How You were introduced to Lego

[Halite]

Some background. I am working on a project for my sociology class where I have to research a given community and write a paper about said community. Why I chose to research the Lego Community will become clear in a bit.

But first, We need to get the boring disclaimers out of the way.
There are two intentions behind creating this topic

1. To gather information for my project
2. More importantly, I genuinely want to know how others were introduced to Lego, what role it played in how they grew up, and what they’ve done with their passions.
   Furthermore, all of this is optional. I do not want anyone feeling as though they have no say in what is and isn’t used in the project. If at any point in time you do not wish that I use your story in my paper then all you have to do is contact me. I also don’t want anyone to feel that they have to agree in order to participate in the discussion. Feel free to contribute as much or little as you would like.

With all that out of the way, I’ll start with my story.
I first got into Lego when I was 6, getting the Bionicle Inika Nuparu and Brutaka sets. Over the next 10 years I acquired various Bionicle (both G1 and G2), Hero Factory, and Technic sets, amassing a sizable amount of parts in the process. After a decade of collecting I was forced to lock up the majority of my supply in storage in anticipation of the House selling. I still had a small cache (thanks in large part to both of my big tubs literally over flowing), but the parts I had to work with had greatly diminished. Probably my two most notable creations during this time was my interpretation of Makuta rendered in CCBS (capable of combining with a slightly modified version of the 2016 Uniter Tahu set into first a centaur-like creature, then into a more humanoid combination) which was later retooled to look like a dragon (sadly disassembled because he used too many parts), and what essentially amounts to a re-skin of said Tahu Set that attempts to capture his original Nuva look (wasn’t a very big fan of all the gold).

Once I left for college I discovered a little program known as Lego Digital Designer. By spending more hours than I care to admit on LDD, I was able to hone my skill with Technic and created five completely custom Toa on the program (never did get around to making a Toa of Fire). Unfortunately they all used pieces that I either didn’t have, or simply didn’t exist in the color that I needed them in. After those five I put a hold on messing with Lego (digital or otherwise) for the next few months, during which time I pretty much forgot everything that I had learned about Technic. It wasn’t until this last summer that I was able to get my hands on my full supply, including what had been locked away in storage. With full access to every single piece that had been collected over 15 years, I set about creating My first ever self-MOC in the flesh (er, plastic?). Because of those few months away from LDD, I was essentially starting from scratch. It was actually kinda like learning a new language. In a similar way to how a mostly Hispanic kitchen staff can make you regret forgetting three years of Spanish class (true story), not knowing all of the potential uses of any given Technic piece drove me mad. Even so, I don’t regret forgetting all that I had learned, because if I’m being honest, the experience of relearning everything brought a very euphoric sensation, as if all the secrets of the universe were being revealed to me. In the end, this is what I came up with: The powerful yet reckless Toa of Stone, Nova.

The upper torso is a modified version of a design created by the youtuber Kemzal (Just a heads up I have attained permission to feature his design in this post, Full credit to him for the original design).

Here’s the original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMaxyA1bW1w&lc=z23jfjihgxj0d1qmzacdp435tkbjyvh5jferwr55yb5w03c010c.1570019816235109

Following the completion of my self-moc I gave away my entire supply to the son of one of my coworkers as a way of sharing my love for Bionicle and Technic with the next generation.

As for why I’ve chosen the what I have (that being the Lego community), there are three questions driving my research:

1. How were you introduced to Lego?
2. What role has it played in your life’s story?
3. Have you experienced a similar euphoric experience to what I described? If so, How is it similar or different? Did it have to do with something completely different? What do you think caused it?

[ProfSrlojohn]

I honestly don’t really remember, but my first set i think was a coast guard helicopter,

for the rest of my lego life, i’ll just cut-copy-paste from my BS01 page.

