Which set took you out of your dark age?

Ayberk · August 2017

Apologies, if a thread like this already exists. My first day here and I did a cursory search and couldn't find one...

So, I'd be very interested to know if there is a specific set that "bright aged" you. And why.

My story short: born in 1975 Germany, with parents who left no childhood Lego wishes unanswered. Dark aged around age 10, when the Commodore 64 took over for good. Then, 30 years later, I stumbled upon the Arocs, impulse bought it, and even though I loved everything about and building it, I didn't look into the Lego status quo much further. All the sets I saw here and there throughout the decades didn't do much for me. Especially since I got into papercraft 10 years ago, building (mostly) architectural models out of paper. Lego couldn't hold a candle (heh) to highly realistic papercraft sets (which are also, of course, waaay cheaper). [Eiffel-Tower]

Now, this year, two things happened: the Saturn V and, get this, The Lego Batman Movie.

First, the Saturn V was the first Lego set I saw that looked realistic even up close. More so, the stage-design and everything else about it was pure delight. But then, just when I was probably about to dark age again, the other thing happened shortly after...
Now, I'm sorry to say, but the Lego Movie didn't do much for me. It's clever and everything, but many things didn't connect with me. But... but... Batman?... boy oh boy. I haven't watched a movie 3 times in one week since Heat, over 20 years ago. The Lego Batman Movie is a straight-up masterpiece. Add to that, it just broke out my inner child like there is no tomorrow, for reasons I can't fully explain. Everything about it just hypnotizes me. I have been a huge film buff all my life (studying film-directing in college), but I have never experienced anything like this. Maybe, at 42, with no children and in a relationship that's set on having no children, this is my form of an early midlife-crisis? Heh.
No. This thing is perfect and pure magic. Not only is it funny in ways both children and adults can appreciate, but the direction and drama just sucks me in like ...bricks on drug. The scene where Batman jumps off the batwing to go after Robin, alone, might be the richest cinematic moment of this year. Though what makes this a masterpiece is the endless charm and thought that went into all aspects of it.

Anyway, things quickly snowballed from there! The Lego Batman Sets. The childlike fun of it all, especially the minifig variations on Batman. Discovering the modulars, the Technic and Star Wars golden-age (we're seemingly being in). And here I am now, less than 2 months and an insane 180 sets later. Loving just about any but the girl-themes. With 140 further sets to go build and probably having the year of my life...

All thanks to the public-idea Saturn, and the bricked Cruisader.

Now you, please.

P.S.: Judging from forum activites, I'm a bit surprised to find out that the adult Lego lover community is seemingly much bigger in English-speaking countries than here in Germany or anywhere else.

drdesignz · August 2017

It was my understanding the AFOL community in Germany is huge, no? Do you know about LUGs? I think (assume) the online community is bigger in English because it's the most common secondary language, so maybe that's it.

I bought five or six Creator sets 5.5 years ago, thinking I wouldn't get much more because it was a bit expensive for a new hobby. I have a million bricks now.

Jern92 · August 2017

The absolutely breathtaking Parisian Restaurant :-)

Fauch · August 2017

that eiffel tower looks so awesome

CaptainRogers · August 2017

For me it was #7571, Fight for the Dagger from the Prince of Persia line. I actually have my brother to thank - he saw on an online deal forum that several Kmarts had leftover copies of these sets marked down to 90% off! For a mere $3, I figured I would grab it and flip it on eBay for a profit. I bought it, let it sit a few days... And thought 'what the heck, I'll open it'.

I grabbed a few more after that, usually on sale or clearance, to resell... And maybe keep a few. And then I kept a few more. And a few more... But nowadays I don't make excuses.

Jackad7 · August 2017

#76023 The Tumbler, the Nolan Batman trilogy (specifically TDK) are some of my favorite movies of all time and when I saw the model I needed one. I then proceeded to get sucked into the Star Wars lego universe.

Renny · August 2017

The UCS Imperial Shuttle. Just a cool looking ship that looks amazing in Lego form.

xwingpilot · August 2017

The UCS X-wing #10240 - although I did buy the Microfighter X-wing #75032 first.

TheOriginalSimonB · August 2017

Back to the future...

SeanTheCollector · August 2017

The #10188 Death Star which i have yet to build! :)

AdeelZubair · August 2017

I rediscovered LEGO in secondary school where my maths teacher had a LEGO Christmas 2009 catalogue on their desk. I politely asked to have a look and ever since I saw those Star Wars sets featured in the catalogue I was hooked!

blakusdk · August 2017

2011, wife reignited my love for Lego with POTC sets, has been an addiction since

stlux · August 2017

@SeanTheCollector #10188 was also my entry to being an AFOL! Though I did built it as soon as it arrived ;)

CCC · August 2017

For previous answers:

What brought everyone out of their Dark Ages?
http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/297227

What (or who) made you have an interest in Lego?
http://bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/486283

ateague · August 2017

Wall-E for me, and that started the obsession...

