Unpopular Opinions about LEGO

[williejm]

Just now, koalayummies said:

I was told there would be hordes of tattered-clothed, unsanitary, grotesquely-wounded hairy buccaneers. And only one chick in the entire West Indies! Utopia.

I dunno what was gayest, the pirates with their bushy moustaches, Paradisa, or the Drag Queen make up on those early female figures. 

[Ondra]

1 minute ago, koalayummies said:

I was told there would be hordes of tattered-clothed, unsanitary, grotesquely-wounded hairy buccaneers. And only one chick in the entire West Indies! Utopia.

I was told, that trains are future they built train tracks for whole 90s...

It turns they scraped whole 9V system into measly cheap battery trains...

 

Luckily world see trains as future... Lego doesnt.

[BrickBob Studpants]

I‘ll let you in on a tiny little secret: MINIFIG PARTS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE.

You don‘t like pink hair or don’t see a young person with grey hair? Just swap their hairpieces with others! Bam! Almost like magic 

[Alexandrina]

16 minutes ago, williejm said:

I dunno what was gayest, the pirates with their bushy moustaches, Paradisa, or the Drag Queen make up on those early female figures. 

Big lashes were clearly in in Paradisa in the 90s!

[Karalora]

Would this be a good time to point out that my religion welcomes both gender non-conformance and the dyeing of hair in bright colors not usually seen on mammals?

Also, it is impossible for a child to be "confused" about the gender of a LEGO minifig they are playing with, because it is the child who decides every aspect of that minifig's identity in the first place. If the kid holds up a minifig in a police uniform with beard stubble and says it's a "lady," you can take that to the bank.

[williejm]

3 minutes ago, Karalora said:

Would this be a good time to point out that my religion welcomes both gender non-conformance and the dyeing of hair in bright colors not usually seen on mammals?

Also, it is impossible for a child to be "confused" about the gender of a LEGO minifig they are playing with, because it is the child who decides every aspect of that minifig's identity in the first place. If the kid holds up a minifig in a police uniform with beard stubble and says it's a "lady," you can take that to the bank.

Amen.
Same as - It’s *the law* that you must answer a banana if a kid hands it to you as a ‘telephone’ ;)

14 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

I‘ll let you in on a tiny little secret: MINIFIG PARTS ARE INTERCHANGEABLE.

You don‘t like pink hair or don’t see a young person with grey hair? Just swap their hairpieces with others! Bam! Almost like magic 

Nice idea. Don’t see it catching on though. 

[Karalora]

Just now, williejm said:

Amen.
Same as - It’s *the law* that you must answer a banana if a kid hands it to you as a ‘telephone’ ;)

Yes, and when a toddler hides behind the window curtains, clearly visible from the shins down and noticeably giggling, you are required by the standards of human decency to loudly wonder where they are and why you "can't find" them.

[TeriXeri]

32 minutes ago, BrickBob Studpants said:

You don‘t like pink hair or don’t see a young person with grey hair? Just swap their hairpieces with others! Bam! Almost like magic 

"but but my book/app instruction manual told me to build this figure this way from bag number 3" 

I'm glad LEGO at least starts to add hairpieces alongside helmets as almost standard now at least in City, Ninjago also had some hairpieces in sets but only for 2 out of 4 ninja in the dojo for example.

 3-in-1 also sometimes promotes minifig torso/head/hair swapping.

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by TeriXeri

[koalayummies]

2 hours ago, Ondra said:

I was told, that trains are future they built train tracks for whole 90s...

It turns they scraped whole 9V system into measly cheap battery trains...

 

Luckily world see trains as future... Lego doesnt.

Two pages ago (edit: a mere 6 hours ago) you posted a pic of the 2022 passenger train set; there are three train-focused city sets for this year.

Edited May 3, 2022 by koalayummies

[Ondra]

14 minutes ago, koalayummies said:

Two pages ago (edit: a mere 6 hours ago) you posted a pic of the 2022 passenger train set; there are three train-focused city sets for this year.

Seriosly this is nothing from offers from 80s and 90s. Check out catalogues from that era.

