Black women are showing off their epic Lego collections on TikTok

Alyssa Evans could not tell you how much she’s spent on her collection of Lego sets since she took up the hobby in 2021. But it’s certainly money well spent, she said.

Evans’ TikTok account is dedicated to her Lego hobby, so she was more than happy to take part in a new trend: Black women — and some men, too — showing off their completed build-and-display sets and massive Lego collections in videos featuring rapper BossMan Dlow’s viral hit “Mr Pot Scraper.”

Evans, 23, had Lego flower sets, cars, Lego’s Vincent van Gogh “The Starry Night” set, the Pac-Man Arcade set and more. Her video, among the first for the trend, has amassed more than 14,000 views.

“I didn’t expect it to go the way that it did,” she said of the trend. “I didn’t expect to find a sense of community because Legos as a hobby is a non-POC, male-dominated hobby. So when I saw other women of color posting about it, of all different ages, it warmed my heart.”

More than a dozen Black TikTokers have shared similar videos. Singer Chlöe Bailey joined in on the fun, posting photos on X of herself alongside a few of her completed sets. These Lego lovers told NBC News they’ve found community online as a result of the viral videos and are happy to know that other Black people share the hobby.

Many said they sit for hours completing Lego sets, often for catharsis and to ease anxiety and stress. This tracks considering Lego’s efforts in recent years to market its sets as stress-relievers for AFOLs — adult fans of Lego — who want to drown out the noise, work with their hands and ease their minds.

In 2020, the Denmark-based company temporarily paused advertisements for its police-related sets as police violence protests broke out in the U.S. At the same time, the company also vowed to donate $4 million to organizations supporting Black children.

“We are thrilled to see the engagement by Black women using LEGO bricks as a creative outlet to celebrate the passions they have,” Alero Dawn Akuya, Lego’s vice president of brand development, told NBC News in a statement. “The Black community is rich with creativity, inspiration, and positivity and we are humbled that the community is recognizing our products to express themselves and their personal stories!”

Jazmin Towe, 31, began building Lego sets in January 2023 after her husband bought her a set to help her wind down and relieve stress after a long day of work. A year and a half later, Towe has numerous completed sets under her belt. In her TikTok video, which has been viewed more than 260,000 times, she showed off her completed Nintendo Entertainment System, piano, jazz quartet and typewriter sets.

“It’s so calming. It just does something for my nerves. I’ll sit there at the end of the day and do them for hours,” Towe gushed. “I feel happy when I finish them. It’s also kind of bittersweet because I love the process of putting it together. When I get to the end, I’m like, ‘I can’t wait to get to the next set!’”

Towe sometimes works on smaller sets with her 7-year-old son, she said. But, for the most part, it’s a personal hobby. “For me, it’s a winding down type of thing,” she said. “I do Legos to calm myself, to regulate my mind, to relax. I’ll get a nice little glass of wine and some snacks and I’ll be doing Legos for three or four hours straight.”

Even if Legos are a solo hobby for people like Towe, there’s still a larger community of Black people who take joy simply in knowing there are more people like them out there. Long before the trend — and long before TikTok itself — Ghanaian Canadian artist Ekow Nimako began using Legos to create Afrofuturistic sculptures. He spends 50 to 800 hours building the intricate sculptures entirely out of black Legos, CNN reported last year.

Lego highlights his work on the company’s website with videos, images and statements from the artist. Nimako doesn’t see his work as part of the Lego fandom, or a hobby. “This is fine art,” he told CNN. His goal, he added to Lego, is to push Black and Ghanaian culture forward. He said Lego pieces are perfect for this because of their intelligent, versatile design.

Akuya praised this diversity and innovation fostered through Lego’s diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

“We are committed to building a more kind, empathetic and understanding society now, and for future generations,” Akuya said. “Making everyone feel welcome to the LEGO universe is critical to our purpose for being, and we make an active effort to ensure our product and marketing activities reflect this ambition.”

Alyssa Evans’ completed Lego sets. (Courtesy Alyssa Evans)

As for Evans, her foray into the Lego fandom is purely for joy. She said she played with Lego as a child and has enjoyed returning to her childhood hobby. And the latest TikTok trend has helped her connect with more Lego lovers like her.

“I’ve definitely found a sense of community in it,” Evans said. “There’s not really that ‘alone’ feeling anymore. Before it wasn’t a hobby that I shared; I did it for myself. I didn’t know there were other women out there. It heals my inner child.”

Towe said Lego is an expensive hobby — adult sets can cost hundreds of dollars — so she hopes that as more people join in on the fandom, the company will find ways to ease the financial burden.

“I think that if more people could afford to get into it, they would,” Towe said.

文章来源：Aol.

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