Remember when the thing you wanted most in the world was a pack of Pokémon cards? Or when you made it your life’s mission to collect literally every beanie baby? As children we were all sucked into one fad or another, only we didn’t see them as fads.
In our childish naivety, we believed the things we loved would live on forever. But the toy market is a fast-moving bandwagon, and the next big thing is always around the corner. The story line for these fads is mostly the same, hot toy surges onto the scene, has its moment in the spotlight, then fades into obscurity, and the cycle repeats itself with another gotta-have-it product.
Pogs, Yak-Baks, Tamagotchis, I like to imagine that these childhood favorites are safe and sound in a big Toys “R” Us in the sky.
There is one toy however, that has stood the test of time. One toy that has endured greater than the rest, and nearly seventy after its inception, still stands tall today in all its primary-coloured glory. That toy my friends, is Lego.
As if dozens of video games, books, hundreds of retail stores, six freaking theme parks, and even a clothing line weren’t enough, The Lego franchise furthered their ostensible plan to take over the world earlier this month with the release of the critically-acclaimed Lego Movie. If you haven’t heard about it, there are plenty of reasons to blow if off and see something else. After all, there is no shortage of studios taking a well-known franchise and butchering it by making ninety-minute ads that masquerade as real films. But the Lego movie is special. Watch it with your best friend, watch it with your niece, watch it with your grandpa, I dare you not to smile. Hell, this film is so charming even Kristen Stewart couldn’t keep a straight face watching it. The point is, it’s truly a film for all ages, just like the product it is based on.
Here is the abridged history of the Lego franchise: Ole Kirk Christiansen, who made and sold wooden toys from a small workshop in Denmark, founded the Lego Company in 1934. In 1958, he began producing the now famous Lego bricks, and another sixty-three years after that; Lego became the most valuable toy company in the world.
To what can Lego attribute this success? To find out, I went to see Matt De Lanoy, who has built countless, massive structures with the blocks, and whose personal Lego collection spans over half a million pieces.
For avid builders like Matt, knock-offs of the brand just won’t do.
“The standards they (Lego) set means the pieces fit together well, plus they haven’t changed the core of their system for some 50 years, meaning that some of the first pieces off the line will still fit with pieces built today. The quality of the brick engineers a trust in the product. I know that when I plan to make a tall building, it’s possible with Lego – not something I would trust in with other brick brands.”
Now here’s the thing, Matt is thirty-five years old, but it is just as acceptable for him to build with Legos as it is for my niece or for myself. It is an activity that transcends generational gaps. He’s not alone in this either; in fact, Matt is a moderator for online forum called AFOL (Adult Fans of Lego) where a community of adult builders – Matt included- post their creations onto the site, with some of my favorites being a replica of comic book guy’s shop from The Simpsons, and a recreation of the Arrested Development set.
As I asked Matt questions about his building process, it occurred to me that there’s more going on here than a bunch of hobbyists killing free time. No, these are people that are genuinely passionate about what they do. I believe that there is a more personal and natural reason Lego is popular amongst people of all ages, and it has to do with the human propensity to create. Lego has done so much while changing so little, because the real fuel for the company is our thirst to build, look a little deeper and you’ll find that the Lego company is – appropriately – more than the sum of its parts.
“We’ve always been driven to create and build,” Matt says. “That drive is as strong in children as it is in adults, hence the multitude of options for building toys.”
Multitude is right, from simple minifigures to a 5,000 piece Lego Taj Mahal set, the possibilities are as simple or complex as you want them to be. The things that get made and the way people make them are a reflection of what is culturally relevant to us at the time. All the while, the fundamentals of Legos never change; you’re still stacking a brick on top of another, slowly working your way to a masterpiece.
Jon Sutton, a leading psychologist had some interesting thoughts on the matter as well. In an essay called, “When Psychologists Become Builders,” he wrote that legos help to satiate a “builder instinct” inside all of us: “It taught us to discard the directions, add the new bag to the current pieces and make whatever the hell you wanted. This drove our minds crazy with sick organizational delight as children – the possibilities of what we could build.”
I have never met someone that can’t make something out of Lego. While most of us can’t make a full-scale model of a giraffe or replica movie sets, we can still satisfy our inner builder, no hammers and nails required.
Now, there is potential for miscommunication here. It may have come off as though the people who make these fascinating Lego structures are only in it for the attention they receive for the finished product, that this has more to do with impressing others or leaving a mark than it does about the actual building aspect. This is not the case. Many people simply find refuge in the creative process in the same way a writer might find solace in making a journal entry or an artist would by making sketches.
There is something therapeutic in just the engagement between the resource and the creator. Arnold Ward, a father of two, says he uses Lego as a psychological tool.
“It’s a way to relax, I’ll happily go into my son’s room and start making things, only draw back is it hurts like hell when it’s strewn around the floor.”
Berty Oxford, who recently struggled with mental health problems, says its helped her recover. “After a spell in my local psychiatric hotel, I bought a big box of Lego and spent days making houses with my son. It calms the mind.”
Maybe we can take something away from this. Next time you’re stressed out about an exam, don’t go for a coffee break or watch TV, just build a scale model of the millennium falcon instead. Or you know, whatever you want, that’s the point right?
It feels good to build. It feels natural. It is literally a part of who you are. Pablo Picasso once said all children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up. Well, maybe it would be an exaggeration to say that Lego has let us carry some of our childhood with us, but don’t knock it till you try it. Go ahead, feed your inner artist. Dig out your old blocks, rip open that set you got for Christmas but never got to building. Sit down, just you and some blocks, and make something. It won’t be a waste of time; you’ll see what I mean.
Adnan Ayub
Contributor
