[mintone]

Lego. I spoke to my parents about 6 months ago whilst they were having a clear out of family toys from yesteryear - their main question: "What do you want us to keep for your (potential) children?"

My answer was quite simple: "My Lego and my Brio - that's about it"

Lego is made to last a lifetime and more, specified to an extreme degree and made with tolerances far and beyond most consumer electronics; it is something that can be inherited. The important part here is that I wouldn't want my children to inherit a set - I would want them to inherit the bricks - that is the fun of Lego. I want to give them 2 30 gallon boxes of bricks and boards and men and all sorts because creativity is not born of following instructions - it comes from deciding to create an aeroplane from the odd bits and pieces that you have at hand.

There is a very good reason that these[1] adverts aren't for sets - Lego is amazing because you can create whatever you can imagine with it and for that reason this doesn't sit very well with me. But then I have 60 gallons of lego waiting for me when I eventually procreate so what do I care...

[1] http://speckyboy.com/2009/03/16/39-creative-lego-advertiseme...

[mbreese]

My son inherited my old Legos (mid-late 80s) when my dad moved somewhat recently. He actually lost a somewhat rare piece from one of the newer Star Wars sets and we found a replacement in the big bin of Lego from my childhood. That then led to a long building session of putting together one of the classic airport sets. It was awesome. And because it's Lego - they all still fit. I also had about a dozen 1980-something space guys, which was a great tie in for the movie.

So yes - keep the Lego, ditch everything else. You can download almost all of the old instructions online, which makes it that much better.