What sent you into your dark ages?

Jacob C. · Post by **Jacob C.** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:05 pm

Middle school & high school sent me into my dark ages!! I guess it wasn't "cool" to be playing with "toys".
But when I was about 17, I stumbled across Bob Carney's lego castle website & I saw all the castles that I always wanted to build as a kid but never could.
And I realized from there that building lego's isn't just "playing with toys", this is friggin Art!!!
Instead of a paintbrush & canvas, you have some lego's & baseplates!
Anways, it feels good to be back building legos!!!

castlebrickman · Post by **castlebrickman** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 8:12 pm

right now i have to put all my legos in storge

but i still look for deals

wlister · Post by **wlister** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 9:44 pm

My Dark Ages were related more to life in general, rather than any single line killing my enthusiasm.

The closest I came to a real dark ages was During the Fright Knight line, my daughter was 2 and my son had just been born and the Fright Knights were terrible. During that 2-3 year period, I bought and built nothing.

I have had other blocks of time where I built nothing, High School in 1990-1992 was a low point for building, I still bought most of the sets that were sold during those years though.

After Fright Knights, it took KKI to bring me back to buying and building and it pretty much ended any dark ages. The sets weren't great, but the figs were nice.

Discovering the online community and joining a local LUG are likely more responsible for my continued intrest in LEGO than any set design in the last few years.

Will

xiblal · Post by **xiblal** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:20 pm

I was plunged into my dark period when I went off to college in 1999, I left my legos at my parents house and did not pick them back up until 2003 when I brought the last castle that I built from my parents house to my new home. I then started looking online, found brickshelf and bricklink and was back into them more than ever!!

-James

TheOrk · Post by **TheOrk** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 10:23 pm

I have never been in a dark age.
However when the bioncle replaced the minifig. :evil:

Post by **Robin Hood** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 11:44 pm

Well, I never went into a dark age. Hahahaha.

Dan

But I nearly did. Around the begining of 2004, I was doing less and less with Lego. The fact that Mike was as well only helped me to do nothing. But I did try. I might have disapeard (for awhile anyway) if I hadn't found taken apart my Lego (which had until then been fixed together in their sets) and hadn't found CC.

Dan

Post by **Bluesecrets** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:03 am

My youngest sister was born and the words "choking hazard" sent my parents into a tizzy. Ironically, it was this sister that began building before I came out of my dark ages.

Gumby · Post by **Gumby** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 12:23 am

I don't have a clear memory of when my dark ages started... It must have been in highschool (back in late 80s early 90s), when video games were cooler than LEGO (I know, blasphemy!). At that time, I asked parents to buy computer or video games as presents, so I missed out on many of the sets from during LEGO's "golden age".

Around Halloween of 1997, I bought 6097 Knight Lord's Castle for fun and as a result of putting it together, remembered my 6080 Castle + 375. At that time, the online LEGO community was just starting up. The advent of LUGnet, eBay, Brickbay (now Bricklink) and all the other fan sites effectively ended my dark ages.

Since then I've spent a whackload of money buying up the old sets that I missed out on, and buying multiples of recent sets for parts. Recently, my spending has decreased dramatically as pre-2004 sets become more and more scarce...

-Bryan

mediamaster · Post by **mediamaster** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 1:33 am

Mine started when I was 11. I discovered video games.... then DnD. And DnD and Video Games are EXPENSIVE..... then I moved. Unpacked. And found an unlabelled box.... I took the top off and it was a bunch of toys i never palyed with and I thought I lost my egos. But then I was uber-annoyed and tipped the box over and I found a minifig. And then I searched for my Legos. Found Them. And here I am.

Lord_Of_The_LEGO · Post by **Lord_Of_The_LEGO** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 4:42 am

I've never had a dark age. Ever.

As a homeschooler, I didn't have all the peer pressures of "LEGO is uncool" and such. I also don't have any other expensive hobbies like stamp collecting or vehicle repair, so my budget is solely reserved for LEGO.

