LEGO Collectable Minifigures Series 19 Rumors, Speculation and Discussion

[MAB]

22 minutes ago, gedren_y said:

The back of the character sheet shows us what is under the towel. White hips with yellow legs, white boxers-like printing on the front.

Ah, I hadn't seen that, just the instagram grainy front of the sheet. I thought as much. They'll do yellow for yellow spacemen, but not for nude figures.

 

[Robert8]

White hips was enough IMO. Giving him white shorts under the towel is a little bit too much

 

Harry Potter - underage - shows a lot more in the Second Task set

Edited July 30, 2019 by Robert8

[Anonknee Muss]

2 hours ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

Interesting people judging other people's opinion or experiences.
I've never said to anybody in this forum when / how to put the keyboard down just because i don't feel entitled to.
I think everybody has right to express their opinions until they do not offend anybody.
And I weren't offensive in any part of my post.

I take my hat off to you Itaria.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

3 minutes ago, J4ck said:

I take my hat off to you Itaria.

You would be without avatar if you did. 

[Anonknee Muss]

2 minutes ago, Itaria No Shintaku said:

You would be without avatar if you did. 

What avatar? 

[fordtruckin]

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? And yes all this discussion is gender politics. If you don't like it change it or don't buy it. Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Just now, J4ck said:

What avatar? 

LMAO

[Anonknee Muss]

Just now, fordtruckin said:

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? And yes all this discussion is gender politics. If you don't like it change it or don't buy it. Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

Agreed, the forced feeding of gender politics in everything frustrates me.

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Just now, fordtruckin said:

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? And yes all this discussion is gender politics. If you don't like it change it or don't buy it. Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

I have been saying that since 1997

[Robert8]

13 minutes ago, fordtruckin said:

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? And yes all this discussion is gender politics. If you don't like it change it or don't buy it. Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

PREACH

[ToaIruini]

What a nice welcome to Eurobricks  

@J4ck I might need some more popcorn

[gedren_y]

20 minutes ago, ToaIruini said:

What a nice welcome to Eurobricks  

@J4ck I might need some more popcorn

Sorry, but I'm saving my popcorn for the actual political debates.

[williejm]

45 minutes ago, fordtruckin said:

Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

Lol, have you read some of these forums? 

 

47 minutes ago, fordtruckin said:

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? 

Yes, and hopes and dreams come in many colours, some with rainbows, sparkles and differences. Politics *is* a factor of daily life for many people ... those with the privilege not to have to worry about that might not need to care. But some of us do. 

[Renny The Spaceman]

I really like this series, i'd certainly place it above series 17 (though maybe it's just because we've been starved of generic CMF series' for a while)

[2maxwell]

I like fantasy and castle themes the most, but I don't really have any issue with how many city figures there are. Not everything is about me; I'm happy to collect the few I want and save my money. I do appreciate that Lego is moving towards more gender balance across their lines,

[Itaria No Shintaku]

Just now, williejm said:

Yes, and hopes and dreams come in many colours, some with rainbows, sparkles and differences. Politics *is* a factor of daily life for many people ... those with the privilege not to have to worry about that might not need to care. But some of us do. 

Sorry I was thinking I'm using internet (45% of the people in the world can't), and I'm buying expensive toys (90% of the people in the world can't) so I thought that everyone here is privileged. No exceptions. 
So I really feel there is no need to insert politics here, since we are all privileged.

[fordtruckin]

31 minutes ago, williejm said:

Yes, and hopes and dreams come in many colours, some with rainbows, sparkles and differences. Politics *is* a factor of daily life for many people ... those with the privilege not to have to worry about that might not need to care. But some of us do. 

Your assumption that I have no need to worry about politics is at best ignorant since you don't even know me. The fact is that I do care about politics and also have very strong opinions which I know others on this forum strongly disagree with so what would be the point of discussing political issues on a Lego forum? When I want to be involved in political discussions I go to places designed to have them. I don't come to a Lego fan site to discuss politics even if they are topics I agree on. To do otherwise shows a lack of respect for the the site and its members as well as a sense of entitlement that everyone should have to listen to one person's opinion whether they want to or not. 

Let's focus on why we are here; what we love about Lego!

[Clone OPatra]

The discussion over these past few pages has remained very civil and maturely articulated, for the most part. This is what a discussion on Eurobricks should be.

Still, it's time to let this particular discussion rest, so that others who want to discuss the series on a more LEGO-centric level are given the opportunity to re-engage in the thread.

Thank you 

[Gorilla94]

3 hours ago, MAB said:

I wish they did this more often, on the human figures too. So for example, the pizza one, why do we need to be told a gender here? Why not bios like "The Pizza Seller loves eating pizza all day long, but eats so much that they have trouble fitting through doorways" instead of "The Pizza Seller loves eating pizza all day long, but eats so much that he has trouble fitting through doorways".

