Have you ever felt judged for liking LEGO?

[Fritzy]

Doc Awk. I like that! Haha. I'm surprised you didn't ask them for an example of what they meant by "less childish things."

[Actor Builder]

Doc Awk. I like that! Haha. I'm surprised you didn't ask them for an example of what they meant by "less childish things."

Doc. Awk is mine! You can't have it!

Apparently Barbie is a less childish thing than LEGO. Who knew?

[Artanis I]

I always feel awkward. Awkward is my thing. I have suggested my friends refer to me as Doctor Awkward, shortened to "Doc. Awk".

I may have to get a doctorate before they actually do that, but It'll happen eventually! Mark my words! Doc. Awk will live!

Are you aware that "Dr Awkward" is a palindrome?

[Actor Builder]

Are you aware that "Dr Awkward" is a palindrome?

I am now.

Mind blown. Thanks.

That fits perfectly with my cat, Ococo. It's pronounced "Coco", but the first O is silent. Like an opossum.

We had already named her Cocoa. But I changed it to Ococo so it would be a palindrome.

It would be too hard to change her name to "Taco Cat" at her age.

[PaulCasey]

Not currently. When I told a few friends about my renewed liking for Lego I found that I have actually sparked a thought with them for whether they should do the same. No ridicule so far therefore.

[Koori]

I used to hide it but last year I showed some photos of my collection and people I know have been very accepting even interested in my hobby.

Funny enough a lot of people i mention it too seem to regret giving their old lego away.

[dirk]

No, I'm too busy being judged here for liking bricks that aren't Lego.

[Chilly_Productions]

No, I'm too busy being judged here for liking bricks that aren't Lego.

Do you mean things like Mega Bloks? I don't buy Mega Bloks, but I don't judge people who do.

[neonic]

Funny to read this topic about people who do and don't care about what other people think.

Well, I think I'm not really 'playing' with Lego. Depends how you see it. I'm sort of rebuilding a little truck wich stands on my shelf for about 10-15 years.

Short story is ... my sister liked to get complete an ancient bathroom set. So I gave her some 'missing' parts of my truck. By the building, three technic figures appears so I thought ... maybe I can made some little adjudgements.... Well... some little became a few big ones. But you will see soon enough.

So I started to renovate it, and ordered some parts.

You can say I'm to old for it, on the other side .. it's pretty relaxed to create things.

Someone talked about that people said Lego is for kids ... I wondering if those people went to Legoland? I quess all those stuff is made by grownups. Are they think they are childish too?

Actually it's pretty funny. If people said they play with Lego, a lot of people thinks they are nuts.

But somehow, I think no one thinks it's crazy when people go to the hobby shop to buy some stuff for their little trains, or go to some field to race with RC cars, or build scalemodels of trucks, boats or whatever.

Well, I started a while ago and I just liked it. When it's finished I put it on the same shelf but till then ... I have fun with it.

I must say that I don't have been judged about it. Not much people knows it (yet) but I still don't care what they think.

I have watched, under dinnertime (my mum liked it) a program called 'man bijt hond'. (man bites dog)

Think the Dutchies knows where I'm talking about .... if you see what crazy people they have found for their program...

[Zoshi]

Ya, the cmf thing gets me looks. I'll often grab a handful of bags at Target and dump them in my cart. Then I'll feel the bags as I walk the store shopping, keeps me out of the kids aisle and away from concerned parents.

I need to start doing this I usually end up grabbing a couple without checking much because PEOPLE ARE STARING AT ME and regret it when I end up with way more $5-a-pop mad scientists than I need…

As for whether being judged bothers me… I'd love to say it doesn't but as a rather shy and sensitive person I'd be lying if I said it didn't. Luckily my experience hasn't been too bad so far, but most of the sets I've gotten since my DAs have been gifts. Have to agree with what others have said about the Lego stores being the best place for acceptance, when I was starting to get into Lego again I went to one of the stores I picked up a couple SW magnets and one of the employees informed me that they were now glued and we had a conversation about how much that sucked But I'm hoping that with how large the AFOL community has gotten people will start being more accepting

[azog]

man im a TFOL as well and i get judged soooo much by my own family even !

