My nephew's birthday is coming up early in the New Year, so I headed out to the local mall this morning to pick up a gift card for him from the Lego store. It is amazing the things that they've done wth Legos these days. I particularly loved the Star Wars related items. Everything is so intricate and detailed.

I had Legos when I was a child many decades ago (no, I won't say how many), and I remember them being nothing more than colored blocks of varying sizes. We didn't have movie tie-in Legos like they do today. Getting a box of Legos meant getting a bunch of bricks.

As part of a promotion at the Lego store this morning, they were giving out a small Lego set with every gift card. So, I was given a Lego Mini Batwing, a tie-in toy for the Lego Batman Movie. The bag the kit came in said it included 80 pieces, and was for ages 7 to 14. I figured it would be a fun way to kill five minutes.

Almost twenty minutes later, I had a small toy. Some of the pieces were so small that I could barely pick them up with my fat fingers. I partially disassembled it about three times because I had put a piece on wrong. When did Legos get so damn complicated? This was only 80 pieces. I don't even want to imagine what the assembly of the Lego Death Star must be like. That has almost a gazillion pieces!

I'm guessing that it is a sad state of affairs if a man of my age has trouble putting together a toy rated for 7 to 14 year olds. Oh, and I ended up with five pieces left over.