Am I coming out of the dark age?

[masterchirox580]

Note: This is probably going to be a long one so if you don't want to read a long personal anecdote about my relationship with Lego then you might want to click off.

 

Hello there folks. So back in 2013 I entered what some call a dark age. Basically where I all but gave up on Lego. I started rapidly losing interest in the stuff around 2012 when I was 13 years old. I simply couldn't find myself getting into any in-house Lego themes so I exclusively bought licensed stuff. Then the following year I gave up on licensed and called it quits with bricks. I did buy the bionicle reboot but that was the only thing I would buy labelled Lego.

 

My fascination with the products this company produced goes back to my very earliest childhood at age 3 and a half with bionicle. I remember I did this because my sister and cousin were big into it and me being the youngest of course I would follow them. In the years to follow my interest and dedication to the stuff would outlast their's. One thing I always dreamed of was having a complete collection of bionicle sets. A whole year's worth of sets that I could display on a desk somewhere. Of course this never happened. But back then it was all I dreamed of. Eventually I did get to a point where I would be able to complete sub sects of a wave (E.G all six toa) but of course never a complete year's wave. Of course over time as I started to gain interest in other themes this obsession with collection started to become.... a little bit unhealthy. I would dedicate all money I got from my parents (they're split up so I got money from both) to a single theme so I could have a complete collection. I would actively not buy other themes (even if I really liked the look of a certain set) just so I could dedicate all my time and money to building up a single collection. This was a slow progression over time. From focusing on certain themes over others to outright denying other themes. 

 

This eventually lead me to a brick wall (no pun intended) in the early 2010s. The wave sizes and price points got too large for me to be able to form a collection. By 2013 it was pretty much impossible to form a collection. And it was around that time that I dropped out. For the past few years I simply told myself this was due to Lego products simply not interesting me anymore. That they were simply appealing to a different audience now and that I should just move on. But thing is I never stopped checking websites and looking at upcoming sets. I'd actively look at certain sets (such as that Nexo knights tank castle) with a feeling of want. But seeing the price point and knowing I couldn't pair it up with something to match it made me just ignore it and forget about it. However recently the unexpected happened. The sets have got my interest and I'm thinking about buying one or two. I'll see where it goes (won't buy till August anyway) but it legit has made me think about purchasing a Lego set over thirty pounds again. Now that I think I understand what happened I think I can control it this time. But then I might just drop interest in the purchase in a month's time (who knows).

 

I'm wondering if anyone else had a similar experience and if this is what it was like to get out of the dark age?

Edited January 1, 2022 by masterchirox580

[Master Inika]

It sounds exactly like you are coming out of a dark age, which is wonderful! I myself have the pleasure of having never experienced a dark age; LEGO has been one of my strongest passions since my first set in 2003. Although, that being said, money is money. I've only acquired a new set here or there since about 2014 (not counting BIONICLE Generation 2, which I bought virtually all of). Most of my purchases are secondhand and fairly small. Most of my room has been taken up by over 200 LEGO sets, the bulk of which being G1 BIONICLE sets. Also, most of LEGO's original stories since BIONICLE G1 haven't exactly wowed me. I watch an Elves animation occasionally, and I regret not following along with Ninjago, but I doubt LEGO will ever recapture the magic of BIONICLE G1, Exo-Force, or Knights' Kingdom. Or maybe I'll never be young enough to see the magic of the new lines, one or the other.

 

If you're getting more into it than you were before, welcome back!

[xccj]

Heh, I can kind of relate. Although I've been actively online and following Bionicle since it began, I definitely had some years in high school and college where my budget was substantially limited, so I didn't buy as many Lego sets. In fact, after building my "Sets Owned" list on BrickSet, I realize that I had mostly cut out System sets by 2002, and by 2007 I was cutting back even on my Bionicle purchases. I never exactly quit the theme cold turkey, but I just stopped buying the sets (even as I obsessively followed the story online.) What really turned it around for me were the Lego Conventions, such as BrickCon and BrickFair, and it was inspiring to see all the cool stuff AFOLs build and meet a bunch of Lego obsessed friends who I'd only known online. (Also, the Indiana Jones sets got me back into collecting System and minifigures again.) (Although getting a steady income was probably the real factor to my collection expanding rapidly.)

