You should still be playing with LEGO

You know me. Or if you don't, you at least know the title of the blog. This is very on-brand for me. I refuse to lose my childlike wonder.  I’ve been building LEGO my whole life, I never stopped except for when my college job was only enough to pull down $5.99 bottles of Burnett’s and lots of Pop-Tarts and Subway Sandwiches. These beautiful pieces of plastic have gotten me through plenty of mental breakdowns, and I’m here to tell you that you should swing by your toy aisle next time you need kombucha and TP at Target.

They do the thinking for you

I don’t know what your job is, but mine makes me think, all day long. I’m in sales, and so I’m constantly strategizing and running numbers to close those deals. When I get home, I want to do the opposite of that. I want to crack a beer and turn on the NHL playoffs and just chill. Enter a 350 piece LEGO with a beautiful booklet of instructions with pictures. You know how much you hated putting together that bookshelf from Ikea because you didn’t know what part was which? Not the case with these bad boys. I find myself getting offended sometimes by how broken down the steps are, but then I realize the box says “Ages 6-14” on it. That being said, it took me a solid 4 hours to build be Star Wars Poe Dameron X-Wing fighter from The Force Awakens. Which brings me to my next point…

They have tons of cool shit. 

LEGO has somehow secured a license to make everything under the sun. My nerdy self goes nuts every time I hear that there’s a new Marvel movie coming out, because I know it’s going to come with a litany of sets that I can get a little tipsy and build while the Office plays in the background. I got an email for an Evil Kenevil set that’s coming out this morning. On top of that, they make great decorations for your bachelor/bachelorette pad. I have the X-Wing next to a TIE Fighter and on the shelf below that I have a Batmobile with active suspension.

These aren’t the LEGO you remember.

That’s correct, active suspension. These aren’t the LEGO from your past with yellow faces and 6 different colors. There are gear systems, ball joints, springs, some of them even have motors. They’ve been doing this for so long that they have accurate skin tones for individual characters. They have a series of architecture sets that are replicas of famous buildings from around the world. The Louvre on your coffee table. It’s insane.

I know you've seen the movie. 
An ensemble cast, great animation, and hilarious jokes for adults and kids. The LEGO movie, LEGO Batman, and Ninjago (okay, I didn't see that one). If the movie was intended to be for all audiences, why can't the subject matter be for everyone as well? The trailer for the second LEGO movie, 'The Second Part', looks like a Lo-Fi Mad Max and has Chris Pratt playing opposite himself in what is basically a mashup of his characters from Guardians of the Galaxy + Jurassic Park vs. Andy from Parks and Rec. What's not to love? 

You can afford the ones you want.

Roll back the clock a bit. You’re in Toys-R-Us (RIP) in the LEGO aisle and you are face to face with the set of your dreams; for me it was the Death Star, obvi. You know how they put the best liquor at your eye level so that you are inclined to look at it and go with your first instinct? They pull the same moves on the kids. That’s why they’re on the bottom shelf. When I picked up the TIE fighter to complete the set with the X-Wing, there was a kid in the aisle with me. That should have thrown up some pedo-vibes I guess, but I handled it with class. I walked in front of him, didn’t make eye contact, grabbed the set, and walked away and smiled at him. Yeah son, I got it like that. The look on his face was priceless. No asking for mom, no saving your $5/week allowance for 6 months just to have it be sold out, just pure bliss to go in and drop $80 on 500 pieces of plastic, boxed childhood.

So come with me on this adventure and buy yourself a LEGO set. 9 year old you will thank you.