Question: What term do we all call ourselves?

[Paul B Technic]

Question: What term do we all call ourselves?

LEGO Builder

LEGO Collector

LEGO Designer

[rodiziorobs]

Lego Enthusiast

[VintageLegoEra]

Lego Fan, Lego Maniac, Lego Expert.

[gotoAndLego]

AFOL

[mechamike]

AFOL (if Your adult.. if not: TFOL? ) or below that simply child?

LEGO Builder , that's pretty much anyone that builds with Lego my 3 yo is a Lego builder as I am.

LEGO Collector, that someone that collects Lego boxes, (for me that's weird,its like buying a fine wine a never taste it and just use it to brag off and try to impress)

LEGO Designer ,that someone that works at Lego and design set's

[archieg]

AFOL Adult Fan[atic] of Lego

[gotoAndLego]

LEGO Collector, that someone that collects Lego boxes, (for me that's weird,its like buying a fine wine a never taste it and just use it to brag off and try to impress)

To say you are a collector, you have to try to be fairly complete in what you collect. Its fairly impossible to be a Lego collector, but you can be a Modular building collector, Harry Potter collector, a UCS Star Wars collector, etc. If you just get whichever sets you fancy without a plan or goal of completing your collection as your budget allows then you are not a collector, you just like Lego.

You don't need to collect the boxes to still consider yourself a collector, unless you are a Lego box collector LOL, but if you do take the sets out of the box to build/play with that doesn't make you less of a collector, it just lowers the street price of your collection.

IMO of course.

Edited April 14, 2016 by gotoAndLego

[mechamike]

Ah. Well that's a good point I guess.. I suppose I was a bit biased from a discussion on a Facebook page were it it looked like market value and particularly boxes was a big issue if you were a collector. :-)

[Gnac]

A meatbag who just happens to like LEGO

[dr_spock]

The fan community normally go with various versions of FOL:

AFOL

FFOL

TFOL

KFOL

[Junior Shark]

AHOL. Adult Hobbyist of Lego.

[GallardoLU]

I am an AOL: Addict of LEGO. quick someone send me a polybag I need a fix!

[gotoAndLego]

Mike, it depends on the person. Some people collect and keep them pristine, others collect but play with them. The difference I think between a collector and a casual buyer is that collectors try to get everything they can of a specific type of thing.

[ProducePrincess]

I'm a FLLM. Free Loading LUG Member.

[Stash2Sixx]

I cannot stand the term AFOL. I've heard it used with such disgust over the past few years...it just leaves a bad taste...

ALF. Adult LEGO Fan. Also the name of Gordon Shumway, who traveled the stars to end up on Earth.

[gotoAndLego]

Yeah but then we would need to hoard lint and eat cats.

[retrotaco]

I don't have a title, someone just mentions Lego and I go 'oh yeah, I've got a bunch of Legos' and they either look at me weird or stand fascinated over my collection for an hour lol

[Peppermint_M]

I'm a LEGO Nerd.

I don't speak acronyms (except those ones that have entered common parlance like AWOL and FUBAR/SNAFU) and it is much easier to say I am a LEGO Nerd than AFOL.

At the Children's LEGO club I volunteer at I get called the LEGO Expert by the organiser and the parents and a Master Builder like Wyldstyle by the kids.

I'm not really big into labels these days. Me is as Me does.

[Space Police XVIII]

AFOL always struck me as unnecessary and just a bit pretentious. Why, I'm not some KID that PLAYS with Lego! I'm a serious person that seriously builds serious things with this highly advanced interlocking brick SYSTEM. Harrumph.

I'm a LEGO Nerd.

This works, I like this.

[LudeBene]

I guess I'd use Adult Fan of Lego when talking to other people as I think they recognise the 'phenomena'... but I do agree with the fact that it sounds a bit pretentious!

