"...it's all them new specialized pieces they make now..."

I don't get angry often.  Ok, certain things make me angry, like things that say "tear here" or "push here to open" and then don't.  I'm looking at you Kraft Mac and Cheese. I did get mad at the game Pitfall... a lot.   I know of folks who worry about offending me 'cuz I'm a "preacher man."  I usually can take most jokes, and I can tune out most things I don't want to hear (chemo given me the hearing of a 80 year old man so I probably misunderstood it anyway).  But, words don't bother me much... usually.

I grok Lovejoy.

I also love talking to the crowds at Brickfest/fair/cons and LEGO displays.  I really do.  Other fans avoid it like the plague, but I enjoy it. However, I am introverted, and after the public goes home I'm ready to curl under my display tables and hide.  I then desire to be "Old Ben" described as "that wizard's just a crazy old man."  But, it's enjoyable to talk with a dad who is getting into the hobby with his kid.  It makes it all worth the drive to have a kid say, "Mom I want to build a spaceship when I get home."  It's hilarious to hear them ask "are you an engineer or and architect?" and I answer "No mam, I'm a minister."  *awkward silence and visions of Rev. Lovejoy's Trains*

YER MESSIN WITH THE WRONG GUY!

However, something ruffles my feathers during he barrage of questions on public days at a convention.  Adult fans tire of hearing, "how long did it take to build that?" And, there's always the dreaded, "Are these real Legos?"  I usually smile and answer those kindly, no bother.  But, it's the "Well... you can do that because Lego makes so many specialized pieces now days."  AUUGH!!
Here's what they're saying:

1. They make a whole spaceship shaped piece just for you, aren't you special.   
2. All I had were 2x4 bricks and I wrote letters to Santa with a chisel while riding a brontosaurs. 
3. I think you cheated.
4. I Googles'ed all the internets and know every Legos they made back then (whenever then was). 
5. I would have built that myself, but your heavily detailed area there is worthless due to pieces I didn't know about.
6. I had some pieces, I could only stick the basic shapes together.  
7. I won't admit it but your creation makes me feel inferior and I have defeated you with my logic.

Thanks, I'll pack up and go, you win.  Lego never made an element that wasn't a square or rectangle before 2007. Lego makes new shapes and has ruined everything.   That's why they're losing money out their rear end...oh wait.

Lieutenant Dan Hockey League.

Now lets clear something up.  There are incredibly useless stupid pieces LEGO has pumped out.  Tune in dear reader for discussions of such elements in later posts. As an Old Grey Lego Fan (aka OFOL: Old Fart Of LEGO), I can shake my cane and tell these things to "Git Offa My Lawn" with the best  of em.    I lived through the 90's.  It was bad.  LEGO made terrible one use, bucket filler pieces and themes. These elements almost ended the fun for everyone.

So, sure there are stupid pieces. LEGO saw the light on this stuff and backed down on stupid pieces.  However, stupid LEGO is still LEGO, and it can still be used. The error in the criticism of "specialized pieces" comes from someone who thought LEGO was a neat idea, instead of someone who actually builds with passion.  A painter may not like the new fangled brush, but he or she can still use it creatively.

This is from 31 years ago...
It's SO basic, no specialized pieces here.

But, doesn't LEGO pop out new "specialized" pieces today too?  Oh sure. Them "new fangledy things" are still being made.  But it's nothing new.  We live for new GOOD pieces.  In the 1980's, you judged a new set by flipping open the front panel to see what cool new pieces complimented your existing collection so you could do amazing things.

What we have NOW in our "specialized pieces" are new pieces that enhance the building, not stomp creativity.  If you want more details, go check out www.newelementary.com where they point out many of the new bits.  What LEGO is producing are the simple elements that allow us to fine tune the details.  Small brackets, finishing elements, SNOT elements, and detailed accessories are ADDING to the fun.  But, if I can't use them creatively then they're just as useless as a "one use wonder" piece.

