Victory On A Technicality

After constructing a Lego Y-Wing (model 8037 in your catalogs) almost entirely without me (a running theme of frustration on this blog which, of course, you’ve been reading regularly) my sons had an in-depth conversation (which I was privileged enough to overhear).

(Note: My plan on this post is apparently to have the vast majority of its text contained within parentheses and quotation marks)

The set contained a minifigure Anakin Skywalker and R2-D2. As with most sets, my sons went straight to the minifigures and began having them interact with one another. My seven-year-old took control of Anakin, and my six-year-old R2-D2. And, as with most minifigure interactions controlled by my sons, the two engaged in combat.

“Anakin takes out his lightsaber,” began my oldest.

“But R2-D2 uses his little arm thing and makes it not work,” came the younger’s first counter.

“Then Anakin makes R2 levitate with the force and throws him.”

(Impressive...Most impressive)

“R2-D2 uses his jets and flies back.”

“But then Anakin uses the lightning bolts form his hands and zaps R2-D2 so he doesn’t work anymore since he’s a droid.”

(The sound of them saying “droid” does my heart good)

“No! Anakin can’t do that. Only the Emperor does that.”

(An accurate observation)

“Count Dooku can too.”

(And even more accurate observation)

“But not Anakin!”

(Touché)

“But the Emperor is Anakin’s master and he taught him how to do it, so he zaps out energy and it makes all droids and machines not work anymore.”

“Then it hurts Anakin too.”

“Nuh-uh!”

“Yeah it does. He has a robot hand, so his hand doesn’t work then, either.”

They were referring, of course to the events near the closing moments of Episode II. I was floored by their Star Wars knowledge. I had stopped what I was doing in the other room and was holding my breath in anticipation of what would happen next. I nearly began to cry tears of joy. But that had to wait as my opinion was asked for.

“Daddy,” called my seven-year-old, “When Count Dooku cuts off Anakin’s hand, do they replace it with a robot hand?”

“Yes, buddy,” I answered. “Remember he has the black glove on that hand? Then when Luke Skywalker gets his hand cut off in The Empire Strikes Back, he gets a robot hand too. They make a point of showing how he has a robot hand just like his dad, Darth Vader. Remember?”

“Oh yeah,” he said and then a long silence. “But it’s just his hand,” he then said to his little brother, so he zaps R2 anyway and just gets a new hand later.”

“Darn it,” responded my six-year-old.

(Check and mate)

“But they’re friends anyway,” my youngest said, “so they were just pretending, not really fighting.”

“Yeah,” agreed his brother.

Soon after, they were playing Wii in the basement. If only all their fights ended this amicably. We could learn a lot from minifigures.