What was your first lego set?

[deraven]

My first set was this one:

... but the first one I vividly remember was this awesome construction set:

So much fun back in the day!  

[OTIS_0937]

I think it was the duplo farm

[Pdaitabird]

The first one I remember was Bi-Wing Baron. Unfortunately, as I was too young to build it myself, my parents had the bright idea to glue it together!  Fortunately, it was only Elmer's and came off easily enough.

[The Island Chronicles]

This was my first set! 

[Alexandrina]

I actually don't know which specific set was my first. As early as I can remember, I had a small Lego collection which consisted of 3041 Big Bucket of Fun, 4121 All Kinds of Animals and 4171 Spot & Friends, as well as (for some reason) a couple of light grey castle wall panels - I don't know where they came from, since I was an only child and my mum's only Lego was second-hand when she got it in the 1960s and long-lost by the time I came along.

The first set I remember getting was 3405 Blue Bus

This was followed by 4731 Dobby's Release and a couple of Racers sets before I entered a brief childhood Dark Age. That ended when, obsessed with Lego Star Wars II on DS, I bought 6205 V-Wing Fighter

[jimmythefly]

The first set I specifically remember as receiving as a gift that was mine was Red Cross Helicopter 626, I can still picture where I was sitting at my grandmother's house when I got it and how I had to have help putting it together but how fun it was that the blades and tail rotor spun so well when you flicked them. 

 

I also know we (my sister and I) had the Police Boat 709, it's so awesome because it floats! I still have the parts for it though sadly the ballast weight is broken. Should probably grab one off bricklink at some point. My other memories of that boat is it had the cool macaroni bricks which were great for building other stuff, but also how annoying the "antenna" was on the front of it -it just relies on the technic bushing fit between four studs and was constantly getting knocked off. 

3 hours ago, deraven said:

 

... but the first one I vividly remember was this awesome construction set:

So much fun back in the day!  

That era of construction set was so fun! Small simple sets but moving buckets and scoops and minifigs made them great to play with. Kinda jealous of that blue hardhat, we only had red. 

I don't know about you but this is also the era where my sister and I knew each and every part that we had in the old suitcase where our Lego lived. If you wanted to build something using (for example) the car doors, you had better be first to find them because we had exactly two left and two right! I kind of miss the simplicity of such a small collection. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by jimmythefly
spelling and grammar

[1963maniac]

For me it all started with 703 from 1961. To that set I added many early sets from the late 50's and early 60-s; sets like: 214, 215, 217, 218 X2, 229, 261, 280 X2, 281, 282, 400, 700. This was when Small Town USA hobby shops could stock small amounts of Lego and had them on their shelves for many years. My relationship with this hobby started in 1963 (before minifigures).

[deraven]

18 minutes ago, jimmythefly said:

That era of construction set was so fun! Small simple sets but moving buckets and scoops and minifigs made them great to play with. Kinda jealous of that blue hardhat, we only had red. 

 I don't know about you but this is also the era where my sister and I knew each and every part that we had in the old suitcase where our Lego lived. If you wanted to build something using (for example) the car doors, you had better be first to find them because we had exactly two left and two right! I kind of miss the simplicity of such a small collection. 

Agreed!  I really like that those sets came with a small pile of 1x1 bricks or other random parts to scoop and move.  A tiny detail, but so much extra play value!

I'm right there with you on having the whole collection in your head and being like, "I want to make a garbage truck, but the 2 lift-hinges I need are being used in that spaceship right now..."  

[Toastie]

I got the 323 train set in 1965

Best
Thorsten

P.S.: It is still showing on a shelf I built in 1978 from scrap wood my father gave me ...

Edit2: With 5 pieces missing - and serious bite marks ...

Edited March 18, 2021 by Toastie

[Peppermint_M]

Quack.

In the newborn baby pack that got given to my mum when I was born.

[Yeetforlego]

1 minute ago, deraven said:

Agreed!  I really like that those sets came with a small pile of 1x1 bricks or other random parts to scoop and move.  A tiny detail, but so much extra play value!

I'm right there with you on having the whole collection in your head and being like, "I want to make a garbage truck, but the 2 lift-hinges I need are being used in that spaceship right now..."  

I bought a lot of the bucket arms like on the end of this set to build a few vintage diggers.

[deraven]

20 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

Quack.

In the newborn baby pack that got given to my mum when I was born.

  OK, fair... I might have had *something* else that was made by Lego before those sets I remember.

15 minutes ago, Yeetforlego said:

I bought a lot of the bucket arms like on the end of this set to build a few vintage diggers.

Sounds like fun!  And those buckets are surprisingly versatile with the multiple stud connections as well as the hinge.  So many possibilities... I know I used them as robot arms/grabbers in quite a few MOCs when I was little. 

[Peppermint_M]

Just now, deraven said:

OK, fair... I might have had *something* else that was made by Lego before those sets I remember.

I had a few other rattles and a number of other Duplo sets I remember really clearly, I loved to make towers out of them all. 

