My Lego Journey

When I was young, I was very into Lego, definitely a Lego Maniac. Here I dive into my history with Lego. 

Early Beginnings: Duplo, Small Sets, MegaBloks, Azam:

Of course, I started with Duplo, but I don't remember this phase. My earliest Lego memories start with a tub of bulk Lego pieces (1708, 4162) and some small sets. My parents informed me that they would have to do most of the building of the small sets at this stage but a friend from down the street, Azam, would come over and take them apart and the pieces would end up with the rest of the bulk Lego. I don't even really remember the sets as they were built because they would quickly end up in the bin (6835 Saucer Scout, 6879 Blizzard Baron, 6898 Ice Sat V, 6889 Recon Robot, 6852 Sonor Security, and 6341 Gas 'n Go Flier) but I remember using the parts in the rest of my builds (My Own Creation or "MOC's" as adults call them), the "best" one I built at the time being a car-carrying ferry among numerous spaceships. Sets that I was absolutely drooling over because friends had them were 6195 Neptune Discovery Lab and Lego 6959 Lunar Launch Site.

Recon Robot and Sonar Security

Blizzard Baron

Ice Sat V

I also received some MegaBloks for Christmas. MegaBloks, while touted as being "Lego compatible" and subject to a lawsuit for that reason, was not created to the same standards as Lego pieces and either fit too loose or too tight to each other and to Lego pieces. One set we received was neat Castle with many small, decorative pieces that were to be attached to exposed studs on a castle shaped shell. The many small parts were probably too much for me to handle at the time and I have no memory of the castle in its final built form, but more of the poorly fitting parts making their way into the bin. Another set came in a rocket-shaped container which contained many neat transparent pieces but were not much use for adding to my Lego builds.

Middle: City Building, Leaving Them Built:

As I got older, I was introduced to the Technic Theme. For my 8th birthday, I received a fairly large (for me at least) Technic set, 8277 Giant Model Set. Like larger sets at the time, it came in a box with a flap and the pieces were organized in trays. More commonplace now, the set also featured multiple instruction manuals. The set required the construction of a central core (with one of the instruction manuals) followed by building up to 6 different models around the central core using the other instruction manual. In my excitement, I started building with the big, bright yellow pieces for the 6 different models, skipping the construction of the central core, that manual may have never made it outside of the box. I quickly hit a roadblock once it was time to start building around the central core, which magically appeared already build on the instructions. The thought crossed my mind that the central core was actually part of another set, like a motor, and I lost interest in the set, the parts made their way into the Lego bin. I used the many 16L Technic bricks in my MOC's but I never got to experience the large models of the Giant Model Set.

I received many other sets, this time leaving them build in their original form. Space themes were my favourite and the highlight was 6949 Robo-Guardian. 6544 Shuttle Transcon was also a highlight with both a space shuttle and an airplane with many special airplane parts. I received the Lego Club Magazine and was kept up to date on the themes and also had some Adventurers featuring Johnny Thunder sets . Western sets were also of interest (my brother had 6761 Bandit Secret Hideout, which sadly ended up in the bin although the interesting parts lived on in our MOC's), I even built a MOC of a fur trading fort for a school project, but I was surprisingly not interested in the castle sets at the time.

Robo Guardian

My brother and I had a table with L-shaped baseplates surrounding a 'pit' with a net. Our part collection overwhelmed the net and made its way to a big Lego bin. The table with the baseplates quickly became home to a bustling Lego City with multi-story buildings, replicas of local landmarks (like the Butterdome) and even an attempt at an elevated railway. Windows and panels from deconstructed sets that found their way into the bin were the highlights of the builds.

We also had a fairly extensive (and expensive) HO train set at the time, so never got into Lego Trains, but it would have been great to have been able to build rolling stock, tunnels and stations instead...

Visits to grandma and grandpa often included Lego sets, but breaking open the box, building, and then glimpsing at the mini-catalog inside only fueled the desire for more sets: 6451 River Response leading to 6473 Res-Q Cruiser, 8226 Mud Masher leading to 8252 Beach Buster, and various Tech-Play sets: like 8229 Tread Trekker, 8215 Gyro Copter.

The big thing in this era for Lego was Star Wars, and I had a couple of the early sets, 7141 Naboo Fighter and 7110 Landspeeder were highlights.

