AIBU to not like Lego?

[MotherWol]

Yes, I know it's an excellent construction toy, creative, doesn't break easily, but it's so annoying! DD is 5 and just starting to show an interest in it, but all I can see are tiny parts that get lost and endless tidying up - we live in a small home and don't have a playroom, so all of her toys live in her bedroom, which will soon be shared with her baby sister. We really don't have room for e.g. Kallax units and endless boxes.

The inventory manager role is one of my least favourite parts of parenting, and IME one that almost always falls to mothers. At least with Duplo the bits are too big to step on/hoover up and the builds don't have to stay on display. Plus so much of the range aimed at girls is twee nonsense (e.g. the Friends range). I'm probably being VU, but surely I'm not alone in this?

I love Lego - it’s so fun now my eldest ds is old enough to build adult sets. We always have a set on the go that we can do together, it’s lovely to spend that time building hogwarts without feeling pressured to talk. I find that’s when he opens up to me the most.

I do understand your concern re having the baby sibling around as Lego isn’t suitable for small babies. When my younger two were too small for it I had a big tub with a Lego building platform as the lid. The older two knew it only came out when the babies were asleep or in another room because it was dangerous for them.

@WithANameLikeDaniCalifornia

It just gives some women a real kick to sneer at other women and look down on what they like. Well done, you’re superior, you don’t like pink or funfairs or moronic doggy day care sets.

That is so so true.

Nowadays I am the least ‘girly’ person you could ever meet but when I was younger I know for sure that had pretty pink and purple Lego sets existed in the 1970s I would have disliked the vile stuff a little less (see my post above re. Lego obsessive Mum & brother).

I had no desire to build a ‘shell’ garage, space buggy, helicopter or truck back in the ‘70s.
I know I would have shown a lot more interest had ‘Heartlake city park’ or ‘friendship bus’ sets existed! 😄

Honestly I think some of this is (potentially unconscious) internalised misogyny - that girly things are pathetic, and we should encourage girls to like boyish things instead because they are cooler.

It’s blatant misogyny.

The only thing wrong with Lego friends IMO is the different minifigs... if they had been the same it would gel better with the other ranges.

But I think the range of sets is better than the City range. But we have both mixed together, plus creator, classic, ninjago, Harry potter...

The only thing wrong with Lego friends IMO is the different minifigs

The Friends ones are much better as it happens.

It’s blatant misogyny.

Yes

@TheKeatingFive

The only thing wrong with Lego friends IMO is the different minifigs

The Friends ones are much better as it happens.

Definitely better for playing with. The annoyance is more about the difference (and the knock on effect of the vehicles etc having to be slightly different to deal with that)

I really like the lego friends sets (so does DS1) the houses and camping sets are lovely - lego people need somewhere to live not just fire stations and police stations.

OP if you want something lego like but not a choking hazard - we have some "mega blocks junior builders" same size as duplo but more grown up designs, DS1 (5.5) and DS2 (nearly 2) can both play with it.

Very very unreasonable.
Our house is full of Lego and most of it doesn't belong to our son, haha.
I still got tons of it at my mum's, need to get it over in a suitcase at some point.

Not fond of the Lego friends stuff as the figures are a different size?

I have to say that I've never paid much attention to the Lego Friends sets but after reading a few comments here, I'm going to take a closer look. DD6 isn't drawn to the packaging in the same way as the City range.

Yanbu. I hated it as a child as everytime you tried play with it it broke apart .give me Playmobil anyday. Mil has bought DD Lego for Xmas as she's now five and now Lego... resisted it till now. I think I said to dmil that we need some way of storing the Lego too as part of the gift. Lidl has some nice Lego boxes and drawers in now so wish not said that now as got of got a good storage box. Mil is only getting her one set and box of Lego to see if she gets into it... dreading Lego now. I know that sounds awful but think Duplo is a better toy

I kind of secretly agree with you OP! Before Lego became part of my life I used to think it was great for kids, all that creative play and learning how to build and follow instructions.

Then I had my son and am now forced to follow extremely long and complicated instructions using minuscule pieces that the other baby then tries to eat so I have a panic trying to keep it all out of reach. I thought we’d just shove it all in one big box like when I was a kid and let my son’s imagination take its course. But no. Nijago cars that need to built to the letter on pain of meltdown. I miss duplo 😭

I don’t like the Lego friends collection for a few reasons -

it isn’t as challenging or technical to build. I’m not sure why Lego felt the need to dumb down the process. Technically it stands halfway between the junior sets and normal Lego.

I really dislike the need to signal that toys are for girls by making them pink. It excludes boys from these toys and themes. My ds enjoyed the friends tv series and collected some of the sets but the amount of raised eye brows and comments from relatives and random strangers in shops is ridiculous.

