
I'm starting to think LEGO is evil - Sukotto
http://sinker.tumblr.com/post/14267087602/im-starting-to-think-lego-is-evil
======
nostromo
When I see these stories taking companies to task over why they sell what they
do, I always wonder why nobody holds consumers to task.

For example: why doesn't Lego sell to girls? Why doesn't Barbie have more
realistic features? Why don't car manufacturers offer an electric vehicle? Why
doesn't McDonalds sell salads instead of fries? Why do record labels offer
such crappy music?

It's easy to blame the companies -- but in reality it's very hard for a single
company to change the macro culture that informs their product decisions. If
you want to find the root cause, look at the users and ask why they demand the
products they do. In this case: "why are so few parents buying Legos for their
girls?" or "why do girls feel a stigma about playing with Legos?"

~~~
hvass
"When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy.
The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older,
you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people
exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is
optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the
networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the
truth."

I think Steve has the answer here. But I am just as frustrated as you are.

~~~
arctangent
I've always wondered if Steve was inspired by the movie "Network":

"We'll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in _illusions_ , man! None
of it is true! But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all
ages, colors, creeds... We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the
illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is
reality, and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells
you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children
like the tube, you even _think_ like the tube! This is mass madness, you
maniacs! In God's name, you people are the real thing! _WE_ are the illusion!
So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now.
Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the
sentence I'm speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF..."

I highly recommend it.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_(film)>

~~~
JonnieCache
The second episode of Charlie Brooker's current Black Mirror series of scifi
dramas contains elements of Network, but set in a future dystopia where people
sort of live inside an ipad that's stuck running farmville. It's a lot better
than I've just made it sound. In fact, it's incredible, and terrifying.

[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Black_Mirror_...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Black_Mirror_\(TV_series\))

Also highly recommended.

To be honest the whole thing should be at the top of HN, but I doubt it would
get upvoted. Maybe we need a summarising blog post...

~~~
WickyNilliams
I watched this last night, really good viewing. Especially poignant was the
ending where the protagonist traded in his morals for a comfortable life and
fame. It evoked feelings of disappointment that he was so cheaply bought off,
the same kind of disappointment i felt at the end of 1984 when Winston was re-
educated.

In some ways it was a case of reductio ad absurdum, but the more you look how
popular culture is evolving the more it seems like a logical, yet depressing,
conclusion - people's constant pre-occupation with celebrity culture and
seeking fame even if it means selling themselves cheaply. I also enjoyed how
it captured how people like Simon Cowell are exploitative and manipulative
when it comes to shows like the X factor, it's audience and it's contestants.

The big irony was that i watched it online, meaning the show was interspersed
with adverts which i could not skip. Made me laugh, i expect Charlie Brooker
foresaw this as to further solidify his vision

~~~
bmelton
I know this isn't a movie forum, but typically, when discussing movies, one
doesn't start off with a spoiler of the ending.

Thanks a ton. :-\

~~~
WickyNilliams
Oops! It's not really a twist or anything, but yeah that was a bit of a faux
pas. Pardon my stupidity!

------
ericabiz
As a girl geek who grew up on Legos, this makes me really, really sad.

From the NPR article linked to from the article above: "Lego also consciously
aimed for boy customers when it embarked on its stunning turnaround. Boys were
easier to sell to than girls."

 _headsmash_

"The new Lego girl minifigures have names like Stephanie, Olivia, and Emma,
and the building sets include a veterinary clinic, a hairdressing salon, a
horse academy and a clinic."

We need more women scientists, girl geeks, etc. And for every person who loves
to say "But boys and girls are just _different!_ ", there's a stunning example
of sexist stereotypes embedded in the very things we buy our kids because our
generation cherished them too...

(By the way, if you ever want a conclusive argument that girls being raised to
love pink and hate math is societal, not genetic, read "Delusions of Gender:
How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference". It's pretty eye-
opening, and has plenty of proof to back up its assertions.)

~~~
DarkShikari
_(By the way, if you ever want a conclusive argument that girls being raised
to love pink and hate math is societal_

The most staggering thing about these assumptions is not merely how they
contradict current scientific understanding, but they contradict _reality_.
_Pink used to be a boys' color: the idea of pink as "girly" didn't exist 100
years ago._ Ironically, this commonly-given-example is itself a fantastic
example of how wrong such assumptions about gender differences actually are.

It's rather laughable -- and sad -- how almost every single "scientific study"
(often evolutionary psychology, a popular pseudoscience) claiming such absurd
biological gender differences _just happens_ to support 1950s stereotypical
American gender roles, as opposed to gender roles anywhere else in history,
anywhere else in the world.

The reality is that the biological differences are negligible in most regards,
at least mentally -- claiming "girls naturally prefer pink" is just as absurd
as insisting that blacks are genetically predisposed to like playing
basketball. It denies the vastly greater importance of societal and cultural
effects, dumps blame for problems -- such as gender bias in STEMS -- on
biology instead of humans, and is pretty much flat-out sexist.

~~~
ericabiz
Agreed. Thank you for your post! That's basically exactly what the book I
recommended says, except she goes into 200+ pages of detail about it (with
much supporting evidence.)

~~~
DarkShikari
It is -- and that book should be required reading for anyone making any
comment on this subject. It's shocking how often I see posts, especially on
Hacker News, that take _for granted_ "gender differences" that have been
proven not to exist! And often by self-proclaimed scientists and skeptics, no
less.

------
bryanlarsen
I'm having trouble understanding the backlash against the new Lego for girls
initiative. As the father of a couple of pre-school girls, I'm loving the new
initiative.

It appears to consist of 3 things:

\- realistic looking minifigs. Not square and not oversexed.

\- additional brick colors, and not just pink.

\- sets not based on movie tie-ins, but in real-world locations like an
inventor's workshop, a café, an animal hospital and a beauty salon

These look like the perfect toys for young girls -- they encourage both
creativity and role-playing. And as the latest science-based parenting books
(Welcome to Your Child's Brain, etc) tell you, role-playing is the best way to
develop self-control, which is the most valuable skill that can be imparted
into a pre-schooler by a parent.

Sure, they're girly. So what? I want my girls to grow up proud to be girls,
and aware that they can be whatever they want to be.

But to my mind, they seem better than most of the "boy" Lego sets out there,
which appear to be much less repurposable, and are blatant commercial tie-ins
or weapons of war.