I was first introduced to bionicle when I got Matoro Mahri in 2009, from Big Lots. I essentially thought, “Cool! are there any more of these!?” So we went to Target and got Strakk I think. Over the course of the year I proceeded to acquire all the 2009 sets except for the jungle tribers, Vorox, Atakus, and the titans. In the second half of 2009, I started gobbling up all the Bionicle lore I could find, went over the websites several times, acquired chronicles 1, 2 and 4, and legends 1, and 3 (which really confused me until I saw the retrospective). I also bought Mata nui and 2 kiina’s (don’t ask me why). I was Bio-crazy, I even had a 3-D Thornax birthday cake! Then 2010 rolled around. I literally yelled at my screen when I saw the announcement. I then acquired all 6 stars, (3 of which were for a birthday cake, oddly enough). Then it ended, and I was lost with only my bio and exo-force books to comfort me. Then I discovered BS01. It and it’s podcast kept me interested until 2015. Then, it came back! I literally pinched my self, and attempted to not run around the house with joy. I really enjoyed Bio V2, especially the TV show. I even got involved and sent questions into the podcast. Then it ended again, and I returned to BS01, and it’s kept my interest up since then. I even started acquiring older books as best i can, Thanks to BS01’s (slightly annoying) habit of not having book scans. And that’s it. Thanks for reading this if anyone reads it.

Then I joined this site, and have been here ever since.

I’d be glad to go into more detail if you want it.

[MaxinePrimal]

Lego was kind of always there for me. When I was little I had this duplo table and a big tub of duplo bricks to build on it. And I also had this alligator that you could roll over lose parts on the floor and it’d eat them up.

Then when I turned 10 my parents got me and my little brother a tub of “big kid legos” aka normal sized pieces. It was a huge deal for me. The smaller and more varried parts allowed me to be so much more creative and detailed in what I made. I even remember the first things made with them. A Halo Hunter, a Dalek, and a few space ships. All of them fairly simple, but I still love 'em. Wish I still had those old spaceship builds.

[meepinater]

When I turned 5, my dad got me my first lego set and helped me build it. It was a huge bulldozer thing and I absolutely loved it.
As we moved around the country for my dad’s job, the only toy that really withstood constant moving was Legos, so I just got a ton of those…
and I’ve had em ever since!
Middle school I hit a dark age, which sucked because I had no more creative outlets than that.
But I’m still going strong!

[Pakari]

I can’t remember exactly which one came first, but I know two of the first LEGO sets I ever got were this LEGO City Fire Car:

And the original LEGO Star Wars Twin Pod Cloud Car:

I can remember that specific Lobot minifigure being one of my favorites. He came with a walkie-talkie piece that I unfortunately misplaced.

As far as I can remember, those were my first ever exposure to LEGO, but I was never really a LEGO freak. I had a healthy love of System at all times in my life, but the real start of my journey was in 2006, when I was introduced to Bionicle. This is my true origin story.

It’s the summer of 2006. I’m around 6 years old, probably about to turn 7 soon at that point. My older brother, who was about 9 at this time, had a friend from up the street. He was moving away, and because of this he had some toys he no longer wanted that he gave to my family. From this kid’s sister, my sister got this gigantic Barbie plane (that was later melted by being too close to a heater…yikes). And to my brother this kid gave his entire collection of Bionicle.

Now, my brother isn’t the LEGO type. He was the sports kid who would have much rather preferred a basketball or something, so naturally he decided to give that massive Bionicle collection to me. And what a collection it was.

I was presented with a number of big plastic boxes, the kind with the locks on the lids that kept the contents safe in case of water or wind or whatever. Inside these boxes were an entire pastiche of mangled Bionicle figures including a half-built Nui-Rama (missing his companion), a whole bunch of assorted random Technic bits, a couple of Throwbots and RoboRiders (sans the canisters), a Kohrak, a Lerahk, three Mctoran (Hewkii, Macku, and Kongu), Turaga Onewa, a Tahu Nuva, a Kopaka Nuva, and my greatest treasure: all six original Toa Mata (which have canisters that look different to the ones I typically see nowadays. Mine don’t say Technic on them, they’re just Bionicle, and they don’t rotate to show the other Toa sets).

