Picture it... Christmas... 1976.  A young nerdy kid gets his first LEGO set from his parents - #570-1 Firehouse (picture on the left). The following Christmas (1977)  both his parents and grandparents get in on the act - his mother's parents give him two sets, and his parents give him his first space-themed set, #565-1 Moon Landing (picture on the right).  More sets show up at Christmases and birthdays following, but most notable was his first classic space set, #483-1 Alpha Rocket Base, and then his most favoritest set ever in 1980, #6970-1 Beta I Command Base.

Yeah duh, it's me - I'm the kid, and that's how it all started.  I built and re-built and played with those classic space LEGO sets endlessly.  As I got into my early teens, I didn't receive any new LEGO sets, but I kept my classic space LEGO sets on display in my bedroom well into my late teens and college years.

I don't remember exactly when my childhood LEGO sets and bricks ended up in the closet in my bedroom.  Probably on some visit home mom told me to get stuff out of my old room and either throw it away or store it.  Of course, I stored the bricks, figuring some day I'd use them again.

Well that some day didn't come for a long time.  Mom nagged me for years to get them out of my closet, and eventually they made their way from that closet to my apartment closet, where they sat for several more years.

I stuck my toe back in the LEGO waters in 2018 when LEGO released a Tron Legacy set (more on that below).  I was/am a HUGE fan of the Tron movies, and I bought multiple copies of the set.  I built a small "light cycle battle" with three sets, and ordered some parts from the LEGO website to create the base.  There's more about my Tron builds below.

It wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020 that I truly got back into LEGO building.  The first season of LEGO Masters was airing at that time, and it gave me thoughts of getting back into LEGO.  I figured I was going to need some stuff to keep me busy while isolated, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take the leap.

And leap I did.  I began buying commercial sets and building them.  Then buying a set again and modding it with the first.  Then building and designing my own stuff.  Then going to a LEGO convention as an spectator. Then joining a LEGO User Group (LUG).  Then building stuff and exhibiting at conventions myself.  And as they say (who is they?), the rest is history.

And about that first LEGO set?  I still have the original baseplate in my collection as a memento of how it all began. 

As I got back into LEGO during the early months of the pandemic, I quickly learned a lot about creating builds in the computer using software called Stud.io and ordering parts from Bricklink.  I finally settled on the idea of creating a multi-unit apartment complex with three stacked units.  The first task was to come up with a design for the individual apartment units.  I envisioned a two-floor apartment unit, with a dual-floor living room and work space, a small bedroom loft on the second floor, and a small kitchen in the back of the first floor.

I spent a lot of time in Stud.io learning how to use the program, design my build, and then render it.  I didn't have a lot of extra parts laying around, so I couldn't really try things in the real world.  My plan was to design the first unit as best as possible in the computer, order the parts for that unit, make any adjustments/changes as needed, and then order parts to build the rest.

I used red bricks (which I had on hand) for the prototype unit, but red wasn't in my plans for the final design - I had planned to build units in brown, green, and blue.  However, after building the red unit and finalizing the design, I decided to keep the red unit and go ahead and build the other three for a total of four units, and then have them as two separate buildings.  And then I added a garage on the first floor of each building.  And then I added little cars.  And then I added a hot tub and a rooftop deck on the top of each building.  And then I added a park in the middle.

The final build is pictured above.  There are a variety of easter eggs throughout the build - pride flags on the roof, small artworks and bookshelves in color schemes associated with things in my life.  I hate the trees and may redo them some day.

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Greetings programs!

Since the first Tron movie came out in 1982, I've been a huge fan.  And I TOTALLY geeked out when we finally got a sequel with Tron Legacy in 2010.  I could probably write a whole page about my love of Tron, but I digress.

In 2018 LEGO accepted a fan idea from the LEGO Ideas program and produced set #21314 Tron Legacy Light Cycles.  I was shocked and excited to hear the news.  It was nearly 8 years since the movie had come out, and while I loved it, it wasn't exactly a hit or huge moneymaker for Disney.  But here it was, a LEGO set of one of my favorite movies.  I hadn't bought or received any new LEGO in decades, but that didn't stop me from buying six copies of the set.

Initially I took three of the sets and built a small light cycle battle - three orange cycles and three blue cycles on separate small bases looking like they were all about to collide.  Then with spare pieces I built a Light Racer Car with a design I found online.

Mind you this was all before I REALLY got back into LEGO building, but once I got back into real LEGO building in 2020, the floodgates opened.  I ordered more parts, more minifigs, and built more things to accompany my Tron Legacy collection.

