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Is your significant other into Lego?

2

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  • maybertsmayberts
    My wife loves Lego, what she hate is the number of hobbies I have.
    I have taken the spare room, the garage, part of the living room and our conservatory.

    My city is fast growing and we have developed our space program ;)
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  • anastasiaanastasia
    My husband and I are both into Lego. I only really got into it recently (in the last few months) when we decided we needed a shared hobby, rather than me collecting my Disney things and him playing computer games all the time! We started collecting the minifigs, and then, as usual, I went completely mental and started buying as much Lego as I could get away with!

    I've thrown myself right into it and have been buying so many sets over the last few months, just to try to make sure I get everything I want before they're discontinued! I seem to have expensive taste in Lego as I do with everything else.

    I really love that we have a shared hobby for once. It's so relaxing to be building something together, or even building our own sets at the same time, and we get to chat and spend so much more time together. :)

    Our dog isn't impressed though. He feels he should be the centre of the universe, so if we're building some Lego he sulks until he's given some attention.

    When I've got a bit more experience I think I'd love to attempt to build a Lego version of our dog! I have no idea if that's possible though. lol
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  • ludzikludzik
    I got my wife hooked ;) She is the perfect partner in crime: she knows what to look for in the lego Grab Bags when she stops by the store, she is the perfect helper when it comes to filling the pick a brick bins: our goal is always to get specific bricks first and then to maximize the value per brick by finding creative ways to fill it to the max (and then we count the bricks when we get home :) )

    She even found an older set (original pirates) that somehow found its way after xmas to a lego store while I was busy with grab bags. Price was great and had some cool bricks in it too :) She walked up to me and said: you just have to buy this as it has so much potential :)
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  • BrickDancerBrickDancer
    The girlfriend and I got into it together, about 2.5 months ago when she was dreaming about having a Dollhouse like she always wanted as a child. That's when I realized I was in my Dark Ages and the Light quickly took hold. Fast forward 2 months and she has all the Winter Village line, all the Friends sets, some Belville, all the current Modulars, some Toy Story. Sometimes I think she is more excited to build than I am.

    For myself, I got the whole PotC line, starting on SW and Kingdoms/Castle. I get dizzy from the thrill of it all.
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  • legonut80legonut80
    Last week we went on a 3 hour drive to the nearest Lego store. We got quite a few things one being the mini modular set, i wasn't sure about it but my husband said we should get it while we was there. Well he is now sorting a big bag of lego trying to find parts to make his own mini modular, and has just said to me... "I love Lego", i then look at him with a smile and he says "you know i've always loved Lego"

    I think christmas 2012 will be even more Lego fun :) and we won't have any money left for food though :(
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  • giraffefrecklesgiraffefreckles
    :) Yeah, that darn food budget, what is that all about?

    My husband isn't into LEGO, but he built and then played 3 games with me. He made bat attack noises for Magma Monster and said he preferred the Meteor Strike game. (I liked Meteor's folding mechanism for placing back into the box.) The other night, I had to attend to our toddler mid-way through the Master Builder Academy jet plane. I asked him to leave it be, that I would return to it, and he asked to complete it. :)

    Small steps...but then he noticed the minifigure doesn't fit in the cockpit because the canopy would not close, and I replied that LEGO was lame that way. They tell you specifically in the first MBA book to make sure your minifigure fits in cockpits, and then they design sets where the figs don't fit. But I told him to just amputate the legs or raise the sides of the cockpit with other pieces from my spare parts and the cockpit will close -- and then he said it's still sticking out just the tiniest bit with the removed legs. That I knew would happen, too. Grrr. So, then he had an idea; he made the fig's amputated legs fit by laying them down horizontally in front of the fig. Ewww! You're such a boy! He was gleeful.

    TLG: You should heed your own lessons, and then it might be easier to reel our significant others in.
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  • JenniJenni
    @legonut80 we also made a 3 hour LEGO store trip this week and picked up the mini modulars. This trip resulted in a come to Jesus meeting on the trip home when he started talking about how we were going to build my tower bridge.

    And guess what he's doing, right in front of me as I type.

