Do you have lots of LEGO items that you don’t know what to do with? Matthew shares the benefit of his experience dealing with those piles of LEGO elements, sets and stickers that you somehow accumulated.
In the miniature painting and wargaming community, you often hear the phrase ‘pile of shame’ – they are boxes of unassembled, unpainted models, the existence of which give the owner feelings of self-recrimination at the (perceived) waste of money and unfulfilled promise.
Here in the LEGO hobby, they are more favourably referred to as ‘backlogs’. Unbuilt sets, incomplete MOCs and boxes of parts that over the course of years have accumulated to the point where family and flatmates might be more likely to call it “hoarding.”
While I don’t like those names, as they imply a pathology somewhere between decision paralysis and dopamine addiction, I do find myself with an excess of certain items, bought in good faith, that I know I could do more with. But what? And how? And also, why?
Stickers
While sticker sheets don’t take up much space, they do make me wince when I look at them. Bought to decorate MOCs and custom figures I’ve been meaning to get around to, or because they just looked neat, these sticker sheets run from mechs and soft furnishings to TV screens and The Minifigure, Female, With Pearl Earring Pattern. Worse, I have an overlapping collection of stickered elements and printed tiles, including three complete copies of J Jonah Jameson’s thunderous TV banks from 76005 Daily Bugle Showdown.
If I had the blank elements I’d need to mount the stickers, that would be something. But the faff and admin of working out the right colour and size of each tile I’d need would be exhausting and expensive.
The solution, aside from a trip to the recycling bin, is to stop being so precious. To slap the stickers onto whatever tiles are available and just enjoy having them. After all, stickers can always be moved around later. Alternatively, pick one sticker or stickered element, and let that inspire the next MOC. More cushions than John Lewis? Then build that beatnik café, Daddy-o! Too many BeatBits and Iron Man schematics? Time to get that LEGO City Comic-Con going.
DOTS
The DOTS theme was a great attempt at introducing a new kind of 2D creativity into the LEGO hobby. Square, round and quarter-round tiles, often used for accent detail and to cover exposed studs, were turned into mosaic pieces for plastic pixel art and signwriting. 1×1 printed tiles offered IRL emojis for snap bracelets and sigfigs. The larger sets offered a wealth of colours, often including larger plates perfect for LEGO portraits and MOCs. And while tiles are easily available on Pick a Brick or the secondary market, being able to get both together (especially at a discount) made DOTS sets enticing parts packs.
So why have mine been sitting in an array of storage boxes for the last two years?
Because once again, the perfection of the idea I had in my head butts up against the harsh reality of actually making it. Trying to organise 256 tiles into a recognisable SpongeBob is hard enough: having to remove them again so I can reshape his ears is worse.
The solution lies in the form factor – start small. Instead of trying to replicate the Sistine Chapel, why not take a 4×4 plate and make a mini-Mondrian? Instead of trying to recreate the Buffy logo, why not take a couple of 2×12 plates and learn how to write your name?
Assembling parts for an ambitious MOC way in advance of your current skill level is a sure fire path to frustration and disillusionment. Taking what you have and baby-stepping it can lead to more encouraging success in the short term, or at the very least, can stop you spending more in the long.
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Broken Down, But Not Parted Out
This one might actually be the hardest to get through. I’ve recently broken down a load of sets that, while I love them, I don’t have the display space for at the moment. 31131 Downtown Noodle Shop, 41679 Forest House, 31147 Retro Camera… the list goes on.
Many of these sets I bought for specific purposes – Spider-Man dioramas, for example – but the rest were cool builds with great storytelling. And now I’ve taken them down, am I ever going to build them again?
With Creator 3-in-1 sets, the answer is ‘yes’. The alternate builds can often be a great surprise – the three-storey B-model from 31139 Cozy House is solid as a rock and makes me wonder if I have the parts to complete the back. But with other sets, I’m finding myself wondering what else I could do with the elements. And sure enough, the Forest House has donated its doors and stairs and coloured glass to other stories. Instead of window shopping on Pick a Brick or the secondary marketplace, I’m enjoying my collection for the rich resource it is, after four years of investment. And rightly so.
