When I was a child, one of my favorite toys was LEGO. Sadly, for most of my teen and half my adult life, I moved past the wonder and imagination of the "specialized interlocking bricks that shall not be named but often make your parents shout out obscenities when they step on them in the dark." (quote from Star Skimmer). When my youngest started showing interest in them, all those wonderful memories came flooding back. We spent untold hours building and playing together with LEGO. Building again was amazing and I ended up starting a collection, entering contests, (I won a few) and by the time I started telling the story of Star Skimmer it had become a major part of our lives. My son always called me a master builder, but that has yet to be determined.
The younger me, so I'm told, would devour a new box of LEGO (Usually of the Space variety) tearing open the box and throwing aside the instructions. Then I would build the set from just looking at the picture on the box. Building the sets was fun and cathartic in a sense. All that focus in one place which was good for my undiagnosed ADD. Later, I would build straight from my own imagination. When the epic bedtime story that would would become Star Skimmer began, LEGO was a huge inspiration for it.
My son and I started to mock up the Star Skimmer in LEGO and it's one of the largest sets I've put together. Six years later, It still stands. Tomorrow, we celebrate the release of Star Skimmer. We have a huge party planned and many wonderful friends and family have helped to make it a reality. I'm grateful that all my boys will be there. At the release party, the Star Skimmer in LEGO will be on display. For those of you who cannot make it to the event, here's a fun little stop action film we put together featuring Xander, Sparky and Icarus (characters from the story) and of course, the ship itself. Enjoy.
Comments