046 - Lego Friends

[captain_slinky]

I am one of the many pseudo-honorary-Feminists out there who have only BECOME a Male Feminist because he has a daughter. Nothing opens your eyes to Social Injustice than having a loved one that could be directly oppressed by it, right? And of course, since I *AM* a White American Male, I assumed that my position of privilege was all that the world was waiting to hear from in order to make the changes it needed. I would rescue the women by telling The World that women don't need to be rescued!

Which brings us to Lego Friends, a popular line of Lego Building Sets that are targeted at little girls. From the pink-and-lavender bricks to the tall-and-skinny all-female mini-figures to the theming of the sets - High School, Shopping, Animal Rescue and Fashion - these things are just *insulting*. Or so I thought, until I saw them in action...

My daughter, Molly, has A TON of Legos. This is because *I* have a ton of Legos and have justified buying them at every thrift store and garage sale based on that famous note they included in every set of Lego I ever received as a child of the 70's:

Put the right materials in the right hands and let them decide what to do. Doll Houses and Space Ships! The perfect Unisex toy, right?

Well sure, but some kids just don't get into that. Case in point, Molly and two friends who will remain nameless. They could not agree on what to play. Molly wanted to build with Lego and was GOING to build with Lego regardless of what her guests wanted to do because Molly isn't a follower OR a leader, she's a Do-er who does and hopes others want to do as well. I kind of admire that, even if it DOES mean that she's usually all alone in a large group of children.

Another girl STRONGLY wanted EVERYONE to play dress-up and Barbies, to the point where she was angry that Molly would not follow her lead. She rarely gets anybody to play Barbies with her at home and dammit she is NOT passing up this opportunity!

The third girl just wanted to play with *someone*, and was very reasonable about the whole thing - Molly and the Legos would be here for a long time, but this new girl and her desire - her PASSION over the Barbies... it was undeniable.

SOLUTION: LEGO FRIENDS! Those Legos created a bond between the three girls that could not have been formed with regular Lego bricks! The Barbie Girl was all about giving the Lego Friends figures names and changing their clothes, while Molly built houses and cars and all sorts of stuff for them. And the Middle Girl, who just wanted to play, became the Director - "Okay, we need a LONG CAR or a TRUCK to carry all these girls to the Beach with all their animals, can you make that? Cool... we'll be getting our outfits ready!"

Eventually, Spider-Man showed up in a modified S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicopter to take the girls to the beach, where they tamed and befriended a misunderstood robotic monster that helped them all build race cars... and NONE of that would have happened without the lure of Lego Friends bringing these three very different play-styles together :)

So Lego Friends isn't "These Bricks are for GIRLS, you have to be a GIRL to use these ones and you should leave the BOY Bricks ALONE!", so much as it's "Hey we make Special Bricks for Space, City, Sci-Fi, Super Hero, Secret Agent, Robot, Ninja, Racing, Cartoons and Generic... hows about some bricks for people who may be passionate about Fashion, Shopping and Wildlife as well?"

Comments

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

I will be honest there are parts of Friends that I like and parts that I don't. I don't mind the Polly Pocket type minifigs, although I wish they were more compatible with standard mini figure stuff. Their height and legs are annoying when trying to put them in a City set for example.

I love a lot of the building sets. We have a couple and they are creative and have a ton of cool accessories. Again, I wish they were better integrated into the City line. The high school is fantastic and Lego City needs a high school. My son won't touch it because it is in "girl colors."

I like that there are so many animals. One of the things I've always thought Lego needed to make was a zoo. Some are pretty cartoonish but I don't mind that.

I tend to be a "doll house" player. I want to make a ton of buildings for my minifigs to have adventures in. Friends gives a lot of things for them to do that are not in the City line which is really good.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

The more I look at my objections to Lego Friends, the more I realize that i don't have any legit objections to Lego Friends. "Girly Colors" = Cool, you can never have too many different colors of Lego right? Crazy Polly Pocket Figures that don't match the existing "Mini Figs" = My personal favorite Lego People are the old-skool ones with the super-articulated arms and legs, or the medium-sized "Lego Max" that came out in the 90's and lasted for like 4 years before being erased from our collective memories. It all works :)

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

I am in full agreement with the colors. I like having pink and light blue and lavender bricks. I don't mind the friends figs so much except for 2 things. 1. I want leg articulation and 2. I want uniformity among the entire Lego collection. If the legs moved and the entire Lego figure collection was in that form I wouldn't mind them at all.

Right now the few we have, as well as the old Jack Stone and mega blok figures are all aliens as far as the background of our Lego world is concerned. It works.