Christ, what an asshole.
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I bought this set for my daughter and my son keeps trying to steal the little tropies from it because he covets it so much.
Whatâs wrong with shopping or sitting at home? I only wish!
Had it up to here with these fucking sharks.
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Well yes, I bloody well hope Charlotteâs parents talk to her about gendered disparities.
Why is it that when kids speak up in politically sophisticated ways, some people â the same ones, usually, who things like blame juvenile delinquency on bad parenting â suddenly complain about parents who consciously act as positive formative influences on their children?
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Lego is getting incrementally better at it⌠their minifig foil packs have quite a few female characters in them, and some are even STEM related. Their upcoming movie also seems like it has a strong female lead, though Iâll reserve judgement until after Iâve watched it.
They still donât get an A grade, especially with what theyâve done with the Friends line, but it suggests to me that someone at Lego doesnât have their head up their ass.
It would be very cool if they made it standard procedure to give each set customizable minifigs that allow the child to build a set with either gender⌠Lego sets already have extra parts in them, so the precedent is there.
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What makes you think it was spoon-fed? At that age I was upset by the lack of a proper way to wear a sword with my otherwise princessy costumes. That wasnât either of my parentsâ agenda, although I did get my father to make me a gold-painted wood sword.
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Have Legos changed since I was a kid? What I remember are figures that werenât gendered at all except for hair that could be swapped from figure to figure. And even hairstyle doesnât necessarily indicate a gender if you believe any gender should be able to have whatever hairstyle they wish. Has Lego started producing figures that actually appear to be a particular gender or is there some projection going on where a neutral gendered figure is assumed to be a particular gender because it doesnât have the characteristics of a specific other gender?
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Is it weird that my biggest complaint with the Lego Friends line is that the people are not mini-figures like in the regular Lego sets? Every time I look at one I think Iâm looking at a Mega-Bloks set or something; it just doesnât look like Legos anymore.
I also hate the cutesy everything-is-pastel motif, but the completely different look to the people really bugs meâŚ
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Now I know which days youâve never been shopping. 
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You tell me:
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To answer your why: Money. Lego patents have expired and there are many different lower priced competitors in the plastic block business. To stay at the top of the pack Lego has come up with a strategy based on exclusive licensing to make sure they can offer something no competitors can. This is why there are Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, Xmen, Batman, Lord of the Rings, Cars, Disney, Sponge Bob, etc. Lego sets now and thatâs how the gender gets baked in. Iâll let someone else do a full exegesis of the evolution of Lego.
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LEGO Friends line has the figures that are definitely girls (and also look more like âmini-dollsâ that minifigs).
Well, I DO think girl and boy kids have brains. As I stated in one of the 3 whole sentences; I DO agree with the point made in the letter. I just question whether it was a childâs idea or an adultâs idea to launch a letter writing campaign. Nobody has written letters in her entire lifetime. If it was an email, Facebook, or Twitter campaign I would be less skeptical.
Having raised two daughters, I took them through the entire store and let them pick their own toys. Screw Mattel if they didnât like it when Barbie drove a Monster Truck, so yeah, I totally get it.
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I didnât say that her parents were wrong, as a matter of fact, I said that I agree with their point. (right there in my 3rd sentence) I just thought that they may have put her up to the whole letter thing.
I think that itâs bad for kids and bad for business. I just think it might have been a bit of puppetry. Then again, thereâs always the chance that I could be wrong.
Pretty impressive. Whatâs even more impressive is what comes before it. Apparently, this seven year-old wrote a letter with complete sentences, no spelling errors and correct punctuation.
Admirable sentiment aside, this letter is as fake as Donald Trumpâs tan.
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There is, of course, an easy fix here. Include ZERO figures, and then sell âcharacter packsâ.
And let the market decide.
Obligatory Kid Story: the grand-daughter of my best buddy from high school, is a de-facto niece. Incredibly intelligent little kid, so I got her several Tinkertoy sets for Christmas. To go with the big buckets of Lego she got the year before (and this Christmas, 10+ months off, already have some Christmas-clearance Erector and Meccano sets stowed away⌠. . )
STILL used mostly to build houses and vehicles for her My Little Ponies and Polly Pockets. As a consolation, the vehicles are usually rockets. . . . .
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Ironically my wife and I both grew up playing with Legos. How is it that 30 years ago kids didnât have brains and didnât notice the world around them, because the most my wife has ever said about the new girls Lego stuff was, âItâd been nice if they made girl minfigs.â Thatâs it. Nothing about the colors, nothing about sets, nothing about gender roles.
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Easy, cause sheâs 7.
Iâm not saying she canât have noticed this, or formed her own opinion. But she is exerting a lot of energy and time into something that would be better spent on school work, or even just getting outside and being a kid. In the second grade I wasnât noticing huge social/political issues around me - I was wondering what was going to be on the lunch menu and if what we were going to do during recess.
Iâd also say nostalgia for some of their sets. I bought the VW Bettle set for my wife as a Christmas present. At the roughly $150 price I paid for it I highly doubt I would have bought it for my child.