~~~
dgabriel
It's the hard gender division. Why are there "girl legos," and "boy legos"?
And it also seems like they're offering the same "girl themed" play sets that
all the other toys offer, except you have to put it together first. Who plays
with lego that way?

~~~
cschmidt
I think my 4 year old girl is going to greatly prefer their new legos. Right
now, she plays with Duplos, and all is well. However, I can see a day when
legos are "too boy". That's just what they reported happening in the Lego
studies. Duplo works, and then the girls doen't make the transition to regular
lego.

We have an older boy as well, and so our house has every lego you can imagine,
plus lots of really cool vehicles, trucks, etc. Our daughter never goes near
them. If this can make them more attractive to her, that's fantastic.

~~~
dgabriel
Interesting. We have a 9yo boy, and twin 2 yo girls. So we have all the lego
stuff, plus lego designer on the computer, etc. The girls LOVE getting into
their brother's stuff, and one of them sleeps with a toy garbage truck (she
also sleeps with a bus pass, a collection of stuffed puppies, and an Olivia
board book...) It may be because I'm interested in this stuff, too, because
they're too young to have "girl" vs "boy" divisions, or because they're just
different. It's hard to tell. I do know that when I was a girl, I loved lego,
and had a huge collection of matchbox cars (also my little ponies...).

------
kellishaver
The top items on my daughter's (she's 9) Christmas list this year are the LEGO
Space Center and LEGO Space Shuttle, both from the City collection. Other
items on the list included some of the Alien Conquest sets.

The kid's got a ton of LEGO. The last thing she needs is more LEGO, but it's
hands-down her favorite toy. She builds the sets and will play with/admire
them for a while, then eventually all of the pieces get dumped into the Giant
Bucket of LEGO, which is a huge 30gal bucket overflowing with bricks from sets
we've bought her, and from my childhood and my husband's childhood (though
oddly lacking in wheels). _That's_ the beauty of LEGO and that huge mish-mash
of a dozen sets works for any gender.

Maybe it's the fact that I already have a geek child who's into geek things
(She's also getting a D&D red box this Christmas, per her request), but the
marketing doesn't seem to have any effect on her. She just sees sets that she
thinks looks cool and wants to buy them. I don't think that list would include
veterinary clinics and pet spas from this new pinkification effort, either....
but even if it does, so what? You still end up with a bucket of mixed pieces
for hours of endless, free-form creativity and building.

I do think that there are more sets available these days that are targeted
toward boys, but I don't know that it's come at the expense of other options.
You can still buy basic brick sets. There are still several items in the City
series that aren't "cops and robbers" and things like the Mars Mission and
Pharaoh's sets, or even the Harry Potter sets are no more boy-centric than the
old LEGO space stuff used to be.

------
javanix
_Look: I will fully admit that these sets are really, really cool. My son is
getting a gigantic Millenium Falcon set from Santa this year (DON’T TELL) and
both my wife and I are excited to play with it too.

But it’s a model kit. We will put it together once and we will play with it a
lot and that will be that. It won’t get remixed, won’t get hacked. Eventually
it’ll come apart and be put away and not rebuilt because 1000 pieces is a pain
in the ass._

This doesn't make any sense to me. Why on earth wouldn't you mix those pieces
in with the rest of the pieces you already have from sets you've already
disassembled? Sure, the marketing is a little much these days but unless I am
sadly mistaken all the pieces still fit together like they did 30 years ago.

~~~
amirmc
I've noticed that some of new Lego sets have very specific pieces. Not really
the kind you can mix and match between sets as in the 'old days'.

~~~
CountHackulus
This kind of thing was popular during the LEGO "dark ages" in the early 2000s
but has really died out as of late. The Millenium Falcon that's being referred
to has very few, if any, unique parts. LEGO has really gone back to its roots
in the past 2 or 3 years, especially with the AWESOME creator series.

~~~
mml
The creator series _is_ very awesome. it's the only kind we buy for our girl.

~~~
einhverfr
Lego contraptions is the best though. Hard to find, not too many pieces. But
gears, springs, and lots of flexibility.

------
cstross
s/LEGO/toy manufacturers/

(There, I fixed it for you!)

The trend towards highly gendered media-tie in toys that are designed to
generate follow-on sales opportunities for accessories rather than to
encourage kids to develop their imagination through semi-structured but open-
ended play nauseates me. I am doubtless betraying my personal bias here, but
the corporate discovery that the quickest way to a parent's wallet is through
their offspring is a bleakly exploitative example of market amorality; it may
be legal, but is it decent?

~~~
maximusprime
BS @ trend.

Go back 50 years and it was dolls and toy guns. Nothing has changed, boys
still like building and destroying, and girls still like caring about things
and craft things.

You can try all you want to make boys play with dolls, and girls play at
killing each other, but they won't in general, because it's not in their
biological makeup to do so.

~~~
amitparikh
I think the point here is that Lego is fondly remembered as -- and maybe even
_should_ be -- a gender-neutral toy. There was never anything inherently male
or female about Legos. In fact, I remember playing with my younger sister
often -- I'd be building a spaceship on one side, and she'd be putting
together a house on the other.

