PhoncipleBone
Banned
Technic Master Race?
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LEGO Friends: LEGO Line For Girls Starts Controversy
- Thread starter DrForester
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Technic Master Race?
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
The heck is this about anyways? It's all about dumping everything in the box and searching for tha tone piece. The numbered bag... it's like cheating.
Really? it doesn't look like you have to build much to be honest, but pictures can be deceiving.
EDIT: Holly shit I had no idea the picture in the op was made with those sets, mind blown.
Anton Sugar
Member
Are there any better pics of the completed sets or the pieces/instructions? These really don't seem to encourage the same "use your imagination!" aspect of traditional LEGO's. These just look like, "Being a girl in a girl setting is fun!" but can't really tell by the box.
WordAssassin
Member
That doesn't count! Those are the Technic Gods! These new girl minifigs are the same size as the classic minifigs are!
Tinabina
Member
You do still have to search for the peice, there's only like 2 or 3 seperate bags in each box.
Bububu according to teh evil toy companies, boys to want to be pirates and ninjas when they grow up! And they think all girls just want to be princesses and ballerinas! And since kids learn everything from toys, how will they be able to develop skills to deal with the opposite sex as adults since LEGO are enforcing these strict gender roles?!?! I'm sorry but you are just being way too flippant about this serious social issue facing our children today. Calling this very serious controversy "stupid" is like, really harmful.
Always-honest
Banned
Old lego is best lego.
Girl lego is worst lego
More coulors is a good thing
Girl lego is worst lego
More coulors is a good thing
Tinabina
Member
They have them on their feet so they can stand, but not on the booty. Would be a good idea I guess since they keep falling out of the bench in the cafe. How am I supposed to play like this?!
And there was a girl character every year in Bionicle, and that never really got anywhere with girls. Although to be fair you can actually tell the gender of the Ninjago figures for the most part, as opposed to Bionicle, where you pretty much had to guess (it was usually the blue one).
Anton Sugar
Member
Exactly. There's nothing preventing girls from playing with the current offering of LEGO, except that they're told/think "those are for boys".
PrivateWHudson
Member
That really is quite a brag. My 5 year old son is just learning how to pick pieces from the direction book.
Warren Ellis
Banned
everything causes a controversy today. It works after all, so why not ?
If anyone wants to see what the sets look like in detail, they can check out the Eurobricks forum for extremely detailed picture reviews. Personally, outside of the figures and colors, these sets don't seem to be that different from regular City or Creator sets. It looks like a crappy Polly Pocket rip off, but its real LEGOs (unlike that Belville or Clikits stuff).
this guy are sick
Member
From what I remember, the minifig bodies are fairly gender neutral anyway right? I guess there's a large issue with the perceived image of lego being a boys only club but why not start with simple things like a different head for each gender per minifig in the box?
Lego could totally do with a better gender balance anyway, my lego dudes would spend all day fighting alien dudes and then chill out (strike poses) in a fort populated solely by other men where they would constantly swap clothes. They would always walk around sword in hand and the leader naturally always had the biggest sword. Now that I think about it maybe legos helped make me gay?
Lego could totally do with a better gender balance anyway, my lego dudes would spend all day fighting alien dudes and then chill out (strike poses) in a fort populated solely by other men where they would constantly swap clothes. They would always walk around sword in hand and the leader naturally always had the biggest sword. Now that I think about it maybe legos helped make me gay?
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Gentleman Jack
Member
Those figs are criminally bland. Regular LEGO minifigs have ten million times more charm and appeal built into them and they do it in a unisex way. I'm seeing frozen 'tude smiles in the 'for girls' figs but the original figs could re-enact the effing Bible. Give me fun toys with personality for the little girls of the world, not market-researched junk like these new figs.
patrickthehedgehog
Member
I actually like the sets! The more realistic figs aren't as cute as the classics, but I think girls would probably like them more. The only thing I don't like is the focus on the pixar looking characters on the packaging.
Gentleman Jack
Member
The hubris of drawing more focus on the figures rather than the limitless creativity of indestructible, colorful building blocks just doesn't sit well with me. I don't find it terribly sexist--just misguided about why LEGOs are so great. I don't actually care if the girls like the dollies more. I'm just inclined to want a world where girls build things rather than dress things. Personal bias, etc.
Anton Sugar
Member
There are a few out there that will say yeah.
a remake of Drive with legos and technic's would be awesome.
echoshifting
Banned
whoops, double post
echoshifting
Banned
I hopped in the LEGO store today to pick up a set for my daughter and I to build together and man did they give me the hard sell on this crap. I think it's pretty demeaning. This shit did not bother me at all but don't push it on me.
