Throughout my childhood I have played with many different toys such as dinosaurs, race cars, and animals, but none of them truly stuck out to me until I discovered Lego.
I received my first Lego set – 60007 Lego City Police Chase – when I was around 6 years old at Christmas. After receiving this set I would quickly develop my interest in Lego, always asking my parents for sets when we would go to Target or Walmart. I didn’t see myself as a collector when I was a kid, I was just enjoying the sets I received. I didn’t realize I was becoming a “Lego collector.”
For the next 5-10 years I would collect sets from Marvel, DC, City, and Minecraft.
I would build these sets with my older brother since at the time Lego was still a little too complex for me to do alone.
I stopped collecting Legos in 2018, since I was older and no longer felt the need to collect them since they were taking up space. I set them aside in a box in my closet collecting dust for the next 3 years.
During late 2021, I was cleaning out my closet since it was getting crowded, and while rearranging stuff I found that box of old Legos. I opened the box and I saw some minifigures in the mix, but most of it were sets that I had played with. Shortly after I was done cleaning out my closet I went through the bin and actually started playing with them. It felt weird but I didn’t care since I was having fun and even built something new out of the bin.
Soon after, I placed an order for some minifigures which eventually resulted in me buying my first Lego set since 2018. It came with a lot of minifigures and I was excited when it had arrived quickly dropping everything to build it. Even though I knew I didn’t play with Lego anymore, I still made room to display this set because I see it as a symbol of my childhood hobby that I once enjoyed.
After I had purchased this set I wanted to buy more since I really enjoyed the new elements Lego had introduced during the break I took from the hobby. Since I was able to purchase sets on my own, I figured I could save up and try to go after the bigger sets that I always dreamed of purchasing.
I purchased the Ninjago City Gardens. It cost me $300 and was the largest set I have ever owned, dwarfing my old sets from the box drastically.
The building experience was amazing and came with 19 minifigures many of which were exclusive to the set and would become sought after with it retiring this year
Despite the increase in prices, the popularity of Lego has also expanded and even some of my friends started to collect Lego again and with the impact that Covid had on the world, many online communities were formed, discussing Lego as a whole and what the brand means to them. If you were to tell someone back then that you collected Lego as a hobby they would have laughed at you or called you immature but with all these new online communities being formed they allow fellow Lego fans to connect with each other by sharing what sets they plan on getting and which ones they deem as their “White Whale”.
When collecting Lego now, I collect sets that can be displayed whether it is a recreation of a car or a flower or anything that looks realistic and extraordinary.
Like Lego, I matured as well, which is a huge takeaway that you are never too old to enjoy a hobby, even if it involves cherishing toys like Lego. If it brings you joy and you make the most out of it, keep investing in that hobby.
