The Way of the Future...
I know my Lego would have been boxed up two or three years ago if I hadn't become involved in IndyLUG. In fact at the time I joined IndyLUG it almost was. I had kept a number of models together, most of which I brought to the first meeting I attended. However at that point I was planning on keeping the "toy" only to pass on to any kids I might have, like a number of other things in my parent's attic.
And I think that was the general expectation.
Lego is bought for (or by) younger children and early teens. It is then passed down to younger siblings, kept for later, or sold off. Enter the AFOL.
AFOLs break that mold by catapulting the "toy" into the hardcore realm of adult hobby model building, such as model railroading hobbies amongst others. I think the AFOL phenomenon was one of those unexpected, unpredictable things that the Lego company seems to be finally coming to terms with in the form of marketing and merchandising.
Especially after Jeramy pointed out the new Lego Hobby Trains Website in a recent forum post and poking around the Lego site the changes in just a few years are becoming obvious. Just looking at the Pick-A-Brick Shop on the, the Lego Digital Designer and, the "fan built" models like the Hobby Train Set and the Corner Cafe are proving it. With the internet to get the word out about the adult Lego community, more kids may grow up to enjoy Lego as an adult hobby.
It's nice to see alot of the AFOL influence in some of Lego's current product trends, which I know has been in part a product of a conserted effort by a number of devoted AFOLs over the past few years.
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About Paladin
Well...here's the brief rundown...
Like many people who end up with the AFOL disorder...I began my addiction to Lego ABS at a young age. At first it was a casual pastime among other things like matchbox cars, construx, drawing, and pretending sticks were magical weapons against imaginary evils.
By the time I was 10, around 1990, my parents made the decision to build their "dream house" and we moved. After the move I made new friends with some of the guys in the new neighborhood. Three of which were really into military history, science fiction, and Lego. This was a recipie for many weekends building models and having fake wars (in which you destroy models, scream at eachother, and then build better ones again later). Primarily I was building Pirate/Castle blended theme models when we got on historic military role play kicks. Other times we did Space/Sci-Fi models when we got on Sci-Fi role play kicks. Therefore most of my teen years until the dark ages of high school (Freshman Year - 1995) when I built models they were of these type of themes.
We moved once again in 2000 as I began college. Many of my oldest models survived the "dark ages". Upon moving I found myself fixing the old ones up or perhaps building a little this or that now and then, nothing serious.
Up to about 2005 I had no idea that the AFOL community even existed. I stumbled on BrickLink but never made any connection. I still thought "Building with lego past age 20? Silly!". I figured I would keep the toy for when I were to have children. However I took some pictures of my old models and posted them on my web site, just for the hell of it
Then I was contacted. One day I got a message in my inbox. It was from a guy named Jeramy, who found my BrickLink account and my photo gallery of old models. His message informed me that there was a club of adult Lego model builders and that I was invited to come to their next club meeting.
The rest as they say is...history.
Currently I am a fairly eclectic builder. I still like the Castle/Pirate themes probably the best. I also enjoy Space/Sci-Fi themes as well. However, many of the club members are into the 9v model railroading portion of the hobby pretty serious. Since that aspect of the hobby tends to bring alot of AFOLs together and the them is a fun one to get into I've been gravitating ever more towards that side of the hobby as well.