By creating “girl Lego” it also subtly excludes girls from the rest of the Lego canon. Why not incorporate these themes into the Lego range instead of creating a subset?

Girls are half the population. They should be equally represented throughout Lego sets, not just as token characters here and there.

The accompanying cartoon series, which was my first exposure, set my teeth on edge because it’s full of stereotypes of difficult female friendships and obsessions with boys. It’s tiresome. Admittedly it did prove quite helpful for teaching my autistic ds about emotions and social problems because it was so caricatured.

When I objected to the Lego friends theme, I was also objecting to the toxic masculinity of other Lego sets. When ds was small I was idealistically keeping guns out of our playroom until he proudly showed me the extensive arsenal of mini weapons he had amassed from Lego. 😂

Peach Lego Friends minidolls are the same scale as the Minifigs and all the hair pieces and hats fit all of them.
I have have a lot of fellow Lego fans who buy Friends sets for parts and hairpieces but aren't that bothered with the Minidolls. As a result I end up with a lot of bald Minidolls
Camomila the whole "yet another fire/police station" has become a bit of a joke. You do wonder why Lego keep making them. When the City range actually has something a bit different like the Pizza Delivery Van or Ice Cream Van they are hugely popular sets.

it isn’t as challenging or technical to build. I’m not sure why Lego felt the need to dumb down the process. Technically it stands halfway between the junior sets and normal Lego.

That's not true, there are a variety of age ranges within it.

By creating “girl Lego” it also subtly excludes girls from the rest of the Lego canon. Why not incorporate these themes into the Lego range instead of creating a subset?

There are lots of subsets within lego. There are other more stereotypically female oriented ones and a wide variety of unisex ones.

By creating “girl Lego” it also subtly excludes girls from the rest of the Lego canon. Why not incorporate these themes into the Lego range instead of creating a subset?

They are. Like I say, there are loads of subsets.

And honestly, if you're calling out lego as a purveyor of 'toxic masculinity' I'm not sure what's left for you out there. Playmobile has weapons and stuff too.

@Trygowithflow

I'm with you on the lego. I worry about all that plastic presumably languishing for ever

LEGO is reusable indefinitely. It's certainly not throwaway tat.

thelegohooverer Friends sets are no less complicated than 'regular' Lego sets to build. I have the Friends Campervan and the Creator 3 in 1 Campervan and from a building point of view there's no difference.
Whatever your opinion on Friends (which you are entitled to have) it has been one of the most successful ranges Lego have ever done. It's popularity when first launched almost ten years ago actually caught Lego by surprise - sets sold out quicker than expected.
In its almost 10 years there is something like almost 400 sets been released which compared to the previous 'girl' range Belville which only had some like 50 sets over 15 years. Belville had its fans but the fact that the figures and builds with Belville weren't on the same scale as regular Lego it was never as popular.

thelegohooverer I just checked figures. Lego Friends has has 464 sets released in almost 10 years. Lego Belville had 83 over 15 years.
Clearly the years and years of research Lego did about how to get girls more interested in Lego and launching Friends worked.
But you are entitled to your opinion and don't have to like it.
I don't like a lot of the 18+ sets because they are so large and expensive and the Star Wars sets bore me but I know they help Lego be a a successful company so it's all good.

@TheKeatingFive

The only thing wrong with Lego friends IMO is the different minifigs

The Friends ones are much better as it happens.

Blasphemy!

People are supposed to be short, blocky, and yellow.

it isn’t as challenging or technical to build. I’m not sure why Lego felt the need to dumb down the process. Technically it stands halfway between the junior sets and normal Lego.

Not true, some of the theme park sets are more complicated than a lot of the city sets. There are sets for all ages.

I really dislike the need to signal that toys are for girls by making them pink. It excludes boys from these toys and themes. My ds enjoyed the friends tv series and collected some of the sets but the amount of raised eye brows and comments from relatives and random strangers in shops is ridiculous.

That’s your relatives and their comments. You can’t blame Lego for that.

By creating “girl Lego” it also subtly excludes girls from the rest of the Lego canon. Why not incorporate these themes into the Lego range instead of creating a subset?

Children can have whatever sets they want. Again it’s adult prejudice that says this is for girls and this is for boys.

Lego friends has been integral in the rise in popularity and complexity of the adult builds, especially the modular buildings.

It brought in the colour, new parts, different building techniques and an escape from 'male' dominated themes.

Many friends sets have moving parts with gears and technic bits.

My favourite theme was Elves, the buildings make a beautiful little village and the dragons are amazing.

It's pretty much always adults that know nothing about lego or actually build that tut about lego friends.

All lego can be mixed, especially if they love hotdogs

Loving pink Batman there.

There's actually not that much pink in the Friends sets I own. There's some but it's not the main thing in a lot of the sets.
There's lilac, lime green, bright blue, purple....plus yellow, red, green, blue, brown, black, white, grey.....

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