Lego has excellent resale value, so I convinced myself that each purchase was an investment, as well as therapy and a reality diversion all rolled into one pretty, rattly package. Until the pandemic, when the halt in traveling or dining out or even buying clothes suddenly left me with some extra funds to begin building a collection big enough that storage became an issue.
But I considered myself a casual collector at best. In addition to Star Wars sets, I also adored anything with a spooky theme, like the Monster Fighters series and the Scooby-Doo line. And from then on I’d pick up a couple of new releases each year for the memory trip.
1 That specific licensing, combined with the soothing nature of building the sets, was a double dopamine hit of nostalgia for this ’80s kid. Like many Gen Xers, I rediscovered my childhood love of Lego when the company began releasing Star Wars–themed sets back in 1999.
