I went around the store a few times trying to get in as many steps as possible and on my final pass through the toy section I stopped by the Legos to see what Star Wars sets they had.
Like a lot of little kids, I grew up with my fair share of Lego sets and over the past few years, I have purchased a handful of them in hopes of one day finding the time to build them. But like everything else, they were set aside and eventually tucked away.
But as soon as I saw Yoda's Jedi Starfighter sitting on the store shelf, I promised myself that if I bought it... I had to build it. The one condition was I could only do it after I cleaned my desk:
When I finally settled down after dinner last night, I opened the box and pulled out the contents which were three bags of pieces and one instruction manual. As a kid, I didn't read instruction manuals. I just built. However after looking at one bag, I knew there was no way I'd be able to do this without step by step instructions... which is what Lego provides in their fully illustrated manuals.
There are only 262 pieces, which doesn't sound like much... but believe it or not... this project took me a little over an hour to complete. I'm not sure what the average build time is... but I'm guessing it took me longer than most Lego enthusiasts.
Although I was confused a few times... this little project was by no means stressful. In fact, I found it kind of relaxing. Like sorting baseball cards on the family room floor, it helped take my mind off of other things going on in life.
The only major downside to this purchase is the price. When completed... Yoda's Starfighter is barely larger than a Bic Mac carton. That seems kind of expensive, but I'm pretty sure this isn't news to anyone who has purchased them before.
Outside of that, I was very happy with the overall design and especially with the two minifigures. Yoda has a cool rubber head, which is a lot more accurate than the one on my keychain. Now the only remaining issue is figuring out a place and a way to display it.
By the way, I also picked up Lego set #75173 Luke's Landspeeder, so the next time I'm feeling overwhelmed at work... I'll have something to look forward to working on when I get home.
Well... that's it for today. I apologize if you were hoping to read a sports card post. Don't worry... I'll get back to those on Thursday.
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
8 comments:
Glad you had fun.
My son got some Lego sets for his birthday back at the end of January. I did the majority of the building of them since he's still a little young for them and you're right, it is pretty relaxing. I even bought one of the knock-off WWE ones once a Toys R Us and that too was pretty fun.
Just a suggestion, we bought small hooks and screwed them into the ceiling, then we took fishing line and tied it gently around the wings and hung all our star wars fighters around the kids' playroom. It cleared a lot of shelf space for lego buildings and of course card binders. On a side note I just wanted to tell you that your blog is the first card blog I ever read and now I'm here everyday to see what you guys have found. Nothing like a Fuji post!
I have a feeling Capt Rex from Zippy's blog will be paying a visit, Fuji.
Looks like fun. I'm afraid that if I walked in one night and told my wife I was starting to collect yet more stuff that took up space I'd find myself out on the porch in a hurry.
I'm in the same boat as Bob. My wife puts up with my collections, but if I added one more she would probably beat me up.
hackenbush - thanks. i'm looking forward to building my land speeder next.
adam sanders - i think one of the biggest benefits to legos is teaching kids to follow instructions. i missed one little piece and it set me back at least 10 minutes, because i had to take things apart and rebuild it.
concrete card collector - thank you for the kind words and the great suggestion. i have a (non lego) x-wing and tie fighter hanging from my ceiling already. might need to add yoda into the mix.
jedijeff - love me some captain rex!
commishbob & mr. scott - i totally understand. i'm not married, but i'm not a fan of clutter either. i might pick up a set every now and then as a source of relaxation... but cards will always be my #1 hobby.
My wife, kids, and I all really like LEGO. I mostly am into the Star Wars stuff, but I also chase some superhero sets and some of the classic lines that I enjoyed when I was a kid, like Castle and Pirates. My kids like some of the newer stuff based on TV shows and movies, as well as superheroes. My wife also likes the Star Wars and superhero stuff, although she isn't as into it as the rest of us are. They do take up a lot of space. Most of mine are in the attic right now, and the kids probably have some of their LEGOs in every room of the house. There is also a video game called LEGO Dimensions that allows you to set certain LEGO figures on a base and play with them in a LEGO world. Each figure has a set of powers, so you have to set up your team to beat each level. I've dumped a lot of money into that, and my kids love to play it.
LEGOs in general are a pretty expensive hobby. The rule of thumb for set pricing seems to be about ten cents per piece, and it seems like you usually get about 1 minifigure for every ten dollars on the price tag. That varies a bit, of course, and it seems like you can often get some of the sets on sale if you search hard and are willing to wait a bit after release. Once a set is retired, though, the scalpers come out and prices skyrocket.
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