The problem is that Lego has gotten away from being a gender-neutral toy and
is now marketed specifically to boys. And the travesty is, they've dug
themselves such a deep hole that the only way to get back any female users is
to pander to their lowest common denominator.

~~~
recoil
It's not marketed specifically to boys though... Sure, some of the sets are
obviously more male-oriented (perhaps even the majority), but there are also
sets that are either specifically designed to appeal to girls, or which appeal
more to girls for whatever reason.

This trend is really nothing new, either. More than 20 years ago I wanted the
Lego spaceships, and my sister got pissed off at me for making wars against
her happy little Lego town people. Even 20 years ago there were more sets that
appealed to boys than girls, I'm reasonably sure.

We also had a pile of the plain old "gender-neutral" bricks, which either of
us might have employed to augment our various constructions.

------
neovive
Here are some HN perspectives from 2009 (when Lego announced a large increase
in profits (<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=768093>). The article is no
longer available on Yahoo Finance, but can be found here
(<http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news9940.html>).

Branded, themed Lego sets simply sell really well and Lego is responding to
the demand with increased capacity and more focus on these markets.

Here is a scenario of why it works: Visualize a parent and child walking down
the toy aisle at a typical large retailer (e.g. Target, WalMart, ToysRUs,
etc.). The shelves are full of dozens of single-focus, low cost, electronic
toys that are flashy and are very appealing to kids. A big box of Lego bricks
just doesn't provide the same instant gratification as a talking toy with a
"demo" button. Although, the long-term value of the box of Lego bricks is
clearly much higher, explaining that to a 4 year-old is very difficult as they
are concurrently making a strong appeal for, an even cheaper, talking doll.

Lego has responded with purchasing shelf space in retailers for branded sets
that offer instant gratification while also satisfying the parents need for a
more creative toy. Regardless, most of the pieces from the branded sets end of
in the "big box" of Legos :).

~~~
mhartl
You've nailed it on the head. Virtually all criticisms of this nature can be
summarized as "Humans often want things that aren't best for them."
Unfortunately, putting anyone else in charge of people's preferences usually
ends up being even worse than letting them decide for themselves.

------
mhartl
A bit OT, but a fun exercise: every time you see the word "millennium", count
how many "n"s there are. The answer is "one" an astonishing amount of the
time, even in professionally edited copy. In fact, as of this writing the
Google search for "Millennium Falcon" brings up an Amazon ad for—you guessed
it—a "Lego Millenium [sic] Falcon". (Full confession: Around 2000, I was
mortified to discover that I, a card-carrying spelling Nazi, had been
misspelling it for years.)

N.B. You can remember the right spelling by recalling that a _millennium_ is a
thousand ( _mille_ ) years ( _anni_ ).

------
ahi
Got one of the castle themed products for a friend. The LEGO approved story:
"The Dragon Knights have captured the fair princess and locked her in their
tower. The King’s brave Knight sets forth to rescue her, but the tower is
heavily fortified and well defended. Can he break through the iron gate and
past the catapult to free her?"

I think my friend decided to retheme as an S&M brothel.

------
firefoxman1
I don't think they're evil so much as just catering to modern society. Legos
are from an era where way more people built, fixed, and tinkered with things.
Nowadays what do you do when your computer, phone, dishwashers, tv, etc.
breaks? Take it to get repaired or get a new one. No tinkering, no opening it
up to see how it works before you throw it away, none of that. So rather than
thinking Lego is to blame for this attitude, I think Lego is just following
their market. And can you really blame a company for wanting to stay afloat
instead of following a shrinking breed of people and a idealistic mindset into
the grave?

------
bad_user
It's simple - universal construction kits don't do well in commercials
targeted at children.

The very ad he's mentioning targets parents not children. Marketing for toys
used to be targeted at parents.

But not anymore - there are cartoon TV stations airing all day, filled with
commercials for shitty toys. Then the child sees these toys in stores and
starts crying. Parent gives up and buys them. End of story.

~~~
krupan
Funny thing is, that's not new. When I was a kid, nearly all the cartoons I
watched were basically just commercials for toys (G.I. Joe, He-man,
Transformers, M-m-m-mask). Same for my little sisters (My Little Ponies, Care
Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Jem). Legos were the only toys that didn't tie-in
to a movie or TV show.

------
acabal
I've actually had similar thoughts about Lego in the past. When I was younger
I used to love playing with the generic "space" Legos or the generic "castle"
legos. Looking back, it was great because those sets where generic enough that
you could imagine your own story for them. You wouldn't just be building sets,
you'd be building universes.

Much of that is lost with movie-themed Legos. If a kid sees Star Wars and then
goes to get the Star Wars Lego set, then the Luke Skywalker figure will always
be Luke Skywalker, and the Vader figure will always be Vader, and you'll
always need a Millenium Falcon around to join the party. Media tie-ins seem to
greatly restrict (though of course not totally destroy) the potential for a
kid to make up his own adventure. The universe is already imagined for you; in
a sense, you become a participant, not a creator.

------
tristan_louis
This is, unfortunately, part of a trend against "make" culture. While it does
impact LEGO (the tie-in stuff is pretty useless and the LEGO city sets still
have more wholesome brick sets that can be used in more than one fashion), it
is going on across many facet of toy manufacturing.

Those of us who are parents of young children now may remember the days in
school when they taught us basic programming as part of computer training
(either logo or basic, for example) which put us on the path to learning how
to get the computer to do stuff we wanted it to do instead of consuming pre-
made stuff on it. In today's world, a large amount of what's offered to kids
is stuff that tied in to TV shows or movies, with little interest in helping
develop the next generation of makers.

Sadly, LEGO's initial downfall was because it try to keep on focusing on the
makers and its resurgence was on the back of pre-made, pre-imagined tools:
when a kid is given a star wars or harry potter set, he/she is now letting
his/her imagination run wild but is constrained by the pre-established story
lines set in place by Hollywood (because let's face it, the tie-ins are to
movies, not books).

The sad part is that the long term impact of this may be that it creates
grown-ups further down the line who will feel that laws like SOPA are OK.

~~~
thejteam
I was thinking the other day how much I really miss GW-Basic. A relatively
simple set of instructions that I used at age 10 or so to start simple
programming. How do I teach a 10 year old to program now? Class instantiation?
Grab a bunch of libraries off the internet and put them together?