My Lego sets peaked around my 10th birthday with my "Big 3": 8445 Indy Storm, 8446 Crane Truck, and 5563 Racing Truck, with the 735 Light and Sound Fire Truck getting an honorable mention. Of note is that aside from the big 3, there were many sets with piece counts between 100-300 that were very memorable which is important to remember when comparing against the many modern modern sets where even 1000 pieces seems small. Lego Mindstorms was in its early days, I definitely wanted it, but the $400 price tag was a lot. I don't really remember lusting after many other large sets at the time.

Crane Truck

Indy Storm

Basic Building Set. The fire truck is less basic than the name suggests

I stored sets from this time built up in a rolling cart and would take them all out and arrange them to play with them. I would never take them apart to build alternate models, and tried to limit them having parts falling off beyond repair and ending up in the bin. A Lego Book, Krazy Action Contraptions included some technic parts and instructions for many builds, but again, I only built one, a cable car that traversed my bedroom for a while.

End: Constraction, Regrets, Town Jr., Soccer, Games

Throwbots. They were cool. I didn't have any Power Rangers action figures when I was young (but I had Batman and Star Wars figures), so there was something about an action figure that was novel for me at the time. The throwing feature was neat, but the worm gear head movement was underwhelming due to the slow nature of worm gear drives. We had lots of these and Robo-Riders as they were priced within reach of an allowance or two. Sadly, while my mom has kept all of our Lego and other GOAT level toys (Brio Trains, K'NEX, Hot Wheels, and lower tier stuff like Playmobil), except for one set 8523 Blaster, the Throwbots and Robo-Riders were the only sets to have been donated or end up at garage sales. Which is a shame because they contained some unique parts that were used in other Technic builds from the time.

Which brings me to the major Lego regrets from my childhood: Chasing after sub-par sets. First up was Lego Soccer. Going to lots of football games at Commonwealth Stadium, I was fascinated with stadiums and when the Lego Soccer line came out, I was inspired to make a stadium, using many of those previously mentioned 16L technic bricks. We eventually got the 3409 Championship Challenge soccer set, but I then wanted the stadium sets: 3402 Grandstand, 3403 Grandstand with Lights, 3408 Super Sports Coverage, a field expansion 3410, and 3 fricken team buses. The sets were as underwhelming as their names with empty builds featuring large panels.

The other regret was Town Jr. I didn't even notice the "Jr." in the name at the time. These were sets with larger bricks and panels and pre-built vehicle chassis with simplified building intended for younger builders. These parts were actually the subject of much criticism of the Lego of this period and the many large, specialized parts are said to have contributed to Lego's near failure years later. My brother received 6554 Blaze Brigade, 6330 Cargo Center, and 6556 Bank (actually the most decent set of the bunch as it is way cheaper, while despite being similar built size). These were multi-story town buildings that seemed large and impressive and I wanted my own for my Lego City. I was probably 9 or 10 at the time but I got 6332 Command Post Central. The 3 story building that was quickly constructed was very underwhelming. I found the open back and lack of stairs to get between floors unrealistic.

Compared to my L-shaped baseplate donut city which was a 100% Lego environment, these Town Jr. and Soccer sets  featured separated buildings with open backs on small 8x16 baseplates that could be slid around on carpet and arranged how one wanted and either played from street level with the buildings acting as a facade or inside the interior with the open backs. I didn't want this, I wanted realism with enclosed buildings in a Lego environment. Similarly sets with many small builds (carts, small landscapes) scattered about to get lost about my Lego city versus putting all of those parts into one solid vehicle or building frustrated me. My approach at the time had more in common with modern Lego cities with modular buildings rather than the sets at the time. The regret comes from what could have been: Insectoids, Aliens, technic or even whatever the castle subtheme was at the time (although castles do feature large panels that remove many of the joys of building). 

Probably due to other interests: video games, skiing, peer pressure, I got out of Lego. After Robo Riders but before Bioncle came the next year which is a shame because the bevel gear action of Bionicle and parts are a large step up from the slow worm gears of Robo Riders and Throwbots. The last bit of life in my Lego was 8353 Slammer Rhino, a decent technic for the price but underwhelming compared to 8445 or 8446, which still stood proudly on my shelf.

Slammer Rhino

Lego video games were also a highlight at this time, Island, Loco, Chess, Racers, and Rock Raiders.