Along with those toys came a whole myriad of promotional material from '01 and '06 and a couple random things like a few of the trading card game cards. I immediately took to all of it. I didn’t understand the lore at all for quite a while, I first thought they were robots and attempted to call them all by their set numbers. There was a brief phase after that were I took to calling them by human names. I don’t even know when it all started to make sense for me. I think one of the Bionicle dictionaries and a bunch of the books were also included in there, so I probably started to read those and got a sense of the world.

It was a strange sort of catch-up for me. By this time the Inika and Piraka were just being released. I can remember going to Bionicle.com and playing the Piraka minigame. I remember “Yo Yo Piraka.” But at the same time I was learning all the Golden Age stuff. I would act out the books with my Mata figures as my mom read them to me, not understanding a word. I never experienced MNOG or any of those things people typically have nostalgia for, but yet I became familiar with this world.

Eventually my interest grew to obsession levels. I got Mask of Light on VHS. I got some of the Gameboy games. I got Bionicle The Game for the Gamecube (I remember reading about the Makuta boss fight online, and at the time I didn’t know what he looked like, so I imagined him as a gigantic Bohrok). I got all the other movies, gawking at all the cool stuff I missed like the Visorak and the Toa Metru. Eventually, I caught up by '07 and got a few of the Mahri. I even got my first Titan, Maxilos and Spinax, probably the coolest thing I had ever got at that time. I remember not knowing how the pistons worked.

I remember all the old Bionicle.com videos and games. I remember The Singing Squid back when it was actually on the site. I can remember being mega hyped when the Phantoka and Mistika came out. I got Lewa and Kopaka for various holidays. I got Onua Mistika as a Secret Santa gift. I even got Titan Takanuva and the Axalara T9! That stuff blew my mind back then. Then '09 rolled around. I got Gresh as a reward for learning to dive off a diving board. I got Gelu as another gift. I got The Legend Reborn on DVD.

All the while I’m reading the comics, the books. I knew a lot of the lore by now. The Stars came out and I got Tahu and Gresh, my two favorites. I was entranced by the stop motion shorts they produced.

And then, just like that, I learned it was ending. It shattered my heart. I never really thought that something I loved so much could come to an end. I didn’t understand why at that time, I was only about 9 or 10.

I remember being heartbroken. I remember hating Hero Factory when it came out. I remember plotting with my friends that we were gonna boycott HF and make them bring Bionicle back. Those were different times.

Eventually though, I moved on. Heck, I even started to enjoy Hero Factory (I did, indeed, buy some sets. I got Stormer). I got older, still making MOCs and keeping Bionicle alive in my heart. I found the online community around 2014 and started posting MOCs on MOCPages (RIP). Joined the Boards in 2015. I don’t need to recount the G2 days, those are all chronicled here.

Recently though, I’ve been falling away from MOC making, and from LEGO as a whole. I’ve never had the largest collection or a lot of money, so parts have always been in low supply for me, and my interests have moved to other areas. But I’m in a place of contentedness. What MOCs I do have, I love. I engage with the community still in my own ways, and still have an appreciation for MOCs and for LEGO on the whole. I buy a few sets here and there.

Bionicle, and LEGO in general, aren’t as much a part of my life as they used to be. But still, it’s one of my fondest journeys. I’m feeling nostalgic just writing this recount. And as I’ve said before on these Boards, Bionicle will always be an influence on me. It inspires me in all the things I do now instead of LEGO, and that’s something I cherish forever.

[LegoDavid]

I first got into LEGO when I was 6. Though I had other LEGO-like toys before that, my first genuine LEGO set was the Droid Tri-Fighter from 2010.

I started visiting LEGO.com and familiarized myself with the sets that were out at the time, played the flash games, watched videos, and so on. I had a great time there, that I still have found memories of to this day.

I kept following with all the new sets that were released ever since then.

