Last box

I thought the last box would be an easy sprint to the finish line. Nope. Still a lot to do. I'm seeing little plastic pieces in my nightmares. This experience has raised a few questions in my mind. Like, was I insane buying this? Or will building it drive me insane?

Also, just how in the world do the Lego people pull this off? Not the little Lego people. The real people at Lego. How do they print this book with every little step laid out perfectly? They obviously have this entire set built virtually. I'd like to see an animation of the computer putting it together. And how do they proof it? Do some poor Lego lackeys have to follow the instructions in the book and see what happens? "Whoops, I built a windmill. We better edit this manual a little. What's Darth Vader doing charging a windmill with his lightsaber?" How much do they get paid to painstakingly build the Lego Death Star at work? And do they give the completed thing to some lucky kid who lives near the Lego HQ? Are the kids who live near Lego HQ sick of Legos? "Could you give me a toy that doesn't fall apart when I mess with it already?"

And, this is big. How on Alderaan do they get all the right pieces into all the right bags, and all the right boxes? How do they make sure that not a single one of these kits goes out missing just one or two crucial pieces (which would absolutely make me go certifiably insane at this point, guaranteed. So far so good.) What does that factory look like? What kind of sorting machines have they built? And are there any Lego robots working in that factory? That would be so cool. Some Lego robot nabs a random piece going down the conveyor belt. "Hmm, I always wanted another arm." Click, click, click. "Check it out, fellow Lego robots. I built myself a new arm. Jealous?" They all start copying him, modifying themselves. Click, click, click. "Haha! Look at my new Lego satchel I made. See how it hinges here? I can store other Legos…" Suddenly the Lego foreman barges in and yells at the robots, tells them to stop building on themselves, but he's used to it, they do it all the time, so he's got a little twinkle in his eyes that tells the robots that he's not really mad, but there are children waiting for these sets so they can drive their fathers mad, guys, so get back to sorting, you wascally wobots. He talks like Elmer Fudd for some reason. Because he's Danish?

I digress. Here's Vader's tie fighter. And a shot of our progress after that.