No weaponry and violence in City sets?!

[dr_spock]

Besides it is easy enough to make weapons out of basic pieces if you are so seduced by the Dark Side.

I am not sure about ending badly.

Day 147 of 365: Friendly Fire and Forget ATGM by dr_spock_888, on Flickr

[Lordofdragonss]

Lego already broken few of the rules anyway. I think addition to guns would be nice as I noticed kids are quitye suprised there are no guns for police while it's one of the most important police accesory.

[lightningtiger]

Perhaps it time Lego gave the police pepper spray or taser guns both are designed to stop someone, the crooks has crowbars don't they ?

What are the police meant to use a Jedi mind trick ?

[Vindicare]

I don't really care one way or the other. If they added them, fine. If not, no matter. But I definitely don't get their policy on violence. As TheLegoDr said, violence is violence. I'm getting the impression that they're saying kids can tell the difference between real & fantasy, so I'm that regard, it's a little strange.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Legocrazy81

[PaddyBricksplitter]

Tiny plastic guns don't kill people, imaginary bullets do.

Maybe guns should be included with every minifigure sold in countries where fire arms aren't illegal. This includes creator and Duplo of course.

[tuskel]

And outside the law enforcement context, I can only think of about three subthemes where the presence of firearms wouldn't be that controversial: Farming (protecting livestock from predators such as foxes), Forest (protecting the public from dangerous animals such as bears) and Arctic (protecting researchers from polar bears)

Well, in that case, every set should come with its own Brian Blessed, who once punched a polar bear to stop people from shooting it. (The bear had been following them for a few days and one night entered his tent, at which point Blessed let out his best Tarzan scream and punched it on the nose. Obviously, it fled, they didn't see it again. :D)

However, even though I voted no, there are plenty of little guns and bits that look like guns in our Lego collection as well. And kids still imagine violent things. This, for example, is what my 7y-o daughter made (OK, after watching Daddy play a lot of Doom):

tuskel,

sincerely

[Sven F]

As a big advocate against censorship, especially of that which concerns children, i would still say no.

I think megablocks is using legos moral principles to its advantage, but that's part of the reason we don't associate that brand with such positive thoughts.

[Blondie-Wan]

Whatever one thinks of TLG giving their City cops guns and whether or not it's a good idea, I do think that at the very least, giving them guns should be a lower priority than giving them donuts.

C'mon, TLG, where are all those donuts that should be in our squad cars and stations? Our men and women in blue and black can't live on coffee alone...

[rriggs]

I noticed kids are quitye suprised there are no guns for police while it's one of the most important police accesory.

Living in a country where the police don't carry guns it works out as realistic for me...

I for one wouldn't like to see LEGO bring more weapons, etc into the City theme. The innocence and simplicity of life in LEGO City is a nice escape from real life. There are enough weapons available in LEGO should anyone want their LEGO City citizens to "tool up".

Cheers

Rog

[King Andy]

I vote no. I really enjoy how City theme is a violence free theme. Of course other themes make a lot of use of guns and violence during a long time only on license ed themes but nowadays also on stuff like Ninjago, but there's a differentiating factor here: on the licenced themes they're just that, licenced, they're meant to reproduce what the licenced brand did (being a movie, videogame, etc.). Ninjago and other unlicensed themes including violence are something like an imaginary world with a story and characters purely fictional. City is a theme meant to reproduce the real life. "But there's violence everywhere in real life m8" yes, but why making kids see the real life like that? Is it absolutely necessary to make the sets good and enjoyable to give guns to the Lego cops to shoot the crap out of the thieves or to create a SWAT tank set? These are sets meant for kids and not so much as AFOLs collectible sets, even not being much, they try to make kids see the world as something more friendly until they have maturity enough to understand it.

[TheLegoPerson9]

No to guns. However, since we've seen a baton before(the Constable minifigure and Chief Wiggum), I would not mind seeing batons.

[Dutchiedoughnut]

No to guns. I love the aspect of seeing the world as you'd like to see it about it :).

[Karalora]

I voted no. I don't mind having the gunplay restricted to licensed, historical, and futuristic themes--creating some distance, as it were. It's not like it's hard to get LEGO guns and give them to any minifig you want, if you really need your City cops and robbers to be shooting it out.

[Robert8]

I voted no.

I like peaceful and innocent City displays.

Life is already full of violence. Kids don't need it also in their toys

[Ondra]

I want city without police, and firefighters, for at least five years, Im bored with these two themes and I dont mind if there are guns or not.

