March Builder of the Month: Brian Wygand

The term “dark ages” is less likely to be associated with a hobby and more with the historical era before Enlightenment.  But for Adult Fans of LEGO, or AFOLs, “dark ages” have come to refer to the period of time between when they first picked up their hobby — usually in childhood or adolescence — and the moment they, as fully-grown adults, rediscovered their love of the LEGO brick.

For Brian Wygand of Massapequa Park, Long Island, the dark ages took place sometime between the release of “the classic Town sets from my 80’s childhood” and a chance visit to the LEGO Imagnation Center at Florida’s Downtown Disney.  

“My wife and were celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary and happened to arrive at a 10-plus-foot-tall tyrannosaurus rex built completely out of LEGO,” recalls Brian, a founding member of I LUG NY, the New York City metro area band of AFOLs.  “I was blown away by this and the other models there.”

While he didn’t buy any sets that day, Brian immediately set about recapturing his LEGO hobby — and coming out of those dark ages.  “I called my mother to see if she still had my childhood sets, and to my dismay found out she had given away most of it” to a relative.  “Fortunately, she had saved the instructions — with what little LEGO she held on to — and several hundred dollars later, I had reacquired the parts that I needed from BrickLink to build all of the sets that I had the instructions for.”

Fellow ILUGNY’er Sid Dinsay had a few questions for our Builder Of The Month.

SD:  Did you, or do you, have any other hobbies?

BW:  I have always enjoyed drawing, painting and LEGO was my favorite childhood toy and as an adult I just see LEGO as another creative outlet. It is like drawing but with bricks.

SD:  What are your favorite LEGO sets of all time?

BW:  For nostalgia purposes I’d say the classic Town sets from my 80’s childhood that had the yellow diagonal LEGOLAND stripe on the boxes and instructions. Presently, I love the Modular series but my guilty pleasures were the Tiny Turbos Racers sets LEGO produced up until acquiring the Cars license from Disney.

SD:  What was your first set ever?  And what’s your favorite set?

BW:  I don’t remember my first set ever.  But the first sets I did own were prominently displayed on my dresser once they were all built.  One day, my brotherly and I got into a spat and he knocked them all on to the floor.  (Oddly enough, I think that episode of sibling rivalry led to my desire to build a town out of LEGO, which other than the friends I have met through this hobby and through ILUGNY is my favorite aspect of being in a LUG. Creating our town displays for shows is quite a feat but also something that brings this childhood dream to life.)

My favorite set of all time has to be the Green Grocer.  I know the Cafe Corner came first and was fun to build, but it doesn’t have an interior: I felt somewhat cheated by this. The Green Grocer has not only a beautifully detailed exterior and balcony but it also has a fire escape ladder and a completely furnished interior. The first floor especially is filled with awesome details — such as the mouse eating cheese under the stairs.

SD:  Do you have a favorite MOC?

BW:  I built an HSBC Bank back in October of 2009. I see this branch twice a day on my daily commute, and this MOC marked the first time I was inspired to construct a “real-world” building.  I knew I was becoming a seriously dedicated AFOL when I began to see things in the real world and thought, “I should build this out of LEGO.” This was accompanied by self-doubting questions such as “Can I do it?”, “Do I have enough bricks to pull this off?”  “How do I make the HSBC logo out of LEGO?” et cetera.  I know this MOC hasn’t received much attention from the online community but it was my first foray into replicating real buildings out of LEGO.

SD:  What do you look to to inspire your builds? Do you have any favorite AFOLs?

BW:  I get inspiration from several outlets. I’ve recreated three real world buildings out of LEGO. I often am inspired by LEGO sets and use the instructions to base MOCs off of. My LEGO Butcher Shop and Bikes-N-Boards are built using the Pet Shop directions for inspiration. I am a proud child of the 1980’s so I have built many 8-bit video game sprites. I also enjoy building in the style of the Tiny Turbos as this line combines my love of LEGO with another favorite childhood toy, the Hot Wheels car.

I have favorite AFOLs whose work I enjoy looking at, or from whom I’ve learned a lot about architectural detailing, SNOT building and presentation: Chris McVeigh, Mark Stafford, Jameson Gagnepain, Mike Psiaki, Arthur Gugick, David Pagano, Sean Kenney, Bruce Lowell and Tyler Clites, to name a few. It is amazing what LEGO fans have done with LEGO. Many of the members of our LUG are awesome builders and speaking with them, seeing their works, and listening to them explain how a detail was achieved has helped open my eyes to more that can be accomplished with LEGO.

SD:  Do you have a favorite LEGO part(s)?  And what element do you think is absolutely essential for building, besides bricks and plates?

BW:  I guess my favorite part would have to be the so-called cheese slope. This comes from my love of Tiny Turbos as cheese slopes are prominently featured in nearly all of these small cars.

But I have also learned from building with LUG members that any part can be essential at any given time. While helping Mike Bader build the mountain pass part of the Lord of the Rings display for New York Comic Con 2012 I was shocked to see that the mountains were supported by Technic beams attached to Technic bricks. I would have never thought of this and now look at these and all parts differently.

SD:  How much time do you devote to building each week?

BW:  I’d say I get down to my basement — I call it my LEGO Lair — to build a few times a month but don’t have a set amount of time for building each week.

SD:   Any advice for a wannabe AFOL?

BW:  You are either an AFOL or you are not. Once you do become an AFOL, you can learn many building techniques from LEGO sets, from online groups on flickr, and by building MOCs.

Brian (left) with LEGO Master Buildr Dan Steininger during an R2D2 build event, 2010.

And an AFOL without a LUG is missing out on what a LUG has to offer. Mainly friendship, building techniques, how to find the best deal on LEGO (Trust me — this is important.  –ed.), sharing a hobby with others and collaborating on a layout for the public.  In short, join a LUG and if there isn’t one near you start one.  In the words of the great Yoda, “Do, there is no try.”