Themes of Choice

From my experience so far here, I know that Town, City and Trains appear to be popular so far for displays. But I'm asking about which themes other members here at PennLUG like to collect and/or make MOCs from.

I, for one, was a big fan of the Harry Potter series (before the licensed theme got the not-yellow minifig treatment) and have a Hogwarts Castle setup, as well as a Privet Drive setup. The rest of my collection includes the usual suspects (space, pirates, western, town, city), but they're typically the smaller sets. I don't know if it would count as a theme, but my recent purchases after coming back onto the lego bandwagon have been the Collectible Minifigure series.

So what's your favorite theme(s), and why?

Starwars is my main lego theme I still have all my classic space stuff from when I was little but mostly
I collect 9 Volt trains and a fellow member Nate is really getting me into the older lego trains
also modular house sets such as green grocer fire brigade etc etc

I have been really getting into lego mosaics lately and think the next big lego adult theme could be this

The cool thing about lego is the MOC stuff we build it takes lego to the next level and really puts our club
on the map
I have been collecting for 25 years or more and have about 4000 starwars mini figs and about 300 sets
but the theme that I like the best is a york specialty brand it can only be found in this part of PA
it is called CS (( Cale Scale )) its an aquired taste like scrapple once you see it you have to have more
Tony E

It was called Cale Scale, but now PennLUG owns the rights to it and its PennLUG standard now. Hell, PennLUG standard is even published in a magazine, which makes it official.

Sorry I totally went off topic and didn't even discuss my theme of choice. I have always been a huge space fan, with a bit of side work in the Mecha theme. However, ever since I joined the club I got sucked into the whole town/train theme because I really enjoy participating in the large layout. Although recently I have gotten back into building some space MOC's and I was collecting the entire Space Police line, till I realized it was a cool theme, but not money concious for me to build what I want. So now I just buy a few sets here and there, either for the parts, because I think it has uses in the layout, or because I think it is really cool and plan to keep it together. There are a few members on here that are branching out and working on a classic space, moonbase type display that will be seperate from the town, but still connected in a way.

Classic Space is my favorite, followed by the new Space Police (3). Castle, town follow.

Speaking of space, we need to start planning our space layout so start jotting some ideas/diagrams down.

Though I don't actually build in it much, Space has basically always been my favorite theme. For me, later Classic Space through M-Tron are my favorites, so 1985-1990 or so. Those were the sets I had when I was a kid, and some of them were the ones I dreamed of having. As a kid, I even wrote to Lego to ask about whether it was possible to get older sets and got a reply from the fabled Susan Williams herself! When I discovered ebay, gosh, like 12 years ago now, I realized I could buy sets I missed out on as a kid for the first time. Before that, it was the luck of flea markets and tag sales to find older stuff. My Space collection, which was already pretty big, exploded outward just as Lego abandoned the theme for Star Wars. Needless to say, I was really stoked when Space came back.

Trains would be my second favorite. I didn't have them as a kid, so basically everything I have has been built up over the last 3 or 4 years. I love the old 12 volt best with its electric signals and switches. I have a lot of equipment for that, but very few complete sets as they're quite expensive.

I have several themes that interest me. Growing up one of my favorite themes was Technic. I love mechanical stuff and tinkering with mechanisms. I also loved the Model Team theme.

I'm a big Castle fan. I got into Castle when I was younger thanks to my love of video game RPGs. Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest (known as Dragon Warrior back in the NES days) and Zelda, helped ignite a love for medieval fantasy that tied in nicely with LEGO Castle. While I haven't built any new Castle MOCs for a few years I do still collect (the newest line is awesome) and it's rumored that I secretly want to get back to some medieval building. I also love Pirates but more as an offshoot of Castle and I tend to interchange the two when building.

But probably the theme I'm most infamous for is Trains. I'm a serious railroad fan of the highest order and particularly interested in local RR history and steam era railroading. I've had LEGO trains since childhood (started out with the #7722 Steam Cargo Train) but it wasn't until a few years ago that I got serious about building train MOCs. Being a steam fan I wanted to build steam but LEGO didn't have much to offer as far as proper wheels for steam. It wan't until Ben Fleskies started selling his custom steam drivers that I could finally build the locomotives I wanted to and it was on. I've since been building almost exclusively train or town MOCs for use in train layouts.