[Murdoch17]

My dad (who is in his late 50's and remembers gears and wheels coming out in the early 1960's) builds with Lego. He usually builds very strong, repetitive models in one or two, maybe three colors only. He can't do non-symmetrical builds, such as landscaping or hills, and hates it (I actually got told off for this once!) if I even mention taking apart RC track differently than in a flat, straight-forward manner. (I can understand 9V, but RC doesn't have metal strips on it, and takes a lot of pressure to break so...)

Anyway, I showed him my space and Adventurers stuff and he acts like his builds are better, and that I can't touch his precious 9V collection without supervision because "I ruined a 4555 Cargo Station and a 4554 Yellow Metro station when i was 6 by taking it apart and putting the parts in the general loose parts bins"

I'm now 21, and he still holds this over my head and treats me like I'm 10 or younger. Does anyone else get that kinda "your not as good as I and never will" from other builders / family members?

I'm also starting to think he may have been where my Asperger's Syndrome came from as well (he denies it and would not look into it because "Their is no issue and he's perfectly normal") . The guy thinks and acts like the computers he programs for fun... it's almost like he thinks in binary or C++ language...

Edited January 17, 2016 by Murdoch17

[Artanis I]

My dad

Sounds like a legit case of The Lego Movie

[Bennemans]

I don't get weird stares when I'm oggling the pink Friends boxes at the toy shop, not even though I'm a massive bearded lumbersexual! But honestly I think it's a Dutch thing; people just don't care! I'm surprised at the amount of people who talk about judgmental stares and questions about who you're buying it for... Here you just grab what you want, the cashier scans it, a simple "no thanks" will suffice to the question if you want it giftwrapped, and off I skip into the sunset with a pink box under my arm.

So no judgment from outsiders, no. But the utter disinterest from people close to me does really hurt. I need to listen to their stories about their interests, hobbies and jobs, but when I start to talk about LEGO (which I almost never do), they just yawn and change the subject. My partner especially finds it hard to take a minute out of his busy schedule of watching boring political programs to come look at something I've created. "You know I don't care about that", "nah I'd rather not" or "do I have to?" are common answers if I ask people to come look at what gives me great pleasure. And when I simply force a MOC under their noses I get a condescending "yeah yeah that's nice". I take great pride in my creations and not being able to share that with anyone is very painful, honestly.

This utter disinterest is also a problem with birthdays and xmas... People don't wanna give me LEGO as a gift. "You only want LEGO, that's no fun", "can't you think of something else?", "I don't wanna give you just LEGO, that's stupid!"...your face is stupid! Just gimme the gift I freaking want!! I've got all the other things I want already! I don't need socks or a new throw or fancy place-mats, I want plastic bricks to build with!

When I've confronted people with their condescending and hurtful ways, I've gotten mostly "don't be a baby, it's just LEGO (aka "a toy")" as a respons.

Yeah... I'd really like somebody to share my interest with, in all honestly... Maybe you can buy that for my birthday...

[Captain Britain]

100%! Either questioned on "why.. it's a bit silly" or "that's a waste of money".

Last year Argos (UK) done one of their regular 3 for 2 deals which includes all Lego. Now I collect the minifigs and either sell on the sets on eBay or if it's one I like (like the Hulkbuster suit for example) I'll keep hold of it. At this current time I needed quite a few of the new Superheroes they had released so I reversed 9 different sets online and then went in to pick them up. Whilst they were all coming down the ramp and being pilled up I heard a woman go "Someone clearly has more money than sense". Even though I shouldn't have I felt awkward going up and grabbing it after overhearing that!

