Adult LEGO Collecting: From Childhood Builds to Display-Worthy Sets

You're listening to the geek cast radio network

of podcast you were tuned in to Steve Megatron

on altered geek Hello and welcome to altered

geek this is another one of the off -the -cuff

specials and joining me in this episode is Michael

booth ninja powers and Yeah, we're gonna talk

mostly Legos and The the art of collecting them

as an adult because yeah We jumped on this call

and we're like, hey we should You're like we

should be recording this Well, yeah, it was just

it became it was kind of becoming a really interesting

conversation, you know about Well a little bit

of context We started talking about you know,

what we've been doing over the holiday or whatever

and My wife and I spent the day building Lego

sets. She grabbed herself the Lego Ultimate Collector

Series BB -8, which is quite the nifty little

toy. I've never seen Legos make a round shape,

so that's kind of cool. But then I scored for

Christmas, or probably for my birthday for the

next five years, the Ultimate Collector Series

Millennium Falcon. Which for anyone that doesn't

know is the largest Lego set ever made And it

also has the most pieces out of any Lego set

that's ever been made at around seventy five

hundred pieces Give or take which is insane Yeah,

I'm not even halfway through building it and

I've been working on it since 130 So I stopped

at about nine So I spent about seven and a half

hours building it so far So and I don't even

have the skin on it. I've just been building

like the interior So But no, I thought you know,

we were having such an interesting conversation

because you said that you took your family to

Legoland Yeah, and it was it was a lot of fun

going through there with the boys and they they

they really liked the like they had this full

-scale like replica of Downtown Detroit Which

was just crazy like they had the the various

sports stadiums they had They had like the monorail

thing they had Just you know the water they had

the the GM building with You know where it's

in the middle and then you've got the other four

pillars on the sides of it and yep It was just

crazy and then on the other wall. They had a

massive amount of Star Wars Ships and and set

up So it was it was a lot of fun to go through

there and look at it and they kind of blew like

this this fake snow stuff on it to make it look

like it snowed in there and they had They they

had vehicles that actually drove around See,

I was gonna be a real jerk and just ask if it

was a bunch of half -built buildings. Oh, no,

they were fully built It was insane. Like the

the only ones that were half built were the stadiums

so you could see the The Lego people sitting

in the benches and and you could actually press

buttons and control the the movement of the like

the the football players and and whatnot in the

the stadium. So it was a lot of fun to to sit

there and kind of just look at it and check it

out. OK. I'll probably post pictures of it on

Twitter. I just I've had them on my phone. I

just keep forgetting to actually post them because

I was like, this is crazy. Just in my pieces.

Yeah, so. It's been interesting for me the one

reason that when I was getting when I said we

should be recording this conversation from the

get -go was because I I have the I guess I first

start I okay I've been I've I've loved Lego since

as far back as I can possibly remember as anyone

that actually plays Legos probably tell you the

exact same thing right yep but you know Up until

like 99. So I don't know the first 18 years of

my life hot nerd me First 18 years of my life

like Legos were something actually. No, it was

a little bit before that. So it was like Let's

say the first 15 16 years of my life, you know

from when I could play with Legos Legos was always

dumping out every piece under the Sun and Building

You know whatever you saw in your imagination,

you know And I was fortunate enough to have three

of those were those 40 gallon Tupperware Rubbermaid

tubs like full of Legos nice And I would my cousins

would come over or you know a Saturday if I was

by myself whatever, you know You dump out all

three tubs onto a massive quilt and you go through

all of those pieces and you know you try to find

what you're trying to build but eventually that

became uh with the help of my cousin that became

okay let's build like you know we got really

into like the diver stuff that came out in the

late 90s so we're like let's build boats you

know because we had all we had these old floating

boat hulls from the floatable legos and it was

like they we weren't doing anything with them

so we made these giant ships these giant Ocean

going like diving ships, you know, they had like

submarines on them and everything. Mm -hmm And

I still have mine that I built That is now Well,

you know, it's now older than I was the set is

now older than I was when I built it I still

have it but the and then it kind of turned into

Lego released all of these Star Wars sets starting

in 99 and I bought all of the first wave sets.