Languages. It is possible in English that way. But you have to be able to translate the text and many languages need the Information if it´s male or female. I can´t imagine any international company will make the effort to make every piece of translation as gender neutral as possible. And even if the sex is just named in one version i doubt it would make any difference in the eyes of the people complaining at the moment about the intended gender of minifigs without visible sex (or did i missunderstood that?).

To be honest i don´t get that representation thing. Arthur Morgan is probably the first blond video game protagonist since Duke Nukem. Never saw a protagonist with red hair in western video games. In Mass effect 3 my character and i guess two NPCs where the only heterosexual people on this ship. Everyone was bi- or homosexual (or into robots and stuff). It didn´t hurt me to be not "representated" and i don´t get why it should. You all know how Germans are depicted in media all around the world as drunken morons on the Oktoberfest or nazimonsters and i don´t care about it. The place i was born says nothing about me as a person. Ever seen a bodybuilder in a film or videogame who wasn´t stupid or at least much less intelligent than every skinny or fat guy? That´s in fact a mean stereotype and i don´t cry about it as someone who worked his megablocks off to get that body while making my degree at a good university. There are things i worked hard for. Being a good son, friendships, my job where i help people and make the world a little bit better even if i could make more money somewhere else. These are the things that say who i am. It makes me sad, if skin colour, nationality, sexuality and stuff like that are even relevant when people are talking about their identity. 

Back to topic: Is that brown piece in front of the dog walker a new piece? O.o 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Gorilla94

[leafan]

I don't know about you guys, but this debate has really made me want a Blue-Haired Land Whale CMF spot.

[Anonknee Muss]

3 hours ago, ToaIruini said:

What a nice welcome to Eurobricks  

@J4ck I might need some more popcorn

Coming right up!

[Masked Mini]

Jeez luise guys... I go do some actual work while at work instead of reading about Lego and this blows up by two pages.

I built my own Joan of Arc a little while ago, found myself a good armored female torso and rolled with it. Might have to find a place to post her.
There is an entire rank of female pirates, townfolk etc to go with my standard Princesses and Damsels. I go out of my way to try and kit-bash /army build more.
But in the end, with lego, any torso can be instantly female with application of the right head or hair or a dash of imagination and pretend.

I do not see the point of griping about gender parity needing to be 50:50 for Lego minifigs.
I DO see a point about the need for more obviously female heads/hair pieces and headwear (like helmets or hoods) with hair. Thankfully Lego has been expanding the offerings tremendously.

Lego is about customization and rebuilding to suit yourself. Otherwise every set would come with a bottle of Kragle and be sold by Airfix or Revell or Tamya.

If I had my way you'd all be pissed at me! There'd be army builder battlepacks for every theme... with random heads and hair at the least. Go collect them all or trade for what you want.
Or we can go back to the plain two dots and smile. Then you HAVE to imagine your genders.

Edit: Case in friggin' point - My avatar. Is it male? Is it female? Could be a sovjet space dog if you shut the visor. If you Bark in space - can anyone hear you?

Edited July 30, 2019 by Masked Mini

[Clone OPatra]

2 hours ago, Gorilla94 said:

 Back to topic: Is that brown piece in front of the dog walker a new piece? O.o 

Yes it is, and it apparently comes with two of them so the dog walker can be picking up poo while eating chocolate ice cream!

However to some of the above posts, the staff (in this case me) already politely requested that this conversation be stopped. If it continues, I'll have to lock the topic for a day or two.

[Aanchir]

Thanks @Clone OPatra for at least ATTEMPTING to get things back on topic. None of the stuff I brought up about the gender ratios in the minifigures series were meant to result in out-of-control tangents and disputes about whether feminism is good or bad or … honestly, I feel like there used to be a time when that kind of thing LEGO fans generally saw as a legitimate thing to care about.

Sadly, there's an increasingly widespread delusion that gender, sexuality, race, and so forth are uniquely "political" or "divisive" on some level that is incompatible with a wholesome children's toy, even if somehow implicitly political topics like world history, warfare, policing, economics, etc. are not held to the same standard. And unfortunately it seems that's still just as prevalent here on Eurobricks as it is in wider society, if not more so.

Certainly a lot of people I encounter in real life would not say anything near as gleefully hateful and sexist in a public space as a lot of what I'm seeing here, and I think your description of the tone of the conversation prior to your post is maybe a little more generous than some of these comments deserve…

3 hours ago, MAB said:

I wish they did this more often, on the human figures too. So for example, the pizza one, why do we need to be told a gender here? Why not bios like "The Pizza Seller loves eating pizza all day long, but eats so much that they have trouble fitting through doorways" instead of "The Pizza Seller loves eating pizza all day long, but eats so much that he has trouble fitting through doorways". That way, everyone can be happy with what they get. Is it a man, is it a woman? Who cares? Same with the Care Bear and fox suit. Ones that are obviously male or obviously female are fine but even better if they can be switched.

To clarify, in that section you quoted I was talking about characters who don't have a gender at all or have a non-binary gender, not characters who can be "either male or female". Those are fine too, but when I cited those minifigure examples I was referring to characters who are NEITHER male nor female, but something in between, some combination of the two, or no gender at all.