Really sad that people don't want to build things anymore. I recently fenced
in my acre yard(no I don't live in SV, couldn't afford an acre over there).
Six foot privacy fence. Took me months. Everybody thought I was crazy,
including the guy next door who makes a living doing commercial construction.
My wife's friends thought she was crazy. They would never let their husbands
keep construction materials around that long. But I remember my dad building a
fence years ago when I was a kid so it just seemed natural I would do it as
well.

~~~
einhverfr
I am starting my son with perl and C. Today is his 8th birthday.

Why perl and C?

1) Perl is very good at ad hoc programming, and it;s a very good language for
learning very basic things.....

2) C is simple language for very basic stuff, but it is exacting and makes you
think like a programmer.

Once he gets half-way decent with simple things in Perl, he's ready for Lego
Mindstorms ;-)

------
jrockway
I think the key is to remind you kids that once you've built something
according to the instructions and you're bored, it's time to take it apart and
build something else. I remember playing with a lot of LEGO kits when I was a
kid, and I always did this. It's true that, like coloring books, building from
kits discourages creativity. But that's easy to fix with something called
parenting. Let the instructions be an inspiration, not a prescription.

(And, it's not a bad skill to be able to follow instructions. I hear people on
forums like HN complaining about how difficult it is to build IKEA furniture.
If they played with LEGO when they were a kid, they'd probably be able to
build their bookshelf too :)

~~~
potatolicious
Take a look at modern Lego kits - this is no longer really possible. Half of
the pieces are now completely custom pieces that will only ever fit in one
way. Gone are the Lego kits where just about all the pieces will recycle into
your future creations.

~~~
ugh
That’s complete and utter bullshit.

Stuff like that used to happen (the dark late 90s and early 2000s) but not
anymore. And even during that time (which was during my childhood) I always
found a cool new way to use the special pieces. I actually always loved having
special pieces I could repurpose in some way.

This meme needs to die. It’s not based in fact.

Case in point: <http://city.lego.com/de-DE/Products/Default.aspx#4643>

That big windshield is awesome. I could make a big fire truck with it or other
kinds of vehicles, maybe integrate it into a building.

Oh, and Lego has tons of sets that are just awesome and pretty much only made
from normal bricks. Take this awesome house: <http://creator.lego.com/de-
DE/products/default.aspx#5771>

Lego has diversified their product line. That means you can get more, well,
normal toys. But they are still selling as much classic Lego stuff as they
always have.

~~~
tptacek
Wow, you have strong feelings about Lego, don't you?

~~~
ugh
I do have strong feeling about this particular meme – but I really should have
toned down my writing a bit. Ah, well, you can’t always find the right words.

~~~
tptacek
You and me both!

I agree that the new Lego pieces get a bad rap; my kids have done ridiculous
things with them; in fact, I'm not sure they've ever actually built the thing
the box told them to.

------
tomjen3
Before you complain, you can still get a big bag of Lego:

<http://shop.lego.com/en-DK/LEGO-Basic-Bricks-Large-5623>

I say still, because it is a family business and it seems those who would have
gone on to run it have left the family tradition and are now much more
interested in enjoying their wealth (which is considerable, in that they are
one of the richest families in Denmark).

They would be the fourth generation, so I guess it was bound to happen. At
least my children should be able to cut their teeth on Legos.

------
amirmc
It's not Lego that's "highly-problematic". They're simply trying to give the
kids(parents?) of today what they want.

If you follow the NPR article linked in the article, you'll see that Lego
clearly did their homework before embarking on this new line. In light of
this, I think it's odd for them to be accused of reinforcing stereotypes when
their research showed that _this is how (most) girls like to play_.

I do think it's sad that we now have 'boy-lego' and 'girl-lego', but (for the
moment), that appears to be appropriate for the world we live in. Maybe some
of those girls will want to do more than just play with handbrushes and
handbags and check out the Technics or Mindstorms. Who knows.

NPR article: [http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143724644/ith-new-toys-lego-
ho...](http://www.npr.org/2011/12/15/143724644/ith-new-toys-lego-hopes-to-
build-girls-market)

LEGO product lines: <http://www.lego.com/en-us/products/default.aspx>

~~~
berberich
Here's the article (Businessweek) amirmc is referring to:

[http://www.businessweek.com/printer/magazine/lego-is-for-
gir...](http://www.businessweek.com/printer/magazine/lego-is-for-
girls-12142011.html)

~~~
po
I read through this article the other day and it does a great job of showing
the position Lego has worked themselves into and how they're trying to right
the ship.

I think it is commendable that they are trying to go after the girl market
with something other than princesses. I didn't like the new 'ladyfigs' at all
at first either but then again, I was a little boy and I loved the minifigs.
The part about boys playing with minifies in the third person but girls
wanting to play in the first person really resonated with me. I never
pretended that I was a minifig. If that's what I wanted to do, they should
have had more individual personality. Like what they came up with.

I think the fact that they are willing to break from tradition to capture this
market is a good thing. The fact that it doesn't appeal to me is probably also
a sign they're doing it right.

------
jacquesm
I'm an equal-opportunity lego distributor. Girls as well as Boys get just one
kind of toy from me: Lego. Duplo for the urchins, 'regular' for 4 to 8's and
technic for the older ones. Never seen a kid turn it down, whatever age or
gender. For a lark I gave a bunch of it to some adults, claiming that I'd
forgotten their birth dates. They ended up being at least as happy as the
kids.

I've never given any 'themed' lego, just the plain stuff, no minifigs or other
non constructive bits.

Lego is what made me see the power of building using re-usable blocks, the
best possible primer for becoming a programmer that I am aware of outside of
maths (and you typically don't start math beyond counting when you're a
toddler).

------
samstave
Whomever decided to kill Space Legos needs to be shot into orbit.

The model kits all suck. I went and bought $15 tubs of the wall of bricks
recently and my kids get far more use from those random pieces than they do
kits.

~~~
joezydeco
I hear ya. Space Legos were the first sets I really came to love. Although, I
got pissed back _then_ because of those odd specially-formed pieces like the
engines. NOW, it seems 80% of a lego kit is special pieces.

~~~
MartinCron
I've heard this complaint for years and years, but we're living in a golden
age for non-specially-formed pieces. You can buy the builder sets, order
arbitrary quantities of pieces online, or just buy by the bucket at Lego
stores (that's what I do).

~~~
joezydeco
What do you think about Bionicle? I can't even consider that stuff to be LEGO.