I really dislike the FFOL / FAFOL terms to distinguish a female fan of LEGO as someone different from a plain old AFOL. If AFOL is sort of defensively acknowledging that you're an adult, rather than a child who likes LEGO, then FAFOL / SHEFOL is like adding a "gasp! - and I'm a girl! how surprising is that?"

But ignore me, I'm just bitter because as the youngest, and a girl, my mother refuses to admit that I have any claim to even a portion of the communal LEGO from when me and my siblings were children.

[AmperZand]

"AFOL" to other AFOLs. "LEGO enthusiast" to non-FOLs.

The difference I think between a collector and a casual buyer is that collectors try to get everything they can of a specific type of thing.

I disagree. There's nothing in the word "collector" that implies or connotes completion. If you have an interest in and seek to obtain minifigures, for example, are you only a collector if you try to get at least one of every minifigure ever produced? By that standard, there are probably no minifigure collectors.

On the other hand, you probably don't qualify as a collector if you only have one of something or you have no interest in that type of thing. For example, a kid with his first minifigure doesn't count as a collector and neither do people in their DA who may have quite a few minifigures they don't care about in their parents' attic.

Edited April 15, 2016 by AmperZand

[Captain Britain]

"AFOL" to other AFOLs. "LEGO enthusiast" to non-FOLs.

I disagree. There's nothing in the word "collector" that implies or connotes completion. If you have an interest in and seek to obtain minifigures, for example, are you only a collector if you try to get at least one of every minifigure ever produced? By that standard, there are probably no minifigure collectors. On the other hand, you probably don't qualify as a collector if you only have one of something or you have no interest in that type of thing. For example, a kid with his first minifigure doesn't count as a collect and neither do people in their DA who may have quite a few minifigures they don't care about in their parents' attic.

Completely agree with you AmperZand. I'd say I'm a 'collector' as I like collecting all the Super Hero minifigs, but I do it as and when I can afford to (luckily recently I've been able to afford more than usual through selling bits and saving too) but I'm never going to bother with the Comic Con or Toy Fair versions because I just wouldn't feel comfortable dropping that sort of money on a single minifigure.. as much as I'd love to own them! So as I'll never have these I'd feel a bit funny if someone said "You're not a collector" because of it. Maybe casual collector is more of a fitting term? I saw recently on eBay the Iron Man and Captain America Toy Fair one's went up as a pair for auction and went for $1,000! £700?! Crazy.

[Aanchir]

Usually I just call myself an AFOL or LEGO fan.

I would disagree about needing to aim for a complete collection to call yourself a collector, though. A complete collection is just one type of collection, and it's not even the ideal type of collection for everybody. I collect My Little Pony toys and my collection isn't anywhere close to complete even if you break it down by series, but while I generally don't self-identify as a collector, I think I still qualify as one.

Collectors are allowed to exercise discretion in what they want to have in their collections. I think it's honestly kind of sad how many LEGO collectors come up with ridiculous excuses for why certain sets don't count as the thing they collect instead of just being honest and saying "it's the sort of thing I collect, but I'd rather spend my money on other things". For instance, the people who insist that the Market Street isn't a REAL modular building because it's LEGO Factory themed, or that the Sandcrawler isn't a REAL Ultimate Collectors' Series set because it doesn't have a nameplate.

[GallardoLU]

Collector: a person who collects things of a specified type, professionally or as a hobby

Collect:

1: to get things from different places and bring them together

2: to get one or more things from a place

3: to get similar things and bring them together as a hobby

Collection: an accumulation of objects gathered for study, comparison, or exhibition or as a hobby

if any of those apply to you then you are a collector in the simplest of terms. and the larger your quantity of things or perhaps the value of the things the more secure you are as a collector.

example: I have a large number of star wars sets (just short of 100 unique) so I'm definitely a collector of those sets. but it's nowhere near complete. simultaneously I have completed a collection of Lego Slave I sets (all scales) but that's only a part of my incomplete Fett sets collection.. you can see where this is going.

[Nagol of Fortfield]

Addict. duhh

Still true though...

Edited April 16, 2016 by Nagol of Fortfield