So long story short, I have the Ultimate Collector

series of Millennium Falcon that I'm putting

together, but I also have the original Millennium

Falcon that LEGO released. Yeah, I remember that

vaguely just many years ago that they kind of

released and it doesn't even look as nice as

the new one that's out. Okay, so they've had

a fair number of Millennium Falcons over the

years. Looking back on it, it's almost like every

other year or so they release a new build of

the Millennium Falcon. Each one gets either slightly

more detailed or slightly less detailed. Because

this isn't the first Ultimate Collector series

of the Millennium Falcon, it's actually the second

one. The first one came out in 2007 when I didn't

even know that the Ultimate Collector series

was a thing. nor did I have the money at the

time to actually buy the thing if I had known

it was a thing. So I have the original B -Wing

that came out in 992000 and I also have the Ultimate

Collector Series B -Wing. I have parts of the

original Slave I and the Ultimate Collector Series

Slave I. So I can display the things side by

side and you can see the evolution of the LEGO

sets. But what's really kind of been cool for

me is growing up my dad was always into building

models and You know I I Like putting together

a model, but I don't have the patience that it

takes to actually do one properly You know for

the whole tearing it apart painting it glue.

Yeah, I'm perfectly capable of doing it. I just

don't have the patience for it and but like you

know growing up my dad would always get me like

the 89 batmobile set or back to the future car

or uh the ecto -1 from ghostbusters you know

like he would get me like model sets that were

from things that i was interested in and it's

been really cool over the last eight years or

so that you know lego has basically been re -releasing

you know, been making those sets, the sets that

I used to build myself with my, out of my head,

out of pieces that I had, like I can now actually

just go and buy the kit that looks way better

than anything I could put together. So it's in

my head, I'm like, I'm displaying a model more

so than I'm displaying a Lego set. You know,

these are something that I'm not ashamed to leave

in my family room. You walk in and there's legos

everywhere, but they're all they're all you know,

I I'm not I'm not afraid to display because they

don't look like a child's toy. No I Mean I don't

I wouldn't be ashamed to play with any of these

although I don't play with them But I've got

like a lot of really cool cool things, you know,

I've got I've got the wall e that was really

hard to find But I fell out I fell out with Lego

what actually got me into collecting it big -time

was their architecture series Which was you know,

they would they made like the Sears Tower And

the Empire State Building and stuff like that.

There were just little little kits Yeah, I remember

seeing those I always thought that they were

really neat especially for a small Kit Yeah,

I was I like architecture I like buildings and

stuff like that so When I saw those I was like

that's something that I could You know build

and display, you know, and and that's that's

what kind of set off this whole Basically, whenever

I go on the Lego website it's pretty much anything

I can find that has like a plaque or a stand

that comes with it like I Will find a way to

buy it, you know, cuz it that I don't know. It's

it looks really cool. I think The weakest one

that I have is the Shield Helicarrier. But that's

only because I don't have a good way to display

it. Because it's rather large. I think after

building the Millennium Falcon, it's going to

be the third largest set I have. But it's an

aircraft carrier. It looks very dull to look

at it from the side. Like in that and it's at

and that's where I have it I have it on top of

one of my my book my DVD cases And it's at eye

level with myself so like you can't see any of

the cool details or features about it and I'm

kind of trying to figure out how to how to do

that, but No, do you have any like Lego stories

or anything like that? Well, like a lot of the

ones I used to have I mean I used to build I

actually had an entire armada of Transformers

I built I like those back before they had like

the the Lego or the whatever Hasbro's version

is called and They by no means looked like you

know fully detailed Just because like I was taking

any special pieces I had and kind of cobbling

together the best transformer things that I could

Yeah And I had made my own version of Soundwave

with the cassettes inside the chest and whatnot

and the pop open cassette deck. We'd created

this immaculate way of making everything transform.

Which was interesting, but at the same time they

looked like these giant brick monstrosities.

Actually had one of them for a number of years

that Was as tall as my my oldest son at one point

when he was I don't know about a year and a half

old and I'd gotten it out of storage and I was

like, you know I'm gonna take a picture of this,

you know with a side -by -side comparison of

them and then I tore it apart and destroyed it

and It joined the the great Lego collection that

that we have now of just a ton of legos, just

miscellaneous legos, just in bins. And so, you

know, I mean, I go through now and I get to rebuild

things with my kids that I had a kit for as a

kid. And although I don't remember them, the

beautiful thing is you can always go online now

and get the instructions. So I do that and I

will actually rebuild kits from when... Was a

child and had certain Legos because the funny

thing is is a majority of my special pieces I

had hoarded So like the bricks themselves, I

have no idea where they went But the the the

actual special pieces that went to these kits

I'd saved them and on this giant immaculate transforming

Robot that was about you know the height of my

knee which I could actually make turn into a

jet, which was kind of inventive on its own.

But I stuck all of these special pieces either

on the outside of this thing to make him look

just that more awesome, or I shoved them inside

compartments that I'd built into the arms, the

legs, the feet, the chest cavity, and the backpack.