~~~
MartinCron
I can't get in to Bionicle, but I'm not offended that it exists.

------
ugh
This is not a new development. Lego has had sets loudly targeting girls (or
better: stereotypes about girls) since 1991. Lego Paradisa set where sold all
through the 90s. Here is the Poolside Paradiese from 1992:
<http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=6416-1>

The Lego Belville sets are similar and are still sold today. Here is the Pony
Trekking set from 1997: <http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=5854-1>

It’s possible to go even further back in time for more stunning displays of
sexism. In 1971 many sets had photos of kids on them. There was a boy pushing
a truck or putting together a car. Now guess what the only sets with girls on
them were. A kitchen and a living room:
<http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=261-4>

All that does’t make it better. Yes, this is a problem that has to be
remedied. But it is not a recent development.

In general I have to say that Lego improved massively since the dark ages
(late 90s and early 2000s). I was just looking at some new Lego Creator sets
and blown away by them. You couldn’t get cool stuff like that during my (late)
childhood (i.e. late 90s and early 2000s). I still loved the heck out of Lego
during my childhood but today’s sets are just cooler.

------
pkamb
That cops-and-robbers LEGO advent calendar _is_ pretty weird.

I still have this guy hanging on my tree:
<http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/1627-1.jpg>

~~~
tlrobinson
I remember that guy! But I think he got assimilated into the large box of LEGO
in my parents' basement.

------
jkeel
My daughter loves legos and seems to really love the Harry Potter legos. I do
agree that getting generic legos instead of boy centric seems more challenging
but they are out there.

What I really connected with more in this article was the advent calendar with
the cops and robbers. My wife told me a while back, "I got this cool lego
advent calendar online". I was like, "cool!". Then I saw this cops and robbers
theme and I told her, "Is this really what Christmas is about in the US now?
<santa voice>Hey kids! Be careful out there as there are people that want to
break into your house and steal your stuff!</santa voice>"

I know, I know... If I don't like it then don't buy it. I agree. I still think
it's a strange advent calendar even though my son actually likes it.

~~~
brc
The cops and robbers theme is really just a play on the good v. evil theme
that permeates most childrens books, stories, movies, etc.

I think it's pretty benign and just part of the process of helping kids make
sense of the world through play and storytelling.

------
oz
_" But if they’ve become toys marketed to a single gender, then we’re just
reproducing the already awful gender imbalance in STEM education and
employment."_

Why is it we never hear anyone decrying the 'awful gender imbalance' in Human
Resources, Nursing and Teaching?

~~~
philwelch
Because when women dominate the workplace, it's "The End of Men"
([http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-
end-...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/07/the-end-of-
men/8135/)) and reason for smug, thinly-veiled gloating. Also, men can't be
teachers because we're all pedophiles.

------
hugs
LEGO is very closed source. I'm fixing that with my <http://bitbeam.org>
project. It's an open source hardware Lego Technic compatible building toy
that you can manufacture yourself. (I lasercut my bitbeams at TechShop in San
Francisco.) My long term plan is to make a bitbeam-based CNC milling machine
that can make more beams. I won't just sell the "bricks", I'll open source and
sell the machines that make the bricks. Opening up the manufacturing process
is something I suspect LEGO would never do. Also, I'd like to see a fully open
source equivalent to Mindstorms - Arduino for the electronics and Bitbeam for
the mechanics.

------
toast76
I don't get it.

You complain that a 5000 piece lego set is movie themed, when the only thing
movie themed are the minifigs and the box it came in.

As kids every single lego set we had was built into the "model" precisely
once, and then dumped in with the rest of the lego. We kept the instructions,
but would never rebuild the original set. That's hardly the point of Lego.

As an adult I have a huge collection of Star Wars lego sets, including the
Imperial Star Destroyer and Death Star. When my son is old enough (he's not
yet 3), they'll get dismantled and put in a bucket all together. From that day
on they WILL be generic lego pieces. The fact that they came in a Star Wars
box is then irrelevant.

~~~
stinkytaco
Except so many of those pieces are not generic. There's dozens of color and
shape specific pieces in there. Things that will _never_ go on anything else.

