Brick By Brick (Lego Keychains)

I've been on a bit of a Lego kick recently. I'm not exactly sure why. I mean yeah, my siblings and I played with Legos when we were growing up. (My one sister, K., was especially good at building Lego floor plans for houses.) I even had one of the larger pirate ship playsets. Though if I remember correctly, my parents had to do a lot of the assembly work on it.

But lots of kids grew up playing with Legos. I wouldn't consider myself an AFOL, as grown-up Lego enthusiasts sometimes refer to themselves. (AFOL stands for Adult Fan Of Lego, and I only know that term because I borrowed a DVD copy of the Lego Brickumentary from my local public library.) Anyway, I think my current interest in Lego keychains can be linked to two main factors: more licensed minifigures and easier accessibility.

For some reason, I'm really drawn to the licensed Lego minifigures. There's just something appealing to me about seeing a human film character translated into Lego form. However, since I need another collection like I need a hole in my head, I've been trying to limit myself to buying the minifigures in keychain form. After all, I've been collecting keychains since childhood, so it's not like I'm starting a new collection from scratch. (Although I did pick up a few Disney Lego blind bag figures for my box of Disney collectables, but that's another story.)

In the past, I have purchased a few Lego keychains here and there for my general collection.

For example, these two holiday themed keychains, representing Santa Claus and an angel respectively, were bought secondhand at different times.

And this Lego minifigure keychain of Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter franchise was found at a thrift store for a fantastic price.

Every once in a while, I've even purchased a clearance priced Lego keychain or two from one of the official Lego Stores, if my family happened to be at a mall that had one and they wanted to stop.

The purple Lego brick keychain and the Lego minifigure of Indiana Jones' father pictured above both came from The Lego Store.

These next two Lego keychains, of Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 from Star Wars, were also bought from Lego Stores, at different times.

The Yoda minifigure keychain pictured above actually came from the Lego Store connected to the Legoland Discovery Center attraction at Plymouth Meeting Mall in Pennsylvania. I purchased the Discovery Center souvenir keychain shown below as well.

My family and I didn't visit the actual attraction, but we did take a look in the store. (There are a number of souvenir keychains in my collection from places I haven't actually visited. See my 'Armchair Traveling' post.)

However, the main problem I had with shopping for keychains at the authorized Lego Stores was that all of the stores closest to me were too far away to visit regularly. And forget about shopping for Lego keychains online. Once you add on the shipping costs it becomes very difficult to find many real bargains, though not impossible. The Lego minifigure keychain of Harry Potter shown below was purchased online to go with my Hermione Granger minifigure keychain.

However, ever since Andy's Brick Shop opened at one of the local malls it's gotten a lot easier for me to get my hands on reasonably priced Lego keychains, without having to worry about the shipping costs that I would need to pay if I shopped online. Andy's Brick Shop is an independent Lego store that sells mostly secondhand pieces and sets. I've mentioned the shop before in my 'February Shopping Spree' post.

This minifigure keychain was one of my early purchases from Andy's Brick Shop. I'm guessing it was originally sold in Orlando, Florida as a souvenir. There is a Legoland theme park near that part of Florida, as well as a Lego Store at the Walt Disney World resort. However, I'm honestly not sure which of those locations this keychain came from, if either.

I bought the keychain above at Andy's Brick Shop because my best friend and two of my sisters are fans of the Marvel superheroes film franchise, known collectively as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. This minifigure is based on the Black Widow character from The Avengers. Actually, I think the main reasons I bought her were because I just really liked her hairstyle and her facial expression. But thanks to my best friend and my sisters, at least I actually knew who she was. I can't exactly say the same about my next purchase.

Another Andy's Brick Shop find, this keychain is based on a character from the Disney live action film Prince Of Persia. I've never seen the movie, but this minifigure has sort of a 'Princess Leia' vibe to me, which I like. Granted, I might feel differently if I actually knew anything about the character.

When I found this keychain, I knew right away that it was a hobbit character, despite the missing tag. Lego hobbit minifigures have shorter legs than full sized minifigures. However, I wasn't entirely sure which hobbit this was. I was kind of hoping it was Sam. But when I looked this keychain up online, it turned out to be Bilbo. It's still an interesting figure though.

Not only is Andy's Brick Shop well stocked, the owner is also very knowledgeable. He was able to help me identify this Lego minifigure keychain that came in a grab bag I bought from a thrift store. Apparently, this figure was from the Lego Insectoids line.

Ok, so maybe I did go a little overboard on my 'Lego kick'. But I can stop anytime I want, honest.

Signed, Treesa

Update: Thanks to Andy's Brick Shop, I was able to get my hands on this Lord Of The Rings Frodo minifigure keychain. So now I have my second Lego hobbit. Although, not everyone seems to think this keychain bears a good resemblance to Frodo. Someone online compared the likeness to actor Michael Landon in Little House On The Prairie. I think it must be the hair, and maybe the suspenders.