Lego, or, My Edifice Complex

I think it’s time I spoke about my “edifice complex.”

I refer to my avocation with Lego models.

It began on a day in late December, 2019, after seeing my least favorite Star Wars film, “The Rise of Skywalker.”

I DO NOT LIKE THIS FILM!

I was put off by its disjointed lack of structure and technique.  I was repelled by the unneeded return of a villain from the past.  I had seen it the day before with Susan and our two friends, Lily and Liz.  I was seeing it that day with Susan, her sister Mary Grace, and Mary Grace’s family, the Hansons.

I DO LOVE THESE PEOPLE!  THESE ARE GOOD PEOPLE!  

HONEST AS THE DAY IS LONG!

At the Hansen’s place, I got to see Mary Grace’s elaborate Star Wars-themed Lego collection.  Collection is an understatement.  I saw set pieces of the Death Star trench, the Sarlaac Pit, the Battle of Hoth - I lose track from the top of my head the complex Lego-scape.

PHOTO NOT AVAILABLE.  SORRY.

Mary Grace and I had a civil discussion about “The Rise of Skywalker.”  I listened to what she liked about it and she politely listened to my objections about the story.  I won’t go into detail about my impressions.  That’s a tale for another entry.

Unexpectedly, Mary Grace approached me with a wrapped gift.  I perked up and unwrapped it.  I saw a Lego model of a space ship from Star Wars that was piloted by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

I had never before or since said the word “slave” with a joyful voice.  I yelped the name of Boba Fett’s ship with a child’s voice.

“Slave I!”

Susan and Mary Grace laughed at my sudden turn of mood from grouchy and disappointed to guileless and enthusiastic.  Slave I was my absolute favorite of the Star Wars spacecraft, and this was the Lego TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION (1999-2019) model of Slave I (Item #75243).  It didn’t have the off-the-assembly-line contours of an X-wing or TIE fighter.  It had a singular distinction similar to the one-of-a-kind design of Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon.  I think I liked Boba Fett and his spacecraft, Slave I, for their idiosyncratic appearance.

Suze and I couldn’t bring back the model on our plane flight home.  Mary Grace anticipated this, and promised to mail it to me as soon as possible.  A week after our return to New York, The boxed Lego model of Slave I arrived at our house.

I held off building Slave I until I could find an area in our cramped apartment to be my work table.  All I could find was a small glass and aluminum night table no higher than your typical coffee table.  One day in late spring of 2020, I cautiously opened the first plastic bag of Lego pieces and got to work.

Some days the pieces fit together with ease.  Other days, I would get so far, only to find an obstruction, so I’d have to backtrack and disassemble the model to find where I made a mistake and rebuild from there.  As a perfectionist, I found those moments frustrating.  I dreaded reaching a potential road block, then back track five or even ten steps to start again.  Inwardly, I had to fight the impulse to trash the model in frustration.  If anything, working on a model slowly taught me patience and forgiveness of self.

After a week or two of working on the model, my upper back began to ache from stooping over the small, low, glass work table.  I decided to give it a break and pick it up when I found a surface more level to me when I am seated.  With care, I packed away what I began with the model along with the bricks that were still in the bag.

My hiatus lasted about one or two years.

During that time, I watched the TV series “The Mandalorian.”  Its initial draw for me was the title character who wore armor similar in appearance to that of Boba Fett’s.  When I first saw the Mandalorian - Din Djarin’s - spacecraft the Razor Crest, I admired its unique contours and its lived-in interior.

I don’t normally have a “shopping bug.”  I don’t run out to get the latest clothes and sneakers.  I do have a weakness for vinyl records, comic books, manga, and now, Lego models.  So, my “Lego Bug” made me cast aside my ethical resolutions to not purchase items from Amazon.  In two weeks, I received a Lego model of the Razor Crest (Item #75292).  My plan was to begin piecing it together after I was done with Slave I.

That wait would last one or two years until I finished Slave I.

When we moved into our new one living room, one kitchen, one bathroom, two bedroom apartment, I designated the spare room to be my office and work place.  In time, I purchased a card table that was the proper height for me to sit and work.  I laid out the Slave I model, and resolved to begin my plan.

