Tuesday, February 25, 2014

don't make me get out the kragle


it's not only here on the blog that i've got lego on the brain. of course, much of my brain is taken up by learning about my new job. but it's also entered my sleeping hours in the form of dreams. or rather nightmares. nightmares of failed meeting room bookings and running around in panic, trying to find a space to meet. nightmares of running into old frenemies in the personnel shop (a place i haven't even been yet and where they wouldn't be allowed to be since they don't work there). why is it that you can't delete people from your unconscious mind the way you can from your facebook or linked-in?


i mentioned the other day that i had a tale to tell about minifigures. there is a bowl of minifigure parts near my desk and in looking through it, i realized that it really, really bothers me when they are put together differently than they are meant to be. there is, in that bowl, a head that isn't chicken man's real head with the chicken man costume head on it paired with a baseball torso and legs that don't belong. and in all honesty, it makes my hands sweat just thinking about it. i have a few minifigs from the lego movie on my desk as well and to demonstrate to my colleagues how it makes me hyperventilate, i switched the hair on wildstyle and president business. but i had to quickly put it back (tho' strangely president business' squarey hair made western wildstyle look a bit like queen elizabeth I) because it was making me a little bit ill.

but then i stumbled across this article via twitter and i realized that i'm not alone in my ocd (if you've seen the lego movie, you know it's a theme there too). the whole movie centers on the kragle, which is a tube of crazy glue. and while i don't really want to go that far, i have realized that i am a lego builder who wants to build and display, not build and play. i think you should build it and leave it as it is, not making any adjustments or messing with it and definitely not taking it apart again.

but today, i had a homework assignment for a morning meeting tomorrow. we were all given a small set and asked to build it. we will have breakfast together and go around the table and tell about our building experience. my set is a creator 3-in-1. which means that it comes with the parts to build three different things. but in order to do that, you have to take apart the thing you built and rebuild it into another of the things - in my case, a helicopter, plane or boat. i like the plane best and built it first. but then i realized that i was supposed to take it apart and try one of the others. so i made sabin do it while i left the room. and then i came back and built the boat.


i was going to leave it intact for a proper photo tomorrow morning (you can see i took this one after the light went), but i just had to take it apart and rebuild the plane, it's my favorite of the three in this set. and it was a big step that i was able to disassemble the boat myself. these are small builds and good practice for me, who didn't grow up with lego (i had a pony). i also realized that i never really helped sabin build that much of it either, so i've not had much practice. i don't think i'll ever really become a person who makes amazing things up out of my head, but i will overcome my inability to take it apart and mix and match (and if i can't, there must be meds for that). and i am in awe of those who can build their own creations.


it was a big step that i took the girl scientist's head (series 11) and used it for my mini me for my photo series. and i haven't even put her back yet. i put the girl scientist back on my minifigure shelf with the wrong head on. and my hands are hardly sweating at all when i think about it. (note to self: repeat 100x in hopes that it will become true.)

5 comments:

celkalee said...

There is a TV ad here for a frozen (piece of cardboard) waffle, the tag line is "Let Go My Eggo! Can you see where I am going with this?

And yes, there is also a DSM-4R diagnosis for this, please try to resist!

Hairy Caveman said...

Ahh, the healing has started! I always knew Lego was good for you!
I grew up with Lego and was forever making things up and then destroying them again so it's second nature to me. I didn't really think it could affect people in the way you describe, so thank you for expanding my knowledge of Lego-related conditions!
Kind regards, Brian.

Unknown said...

I sorta bite my tongue saying this, but I see Lego sets with some reserve ... they're not quite models and they're not quite realistic, there's no insightful construction process and, once a kit is built I don't know what it's for. Decorations, I suppose.

Our kids kinda played with the duplo blocks but neither had much interest in the kits ... We bought numerous versions, all were assembled once then returned to their boxes and left in closets.

I'll concede there's a cute factor but I really don't understand the buzz.

Maybe my value system is skewed because I've spent most of my adult life building furniture and doing art ... personal (and one of a kind) creativity is incredibly important to me.


julochka said...

I'll grant you not every set has an insightful construction process, but many if them do. and you only find it out when you build it.

there are many people out there doing incredibly creative things with lego. one of a kind things (google nathan sawaya) but it's also true that not everyone (myself included) moves beyond the box. lego is a medium like any other - wood, paint, canvas, fiber. not every material speaks to every artist and not every artist uses every medium.

julochka said...

and here is a French clothing designer using LEGO as a creative material: https://www.google.com/search?q=Jean+Charles+de+Castelbajac+LEGO&espv=210&es_sm=119&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=v_0OU5vqD9TW4ATHi4EQ&ved=0CCYQsAQ&biw=1358&bih=674

or Shannon Ocean, who is using LEGO elements to express how institutions bend and destroy originality - taking it beyond mere sets. http://www.flickr.com/photos/10104652@N06/