TheFew · August 2017

Taj Mahal as a gift from the wife. Then re-selling is used for £750... Kinda re-sparked my interest in Lego...

BooTheMightyHamster · August 2017

The #8110 Technic Unimog. Saw a video review in the motoring section of a newspaper's website, was amazed at what Lego was now capable of (after 30 years away from the brick). Mrs Boo bought me the #8070 SuperCar for Christmas 2012, I picked up the Unimog shortly after and it's been downhill ever since...

SeanTheCollector · August 2017

@stlux I displayed my #10188 Death Star set unopened for a long time but decided not to open it until I could allocate enough time to build it, and could decide on somewhere to display it! It wasn't long before I ended up getting smaller sets which I did find time to open and build. The first set I built after I came out of my dark ages was the #75055 Imperial Star Destroyer. A great set and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the yet to be released #75190 First Order Star Destroyer.

redarmy · August 2017

#75105....and my wife has no-one but herself to blame for the carnage that followed afterwards...

piratemania7 · August 2017

It was the 2008/9 Pirates theme.

jgadget · August 2017

#8865, bought new from a store some years ago. I entered my dark ages just as Technic emerged. :-(

Muftak1 · August 2017

For me my DA started around age 10(ish - can't exactly remember - was a big classic space fan).

I moved onto Star Wars figures and vehicles when Hasbro restarted the line in '95 (I think). Pretty much managed to get all figs & vehicles up to ROTS then my wife picked up a #7163 on offer in Smyths, because the box was damaged and open, for my birthday. I had never thought about getting Lego SW as I remembered everything being blocky as a kid so it held no interest for me - then I built the set and was hooked! Turned out it was missing the magnets but a quick email to Lego CS and they sent the missing parts out pronto.

Have had to dial back on sets now (no more SW (until the USCMF) and into modulars)

My eldest collects Minecraft Lego, but I don't think he's as into Lego as I was at his age...

Maybe I'll build his sets

mh3490 · August 2017

#10219 was the one that did for me about 6 years ago saw it at the store and remembered how badly I wanted #10020 and my parents never got me that so I figured that train was the next best thing and here iam 650 plus sets later

vizzitor · August 2017

My main Dark Age started when I was 12. My brother is 13 years younger than me though so when he started getting Lego, I "helped" with that.

The real end to my Dark Age was when, on a whim, I asked for Lego for Christmas 2010 since I had no idea what I wanted. I got #5891 Apple Tree House and #5867 Super Speedster.

There was then a "Light-Bluish Grey Age" for almost four years where I was talking myself out of buying Lego for myself any time I saw other interesting sets. Still regret missing out on some excellent themes and particular sets from that era.

Sothen in 2014, the Lego Movie came out and made adults buying Lego seem like an ok thing to do for people in general. I cracked and bought a couple of small sets but made the terrible decision of looking online for the best ones available....that was the year # 10243 the Parisian Restaurant and #71006 were released so that was the beginning of a flood of orders to [email protected] that I also discovered on my hunt.

I'm still unsure if that innocent Google search was a good thing or not.

FowlerBricks · August 2017

Hmmm...probably #8958 Granite Grinder. I had gotten some Creator mini-sets before that, but when I was about seven, I got that set. It was the first one I had ever gotten with minifigures and I've been collecting ever since!

Paperballpark · August 2017

#4436 Patrol Car. I bought it half-price from Amazon while buying Lego as a present, and that opened the floodgates...

Matt89190 · August 2017

#42009 - all my friends had the original growing up and I remember being super jealous, so I couldn't resist the remake...

MrShinyAndNew · August 2017

#7144 - Slave I. It had Boba Fett and a printed Han-frozen-in-carbonite brick!!! I figured I'd get this one, maybe track down the already-disappeared-from-shelves snowspeeder and Millennium Falcon, and probably an X-wing. Then more sets were released and I ended up getting a Tie, a Tie Bomber, a Tie Interceptor, an AT-AT, some Ep II sets, then some other sets, and plus it turned out my mom still had my childhood lego in a big tub, so I brought that home and rebuilt every set I could find so that I'd have an inventory of what's missing... then it sorta spiraled out of control from there.

NaptownMVP · August 2017

My son and I had dabbled in Lego when he was 4 or 5 with some sets. He never really seemed into it, so I stopped buying them for him. Then out of the blue last year for father's day he gave me 75135 and we put it together. I really loved it, so I bought another set 75099 and put it together and just fell in love with it. I had just come out of being into board gaming and was needing another money sink hobby, and Lego came along at the right time!

BooTheMightyHamster · August 2017

@NaptownMVP

Hmm. I got into boardgaming about 18 months ago. Money sink is right!
Got any good recommendations, by the way? I've got a fair bit of the obvious stuff, but any recommendations for interesting and unusual games (3-6 players) would be great, and particularly looking to bump up my collection of games for two players.
Cheers!

