Mister Rogers Lego prototype a tribute to his ‘deep spiritual resonance’

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn(RNS) — When Matt Smith introduced his toddler to television in 2022, he selected the show that brought him warmth and comfort when he was growing up in the 1990s: “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.”Now, the long-running children’s show that once graced the screens of more than 3.5 million televisions a week could again become a household fixture, this time in the form of a Lego set.
Smith, a 31-year-old alumnus of Princeton Theological Seminary currently on sabbatical from his PhD program in American history, built a Mister Rogers Lego prototype that features Mister Rogers’ living room and kitchen on one side and the Neighborhood of Make-Believe on the other. The design includes exactly 1,968 pieces in honor of the show’s 1968 premiere, complete with a red trolley, fish tank, King Friday’s Castle and a green sweater hanging in a closet.
“Mister Rogers brings out the best in humanity,” said Smith, who told Religion News Service he hopes his design is a tribute to Roger’s cross-generational, nondenominational appeal. “He had a gift for meeting each person where they were and giving everything he had to them in their interaction.”
Matt Smith. Courtesy of Smith
During the pandemic, Smith turned to Legos as a safe, tactile creative outlet. After he introduced his 3-year-old to Mister Rogers, Smith’s wife suggested the idea of a Mister Rogers Lego design. Beginning in August 2022, Smith used Lego bricks from existing sets to design a physical prototype, watching episodes of the show in the background and using photos of the set for reference. He completed the design using Lego’s free digital design software, and after roughly 1 …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]