He sees the world though Lego eyes. Just turned five years old and he has vision. It manifests in the form of little plastic cubes that come in many shapes, an amazing array of sizes, and a tribble like curse. In his world, Legos are everywhere. Now that he lives downstairs four days a week, Legos are everywhere in my world, too.
Thanks to Legos, I get to see his world. A world linked to my world by imagination. A world where your toy creations are improvements over real life. A place where your heroes live in your toy box and come out to play with you anytime you want. A wonderland of countless possibilities and hours of contentment. Plus, he gets to laugh when adults step on one of the little plastic landmines. Pretty cool for a kid of any age.
My toys were a lot different than his. Lincoln Logs came in a heck of less shapes and sizes than Legos. The premise was the same though. See the picture on the box. Build something like it or something that you just made up. Play and enjoy. Decide if you want your creation to be around for a while or scrap it all and put the toys kinda away until you are next drawn to be the Master of the Universe. He and I played the same way just five decades apart. I was Master of my Universe just as he is indeed the Master of his Universe. A Universe that reclaims things I knew and recreates them, lego-style.
He sees Luke Skywalker, Batman, and Indiana Jones as his own inventions with interchangeable heads. To transplant Lt. Rip Masters head onto the Lone Ranger would mean biting their little plastic heads off and be more like Frankenstein than the Wild, Wild West. Lego Man knows no such bounds. He mixes and matches action heroes and body parts like Barbie did clothes, boyfriends, and who knows what else. In Lego Man world, everything is up for grabs. Major heroes are merely vehicles of video adventures. He crosses-over movie and comic storylines with abandon and a gleeful cluelessness that Luke Skywalker and Batman have nothing to do with each other. Nothing. In my world, Gotham City does not get invaded by Stormtroopers. In his? Hey, why not? He thinks out of the box. Way out of the box. His box. My box. Any box on any world from Earth to Dantooine. That is part of his magic.
Lego Man is a kid like I was. His creations are real and right and cool. They are intense and then they are gone. Later, there are hints of the best of what was and the rest is let go. He plays alone more than with others. The thoughts in his head keep him plenty busy. Sometimes, he looks around and sees if anyone wants to join him. If they do, they come into his box to play in his world. The world where toys begin the stories and the boy playing with them is creator, writer, dark force, puppetmaster, and super-hero. The world where everything is possible and what was in the box was just the starting point. Lego Man is pretty dang amazing when it comes right down to it.
Happy Fifth Birthday, Will.
I love you. Pop-Pop