I mean, we might even get some of these, someday, but it's over the line to suggest that "normal" legos aren't appropriate for little girls anymore, and that's exactly what they were doing.
I mean, we might even get some of these, someday, but it's over the line to suggest that "normal" legos aren't appropriate for little girls anymore, and that's exactly what they were doing.
They replaced Bionicle with Hero Factory which targets the exact same demo.
And is basically the same exact thing.
The Paradisa sets were my favorite as a kid. I had so many of them. I used to join them all together and add in my airport set and have my own Lego island.
Checking in on this topic a few yeas later, and two of Lego's top five best selling sets this year were from the girl-focused product lines.
http://www.jangbricks.com/2016/03/top-5-best-selling-lego-sets-of-2015.html
http://www.lego.com/en-gb/aboutus/events/annual-result-2015#/play-top-products
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Sorry for the bump, but I just saw the news in the Lego community thread and I remembered this old topic.
(Including #1 in the world)
http://www.jangbricks.com/2016/03/top-5-best-selling-lego-sets-of-2015.html
http://www.lego.com/en-gb/aboutus/events/annual-result-2015#/play-top-products
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Sorry for the bump, but I just saw the news in the Lego community thread and I remembered this old topic.
entremet
Member
Gender based marketing is done because it is profitable. Simple as that. Where progressive mess up is looking at this as a purely social issue. It's not. There are clear profit motives at play here.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
LEGO should absolutely not be tailored for genders. Gender roles being reinforced by children toys is awful.
Gender roles being reinforced at all is.
Gender roles being reinforced at all is.
How would you avoid gender identification in this toy line? What themes beyond City would you use?
Charles Brandon
Member
Bought my little girl (5) the Frozen Castle thing. We had fun making it. Is that necessarily a girl focused line? It's just a Disney movie where the main charterers happen to be girls/women.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
There's probably a line of workplaces/cityscape already, include it there, make an even gender spread and don't make everything look pink and violet and flowery.
entremet
Member
LEGO only does this because it makes them money. If gender based marketing didn't work, it would not exist.
LEGO is not a non-profit.
If I was a LEGO shareholder, I would want them to continue.
paragonpro
Banned
Whats the problem here? Some younger girls enjoy more feminine styles, dont think that's controversial. Plus I dont think the mainline starwars or dc sets have been exclusive to males, alot of them feature female figs, this just seems like an option for young girls (or boys) who prefer the polly pockets and bratz of the world to starwars, cities, and superheroes.
Charles Brandon
Member
it's by no means the most egregious example of gender stereotyping
Disney's Sofia the First is fucking abhorrent. I'm glad my daughter seems to have lost interest in that shite.
Disney's Sofia the First is fucking abhorrent. I'm glad my daughter seems to have lost interest in that shite.
NOLA_Gaffer
Banned
I feel like this is folks looking for controversy when there really isn't none.
Nobody is forcing girls to buy only these sets. They're there if they want 'em and if they don't they can pick out something else. No big deal.
Nobody is forcing girls to buy only these sets. They're there if they want 'em and if they don't they can pick out something else. No big deal.
MrRudiMentary
Member
The original article also talks about the mother indulging her son's passion because it helps his maths and spatial skills.
If I'm reading that right, that sentence disgusts me. Her son is only allowed to indulge his passion if it'll get him better grades? I hope she's just a poor writer and didn't actually mean what she wrote.
If I'm reading that right, that sentence disgusts me. Her son is only allowed to indulge his passion if it'll get him better grades? I hope she's just a poor writer and didn't actually mean what she wrote.
My nieces love Lego Friends - and one of the things they like is the fact that it's pink and violet and flowery.
Until I realised that, I agreed with the discussion in the original post. But now... I'm not sure my nieces would be that fond of playing with Lego if Friends wasn't as pastel as it is.
The question is, though, is it that my nieces have been fed gendered content all their life and so have been left with a lasting impression that that's what they should do... or do they just, naturally, like those colour schemes? I can't answer that, I've not been privy to all the decisions about their upbringing.
Gender roles are reinforced in tons of stores for tons of products everywhere. Not sure I get what you mean
The success shows that people are embracing the roles
The thing is, the Lego Friends sets aren't massively gendered. Yes, they sort of skew that way if you consider the City line skewing more towards boys, but I know of kids of both genders that play with all sorts of Lego. The supermarket, cafe and hotel sets can look amazing alongside the city and creator buildings. And when you break all the sets down to create MOCs, they provide useful pieces in useful colours that can only aid the imagination further.
The mini dolls aren't my cup of tea, nothing will beat the design of the classic minifig.
The mini dolls aren't my cup of tea, nothing will beat the design of the classic minifig.
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