 

Ok interesting set but Im stuck with these sets for 4 years straight and nothing else... Do you understand?

[Vindicare]

14 hours ago, Ondra said:

Im not fan of gender neutral torsos, albeit it has many pluses like easily swapping and looking at history It was always like that.

It just feel off, for me...

 

7 hours ago, Ondra said:

Pink is not natural hair colour and never will be...

I won’t demean you for your opinion like some have(who ironically play the victim when theirs is questioned) but I’m not sure why either of these bother you. Even if you’re looking at this from a kids perspective, which you referred to, I don’t imagine kids would be confused by a pink haired woman, nor assume it’s  a natural hair color. Same goes for neutral torsos. 

Especially so as an adult. As others have mentioned, minifigs are meant to be interchangeable. If a set’s minifig isn’t to your liking, switch it up in a way that does. Set wise, I don’t like switching stuff around, so maybe you’re that way too. 

[koalayummies]

1 hour ago, Ondra said:

Seriosly this is nothing from offers from 80s and 90s. Check out catalogues from that era.

Ok interesting set but Im stuck with these sets for 4 years straight and nothing else... Do you understand?

Seen em, had one; mediocre. Lego today > Lego back then. Build a time machine.

[MAB]

14 hours ago, Ondra said:

But female heavy machinery and hard work figures are somewhat overrepresented. Last time I checked some building sites IRL there was none of them...

But hey lego city, is some kind of fantasy utopia... Make it realistic, not idealistic...

Heavy machinery, manual labour and emergency services are also over represented. If you want realism, prepare for office buildings and shops and of course rows upon rows of similar houses before you get anything different.

[Aanchir]

On 5/3/2022 at 10:08 AM, Ondra said:

Pink is not natural hair colour and never will be...

People in real life have been dying their hair for longer than any of us have been alive. And loads of people dye their hair in "unnatural" colors — even I did for a while, though it faded over the course of the pandemic and I haven't been out to a salon yet to get it dyed again. So why is it a bad thing for the LEGO world reflect that?

On 5/3/2022 at 12:28 PM, Ondra said:

But female heavy machinery and hard work figures are somewhat overrepresented. Last time I checked some building sites IRL there was none of them...

Even if women with those careers are rare (particularly in your neck of the woods), they DO exist in real life, just as female knights and pirates did historically. It's natural that some kids (especially girls) would want to be able to play with characters that they find cool, relatable, or aspirational on that level, no matter how "rare" or "exceptional" they are in real life. So it's common sense for LEGO to keep those sorts of gender-diverse figures readily available. "Over-representing" particular categories is vastly preferable to not representing them at all!

[williejm]

48 minutes ago, Aanchir said:

People in real life have been dying their hair for longer than any of us have been alive. And loads of people dye their hair in "unnatural" colors — even I did for a while, though it faded over the course of the pandemic and I haven't been out to a salon yet to get it dyed again. So why is it a bad thing for the LEGO world reflect that?

Possibly as far back as the Ancient Egyptians! Now I’m looking at those luscious tresses on my Lego CMF Egyptian Queen in a new light …

Edited May 5, 2022 by williejm
Fat thumbs

[Peppermint_M]

I worked in local government Highways Engineering, I have a University/College level qualification in Civil Engineering. Currently, I have a Fork-Truck operator licence (got to renew it this month) and a Hi-Vis Jacket that I must wear in work (Pinkish-red, as I am also a Fire Marshal for the building)  so, yah, Women do these jobs and can be represented doing these jobs. In fact, the figure that is Emmet's colleague at the building site was a very good representation of me at work!

On 5/4/2022 at 7:37 AM, MAB said:

Heavy machinery, manual labour and emergency services are also over represented. If you want realism, prepare for office buildings and shops and of course rows upon rows of similar houses before you get anything different.

Also Fast Food nearly everywhere! Have we ever had a Fast Food LEGO set that was an actual fast food chain?

[TeriXeri]

21 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

Also Fast Food nearly everywhere! Have we ever had a Fast Food LEGO set that was an actual fast food chain?

