Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really dislike the Lego Friends figures?

57 replies

LegoAcquaintance · 17/10/2014 07:56

DD has just written her Christmas list, and has put "Lego Frainds" on it.

I will probably buy some for her, I don't want to be one of those mums who is all principled about toys, and make my child miss out amongst her peers, and in general I really like Lego and think it's a great toy.

But AIBU to absolutely hate the little figures?

I don't really mind the fact that it's marketed at girls.

I don't really mind the fact that it has lots of pink and purple bricks - it's nice to have some different colours in the collection, after all.

I don't mind the subject matter of the sets - shops, cafes, schools, jungle adventure, holidays, professions (albeit slightly stereotypical female professions). I would have liked that as a child playing with Lego, I think.

But the figures, WHY? Why are they taller and thinner than the normal, iconic lego figures, and why have they got natural coloured skin - they should be YELLOW! And why are most of them wearing mini skirts? It just makes it more separate from all the other Lego sets you can get, and makes me not want to buy it.

I mean, FFS, the little yellow lego person is absolutely iconic. Why did they need to design a new one???

OP posts:
CaptainAnkles · 17/10/2014 07:58

I thought it was so they had a Lego equivalent of Playmobil figures. Unless they're both made by the same company Confused

Aeroflotgirl · 17/10/2014 07:59

Show her different types of Lego eg Lego Chima or Technic and see if she would like some of that instead.

FreeSpirit89 · 17/10/2014 08:00

Because most girls like barbies so there trying to make them look more appealing.

I would have liked it as a child, YABU

skylark2 · 17/10/2014 08:08

I don't mind that they've redesigned it. I do mind that the figures are sufficiently different from the traditional figures that it would be difficult for a little girl with Lego Friends and a little boy with "ordinary" Lego to play a combined game.

Would she like a different sort of Lego? My kids are older now so I'm not in touch with what's available any more, but DD really liked the Harry Potter Lego which has "proper" shaped minifigures. I don't remember what colour the skin is though.

NorwaySpruce · 17/10/2014 08:12

I'm not mad about the figures, they seem a bit 'high school' ish.

Luckily my lot quickly discard them, and just use the Friends sets with normal figs.

I do like the flesh tones in some sets though though. The later Harry Potter figs use the same skin tones for heads and hands, and they look better for it I think.

Spadequeen · 17/10/2014 08:18

Op yanbu. I am one of those mums who refuse to buy it, there is nothing wrong with proper lego, why couldn't they have done a school, shop, cafe etc in normal lego. Why is it targeted at girls? Boys would still be able to play with those settings, but no lets make it pink and girly. And don't get me started of the figures.

Yet again, lets put girls in their place by giving them pretty pink things. Grrrrrrr

VashtaNerada · 17/10/2014 08:22

Hate the little Friends bastards. When I was growing up, the standard sets were marketed at boys and girls together. Girls don't need their own toys, and certainly not ones that don't fit in with exisiting sets.

BankWadger · 17/10/2014 08:41

They look vile. I love that WyldStyle from the movie is and ordinary lego figure with her waist painted on to show her feminine shape. The lego friends girls are tiny weak little sticks in comparison. They'll never kick arse, but they will peer pressure our Lucy into an eating disorder.

Mind you I'm also fed up with the modern My Little Ponies so clearly I'm just a kill joy who wants more than looks to be important to her 3 year old--.

pookamoo · 17/10/2014 08:45

YANBU

It's banned in our house!

BrieAndChilli · 17/10/2014 08:45

There are boy figures very similar. Not sure what the name is as we inherited it, but it's a boy figure that came with a helicopter so there was precedent before they did lego friends.
The majority of lego is 'aimed' at boys such as Star Wars and ninja turtles and etcetera

Corneliusmurphy · 17/10/2014 08:58

I was ready to be outraged at the 'girlie' Lego - I used to love Lego when I was little and it didn't need to be gender specific. but that being said I had a couple of long hair pieces and those Lego people were always my favourites as they were female and I was very pleased when the pirate girl had boobs and a waist dd loves Lego friends set and if I'm honest I would've liked them too.
would still prefer if they were Lego person shaped with the drawn on figures as these hold together better while playing, still hold together better than the Barbie megabloks though.
We got the dolphin cruiser last christmas and I would've been over the moon with that (I was last Christmas but I've been relegated to tricky Lego bits only this year Sad)

BoomBoomsCousin · 17/10/2014 09:30

I don't like the way the friends sets are marketed solely towards girls and they haven't really marketed the rest of lego towards girls for a decade or two. But it is worth noting that Lego Chima figures don't fit in with the rest of lego either, but no one's complaining about that. And the push towards boys is very preoccupied with fighting, which is no better than having toys that are preoccupied with fashion. And the marketing towards boys has become very tied in with other media (like Chima, or through co-branding like Star Wars), while lego friends doesn't push a ready formed character story in the same way (though their are lego friends videos on youtube).

I don't think there's anything wrong with there being toys that are based around fighting or toys that are based around fashion. It's the way these are made into a gender based dichotomy and how that pushes out diversity (e.g. I am not keen on the way the friends figures conform to barbie-esqu body image) and encourages a narrower set of associations for both boys and girls. That's what makes it problematic for me, but it's as much the way Lego treat boys and their other Lego products as how they treat girls and Lego Friends.