That said, you can still buy generic lego boxes.

~~~
toast76
No, actually. These days there are very few non-generic pieces. If we're
talking bionicles, then yes. But 99% of pieces in any modern set (branded or
otherwise) are generic. The exception is usually things like fighter
windshields (if they're called that in space?).

e.g. The Star Destroyer engines are actually wheels presumably borrowed from
some other set. The Death Star as far as I can tell has no "special" pieces,
nor the AT-AT, AT-ST or X-wing. The millenium falcon has a few special bits,
but even they look repurposed from some other set.

------
vacri
This is not new. When I was growing up with lego in the early 80s, there was a
line of lego marketed at girls which were sets of lego that you made jewelery
with.

Also, what nonsense is this that you won't make anything with the millenium
falcon because 1000 pieces is too many? What garbage. How can lego possibly
fix the issue that you refuse to make anything else with a set with lots of
pieces?

Anyway, lego sets aren't atomic - buy a lego set, play with it, then mix it
with your other stuff. You've just waxed lyrical about an ad where you can
'just make stuff', right after refusing to do so with a large set, with no
real reason given.

------
sceaj
My daughter is 4. She loves LEGOs. She also loves bugs, snakes, sharks,
dinosaurs, Star Wars, her train set, Barbies, princesses, fairies, puppies,
and sneaking into her grandma's makeup.

My son is 11 months old. He's taken a liking to cars and balls, but he also
loves his sister's Barbies. Particularly, he likes to pull their hair, but I
think he's drawn to the (ahem, slight) humanness they possess. They look
friendly.

Separating "boys' toys" from "girls' toys" is pretty much nonsense. Of course,
older boys aren't going to want to play with Barbies. Not necessarily because
they wouldn't enjoy it, but because they are marketed to girls, and, most
importantly, they would get made fun of for doing so. Were it socially
acceptable for boys to play with Barbies, I promise they would.

Realize that when we're shopping for toys for my daughter, the toy store is
twice as big for her, because she's not aware that she isn't supposed to like
action figures and rc cars.

I think the genderizing of colors is just crazy. What makes pink a "girl's
color" and blue a "boy's color" ? I'm convinced it's just marking influence.
Most girls' clothes are pinks and purples, and similar "girly" colors. With
that, most of what my daughter wears is pink or purple. Of course she loves
the colors; we drape her in them daily. She chose blue, green, and red for her
bedroom, and we let her do that, instead of saying "No, no, those colors are
for boys."

------
veyron
I disagree. I think, with many of the new sets, a whole class of new pieces
were explored.

As a kid, the only cars I really remember were the ones with the small base
(3x4 with an elevated segment for the tiny wheels). When I rediscovered legos,
I noticed that many sets have larger base plates (for larger vehicles) --
width 6 stubs.

And the pick-a-brick are surprisingly deep in terms of shapes and sizes (I
definitely don't remember the curved translucent pieces designed to emulate
glass).

------
gus_massa
I don’t know how to fix this for the whole society, but it is possible to fix
this for your daughter: Go and buy a generic Lego set, for example
[http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_355233462_11?ie=UTF8...](http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=amb_link_355233462_11?ie=UTF8&node=676116011&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-4&pf_rd_r=0RQYV84C0HDR52FEB66E&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1337709102&pf_rd_i=236510011)

The same rule applies for yours nieces. And for the (female) friends of your
children (If you really want to look more normal, you can buy the "pink"
box.).

My 9 years old daughter has:

* Her own chemistry set

* An "X-100" microscopy (It is really of my wife.)

* A Meccano-like metalic cosnstruction set.

* A Snap Circuits Jr electronic Set.

And this year, one of her "Christmas" present is an Arduinos Sparkfun
Professional Inventor's Kit, because she wants to make a robot, but she didn’t
want a robot kit. (I still don’t know we will complete the robot, but the idea
is to start with something simple and iterate.)

If you think that it is important to give your daughter a good scientific
formation (or if you think that it is the only sensible way to raise a
children), you can fight back.

To see another example, go to the Sylvia's Super-Awesome Maker Show! :
<http://sylviashow.com/>

------
blhack
Just stop buying lego and start buying K-nex instead.

They are almost infinitely better. They are _incredibly_ open ended, and can
be used to build some very complex stuff.

~~~
diamondhead
definitely agree with that. k'nex is way more creative.

------
MikeMacMan
I don't besmirch LEGO for doing what is an entirely rational for them: design
products whose pieces, like puzzle pieces, don't have much versatility outside
the context of that playset, leading children to tire of them quickly and want
a new set.

Of course, LEGO still sells the general-purpose sets with instruction books to
show you how to construct dozens of different buildings/vehicles/etc. My son
prefers those, but every kid is different.

The No Girls Allowed theme is pretty easy to explain: mass-market films of the
type that will have product tie-ins are almost universally aimed at boys, and
LEGO is simply downstream from that trend.

There are toys that give kids' imaginations some exercise, and there are those
that, like video games and Harry Potter LEGO sets, don't deliver quite the
same workout. It's up to you to cultivate in your child a healthy appetite for
the former.

EDIT: I would add that the Toy Story movies do a good job of echoing the
nostalgia that adults feel for those older, simpler toys. My son and my
affection for those movies has in some way conditioned us to stretch our
imaginations and breathe new life into old toys.

------
commieneko
I've been a Lego fan for, what, 45, 50 years? I've never in that time bought a
single "kit" from them. You buy bricks. And other parts. But kits? Why would I
want to build someone else's design. The whole idea behind Lego, as I've
understood since I was 5 years old, is that you make your own cool stuff.

I've built space ships and air planes and monsters. I think I even built a
Starship Enterprise once. But designing the things yourself is part of the
process.

When my nieces were prime Lego age, at the advice of their mother, I did look
at some kits, but was horrified at the prices. The bricks are pricy enough. I
converted my money into tubs of bulk bricks. You can _never_ have enough
bricks.

(Now I did make some Tinker-Toy machines from company plans, but only enough
to understand the principle. I then adapted them to my own nefarious purposes.
I did the same with balsa wood flying model airplanes later.)

------
tlrobinson
I was also dismayed by their focus on movie tie-ins and set-specific pieces,
but I really like the LEGO landmark/architecture series:

<http://architecture.lego.com/en-us/products/>

They're built with pretty much all standard pieces (though not necessarily
standard colors).

~~~
bryanlarsen
Christmas present score! Now I have a Christmas present idea for my wife to
compliment the far-too-functional present already got her!

------
seagreen
I'd like to make a point that applies to some (but by no means all) of the
comments above. Outrage isn't a very useful emotion. It's become the default
emotion for things like this because politicians like to keep people in a
state of frothy indignation. That's carried over to the rest of our culture
but it's not a good thing.

Resolve is a much better emotion than outrage. What can I do to encourage
better behavior? Buying good LEGO sets as presents for children and
evangelizing about LEGO to friends spring immediately to mind. Or maybe
getting involved with the 3D printing movement.

In summary, I'm suspicious that alternating between "intellectual curiosity"
and "resolving to take action" is a much better way of reading articles on the
internet than the alternate strategy of alternating intellectual curiosity and
outrage.

------
joelhooks
The BrikCrate has changed how my kids approach Lego. It was completely "build
the set, forget about it" prior to installing it. Now they build like crazy in
free form. <http://www.brikcrate.com/>

Our daughter enjoys building too.

~~~
dgabriel
We just have three enormous rubbermaid bins with lids. Half the fun is
searching for the right piece, and possibly finding an old lollypop stuck to
it. The sound of kid hands pawing through a vat of legos is awesome.

~~~
someotheridiot
I'm waiting for the day I have enough to do a Scrooge McDuck and swim through
mine :)

------
kin
So I played the Lego board game series Heroica recently and at first I thought
it was brilliant. It's pretty much a simplified version of D&D where you build
the map with Legos. Then at the end I realized that the game-play pieces were
set specific and you couldn't do what I thought was the point.

What I thought was that you could use any lego piece you want and add it to
the set and use any lego figure and add it to the set and simply follow the
same gameplay mechanics to a map limited only by your imagination. Let's play
Heroica with Harry Potter pieces. Nope can't do that. You have to purchase
their overpriced sets and only play what the sets let you do.

Looks like they're just looking for cash based off of numbers. Bummer.

------
shin_lao
I think he forgot you can now order whatever LEGO piece you are looking for
online.

So basically LEGO tries to sell to people who will not hack on the LEGO with
very cool models but provides formidable tools if you want to hack your own
LEGO.

You can even submit your own models if I'm correct.

