In the Beginning there was LEGO, and it was good

So it starts. The earliest "action figure" style toy I remember getting was the LEGO Mobile Lab. Check it out at Peeron. I must have been about five when I got this revolutionary LEGO set. The revolution was that instead of just containing the interlocking bricks I had come to know and love, it contained two spaceman minifigs. I probably had some Fisher Price "Little People" or "Adventure Men" prior to this, but my love affair with owning little plastic men most likely started with these two unassuming little LEGO men. I only came to call "LEGO guys" by their collector name "minifig" in the last decade, after discovering it as the norm on the internet. I also found a boatload of online resources for LEGO enthusiasts. Peeron is excellent as it includes a brick by brick inventory of sets, a picture of the set or original box, and a listing of the original year of release and original retail pricepoint. Another great site for finding everything from complete LEGO sets to individual bricks is Bricklink.