It would have driven me nuts as a kid that they didn’t match the other Lego people. I like things to match.
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Riiigggghhhht - the consumer is the problem and the manufacturer and marketing team is in no way complicit or participating in or even manufacturing this segregation(shakes head sadly).
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Let’s just expand Jewels_Vern’s profile pic a little…ah, I see the problem:
Let’s not feed the trolls.
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Except that you DON’T get it, judging by your comment.
I sure hope your daughters are rebellious free thinkers, dad, who question everything.
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Because no kid was ever able to use correct grammar or punctuate or spell correctly ? What makes you think this was her first draft and not her good copy ? There are kids who can play complex concertos and kids who are math geniuses. But one who can write - impossible and a fraud !
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Just because you weren’t already acting and thinking in some adult-like ways doesn’t mean that other kids can’t. Maybe Charlotte is an especially precocious kid. If so, why encourage her to dampen down her precocious abilities? Just because they’re taking a form that you in particular disapprove of?
I for one know of many parents who would be right proud of such a seven year old.
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Well, you can’t have a War on Women without Gender.
Of course, I’ve been told I’m a Cismale Gendernormative Fascist, so what do I know ???
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So this first grader might have done multiple drafts, and somehow knows how to use commas? Um, yeah…
As I understand it the problem is that the LEGO patent has expired, meaning that any ol’ plastics company can make bricks now, so they’ve struck all these deals with people like Lucasfilm. I’m actually surprised that people are making a big deal out of it now, instead of 15 years ago when they started putting the things out.
While I’ve found that some claims made about LEGO Friends haven’t been entirely accurate–some people claim there are no generic buckets, but there are, my kids have one–it seems like they tried to slavishly copied the My Little Pony formula, and only got the “friendship” part right, working together to make sure an equestrian show happens without a hitch despite some dreadfully dull hijinks. My kids tried to watch the show and declared it “boring”.
And of course, they don’t have a monopoly on licensing.
http://blog.megabloks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Mega-Bloks-Hello-Kitty-Beach-House-Garden.jpg
My two boys play the EF out of their Legos. I have to admit that I find them (as a 40 year old male) quite enjoyable as well…Nonetheless, can’t Lego just leave gender (male and female) out of it? Why not just make them androgynous…One of my biggest pet peeves is when something is only “girl-oriented” if it is pink or a figure is holding a shopping bag. It’s the same as a bag of golf clubs I saw the other day…they were pink! As if a girl would ONLY play gold with pink clubs. I think it is quite condescending. It’s the same for boy toys…is it only for BOYS if the figure is holding a gun or flying a spaceship…why does it even matter…
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I don’t disapprove of the idea. And I wouldn’t dampen down her drive, but I might tell her in a point blank fashion that there are many adults with lots more resources that are trying to achieve what she wants. She can gladly write the letter and I’d be happy to mail it, but she needs to realize that it’s highly unlikely to be the catalyst that changes Lego.
Okay, go right ahead and change your tune like that, I don’t mind. Especially since I suddenly more or less agree with what you’re (now) saying.
Now, to be fair, there are Friends figures that do things other than shop, like there’s a magician.
One of the things that makes me scratch my head is that the Friends are completely different than the other minifigs. The parts aren’t really interchangeable.
Now look at something like the video games, like LEGO Star Wars or LEGO Indiana Jones, where there are achievements that can only be accomplished with Leia or Marion. They’re certainly not on the sidelines (we won’t talk about Willie in Indiana Jones, where one of her abilities is throwing up her hands and screaming…) And it’s been a while since I’ve played it, but I think even in the game version, you can swap minifig heads and bodies to the point of, say, on Harry Potter, making a minifig with Hermione’s head but Ron’s body. (heloooooo…)
But yeah…toys are weird. Why is everything aimed at girls pink?
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“I didn’t think about it, it was just obvious. I was a girl and my Lego people needed to be girls too. Even if the only marker I could give them was a weird mohawk ponytail.”
Maybe Lego should do something like Mr. Potato Head.
Um… you do know that sometimes kids have their own opinions and views on things, right? maybe the kid was serious upset by the gender disparity in her toys.
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How do you know it’s spoonfed? Girls can’t think for themselves?
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Well, hey, if you’re convinced there’s a profit to be made from toys that fall outside traditional gender taste profiles, why don’t you jump in and make some? Huge market. I’m sure you’re right; it’s not the consumer that determines what sells, it’s those marketing people. (Everybody knows consumers are mindless sheep who just buy what they’re told). You could be swimming in the fat gravy within a month!
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I have a joke I think you might appreciate:
Two economists are walking down the street together. One of them spots a hundred-dollar bill sitting in the gutter. He points and asks the other: “Is that a hundred-dollar bill there?”. The other replies “No, it can’t be. If that was a hundred-dollar bill, someone would have picked it up already.” And they continue walking down the street.
In case it’s unclear, what I’m saying is that your opinion is a crock of shit. This lame-brained reasoning can be used to justify ANYTHING that’s done (or not done) by ANY company. Why, if you don’t like something about the status quo, it must be YOU who are wrong. Because the status quo has the tacit approval of all consumers.
Let me ask you this, Dr. Friedman (I assume from your astute insights that you must be an eminent economist who’s returned from the dead): If everything profitable has been done already, how is it that new companies selling new products can pop up overnight, and within years create multi-million or multi-billion dollar markets that never existed before? If what they’re doing is so profitable, someone would’ve been doing it already, right? Right??
In all seriousness, please take your smug apologist bullshit and your second-grade-level understanding of the business world elsewhere.
P.S., I like where you say “Believe me, kid…” It really proves to me how wise and world-weary you are when you condescend to a 7-year-old who dared to speak her mind. That’ll learn her to keep her mouth shut next time!
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You do know that both can be true right? We can have marketing maninpulation and individuals making choices, right?
And there have been toys that are indeed gender neutral and popular, including legos for much of its history. As someone else pointed out in the thread, these gendered toys are incredibly new on the market and boys and girls have been playing with these toys for decades without the boy/girl stuff…
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Well, it’s not any less facile than the argument you appear to be making; that the only reason such a huge pool of profit remains untapped is that nobody has tried selling toys outside traditional gender taste profiles. Your assertion is readily testable. Please, show us the way! Become the next gender-neutral toy tycoon. I’m sure all the marketing expertise in the $22 billion toy market will be swamping emergency rooms everywhere with concussions from having whacked their palms to their foreheads so forcefully after you show them the error of their ways.
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