As with miniature painting and wargaming, treating sets and figures like they’re sacrosanct can stifle your enjoyment of the LEGO hobby. Kitbashing figures and sets – build, destroy, rebuild – maximises your value for money, makes the most of your time and whether you use instructions from Rebrickable or free-build something weird, makes your creativity, not your guilt, the heart of the hobby. No pile, no shame, no backlog, no fear. Plus, unlike miniature painting, when you kitbash a LEGO set, you can always unbash it and restore its noodley goodness. Try that with a Greater Daemon Of Slaanesh.
The Clutter
Every AFOL has their blind spot. That one thing that will never be a pile or a hoard, whether it’s surfboards, dinosaurs, or minifigures. That one character or group of characters that will always be welcome. That we not just accumulate, but actively covet, in ever greater numbers.
AFOLs call this the ‘army builder.’ I just call him Spider-Man.
My largest minifigure box holds at least one of nearly every Spider-Man the LEGO Group has released, plus many duplicates and component parts. I’ve combined these with minifigure elements from other themes to create a veritable clutter of custom Spider-folk.
In the age of Spider-Verse, this sounds reasonable, making for a wonderful collection. But in truth, it’s unsatisfying and I think I can do better. Rather than leaving the Spider-Men in their box in a bag in the dark, I’ve started using them to make minifigure habitats.
Inspired by builders such as BrickDreamer, I’ve taken the 8 x 8 x 8 interlocking format and created three-dimensional comic panels. They use fewer LEGO elements than a standard diorama or MOC, allowing for experimentation with parts and techniques, and fast turnover. It allows me to indulge in a bit of storytelling, as I don’t have to have Spidey fighting Doc Ock in a warehouse; I can have Peter on a date with Mary Jane or stabbing his finger while stitching a suit in his apartment. All I need are the thought bubbles.
And as for the rest of the Spideys? Iron Spider and Ghost-Spider and Miles in his dark red hoodie? Ben Reilly, Spider-Girl and ‘Movie Star’ Julia Carpenter? I’m thinking marching band. I hope Jonah can twirl a baton.
Hello, 2x
LEGO Classic boxes are a great way to bulk out a collection. Cheaper than buying sets, less fuss than second hand and more immediate than a Pick a Brick order, I buy them on deep discount to get elements in new or uncommon colours, especially one-stud wide bricks. But I never know what to do with the literal stacks of two-stud wide bricks this seems to accumulate.
The two-stud wide brick, such as the iconic 2×4, offers great structural stability wherever it appears. In vehicles or location builds, they can add reinforcement, shaping and elevation through stacking or staggering. In the city builder sphere, they see additional use in the manufacture of Modular Integrated Landscaping System, or MILS plates, which offer a stronger base for versatile layout design and portability. For builders with bricks in colours that don’t fit their taste, hiding them inside a MILS plate can be an attractive way of using up those bricks.
But that seems like a shame.
Rather than hiding these valuable bricks away, why not embrace their bulk and incorporate them into buildings as textural details? They can be used as roof edges or corner bricks, or a plinth for a statue in a town square or college quad. Sideways building techniques can turn spare 2x LEGO bricks into a bold awning for a shop or cinema or patterned paving when 2 x 2 tiles are scarce. They could even be used to create a building in their own right, in a flamboyant, if oddly brutalist style.
Conclusion: Pass it on
When we have an excess of LEGO elements, it can be tempting to hang onto them, just in case we need a few 44661 Rudder 2 x 3 x 2 for a flight of stunt planes or three Friends Jonathan mini-dolls for a Dad Rock build.
But when your LEGO brick stash reaches overflow status, there are some really excellent ways to deal with it. You could sell your excess on eBay, certainly, but you could also take them to a LUG meetup, or pass them on to friends or relatives with children. Or you could donate them to your local charity shop, knowing that you’re going to make someone’s day.
There are no piles of shame – only heaps of possibility.