No matter our shape or size, we're made to be part of the Creator's grand design.  Instead of comparing my abilities or functions to another shiny new thing, I need to enjoy my part in the plan. What is built by the connections reflect the Creator's personality.    How well the elements are connected means as much as the elements themselves.  I was once a "new element" in His creation. I'm not that impressive, but a bit of "uselessness" can be made useful with a loving purposeful touch.

Now, to the one who says, "it's all them new specialized pieces they make now" I present one of the coolest creations I've seen in a while...  If this is specialized I'll eat my UFO dishes from 1997.

FRROOOMM!  So simple, so creative. (I didn't make it)

  Ok, so I shouldn't get so mad.  I just need to reply, "yeah, they're some neat pieces and some weird pieces, but it's just how you put em together... you should try it."

My kingdom for a spaceman...

Stardate: 1979-1980   Age: 9
His LEGO was always separated and sorted by color, whereas mine was a mess in a box that once held a telescope. Mark had gotten into LEGO before me, and he even had some of the sets with the funky bendy figs in it.

"Hey kid I got some
candy and cool van"

"We're different."

They were super goofy, and how the heck would you have enough bricks to build something those guys could sit in?  Their legs weren't even bendy. I never understood them and I still to this day don't have one.  All I had was the stupid oddball small figure things that came out in the mid '70s.  It was a creepy blank faced guy with a hat, two arms shoved in his pockets and Charlie Chaplain feet.  At least the "old" figs at Mark's would move, heck they even smiled...

Mark's house was in the country, I was from the city... ok town.  Ok, Warrenton.  I grew up in the kind of town people made the "don't spit or you'll flood it" "don't blink or you'll miss it" while driving through.  Fortunately, we had Norwood nearby so we could tell the same joke.  Trips to his house were at least 10 minutes, an eternity.  It was a warm day when I saw them, a miracle of intelligent design...the minifig.  NO WAY we're playing outside this day...

I'm in charge here.

dat radar, 3 dudes.

We sweep up a lot.

 These guys, this set, the new parts, the baseplate, printed computers, INVERTED PRINTED COMPUTERS...  I must have them.  That radar dish, luscious.  I could spend hours with this.  LEGO hit the right notes with the first space line.  The box covers with Stanley Kubrick lighting took you to a moon of Jupiter.  Like Roddenberry, the crewmen had different colors for different jobs.  The angled ships and grey vehicles seemed straight from Lucas himself.  I needed these dudes for my adventures.  Oh and that radar dish, what a prime example of form and function.

"MOM, CAN I GET A LEGO SPACE SET?"  I'm not sure I said that, not sure of the answer, but I knew the next trip to Augusta I would be in the Toy Box in Daniel Village shopping center searching for the perfect choice.  I needed a minifig. I needed it bad.  No longer would my ships be piloted by some faceless freak with no hands.  So my first minifig came from:

Slopes that were 3 wide, THAT's a part innovation in 1979.

I'm sorta spacey...

Yeah I know.  Not a space set.  But, it had space potential.  I mean look, it's a cylinder almost.   Cheap set, good parts, and a dude.  Sign me up. Anyway, Captain Awesome or, whatever I called him, flew in some interesting ships.  They were multicolored and badly suited for for the vacuum of space, much like he was.

I kept going to Mark's house, and he still had the Alpha 1 base.  Putting the space man on the back of the radar dish and saying "PEW PEW PEW" was a priority.  Every time. When 1980 rolled in, I had one purpose... my own spade dudes.

It was one of those summer Wednesday trips to Augusta.  The kind of heat you'd get a permanent scar from the burn of the seat belt buckle.  It's a good thing we didn't use em.  We took visit to cloth world, the realm of complete boredom. Then headed to Woolsworth for a patty melt and that fruit drink mixed in something resembling an aquarium.  FINALLY, we took a walk down to the Toy Box corner store.  Mom liked the porcelain fancy dolls there.  I needed space...spacemen, radar dishes, and rayguns that aren't officially deadly (but we knew differently).  It was agreed that I would get "a small one."   

