LEGOs: horrible to step on in the middle of the night, but wonderful for the burnt-out gifted kid who’s struggling their way through college.
I begged my parents for LEGO sets during the 2008 recession and got a bin of LEGOs to build whatever my heart desired. At that time, it was “Star Wars”-looking spaceships that I would then throw down the stairs and watch explode on the way down.
I got my first real and themed set for Christmas this year: the LEGO orchid set. I had an hour and a half of fun building a beautiful piece of decor that blends in with the houseplants that I adore. It’s a great conversation starter in my humble dorm room.
It’s just not me – lots of people in every age group are obsessed with LEGOs. They like building all types of sets, going to LEGOLAND, and spending hours in the LEGO store. LEGO has a wide market, with sets targeted at young children, teenagers, and adults.
One of the best parts of LEGO is that it has a large fanbase with unlimited potential. Fans of “Harry Potter,” architecture, plants, “Star Wars” and more can build and display scenes and iconic moments from the movie or place.
There’s also a fun interactive feature that comes with LEGO sets – most of the Super Mario sets come with the ability to connect to a Mario figure that can move and interact with the set around it in the “Super Mario World” that builders create.
Some LEGO car sets come with suspension, and there are plenty of other innovative features that LEGO adds to keep their fans coming back for more.
A personal favorite of mine is the LEGO botanical collection. They have so many pretty flowers and plants that are actually accurate to the plants in the non-plastic world. The wonderful people who design the sets haven’t made any new pieces for any of them. You can spot on the bouquet set that the roses not only have thorns but also have bat wings to make their leaves. The pamphlets that come with the instructions to build the botanical collection also have facts about the flowers and plants you’re building.
LEGO also keeps its massive fanbase on its toes by retiring sets every year. This year, LEGO will be retiring seven sets, most of them being from the “Star Wars” collection. They announce when certain sets will be removed from production about a year in advance so people who may have been a little hesitant to buy the sets before have all the more reason to buy them now before they’re gone.
LEGO has been with me for most of my life, and the brand continuously finds its way into special moments in my life. My significant other and I have Minifigures of each other, and one of our planned dates is to build a LEGO set together. I can only hope that LEGO continues to keep its special place in my heart and life.