Original poster
LegoAcquaintance · 17/10/2014 09:33

She does actually like standard Lego - in fact in the shops she has usually ignored Lego Friends and picked up boxes of Lego City - boats and police mainly.

I think all her friends at school are talking about it and that's why she wants it.

The figures just really, really annoy me (can you tell?)

OP posts:
OOAOML · 17/10/2014 09:35

I am annoyed that a brand I consider as unisex is going down the line of 'for boys' and 'for girls'. It should all be 'for children'. If you want to put a café and shopping centre into the range, fine, but don't brand it for girls. And don't put anorexic figures in it.

Itsjustmeagain · 17/10/2014 09:36

My girls (and my ds) love lego friends! but they mix it up with normal lego so they end up with barbies stable being run by a massive blue and black robot for example. I dont see anything wrong with it unless as a parent you ONLY bought lego friends because normal lego was not a "girls toy".

Itsjustmeagain · 17/10/2014 09:37

should say its not barbie its lego but my 4 and 5 year old think its barbie...so we call it barbie Blush.

TunipTheUnconquerable · 17/10/2014 09:38

I rather like them, actually. Yes they could be a bit less girly, but I don't think dd would have ever identified with the yellow ones in the way she does with these. And my kids do play together with them - it's like two different races, a tall willowy one with various skin tones and the little short yellow people Grin

The thing that annoyed me about Lego until they brought in Lego Friends was that most of it was effectively coded for boys, by being boxed in colours kids have been taught to read as masculine (blue, black). As a result of having Lego Friends my dd is now far more likely to think of it as a toy for both girls and boys.

Original poster
LegoAcquaintance · 17/10/2014 09:38

BoomBoom I have never actually looked at Lego Chima.

But yes I agree with you - it's the polarisation between Lego marketed at girls and that marketed at boys that is the problem, and the way that they seem to have made it harder to combine all the sets together (partly) because the figures are so different. When the whole POINT of lego is to join it all together and make whatever you want.

And now I will probably buy her some anyway, because I don't want to be all dictatorial about what toys she chooses to like, so I will be perpetuating the problem, because Lego will think their marketing strategy works and that's what people want.

OP posts:
Ultracrepidarian · 17/10/2014 09:47

Yanbu, my dc love lego but the friends range is directly marketed at girls which I don't mind. What I do mind is the fact that the range is smaller, it's more expensive, the figures aren't interchangeable and it's less technical.
There are girls in normal lego that are lego shaped and they're great, I just which normal lego had some more pieces that were aimed at girls like the cuckoo palace from the film. Something more creative with more multicoloured pieces, but I do buy lego friends as dd identifies with it more.

PeppermintPasty · 17/10/2014 09:53

YA so NBU, I HATE IT! My dd has a few little sets that people have given her but what on earth is wrong with normal lego? When I was 8 I was the proud owner of a set that would now be considered for 'boys'. Gah, I hate it, we've gone backwards!

And breathe...

Oh, btw, I quite like the Disney sets, as I think that's fair enough, they are based on pre existing characters and are more of a fantasy thing. The friends sets are dangerous IMHO, although I may be overthinking it a bit I grant you.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 17/10/2014 10:06

I have nothing against girly colours and girly themes, given the male orientation of a lot of modern Lego.

What I object to is the different style and size of Lego friends figures, so it doesn't interact with ordinary Lego.

It limits the imagination and pushes girls into their own cosy corner, that really annoys me!

seesensepeople · 17/10/2014 10:14

Actually Lego Friends has been supported by women in industry as a way of attracting girls towards more traditionally male interests, specifically engineering. The idea being that engineering is stereotyped as a male industry (which it is statistically) and so presenting engineering based toys in traditional girl colours and girly packaging is meant to capture their interest early and lead them to progress onto greater things...

Spidertracker · 17/10/2014 10:18

DSs lego starwars figures are not standard Lego men either. They have character appropriate coloured heads, some droids are tall and thin and Yoda is shorter than standard.
That said, I won't buy lego friends on principle. And this comes from a mum who doesn't care that her daughter likes pink. It is just pointless to buy it because it is pink when we have boxes full of the multi coloured stuff.

CalamitouslyWrong · 17/10/2014 10:25

I don't really understand why lego chima is quite so male orientated. The little animal figures have so much potential to appeal to a very wide section of the child market. And the animal tribes all have their own different places to live, which could make some really lovely sets. But the sets are always geared up to war and fighting.

I think lego are missing a trick. As a wee girl I would have loved building an eagle spire or the gorilla pods in their forest or the beaver lodge etc and playing with all the mini figures in them. They have some female characters, and there really is no reason not to have even more of them. DS2 loves all the weird vehicles for fighting sets (and the speeders) but I'd've been put off by all the sets being for fighting rather than just building a cool world for general imaginative play as a child.

TunipTheUnconquerable · 17/10/2014 10:34

It DOES interact with normal Lego though. DS1 builds vehicles that the Lego Friends can drive and the normal Lego people hang out in the tree house. They wear each other's hats and use each other's weapons and get bitten by each other's sharks.