Monday, 20 June 2011

LEGO paradise

A few weeks ago, Pd and I happened to be in Etobicoke, so we took a small detour to Sherway Gardens to visit the LEGO store.

DSCN0685

It's smaller than I imagined it to be, and had about the same atmosphere as the Apple store — lots of people milling about, adults playing with toys.

DSCN0682
The famous wall o' bricks

Supposedly, when they first opened, they had had a LEGO R2D2, which I would have loved to see. Unfortunately, we had to make do with a stunning Tower bridge:

DSCN0683

Pd told me that, apparently, LEGO's patent on their bricks had run out, so that anyone can make LEGO-fitting bricks. Thus, the company has pivoted its emphasis from making plain architectural bricks to what he calls "set pieces" — boxes that people buy to build specific things. I don't know if this is true, but the store certainly didn't carry any of those giant plastic buckets o' bricks that I remember, and each section of wall had a theme.

There was the Harry Potter wall, which was very, very tempting.

DSCN0679

The Star Wars wall, next to the Pirates of the Caribbean wall.

DSCN0681

I love LEGO buildings — even the set pieces — but ultimately it's a bit of a let-down, really. I mean, you have to compromise on size, of course, but why is the Hogwarts Great Hall so small? Why does the Death Star only have four levels?

(I complain, but still: I would have happily spent my mortgage payment at that store. They have Diagon Alley! And the Queen Anne's Revenge!)

No comments:

Post a Comment