I received my first set of interlocking bricks when I was seven years old. \u00a0Actually, I probably received my first set before then, but the first set I can remember receiving was when I was seven. \u00a0It was a bucket of bricks with two figures: \u00a0one wearing a yellow shirt, and one wearing a red shirt. \u00a0And they were not Lego-brand blocks; they were Tyco. \u00a0And they weren’t mine alone; they were for my brother and me to share.<\/p>\n
Even though the blocks were toys we only played with at my grandmother’s house on the weekends, we quickly discovered that we liked playing with highly-sophisticated interlocking brick systems, and so the number of blocks we had grew. \u00a0As Tyco bricks became harder to find, they branched out into Lego brand bricks (which were mostly compatible with Tyco, except where Tyco had half-brick-height blocks, Lego had one-third-brick-height blocks). \u00a0As the block count grew, so too did the mini-figure population.<\/p>\n
My brother and I could share. \u00a0We shared blocks that nobody was using. \u00a0We would build things and tear them apart. \u00a0But if we built something, that something was ours until it was dismantled; then the blocks became communal property again. \u00a0To have something relegated to the “spare parts bin” meant it and its pieces were available for whoever needed them next.<\/p>\n
This was true of the blocks. \u00a0It was not true of the minifigures.<\/p>\n
Perhaps this was because of my ability to give things personalities. \u00a0From stuffed animals to puppets to a pair of socks, I can tell stories with inanimate objects and make you feel emotions for them. \u00a0As such, a minifigure could not simply be relegated to the “spare parts bin.” \u00a0And as I could not trust anyone else to maintain the personalities I had created, the minifigures quickly became “mine” and “yours.” \u00a0And with divisions among the minifigures, there were differences of opinion over how best to play with the Legos.<\/p>\n