Lego - how depressing

[EverybodysSnowyEyed]

I've always loved Lego as a 'genderless' toy

And now they have launched Lego friends - aimed at the little ladies in your life. And guess what, there's a beauty parlour!

Even DH finds this depressing! Are we alone in this?

I thought toy manufacturers might be starting to realise how bad this all looks!

Hmmm I have a dd with twin brothers a year older.We have the entire alien range,a lot of Star Wars,a huge collection of house bricks including the beach house,a huge collection of vehicles stuff,Power Miners and loads of Creator sets(which are fab).

Dd has always played with her brothers:- aliens,Harry Potter,making Go Go houses,crystal mining,Hex Bug runs,sky scrapers etc.The list is endless,the bricks are endless.

My problem with this is(aside from the pink) is the easiness of these sets which are aimed at 6-12 year olds.The other sets look a lot harder.The themes are also very closed and boring and obviously stereotypical I mean vet,beauty parlour-perlease. How many toys out there aimed at girls are pets or beauty?

There is far less play value in said sets.The beauty of Lego is the ability to make it what you want it to be.The big chunky pieces in these sets limit invention imvho.I would worry girls would no longer play with the other variety.These will sell just like Littlest Pet Shop,Barbie and all the other shite aimed at girls.Girls will thus stop playing with Lego how it's meant to be played with and as I did in the 70s.They'll only select pink bricks thus limiting creativity.They'll focus on 'girl' themes.Less Go Go houses etc.

Finally I have a big problem with the out of scale lipstick in the beauty parlour,don't think I need to tell you what it reminds me of.

lollygag, they may rocket, and we may end up with a generation of girls who want to do nothing but talk about makeup etc. Not just because of the Lego, obviously, but because of the whole culture that Lego have now also bought into. My niece is 9 and apparently already finding it difficult to find girls who want to talk about other things.

Mrs. Heffley - there was a post on the Lego site from someone who said they gave their daughter Barbies for Christmas but the next day she was back playing with her brother's lego again. He was going on about how good these new sets were and how glad her brother would be that she wouldn't steal his lego again :(

What gets me is there are a whole group of girls growing up who have only been bought Barbie,Littlest Pet Shop et al who are missing out on the creativity,engineering and scientific aspects that are there in a lot of 'boys' toys.Those boys and the girls with brothers or parents who don't buy into the pink plastic shite are going to be streaks ahead in engineering,science etc because kids learn through play.

It's very sad and I feel for those girls. Many well meaning parents wouldn't dream of not buying books or craft stuff(albeit Barbie themed) but are perfectly happy to buy toys that do nothing but create sterotypes and nothing else,they reject the technology toys,the science sets,the correct globes etc,etc.

Money is tight don't waste your hard earned cash on shite.Look at every toy as a learning tool.Fine your dd likes animals well Playmobil do a fab vet clinic then leave it at that.Don't waste your money on endless talking pets,fluffy animals and pink cutized pets.Spend it on proper Lego,a microscope,some Knex,Staedler felts/pencils,a proper globe(not a pink one),books that teach,science kits,Playmobil pyramid or African set.........there is masses out there to appeal all interests.

MrsHeffley you will be pleased to hear that me and my girls have made a Lego pyramid, out of ordinary Lego blocks, complete with Lego Cleopatra and Lego mummy inside.

I refused to spend 100 euros on the Playmobil version.

(pedant alert) 'streaks ahead' ... streaking ahead or streets ahead - but other than that, so true MrsHeffley.

My DD has some 'girlie' friends and they love doing chemistry or setting up a snail or woodlouse habitat in my kitchen.

Bishopstonmum - I hope you are going to write to Lego and tell them that? For some reason our Lego Club magazine hasn't arrived yet, but DD has already heard about it from her best friend, who was furious - she and her mother are already composing an outraged letter to Lego about it. I have sent them several tweets on the subject, but they are not responding.

It just seems so stupid to unilaterally decide that all girls who are members of the Lego club should get the new pinkified girls-only version, when the reason they are members of the Lego Club is that they actually like the existing Lego ranges.

Belgo those figures are fab.We got our PM pyramid at Christmas(half price in Argos,wonder if it still is).Bloody fantastic toy,all 3 love it although Polly Pocket went on holiday to Egypt and got locked in the tomb!!!!!!!!!

Still half price-£33.99,now if that isn't a real bargain I don't know what is!!!!!!!!

Sorry dd just did the last lot of exclamation marks.

I'm not sure if this has been posted already, but I had a lego beauty salon when I was 4 or 5 years old... I'm now 35, so its not a new thing, and I still have the original in the loft!!

Oooo is it on Brickipedia?Just had a look and there is one but it's the completely pink free and only about 5 pieces,no structure so you'd have to build a building.Some strange cat in it. Far more play value to it,could be anything.

Now off to see if my 80s burger bar is on there.

Mouikey - that would have been Lego Scala - for little homemakers - I had it too....

and I studied Marine electronics - radio and radar - at college before becoming a computer networks manager.

It is a toy....