For more information on me and my LEGO hobbie, please go here: http://www.humboldt1.com/~hlwells/about.html

fcarcanague · Post by **fcarcanague** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 5:01 am

My "dark ages" started late in junior high, being the mid 80's and me being a geek I opted for the Commodore64. Ironicaly enuff that x-mass season (85') I worked part time in the local mall at none other than... KBToys

At the time I was more of a gear head and took advantage of my employee discount to get all the early Technic sets, not even glancing at the other themes. That was my last spending spree for nearly 15yrs

. There were several building sprees over the years but nothing really cool.
Then came the "dreams" (for nothing better explain it) in late 96'. In these dreams I would sit and build with at the time my online girlfriend's son. A year later I moved to Wisconsin to be with her, the day I got there he handed me this cool Lego car. He tells me I helped him make and I should have it. Andy was 5 then, needless to say we just had to buy more Lego. We've been building and collecting ever since. What started out as just one tub of Lego has ballooned into 125K+ parts and anther child in the house. Haley is as much a Lego junkie at 4yrs old as I am at 35, I hope this continues for all of us.

Fred

Post by **SavaTheAggie** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 7:48 am

My dark age happened high school, somewhere between 95 and 97. It really started around when Dragon Masters were released, and then Fright Knights and Ninja just killed my interest altogether.

I also stopped building because my good friend Pat, who was also into LEGO, got out of it mostly. He still thinks being an AFOL is silly, but doesn't tease me about it (one of those I'll respect your hobby, you'll respect mine type of situation). He still has all his pirate LEGO, though it's in storage.

I didn't come back out of my dark age until I saw Ed Boxer's castle, but I was building big long before discovering Lugnet.

Currently I'm going through a dimmer age, but not for lack of interest in LEGO. I'm tired of the drama at Lugnet, and some of the internal conflict here at CC. I am 600 miles away from my collection, and I am growing tired with Ikros. I am the subject of countless jokes through non-AFOL websites and emails about my having no life, and my unemployment has me spiraling into a deep depression. Being an AFOL publically is becoming less and less fun. And as my father always says, once your job stops being fun, its no longer worth doing.

I'm not retiring yet, but I find myself drifting further away from the AFOL community. I seriously hope I'm not in for a Dark age, maybe all I need is a good Brickfest.

--Anthony

ezehogan · Post by **ezehogan** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:24 am

Sometimes I think that "dark ages", or at least a period of cooling off are necessary. When people are focused on one thing for a long period of time, they get burned out with it and have to take a break. I'm not always talking in years here, but at least a few months. You always emerge on the other side eager and excited about starting up again.

ottoatm · Post by **ottoatm** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 8:35 am

Sava man - it makes sense if your getting burned out - your collection is huge, your a big-wig on this site and your work with Ikros is extensive. I don't know much about the issues w/ lugnet or what not... but maybe you just need to unplug or somethin'. You're in so deep right now - maybe you should just relax from the story (I can't believe I'm telling you to take a break from Ikros!) and just enjoy some good-natured building again... or make some completely different stories.

Also, I was unemployed for awhile when nyc was all messed up and I know what not having a good job is like... it sucks and messes up everything else. Anyway, just my two cents.

Scnicker · Post by **Scnicker** » Fri Jan 21, 2005 11:12 am

I've had a dark age after the Fright Knights and of course discovering pc games. Also it wasn't "cool" playing Legos for most people. Then one day, I needed to build something for a school project and I've decided that the best choice was Lego. So I took them out and started building. I had seen the Pirates of the Caribbean and I just wanted to build pirate stuff. Then later on I started buying and building more and more. My parents at first didn't appreciate my childhood hobby,but then my father started to support me and later on my mother gave up the fight and now I can build and buy freely.

Classic-Castle.com

What sent you into your dark ages?

poo