    Excuse me while I go find his cricket bat....
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  • richoricho
    Girlfriend not really, but I also live with my beautiful 5 year old girl from a previous relationship, and she loves it. Just got her the little set with Catwoman in recently. Lego is great for their imaginations.
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  • BrickDancerBrickDancer
    @richo don't have kids of my own, but it was such a nice experience to shower the nephews & nieces with Lego for Xmas this year. This was their first encounter with the brick and I was more than happy to be the one to introduce them to one another. The oldest boy, 4yrs, has now gone completely bonkers for Lego and his fave mini-fig, Motorcycle Cop, never leaves his hand. Priceless moments and memories...
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  • richoricho
    @brickdancer,
    Great thoughts.
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  • Rainstorm26Rainstorm26
    So, tonight my son wanted to go to the Lego store to buy a Ninjago set he has been asking for. My wife was not pleased and decided she wanted an accounting for all the lego in the house. She made me go back 6 years ago when I came out of my dark ages and determine how much I spent on all the lego in the house. It was a very brutal evening. Needless to say, I have spent roughly on average about $60/month for 6 years. I guess it was kind of an intervention. Once it was all in front of me it is hard to ignore the addiction.
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  • DuchessaDuchessa
    Just $60 a month? Honestly, I wouldn't react if my partner spent that on a hobby. That's what a lot of people spend on beer or cigarettes. Your lego is still there, and can quickly be sold (even though it hurts) if you need cash.
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  • Si_Dorking_Surrey_UKSi_Dorking_Surrey_UK
    @Rainstorm26 .. thats only $4320 over 6 years. That's quite 'normal'!
    Ha! Just shows how mad we all are that we think thats normal, but hey, it is!
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  • Bosstone100Bosstone100
    I agree. $60 a month isn't that much. I know I don't go out drinking, etc. and don't really have outside hobbies so I'll buy Lego... and probably have to be buried in a Lego coffin because we can't afford a real one. LOL!
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  • Si_Dorking_Surrey_UKSi_Dorking_Surrey_UK
    Try outdoor sports as a hobby if you want to see $4k pale into insignificance!

    (Edit - although your wife might be OK with that due to the resulting 6-pack & Pecs)
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  • Rainstorm26Rainstorm26
    The thing she won't come to terms with is that about $725 of the $4320 was on a MISB 10188 and 10179. Which now combined are worth around $2100. Maybe I should ask her how her 401K investments have done over the last 6 years (or maybe not). I think I'm going to let it slide.
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  • MatthewMatthew
    I'm wedded to the LEGO :-). I have a fairly low budget compared to some (LFT), and I also buy to resell, but there still seems to be so much of it. I could do with a house 3 times as big with a warehouse on the side! I think unless I can get the LEGO into some kind of order I'm going to be single for a while :-(
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  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas
    $4K buys a decent pair of bicycles, over 6 years, that's nothing for a hobby... Cell phones cost more, Cable TV costs more, my electric bill is 10 times that each month...

    Not to belittle it, it may be a lot of money to the poster, so it isn't fair I suppose for us to say all that... But it doesn't strike me as that much, even to an average person making average wages.

    No offense intended to anyone of course, I'm sorry if it comes across that way.
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  • Si_Dorking_Surrey_UKSi_Dorking_Surrey_UK
    A decent pair of bicycles? A decent _bicycle_ dont you mean :)

    (Also no offence meant, just trying to put it into perspective).
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  • LegoFanTexasLegoFanTexas
    In the US, $2K buys a pretty nice bicycle. :)
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  • Si_Dorking_Surrey_UKSi_Dorking_Surrey_UK
    Fair point, there are some bargains out there :)
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  • tk79tk79
    $60 a month is the cheapest addiction I can think of! Drugs, booze and cigarettes would blow that out of the water in a week (or a day for some)...even soda and coffee addicts might be above that...and you can always resell your "product" if you overcome this "addiction" someday, unlike most bad habits.

    You had to have an intervention for an addiction that costs less than a couple movies a month at the show (for two)...ouch! Sorry to hear about your rough night man, just doesn't seem right you had to go through that!
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  • Farmer_JohnFarmer_John
    @legonut80 we also made a 3 hour LEGO store trip this week and picked up the mini modulars.
    @jenni - Which Lego store to you all go to???
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  • Farmer_JohnFarmer_John
    My wife likes the Christmas/Winter sets. I just stack the boxes on the dining room table around Thanksgiving for her to put together sometime before Christmas. I also try and get her any holiday polybag set that comes down the pike (Valentine, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) for the breakfast nook. Finally, I started helping her build a collection of MFs to put on the refrigerator (which I'm now into). A scantily clad Princess Leia (Jabba slave) always gets the attention of visitors. :-)
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  • Rainstorm26Rainstorm26
    @tk79 Thanks for the sympathy. My wife doesn't spend much money on anything besides the basics. So it is rather difficult to come back and say she is spending too much money on something. We've got two little ones so we don't go out to movies much either. A lot of my collection has been on very re-sellable sets that are still MISB, so it is not like spending $60 a month on beer or coffee which in the end leaves one with nothing of value (except a buzz or a hangover, if you are really into that).
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  • starfire2starfire2
    ^ Or a pickled liver!
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  • YellowcastleYellowcastle
    @LFT - Your electric bill is $600/month?
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  • brickupdatebrickupdate
    While my wife isn't "in" to LEGO, she has a sense of humor about it. I left a list of things we needed at Wal-Mart on the counter today (cat litter, garbage bags, etc) and she added something to the end:

    "50 LEGO SETS"

    She knows me too well.
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  • legirllegirl
    ^ that's cute!
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  • BrickarmorBrickarmor
    This thread is so apropos... Every time a rattly brown box lands on our doorstep my wife shoots knives from her eyes (but has to repress a slight smile at how adorably deranged I've become). I think--ok, she's not here, I can say what I think--I think she wants to get into it just a little but then the floodgates will unloose, responsibilities neglected, chaos, wrack, and ruin. In short, though, she doesn't have to LIKE it, no, it's much more difficult: she has to PAY for it!!
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  • Jonn420Jonn420
    The Wifey "gets it", and always likes to make me happy, so i usualy get what i want, she doesnt build too much, unless ive bought a butt ton of Legos, then she demands to build at least one set.....shes gotten good at feeling out the minifigures, but she thinks they are "cute" so now i have to find mutiples of some minifigures...but in the long run its a small price to pay, and shes happy making me happy....i just hope i dont bankrupt us....lol
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  • Rainstorm26Rainstorm26
    I got the "I'm going to throw out that Mindstorms NXT robot" last night. I was rather absorbed in troubleshooting a programming problem. I gave my wife the Leprechaun MF for St. Patty's day and she seemed happy to have "her" first Lego, but I think that happyness has gone away after the robot incident.
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  • maesterjaymaesterjay
    My girlfriend supports me and my obsessions to a certain extent, for example my Valentines present was a lego set I really wanted... but she is definitely sick of going to every Walmart in the State of New York searching for clearance lol. She likes to build but she is no Zack the Lego Maniac like us (though she has the song memorized) :-)
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  • RedbullgivesuwindRedbullgivesuwind
    @Rainstorm26 sounds like she is feeling neglected, (sorry if i over step here). Id spend an evening with her.Pack the kids off, take the day off clear the lego away, cook a nice meal, run a hot bath for her, wine, bit of music,crack out the massage oils and then ask about that MSIB UCS Falcon you have wanted.

    That said Im single so im proberbly talking megabloks
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  • jadedancjadedanc
    Since my husband is stationed in Washington DC and I am in Tacoma, WA I can't get him into Legos YET Lol. But when he flew here last month for the "issues" I was having after a neighbor's suicide, the first thing he said when he walked in the apartment was "Awesome", I don't think I will have any trouble converting him....Mwhmwhhaaa
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  • PohmPohm
    I can't say my wife is into lego but she 'gets' it. Our children and I build and play quite often and my wife did buy me the millenium Falcon set for Christmas a few years back so she is some way there. She is less troubled by my purchases but I do have to find other old stuff to sell before I buy, and she did take an interest in our children's creations for an upcoming competition at a local toy store... slowly, slowly.
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  • beatlefan1966beatlefan1966

    I usually build in the living room while my other half relaxes with her laptop scouring for vintage and perhaps a glass of vino to go along. We find this a lovely way to spend time, both happy, chatting and indulging our passions.
    Ditto here...I usually build at the dining room table while my husband indulges in his hobby...cross stitching! (Seriously!) He's very supportive in that he loves to buy me Lego...lots and lots of Lego. It's a beautiful thing.

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  • effalconeffalcon
    my life loves it, i purchased the modulars for myself, but she built them.
    recently picked up tower bridge because she liked it.
    also the creator houses.

    anything with some detail she loves
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  • starfire2starfire2
    ^ You said my life loves it, did you mean wife?

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  • weinnerweinner
    My girlfriend actually was the one who got me back into lego and she is 32 and was never into them. She was working out of town and went to the mall of america. She said the lego store was rediculous and said you should she the lego DS. I was like, really a lego DS, thats awesome. Then she pulled out of her bag a MF, I was tickled pink. I believe I got a keeper.
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  • effalconeffalcon
    i did mean wife :P
    can't edit it now!
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  • cheshirecatcheshirecat
    With me, two young sons mad keen on lego already, my old lego stash from 25 years ago, 9 crate fulls of lego in the boys bedroom along with a shelving unit full of old castles, classic space, and other made sets, a biscuit tin full of bits in the front room for the kids to delve into as and when and invariably one set recently made sat on the fire place (currently the marina which was surprisingly good) I think my wife has learnt she HAS to like lego.