In January 2022 I took on my biggest project yet - a full-scale Light Cycle Battle, complete with a grid, fully built grandstands, lots of minifigs, and whatever else I could cram in.  Unlike other builds where I had meticulously planned out the build in the computer, this was a build that I made up as I went along.  This of course meant lots of trial and error, lots of ordering parts that I eventually didn't need, lots of rebuilding and starting over, frustration, etc., etc.

Finally in June 2022 the Light Cycle Battle build was complete - 96 studs wide by 48 studs deep, 120 minifigs, six light cycles, grandstands, a score board, and lots of other details and easter eggs.  I honestly have no idea how many bricks are in the build.

The Light Cycle Battle is not my only Tron-themed build.  I also have a Tron Disc War build that started small and built with spare pieces, and has gotten bigger and bigger over time.  And I've built additional grandstands and viewing platforms for all of the Tron minifigs I have amassed.  I have nearly 200 Tron-theme minifigs, and because I've bought so many, I've inadvertently caused the value of them to go up on sites like Bricklink since this nerd keeps buying them. ;)

And yep, I've got plans to expand the Light Cycle Battle at some point (maybe in 2024).  I do love the build in its current state, but there's always room for improvement.  I need to make it easier to transport to conventions, I'd like to make the grandstands bigger to hold more minifigs, and I'd like to add lighting.

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I began this project in early 2021 when I found several miniature artwork designs on Rebrickable.  I thought it was a very cool idea, and I decided I wanted to turn those designs, plus more of my own, into an art museum.

My original concept was a fixed-size museum with two floors of artworks that could easily be swapped in and out.  However, in working on the design, I struggled to come up with something that 1) fit the space where I wanted to put it, 2) looked interesting, and 3) could easily be transported to a convention.

Eventually I was inspired by the “habitat” build style and after several trials and errors, I found a module size and configuration that worked.  By using modules, I can add artworks endlessly and arrange them in multiple ways.  Over time I have tweaked the module design as well - changing the decor, and most notably, rebuilding all of the modules in such a way that they can be easily taken apart, nearly "flattened", and fit in a roller bag suitcase.

Here are some quick stats about this build (as of March 2023):

•  44 artworks in 22 modules.
•  Began construction in Spring 2021.
•  Phase 1 – 18 artworks – completed July 2021.
•  Phase 2 – 12 artworks – completed December 2021.
•  Phase 3 – 6 artworks – completed July 2022.
•  Phase 4 – 8 artworks – completed February 2023.
•  Total pieces – approximately 7,500 (includes the artworks, modules, decoration, and support structure)

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In June 2021, just in time for Pride Month, LEGO released the Everyone is Awesome set which included 11 single-color minifigs, or "monofigs".  Being gay, and by that point, being very much back into LEGO building, I bought three copies of the set, which the intention of building something bigger and more dramatic than the original set.  You can see pictures of my resulting build down below.

In creating my own expanded version of the Everyone is Awesome set, I only used two of the three sets of the monofigs, so I had one extra set.  I also received an extra set of monofigs from a friend who duplicated my build.  Initially I was going to use these extra sets to populate the art museum.  However, I soon began to learn about the whole business of collecting monofigs and creating monochrome builds.

As I began collecting monofigs I put them on a simple display.  I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but like any slightly-obsessed collector, I wanted as complete of a collection as I could get.  I knew I wanted two of each color so that I could have one "male" and one "female" as much as possible.  As I got into the more difficult and rarer colors, this wasn't as possible.

As my collection grew, I knew I wanted to have them in some sort of nicer display, but wasn't sure exactly what to do.  My inspiration came when visiting Brickworld Chicago in June 2022.  I saw two builds there centered around monofigs that inspired me - one build was a full habitat for each monofig color, and another build was in a picture frame with simple greebling (random pieces) behind each monofig.

I decided to adapt those ideas into what you see pictured above, which I completed in January 2023.  Each pair of monofigs is on an 8x8 plate, with carefully arranged pieces creating a design behind them.  No two mosaics are alike.  I tried to use as many unique pieces as possible, and I tried to use pieces in "unexpected" colors.  In a further revision, I went back through all of my monofigs and, except for two colors, all of them have unique hair styles or head gear as well.

The current display has 47 tiles, with room for two more in the future.  The picture gallery shows each pair of monofigs, the corresponding colored tile without the monofigs, and the tile with the monofigs as they appear in the display.

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Big builds are fun, but they aren't everything.  Listed below is a selection of smaller projects and builds that I have done.