~~~
tomkinstinch
Yeah, LEGO's CAD software lets you design models and then order all of the
requisite parts[1]. I haven't used it yet, it's a really cool idea.

So there are unfortunate movie-themed prefab kits for the masses, and powerful
design software for creative folks. LEGO still sells bulk quantities of
classic bricks, you just have to look a bit.

1\. <http://ldd.lego.com/>

------
littlenag
I've been extremely sad the past 5 years with lego. I graduated college in
2006 and when I got a real job I thought that for Christmas I would be getting
my niece and nephew legos. I loved them growing up (technic for the win!) and
wanted to get them started on this obsession as well. But try as I might the
trend that I saw start when I was 10 or 12 has continued to almost completely
corrupt what I recall lego as being. No longer is it a where you get to
imagine and design, and then play, all the "work" of design and imagination
has been removed leaving only the "play". That's all kids want right, to play?
Aw well, at least I got to have some good times.

------
harryf
Side note but the ultimate evil present for parents of small kids is to buy
the kid a Playmobil Castle for Christmas - [http://www.amazon.com/Lion-
Knights-Castle-by-Playmobil/dp/B0...](http://www.amazon.com/Lion-Knights-
Castle-by-Playmobil/dp/B003AQBWCG/)

As a parent that spent over 16 hours assembling one last Christmas then
watching it disintegrate again, the "joy" this gift brings cannot be
described. A great present if you have a brother or sister with kids you feel
compelled to annoy.

~~~
ianb
Ah, but remember this castle?
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jX9QklC3G4E/TIRfrl9uVRI/AAAAAAAADK...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_jX9QklC3G4E/TIRfrl9uVRI/AAAAAAAADK4/0uiWlR8TNBk/s400/complete-
vintage-fisher-price-little-people-castle-993_170521510950.jpg)

That was one really great toy.

------
RyanMcGreal
> We will put it together once and we will play with it a lot and that will be
> that. It won’t get remixed, won’t get hacked.

My kids have gotten their share of Star Wars and Harry Potter themed Lego over
the years, and in every case the original set was eventually taken apart -
usually bit by bit in a kind of salvage operation for needed parts - and
incorporated into the Lego bin. Once the pieces go into general circulation,
they're used to build an arbitrary collection of original ships, buildings and
so on.

------
duke_sam
I just bought a couple of the Builders of Tomorrow Set #6177. All regular
pieces, no tie-in or specialist parts. Expand with a couple of specific sets
for the minifigs or custom pieces and you are set. If you are lucky enough to
live near a Lego store you can also expand the collection using the wall of
bricks.

I've never liked the Lego kits (even as a kid) for the reasons already
mentioned. You build them once and then the (building) creativity is gone.
Give me a pile of 4x2 bricks any day.

------
ja27
My daughter grew up with LEGO and still plays with them. She doesn't need pink
or purple blocks or over-sized female figures. All she wants different is a
few female minifigs once in a while. I don't think there is a single one in
either advent calendar. There are almost none anymore except Hermione in the
Harry Potter licensed sets. Somewhat ironically, one of the few we have is the
female doctor from last season's FIRST LEGO League competition set.

------
code_duck
While I vastly prefer the open-ended building blocks to the themed sets, I did
like the semi-generic Lego space theme as a child. Also very cool were Tente,
a Spanish space themed building kit series... they were very futurist and
stylish: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tente_(Toys)>

The more open ended toys clearly have an advantage in terms of creativity, and
most children have creativity to spare.

~~~
kghose
Ahh Tente! Brings back memories. I thought that Tente had more specialized
pieces than Lego.

~~~
code_duck
Yes, they were more specialized. Still better than a 'kit' though, in terms of
creativity.

I think I still have all my Tente, sure would be fun to pull 'em out!

------
betageek
Lego's patent on the basic block design has run out so it's actually a pretty
smart strategy of Lego to move to licensed properties over the last decade -
what else could they do? I've already seen some Hello Kitty "minifigs" with
Lego compatible blocks, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

[http://boingboing.net/2011/10/21/expired-patent-of-the-
day-l...](http://boingboing.net/2011/10/21/expired-patent-of-the-day-
lego.html)

------
emp_
I buy legos 1-2 a year for my four girls, I never get anything with themes
tho.

Only basic blocks and let their skills do the rest, you'd be amazed what they
can do.

------
RexRollman
Am I the only one who would love to have a real, life-size set of Legos, big
enough to build an actual dwelling? That would be a dream come true.

------
zyb09
Buy the right thing for your daughter, that you think will influence her in
the right way? How come the responsibility to raise a child lies not in the
parents anymore, but rather in companys and what they want to sell to them.
Nothing is stopping you from dumping a big pile of mixed LEGO pieces in her
room for christmas.

------
trout
They've also got the 'Creator' line which is more of what I traditionally
think of Lego.

So, when I bought a set that's the one I chose. Now, I did have to wade
through the other 30 brands to find it, but I was happy they still had at
least one choice.

Now more people should buy these if the market wants it - but I'll agree these
aren't marketed enough.

------
kghose
Oh, BTW, I just had to share this guy's work:

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/marshal-banana/>

Especially his sand crawler. I really liked that

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/marshal-
banana/sets/72157626809...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/marshal-
banana/sets/72157626809606992/)

------
alanh
I Made Things with LEGO blocks growing up. I loved the kits and the space
themes. But I would always end up creating my own spaceship.

My young sisters build… but they mostly just build very simple props and then
play with the LEGO people like dolls, inventing dramas and friendships and the
like.

It’s the same set of LEGO bricks I used.

Is it evil to recognize this?

------
codergirl
This is offensive, I will just have to stick with my computer engineer barbie
instead: [http://gizmodo.com/5470587/computer-engineer-barbie-has-a-
ph...](http://gizmodo.com/5470587/computer-engineer-barbie-has-a-phd-in-fun-
and-breaking-down-stereotypes)

------
gibsonf1
For the most amazing building toy with great hackability, I highly recommend
Uberstix - you can build planes that fly, boats that sail, robots, buildings,
dynamic systems, catapults etc etc: <http://www.uberstix.com/>

------
rglover
_“With New Toys, Lego Hopes To Build Girls Market.”_

That, right there, is the problem. The people making the toys don't find value
in making children happy or inspiring them to be creative/innovative; when all
is said and done, girls are just another market.

------
gavanwoolery
<sarcasm> Wait...a toy that is oriented primarily towards boys? It must be
evil! </sarcasm> In that case, Barbie is evil, GI Joe is evil, Transformers
are evil, My Little Pony is evil, etc...

