Meet a member: snackyfrench
Posted by MeganL,
Today we're getting to know Kosha, aka snackyfrench, an attorney in Paris, France.
What's the meaning behind your Brickset user name?
I’m American. My husband’s French. One thing the French take seriously is respect for mealtimes and savouring food- no snacking. I’ve learned this the hard way while visiting his family. I’m used to grazing all day, so I’ve taken to squirrelling away little bits to have when I need a boost! While on vacation in Mexico, we found a little quick eats spot called Snacky French. We thought the name was hilarious and pretty apt description of us as a couple! It stuck.
What is your first LEGO memory?
Hard to say. I feel like I was always aware of LEGO but didn’t own any as a child because we couldn’t afford it. The first set I bought was as a gift for my mom - 517 Basic Building Set. I found it among her things when she passed away.
Did you have a dark age and if so what caused you to emerge from it?
No dark age. I got started collecting in 2014 and have been very active ever since. Just ask my husband! I’m likely overcompensating for my LEGO-deprived childhood.
Which set or theme has been most influential upon you, as a LEGO fan?
Really too many to say, but there are several that I love: Creator Expert Modular Buildings. Winter Village. Friends.
In my house, we all have our favourites. My son is partial to trains and Speed Champions. He’s an F1 fanatic. My daughter loves CMFs, Friends, and Disney Princesses for the characters. She’s a storyteller.
When I started collecting, I told myself that I was collecting for my kids who were 4 and 2 at the time. We already had an impressive Duplo collection and my daughter loved playing with the characters.
The Friends sets were so appealing because of the interests and activities each character represented. I decided to try to collect them all. We also now have all of the Elves and DC Super Hero Girls sets.
I love Christmas, so we put up a Winter Village every December. But I also love the Seasonal sets, so we get and build them every holiday that’s available. I was crushed that the Lunar New Year family dinner set was only available in Asia Pacific.
We’re actively collecting Harry Potter. I read and loved the books when they first came out and now my daughter is enchanted.
Additionally, I collect CMFs, with a focus on all the female and POC figs and then any others that we think are cute! It’s important to us that our kids’ builds reflect their world. Just the other day, my daughter asked why there are so few boys in Friends-so now I’m on the hunt for male mini dolls!
Our LEGO obsession is overwhelming.
What are you building right now?
We’re pulling out all the large sets that I’ve bought and stored. We just finished 10214 Tower Bridge. In the past weeks, we’ve done 75187 BB-8, 10264 Corner Garage, 41130 Friends Roller Coaster, 41317 Friends Catamaran and 7346 Creator Seaside House.
How do you store your LEGO?
Lots and lots and lots of storage bins!
Do you build MOCs? If, so what?
I’ve sought out multiples of large Friends sets hoping to be able to emulate some of the great MOCs I’ve seen on FriendsBricks. If I ever get everything sorted appropriately, I’ll get started.
What is your favourite part?
Not sure if I have a favourite part, but I do love all the minifig/mini doll accessories. I hoard them. My favourite colour is earth blue—really all the blue spectrum colors.
What set/theme/part (take your pick) would you like LEGO to produce?
That’s super tough because it’s not like I need any more LEGO to be tempted by, but I would be head over heels if they reissued the first three Creator Expert modular buildings; they’re the only ones I don’t have.
Do you have any interests or hobbies other than LEGO?
My ADD has me all over the place! I also sew, ice skate, and collect Hello Kitty. As a family, we do jigsaw puzzles- we’re currently working on a 6,000 piece one.
How long have you been visiting Brickset? Been a member?
I’ve been a member since 2015, visiting since 2014. I found it pretty quickly when I started to stalk LEGO sets.
What's your favourite/most used feature of the site?
Brickset is essential to keep track of my collection and get a heads up on new sets. I also use it to track down minifig parts. I visit every day. My kids use it to preview and request sets.
Are you a member of a LUG? Which ones?
No. With youngish kids, it’s hard to find time for extra activities, but would love to find a good group as they grow older. I recently joined the Women’s Brick Initiative.
Have you been to a LEGO event? Which one(s)? Do you have a favourite?
We took our kids to KidsFest in NYC a couple of years ago. We were looking forward to a trip to LEGO House before the pandemic hit. Hopefully, we’ll get around to rescheduling that soon.
Thanks, Kosha! Would you like to be featured? Let us know!
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14 comments on this article
"Our LEGO obsession is overwhelming."
More relatable words are rarely spoken!
Wonderful profile, it was fun to hear about the different types of builders you have in your family. What a great memory that the first set you bought was a gift for your mom, that is really special.
Seriously?!?! A 6000 piece puzzle? If you're into Star Wars and you're into puzzles, check out this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Photomosiac-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B00JYCF94M
It's a photomosaic, so it's made up of hundreds of smaller pictures.
