my son dug up a lego set, unopened, that was a gift several years ago. he hasn’t been very interested in legos in some time, video games have become his world, but suddenly he was eager to put it together. 1/

but before we did, my wife suggested we look up the kit, because they retire lego sets and sometimes they become collectible. sure enough, it’s no longer produced and goes for $200-$300 now. 2/

lucky us, i guess? we couldn’t open and build it anymore, it felt extravagant. it’s not like we’ve put it on ebay, though. back into the cabinet depths from which it came. 3/

i promised the kid i’d get him something else we could build together. we went to the lego store and blew $35 on a much less fancy, cool set. 4/

so, in practice the net effect of making legos into limited edition collectibles has meant we can’t enjoy (or afford) the better sets, and the hypothetical resale value has left us cash-poorer than we had been. 5/

i don’t think it has made the world a better place. /fin