What got in the way was my main pursuit of screenwriting.  When I began to take classes, I let Slave I collect dust on my card table as I scribbled and typed out my scripts and fragments of scenes.  The Razor Crest sat idly by as well, propped against two stacked file cabinets.

In August of 2023, Suze and I went to Legoland in Monroe, NY.  I was not fully sold on the idea at first, because I believed a thought would nag at me to finish Slave I and the Razor Crest.  Yet when I arrived, I marveled at the giant lego sculptures of multicolored tigers, dinosaurs and Indian elephants.  I wandered through the scaled replicas of the major cities and sights of the United States.  It was a theme park, but it was an intelligent and creative theme park.  My embarrassed adult self indulged in a few amusement rides and ate at a “pirate restaurant.”

Finally we went to the Lego Store.  We wandered around through the sundry models with various themes.  Original basic models made for boys or girls or both.  Then there were the themed sections with titles like Dreamzzz or Ninjago.  Ultimately, Susan and I gravitated towards the Star Wars themed Legos.

Suddenly, Susan exclaimed with delight.  The same way I exclaimed when I first saw Slave I.  It was a Lego set for the legendary Mos Eisley Cantina from the first Star Wars film (Item #75290).  We giggled like children as we quoted key lines from the scene at the Cantina.

“He doesn’t like you,” I growled at Susan, taking on the personality of the gruff, menacing Dr. Evazan.

“Sorry,” replied Susan taking on the role of Luke Skywalker.

JOHN / DR. EVAZAN:  I don’t like you either.  You best watch yourself.  We’re wanted men.  I have the death sentence on twelve systems!”

SUSAN / LUKE:  I’ll be careful.

JOHN / DR. EVAZAN:  You’ll be dead!

Susan snatched up the Cantina model, with the resolution to buy and build it.  I picked up two, much smaller, Star Wars models:  A non-canonical “Mech Suit” for the Boba Fett minifigure (Item #75369), and a “Brick Headz” model for the character of Ahsoka Tano (Item #40539).  I announced to Susan “This will go well with my Brick Heads models for Din Djarin and Grogu! Aka, The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda (Item #75317).”

We ran up to the cashier and made these purchases our own fictional story.

Susan said she would begin work on Mos Eisley in the winter of 2023-2024.  I finally felt the push to finish Slave I and the Razor Crest and made a promise with her to do just that.

By the end of August of that year, another Lego model entered our family:  Ahsoka Tano’s T-6 Jedi Shuttle (Item #75362).  Those last five words are an adventure unto themselves to explain to someone not versed in Star Wars.  As my intermediate school social studies teacher Mr. Cassidy would say, “That’s a tale for another day.”

After a few frightening episodes in the late fall concerning my mother’s health, we finally settled down to work on our Lego models in January.  I was convinced I would lag behind on Slave I as Susan would surpass me with Mos Eisley.

As it turned out, I finished Slave I, the Razor Crest, and the T-6 Jedi Shuttle a day or two before Susan finished her grander model.  All three ships are now docked behind the Mos Eisley Spaceport and divulging their crew of bounty hunters, ronin, gunslingers, and other assorted scoundrels.

Though with the Razor Crest, I had some difficulty.  I would get so far, only to backtrack, then sit crestfallen as several bricks would loosen and fall apart.  I plunged into despair.  I would sent Susan photos of my latest blunders during the day.  She would come home in the evening, and after dinner, she would help me reverse engineer and proceed with the model anew.

The road went both ways.  After our tour of Legoland, I anticipated the possibility that certain parts of my Slave I model may have been lost.  So I bought a box of generic Lego pieces to pick up the slack.  As it turned out, I only had to replace one brick on Slave I.  I lent Susan some of the bags from the box so she could find pieces that could patch up her own model.  She had trouble finding a piece for the Mos Eisley Cantina:  A small tower known in the movies as a moisture vaporator.  Thanks to my generic set, she found the exact piece and finished that final segment of her Cantina.

