“ I Need Light! “ cried Lobo
“ I need light! “ cried Lobo.
Lobo had just read his own character biography on Wikipedia. “ I mean, how could I even exist as a minifig? Like, did anybody in Billund read this? I repeat, I need light! My life has been nothing but darkness! “
Let’s go back a little, in order to understand Lobo’s point of view.
Lobo’s life as a mini-fig began with LEGO Set #76096:Superman & Krypto Team-Up, from 2018. This particular Lobo minifig was in a set which was purchased as a last minute Easter Basket filler. Uncle Johnny had really wanted something cute for his 7 year old niece, Zoe.
She had specifically asked Uncle Johnny for a LEGO Elves Set; or, in second place , an Elves Set, as well. Her mother chimed in, “Or, you know, anything Lego would do. ” Zoe attempted an S.O.S. on her telepathic messaging system: she just really WANTED ELVES.
The Saturday night before Easter, Uncle Johnny decided to hop right on that Easter thing. He went to the toy section of his nearby supermarket. There were some empty spaces on the shelves...he assumed that all of the Elves sets must be sold out. Well, any LEGO set in a storm, as the saying goes.
He did find a LEGO set which was not only there, but also on sale! Originally $19.99, it was 4% off, reduced to $19.19. Well, he thought, at least they didn’t raise the price. The set, Superman and Krypto Team-up, featured a superhero, a superdog, and a really cool motorcycle. I could do worse, thought Uncle Johnny, and popped it into his cart.
Because she was a good girl, and it was Easter Sunday, and there was family around, Zoe expressed the minimum requisite amount of gratitude ( M.R.A.G. ), to her uncle for at least getting her something. She smiled, and hugged the set, and gently placed it back in her Easter basket.
Later the same day, in the privacy of her room, Zoe re-inspected her haul. She took out the new LEGO set. She sighed a disdainful sigh, as if to say, You could have been great! You could have been a contender! And then she gave it it’s rightful place, on the lower shelf closest to her Elves garbage can.
The Superman and Krypto Team-up Set remained there, dormant,for many months.
Finally, Zoe was home from school, recovering from one of those sicknesses which mean that you spend most of your day in your room. She was lying in bed, not really looking at anything, when she realized there was a perfectly adequate LEGO set in her room, unopened and unloved. Well, she said to herself, at least I can check off unopened.
It turned out to be a lot of fun: one of those unexpected LEGO surprises. Also, Zoe realized that a lot of the set could fit quite nicely into her latest Elves set up. With a few minor adjustments, Lobo’s Space Hog became a fearsome Dragon of the Skull. The Kryptonite prison of the set became The Effervescent Fountain of Green Light, which the Dragon of the Skull sought to decimate, because the Fountain’s Crystals held magical powers which would remove his skull mask, and rob him of his power. That left the minifigs, and Krypton.
Zoe decided to turn them into special gifts for each member of the family. She carefully wrapped them in scraps of super shiny silver wrapping paper which she could not bear to throw out last Christmas.
She presented Wrapped Krypto to her 5 year old brother, Russel. He was quite pleased. Boosted by this success, she brought Wrapped Superman to her Mother. She seemed delighted.
It just so happened that Uncle Johnny was over. She had been saving Lobo for Dad, but it didn’t seem right that Uncle Johnny would be the only one in the room to not get anything from her. Dad was still at work, so she still had time to come up with something for him.
So, Uncle Johnny received the prize Lobo minifig. It was now his turn to present the M.R.A.G. ( Readers: see paragraph 8-Dave).
A few days later, Uncle Johnny found the Lobo minifig in his coat pocket, along with some lint and a pre-enjoyed tissue. He put two out of the three into the trash can; mid-swing, he held onto Lobo’s head with the shoulder length black tresses and piercing, eerie red eyes. He held Lobo as he sat down to his lap top, which was open to Wikipedia. ( he had made a recent search concerning the words, Nil satis nisi optimum , the motto of the Everton Football Club.(it is a Latin phrase that means "Nothing but the best is good enough”; ironically, that is quite close to The Lego Group's motto, "only the best is good enough" (Danish: det bedste er ikke for godt)).
Uncle Johnny quickly typed in, Lobo’s name, “Lobo “.
Uncle Johnny and Lobo started reading Lobo’s character biography. Lobo was really, really, really bad. He had done terrible things, and had exalted in doing them.
Uncle Johnny looked at Lobo, and Lobo looked at Uncle Johnny.
“Dude, you did a bad, bad thing!” said Uncle Johnny with a smirk.
“ I need light! “ pleaded Lobo. But, his pleas remained unheeded. Humans can’t hear minifigs.
Then something happened which even surprised me, the recording secretary of these events. Uncle Johnny brought out a very suspect shoe box. He opened it, and dropped Lobo in.
Lobo found himself immersed in a large amount of very brightly colored LEGO pieces. More specifically, he was staring into the bright eyes of a girl with with pointy ears, light aqua shoulder length hair, and a blue markings printed on her forehead, upper left arm, and feet. She wore a blue wraparound sarong.
“ Who are you?” Asked Lobo.
“ Hi! My name is Nadia Riverheart. Welcome to our Craig’s List LEGO Elves collection. We’re on our way to Zoe’s house.”
“ Well, honey, I really don’t understand almost any part of that sentence. But let me warn you, you don’t want me. I am very, very, very bad. Even my name is bad: Lobo.
Nadia looked at him, very hard. “ Well, then, Mr. Lobo. I have some news for you. And, it is all good. You are not bad. You are a Mini-Fig. You are a part of a System of Playful Learning and Fun. We share the same name: LEGO.
“ But all that dark, awful stuff-“
“ Don’t worry about that. That takes place in someone else’s world. It doesn’t have to be your world. You were made for a world of play and fun. “
Lobo felt an incredibly heavy weight magically and wonderfully lift from his shoulders.
“ Now, let me introduce you around. This is Merida, the Water Dragon. Over there is Enki the Panther. Oh, and there’s Guxlin the Goblin, and Firebolt, our resident Pegasus.”
Lobo took a deep cleansing breath, and began the first day of his new life.
Denouement: Zoe gave Uncle Johnny her best M.M.R.A.G. ( Most Maximum Required Amount of Gratitude ) when he nonchalantly handed her his Craig’s List “Lot of Elves” box. It actually did include a lot of The Elves’ Treetop Hideaway Set, which she desperately wanted. Except Farran Leafshade from that set was, predictably, missing.
Lobo embraced his job as cleaner of Zoe’s dragon stalls with a true Joie de vivre.