Female and POC minifigs—LOVE IT! We definitely need more (and more male mini dolls...). What a fun profile!!
Your daughter asking "why there are so few boys in Friends" is absolutely right. In a Friends Fun Park Diorama I've made, I've spent 2 hours assorting skirts and accessories for Friends dolls waiting in lines for tickets or attractions, being focused of no 2 dolls with the same skirt or bag, and very few males are actualy available.
@MeganL if I may, with all our friendship, I have a small critique for the last 2 pictures in this article. They are not related, especially the last one, and not well inserted. In the MOC question and in the How long being a member question.
I can so relate to Kosha's profile - overcompensating now for LEGO deprivation in childhood? check. Using kids' interest in LEGO to justify own LEGO purchases? check. Buying duplicates of things and planning to MOC with them someday, but too busy to actually get around to it? check! We also like the same themes as you in our family.
Unfortunately my kid is now a teen and entering her dark age... so I have no excuse for putting all the new Harry Potter sets on my wishlist! :-)
This was a great profile, and I can definitely relate! I'm a woman who primarily builds with my daughter (although my younger son has now taken over our Jurassic Park LEGO) and we started with Elves (I found all but Skyra's Castle and the Secret Marketplace, grrr!) and have now moved on to HP and loads of Friends. I can absolutely commiserate with the search for female and POC minifigures; I incorporate LEGO into the Girl Scout troop I lead, and I'm always on the lookout for adventurer hats with different color ponytails and chef hats with girl hair. I've taken to adding one or two female minifigure heads to all by Bricklink orders, just to bulk up the stock.
I agree about rereleasing the first three modulars, although I’m less bothered about Market Street. I’d still like to add Corner Cafe and Green Grocer one day though.
When the LEGO System was launched, it was expected to appeal to both boys and girls, but somehow it got firmly cemented as a boy's toy (possibly because it wasn't marketed as a girl's toy). In the decades that followed, the product line diverged, with most genre themes having no more than a single female minifig who was usually limited to the most expensive set in the theme (typically $50-100), while a series of themes were launched in a bid to appeal to girls. Homemaker, Scala, Belville, and Clikits were all flops. I'm not sure if Paradisa was successful or not, but it was really the only attempt to produce a minifig-based theme for girls.
So along comes Friends, and they finally cracked the gender barrier, and did so in a way that appealed to a lot of guys. The colors were bright and vibrant, and would have been popular no matter what theme they were part of. And then there were the minidolls. They were not as popular as the new colors, but the fact that Friends ended up being successful where so many prior attempts had not pretty much guaranteed that the minidoll would get the credit.
So now there's a distinct gender divide, with minifigs being used for themes that are geared more towards boys, and minidolls being used if the theme is specifically marketed to girls. So, beyond Friends, they appear in Disney Princess, DC Super Hero Girls, and Elves, as well as a token appearance in the Systar sets from LEGO Movie 2. The irony is that while minifig-based themes have gotten a lot more gender-balanced, the themes that are marketed to girls ended up echoing the minifig-based themes of the past, with barely any male minidolls. This wouldn't be a problem at all if they'd stuck with the minifig, since you could always borrow them in from other themes, but if you want to have any sort of gender balance in the minidoll sets, you pretty much have to focus on buying as many of the ones that come with a token male as possible.
I hadn't realized that the limited female minifigures were often with the most expensive sets; that helps to explain their prices! And while I buy plenty of Friends, I'd pay handsomely for a Nya arcade set!
I'm in France and I'm definitely snacking all the time :D
Anyway collecting the female and POC minifigs: I can relate!
Thanks for a great interview.
@coenstegeman said:
"'mère' is misspelled on that shirt. What do the French have to say about that? "
I bought the shirt in America and was glad to find it. Will take what I can get with the three languages???????
@BovineBrick said:
""Our LEGO obsession is overwhelming."
More relatable words are rarely spoken!
Wonderful profile, it was fun to hear about the different types of builders you have in your family. What a great memory that the first set you bought was a gift for your mom, that is really special. "
Thank you. I’m glad I’ve gotten the whole family involved.
@Slobrojoe said:
"Seriously?!?! A 6000 piece puzzle? If you're into Star Wars and you're into puzzles, check out this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Photomosiac-Jigsaw-Puzzle/dp/B00JYCF94M
It's a photomosaic, so it's made up of hundreds of smaller pictures."
Yikes! That one looks really hard. We’re working on this one now:
http://6000piecesandmore.blogspot.com/p/6000-clementoni-magna-carta.html?m=1
If we ever finish, maybe we can give it a try.
@snackyfrench:
Meh. I remember flipping through a catalog once and ran across a puzzle that I kinda want. It was a circle, and it was purple. That's it. Solid, unvarying purple. I don't remember the piece count, but it was in the four-figure range.