Human figures with nonbinary gender identities would be GREAT to see, but I don't know if there is a respectful and unambiguous way to portray that in the Minifigures theme where there is not much in terms of narrative framework other than short bios, let alone whether buyers would respond well to that in a world where many parents are even less likely to educate their kids about nonbinary gender identities than other types of LGBT identity, and many people even stubbornly reject the possibility of real people being anything other than strictly male or strictly female.

On a side note, I'm with @Karalora in feeling frustrated that you keep referring to the "monkey" as non-gender specific when that figure depicts a specifically MALE archetype, the Monkey King.

Even if you believe figures like this, the Forestman, the Vampire, the Monster, the Detective, the Egyptian Queen, the Jungle Boy, the Grandma Visitor, the Roman Emperor, and the Fly Monster are meant to represent non-specific "genericized" versions of the historic, literary, or folkloric figures that clearly inspired them (Sun Wukong, Robin Hood, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Little Red Riding Hood, Julius Caesar, and André Delambre, respectively), they still retain most of the distinctive character traits of the individuals that inspired them, including their gender.

It seems bizarre and potentially even disrespectful to treat this minifigure differently from the rest of those just because he is not human or not based on an archetype as familiar to many Westerners.

4 hours ago, fordtruckin said:

These are toys to be enjoyed and played with. They are to stimulate creativity and hopes and dreams. Why do people feel the need to insert politics into every aspect of life? And yes all this discussion is gender politics. If you don't like it change it or don't buy it. Why do we have to inject negativity into something we all claim to enjoy?

Sorry, but it's hard to take this post seriously if you've actually been reading this topic. Just a few pages earlier people were getting downright incensed at me for disagreeing with other people's downright petty complaints that this series was somehow a letdown for including a pretty standard number of modern-day minifigs, or claims that some of those figures were pointless/unnecessary.

Now I make posts mildly talking about how it's nice that the gender ratios have gotten better than the early series, how I would like that to continue, and why I think the genders of minifigures actually matter, and I'm the one "injecting negativity into something we all claim to enjoy"? I'm not the one here who spends my time gleefully hoping for themes or minifigures series I have no interest in to stop existing or ranting about how terrible they are and how terribly LEGO is failing its fans.

But I guess "not agreeing with trash-talk about sets that seem just fine to me" or "speaking positively about trends I've enjoyed seeing in minifigure design and think are important" passes for "injecting negativity" these days.

40 minutes ago, Gorilla94 said:

To be honest i don´t get that representation thing. Arthur Morgan is probably the first blond video game protagonist since Duke Nukem.

Err… no? Not even close? Like, to name just a few I'm familiar with

• Zero (introduced as a supporting character in Mega Man X in 1993 and headlining his own series Mega Man Zero from 2002–2005)
• Cloud Strife (the main protagonist of Final Fantasy 7 from 1995)
• Lucas (the main protagonist of Mother 3 from 2006
• Isaac (the protagonist of Golden Sun from 2001) and Matthew (Isaac's son from the game's second sequel Golden Sun: Dark Dawn in 2010)
• Sissel (the protagonist of Ghost Trick from 2010, though there's a twist ending that subverts that later on)
• Shulk (the protagonist of Xenoblade Chronicles from 2010)

And that's without touching on the many who originated before Duke Nukem but have continued to star in numerous games since, like Simon Belmont and some of his family members from subsequent Castlevania games or Link from The Legend of Zelda games.

Honestly, it's easy not to care about representation if you don't have to deal with people insisting for your whole life that a certain facet of your identity makes you "inferior", "broken", or "subordinate", which is unfortunately still the case for many LGBT people; racial minorities (I cannot speak for all countries, but in the United States that primarily entails the mostly nonwhite races); disabled people; autistic people; people with chronic or mental illnesses, etc.

For these groups, having people like yourself in toys and media who are presented as normal people living their lives, or even as heroic figures, is a big deal! This is extremely well documented, with many people who have achieved great success in various fields citing characters from pop culture who served as role models. And even for people who DON'T share those identities, enjoying diverse, inclusive, toys and media that represents those identities positively makes it easier to avoid forming prejudices against them. This has been studied

There's no reason that representation needs to be a big deal to everyone, but it definitely is for a lot of people. You don't necessarily need to understand how or why it matters to those people to accept that it has real value to them.

38 minutes ago, leafan said:

I don't know about you guys, but this debate has really made me want a [disgusting slur removed] CMF spot.

Yikes… this is a horrendously vile, hateful comment, and it makes it hard to believe you're any more decent a person than the hateful language you seem willing to throw around so flippantly. Comments like this are a disgrace to this site and the AFOL community and make me question whether I'm a fool for expecting to have civilized discussions on sites like this one.

 

[Clone OPatra]

2 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

Thanks @Clone OPatra for at least ATTEMPTING to get things back on topic. 

Thank me and then go on? Ok, this is locked.