Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
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As some of you know I moan and groan about not having much Lego Bricks for my films. This results in poor, crappy sets. So were should I start? How many bricks should I have handy? Were can I get a lot for cheap? What are the most important brick elements?
What I did was just bought some sets, harry potter and star wars, then i broke them down to create my own sets.
Or buy of pick a bick
cheap way of getting certain bricks
Craigslist.com
In my area there always seems to be least 2-3 people selling bulk random LEGOs. I might even take advantage of one one them sometime... 
Craigslist.com
In my area there always seems to be least 2-3 people selling bulk random LEGOs. I might even take advantage of one one them sometime...
Thanks Mighty! As I live literally right next to Minnesota I defiantly will buy some stuff from here. 
I find BrickLink useful! I thinks basic bricks are the most important.
I used to have the same problem but then they opened a lego store in my area so I bought a bunch of gray 1x4 bricks which are very useful for walls. And it's not a bad price, although I bet craigslist is a better deal...
I would say look around yard sales! I've seen big offers on legos there before!:DD
Or buy of pick a bick
cheap way of getting certain bricks
Don't use Pick a Brick! It's extremely overpriced. Bricklink is the way to go.
I rarely have to use bricklink as I've been collecting LEGO for as long as my brain can remember.
If you can get yourself at least a couple base plates and bricks you should be okay for the time being.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm probably going to go to the Mall of America and see what they've got. Has anyone shopped there for LEGO? I mean I've been there several times but I bet it has changed since last time.
Get some good parts-pack-sets! I wouldn't go to garage sales and such if you desire NEW and SHINY bricks, though. The condition is mostly pretty bad but - you get heaps of bricks.
Where to start? Ebay is one good place, but you really have to know what you are looking at, and how to search for it. I search for things lik "lego lbs" "lego lot", this like that. Also garage sales are a very good place to find ALOT of bricks for good prices. (usually)
Getting a lot of sets with useful parts and using those is always a good option. If you live near a LEGO store, the PAB wall can be useful, but they change the brick supply every few weeks. The online PAB isn't very good though because of the high prices per brick and shipping and stuff. Ebay can be useful for finding big amounts of LEGO, but there is a lot of risk of getting megablocks mixed in or damaged bricks. Bricklink is good also for looking for individual parts or minifigures. And garage sales can have good amounts of LEGO also, but you should look carefully at the bricks before buying to make sure they aren't in terrible condition.
You can probably get away with just buying enough bricks to make three sides of a room and a few doors and windows. All the little cool bits you see like Minifigs and props you can buy individually through Bricklink. Build up your collection a few $'s at a time.
I recently bought a load of Lego bricks on our local version of eBay called "marktplaats". It was 7.5 kg, and the going rate is about 10 euro's per kg....
It was an interesting experience:
- there's a lot of fun in sorting the bricks.
- in my case they were very dirty.
- i never have to buy red roof parts again... ever...
- there were about 40 complete minifigs in the lot of which 20+ classic space.
- there were à lot of train / track parts in there. Had no use for that until i realized they were excellent for Dolly shots.
- a fair amount of basic blocks.
- a lot of bricks were painted on with permanent marker...
So if your gonna do this, be sure to do at least a basic inspection of the goods.
If you buy one of the laundry bag that zip up for when you want to put delicate items in the washing machine, you can put Lego inside it and put it through the wash. Make sure it is a stury bag with a good zip/seal. My eBay stuff came out lovely and clean
I have a ton of bricks but hate looking for them. Anyway, pick a brick or any brick website, there's one I really like but can't think of the name. Anyway, hope this helped!
Once you get some bricks, I have a good method that can tell if you have enough bricks or need more. I call it the 4-Wall Test. If you can build four 30-stud long, 10-stud tall, walls with one color, you have enough bricks of that color. If you think you need a set bigger than that, you need to rethink your set design. A set using more than the bricks used to make the four walls is too big.
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