Yeah, I'm ugly but I'm more space
than Insectoids.

Decisions.  I looked and thought, "This set was out of the agreed price range, but could I cry her up a few bucks?  Nah, better not risk crashing the whole deal."  Captain Lostmycap would baldly go back into the void of space, alone.  As I continued, "This set was cool but only had one dude and only one brick with the space symbol on it." Decisions.  Mom finished looking at the doll, and time was short.  I need a ship... "What about this one?"  Mom had arrived on scene and was in her hurry up offence.  She, however, picked magic.  My first LEGO spaceship was... a rover.  6901 Mobile Lab.  I can still build it from memory.  It had all the right moves.  Spacemen, radar dish, raygun, and many printed parts.  Wait, were those the same arms from Mark's old weirdo figs?  I guess I didn't see how disgusting a grey flailing human tentacle was.  In space, all parts are space parts.

I had adventures. 

Me and my Legodudes.  By the way, you also never take your bricks to a friends house.  Someone could lose an eye in a fight over "WHOSE 1x1 CLEAR GREEN PIECE IS THIS??  Finally though, I had all the parts to warp into space.  I haven't stopped.

I'm not sure if we chose what influences us, or if it is chosen for us.  I think it's both.  All of it is woven into the fabric of our lives.  My son is the same age that I was in 1980.  What a responsibility my wife and I have in watching over what influences him.  My folks had eyes on much of it.  Mom knew how safe Mark's house was, she was there at the toy store, and she approved of the tank koolaid (sometimes).  Even those little things stick with us, and I'm grateful that the Creator gave me a good guide through it. 

Oh that radar dish from Mark's house?  Years ago I built it from memory.  I've had it for years and, it's still the coolest thing I've ever seen built with LEGO.  It sits on my shelf, reminding me of simpler days.  

Shop at College...(aka Shop at Home for students with a credit card)

Stardate 1993.  Age, 22.
I don't remember the set, but I think I was more excited about the catalog inside it than the bricks.  Back in the day I knew if you went up to the $20 price point on a set (as indicated by the computery font on the orange Toys R Us price tag), I got the bigger catalog in the box.    I eagerly flipped passed the blonde Danish kids grinning with their Duplo.  Quickly I jumped the likes of Town and Castle (I'd check them out for potential elements and pieces later).  FIND THE SPACE.  There it was. The yellow triangle in the top left of the picture would say NEW! (or have an asterisk behind the set number leading you to the legend at the bottom of the page *new for 19xx)  My eyes gazed at the wonder of sets coming out, sometime.  And there they were...

Ice Planet 2002.   In 19 years from 1993 we would be mining the caves of a planet named Krysto (thanks internet of 2014 for giving me that info nugget I forgot/missed).  The catalog pictures and the cool scene (pun yes) of the sets had me enthralled.  It was different. It was Space.  THE LOGO WAS ALMOST ORIGINAL SPACE, KINDA!  What color are those canopies?  Is that trans red?

I walked over to my buddy's dorm next door.  "BILL, NEW SETS!"  He wasn't a LEGO guy like me, but he liked LEGO at a younger age.  We'd had that conversation earlier... "Yeah, I still buy LEGO."  "Really!!?"  "Yeah"  "Let me know when you do I'd like to look at them again!"  "Ok."  I usually stayed pretty guarded about my "secret affinity for a child's playtoy" lest someone from high school pop around the corner and HA HA laugh and point.  However, Bill was amazed by the picture of the Deep Freeze Defender, "HOW MUCH IS IT?" he asked.  "I'm guessing about $50 bucks"  "I'll go with you and get one too."  It was my first Lego Club/Fest/LUG/anything.  I had the cash, he had the cash and we set out on an adventure. I drove.

Hey that's a weird color of neon orange.

We built, he enjoyed it, but I much more.  I think I got all the sets except for the base on my trips home on I-20 (right by the Lithonia Toys R Us, more on that magical store another day).  Not sure what Bill did with his set.  He was all girlfriended and studying mathy engineering.  My time and degree were much less taxing so LEGO filled the gaps.

