Adult Fan Of LEGO

Adult Fan Of LEGO or AFOL refers to those adult hobbyists who build with or collect LEGO. Quite often these people played with LEGO as children, went through what are called dark ages, in which their interest in LEGO waned, but then regained their enthusiasm for the hobby.

The term AFOL was first used on rec.toys.lego (aka RTL), an Usenet newsgroup that preceded some of the more modern forums such as LUGNET. Jeff Thompson first used the term “Adult Fan of LEGO” on RTL on June 13, 1995. On June 14, Matthew Verdier turned this into acronym form. “AFOL” was added to Derek Schin‘s guide of RTL acronyms on August 12, 1995.

Related terms are KFOL, or Kid Fan Of LEGO, and TFOL, or Teenaged Fan Of LEGO.

Some people prefer the term ALE, or Adult LEGO Enthusiast.

AFOL is also the name of a comic book by Greg Hyland and Jake McKee that celebrates the AFOL community. The comic book can be found in PDF form.

Related acronyms

Some related acronyms are:

AFOL Activities

With the growth of the Internet and particularly forums such as RTL and LUGNET, AFOLs have developed a strong community, complete with the in-jokes, dramas and other paraphernalia associated with such development. A selection of these shared memes have been collected in running jokes and community debates.

As well as the above, certain sets and minifigs have also reached a level of fame amongst AFOLs. These can be found in the famous sets and famous minifigs categories.