Briking · August 2017

FB and GE modulars. And then all the other modulars. And then... a lot of money...

Bumblepants · August 2017

BooTheMightyHamster said:

@NaptownMVP

Hmm. I got into boardgaming about 18 months ago. Money sink is right!
Got any good recommendations, by the way? I've got a fair bit of the obvious stuff, but any recommendations for interesting and unusual games (3-6 players) would be great, and particularly looking to bump up my collection of games for two players.
Cheers!

That would be a fun off-topic discussion. I like unusual board games

DB361 · August 2017

Mine was relatively recently in 2013 - #42000 just summed up my love of Lego and Formula 1 in one box and was a must buy, and I've never looked back. I went into my dark ages in the early 2000's when there was very little of interest around, the sets were basic and blocky and I was heading into that typical teenager attitude of "I'm not a kid anymore". All these years later, I don't look back at my teenage years too fondly!

Astrobricks · August 2017

#75094 Imperial Shuttle Tydirium. I'd been mostly dark since the beginning of college except for a few Insectoids and Star Wars sets found on clearance at Target over the years.

natro220 · August 2017

I walked into a Lego Store in 2008 or so and saw some of the UCS Star Wars sets on display. I was amazed at their size and detail - and price. I didn't buy any that day, but rather purchased 10177 Dreamliner because it was only $40 on clearance. I built that set that weekend, then ended up getting the 10179 MF the next month.

datsunrobbie · August 2017

My Dark Age started in 1987, ended in 2014 when I was shopping at a thrift store to find some toys for my grandson. I stumbled across #10188 for $56.

sid3windr · August 2017

#10248 Ferrari F40. I got the Mini and the VW Bus right away as well. Then Speed Champions, then the modulars, then the fairground sets, TLM, TLBM, TLNM. It just kept going from that point on :)

The years in between I bought a Technic set here and there so the ages were not totally black, but still very very dark. Nowadays that's a whole other story - I could have been rich(er)!

madforLEGO · August 2017

Hmmm, I believe it was actually #4561, then #4565 was close I believe

SumoLego · August 2017

I've often tried to make a list of what my collecting is 'limited' to.

But I run out of characters in the post.

catwrangler · August 2017

I suspect that what started me buying Lego regularly again was the monster series of CMFs - I certainly got more active on Brickset around that time, and it was followed by a lot of excited Lego buying, from Nexo Knights to a modular...

dspigel · August 2017

#21103 is what brought me back. I happen to see it on an unrelated truck forum. I knew I had to get it at first sign. I was wise enough to buy two. So I built one and I still have the other sealed and put away.

herbyderby · August 2017

While I bought one or two sets over the decades that made up my dark ages, like the Space Shuttle #10231, and a couple of small very early Star Wars sets, it wasn't really until the Lego Movie that I started collecting. First Benny's Spaceship (I grew up with classic space), then Metalbeard's Sea Cow, and here I am 400+ sets later.

CaptainLego · August 2017

Surfer's Rescue.

Yes, a $7 set obtained in December 2013 is how I got back unti Lego. Well, I got 60007 a couple of days after. I should probably re-build that police jeep at some point.

77ncaachamps · August 2017

It was around 2008.

Lego Star Wars, Clone Wars

Either it was the #7676 Republic Attack Gunship or #7675 AT-TE Walker.

I ended picking them up later, used.
But those were the ones that really drew my attention back to Lego SW.
I ended up buying SW sets at Borders bookstores with their 20-30% coupon email offers.

msanders · August 2017

The Imperial Flagship is what brought me out of my dark age. A £50 amazon voucher was to blame. Then my parents in-law bought me an AT-AT for Xmas and that was my spiral into the obsession/addiction!

ctx1769 · August 2017

#75105 my wife got it after the ucs R2D2 retired which I wanted for a one off build, I bricklinked it later :), now I have 150 sets 2 years later.

ryjay · August 2017

I think I'm in my dark age now...or at least gray....nothing has pulled me out as of late. The Fishing Store does have my interest, but I bet I'll just look at it, and say, "nah". When my kids were into Lego we'd pretty much buy what they liked, now i just like to look, but no interest in buying

MaffyD · August 2017

#7191 - the first UCS X Wing. What I'm trying to work out now is why I stopped buying between the UCS MF in 2007 and the UCS SSD in 2011 - 4 years of nothing...

dragon114 · August 2017

simpsions cmfs

MrJackson · August 2017

Parisian Restaurant as a grad school graduation gift from my now wife. Now I work at a Lego store. The genie doesn't seem to be going back in the bottle now that we have a son.

ReesesPieces · August 2017

I would always be fascinated by the lego sets everything I took my son to look at toys. So once he was old enough and being a comic geek, I bought him the #6864 and #6867. Lego plus the chance to have marvel and DC worlds come together was too hard to resist!

Which set took you out of your dark age?

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