credits: Stormer

The never-ending quest

G.I. Joes on backyard recon.

I have all my action figures. He-Man and Skeletor, a little faded from all the love, but still loin-clothed and still smelling like summer plastic. The glory of backyard battles, trenched in under the olive trees where I played out elaborate story lines and did the sound effects exactly right.

When I was young, being in control of the worlds I created gave me vast comfort. Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, Lego: I left the world I had been born into for a trip to a playground (albeit a violent one) I created.

credits: Stormer

The battle of the medium-sized rock

Wipe out Cobra and home in time for dinner.

I liked silence while I played. I liked to get real right down close next to my toys and give them my voice, bend their joints, form their particular gestures, their particular deaths.

I played quietly, in total immersion, for hours. The smallness of the action mystified me and I moved, nearly entranced, through the rooms and yards of my childhood, seeing the world within the world: the miniature Argonne Forest in the garden, gnarled tree roots perfect for the Pitons.

credits: Stormer

Class of '89

Their story is whatever you make it.

The precision required to recreate combat accurately for 4 inch G.I. Joes worked on me much as I imagine meditation might. My breathing slowed and calm tingled over my temples. Sometimes I would stop playing and stare, prone on the grass, at the tiny men, the people I could destroy and then, unharm. Closure to all wounds.

We put much importance on “the vastness of imagination.” How big can you dream? How vast an empire you can manifest. But we will have none of the big vision if we do not first learn to respect the smallness of imagination. We cannot forget that the genius of da Vinci was the genius of a child at play.

credits: Stormer

Ambush in mom's backyard

You don't actually make them fight. You just stare and imagine what the fight would be like.

From time to time I return to my action figures. Unbox and arm them. The battles usually don’t last as long as they did when I was ten, but the quietude still returns to me, reminding me to abide by the truths I learned in my youth.