h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This brings back a lot of memories from times past.

I remember the days when there were only Lego men, and if you wanted a female partner for him, you had to find another man and slap a wig on him.
I also remember the fights over the transparent little bits used for lights on the cars and other vehicles that was the only thing one could build back then. It always ended with my brother getting most of them because he was bigger and older than me.

I also remember finding stray pieces of Lego with my bare feet in the dark.

Classic and timeless.

Good entry..

Lego, lego, lego - need I say more?

Yeah, they do bring back fond memories.

I can remember going next door and playing with that spaceman lego till the sun went down.
Not only could you build anything your imagination could allow for, you could mechanise it with gears and motors.

I kinda miss that kids fantasy land.
Nut's to real stuff.

Why miss it? I've still got all mine ... not that I ever play with it, being a responsible adult, you understand ....

I think that the box we had, full of Lego, is stowed away somewhere up in my parents' attic.

Quick poll : Which piece is the most classic Lego piece ever? The 2x2? The 4x2? The chunky or the flat ones?
I think I'd have to say that the chunky 4x2 is the first one I think of when I think Lego. They're only good for building Lego houses, though, but still.

Of the technics set, the bit that suck to the axle pieces to keep wheels on was inspired. You could use it as a spacer in the gearbox if you had that fancy car one too.
Also - the motor kit. You could make totally mad contraptions with that.

It's got to be the 8x2 chunky... plus those little small bits that were always at the bottom and impossible to find for making up the numbers!

For me it has to be the classic 4x2. it was teh basis of all lego models. Technic was different and great too. but it didn't really have a classic piece.

I'd have to say 4x2 too. I used to build houses for all the different lego people I had, plus restaurants with tables, ovens etc, all the houses had tables and beds. There were two distinct towns - one for the normal lego people, and one for the Space Lego people. I only had 2 spaceships, all the rest were people kits, but I built a lego town which had houses on top of other buildings with walkways to each front door and it was all connected - plus I made lego gun turrets and trap doors to make it look futuristic and protected from alien invasion - which normally was my toy dinosaurs. Hours of fun.

Well you don't need special kits to enjoy lego. I think we played with the contents of two basic boxes for ten years or so! I'd make lego people, and my brother would make the best lego cars ever, which of course, we'd all want to play with forthwith.

And a good way to enjoy the nostalgia is to buy lego for your kids when you have some. Getting them to pick it up afterwards is more of a challenge.

Well you don't need special kits to enjoy lego. I think we played with the contents of two basic boxes for ten years or so! I'd make lego people, and my brother would make the best lego cars ever, which of course, we'd all want to play with forthwith.

And a good way to enjoy the nostalgia is to buy lego for your kids when you have some. Getting them to pick it up afterwards is more of a challenge.

My vote goes to the 4x2 . The challenge is to build everything using only 4x2 ... of course, you couldn't, but it was fun trying. *Sigh ... A la recherche des temps perdus*

I'd say the basic set classic brick is the 2x4. The classic Technic one would have to be the 8x1 with holes in it.

On the subject of the always dreaded picking up of stray pieces of Lego, house wives in Sweden has spent hours, days and sometimes even months to figure out a smooth way of picking the pieces up. We used to have a big blanket that we emptied all the pieces out onto, and then when we needed to pack it up in the box again, we simply poured the pieces back from the blanket
Other ways have been to use the vacuum cleaner hose, covered by a piece of stocking or pantyhose to collect the stray Lego.

Any other noteworthy tips and hints to get all the pieces back in the box??

Well, possibly the smartest contraption I've seen is the official lego BricVac (or later the Brick Eater - they cutified it), which usually featured in most of the yearly lego catalogues (I spent hours pouring over those things!!). Essentially it's got a large.. well, it's like a paddle steamer wheel infront of a large cavity. You push the thing along and the paddle steamer wheel rotates, flicking any bits of lego it goes over into the cavity, which can then be opened form the top. How the stuff stays in there I don't know, but it looked pretty impressive. Otherwise that blanket idea is damned smart. And if all else fails, walk around barefoot for a while.

Damn I miss the stuff - I got my first kit when I was one. In the end we had enough stuff to build a town that covered our billiard table, and still have a massive tub half full of the stuff. Had to pack up the stuff a few years ago 8^(, but we can still find stray pieces in the middle of a game of billiards (dark carpet and lego just don't mix).

But yes, the classic Lego Basic piece is definately the 2x4 chunky, Technic is the 1x8 with holes along it, Duplo is the 2x2, and System would be either the 2x1 column or the simple 2x1. But overall, it's the red 2x4 Basic chunky.

Well, possibly the smartest contraption I've seen is the official lego BricVac (or later the Brick Eater - they cutified it), which usually featured in most of the yearly lego catalogues (I spent hours pouring over those things!!). Essentially it's got a large.. well, it's like a paddle steamer wheel infront of a large cavity. You push the thing along and the paddle steamer wheel rotates, flicking any bits of lego it goes over into the cavity, which can then be opened form the top. How the stuff stays in there I don't know, but it looked pretty impressive. Otherwise that blanket idea is damned smart. And if all else fails, walk around barefoot for a while.

Damn I miss the stuff - I got my first kit when I was one. In the end we had enough stuff to build a town that covered our billiard table, and still have a massive tub half full of the stuff. Had to pack up the stuff a few years ago 8^(, but we can still find stray pieces in the middle of a game of billiards (dark carpet and lego just don't mix).

But yes, the classic Lego Basic piece is definately the 2x4 chunky, Technic is the 1x8 with holes along it, Duplo is the 2x2, and System would be either the 2x1 column or the simple 2x1. But overall, it's the red 2x4 Basic chunky.

Well, possibly the smartest contraption I've seen is the official lego BricVac (or later the Brick Eater - they cutified it), which usually featured in most of the yearly lego catalogues (I spent hours pouring over those things!!). Essentially it's got a large.. well, it's like a paddle steamer wheel infront of a large cavity. You push the thing along and the paddle steamer wheel rotates, flicking any bits of lego it goes over into the cavity, which can then be opened form the top. How the stuff stays in there I don't know, but it looked pretty impressive. Otherwise that blanket idea is damned smart. And if all else fails, walk around barefoot for a while.

Damn I miss the stuff - I got my first kit when I was one. In the end we had enough stuff to build a town that covered our billiard table, and still have a massive tub half full of the stuff. Had to pack up the stuff a few years ago 8^(, but we can still find stray pieces in the middle of a game of billiards (dark carpet and lego just don't mix).

But yes, the classic Lego Basic piece is definately the 2x4 chunky, Technic is the 1x8 with holes along it, Duplo is the 2x2, and System would be either the 2x1 column or the simple 2x1. But overall, it's the red 2x4 Basic chunky.

We had an official Lego bag which was a large circular piece of cloth with a drawstring threaded through metal eyes on its circumference. At the end of the lego session, simply pulling the drawstrings wrapped all the lego into the bag....or tipped everything over the floor if you were unlucky. But mostly the former

A huge tub full of lego at my parents, still being played with by the latest generation of the family

Did any of you ever damage lego bricks. It was hard but teh most common damages to a lego brick I found were.

1. The big long pieces snapping.
2. A trusty 4x2 cracking and breaking accorss one corner or a sade face coming off (not really a problem) usually from being stepped on or having a wardrobe put on it.
3. Any brick getting jelly babies stuck in its base.

otehr than that, lego bricks wer evirtually indestructable.