Merry Christmas, Dearest Readers!
Oh, I have a bit of news. There is now a Lemur button on the sidebar! If you want to ask me a question, just click on it and leave a comment in the most recent ‘Ask A Lemur’ post. There is also a bit of delay in the Lemur Loot. Once it gets here, the mail room gnomes will gather all the addresses and get caught up on the backlog.
On to your questions!
How do you sort your Lego collection? And what ways of sorting have you found work best for which styles of building?
That is a great question! It is also not an easy question to answer because everyone sorts a little bit differently. There are two main ways though. Sorting by color and sorting by piece. Many fans first begin by sorting their collections by color.
The problem with that is once all your pieces are in bins of the same color, it is really hard to pick out the pieces you need because everything sort of blurs together. So most builders then move onto some version of sorting by piece. The problem there is that there are so many different pieces you can spend the rest of your life sorting your collection in the various pieces.
A good way to start is to do what many call a “rough sort”. Figure out what kinds of pieces you use most and separate them from the mass of pieces you don’t use. Then you can sort those into similar categories. If you have a lot of the same pieces, you might want to sort those by color. Some do and some don’t. I’m sure other readers will chime in and talk about the specifics of how they sort.
Personally, I sort my collection by taste. It takes a very keen set of taste buds but it’s totally worth it.
What do you think is a good age to join a LUG?
Like most things, it depends on the individual LEGO User Group (LUG). Some only allow adults, but if your local LUG allows minors, I would recommend that you be at least in your teens and to take a parent or guardian with you. Most LUGs that allow minors also require a parent or guardian to be present at the meetings.
The majority of LUGs are designed for adults and meetings are set up accordingly. A mature and responsible teen might fit in but some may not. Check with your local LUG and/or talk with members and see what age they allow or recommend for their group. My local Lemur LUG allows members of any age but we are unusual in that respect. Plus we only have one member.
TBB will be ten years old in 2015, an incredible acheivment for any blog. How was TBB founded and how has the blog grown and changed over the years?
Wow, you are a fan! Not many people have realized that the blog will be ten years old next year. It was originally Andrew’s personal blog but he asked Josh to help build it into something more and The Brothers Brick was created. There have been many great contributors over the years, who have all helped make TBB what it is today. If you click the “About” menu, it lists all the contributors, past and present. We currently have the largest group of contributors ever and it is awesome having such a diverse range of people and experience to draw upon.
Some things have changed and some things haven’t. The blog was started in order to highlight the best work of the LEGO fan community and to present that work to the non-LEGO world at large. We are still doing that. We have added other things over the years. Some features have stayed, while others have gone away. We are constantly trying to improve ourselves and experimenting with how we do things. Nothing is set in stone, except that we have no intention of going away and will always feature the best models and creations we can find.
Thanks you all, once again, for your questions and I will see you all next week! Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!