The thing is, it never ever stopped. LEGO was always my first choice of toy, or gift request (next to books) and continued to be my favourite. Heck,  I never had a dark age, i kept on buying! That set was the seed to it all.

[Alexandrina]

1 minute ago, Peppermint_M said:

I had a few other rattles and a number of other Duplo sets I remember really clearly, I loved to make towers out of them all. 

I wonder how many of us started out with these larger bricks, somewhere half-forgotten in our memory banks? I'd forgotten until you shared the picture of your first set, but I used to have a push-along trolley filled with large bricks (I'm not sure, but I don't think they were Lego brand - the bricks were about four times the size of Duplo bricks). It was great - all the bricks lived in the trolley, and the sides were studded to allow for construction. I used to make "tower bridge" (in reality just all the bricks stacked as high as they could on either side with a very flimsy beam running across the middle) and then let the trolley roll down a sloping path in my Nan's back garden so I could watch the tower fall down when the trolley hit something at the bottom. Endless fun!

Then I learned about the Fire of London in school, so my new favourite game was making a town plan out of the bricks, each 1 x 1 representing a house, and then pretending to be the Fire, tipping them on their side as the house 'burnt down'. Not sure what the game was, since there was no impediment to me eventually tipping all the bricks on their side.

[The Island Chronicles]

1 hour ago, Alexandrina said:

The first set I remember getting was 3405 Blue Bus



Hey! I had that set. It was actually pretty good. I had all the buses in fact. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Poodabricks

[Alexandrina]

6 minutes ago, Poodabricks said:

Hey! I had that set. It was actually pretty good. I had all of the buses in fact.

I'm sure at the time I wanted the other buses, but I never got any of them. At that point, getting a toy of any sort on a trip to town was a rare treat, and I was asking for other things for Christmas (though I have no idea what - I don't remember any Christmases before 2004 and I don't think I have any presents left from that long ago either!)

I do know that I kept the spare stickers on their sheet for a long time after building the set. I have Microstars figures from 2005 and 2006 (McBride, Veron and Campbell if memory serves) with Lego squad numbers stuck on the bases, even though the set was several years old by that point. I also know that I peeled the country flags off the windows in a very destructive fashion some time ago, so they're long gone.

[Yeetforlego]

18 minutes ago, Poodabricks said:

Hey! I had that set. It was actually pretty good. I had all the buses in fact. 

My favorite part of that set when I got it was not the set it self but the the soccer ball!

[The Shuttlefan]

My first ever set? Not sure I know - it was quite a while ago.   The first set that I actually remember having is 6270 Forbidden Island.

@Alexandrina - my brother had that bus, plus a few other football sets!

[Murdoch17]

Just talked to my dad, this 1965 set (set 610 Super Wheel Toy, in the tall box) was the first one he got when he was 8. LEGO (especially trains) definitely run in the family!

[The Island Chronicles]

Correction: the first set I had was technically this. 

I didn't graduate to small bricks until I was 6. Lego runs in my family too so my dad would train me on building with some of his classic town sets. 

[Lira_Bricks]

I got a bulk of lego when I was 3 years old which included Lego from the sixties, but the first "complete" set I got was https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=6423-1#T=S&O={"iconly":0}

[Stuartn]

I cannot remember my first duplo set, but my first lego set was 7994 harbour, which was a birthday present. I wasn’t able to put it together but it sparked an interest/unhealthy obsession with Lego. 

[The Island Chronicles]

1 minute ago, Stuartn said:

I cannot remember my first duplo set, but my first lego set was 7994 harbour, which was a birthday present. I wasn’t able to put it together but it sparked an interest/unhealthy obsession with Lego. 

Who dares to call Lego an unhealthy obsession? 

Anyway, I wouldn't call it an obsession. Lego is a lifestyle. It's a culture. I only remember my first duplo set because I was 3 and already high functioning - due to having ASD. ASD actually worked to my advantage. 

[Stuartn]

11 minutes ago, Poodabricks said:

Who dares to call Lego an unhealthy obsession? 

Anyway, I wouldn't call it an obsession. Lego is a lifestyle. It's a culture. I only remember my first duplo set because I was 3 and already high functioning - due to having ASD. ASD actually worked to my advantage. 

I can remember almost all of my duplo sets, just not the first. I think it was an excavator or police station, just based on release dates. I was joking, Lego most certainly is not an obsession, and even if it is an obsession, it is most certainly not unhealthy. At a younger age, it helps fine motor skills, and still does, and as a KFOL, when city sets were more realistic, was very educational. It is a great hobby and even if I am obsessed it makes me happy and that to me is what’s important.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Stuartn

[AmperZand]

From as far back as I can remember I had a huge box of assorted used LEGO parts that I had received from my family. 

The first set that I can recall that I got new and therefore that was definitely complete was 372 Texas Rangers.

 

It’s funny how unsophisticated LEGO was compared to today’s offering.

Sadly, I don’t still have 372 or any of my LEGO from that time. My mother eventually donated it to a family that couldn’t afford LEGO.