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Original poster

To be sad that Lego have launched a "girls' range"

46 replies

Nux · 19/12/2011 20:26

One of the last bastions of gender-neutral toys - is it just me who finds this depressing? Here

OP posts:
over30sdisco · 19/12/2011 20:29

lego did always have a 'girls' range though, unless boys liked playing with the \link{http://www.1000steine.com/brickset/images/0296-1.jpg\lego hairdressers}

hiddenhome · 19/12/2011 20:29

Lego isn't gender neutral though. How many girls are into pirates, Star Wars and Indiana Jones?

I think a girls range is a good idea. I loved Lego when I was young, but could only make basic houses. Too much of it is geared towards boys.

thisisyesterday · 19/12/2011 20:29

well, i don't think it was gender neutral actually.

it would be lovely if they would go back to basics... all the figures the same just with different hair etc...

pictish · 19/12/2011 20:30

I agree hiddenhome - Lego is very much geared towards boys in my opinion. A girlier range has been needed for years!

LydiaWickham · 19/12/2011 20:30

YANBU - it is depressing that they find the need to make a beauty palour, but the lego that's for sale now is a lot more 'boy focussed' than I remember it being when I was a child. But then it was clearly seen as a 'boy' toy, I played with my brother's lego, but it wasn't bought for me. At least packaging it for girls might help girls get the first sets.

hiddenhome · 19/12/2011 20:31

There's a female chemistry teacher set, it's not all cafes and hairdressers Grin

LemonDifficult · 19/12/2011 20:31

I've given this a fair bit of thought, as I live with an AFOL (Adult Fan Of Lego) and Lego-mad DS, and I reckon it's probably a good thing.

Pragmatically by the time Lego comes a long girls are into pink and pastels and Lego really isn't gender neutral if we mean that in the sense of catering for what 5yo girls want.

My MiL and I were discussing where to get my 4yo niece some of the girl Lego today. We reckon she'll love it.

over30sdisco · 19/12/2011 20:32

i used to play with lego all the time when i was little, i didn't see it as a boys toy at all really

whatstheetiquette · 19/12/2011 20:35

Take the Disney movie Cars 2. There is a lego set which has a quite big model of big ben and the car characters from the movie. DS was given this, it is really lovely and he plays with it for a long time.

It would be appropriate to make a lego set of Rapunzel - ie build the big tower, have a rapunzel minifigure, a witch minifigure etc.

I have a DS and a DD and the facts are whilst DD enjoys playing with lego, DS gets far more fun and spends far more time doing so because lots of lego is stuff that appeals to him - Cars 2 movie, helicopters, other vehicles etc. We also have basic bricks, but actually both my DCs prefer the sets that have instructions. DD will play with the Cars 2 lego, happily but she would be far happier building the rapunzel tower.

This is just how they are, I haven't done anything to influence their liking for girls/boys toys - obviously there is a mixture and they will usually go for their own stuff, with the exception of truly gender neutral stuff like octonauts toys.

JamieComeHome · 19/12/2011 20:37

DS1 (Lego fanatic) has just said "someone somewhere should be sacked" Grin

I think he thinks they are pandering and girls should just get on with it.

But enough of his philosophising ......

The look of characters is a natural extension of the way that Lego has been going - figures with "real" looking heads instead of Lego ones, although TBF those are mainly franchise ones. like Start Wars.
I think that traditional Lego will appeal to lots of girls, still, but this broadens it out to girls who are maybe less interested in the building element and more in the role play and "bits and bobs" part of it. I'm not saying that some boys aren't interested in that to. I know some boys who like to collect, and some who like to build, invent and re-build.

SingingSands · 19/12/2011 20:37

Why is it a bad thing? Not all little girls want to play with Lego City, Ninjago or Star Wars. Why not make it more appealing to girls?

JamieComeHome · 19/12/2011 20:39

Star Wars, not Start Wars (Freudian Slip)

thisisyesterday · 19/12/2011 20:39

why can't the figures be the same as the "boy" fiogures though?

why do they need to be taller and skinner??
i don't like that at all

HoneydragonAteCliffRichard · 19/12/2011 20:40

If they did Tangled Lego, that wasn't pink Ds would be all over it Grin, he was royally fucked off that all the merchandise for Tangled as been pink, including his favourite character the horse.

The Harry Potter stuff is gender neutral, as us the entire city range.

molly3478 · 19/12/2011 20:41

They used to do girls ranges when i was a child and then they stopped it unfortunately. The paradis collection was all pink and for girls,it was great and this was back in late 80s, early 90s

MatureUniStudent · 19/12/2011 20:42

In the 1960's I had a rather natty lego kitchen for girls. I loved it - that base board and all the kitchen cabinets including a four ring cooker and sink with silver tap. The best bit was the daisy flower style stickers I could use to personalise my kitchen cupboards. My brother was envious and played with my kitchen over his boy lego all the time. In those days, there was none of this non gender stuff - girls knew their place as did boys - in the lego kitchen.

Chulita · 19/12/2011 20:43

Lego does Belville too, has done for years and that's blatantly aimed at girls so it's not a new thing.

JamieComeHome · 19/12/2011 20:44

interesting thisis. You could see it as a more realistic body shape. But you could also say that it's suggesting the traditional Lego shape is akin to being "fat".

I guess what they are competing with is things like Polly Pocket (does that still exist?), Bratz. I guess their market research suggests this figure is more acceptable

Osmiornica · 19/12/2011 20:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JamieComeHome · 19/12/2011 20:46

Oh yes, the Lego Bellville figures are the same. They aren't new at all!

over30sdisco · 19/12/2011 20:48

oh we had the kitchen! like \link{http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=261-4\this} was really well made

over30sdisco · 19/12/2011 20:49

was it \link{http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=263-1\this one} matureunistudent?

MatureUniStudent · 19/12/2011 20:49

OHHH yes! oh happy memories! I am sure my kitchen cabinets were red?

OtterBaubles · 19/12/2011 20:50

I thought they'd been doing it for years. Xmas Confused My neices (now 23 and 25) had a Lego riding stable and a Lego beach set which I suppose were gender-neutral, but veered to the pastel shades. And DD had some of the fairy sets called Belville or Belleville or something.

JamieComeHome · 19/12/2011 20:50

I love the new Campervan. That pretty appealing to both sexes and their mothers

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