Jörg R. from Kassel in Germany began his love of LEGO in a much simpler time in terms of LEGO set design. Being born in the mid-1960s means that a lot of his childhood LEGO would now be considered “vintage” by today’s modern enthusiasts. His Dark Age lasted around 11 years and covered an era that included the introduction of the minifig and popular themes like Castle and Classic Space. During his Dark Age, Jörg sold all of his LEGO sets and pieces, his other toys and all of his comics. He returned to LEGO after the birth of his first son and seeing an old 802 Gear Supplementary set at a flea market inspired him to attempt to buy all the sets he had as a child.

Jörg likes to collect old sets and has quite a good storage system for old bricks. His newer LEGO bricks are sorted by their colour or part type. Many of these are then stored in big boxes, which means it’s not that easy to find some parts. As a reflection of his need to improve his storage system, Jörg tells the story of seeing the 10194 Emerald Night on eBay and thinking about how he’d like to own the set. A few days later he was reorganizing a shelf and discovered that he already owned a copy of the set!

Meeting other AFOLs is important to Jörg. He doesn’t build many of his own creations but he does like attending AFOL events and meeting new people – especially ones from other countries. One of Jörg’s favourite things is to rebuild rare sets that he wouldn’t normally be able to buy. He finds it frustrating when it’s not possible to purchase the correct pieces or if they are very expensive

Finally, Jörg spearheaded the LEGO-Fans help refugee-kids charity drive where LEGO sets and parts were donated to refugee kids. This fantastic initiative has brought much joy and happiness to children escaping horrible situations in their home countries.