Lego life lessons

Lt. Dan · Post by **Lt. Dan** » 2003-11-24 12:09am

This is a cool little thing that my mom just showed me. All you Lego lovers will like this.

All I Ever Needed to Know I Learned From LEGOs - by Steve Klusmeyer

Hand Me Another Brick

Are you into LEGOs? Our son, Caleb, is. He has been playing with LEGOs
since he was about four years old. He likes to put the kits together --
one time. After that, he uses the pieces to create his own designs. For
the last couple of months, he's been working on Legoville. His layout
features a railroad, streets, vehicles, people, and several buildings.
Oh, did I mention that it covers a third of our family room?
Comprehension, strategy, and ingenuity are just three life-skills being
developed in Caleb by these little bricks.

LEGO Lessons for Life

Life might be less complicated for all of us if we each received our own
LEGO kit at birth. Yes, I realize there is a choking hazard for children
under three. But when you are old enough, you can learn a lot from LEGOs.
I have learned that:

~ Size doesn't matter. When stepped on in the dark, a 2X2 LEGO brick
causes the same amount of pain as a 2X8 brick.

~ All LEGO men are created equal (1.5625 inches tall). What they become
is limited only by imagination.

~ There is strength in numbers. When the bricks stick together, great
things can be accomplished.

~ Playtime is important. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you are
building, as long as you're having fun.

~ Disaster happens. But the pieces can be put back together again.

~ Every brick has a purpose. Some are made for a specific spot - most can
adapt almost anywhere - but every one will fit somewhere.

~ Color doesn't matter. A blue brick will fit in the same space as a red
brick.

~ No one is indispensable. If one brick is unavailable, another can take
its place.

~ It doesn't always turn out as planned. Sometimes it turns out better.
If it doesn't, you can always try again.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-11-24 12:14am

~ You'd be surprised how many times people heads will provide the top bits for long range missile projectors or catapult ammo

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-11-24 12:14am

Heh heh heh.

That's surprisingly true.

Post by **Zaia** » 2003-11-24 12:19am

Hehehe, cute. I love LEGOs. Used to hog like 95% of the blocks when I'd play with my brothers (claiming eldest sibling rites), and then tell them that since they didn't have enough blocks to build themselves a home, they could live in the mansion I built for my LEGO people, but they'd have to live there as servants. And they always said yes.

Lt. Dan · Post by **Lt. Dan** » 2003-11-24 12:22am

God that's jacked up.

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-11-24 12:23am

I had so much fun with lego, especially when I brought in technic pieces as well so I could start making moving parts and stuff. Castles with traps and swinging walls and raising gate houses, pirate islands, space ships, even a USS Enterprise at one point - which exhausted my entire supply of white bricks.

Tried to introduce my sister to it when she was reaching the lego age, mainly so I could play with it as well and do the same thing that my dad did for me, but she wasnt really into lego. Shame...

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-11-24 12:27am

Gah, Legos are getting way overpriced now.

Dorsk 81 · Post by **Dorsk 81** » 2003-11-24 12:28am

My favourite toy as a kid...
As proof of the LEGO fun bit, has anyone got the Monty Python and the Holy Grail DVD? Theres a bit in special features, its the Knights of Camelot song, but done with LEGO!!! It is amazing!

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-11-24 12:45am

I have a big collection of legos in my home. Most are from the SYSTEM series with lots of cars,planes, buildings, ships etc. Then I have the TECHNIC series which has some very cool cars and a helicopter. My next plan is to buy one of the pneumatic powered TECHNIC units.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-11-24 01:45am

I used to have like 3 of those huge plastic folding lid boxes full of them. Now I'm down to about 2/3 of one and a 20-strong fleet of spaceships.

Legos are too much fun, too bad they're so expensive, though there are Mega-Blocks, which are much cheaper, compatible with Lego, and even have some much cooler pieces for spacecraft.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-11-24 01:49am

Legos are too much fun, too bad they're so expensive, though there are Mega-Blocks, which are much cheaper, compatible with Lego, and even have some much cooler pieces for spacecraft.

