the wife and daughter have there cut , and if i buy lego , well theres more damaging things in life than plastic bricks...... BUT IM ADDICTED , HEEEELLLLLPPPP MMEEEEEEEE ;)

MinifigsMe · January 2012

I definitely buy with my head held high, but I had to return over £400 of lego to Argos recently... that was erm... a bit embarrassing. Turns out the 19 year old behind the till was still a lego fan. We had a great chat and I think I talked him into saving up for the DS. He'd built the unimog with his dad at Xmas. I also made him promise not to ever have a proper dark age!

Amiko · January 2012

Hehehe!

In all seriousness, these things probably get easier with age, although there are those who generally sneer at people who collect toys - which isn't our problem but we have to deal wih it.

I also collect the excellent Doctor Who classic 5inch figures by Character Options / Underground Toys (phwoooar - they're lovely!) and it took a while for me to 'break through' to my inlaws with it all. In the end, I bought a stack of Detolf display cabinets from IKEA, internally lit them and made a display room that looked 'all grown up'. My inlaws seemed to understand my adult curiosity with toys after that, and it made for a great Christmas this year having booze and nibbles in my spruced up toyroom.

Still... none of that could be done when I was in my twenties as the whole context appeared different to the casual observer.

mcvitie · January 2012

Great thread! When I bought my first set after coming out of the dark ages last year I bought it with some wrapping paper to pretend it was for a gift!! Now I dont mind at all

MontyKensicle · January 2012

My personal experience has been mostly positive.

I've had several girls find it cute that I collect Lego, it's a good conversation starter when you have a minifigure pinned to your lapel.

Due to a limited budget I almost never buy at full retail, so when I walk up to the till it doesn't seem as much of an obscene waste of money to the cashier, some will even chat with me about collecting Lego.

Did have a couple of "friends" find it childish and wasteful of me to collect Lego, but somehow them buying illegal substances isn't wasteful though? They also wanted me to change myself completely to suit them better, so I said to heck with them!

vwong19 · January 2012

I'm not embarrassed when buying Lego in store...

However I think I will be if and when I buy my first Friends set... I may have to come up with an excuse for that one.

jocappy · January 2012

I really don't care what people think about what I do.

bricksan · January 2012

I don't have an issue with purchasing it, then again I'm 6ft and have tattoos everywhere ( Tattooist) so looking at what I'm buying is the last thing on their minds hahaha

zeromerk89 · January 2012

This is a great thread, I am asked often why I do it. I actually just came out of a dark age. Up until recently the last set I bought was the exploriens android base. I have an entire space theme in the basement of my home. I'm trying to expand it now. Hoping to finish purchasing all the exploriens sets, and try and aquifer all of the futuron sets. I'm never embarrassed to buy lego, as a matter of fact, I got my girlfriend doing it now too! She just bulit her first Lego set 2 days ago. . Here is a fuzzy pic of the monstrosity in my basement. .

BrickDancer · January 2012

@zeromerk89 love it! Gave me flashbacks of my cherished M-tron Space days as a child. I like how its so densely packed, gives the feel of a Sim City or PBS's Commander Mark's Secret City Mural (if anyone remembers this special children's art program).

littletoki · January 2012

I am a 40 year old (blah) female, married with no kids. My husband and I are regulars at the LEGO store and when they ask "who are you buying for today?", we smile and say "US!!".

It might not seem this way when you're a teenager (I know it didn't seem that way for me at the time) - but life is so very short. Do what you love.

Most of my friends consider my LEGO hobby a slightly eccentric quirk but they'll be the first to post some Lego link on my Facebook wall or comment on my photos. And as a lot of other people have written, the best thing about everyone knowing your love for Lego is that's what they get you for gifts!!

scubagirl · January 2012

Ditto to littletoki. I too am 40 years old. I just experienced my first LEGO store in Downtown disney on a trip around Christmas time. My husband said if it would be ok if he waited outside for me because of all the screaming going on in the store. Let me tell you I was one of the screamers. I was so excited to see all the cool Star Wars sets etc.(I grew up with everyting SW). I purchased some items for me as well as my older brother. I was a little shy at first when they asked "who are you purchasing for today" but then we got into talking about the upcoming SW 3D movies and It felt totally cool. I loved picking up a VIP card and officialy signed up on my laptop in the hotel room. The staff couldn't have been nicer and treated me like a regular. We didn't have anything like this growing up and being an adult has many advantages such as being able to afford all these wonderful Lego sets. Better late than never.I just purchased the Death Star (YEAH!!!)and I'm worried about the cats and husband getting too close and damaging it after I put it together...LOL.

Do you buy LEGO with your head held high?

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