So when I tore this thing apart, I was like all

the special pieces and I'm just finding them

everywhere and And so like I was able to rebuild

like this old airplane set that I had as a kid

and gave it to my my son and then Like I had

two of the the Star Wars land speeders, okay

one on each shoulder And I was able to re-, because

I didn't really tear those apart, I just, I kind

of added pieces to them, so I actually rebuilt

them back to spec from the original instructions.

And then there was a majority of other things

that I'd built out of them, but the fun part

is getting to build stuff with my kids and do

that now. Although I still have two... kits that

I had They were the the Spyrus robot Okay. Yeah,

I have yep. I know you're talking about I still

have that and then I still have the when they

had like the robo Yeah, you know robo this robo

that for everything late 90s type of thing. Yep.

I I have one of those still but that's about

the extent of my my Lego collection at this point

because I just, if I want to build something

now I just go into the Lego kits that my kids

have and then I build something out of it and

they're like, oh I really like that, blah blah

blah blah blah. And I just make stuff up now

so it's just that's what I kind of sit there

and do and then I go into the Lego land and I'm

like, yeah I kind of suck compared to these people.

You know, I feel that way when I'm building these

sets like I the architecture sets for example,

they look so simple Because it's just you're

basically just stacking blocks on top of each

other to make them look like a building But it's

You know, so I got I looked at I'm like I could

totally make this myself But I still bought the

set and I got at home. I started putting it together

and like this is I Never would have built it

this way. Yeah, like it's I'm like, wow, I'm

completely taken aback by the builder's choice

of part for certain things here or there. Every

once in a while, I have no idea why they chose

to do something this way or why they chose to

do something that way. Sometimes it comes back

around to like, okay, now it makes sense, but

there's also those moments where it's like the

decision to do whatever they did there doesn't

make any sense ever in the build. That's just

how it ended up working out But you know, I I

don't have you ever um, I Thought I have you

ever glued a Lego set together. Have you ever

thought about it? Say I've thought about it,

but I'm like, but what's the fun in that? Like

if it breaks then I get the challenge of trying

to put it back together and there is something

fun about trying to put a set back together like

Don't know if I shared this story before I feel

like I might have shared it I'm one of the alter

geek podcast when I was able to record this past

over this past year But when I moved into my

current house My tumbler my batmobile tumbler

rolled off of my bookcase Because I I hastily

put it up on top I didn't put it all the way

on the shelf I left one wheel hanging off and

it was one of those moments where it's like I'm

gonna let go of this for a second. I'm gonna

reach down here and grab this and put my hand

right back Right, you know how you have that

you think you could do something, but you can't

yep, and I pulled that and the thing went rolling

off the top of the bookcase and fell Probably

about I'll say four feet out onto the corner

of my subwoofer And the entire right side of

it exploded wow and the tumbler build is really

it looks sturdy but it's not it's a whole lot

it's a lot of floating plates to achieve the

look that they wanted and yeah so it literally

exploded and I was like okay it took me it took

me for took me a second and I was like I think

I literally said well that's effed up You know,

like that's that's done like fantastic and I

got down I started like, you know, I grabbed

all the pieces together and you can kind of luckily

This might be gross to some people but dust is

a Lego sets best friend Yeah, because if if you

if you see a clean part, you know that that it's

been hidden. Yep And so I I was like I was like,

okay And not only that, the set is symmetrical,

right? So I was like, okay, I've got one side

of it is still intact. I just have to deal with

the right side. So let's see what I can do. And

I was able to put, it took me maybe an hour to

put it back together. And when I had it back

together, I still had one piece left over. And

I was like, I have no idea where this one piece

goes. And I think it was completely clean, which

was throwing me off. And so I went and got the

instruction manual. And I kid you not, I went

through page by page and I was looking for this

one piece. Like, okay, I wanna see every step

where this one piece could possibly be used,

you know? And I found it and I got the thing

back together. It's no longer on top of my four

foot bookshelf anymore. But yeah, I have never...

Actually, I can't say I've never glued a Lego

set together anymore when I went home for the

holidays This year my mom said that she was gonna

start collecting the Christmas Lego sets hmm,

and she wanted to use those as Christmas decorations

and So I thought well, you know I can build them

and we can glue them and then it doesn't matter

You know, they won't break like you can always

use them as Christmas decorations, you know And

I did that I built like I built to get I built

the Santa and the reindeer that came with the

set I built that and I glued it all together

But then it then I was like, this is dumb Like

first of all, it was way too slow. Like again,

there's my impatience, right? I have no patience

for it But it was like I I could build much faster

than this if I don't have to glue everything

down You know, so I gave up on it. I was like

I was like I'm building this If any parts fall

off of it, I built it. I'll remember where they

go. Yeah. That's like one of the crazy things

that I can do with Legos. Like my and my wife

can vouch for this. She got done building the

BB -8 and there wasn't something quite right

with it. And I had it in my hands and I spun

it around and I looked at it and I was like,

hmm. And I popped off one of the sides because

you make all six sides and then when you put

them together, it becomes a round ball. It doesn't

make sense unless you actually see the build.

