When I was a kid, my default toy was my one and only Lego construction kit. Instead of buying new robots, I made robots out of this for ship-and-trucks blocks. I made my own versions of the Transformers characters (Optimus Prime, Soundwave, etc.), and other bigtime robots of the day. Sure, there was always envy whenever I see kids with fancier toys, but I always tried to compromise.
Decades later, way past school, and able to spend a few bits of cash on the mundane things, I didn’t possess the craving for toys anymore. I find it amusing some friends of my age-range still do, and it is great to know that we all have our own little personal worlds to keep, right when we’re supposed to stop and get into the more serious stuff.
Yesterday, battered from a body massage, I was going around Thumb Plaza to find a solitary place to shove food in me on a Saturday night, and found a small toy nook with the Lego logo prominently displayed. I got in, and convinced myself: If you will, nothing more than 200RMB, please.
So I got one for 199 RMB, a Technics-type jeep and road buggy set. Assembly was pushed back a bit for not using the right parts on the main parts of the chassis, so it took me less than two hours. I never did follow instructions for these things, but I had to this time.
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Anything left from that toys-I-never-had list? Yes. It was always this I wanted, that I made a ritual out of my childhood semi-obsession of it, when I would automatically chant at the first sight of a barely sparkling sky:
Star light, star bright,
The first star I see tonight;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
A Voltron (lion-force) set. This has always been #1 on the list, anything else under it is deemed not-so-important. I heard they revived the series, but of course, I’d always adhere to the version I grew up watching.