My favorite theme at the time was Hero Factory. I remember my parents not allowing me to watch the Hero Factory episodes, because they were “too violent”, but I watched them anyway. Nowdays, seeing the theme of my childhood get all this hate is just heart braking.
Even though since then I also discovered Bionicle, I would never forget the theme that got me into constraction.

Around 2013, I started watching LEGO videos on YouTube, from channels like JANGBRICKS and The Brick Show, and thus got into LEGO Fan Media.

Relatively more recently, I discovered fan sites like TTV Message Boards, Eurobricks etc and started being involved with the LEGO Online community for the first time.

So yeah, I have been into LEGO for almost as long as I can remember. I used to love LEGO, I love it now, and I will love it for years to come.

[Holi]

My parents got me my first Lego set so I’d stop gluing random stuff together. …I wish I was joking here

[Krelikan]

I’m sure my story will match many others but here it is. I have no idea what my first Lego set was but I grew up with Legos from birth. I remember me and my brother got some of the exo force sets as a vivid memory. My family has a lot of weird irrational prejudices. All Lego knock offs were thrown away immediately. It was Nintendo or bust. And Pokemon were shunned. Lego was one of the only toys I liked. Every kid in the family had many Lego sets. We were all pretty protective over our stuff. One of my favorite things was when me and my siblings would do Lego store. I don’t know how common this was but I loved it. Studs were worth 1, the small cylinders that look like three studs on top of each other was 5, and the ones like the cylinders but triangle shaped were 10. We would build stuff and set up shops. It was a big commitment to set up but it is one of my favorite childhood memories. To this day I still refer to the 5 currency and the 10 currency as a 5 piece and a 10 piece. (Does anyone know the proper names of those pieces?) After awhile, I found TTV through the top tens which I adored. I would also watch Mask of light and legends of merry nui multiple times a week. These days I’m the only one in my house who still buys Legos. (Except my dad who is obsessed with the Minifigures packs.) It’s honestly kind of depressing to be the only one. I remember how excited I was to know Bionicles was coming back. I figured it out through my friend. (Still disappointed that he figured it out before me.) One of my friends and his brothers had a lot of Legos, especially big ones. One of them dropped tuma out of a moving vehicle. I think they had the jetrax. I can see it’s turbines in the bins they have. Lego as up my life for the most part. The thrill of a new catalog and talking about new sets I bought with my friend. I wish I would write more but I’ll leave it here for now.

[Likus]

My family has a lot of weird irrational prejudices.

Me too. My father was raised in a very strict conservative home so when I was young there was no Pokemon or Harry Potter or fps video games or r-rated movies or cable tv allowed in the house. I remember asking for the LEGO Studios Vampire’s Crypt when I turned eight and getting told no because it was satanic. They of course purchased BIONICLE sets for me because i told them they were just robots without mentioning the supernatural powers part.

What got me into LEGO was the 4288 classic bucket I received when I was five along with 6426 super cycle center. Super cycle center is a highly juniorized set that, even at five years old, I knew you couldn’t build anything different with. My parents probably bought it since it would have been on clearance. So I gravitated toward the better parts in the bucket and built all of the models featured in the idea booklet. You could build tools and planes and farm houses of varying scale with the same parts. That little red bucket is what got me into LEGO and began my obsession with collecting them for the next twenty years.

[TheCobaltCorsair]

If I recall correctly, my grandparents first got me interested in Lego. My first set was the Heavy Loader (LEGO 7900 Heavy Loader | Brickset) from the City line. Ever since then, Lego has always been a huge part of my life. In late 2017, I got a Lego ID account. Unfortunately, I only spent a few months on the galleries before they closed. Shortly before they closed, however, I got accounts on Lego Life and MOCpages (and through MOCpages, I found out about TTV Message Boards).

[Ozkabot]

As far as I recall, Lego was always just another toy to me until I got my first Bionicle, Lewa Mata - from that point I was obsessed with Bionicle and Lego in general. It’s quite a personal story but I don’t mind sharing it if it helps with your project. I’m also probably going to go way off topic but it’s the only way I can really describe how Bionicle has an affect on me personally. I was a fan of other Lego themes too (especially Star Wars), but I’m just going to focus on Bionicle here.