But I was like, OK, I know what happened here.

I popped the thing off, and I fixed the problem

without ever looking at the instructions. So

I just, egotistical or whatever you want to say,

they speak to me. Like when she was building

the Disney castle, I looked at it. Just I just

looked at it for a second and I was like that's

not right and I like moved like one little thing

and It the whole the whole like thing like snapped

into place, but she just kept building around

the error You know cuz that's that's how she

thought it went together But yeah, no that's

Man I love Legos. Yeah, I I've had Similar experiences.

I usually can look at something to rebuild it

without Instructions like I like the two that

I mentioned. I actually have them in my Storage

bin at the moment In a ziplock bag so the pieces

don't get lost but they were utterly smashed

in the container What what is your favorite genre

out of all of them what what what's like your

what? What was like your favorite one to collect

as a kid or that you asked for for like a Christmas

or birthday present or did it not matter? Like

a Lego was a Lego. It didn't really matter back

then, but there really weren't any franchise

properties back then. I mean, yeah, they had

different divisions of Lego. Right. But I mean,

I always wanted the space like the NASA stuff

and I always wanted like the city building, but

I never got either. And. I had a lot of the Spyrus

stuff. So those were my favorites overall. And

I did have a lot of them. But yeah, the other

two were things that I wanted. But luckily, my

friends that I used to go play with Legos across

the street had them. So we both got to kind of

swap and play with them. You know and kind of

see how they were So I think I think the last

thing I want to say is The coolest thing I've

ever done that involved Legos And I've done a

lot of cool things But to me and this is just

kind of like a more personal thing was you know

when you mentioned borrowing Lego sets, right?

And swapping parts and whatnot and I remember

it was I think was Christmas of like 95 Okay,

and the ice planet 2000 stuff had come out I

remember those. Okay, it was the space stuff,

but they had they had this ice skis Yeah, and

they were all like the blue and white. Yep, the

blue white with that real that neon red. Yeah

red orange. Okay, so My best friend has been

my best friend since third grade. He's still

my friend best friend He he lent me this Lego

set That it was an ice planet 2000 Lego set and

it was like this really cool like space semi

truck that had a missile on the back of it and

I lost the whole I I never it never made it back

to him the whole thing ended up in pieces in

my Lego collection and probably four or five

years ago I found this I found some other across

a great website called Brickset .com and It's

full of people that have those sets and they

will sell them with the instructions and all

the pieces. Oh, nice. And I went and found that

set and I bought it for him for his birthday.

And of course, it came, I think it came assembled

and I broke the whole thing down into its individual

pieces and it came with the instruction manual.

Wow. So I could have been a total jerk and wrote

the whole thing off as I sorted through every

single Lego piece I had and found all the pieces,

but I flat out told them what I had done. I think

that's one of the coolest things I've ever done.

Yeah, that's definitely a pretty nice thing.

Legos are legos are definitely fun no matter

what age you are. You just evolve with the Lego

set. Yeah, I just I can't. I don't think a year's

gone by where I haven't gotten one or two of

those Ultimate Collector Series sets since...

I think, actually, this year I picked up three.

This is the year I picked up the most. Which

is absolutely ridiculous now that I'm thinking

about it. So yeah. What do people think about

Legos? You can use the hashtag legolife. for

your thoughts on this this episode or on the

website or or social media and you have any favorite

sets or builds or stories involving Legos or

You know your favorite Lego genre type Anything

like that Which by the way, I think mine was

always the castle stuff the woodland. Yeah, those

were those were pretty cool, too It all stemmed

from Robin Hood the the Kevin Costner movie with

Robin Hood Yeah, because that was pretty big

around that time. Yeah, so that's where all that

stuff came from. But yeah, later on it was the

town stuff, like you said, the town and the space

stuff, like the city stuff, that was always big

too. Yeah, because we had a lot of those movies

coming out around then too. Yep, yep. Armageddon

and everything. So yeah. That rounds out this

episode, so hope everybody enjoyed it, and until

next time, get Altered Geeky with the Altered

Geeks!