Lego Star Wars is getting a second wind on TikTok

Lego Star Wars is finally getting the recognition it deserves, and it’s coming from the most unlikely and chaotic power the world has to offer, TikTok.

For those of you who are unaware, TikTok is basically a new Vine featuring lip-syncing, dancing, goofs, and gafs beloved to all hip teens. (I may be considered a baby around the Esquire offices, but I’m still too old for TikTok, so forgive my limited knowledge.) And it’s there that the plastic-brick version of everyone’s favorite space war is rearing its head again.

Lego Star Wars took the world of gaming for children by storm nearly 15 years ago with the release of Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, a co-op, hack n’ slash, Lego-styled adventure that preceded the release of Revenge of the Sith in theaters.

The game was charming and easy enough (save for that damn pod race), with couch co-op and plenty of collectibles and extras to keep it going. More importantly, it paved the way for what would become a massive empire of Lego-ized games, from Marvel to Lord of the Rings, all vastly varying in quality.

But Lego video games have been vastly overlooked, classified as “dumb baby games,” despite having shaped a whole generation of gaming. Finally, it’s become clear just how many folks grew up playing them, as TikTok erupted with jokes, memes, and most importantly, profile pictures in honor of this true classic.

The Tok Gen has the most compassion for Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which released two years after the original and included Episodes I-VI in classic Lego form. There are videos featuring sad music over Lego Ben Kenobi’s in-game death captioned “real ones cry every time,” jokes about that impossible pod race, brags about how many copies of the game you owned, and general gatekeeping culture—all of which act to lovingly put Lego Star Wars up on a pedestal, while poking fun at the goofy nature of the games.

The teens are fully engulfed in Lego culture. Which, to be fair, is much better and safer than Juul culture.

More importantly though, this shows how these Lego games, for better or for worse, were a generation’s nostalgic game. Lego Star Wars is to these teens what Pac-Man, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, and GoldenEye were to past generations. It’s the game they remember staying up late to play, trying to find every secret or cheat code while eating junk food with their friends.

I should mention, the Lego Star Wars love is coming just in time for Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, a new, built-from-the-ground-up title with a heavier emphasis on smooth and interesting gameplay along with world exploration that is releasing later this year for all the major consoles. It promises gorgeous visuals, tons of characters, and a combat system that’ll work for skilled gamers re-entering the Lego zone and button-mashing kids alike.

Lego Star Wars is to these teens what Pac-Man, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Ocarina of Time, Mario 64, and GoldenEye were to past generations.