To backtrack:  As I finished the Razor Crest, I noticed the small box of a QR code.  I scanned the image with my phone, and I was led to the official website of Lego.  I created an account and went through its catalog to find any model of any theme beyond Star Wars on which I could work.

One stood out from the rest.  Well, it wasn’t that hard for it to stand out because it was showcased prominently on the site.  It was a dragon model designed for the Chinese Lunar New Year called The Auspicious Dragon for 2024 (Item #80112).  The simple geometric figures wove together into making a gorgeous creature of myth.  I ordered The Auspicious Dragon almost immediately.  I resolved to finish it before February10th, the beginning of the lunar new year.

I’ll tell you a few funny stories about my Auspicious Dragon model.  From the beginning I nicknamed him “Irving.”  It’s a vague reference to a joke comedian Jon Stewart made about a fictional legal firm, “Whitestone, Raptor… and OIVINGGGGG!”  Something like that.

As I was assembling the podium, I noticed that two pieces seemed wrong.  I thought that Lego had packed the wrong pieces.  I ordered the pieces from the very helpful Lego online site.  As I waited for the two pieces to arrive, I skipped finishing the podium and went on to build the head, body, and tail of the dragon.  It was quite a challenge - sometimes frustrating! - to put the scales, spines and undulations in the right places.  My hands are a tiny bit shaky due to some side effects of a medicine I take, so my fingers fumbled a bit with the smaller pieces.  Patience, determination, and willpower prevailed, and the dragon, minus limbs and pearl, were finished.

I feared that I would not complete the model before February 10th, but at last the pieces arrived.  I fit them where they were supposed to be - or so I thought.  I can’t accurately recount the particulars of how I came to realize it, but I finally absorbed the facts that the “wrong” pieces were indeed the “right” pieces.  I simply put two other pieces in THE WRONG PLACE!  Thank you for going the extra mile, Lego.  I humbly accept the fault was mine.  Patience and backtracking, ladies and gentlemen.  Patience and backtracking.

 With some more patience, fumbling, and determination, I finished both podium and dragon and fit the two together - all before February 10th.  I decided that the last piece - a plaque written in Mandarin commemorating the auspicious lunar new year of 2024 - would be applied on the day as a gesture of completion.  I have safely tucked it away until the day arrives.  I double and triple check the location where I have placed the plaque, just so it doesn’t grow legs and run away.

After all that was done, my fingers still itched to finish some Lego model, ANY Lego model, to pass the time.  I finally got around to Mech Suit Boba Fett.  Alas, I came across a wrong piece which, with all my might and permutations, would not fit properly.  I scoured my box of spares to find a substitute.  With much squinting and fumbling, I found a piece that served the purpose.  Within a few hours.  Mech Suit Fett was complete.

The following day, my fingers still ached for a manipulative challenge involving Legos.  Then I remembered I had forgotten my Brick Headz!  I planned to assemble Din Djarin, Grogu, and Ahsoka Tano before Christmas to serve as Joseph, Jesus, and Mary for a manger scene.  My cursed reluctance missed the date, but within ninety minutes I completed them and put them on a small display in my room, waiting to be put in the living room for the next Yuletide season.

After a two year wait, I finally tacked a non-Lego model:  Sentinel Fate/Grand Order: Archer/Ishtar 4" Nel Action Figure (“Ishtar,” for short).  It seems, seems, to be more simple than a Lego model, but it is delicate and must be assembled with the utmost care.  Since the model has to create the illusion of Ishtar and her weapon - the Boat of Heaven - levitating over the ground, she is supported by translucent plastic struts mounted on a plastic modular base.  At the wrong angle, the whole thing could topple over, but with a little manipulation and many stifled curse words, Ishtar stands up straight!

In the meantime, I expect a beauty of a Lego model to appear in my mail tomorrow:  Dune Atreides Royal Ornithopter (Item #10327).  It’s even more complex than Irving, the Auspicious Dragon, with 1369 pieces.  It has moving parts and plenty of pieces to fumble over while building.

 

I can’t wait!

Follow this blog for more of my edifice complex Lego and non-Lego model adventures!

- JJB