Throwing Bricks
On a quiet shelf, between nostalgia and obsession, Shane Lyons’ LEGO collection tells a very specific story: the drama of sport, brick by brick.
This story was originally published in Victory Journal #19.
Minifigures 2000-2023
From Looney Tunes to Hulk Hogan to marijuana-emblazoned knight shields, LEGO and custom makers comb through pop culture, remixing its icons into playful, irreverent pad-printed plastic. LEGO’s own flirtation with pro sports arrived in the early 2000s, when the brand partnered with the NBA and released a handful of officially licensed sets, giving us players like Shaq, Kobe, and Jason Kidd as minifigs. Hulk Hogan and the Stoner Knight, seen above, come from the custom shop Citizen Brick. LEGO has also released random sports themed minifigs over the years through their CMF series of blind boxes.
Technic Set #8620 1986: Snow Scooter
“In the early ’90s my mom went to jail for selling marijuana. I had to stay with some family friends, Terry and Julie, while she was there for six months. It was the first “normal” home that I’d ever lived in. They rented a nice house, both had cars and both had full-time jobs. He had a little workshop in the back where he had woodworking tools, which inspired the fuck out of me at the time as I watched a lot of the tv show, This Old House. I remember Terry helping me build a batmobile out of some scrap wood. I was so proud. The whole experience changed my life. My LEGO “collection” at the time could fit in a He-Man lunch box but it was my most prized possession. If I finished my chores, they would let me buy baseball cards or LEGO with the leftover change from the week. I definitely got one of these Technic figures while I was living with them.”
#3433 The Ultimate NBA Arena, 2003
“I borrowed this set from my friend, Brenden Clarke, who I met through work. Him, his friend Jack and myself bonded during the pandemic, talking about LEGO and one of our favorite LEGO Youtubers, Bricksie. This is Brenden’s ‘grail’ set. It’s fairly rare and can get somewhat pricey depending on the condition. A big part of the sports theme was getting the licenses from the NBA, NHL, and other leagues. Plus it really shoots the ball, a unique playability of these styles.”
#3563 NBA Collectors: Kobe Bryant Minifigure and Card
“LEGO teamed up with the NBA to produce this set which included a collectable card from Upper Deck. This was part of the short-lived “sports” theme. The minifigures are particularly weird. They were designed for playability in the larger basketball court sets. The legs have springs in them and the hands are molded into the arms so they can fling a basketball.”
#42124 Technic Off-Road Buggy and #8840 Rally Shock n’ Roll Racer
“I started collecting again [in 2019]. LEGO nerds(me) call it coming out of your ‘dark age.’ I had a lot of free time indoors during the pandemic. I found this new remote controlled Technic off-road buggy set which is similar to one of my childhood sets. I had the yellow one over 30 years ago. I bought it again on a reseller site called Bricklink to see how the two sets compared. It didn’t disappoint. It reminded me of the times my mom and I would go to Walmart, Kmart, or Walgreens. I would beg her to get me a LEGO set. If I was lucky I’d get a $3-$10 set but usually not from the Technic theme. I was absolutely obsessed with Technic. It was more advanced, more expensive, had moving parts and I was really drawn to the architectural blueprints they had on the box art.”
Citizen Brick Baseball Enthusiast
“I found Citizen Brick through one of the LEGO forums or subreddits that I follow. They’re a custom LEGO printing company and have some funny minifigures. They do pad printing on legit LEGO pieces and also design specialty molded pieces. This one is a play on the character from Eastbound and Down, Kenny Powers, who I obviously love.”
Uniqlo x LEGO T-Shirt
“Uniqlo came out with a collaboration with LEGO and the moment I saw it, I was in love. I bought multiples at the time. It shows the evolution of their logo from the beginning of the company. I still wear it a few times a month.”
#10272: Old Trafford - Manchester United
“I’m not a massive soccer fan, but this one is almost too realistic at this scale. As in, there aren’t a ton of visible studs showing. The complexity of LEGO pieces and building techniques have seriously evolved from my childhood. I also love that you can easily pull it apart and display a single stand, like what’s shown here, if you don’t have the space to show the full stadium.”
#40385: Trophy With Custom Victory Journal Minifigure
“What else encapsulates Victory besides a trophy? If you don’t care about winning, or hard earned accomplishments being rewarded then just slap on the “bff” sticker that comes with it and gift it to your best friend.”
#60290: Skate Park
“This is a newer set. I liked the fact that it had an X Games vibe to it. I loved watching the X Games in the mid-’90s and thinking I could someday become a professional aggressive inline skater. That didn’t happen but it seems like the trend is coming back around. And the fact that they included a minifigure in a wheelchair really appealed to me. This wouldn’t have happened when I was a kid.”
#40450: Amelia Earhart Tribute
“This was a gift with purchase to celebrate International Women’s Day. I think it’s good for young girls to see women that were really big in their time versus a Frozen set or Friends theme.”
#10282: Adidas Superstar
“This isn’t the first adidas branded LEGO set but it’s the first shoe set they have made. The shoe laces, three iconic stripes, and multiple unique printed pieces are really well done here. You can also choose whether you want it displayed as a left or right foot. The first time I saw some shoes made out of LEGO was from this artist based in Toronto named Ekow Nimako. He was commissioned to make a few adidas cleats in 2018. He also has multiple art pieces in museums where he only uses black pieces. His most recent work is this massive Afrofuturistic city [Kumbi Saleh 3020 ce, aga Khan Museum, oronto].”
LEGO Soccer Ball, 2002
“This came out along with a small adidas branded soccer set. I thought it was unique since I’d rarely seen any sporting equipment with the LEGO logo.”
#75894: Mini Cooper S Rally and 2018 Mini John Cooper Works Buggy Sticker Sheet
“Sticker sheets are the bane of LEGO builders’ existence everywhere. They don’t really bother me that much though. I use an exacto knife to carefully center them and cuss myself out when I mess up. The Speed Champions series usually includes a large amount of stickers, so you have to be nice with the exacto to make them look right.“
Cars Cars Cars
“I think the appeal of LEGO versus, say, a standard scale model, is that at any point, if I don’t want to display this specific car or set anymore, I can just take it apart and use the pieces to build something else. People from all over the world upload PDFs of custom LEGO instructions to websites like Rebrickable. These amateur designers are incredible and generally all use the application Studio to figure out the complex instructions. There are even some designers who will only use pieces from a specific set and reconfigure them into a whole new set. On Rebrickable, this Mustang has alternate building instructions to turn it into an F1 car, a pick up truck, Porsche 911 and even an F-14 Tomcat jet.”
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