I don't think anything we played with comes close to the amount of crap thrown in the direction of girls today.

The whole thing just gets my goat. If all that stuff is so natural for girls then why do they need to shove it down their throats?

What's wrong with incorporating these so called "girls' interests" into the mainstream lego. Or are they afraid that boys won't want to play with it anymore if there are a few pink lego bricks? It's ridiculous.

On their website in the search stuff there's a category 'Girls' but I don't think there is a 'Boys'. Its the same warped thinking as 'regular' mag and 'girls' mag.

I miss the buckets & tubs it used to come in. I love the fact they do themed things like harry potter but girls ones? really? DD only likes it cause one of the girls has my name & her friends name. She did say she doesnt want it & would rather have normal lego cause she can build her own people. I think its a shame that the characters are already built. Where is the kids imagination going to go on creativity? Its just set up for roleplay now.

DD would adore this- but we are definitely not playing along.

However the only other female character that I noticed on a quick flick through the latest mag was Catwoman...

Whilst some of you have complained about the very 'masculine' direction that lego have taken in recent years, none have you have refused to buy the blatantly 'boy' sets for your boys have you?
And yet you refuse to buy the obvious 'girl' sets for your girls?
I smell a double standard.

Lots of lego sets are about fighting or pirates - these are not morally neutral themes for young children, any more than a beauty salon is (I personally find both fine if that's what the child wants to play, but if you're going to pick on beauty salons why not pick on warriors).

Some of you seem to think just because it's for boys - it's cool, and if it's for girls it's rubbish and pathetic. And you agree with your sons when they say the girl lego is crap :(

Well my 4 yo thinks warriors and pirates that "just fight all the time" are crap. She doesn't like fighting even if it's pretend. I'm cool with that. I think she'd like a treehouse though.

I agree with the magazine issue btw that's crap.

I loved lego as a child, and had no need for it to be girly! I hope in turn my DD (who is only 2 weeks old) will love it too when she is old enough, and hopefully without the need for it to be pink.

I do think that the marketing of toys is way off kilter, as my DS enjoys many craft making activities but due to most of the kits/equipment being pink or aimed at girls in general he is put off asking for them in case his friends see!

LanceCorporalBoiledEgg - I understand your point, and we have all sorts of Lego in this house, that is for everyone.

But one of the main complaints is that 'boys' Lego tends to be more challenging, harder to make and more technical. "girls' Lego is more about scene setting, and is not too much different to Polly Pocket.

In the latest Lego miniseries 6, there is a female Lego surgeon here which I think is supposed to be an effort at equality. I get the feeling Lego are listening, just not enough.

LanceCpl: TBH I'd have said 'pirates' was fairly gender neutral - DD's main present when she was 6 was a pirate set. (Morally - well, DDs idea of pirates was something like the ones in the 'Overboard' cartoon who never kill anyone and love their dogs)

And I'd bet some parents-of-boys will have refused to buy the more macho sets.

Some of you seem to think just because it's for boys - it's cool, and if it's for girls it's rubbish and pathetic. And you agree with your sons when they say the girl lego is crap
No - the specifically 'girls' lego is relatively rubbish and pathetic. Some of the themes in the Friends sets are good in theory but they're too pre-built. An inventor's workshop - fantastic - but there appears to be very little scope for invention within the set so its pathetic.

Bytheway how many women work in electronics? Are there equal numbers of men and women?I suspect not.There isn't in engineering,dp had no women on his degree course.

Channelling girls towards pink unchallenging,uneducational shite isn't going to change that is it.

Also things have changed since when we were little,toys are less generic,less good quality.When I was young toy shops didn't have a pink shit aisle a la ToysRUs.We had less,we used our imagination/brains more.

Only time will tell but seriously I think a large number of the current generation of girls are missing out.

Re Lego themes.There has always been plenty that appeals to both genders if you're that way inclinded of steering where gender is concerned.Only this Christmas there was a lighthouse,Harry Potter,apple tree house,log cabin,robot with lighting up brick.Who will be buying these for their dd's now?.

Personally my dd has enjoyed playing with exactly the same themes as her brothers as she hasn't been conditioned to think all her toys should be pink and involve pets or beauty.

Bytheway how many women work in electronics? Are there equal numbers of men and women?I suspect not.There isn't in engineering,dp had no women on his degree course.

Channelling girls towards pink unchallenging,uneducational shite isn't going to change that is it.

Also things have changed since when we were little,toys are less generic,less good quality.When I was young toy shops didn't have a pink shit aisle a la ToysRUs.We had less,we used our imagination/brains more.

Only time will tell but seriously I think a large number of the current generation of girls are missing out.

Re Lego themes.There has always been plenty that appeals to both genders if you're that way inclinded of steering where gender is concerned.Only this Christmas there was a lighthouse,Harry Potter,apple tree house,log cabin,robot with lighting up brick.Who will be buying these for their dd's now?.

Personally my dd has enjoyed playing with exactly the same themes as her brothers as she hasn't been conditioned to think all her toys should be pink and involve pets or beauty.