Hey, there's the order form for Lego Service.  I can buy a bunch of one color.  NO MORE multicolor Ships. A unified fleet color.  I could pull this off, and I filled out the form...

...

Bricks... ONE COLOR.

Plates yo.

 Look at ALL THOSE PARTS!!  Yeah that's how it was.  ALL THOSE in a bag PLUS shipping.  The Mail Order Service was our only way.  We had it rough, compared to today's Pick a Brick, Bricklink, and E-bay.  And, thanks Susan for the note... I'll say it right.

I filled out the card, ordered my stuff and nervously checked my Georgia Tech post office box in the student center EVERY day.  I got a nervous sweat when the notice of a package was in there.  The lady handed me the box, with anxious glee I took the brown box with the red LEGO logo stamped on it  I'm sure she looked at me funny.  I didn't want to know so I just looked down at the counter as she slid the box under my face. It made the noise.  I hurried to the Stinger bus before another high school tormentor would point and laugh.

Hefner dorm was 10 -15 minutes away.  What if someone saw the box?  My SHAME WAS WRITTEN IN RED!  SCARLET LEGO LETTERS.  Then she said "Hey I like LEGO."   "Huh what?"  A red haired girl on the bus looked up from her book.  I said, "I still uh... I like to make models with these," in a way that tried to sound artsy, but sounded fartsy because my voice cracked.  She quietly stated, "I like castle, I like the figures."   "I have some castle guys but space is the best!"   WHAT ARE YOU SAYING??  STUPID.  Way to nerd/macho.

Was it her??  Nah.

My second  Lego Club/Fest/LUG/thing was failing.  The bus stopped, she smiled and gathered her things.  "Uh see ya later," I said.  I didn't.

It wasn't easy to be a LEGO fan in college, or any time before the late '90s actually.  Connections were difficult, no one shared the passion, and the high school tormentors were EVERYWHERE. One thing the internet brought us was connection, the idea "you're not alone" in your nerdness, and eventually access to more LEGO parts.   I wish I would have not been ashamed of it.  I proudly wear the red letters of LEGO and so will my son.  Not because LEGO is so great, but being a geek is part of my Creator's knitting.  It's who I am.  I celebrate creativity when I build.  I celebrate His creative acts as I put bricks together.

I geek happily.  I may wear a Lego tie to my next High School reunion.

Intro and all that jazz...

I am old.  In LEGO years I'm ancient.  As a 43 year old, I've been a part of the hobby for 35 years and been many things:

1.  a nerdy rainbow warrior builder kid...
2. a "I'm buying these for a younger cousin" teenager...  
3. a lurker on internet channels college student... (remember rec.toys.lego... anyone?) 
4. a grieving son who picks LEGO back up seriously after loosing his Mom...
5. a crappy adult builder who doesn't know it yet...
6. an exited adult builder gaining skill from the online community...
7. an individual with disposable income spending tons on every set...  
8. a nervously smiling husband explaining "Hon, this is a real hobby"...  
9. a sweaty introvert attending his first convention...
10. a big headed administrator on a building forum... 
11. a geeked out fanboy getting contacts on the inside of LEGO...
12. a LEGO Ambassador...
13. a burned out fanatic wondering if it was all worth it
14. a new dad buying Quatro and Duplo...
15. a sleepy dad building table scraps while listening for the kid to wake up on the baby monitor...
16. a parent sharing his LEGO with a new generation....
17. a satisfied builder building for fun and not caring who notices...
18. a human with a brush with death, enjoying the hobby in recovery...

That's the first 35 years of my LEGO hobby, and now, I'm blogging.  Maybe.  We'll see.   I don't write that well, but I've seen scene of LEGO culture go from the mystery of Susan Williams to Lord Business' heart "growing 3 sizes that day" and then a Kragle explosion...

Stay Tuned...