One of the biggest influences for my imagination came in the form of Legos. I remember the very first Lego set I ever received was a riding stable. I remember building it and playing with the people and the horses, and then destroying the house and building something completely different. With these little blocks that snapped together, I could build whatever I wanted!
So when it came time for my birthday and then the next Christmas, all I ever asked for were Legos, Legos, and more Legos. The next set that I really remember receiving was a space ship. Not just any spaceship mind you, but a Space Police spaceship with a prisoner cell in the back. Yes, it was even a set from the first Space Police series, when their colors were blue and red, not green like the newer ones. The set came with a "good guy," just an average space patrolman, and a "bad guy," whose suit was all black and his helmet was black with a black visor (he quickly became my favorite Lego man). This was something that really lent to my exploration into the imagination realm. Here was an endless possibility for excursions into the unknown. I would hide the bad guy on one end of my house or even outside if the weather was nice, and then I would take the spaceship to the other side of the yard, or the other side of the house, and pretend that I was searching for a mercenary on the run, or an assassin about to take out a leading official.
And so, throughout the years I would have birthday parties and ask all of my friends to bring me Legos as gifts and nothing else (how rotten is that!?) My collection piled up with Pirates, Settlers, Cowboys, Vikings, Town, Islander, Aquanauts, Aqua Sharks, Space Police, M-tron, Medieval, and Blacktron. It was always a dead givaway at Christmas when my mom would tell me not to shake my gifts. She would always say it was because there might be something breakable. Yeah right, why would any parent give their 7 year old something breakable under the tree! I would alwasy end up letting my hands slip and accidentally on purpse, shake the boxes and hear the sweet rattle of Lego blocks.
Imagining new adventures with Legos never got old. I am not ashamed to say that I played with them all the way through 8th grade. Even now I like to dig through the buckets and imagine all of the new and exciting adventures that could be had.
Until next time, keep your imagination active. Dig through your old toys, or go through your kids' toys and wipe all of the dust off all the adventures that could be had.
-Paul
A great site that catalogues every lego set - http://www.brickset.com/
Ha, the space police were my favorites. I remember the rival M-Trons and Blacktrons. I had one of those big prison spaceships and kept it intact until last year!
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