LEGO. A Christmas must have; for me, more years ago than I care to admit, and for my 11yo nephew, who as I speak is itching to get his sticky little mitts on the newest Super Mario set. Even before Super Mario, Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley or the ultimate, Star Wars Millennium Falcon, there have been LEGO kits, of sorts. I had bricks, yes, tons of them (which my nephew has now amalgamated into his stock) but this kit was a whole new concept for me – the LEGO Homemaker Kitchen, my first foray into interior design. My collection of bricks was elevated to a whole new level.
With white units and oh yes, even a cooker, it featured all the usual LEGO primaries: bright yellow tiles, blue mat, red bricks. Not a scheme you would want to replicate in your average British or Danish Seventies home, per se, but you have to accept that in 1971 LEGO had its colour limits. As these two pie charts show, the number of LEGO brick colours produced in 1975 are vastly different to that of 2014.
Fast forward to the 21st century and the famous little bricks are available in all the colours of the rainbow, along with pearlescent, metallic, and even glow in the dark. You can now even reproduce Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe portrait in LEGO. Just look at those colours! Hey, now here’s an idea, why not buy all four sets and start a LEGO gallery wall? (How much??...ouch).
To quote LEGO: “The first brick we made over 60 years ago is as culturally relevant today as it always was…because it is only ever one half of the toy. The other half is the child”.
Well excuse me but I need to put the record straight. The kids can’t have it all, or even half of it. There are adults out there (you know who you are) that are self-confessed AFoLs (Adult Fan of LEGO.
So, dear Santa, if you are listening, please send the 11yo some Super Mario, but also I’d very much appreciate it if the elves could wangle one of these for me, grazie mille. It’s quite a reasonable price, especially considering TOH would quite like a real one, for a mere £35k… (double ouch).
