Meet a member: lkliment2
Posted by Huw,
Today we are talking to lkliment2, a Business Management Major in Chicago.
What is your first LEGO memory?
My first LEGO memory has to be playing with my brother’s old sets. I had (still have, incredibly) a large clear plastic bin filled with parts. My brother was of the mindset that sets were more or less a parts pack and as such, meant to be taken apart in order to assemble other things. I, on the other hand, believed sets were much more interesting in their intended form.
Some of the sets in that bin included, amongst others, 6544 Shuttle Transcon 2, 5571 Giant Truck, 6765 Gold City Junction, and a few of the 1999 Star Wars sets. From a very young age I became familiar with the accessibility of online instructions while trying to re-assemble such sets. If I remember correctly I used Peeron at the time – quite honestly I don’t know what other resources there were around then.
Which set or theme has been most influential upon you, as a LEGO fan?
Being a devout Star Wars fan, the answer to this question is easy. The majority of my collection appropriately consists of Star Wars sets, ranging across every year of the line. However, one particular wave that was very influential upon me was the 2005 Revenge of the Sith line. RotS is far and away my favourite movie of the lot (fight me), and young me thought that wave was incredible.
I think a major aspect of that was the variety of Clones offered in that wave. Upon until a couple of years ago, when I got back into collecting, I only had 5 of the 11 sets from the line, but easily my favourite, both as a kid and now, would have to be 7261 Clone Turbo Tank. I can distinctly remember how badly I wanted that set and the excitement when I finally got it. They were undoubtedly popular around that holiday season as ~Santa~ had to go to eBay in order to secure one!
It also helped that the namesake of my beloved first dog, Kody (yes, with a ‘K’), Commander Cody (named for his first appearance, in the 2003 animated series, before I had even seen Ep. 3), was included in that set. Yes: I know that figure has since been deemed a 327th Star Corps Trooper, but anyone who remembers the sentiment of the time will know that that is, and always will be, Commander Cody!
What are you building right now?
Currently, I am not building anything, per se. On the contrary, I am in the process of disassembling all of my sets in order to be more efficiently stored and to take up less space.
That being said though, I am always busy parting sets together from my collection, along with ones whose key parts I am able to find in a storage unit of LEGO that I have access to, which is made up mostly of numerous lots acquired over the years. A couple of the sets on that list right now are 6276 Eldorado Fortress and 6081 King's Mountain Fortress.
Shameless plug: if anyone has that elusive baseplate from Eldorado Fortress in good condition for a fair price, please let me know!
How do you store your LEGO?
My sets are stored disassembled in a number of large plastic bins from Target. Meanwhile, my parts are sorted mainly by colour, or for particular parts I know will be needed, wherever I can easily find them! Suffice it to say, they are really organised in a way that only I can understand I suppose.
Do you build MOCs? If, so what?
For the time being I do not build MOCs. As mentioned prior, I am somewhat of a perfectionist, so the idea of taking parts out of sets I already own is hard to stomach. So, if I were to build any MOCs, I would be inclined to have to buy all the parts, the money for which I have no interest in spending for the time being! However, there are some builds I would be interested in attempting…
What setswould you like LEGO to produce?
There are two answers that come to mind here right off the bat. First off, ever since I first saw the original Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon in 2003, I have wanted LEGO to release sets from the show. I know the 2008+ Clone Wars sets tend to be something of a hot topic, at least in terms of minifigures, but I think sets from the 2003 show would be awesome, though admittedly I could see them being a bit of a niche subtheme.
We did get a token set from the show in 2015 (though I was in a sort of Dark Ages at the time) with 75087 Anakin's Custom Jedi Starfighter, but quite honestly it’s the Clones from the show I really want. Additionally, figures like Obi-Wan (in his Clone disguise) and Durge would be welcome. Oh, and being such a big fan of RotS I think we are well past due for an Invisible Hand set, as much as I think the parts for a decently scaled version with the right slopes and angles may not be quite there yet.
How long have you been visiting Brickset?
I got back into LEGO around 2017 or so, after about a roughly 6 year hiatus, at which time I discovered Brickset. So I have been a member since that time, though I can’t quite say for sure when I initially started visiting.
What's your favourite/most used feature of the site?
My most used feature on the site, apart from the news section, is probably the Wanted List page. It proves very helpful when taking a look at what set I might be trying to hunt down next! As for my favourite feature, that would have to be the forum. I don’t comment all that often, but I visit at least once a day and make use of the Marketplace pretty regularly.
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9 comments on this article
Love your garage, mate.
I don’t have the stomach to take pieces out of sets either. Although, I’ve had to make an exception for the polybag comp.
I too like to build the original models. Over the years I've dismantled and build them again but paid the price by losing a few parts and pieces. Yours look sorted nicely. You can really do some damage with that many parts by building MOCs
I have really enjoyed this article series and especially this one as it was heartening to see that I am not the only AFOL that does not build MOCs! I love LEGO and I admire those that can build awesome things from thin air, but I am a Lord Business, follow the instructions and build the awesome model that LEGO designed kind of guy.
Hey l assembled over 35 sets by sorting, catagorizing pieces, and following manuals and you know what, it's absolutely fun. It is surprising. I am grandma. If l didn't have the pieces, order.... congratulations.
@Oarphat said:
"I have really enjoyed this article series and especially this one as it was heartening to see that I am not the only AFOL that does not build MOCs! I love LEGO and I admire those that can build awesome things from thin air, but I am a Lord Business, follow the instructions and build the awesome model that LEGO designed kind of guy. "
I am like you then, except I'm a TFOL.
@legolover777 said:
"RotS is great but, THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY TRUMPS ALL!
(It's your opinion though no big deal)"
I’m afraid to say that a) your mistaken about the OT and b) it definitely is a big deal. The Clone Wars forever!
And yes, I’m quite active at the moment and, being a younger TFOL, I don’t have (or want, for that matter) social media, so Brickset is my only source of Lego news. Also, I do all my schoolwork online, so it’s easy to flick between tabs.
Fun to write! (Just to be clear, the storage unit is not my collection, just a supplement I pull from as needed!)
I mean, I do like RotS, but of the six Star Wars movies, I like it the least. Every preceding movie explored uncharted territory, taking you someplace that you couldn't predict. With Ep3, on the other hand, you knew where it started out from Ep2 and the Clone Wars shows, and you also knew essentially where it had to end up to lead into Ep4. It just takes away some of the experience of watching it for the first time when you can guess at several of the core plot elements before you've even walked away from the ticket booth.
On the set vs MOC subject, I fall firmly into both camps. If I buy a set for the set, I don't intend to ever part it out. On a few very rare occasions, I've been disappointed in the set, and I may steal a piece or two from it at some point if I need it to build something in time for an upcoming show. But I also buy a lot of sets just for the minifigs and/or parts, and I buy a lot on Bricklink. Building sets can be fun, but it doesn't compare to designing your own stuff.