Collecting Legos

My husband and I began collecting around 8 years ago. We feel like it has been that long because we were already buying Lego toys for our eldest son. Then comes the Duplo for our youngest. Frankie is very fond of Lego because he can literally create things with bricks without following any instruction manual. Watching my son build and create what he once imagined brings an amazing feeling for a mom like me.

From then on, we're on the look for Lego sets, mostly boxes of bricks. Since it's for playing, there are times when we lose bricks, and that's when we buy another box until the collection grew bigger. Our love for Lego expanded as we meet people with the same interest, and that's how we found out about PhLUG and other Lego items for collecting--- Legos for the young at heart.

Next on our list are Lego Books which we can display in our new home. We just found one or two that can also be useful in creating stuff, but we didn't buy it yet.

When The LEGO Movie came out, that's the time when we just want to gather what we feel we need to  collect. What we have is nothing compared to those who have been doing this for years.

The Lego Movie mini- figures was a set that's a bit hard to complete especially that toy stores here in the Philippines doesn't sell mini- figures as much compared to other countries. But we have our sources and we even got more than what we expected. There's a batch to be kept and there's a couple of mini- figures on display.

This is a must! An original The LEGO Movie: Everything is Awesome Edition (Blu-ray + DVD + UltraViolet Combo Pack + Exclusive Minifigure + Exclusive Content + Bonus Blu-ray 3D)

We bought our copy from a Lego collector. I drove all the way to UN Manila early in the morning  just to meet up with this guy. I was with my husband of course and we know the guy, so safety on meet- ups (check!)

 1980's Vintage LEGO Spaceman in Red, White, Yellow and Blue

We're now looking for a black classic spaceman.

 Benny the Blue Spaceman in The LEGO Movie

The Blue Spaceman is said to be the last color to be released. Benny is a special character in The Lego Movie representing the 1980's Classic Space Astronaut. Only, Benny's suit is scratched and his helmet is broken and has an excited turn- around face.

Lego sets from The Lego Movie

These were the first box sets we had from The Lego Movie. We only purchased one from a mall, the rest were ordered online from fellow collectors.

 Shell Station has released a new set of Shell V- Power LEGO Collection. The rules state that for every 1,500-up worth of Shell V-Power Nitro fuel you can buy a toy from the set for 150php each and you can only purchase 1 toy for every receipt. That's a full tank for most cars. You see, we can't burn fuel just to be able to fill up our tank again and buy another toy. So I asked my dad if we can take turns and whoever will go first to gas up a car, must buy a toy until we complete the set or even get 2 sets of the whole collection. We did this with Shell's previous promos. So, our car's tank is full and we got the Lego Shell Station. My dad messaged me and he got gas too and bought the red Lego car. In a week, we now have 2 from the 2014 Shell V-Power Lego Collection.  Ha!

For more information: The New Shell V-Power Lego Collection

The fun of dressing up your Apple gadget. I particularly love this Original Belkin Lego casing for the iPad Mini 2. How I wish that they also have something for my old iPad 2... and sorry I need to emphasize on "original" because sad to say, fake items are everywhere in our country.

A Lego piece from Japan. For some reason, anything from Japan is always something to look forward to and worth collecting.

We're part of The Philippine Lego Users Group

We became part of PhLUG through a friend who is a super LEGO collector and enthusiast. My husband visited their exhibit once and he continued until he made friends and became part of the community. On a regular basis, the group organizes an exhibit where fellow collectors can display and sell their items for a more reasonable price compared to the ones being sold in malls. Some are from travelers who intentionally go abroad to buy Legos and other collectibles. 

It is a wonderful community. So if you're in search of some hard- to- find Lego items or any Lego set here in the Philippines, try PhLUG. It's a fun way to buy the Lego toys you want and at the same time, make friends.

LEGOing

LEGO now has become a collectible. For some, mostly within my age bracket, prefers collecting LEGO bag tags, key chains, stationery sets and other LEGO merchandise. For me and my husband, we want to relive our childhood with our own kids that's why we are more into spending for a box of LEGO bricks and pieces as it also caters to the imagination. But don't get me wrong, we also like to get those nice collectibles, it's just that when you put the prices of those small things together, it's worth buying a LEGO Creator set.

Other than cars, my eldest son likes to build houses and cities. I on the other hand, have my own. With random LEGO pieces, I enjoy creating farm houses. I even thought of building a mini version of Smallville. Buy a Superman LEGO set as an additional display to my small town.

I so love the apple tree I created and the flowers made up of single, small LEGO bricks. The cow and the dog in my small LEGO farm was fun to make.  With more bricks, a horse would come in handy. The tractor is part of the booklet that came in with the Build and Rebuild set.

At the moment, my husband has his own project mixing LEGO sets in order to build his own LEGO model. Almost every weekend he goes mall hopping searching every toy store for LEGO sets that will aid with his creation. He plans to join a LEGO contest online where one should create a character using LEGO bricks and if the creation gets a certain no. of likes on Facebook, (not really sure of the details) LEGO will turn it into a real set. How cool is that?! There are hundreds of participants, but the whole process and the challenge of assembling "your own" toy is already fun and unforgettable.

Playing with LEGO has been a form of therapy for me and my husband. When the kids are already sleeping, my husband will pop a relaxing music, then on with our own worlds with LEGO.

and just a follow up... My younger brother Nino, to my surprise, knows the story and the history of LEGO. Apparently, it's one important part of his childhood that he kept because when he was a kid, he loved and enjoyed playing LEGO.

Grew Up With It, Now I'm Still Playing It... LEGO!

LEGO is one of the toys I grew up playing with. I shared it with my brothers when we were kids. During our younger days, we only have the basic LEGO blocks/ bricks where we can create and build anything we want. Being a little girl, I would always make a house/  home with small cars. 

Over the weekend, my husband and I took our kids to the newly opened Sm Aura in Taguig City. One of our stops was Toy Kingdom. There weren't much people in SM Aura when we visited, so we basically have the whole toy store to ourselves. My eldest son Frankie, likes to build things. He can make his own buildings/ city which he calls "metro city".

LEGO enhances ones imagination, especially for a child. It's a material that can be used to build the child's path to better learning and bringing their thoughts into life.

During our LEGO experience at Toy Kingdom, we shared the work area with other kids. Each has his/her own set to play with. LEGO bricks were placed in the middle to be shared. At first, I was just watching my son do his thing. Then when my little boy started to grab some pieces, I played along and started putting colors together until I finally came up with a castle- like wall.

Maybe my husband noticed how concentrated I was building. He took our baby from me so I won't have a hard time "daw". Anyway, it was fun. Our boys have LEGO toys but mostly are for creating cars and Duplo for the little one. On our next visit we will get Frankie a set that he can use to build his city. He's going to love it!