Introducing myself via a top 5 list.

[Sextant]

I'm a (nearly) 40 year-old American photographer. I thought it might be more interesting to give some facts about myself by way of a countdown of my top 5 favorite LEGO sets.

5. 10174 Imperial AT-ST (2002). I'm actually not that big a Star Wars fan, but the set that first drew me back into the hobby as an adult was the 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer set in 2002. With that massive piece count, I simply had to build it. The problem was that, as a display piece, it was so big I had nowhere to display it. It ended up being broken down and shipped to my brother, where it's on permanent loan. I got the UCS snowspeeder and Y-wing sets, as well. The AT-ST was the last of the UCS models I picked up. I had been buying these Star Wars sets (plus quite a few of the regular-sized sets as well) because they were the most interesting builds you could buy at the time. But having them all out on display was making me look like a huge Star Wars fanatic, which, as I already mentioned, I'm not. When I moved from Kansas to Pennsylvania a couple of years ago, all the LEGO got broken down for the move. The only SW sets I've since rebuilt are the Sandcrawler (10144) and the UCS AT-ST. It's a quick, fun build, which doesn't get too repetitive, and doesn't need too big a footprint to display it. I'm impressed how they got it to support its weight. And it just looks cool up there on the shelf above my computer.

4. 675 Snack Bar (1979). My quirky nostalgia choice would be this simple set, which I had as a kid (and now, like all the rest of our childhood LEGO, resides with my older brother). Even back then I was more a fan of setting up dioramas than actually playing pretend with the sets, and this one had that cool snack bar sign that you could stick somewhere kind of far away from the actual set (as long as it was pointing toward where you'd eventually encounter the snack bar itself) in your town-wide diorama, which seemed almost subversive at the time. There's not much to it, but it has everything you'd need in your snack bar, down to the ketchup and mustard dispensers. Plus it had a guy in a chef's hat.

3. 10027 Train Engine Shed (2003). Like a lot of people, from what I've read, I bought way too much LEGO when I first came back to the hobby, across a lot of themes. I bought Orient Expedition sets on clearance, Spider-Man sets, Dino Attack sets, etc. Since I quickly discovered that I stink at MOCing, and my enjoyment of LEGO is building the thing that's pictured on the box, I regret buying them. Still, I'm a sucker for a minifig, so I still buy the occasional set I have no use for, just because I think the figs are cool. But as a guy who settled on town/city sets after abandoning the Star Wars line, the train theme has been more of a keeper. It fits nicely with town sets, and is one of the few LEGO things my oldest daughter would actually do with me, setting up an elaborate train circuit to run trains on. I really love the Train Engine Shed building, and it strikes me as a precursor to the modular buildings, with its intricate interior and center hinge so that it could be displayed open or as a fully-enclosed building.

2. 10217 Diagon Alley (2011). The one licensed theme I really got behind was Harry Potter, due in large part to my daughter's obsession with it. I think TLG missed the boat with it a little, though. They've gone berserk with the minifigs in the Star Wars line, creating figures for almost every minor character you can think of. I think part of the appeal of Harry Potter is similarly in its deep cast of characters, and though I'm grateful they revisited the line in the last couple of years and filled in a few major gaps, there's still a lot of characters that never saw LEGO counterparts. I actually daydream about one last blowout run of sets, taking the series as a whole to create sets like a detailed Defense Against The Dark Arts classroom with a fleshie minifig of everyone that taught there over the course of the books (Quirrel, Lockhart, Lupin, Mad-Eye, Umbridge, Snape, and Carrow), with little details around the classroom and office indicating the tenure of each of them. I'd also love a UCS Hogwarts. I've got the Diagon Alley set displayed (with the buildings from the Medieval Market Village to help beef it up) with all the individual HP figures I could cram into it.

1. 10185 Green Grocer (2008). While nothing will replicate the jaw drop of seeing the Cafe Corner for the first time, this has to be my favorite of the modular buildings, and thus my all-time favorite set. The interior, the fire escape, the bay window... all amazing to me. I have no skill whatsoever at MOCing (and not much interest in getting better at it, honestly), so my Cafe Corner and Market Street sets remain unfurnished. For myself, I see LEGO more like I do jigsaw puzzles: not an endless series of possibilities, but a set of pieces that, when properly assembled, create a larger things of beauty. So I adore these kits aimed at AFOLs that have come about in the last decade.

Edited June 1, 2012 by Sextant

[JopieK]

Welcome to eurobricks. Your top 3 item is also in my top 5 :) I'm currently trying to improve it a bit (6 gates, etc.). Hope you will experience a lot of fun here at EB.com

[MsRowdyRedhead]

Welcome to Eurobricks! I am new here as well.... Interesting list.

[TimeCruiser]

Welcome to Eurobricks. The top 5 list is a nice take on an introduction.