If you call pizza Fast Food , "City Pizza" branding was in multiple sets with a similar logo and green/white font. (City Pizza sticker logos were also in the Xtra sticker pack)

Otherwise, I don't think there was repeated branding like that for the Hot Dog , Taco, Burger, Chicken Leg shops.

Edited May 5, 2022 by TeriXeri

[Peppermint_M]

Hmmmm. Not Exactly KFC or McDonalds, not even Subway... Weird gap to have. 

[koalayummies]

New from the Lego 'i want realism' collection. Tract housing. Suburban sprawl. Cookie cutter neighborhoods. NIMBY land.

[Toastie]

3 hours ago, Aanchir said:

they DO exist in real life

And not "only" that. Of course "they" do exist - in our mechanical workshop, where "they" operate all sorts of "heavy machinery" - including DMU 50s and other - there are actually 2 out of 6 of these individuals. Not my point, as I find this an absolutely desirable (much better 3:3) "mix".

I will say this: There is regularly a >very< big difference discussing a "layout", CAD drawing, possible alternatives with males or not-males. For whatever reason. I did not use "females" because I want to leave this entirely open. However, in our workshop, as far as I can tell (I don't care at all), there are workers, adhering to these two varieties: Women and men. And that is at least fantastic (the mix, not the gender), it makes such a big difference.

And yes, TLG is doing a very good job regarding this "mix".

All the best,
Thorsten 

[Vindicare]

10 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

I worked in local government Highways Engineering, I have a University/College level qualification in Civil Engineering. Currently, I have a Fork-Truck operator licence (got to renew it this month) and a Hi-Vis Jacket that I must wear in work (Pinkish-red, as I am also a Fire Marshal for the building)  so, yah, Women do these jobs and can be represented doing these jobs. In fact, the figure that is Emmet's colleague at the building site was a very good representation of me at work!

Also Fast Food nearly everywhere! Have we ever had a Fast Food LEGO set that was an actual fast food chain?

Yup. 3438 McDonalds Restaurant, 1999. Rinky dink building that served as a drive thru with one table & chairs. 

[Murdoch17]

16 hours ago, koalayummies said:

New from the Lego 'i want realism' collection. Tract housing. Suburban sprawl. Cookie cutter neighborhoods. NIMBY land.

SNIP

"Another Pleasant Valley Sunday
Charcoal burnin' everywhere
Rows of houses that are all the same
And no one seems to care"

(sorry for the earworm, but seeing that picture and post made me think of The Monkees' song 'Pleasant Valley Sunday' almost immediately. The song just screams classic LEGO town with all smiling, happy, mindless faces)

Edited May 6, 2022 by Murdoch17

[Feuer Zug]

But rows of cookie cutter suburban tract housing would be so cheap! We could all build the same LEGO city landscape for our dioramas world wide. (Sarcasm mode off)

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:37 AM, MAB said:

Heavy machinery, manual labour and emergency services are also over represented. If you want realism, prepare for office buildings and shops and of course rows upon rows of similar houses before you get anything different.

Yes and why even go with whats conservative reality? It's a fictional city after all. Why reproduce something in the most conservative way (which is what they did until around 6 years ago anyway)? It's the same with fantasy: if something is fantasy, why have the most whitewashed version of it? We even know history was tough but still much more diverse, then what we get in fantasy stories. There is a lot of evidence for people of colour in ancient times and whatever would mean people of colour: Italians, greeks spanish and other folks are not exactly the most nordic though being portrayed as such in movies.


It's fantastic how Lego stepped up in diversity. Before you found like 1 female figure ina whole wave.

It's so amazing to get figs with prosthetics as well. So why should TLG - when before they avoided this topic - not represent it in an even more more optimistic way? One child from my work proudly showed off the CMF paralympics bike guy with a swapped face to represent his paralyzed mother who has a similar bike. People on IG are complaining about "wasted" molds and prints for this instead of being happy for others and even for themselves to get and different Lego.

[danth]

5 hours ago, Kim-Kwang-Seok said:

Yes and why even go with whats conservative reality? It's a fictional city after all.

What, you mean every ATM and bank in real life isn't being actively burglarized at all times, by criminals in Hamburglar masks and prison jumpsuits under their jackets?