Mega-Blocks are not as good as Legos. Their designs are very mundane and they have only a few brick types. However they are cheaper so I use them as a source of extra bricks.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-11-24 02:00am

Fake Lego is shit. It doesn't hold together at all.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-11-24 02:00am

Lego also has the best licenses.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-11-24 02:04am

Lego doesn't need licenses. The SW Lego is good, by all means, but the best Lego series were original.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-11-24 02:07am

Yeah, bring back Blacktron!

Dorsk 81 · Post by **Dorsk 81** » 2003-11-24 02:08am

Crayz9000 wrote:Yeah, bring back Blacktron!

I remember them! *Brings back fond childhood memories*

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-11-24 02:11am

And those cool medieval phoenix dudes, god, they were cool.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-11-24 02:13am

Crayz9000 wrote:Yeah, bring back Blacktron!

AMEN BROTHER!

Blacktron I, though. II was okay, but I kicked ass. And Space Police I. And M-Tron.

neoolong · Post by **neoolong** » 2003-11-24 02:42am

Howedar wrote:Lego doesn't need licenses. The SW Lego is good, by all means, but the best Lego series were original.

They do now considering that their original stuff now sucks compared to their stuff in the past.

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-11-24 03:04am

evilcat4000 wrote:
Legos are too much fun, too bad they're so expensive, though there are Mega-Blocks, which are much cheaper, compatible with Lego, and even have some much cooler pieces for spacecraft.
Mega-Blocks are not as good as Legos. Their designs are very mundane and they have only a few brick types. However they are cheaper so I use them as a source of extra bricks.

You have to realize that I don't bother building the sets, I never much cared for the sets, I always made my own designs. (I've lost track of how many of my various ships have had Lego guy heads as engines and the legs as guns...)

As for "fake" Legos not holding together, go get a set of Mega-Blocks, those suckers hold together better than normal Legos, they also join up with Legos without any issues. I ought to know this, my nearly 3 foot star-carrier is built out of a combo and holds together fine, even without a superstructure. The 18" long pirate frigate (think Nebulon-B in general design, just done right) is also built out of a combination, no problems there, both have been carried around to other people's houses for fleet wars (think RPG style games, but using Lego ship models rather than mental models for the vessels in the game)

As for mundane designs, I've never cared for the "OEM" designs from most companies, I think Lego has had like 1 or 2 sets that I actually built because they looked cool, and then they were promptly modified, usually to remove the stupid Lego guys. (I like capital ship scaling btw. Though I did build one shuttle/fighter, and a couple of Millenium Falcon style fast frieghters with Lego-guy scaling) I must admit though that Mega-Blocks did come out with some sweet designs, like the aircraft carrier, granted that got tweeked real quick into a starship.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-11-24 12:31pm

BLACKTRON/STAR WARS CROSSOVER, BABY!

Lt. Dan · Post by **Lt. Dan** » 2003-11-24 09:56pm

I have both Legos and mega blocks but I only use the Legos. I just didn't like them as much.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-11-24 10:00pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:BLACKTRON/STAR WARS CROSSOVER, BABY!

I assembled an X-wing out of a few Blacktron sets and assorted other parts about 3-4 years before Lego released their X-wing sets.

Well, of course, now all those pieces are either in my Lego bin (haven't touched it in a while, too busy with my gf to really do anything) or in my 18-inch-long Corellian Corvette model.

By the way, does anyone here have those old Tyco blocks? They were even more like Legos than Mega-blocks are. The only way you could tell is by how the insides of the blocks were made, plus the fact that they didn't have LEGO written on the top of the bumps.

KrauserKrauser · Post by **KrauserKrauser** » 2003-11-24 10:43pm

Bah FLegos ( I love them but they are sooo expensive)

Construx and Lincoln Logs all the way!

Psycho Smiley · Post by **Psycho Smiley** » 2003-11-24 10:55pm

KrauserKrauser wrote:Construx and Lincoln Logs all the way!

Hell yes! Construx rocked! I only had a couple of sets, one space and two army, so my creations were rather limited. But you should have seen my space-blimp/airship o' doom!

Damn. Most of today's toys just don't have the same "use your fucking imagination, I'm not going to entertain you myself" factor. Too bad.