My Brickshelf Gallery I haven't updated this one for a while so it's most of my older MOCs.

My Flickr Gallery This one contains all my more recent LEGO stuff.

Cale

My, don't we have quite a range of themes here! I'm quite shocked that nobody mentioned Bionicle. (Just kidding ) I must admit that I've been reluctant to purchase newer sets because of the (albeit, minor) changes from the design since the 90s, but after I get all of my current pieces sorted out, I do want to get into the City theme again. But I also want to put the others themed sets that I have into some type of cohesive individual theme displays. For conventions and shows, do you typically just have a City display, or do you have a separate theme display as well?

We also have tables for stuff that doesn't fit in with the collabrative display. At some shows we have our own PennLUG table, and at other shows we mix our stuff in with the appropiate theme table.

I love to build snails in many different sizes and shapes. My fave "real theme" is Castle, and I like building stuff for the train layout. I also collect vintage bricks, and enjoy building in ALL the different sizes of Lego, from the microscopic Modulex, to the great big huge foam bricks for toddlers ( neither of which are currently available). I love tiny cute MOCs the best, and what I bring to meetings are usually small.

I'd say my favorite has to be Star Wars, and Space. I like town and Train as well. Actually I think my wife will tell you there isn't a theme I don't like, or potentially wouldn't like. Every theme seems have neat parts!

I had space, castle and town sets when I was a kid. Originally castle was my favorite and then I get more into town instead. I also liked the first pirates sets when they came out. I think it was Star Wars that helped get me back in to Lego again although I haven't been much into Star Wars lately. City is definitely my favorite theme to build in.

It's tempting to get into trains too, but I think I would stick with simpler official Lego style trains instead of the big detailed stuff some of that Nate and Cale build (I still have my 7722 train, but the motor is dying).

AJD08 wrote:My, don't we have quite a range of themes here! I'm quite shocked that nobody mentioned Bionicle.

Ahem. I might be the only one here, but I've been buying Bionicle sets almost since the line's premiere. For unusual parts usage, mostly; definitely not for the mythology (the CGI movies were adequate), and rarely to build my own Bionicle-style figures.

My first themes (in the 1980s) were Space and Technic, and Technic prevailed over System in my purchases until the AFOL era. I've owned a Mindstorms NXT set for two years now, but frustratingly, I haven't started programming -- mostly because I feel I have to reinstall my PC's OS and clean other grunge-kludges first.

Most of my building for the past several years has been Micro spacecraft, and as such I view the themes as parts-packs -- if I build the model at all, it's to get a feel for its techniques. I don't have a home City layout, and when I contribute to a collaborative display, it's generally a special building, vehicles, or custom minifigs. I've never bought Café Corner or its successors.

Ahem. I might be the only one here, but I've been buying Bionicle sets almost since the line's premiere.

I guess it's safe to admit that I do, in fact have a few Bionicle sets, since I'm not the ONLY one. Never really got into it myself, but I do have a friend who managed to collect every available US set. But I'll still play the "I was the target demographic at the time" card.

I've never bought Café Corner or its successors.

As for the Café Corner and other buildings, I must also admit that I don't have any of these either. In fact, I'd say it's safe to say that I don't have any set initially worth over $5 past 2000 or so. But now that I'm back in loop with the LEGO products line and community, that may very well change.

is that a sava engine

I tend to buy across several themes (Star Wars, space, city/town, castle, pirate, whatever "niche" theme is in the rotation) but build space primarily. I'd love to sit down and work out more town/architectural items (I'm slowly working on a town project now), but I don't have much free time these days. I'd also like to do more Technic building.

My favorite official Lego themes have been trains and town.

