AFOL
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AFOL, or Adult Fan of Lego, is an acronym that describes the segment of Lego enthusiasts composed of adults who – usually after their "Dark Ages", where they put their childhood toys away – have turned to Lego bricks as their hobby.
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[edit] Origins
The term "Adult Fan of Lego" was coined by Jeff Thompson in the USENET discussion group rec.toys.lego in June, 1995. The next day, Matthew Verdier turned this into the acronym "AFOL" in the same discussion. The term easily caught on, and is in general use in the Lego fan community.
Recently, two new terms have emerged:
- ALE - "Adult Lego Enthusiast" which de-emphasizes the fan aspect.
- AFOLB -"Adult Fan Of Lego Bricks" which emphasizes the love for the product instead of the company.
[edit] Building vs. Collecting
There are two basic aspects of AFOLdom, "Collecting" and "Building". Most AFOLs have their share of both, with varying emphasis. Pure collectors or builders do exist, but are quite rare. There are even those who consider themselves LEGO 'Historians'.
[edit] Community
The first online community of AFOLs was the USENET discussion group alt.toys.lego, commonly abbreviated ATL, which was founded in 1993 (about Feb 19th, 1993). Just under a year later (Jan 10th, 1994), it was replaced by rec.toys.lego (RTL).
Today, a lively, international community exists around a number of websites, with LUGNET, LEGOFan and 1000steine being the largest general portals. There is also a number of theme portals, marketplaces and photo galleries.
Highlights in the community are events and exhibitions like BrickFest (USA), NWBrickCon (USA),1000steine-Land (Germany) and Legoworld (The Netherlands), where AFOLs meet and exhibit their self-designed models.
There is also an active MediaWiki development effort underway, with more in depth articles on many Lego related topics, at BrickWiki.
[edit] Marketing
The Lego company recognises the AFOL community as a market segment or target audience. Lego founded the division Lego Direct as a way to communicate with that particular target audience. The Lego company coined the term KABOB (Kid with A Bunch Of Bricks) to define another target audience[1]. The acronym KABOB is since then commonly used within the community, mainly to describe different types of interest (for example: "AFOLs want sets with lots of small different bricks, while KABOBs want sets with large bricks to build big models quickly.")
[edit] External links
- Wiki-Brick-Links Open directory of links to AFOL sites.
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| Legoland: | Legoland Billund | Legoland California | Legoland Deutschland | Legoland Windsor |
| Other: | AFOL | The Brick Testament | BrickFest | Brickfilm | FIRST Lego League | Irregular Webcomic! | L gauge | LDraw | Lego Serious Play | Lego Magazine | LUGNET | MLCAD | Robofest |
Categories: LEGO | AFOL