 

BZPower certainly played a major role in keeping me interested in the theme, from news updates to engaging contests. The site's not quite the hub of activity anymore, but with social media there are now lots of ways to engage with others to share builds and enjoy the stories. Even the Lego Conventions, which used to be few and far between, are popping up in more places (granted, they're not everywhere, so plenty of people inevitably have to travel a great distance to attend them.)

 

... I'm not quite sure what point I'm trying to make here, but yeah the engaging community is pretty cool and it makes me go like, "Well all these other folks like these sets so I'm not weird for buying the whole theme." I mean, financial responsibility is a must, but it's still nice to be part of a group that enjoys the hobby and approves of your Lego purchases.

 

[Liopleurodon]

Heh, I can kind of relate. Although I've been actively online and following Bionicle since it began, I definitely had some years in high school and college where my budget was substantially limited, so I didn't buy as many Lego sets. In fact, after building my "Sets Owned" list on BrickSet, I realize that I had mostly cut out System sets by 2002, and by 2007 I was cutting back even on my Bionicle purchases. I never exactly quit the theme cold turkey, but I just stopped buying the sets (even as I obsessively followed the story online.) What really turned it around for me were the Lego Conventions, such as BrickCon and BrickFair, and it was inspiring to see all the cool stuff AFOLs build and meet a bunch of Lego obsessed friends who I'd only known online. (Also, the Indiana Jones sets got me back into collecting System and minifigures again.) (Although getting a steady income was probably the real factor to my collection expanding rapidly.)

 

BZPower certainly played a major role in keeping me interested in the theme, from news updates to engaging contests. The site's not quite the hub of activity anymore, but with social media there are now lots of ways to engage with others to share builds and enjoy the stories. Even the Lego Conventions, which used to be few and far between, are popping up in more places (granted, they're not everywhere, so plenty of people inevitably have to travel a great distance to attend them.)

 

... I'm not quite sure what point I'm trying to make here, but yeah the engaging community is pretty cool and it makes me go like, "Well all these other folks like these sets so I'm not weird for buying the whole theme." I mean, financial responsibility is a must, but it's still nice to be part of a group that enjoys the hobby and approves of your Lego purchases.

 

I had a similar experience in regards to Bionicle G1 - I first got into Bionicle in 2003, but by 2007 I started cutting on my Bionicle purchases (only bought 3 sets in 2007, and 1 set in 2008). Although I didn't make many set purchases, I continued to follow the story and stay involved at BZP. And then in December 2009, when I found out that Bionicle was getting cancelled, I started buying a bunch of Agori/Glatorian/Stars sets for the sake of nostalgia.

 

After that, I tried following Hero Factory for a bit but got bored of the HF story, and so I ended up getting interested in some of the System themes because I liked the minifigures - Power Miners had Rock/Lava Monsters, Atlantis had fish-people, Pharaoh's Quest had mummies, Ninjago had ninjas. However, by 2013, Power Miners, Atlantis, and Pharaoh's Quest were all discontinued, and I wasn't really interested in the 2013 Ninjago sets, so I didn't buy any new Lego sets for about a year. Instead, I spent my Lego budget to buy/trade for old Bionicle G1 sets online (mostly at the BZP B/S/T forum) and garage sales/thrift stores.

 

2014 got me back into buying new Lego sets due to a combination of two factors - 1) The Lego Movie, and 2) news of Bionicle returning in 2015. Then in 2015 I went to my first Lego convention, and all the cool MOCs there convinced me that I needed to purchase more new Lego sets (which has been the case for me up to the present  ).

Edited August 2, 2018 by Liopleurodon