So, my parents didn’t get on especially well when I was younger (thankfully I don’t remember much of that at all), and one night when I was about 4 years old my mum left with me while my Dad was at work and we lived in Spain for a bit. They were still in contact though; my mum told him where we were and also mentioned that one of the other boys living near us had something called a Bionicle, and that it’s something I would probably like. So after what must have been quite a difficult and confusing situation for me, my Dad visits me after not having seen him for what I assume was a week or so (which feels a lot longer when you’re that age) and he brings me a Bionicle. So, right off the bat, Bionicle was instantly associated with an incredibly happy and exciting experience.

Once we moved back to England I continued living with my mum, seeing my dad every other weekend, and the tradition continued for years. I was always excited to see him and he’d bring me a Bionicle near enough every time, further setting in that association. Pretty much all of my memories from my early years are associated with Bionicle; a lot of the time it’s how I remember those early years. If I was between the ages of 4 - 7 and I wasn’t holding a Bionicle at the time, I’ve probably forgotten it.

All this resulted in Bionicle being incredibly personal to me, it makes me happy on a level that I can’t really explain. Even now, when looking at the Toa Nuva or Bohrok canisters I have tucked away in my drawer, I get a little bit of that excitement back; the joy of seeing my dad for the first time in what seemed like an eternity but was actually just a couple of weeks. It’s forever associated with Bionicle.

I hope this helps with your project and I’m completely fine with you using this in your paper; I wish you good luck with it!

[Wolf_Pack]

My introduction to Lego was actually a knockoff set. It was a Mega Bloks speedboat. I don’t really remember how much I played with it, but I evidently liked it, because it sparked my interest in Lego.
My first real set was probably this, though I’m not sure. My collection grew and grew, and I kept making (pretty terrible looking) MOCs.
I was introduced to Bionicle by someone who gave me a bag of them. A few of the Toa Mata (I can’t exactly remember who, though it included Tahu, Kopaka, Lewa, and maybe Pohatu). It also came with two Borohk-Kal. I played with them, though didn’t really follow any of the lore.
I followed sets closely, so I knew about Bionicle, but never really got interested in it, though I remember playing the games on Lego.com. I also for some reason bought a Vahki from a yard sale, and someone else gave me a Visorak. So somehow I accumulated a collection of Bionicle sets when didn’t know a thing about them.
Eventually I got the Lego Life app, which led me to the Lego SW Gallery. It introduced me to the online community. Shortly after I joined, however, it closed, and I migrated to MOCpages.
Just about that time I went to my cousins’ house and they happened to have a box of HF parts, so we built some guys. I was given the ones I made, and that’s what really got me interested in Bionicle I made a few really terrible versions of a SM before finally premiering V1.
After that, I became a part of the (very small) Bionicle community on MOCpages. Over less than a year my SM improved drastically.
So, that’s everything until I moved here, and you can see those creations in my profile.

[wild_toa]

I dont remember how or when, but its been a part of my life for as long as star wars (meaning when I was old enough to A not do something dumb with the pieces like eat them, and B for star wars, handle seeing an arm get cut off by a lightsaber)
I remember my brother building jaller inika, and him and I shared a collection of Lego.
(sadly jaller disappeared sometime, and all the bionicle I had for YEARS was a couple of voyatoran that were just there)
I loved ninjago, and still am collecting sets from that line. my interest in it kind of started shrinking about year five (just after the nindroids) but I had gotten all but two of the sets from year three, which I was proud about. in hindsight… I still want them, but it really isnt that big of an acheivement to me anymore.

though my cousin and I still play with the 2011-2012 spinners (cards and all)

[Khalsa721]

The earliest set I remember was gali mata but I probably had a couple other sets judging off the varoius old and other etc parts.

