Lego or Meccanno? Trains or Planes?

I wrote about Boys and their Toys fairly recently.  We love our toys.  And we’re in the enviable positions where we can continue to play with them...

FOREVER!

But when it comes to these specific options, the answer comes swiftly, easily, and without hesitation.

Lego.  A millions times Lego. I’m quite sure you can make some wonderful things with Meccanno. Realistic, working, scale models of real, tangible things – cranes, trains, planes!

But it’s not a toy, is it.  You can’t play with them. Lego is for play.  Lego is fast and colourful and rewarding. And just as creative.  More so in fact - and the minifigures are the best bit!

There are those that would argue that it has changed too much.  The pieces have become larger and less Lego-like, taking some of the creativity and design out of the premise. And some dislike the franchising... the Harry Potter, Spider-Man and Star Wars sets.

To them I say: LOOK UPON THIS BATCAVE AND TREMBLE!

And it’s fan-built too!  Take a look here!

There is something about Lego I never got over.  I’m not sure any boy ever does.  I go to the Lego shop now and look around longingly. I see lots of dads living vicariously through their wide-eyed children. There really is nothing like Lego.  It’s an expensive hobby, granted – but you get the build, the play and then the rebuild and the replay. It is the perfect toy. I have already vowed that my nephew will get Lego for every birthday once he is of age...

And my Lego?  It now sits in my classroom cupboard, and suffers a little bit from time to time, but is largely still intact. And it still gets played with, which is important to me. And I still get to have a little play now and then too – just modelling appropriate play, obviously.

Lego all the way....

And planes or trains?

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD CHOOSE A TRAIN?!

Don’t get me wrong, there are bad flights, and definite downsides, but flying?  You’re in a chair IN THE SKY!  I never get bored with it.  I like it when the jet-engines come on! I like having a drink before hand, and a drink during, and you’re generally going somewhere nice too.  Flying is wonderful.  Airports are wonderful. Other passengers I can take or leave, and there are bits that stress me out, granted.  But let’s compare...

Trains? Urgh, noisy, crowded, slow, expensive, stressful, late... There is nothing about train travel I enjoy. 

From buying my overpriced ticket, to the scary walk to the door (irrespective of earliness!) where you panic the door may close and your train pull away, to finding a seat without a nasty stain, to avoiding the weirdo, to noisy phone conversations, to impossibly loud screeching and buckling of walls as other trains pass... the whole enterprise is thoroughly unpleasant.

This is why I drive everywhere...

Boys and their Toys

Today I read a tweet about gay men all loving Lego.

This is true.  Gay men DO all love Lego. Fact.

But it’s also inaccurate.  It’s not gay men that love Lego.  It’s just men. They love Lego.

And it’s not just Lego. Men love toys.  Because men, if we’re honest, are generally just little boys who got taller. And boys love their toys... So why, I hear you ask, is there this gay perception pertaining to toys, games, gadgets and geekery? The gays genuinely ARE all obsessed with Playstation, comics, Star Trek, Dr Who, Lego, etc, etc, the list goes on.

Well, straight men are too. But straight men have to hide their enthusiasm for toys, games, comics and science fiction to attract girls. They have to hide it in the first instance, and then once settled comfortably into relationships, they’re just not allowed the free run of filling their homes up with Lego or geeky posters or Dr Who memorabilia.  They’re not allowed to spend loads of time shopping for comics, or playing x-box.

I spend all my disposable income on myself.

Don’t get me wrong -  straight guys with girlfriends still DO these things, but there often appears to be a serious limit on it. They always complain how they never get to play PS3 anymore, because of this and that.  Especially post-child.

But the gays? The gays get to continue to be little children, buy themselves Lego, play computer games, watch Dr Who, watch Star Wars for the 187^th time, and spend all their disposable income on gadgets. And when they get into relationships and get a place together?  It doesn’t change. You’re allowed to continue to be geeky, collect crap, watch crap, stay up drinking cocktails and playing Playstation all night because you both like doing it. In fact, you can do it together...!

That’s kind of the best bit about being gay. You get to play together and share boy things, and kind of... be yourself in a way that I often feel straight guys have to subdue. Being straight means you have to pretend not to like certain things, or to like them but leave them behind whilst you pretend to be a grown up. That’s why I see dads walking around the Lego shop with their children, with looks of wonder and longing on their faces. They have to live a bit more vicariously than the gays do...

We’re all still 10 year old boys at heart – so treat yourself.  Go and get yourself some Lego...

Many boys like to lounge around in
pants, playing playstation all day.

The Next Generation (of Geeks)

So, for the last half hour of each school day, we have to run enrichment clubs. These have to be fun, but enriching.  That is to say- useful, or educational or of some value in terms of life skills, social skills or personal development. Movie club did not survive long. My school radio club is going great guns, animation club was just a huge stress, but the latest addition to our selection is GEEK GAMES.

It isn’t called that officially. But that’s what I call it, and consequently, what all the kids call it.

Officially, it’s called Games Workshop, or tabletop games, or other such mouthfuls.  But Geek Games describes it entirely accurately. And you know what?  It’s a hit.

I was sort of worried about introducing it. They are not especially tolerant or patient students. When they don’t get their own way they tend to shout, swear, attack you, smash things, or conjecture about your personal life and the legitimacy of your heritage. Geek games are not electronic, have no flashing lights or online multiplayer modes – I wasn’t sure they’d go for it, and then I’d be locked into MAKING them endure it every week for 6 weeks because we can’t change it just because no-one wants to do it.

You can’t let them use their behaviour to blackmail you and dictate terms. Which is why I try to present them with options of my own choosing that I know will work – that’s half my job really. So I was a bit worried they wouldn’t run with it.

Now all I hear is “Yessss! Geek games!  Sir, sir- can we play it again tomorrow?  Go on sir!!”

And I love it. Basically we get to play Hero-Quest! Only the best 80’s fantasy geeky board game EVER! My brother and I used to play this all the time, until he didn’t want to anymore and I could no longer persuade him. And now I get to do it all again. It’s just brilliant.  It’s like I’m 9 again.

 

And they SO LOVE IT. And they say things like. “Yeah – this is the best game EVER! You can’t even get it anymore!” And we basically roll crappy dice and run around killing skeletons and casting spells and talking utter bollocks for 30 minutes every Tuesday.

So I am cultivating the next generation of geeks and teaching them turn-taking and social skills and how to defeat undead wizards at the same time.

I’m so glad I took it into work with me. Some staff of approximately 30 are also starting to sniff round with excited, nostalgic looks on their faces too, which is quite amusing. I have also introduced my class to Fighting Fantasy books too, which they are kind of loving. Add to this our Ten Minute Marvel Super Movie Marathon we have whilst waiting for taxis at the end of each day and you can see why our class theme tune is...

“GETCHA GEEK ON. GETCHA GEEK ON. 

GETCHA, GETCHA, GETCHA, GETCHA- GETCHA GEEK ON.”