[MrHerofan]

Well I don't really talk about LEGO that much and when I do buy a set I do get a stare sometimes from the cashier, but I ignore it. One time when I was buying a transformer a little girl looked at me as if she was questioning why I was buying a toy. My family don't care that much, since I really only get the sets I think look cool, and not much city stuff. My father likes seeing the larger Star Wars sets, and my mother could care less if I was into Lego or not. Again at the end of the day it is just a toy, I don't buy a lot of it or have a room devoted to it, just the occasional purchase.

[Artanis I]

"Someone clearly has more money than sense"

And she's evidently stupid, because the saying is "more dollars than sense/cents" and obviously that pun doesn't work in the UK, so instead of making a witty jab she's just being really rude.

[Captain Britain]

And she's evidently stupid, because the saying is "more dollars than sense/cents" and obviously that pun doesn't work in the UK, so instead of making a witty jab she's just being really rude.

Yep! But I got the minifigs I wanted and they are sitting nicely in their frames so I'm happy :). I guess there will always be someone about who will judge you on something, whatever it may be!

[GoldenNinja3000]

Yeah, I hate it when people judge me for liking Legos. I never really mention it to my friends because I'm still in high school, but my family thinks it's stupid and childish (but then again they also say Harry Potter is meant for 5 year olds so I try not to pay attention to them). I don't really care about what other people think though, because I enjoy it and if they think that it's strange they can keep their opinion to themselves.

[Japanbuilder]

I suppose you get that stare at times, but I shop with my kids when I get them so heh heh.

I also never really noticed. My wife builds her own on occasion. So no problem there. I am sure my in-laws think it is childish and a waste of money but meh, my life not theirs lol. Also and most importantly, my money, not theirs heh heh.

But this topic made me think about it. Which is probably a good sign it has never bothered me lol.

If you are self conscious about it I'd say surround yourself with people who don't care or actually enjoy it as much as you do. Or just order online. The person handing you the box typically is too busy to care what they're handing off to you.

[vinchente000]

In all honesty sometimes I feel like i get weird looks when I buy lego in stores but in the end I do not really care as they will forget anyhow.

I am lucky that my GF supports my hobby and doesn't judge me on it. I do not know what my friends think of it but they don't care much either.

I stick to ordering Lego online ;)

But I do feel a bit weird at times and then I remember that I could be a brony or furry so its all right.

Besides most of us I think grew up with Lego and that's why we buy it.

You shouldn't be scared or ashamed of liking something so awesome :)

(note: sorry if anyone is a brony or furry here)

[Captain Britain]

In all honesty sometimes I feel like i get weird looks when I buy lego in stores but in the end I do not really care as they will forget anyhow.

I am lucky that my GF supports my hobby and doesn't judge me on it. I do not know what my friends think of it but they don't care much either.

I stick to ordering Lego online ;)

But I do feel a bit weird at times and then I remember that I could be a brony or furry so its all right.

Besides most of us I think grew up with Lego and that's why we buy it.

You shouldn't be scared or ashamed of liking something so awesome :)

(note: sorry if anyone is a brony or furry here)

......what is a furry?! I've discovered the definition of a Brony but I'm lost on the latter haha.

[vinchente000]

......what is a furry?! I've discovered the definition of a Brony but I'm lost on the latter haha.

In my best knowledge I think a furry is a person who dresses up as a fox or animal and identify as said animals. This also leads to sexual experiences in that area and so on. Too much for me tbh and too weird.

But here http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=furry

[TK924]

I do feel weird sometimes but I think it's an internal struggle. I don't have many friends but most of them know that I'm a big SW fan. And smaller subset of them know I have a SW collection. I don't really broadcast my passion.

SW has, and always will be, my friend. The friend that I can count on to keep me feeling the way I did back in 1977.

.

[Robianco]

I must admit having recently moved house we moved in with my in-laws for a few weeks while waiting for things to go through and I moved all my UCS stuff and some other large sets into the loft we were sleeping in as they were boxed and I'm still being told 'I can't believe how much Lego you own'... The three large boxes of stuff that was in storage I'll just have to keep to myself.