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Eric Kingsley wrote:
> In lugnet.admin.general, Todd Lehman writes:
> > In lugnet.admin.general, Fredrik Glöckner writes:
> > > [...] Although LUGNET does not aim to be a place for AFOL's only (as far
> > > as I know), it appears that mostly adults use the resources. [...]
> >
> > At this stage in its development, it kind of does aim for that a little bit.
> > That is, it's been a conscious decision to make the site much more appealing
> > and useful to adult LEGO Maniacs than to kids or parents of LEGO-Maniac kids,
> > while things are still shaping. Similarly, in the first month or two that
> > the newsgroups went up, it was a conscious decision to make the site most
> > appealing to serious fans and only later (1 month ago) to casual fans, now
> > that things are slowly taking shape.
>
> This is exactly why I like it here so much. For so many years I did not build
> with Lego because "society" said it was a toy and a 30 year old should not
> build with Lego (Society and Peer presure suck some times). Then one day I was
> helping my nephiew build a Lego set and I saw a catalog with Darth Vader on it.
> Because I am also a big SW fan I decided to search the internet for SW Lego
> info.
>
> As part of that search I found this wonderful site and saw that there was a
> community of "Adult Fans of Lego" and soon after I was building again and I had
> finally found that elusive hobby I had been searching for.
>
> Now I see that there are Lego Trains (N Scale model railroading is another of
> my hobbies) and will be checking out some Lego Trains when I get a chance.
>
> All this being said I was on a couple of occasions under the impression I was
> communicating with an Adult when it was actually a Young Lego Fan. Now I am
> much more careful in my communications to assume that a Lugnet user is a Minor
> until I can determine otherwise.
>
> This is just my story and I guess I just wanted to thank Todd and all the other
> Lego fans that have contributed to this site and other internet Lego resources
> for making it apparent to those like me that this can be a great adult hobby.
> I think that as a result of Todd's and others efforts more and more adults will
> see that it is OK to take out their Lego and build again.
>
> Eric Kingsley
>
> One very appreciative Lego fan.
Well said Eric! I agree, Todd deserves a lot of credit.
I also liked your point about how society looks upon a 30 year old playing with
toys. Boy did that bring back memories. I left my dark ages in 1979 (at age 26)
and was thrown into the spotlight (LEGO wise) in 1986-87.
There was no internet at that time, and no other AFOL's to communcate with. Being
an AFOL back in the 1980's was a pretty lonely experience. And it was sort of
scary and traumatic when I was approach by a metro Detroit newspaper about doing an
article about an adult building with LEGO (they found out from a Toy Store owner
for whom I did a LEGO window display). This was immediately followed by a visit
from a TLG representative, and then a CBC Canada TV crew (for "25 Years Of LEGO in
Canada") on a Canadian news show called "The Journal". And then I got a call from
Henry Wiencik - the author of "The World of Lego Toys", who wrote about me in his
book, and the rest is history...
When all this hit me within a few months, I was worried about what my co-workers
and friends and acquaintances would think about a grown man playing with Lego
bricks. Well the response was overwhelmingly positive, especially after they saw a
few of my buildings, which I had kept hidden at a friends apartment. When I came
out of the "Lego Closet" in late 1986, my secret was out, and people were very
supportive. I even got a call from my 6th grade teacher, who said that she was
proud of me after seeing me on TV. From that moment on, I no longer cared about
folks knowing, and "my little secret" was was broadcast on TV in Canada, the USA,
Germany and Austria.
And I haven't looked back since.
Last summer I got onto the internet for the first time. I found RTL and LUGNET,
which opened me up to a whole new world of people just like me. I have made a lot
of friends and acquaintances, most of whom I've never even met, and yet there is
this overriding kinship, by way of "the power of the Brick".
Gary Istok
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: appeals mainly to adults
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| (...) This is exactly why I like it here so much. For so many years I did not build with Lego because "society" said it was a toy and a 30 year old should not build with Lego (Society and Peer presure suck some times). Then one day I was helping my (...) (25 years ago, 12-Jul-99, to lugnet.admin.general, lugnet.general)
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