Today we’ve got a submission that came to us without a question! Randall is an incredible LEGO fan, and he’s written the blog post to show it.
LEGO.
If you haven’t heard that word, you might have been living in a cave somewhere on Mars. LEGO is, of course, a building block system that has been around for some time. A lot of you reading this probably had LEGO sets as a kid. For me, however, I was only able to get into LEGO as an adult. As a result, it’s become a hobby of mine.
Any walk down a toy aisle in any major department store will show you worlds of LEGO product. If you’re new to wanting to put little plastic bricks together, the choices can be intimidating. Fortunately, there are some great tactics to enable just about anyone to embrace that satisfying “click” of LEGO bricks.
First, let’s get something out of the way. While I love LEGO, their marketing is a bit antiquated. They like to split their product offerings by traditional gender expectations. It’s pretty much an old fashioned way of doing things. So let me make this next point clear:
ALL LEGO IS FOR ANYONE – GIRLS, BOYS, and ANYONE IN BETWEEN.
Okay, with that cleared up, let me tell you the one big secret about getting into LEGO. The secret is this – do you have another geeky interest? Comic books? Mecha? Star Wars? Lord of the Rings? Undersea Adventures? Minecraft? Architecture? Miniatures? Terrain? THERE’S LEGO FOR THAT THING!!
It’s true. In the last fifteen years or so, LEGO has greatly expanded the licensing properties they own. They build sets for all kinds of other geeky interests. That’s how I really jumped into the hobby. See, I’m a huge Dungeons & Dragons geek. I wanted to somehow mix my love of that game with the cool offerings from LEGO. In the past, they only had a few castle sets that would fill this need. Not too long ago, though, they began offering sets from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I was sold. Since then, I’ve acquired all but one of the sets in those series (I might have a problem).
Today, I use LEGO for miniatures in my Dungeons & Dragons games. I’ve collected so many sets that I have orcs, goblins, skeletons, dragons, horses, spiders, and a whole host of other cool LEGO that are reasonably scale appropriate for my game. That doesn’t even include being able to allow my players to customize their own LEGO mini-fig to use as their player character miniature! In addition, I use a lot of the architectural elements found in some of my acquired sets for actual terrain on the game table. In fact, I even built a fancy dice tumbler out of LEGO.
Admittedly, that’s a bit of an endgame example. LEGO can be an expensive hobby. The product is in great demand, and that commands a premium price. Fortunately, LEGO offers sets at a number of different price points. If you’re just getting started, then start small. Find a small set in the genre you enjoy and see how you like it. If you’re like me, you’ll save your allowance and your collection will begin to grow in no time.
So here’s the deal. If you think you’re interested in LEGO, think about what other kinds of geeky things you’re in to. Then, do some research on the LEGO.com website. They have a great site, that while geared to the younger set, does a great job of showcasing their latest offerings. I recommend going straight to their online shop. It’s easy to browse, and you can filter your search for just the things you want to look at. You can even buy individual quantities of selected bricks to build your own thing!
That last statement reminds me. There’s another big secret for LEGO enthusiasts. Check out a site called Bricklink. It’s basically an eBay for after-market LEGO. You can find rare bricks and even discontinued sets on that site. It’s got a great search engine for finding exactly the kind of LEGO bricks you want.
LEGO is everywhere. From Mini-figs to expansive $100 plus sets, any place that sells toys will have some LEGO offering. There are now LEGO branded wearables, video games, books, and even an enormously popular movie! The whole LEGO multiverse can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. Simply find your geeky center, find the LEGO that best fits it, and get to building!
Have more questions about LEGO? Ask me on this site here, or contact me directly on Twitter (@deadorcs)! I’ll be happy to share more!
R.M. Walker
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