Brick By Brick (Lego Keychains)

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

But lots of kids grow up playing with Lego. 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 amusing 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 as if I'm starting a new collection from scratch. Although, I did pick up a few Lego Disney blind bag figures for my box of Disney collectables, but that's another story.

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

For example, these two Christmas 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 shopping at a mall that had one and they wanted to stop in.

The purple Lego brick keychain and the Lego minifigure keychain 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, though 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 also purchased the Discovery Center souvenir keychain shown below there.

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've never actually visited, as discussed in my "Armchair Traveling" post.

However, the main problem I've had with shopping for keychains at authorized Lego Stores is 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 tack on 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 coordinate with my Hermione Granger minifigure keychain. Now I just need Ron Weasley in Lego minifigure keychain form.

However, ever since the independent Lego store 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 shipping costs I would need to pay if I shopped online. Because Andy's Brick Shop is an independent Lego store, it sells both new in package items along with secondhand pieces and sets. I've mentioned the shop before in my "Disney Keychain Shopping Spree" post.

The minifigure keychain above was one of my early purchases from Andy's Brick Shop. I'm guessing it was originally sold as a souvenir in Orlando, Florida. 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 would have come from, if either.

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

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

When I found this keychain, I knew right away that it was a hobbit character, despite it missing the original 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 Samwise Gamgee. But when I looked this keychain up online, it turned out to be Bilbo Baggins. It's still an interesting minifigure though.

Not only is Andy's Brick Shop well stocked, but 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 minifigure was from the Lego Insectoids line.

Ok, so over half of these keychains were ones I already owned, rather than ones I purchased recently. So maybe I wasn't on as much of a 'Lego kick' as I thought.

Signed, Treesa

Update: Thanks to Andy's Brick Shop, I was able to get my hands on this Lord Of The Rings Frodo Baggins minifigure keychain. So now I have my second Lego hobbit character. Although, not everyone seems to think that 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.

Gift Keychains

It may just be that my parents knew or were related to a lot of nice, generous people. But when I was a kid, and someone found out during a family visit that I collected keychains, their first reaction was always to head for the household junk drawer, to see if they had any spare keychains to give me. It didn't seem to matter whether the person in question was a grandparent, my father's uncle, or my mother's cousin. It seemed like everybody wanted to help me grow my collection. Even now, people will still save keychains for me, or will pick them up on their travels.

One of my sisters, my third sister A., has done a lot of traveling while working for conservation corps, farms, and even the park service. She'll typically be away for months at a time. But whenever she comes back to the area between jobs, she always has at least one keychain for me. She brought back the two souvenir keychains pictured below from a stint in Ecuador.

I have no idea if the pan flute musical instrument keychain actually works, since I don't know how to play a pan flute.

This next group of souvenir keychains are ones that my sister A. picked up while she was driving back from a job in Texas.

As you can see, she made stops in several other states along her route, including New Mexico and Missouri and Colorado, though I’m not sure in what order.

When I was still in grade school, my father brought back this assortment of souvenir keychains from a business trip to England. The stuffed, fabric bear has a label from Liberty Of London, a luxury department store in London, England.

The Siegfried & Roy spinner keychain pictured below was a souvenir from Las Vegas, a gift from my paternal grandparents.

It's become even more special to me now that my grandparents have passed away.

My Mom's cousin in New Jersey, S.R., gave me these two keychains.

The piggy bank design keychain is from the Bottom Dollar Food grocery store chain, while the Christmas keychain features Santa Claus as a crescent moon. I don't get the chance to see my Mom's cousin very often. But she still saves keychains for me, for those times when I do see her. I return the favor by picking up the occasional Boyds Bear for her collection.

Not every keychain gift I've received has been from a relative, however. This Army National Guard vehicle keychain was a gift from a family I used to babysit for. The father had served in the military.

As you can see, my family, my extended family, and even random acquaintances have been very generous with their keychains. I think this generosity is partially explained by the fact that keychains are relatively inexpensive and relatively easy to find. Not everyone can afford to spend the time and money needed to get that perfect, high-end collectable for a friend's or relative's collection. But a keychain is something that almost everyone can find and can fit into their budget. In fact, there might still be some businesses that give away promotional keychains for free, though the practice is not as common as it used to be.

So, my collecting tip for the day, to any other keychain collectors out there, is that it pays to let people know you collect. Even if you're not comfortable asking people directly for their unused keychains, sometimes just telling someone you collect them is enough that they'll think of you the next time they clean out that junk drawer.

Signed, Treesa