    In fairness seeing the joy the stuff gives to her children makes it easy for her to like, in her eyes its infinitely better than them sitting in front of a Nintendo DS or similar. Having said that if I bought lego and didn't have children I think she'd think I was nuts, even with the argument that its cheaper than drinking, smoking, eating out or going to the cinema. When it costs over £75 to fill up your average sized car with petrol and £12 to get the train to work each day, lego suddenly seems very good value to me - but that argument doesn't seem to work with her.

    I would say women and rational arguments often don't go well together, but that might get me in trouble ;)
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  • LostInTranslationLostInTranslation
    ^ It definitely would, good job you restrained yourself! ;-)
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  • vonlanivonlani
    My girlfriend is actually the one who got me back into Lego again after 15 years. About two years ago, a friend of mine told me about the ucs star wars sets, but me and my girlfriend where still in college back then and could not afford these sets. We quickly forgot about these...

    Guess how suprised i was, when she got me the millennium falcon last year as a birthday present;-) I've bought a few sets since and she was quite Impressed about the results. A few weeks ago we spent the whole sunday building the imperial shuttle together and she had a blast building some random stuft with the PaB cup i got her.

    She's probably not (yet) as crazy as i am about lego again, but the force is strong with her;-) The Volkswagen Camper is probably up next for her...
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  • weinnerweinner
    The wagon is the one that really got my girlfriend into lego.
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  • KulshanGirlKulshanGirl
    My husboyfriend is very supportive, although he doesn't build. We have separate finances so I don't really have to justify my purchases too much. I usually display my current set(s) on top of our piano and he only gets twitchy when things get too busy or out of hand. For example, recently the Earth Defence HQ and Tripod invader tripping over the Toy Story train while Droid Escape rolled around in between. TOO MUCH!

    Our almost-two year old daughter is already a Legomaniac. She likes to hold the minifigs and remembers ALL of their names. It's cute. :) She has a pile of duplo and likes to build but she really wants to play with mine. Soon, padawan! hehe.
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  • tomcatttomcatt
    "husboyfriend" - love that, gonna have to use it! I have one too, and he doesn't really have any interest in my Lego obsession. I had none when we met 15 years ago, and I started out small in 1999 with only SW, and stayed that way until around 2006, when it kinda got out of hand and I started buying everything, so he's been introduced to it gradually. By 2009 we decided to move because our house was too small - one of the requirements was a Lego room so I could 'contain' it. The other problem was the destructive force of 3 large dogs' tails... ;) Now it's all in a room with a door!

    I mostly buy sets to build/display, but have recently started buying sets/brick for MOCs. Some of the time I bring the sets up to the living room and build while we watch TV together. He gets a bit annoyed with the 'noise' but smiles when I excitedly point out a cool minifig or piece in the set. The MOC'ing has to be done in the LEGO room where all the loose brick is. He has said that he's uncomfortable coming into the Lego room (likely because it's hyper-organized), and that my CMF 'army' is disturbing :P

    We also have separate finances - he spends his on beer and truck/quad parts, and I spend mine on Lego. I guess that evens things out... :) He generally just shakes his head when he sees me haul in big yellow bags.

    A while back, I bought us each one of the orange quad sets (from the Coast Guard line), since we quad regularly, and I thought it would be a fun thing to share. He opened his box, dumped it out, and proceeded to start building without even a glance at the instructions or box picture - he didn't really care what it was 'supposed' to look like, he just built what he thought it should be. I was dumbfounded - I always build by instructions, and it was freaking me out a bit that he wasn't. After he was done, I put them up on the mantle, and when he wasn't looking, rebuilt his properly. ;)
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  • DuchessaDuchessa
    @tomcatt - your AFOL story sounds very much like mine. I started out with SW in 2000, and a few years later it got out of hand...

    I'm divoced, and when I'm interested in dating again I sure hope that I'll meet someone who thinks that it's a great deal of fun - and not embarrasing or stupid - to date a woman who owns more than 700 Lego sets in original boxes :)
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  • korkor
    My wife is very interested in Lego but hasn't got much into building. She loves the shows and hunting down deals though. She's always been very encouraging when I want to go out and spend a few hundred bucks or more on sets :)
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  • MinifigsMeMinifigsMe
    I really love reading this thread. Cheers me up whenever I do. I like hearing about peoples relationships with each other and with lego!

    ^^^ I agree on the not building to instructions. I built the hoggy express with my mum (she's 66) and she did the car, and the impressive thing was it ended up looking pretty good, but if she couldn't find a part she needed she just shoved something else in and ended up with about 10% of the bricks left over.
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