However, I really like building historically inspired stuff. In this case, train and town still come out clear winners. But I also love castle, pirates, and Wild West or any theme where I can find cool parts that could be used in a history MOC (IE: The new Adventurers-like theme). Wild West would have to be my favorite for the minifigs. I need them in my Civil War display.

My favorite Lego theme by far is the action line, as it tells a great story and also has good pieces for building unique mocs. I also like to buy Star Wars sets and castle as well though, plus a little bit of pirate on the side. However if I had to choose a favorite line of sets recently, it would have to be the new modulars, as they definitely breathe new life into any city!

Nowadays, I'm a pretty hardcore Technic guy. When I was a kid, I pined for Model Team, got a lot of Space and Pirate stuff, and a small amount of Castle and City.

I started with Space, the Space Police, BlackTron (II), and M:tron stuff. I have 2 generations of Space Police cruisers (6781 and 6897), Particle Ionizer from M:Tron, and even some Ice Planet stuff. Always wanted Deep Freeze Defender; never got it. However, I *did,* at the ripe old age of 8, get 8868 Airtech Claw Rig which spoiled me to Technic. Even getting the Intercoastal Harbor or whatever later on didn't satiate my lust for Technic.

I liked the Exo Force stuff and I love looking up technical mechs online. I'm interested in the innovation that comes with making something look very mechanical out of Lego. I think it's great when I see a smooth design transition of technic and brick. Unfortunately... I rarely get to choose what type of theme I build.

Any mech fans on Pennlug?

Any one in the club a fan of Mecha???? Hell yeah. There are a few of us. I TRIED to collect all the exo-force. If I find one I don't have at a good deal I usually snatch it up. I have like 12 copies of Dark Panther, and multi-copies of others. We got a sneak peak at MOC last meeting that had some nice mechs. I have a project I am working on that I plan to show a sneak peak of at the next meeting that you might not want to miss if your a big mecha and technic fan. I was even the Mecha Theme coordinator last year at brickfair. Not going to this year, as it took away too much time with the club, but it was fun to give it a shot.

I buy across many themes. My son was big into Bionicle so we have tons of Bionicle and I kept buying some that I thought were cool up to the end of the product line. My son, now 19, also liked the City and Town stuff. Fire engines, police cars, boats, planes, rockets, normal boy type stuff.

All the while I bought things for myself I thought were cool. Like some Model Team, Space and others.

Through the influence of PennLUG I began to get into Town and Train themes. I started buying up 9v train stuff when I heard it was going to be discontinued. I have numerous things in the City, Town and Train lines still in boxes until I get my new LEGO room finished.

However, my bigest love Was Technic, then Mindstorms when it came along. I started in Technic long before it was Technic. In 1977 LEGO came out with "Expert Builder" which was later renam ed Technic. I was 16 and working at a fast food place. (Does anyone remember Gino's? They also sold KFC back before there weere KFC stores.) Some of my paychecks started going to LEGO. I had the helicopter 954, some motor sets and lots of parts expansion sets. I entered my Dark Age when I gave all my LEGO to my best friend's kid brother in my early 20's. I got back into LEGO when my son was little and haven't stopped since.

I now have lots of Technic and Mindstorms. This Summer/Fall I hope to form First LEGO League team and compete regionally. If anyone wants to help and maybe learn more about Ticknic and Mindstorms, this would be a great chance.

I would also like to start some challenges among PennLUG for Technic and Mindstorms things. Sumo is a good Mindstorms challenge but I'm sure we could come up with some Technic challenges and see how different people try to solve them.

Over all, there is a very wide range of interests among the club. I think that is what make ours such a strong club because we all get ideas from one another. There is a lot of brain-storming which goes on at meetings, through phone conversations and the online chat. We seem to bring out the best in each other and are inspired to expand our interests and abilities.

Mike Tighe

I have played with Mindstorms equipment, in various forms, but I do not have any of my own. It's fun, I guess - but for some reason I like to keep computers separate from my LEGOs.

All themes contain space parts.

The trick is getting them onto something that doesn't look like you were trying to force them into something. Like that giant castle roof piece with the two little turret parts.

I love building space, but I actually have a pretty substantial town and train collection.