~~~
rmc
Yes, a toy that teaches bad things is evil.

Bad things including: "You are a boy, you must be tough and strong" or "You
are a girl you must be pretty and not good at maths"

------
tombell
I feel the need to point out the obvious. It's LEGO not LEGOS or legos.

~~~
brc
Pet peeve number 1 for me.

There is no plural. 'Mum gave me a LEGO set' 'I want to go and play with my
LEGO' 'I have a big tub full of LEGO pieces'

This was the official statement by the company: "LEGO® is a brand name that is
very special to all of us in the LEGO Group Companies. We would sincerely
appreciate your help in keeping it special by referring to our bricks as "LEGO
Bricks or Toys" and not just "LEGOS". By doing so, you will be helping to
protect and preserve a brand that stands for quality the world over."

------
jacobr
If you want random bricks or just don't care to spend a fortune, look for used
Lego and Duplo (big Legos) and just run it through the dish washer.

------
djhworld
What I'm struggling to understand is, why are they releasing these new style
girly minifigs?

I always thought Lego was supposed to be gender agnostic

------
batiudrami
I think you're confusing 'evil' with 'takes reasonable actions to ensure that
it, as a company, is as profitable as possible'.

------
rokhayakebe
Does LEGO have some sort of patent on "legos"? In other words are other
companies allowed to build similar kits?

~~~
sethg
Any patent LEGO might have claimed on the basic brick design must have expired
long ago.

MegaBlocks makes bricks that are advertised as compatible with LEGO bricks,
but in my experience the tolerance is just a little bit off.

~~~
archangel_one
We have some Mega Blocks here and yes, they do work with Lego but they don't
quite have as good a feel. Also there are some significant differences, like
the flatter plates look to be half-height instead of 1/3 height which would
cause problems if you intermix the two!

------
twodayslate
What is wrong with Nerf? I love the new stuff they put out. I would have loved
a Nerf Sword when I was a kid!

~~~
aaronmorey
My questions is, what changed about Nerf? I'm not all that old, but most Nerf
guns today just seem to be more powerful and more stylized versions of what
they were making when I was a kid.

------
joejohnson
There are LEGO advent calendars!? That is so cool. I'm definitely getting one
next year.

------
wgrover
LEGO's "Creationary" game always gives me pause. I suppose it's 3D
"Pictionary" but the name makes me think it'll be about disproving
evolution...

<http://shop.lego.com/en-US/Creationary-3844>

------
ajuc
I wonder if rep-rap can print good enough lego pieces?

------
brain5ide
LEGO used to be a brand. Now it's more of a platform.

------
draggnar
in america this is called having a niche

------
maximusprime
This is really really really boring.

Yes LEGO make LEGO "sets" that make a specific model. They also make a ton of
generic building sets which teach you a ton of stuff. They even have walls of
bricks in the shops where you can pick and choose which individual bricks you
need.

If you don't like the specific building sets, don't buy those ones.

Every so often some people start moaning about how Lego is not the same as it
was in their day. Stop whining.

(I've been a massive Lego fan for the last 30 years).

Oh and AWESOME NEWS! New DC sets coming in January! Now we can have Batman
Lego sets again!!!!!

------
billpatrianakos
Eh, they don't make 'me like they used to, right? I hardly think LEGO is
promoting gender stereotypes. The new girl products and what they sell to boys
aren't the problem but a symptom of a larger disease. Gender stereotypes are
created within cultures and companies like LEGO don't really have an agenda
like people would try to have us think. Instead they market what sells. The
culture at large has put boys and girls into their respective roles and
companies simply ride the trends. If boys were supposed to be in flowers and
wear underwear on their heads then they'd make little Lego flower kits that
came with little Lego men with underwear as hats. Companies have to look out
for their share holders. If gender stereotypes are the norm then that's what
they'll sell. If we, as a culture, change those stereotypes the companies will
follow. It's great to be able to commend a company for taking the lead on such
issues but we can hardly expect it. That change has to come from families
first.

------
mkramlich
two reactions:

1\. yes and after you buy that specific-model-guns-ships set you can (b) build
anything you want with it; (b) build model put on shelf never touch (or play
with it); (c) build model then tear it apart and use pieces to make something
from your imagination, etc. there are no rules. there are both generic brick-
like pieces and special-purpose pieces and they can be put together in
literally millions of ways, and now you can even see and share photos on the
web, both for ideas and showing off.

2\. girls really are different from boys, overall, and in the general case;
I've lost track of the number of males I've known that like/liked LEGO and the
number of girls/women that were like, " _meh_ "; and I've seen first-hand,
with my own eyes, over and over again, that my young nieces LOVE to play with
dolls and dresses and princesses and jewelry, whereas LEGO's and guns? _meh_

LEGO is like a shining beacon in a sea of sludge and noise, in terms of
educational value for kids and long-term replayability into adulthood,
compared to most other toys. Criticizing LEGO is a bit like criticizing
Michael Jordan for missing some shots in a game. It's Michael Jordan, mmkay?

Instructions show you how to build what's on the box. You are not required to
do that, nor are you even required to buy LEGO at all.

