In this week’s episode, we meet Allan Taylor. Allan’s passion for LEGO started as a kid where he began building MOCs from an early age, even though he had no name reference for what he was doing back then. A couple of years ago, his daughter wanted to play with LEGO DIMENSIONS, sparking a renewed interest in the bricks. After investing heavily in DIMENSIONS, Allan’s curiosity was tickled to explore other ideas that came to mind.
Allan, being diagnosed with depression and anxiety, found LEGO to be the perfect coping mechanism to unwind after the day’s frustrations. Even the smallest puzzle to work out how certain pieces should fit together to give life to his ideas helped clear his mind and put a smile back on his face.
Allan initially started building practical things, but that soon expanded into other creative ideas, including a castle and more recently a cyber mutant pirate ship! Modular building captured Allan’s imagination, and he discovered that it’s a great way to make use of what would otherwise empty space. Building some aspects in a modular way meant more intricate internal details could be added to the models, and certain parts were much easier and faster to rebuild and alter.
Finally, Allan shares some of his wisdom around his storage systems. He believes that storage is an important topic, and almost every conversation with a LEGO MOC builder inevitably leads to sharing thoughts around sorting and storage. His recommendation is to keep experimenting until you find something that works for you.
Links
LEGO Dimensions
- LEGO DIMENSIONS: https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/dimensions
- Great Scott! Video feat. Christopher Lloyd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQF5WRugec
- LEGO Dimensions Announce Video – Extended Cut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeDq6xBNW3M
Dealing with depression
- The South African Depression and Anxiety Group: http://www.sadag.org/
Recognised LEGO® User Groups (South Africa)
- LEGO® USERS GROUP SOUTH AFRICA (zaLUG): https://www.zalug.co.za/
- LEGO® USERS GROUP Western Cape (capeLUG): http://capelug.co.za/
- Johannesburg LEGO® User Group (jhbLUG): https://jhblug.co.za/
- South African Fans of LEGO®: https://www.facebook.com/groups/safols/