[Monopoly]

I was introduced to Lego at the age of two when my mum gave me all of her old sets that she still had, being the Fire Fighters HQ,

Mini Tow Truck,

Mickey’s Fishing Adventure

and the Scorpion Buggy.

I would later receive Sports Car,

Tow Truck,

Off-Road Fire Rescue

and City Corner

for my birthday several years later, with those city sets being what got me into Lego, but I wasn’t introduced to Bionicle until 2012, when I received Ackar and Thunder from a lot of second-hand Lego. I knew of Bionicle’s existence at the time, but I thought Thunder was so much cooler than Ackar. The red fiery boi never really got much attention, as he was quickly overshadowed by my Hero Factory collection, as Thunder was joined by Xplode, Furno and Stormer. Furno and Xplode in particular still hold a lot of sentimental value to me, as I would take them literally everywhere with me, even on holiday. I quickly learned that Hero Factory sets were still being sold, and I acquired Breakout Rocka, Breakout Surge, Breakout Evo, Toxic Reapa and Jawblade for my birthday that year. I unfortunately misplaced Jawblade as we moved house, and all that still remains of him is his instruction booklet and a single 3.0 armour clip.

That same year, I got a big carrier bag with some new and used constraction sets contained within. I was overjoyed with the Breakout Furno inside, but also intrigued by the Kopaka Phantoka, Pohatu Phantoka and Chirox in there too. Chirox was nowhere near good condition or complete, but the Toa were completely sealed. I opened them and built them, but payed no mind to them afterwards.

My third encounter with Bionicle was at a car boot sale. A stall had Lehvak and Nuvohk both stuffed in Lehvak’s canister on it. I picked up Lehvak and used his function. I was surprised by it, as I wasn’t expecting Bionicle to actually be any good. I purchased them both, and soon had a large collection of both Hero Factory and Bionicle. Somewhere along the line, idiot me thought to myself, ‘hey, 1.0 Furno sucks, breakout’s way better’ and sold the most important icon of my childhood at the Brampton Car Boot sometime in 2013 or 2014 along with a duplicate Turahk and Hakann. I immediately regretted my decision, and now Xplode was without his partner.

Then, some time last year, I found him. Furno. He’d been through a lot. His helmet had been squashed diagonally, rendering it useless, but I bought him for a pound. He now sits proudly on my shelf with Xplode, and I have vowed to myself to never sell off a constraction set ever again, after what I now know as the Furno Incident. I may never know what happened to my original Furno. For all I know, he could be the one I recovered last year. But I hope he went to a good home, at least.

[Hawkflight]

I had some bins full of duplo and a smaller bin of regular LEGO growing up. The Duplo included a few Bob the Builder sets, and the LEGO bin I think was a regular creator bucket plus some odd technic bits. I didn’t get more interested in LEGO until I got a few LEGO video games - LEGO Chess from a collection of chess games (yes, I was the kid who was into chess at age 5) and LEGO Racers 2. My first sets proper included the Racers board game with cardboard track pieces, the Community Workers minifig set, a castle themed minifig accessory set and the Guarded Inn rerelease.

As for BIONICLE, I knew of its existence since I started getting the magazine in 2004 but my parents didn’t let me get invested in the story since they saw it as too dark. Things changed when I got a few Matoran through BrickMaster magazine, so they let me begin collecting sets and opened up more towards the story in 2009, what with its brighter aesthetic.

[Khalsa721]

@Hawkflight

they saw it as too dark.

If I ever have children that’s one thing I’ll never believe. Unless it’s something like saw or something obviously not made for kids I advocate for kids seeing more then fart jokes and tired hero stories.

[wild_toa]

@Hawkflight

yes, I was the kid who was into chess at age 5

whats odd about that? I played chess at five or six. many people I know did too

[Cordax]

My first set was some random lego city starter set that had a fire truck, an ambulence, and a police bike, with a medic, firefighter, cop, robber, and some skater kid I got from my grandparents. I don’t have a picture because I just don’t have one.

[Monopoly]

You’re thinking of this set.