For our second interview in our series, Legomattie agreed to share his story, and we are so grateful!
Let`s get to know him a bit 🙂
Q: Let’s start with something about yourself. Who is Legomattie? We contacted you through TikTok, but do you also use other platforms? Where can the community find you?
Well here on TikTok I am Legomattie, and so on YouTube, but on YouTube I am not that active.
I am a so-called AFOL: adult fan of Lego. I am 51 years old, married, 1 daughter, and live in the Netherlands. I work for the Dutch railroad company in the ICT department.
Q: What do you collect, and how did you get started? What was the first item in your collection? What keeps you passionate about collecting?
Of course, I had Lego as a kid, but all I had was lost when I had to empty my dad’s house when he passed away. It was a huge collection of what we call classic space nowadays with sets dating back to the 70’s. But life goes on and so did I.
Years later I became more and more interested in Lego. I found out they had stuff for adult collectors and I purchased the Mini Cooper. It was a fun build and well that car needed a friend, so the VW T1 camper van was next. Then my mother passed away and my wife said to buy myself a Lego set for some distraction. It became the Slave I. After that, there was no way to stop. I collected the bigger cars, modulars, Star Wars, and Ideas sets.
I created a complete city of my modulars. But then I ran out of space. I recently sold my modulars and tried to focus on Star Wars. Try…but sometimes I can’t resist buying something else.
I like to make construction videos or timelapse pictures which I post in my TikTok channel.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a collector?
The biggest challenge is to get my hands on retired sets. Sometimes I brick-link them piece by piece and sometimes I am lucky to find one for a good price.
I get more and more focused on the minifigs. I am proud to get the resistance cruiser from Rebels with the adult Ahsoka for a good price when it was retired for a while, but also Queen Amidala.
Q: How do you display or organize your collection?
For the minifigs, I have some display cases. The sets I store on shelves. I have to rearrange them though since I am out of space. Guess I have to sell more.
The problem is when I sell, I have money to buy more, and suddenly I have a UCS Star Destroyer which takes about the same amount of space as my whole city.
Q: How has the collecting community influenced your collection? Do you participate in any online groups, forums, or events related to your collection?
I used to be active on various Facebook groups. I still am, but I switch more and more to TikTok and YouTube.
I am a big fan of Jangbricks. Jang is always honest and can explain very well why a set is good or bad.
I also follow MandR. Am not a big fan, but he has a lot of nice stuff and now he is more grown up he has improved.
Also following solidbricks (the guy who gets all from Lego), racing bricks (that man is also very good), and some others.
And here I like to have a small talk with my local Lego dealer (a2toys).
Q: What skills or knowledge have you gained through your collecting hobby?
What I did learn over time is to understand the value of plastic bricks. I get more and more knowledge of how the Lego market works.
Unfortunately, the Netherlands is a small country so hard to find really good deals here, but it is possible.
Q: What advice would you give to someone just starting out with their collection? Are there any common mistakes new collectors should avoid?
Always try to be nice to other Lego fans. For some people a set has more value than for others, so be respectful to other’s opinions.
Furthermore, be careful with deals that look too good to be true. If people want advice they can always contact me. I like to help.
Hope you enjoyed the story of Legomattie and some of his collection, and we surely thank him for sharing it with the community. We’ll surely follow him in his journey and we encourage you to do so too. It was truly a blast to get to know him.
Happy collecting everyone!