[Kaanere]

Well, there is this new piece

Not exactly a gun, but with some children imagination...

[dr_spock]

Well, there is this new piece

Not exactly a gun, but with some children imagination...

Load it with studs and you'll be shooting "bullets"

Certainly requires less imagination than I had to use with the megaphone pieces back in the old days.

[badbob001]

The LEGO city cops chase the crooks and the crooks run away. The crooks don't fight back. If they crooks are hard to catch, the cops will just need to try harder, not shoot them. This is like a children's game of tag. No weapons needed.

[Aanchir]

LEGO seems very dedicated to ensuring that LEGO City remains a safe place. This extends beyond the lack of weapons for police officers and criminals — note that every single burning building in a LEGO City firefighting set has been an abandoned one, not one with people or animals living in it. And emergency victims in LEGO City ambulances and hospitals generally never have any obvious injuries.

Besides LEGO City being aimed at a younger audience than themes like LEGO Ninjago, there are other reasons for this. LEGO City is the closest LEGO theme to reality. And yet LEGO doesn't want to reflect parts of reality that kids might be particularly sensitive to. A kid who's been in a house fire would probably not respond well to a set depicting a house fire. A person who had a family member killed by police (sadly, an all-too-common occurrence in many parts of the world) would probably not respond well to a set depicting police with guns. Once you experience these things in real life (especially as a child) they stop being fun and become traumatic. Kids are welcome to role-play these kinds of scenarios if they are comfortable doing so, but that's different from LEGO promoting that type of role-play through the actual products.

This is not anywhere near as great a concern in themes like LEGO Star Wars. No actual child has ever lost their parents in a confrontation with a Jedi, Battle Droid, or Clone Trooper as far as I'm aware.

The most dangerous scenario depicted in LEGO City sets is shark attacks. And perhaps LEGO allows for this because again, no injuries are shown, and besides, shark attacks are extremely rare in real life. The United States averages 19 shark attacks per year and just one shark-attack fatality every two years. Whereas the United States has had over 9,000 shooting deaths this year alone.

[lanesteele240]

Having a toy gun will not make you grow up to kill people. If it did, the population of the southern United States would be 7 or 8 people now.

Police need to come with guns. To teach kids that they have them. And will use them

[Karalora]

Police need to come with guns. To teach kids that they have them. And will use them

Sorry, I got distracted for a second. It sounded like you said LEGO should give guns to its cop minifigs in order to threaten children on behalf of real-life cops.

[Whofan88]

I voted NO, as a person growing up in the US I really appreciate how TLG managed to educate and entertain children without the use of weapons. I can't remember if it is true or not but I remember hearing that one of the leading family members of TLG did not want to include weapons in the sets, of course this changed in the 80s with the Pirate/Castle sets and then again with the Western sets in the 90s but I feel that philosophy of reduced violence has made me a better person. There are so many people in the US obsessed with militarising LEGO that they'll make and sell/purchase after market military kits of tanks and military vehicles, while they make great models I still feel this glorifies war and violence. There are even people producing various after market weapons for minifigures which while may make a lot of children happy, still may be sending them the wrong message about how we treat other people. Also I am not sure how aware the rest of the world is with the ongoing racial issues of POC (People of colour) and US police forces, many of which have been gun violence, makes this thread hit home in a rather personal manner. I am a very firm believer what we are taught and what we learn as children shapes us into the adults we become, if we teach our children that positions of authority using gun violence is good, what's to say that child won't grow up to become a NRA (National Rifle Association) gun toting white supremacist police officer? Please keep the guns to the licensed figures and out of the city product line.

[lanesteele240]

I voted NO, as a person growing up in the US I really appreciate how TLG managed to educate and entertain children without the use of weapons. I can't remember if it is true or not but I remember hearing that one of the leading family members of TLG did not want to include weapons in the sets, of course this changed in the 80s with the Pirate/Castle sets and then again with the Western sets in the 90s but I feel that philosophy of reduced violence has made me a better person. There are so many people in the US obsessed with militarising LEGO that they'll make and sell/purchase after market military kits of tanks and military vehicles, while they make great models I still feel this glorifies war and violence. There are even people producing various after market weapons for minifigures which while may make a lot of children happy, still may be sending them the wrong message about how we treat other people. Also I am not sure how aware the rest of the world is with the ongoing racial issues of POC (People of colour) and US police forces, many of which have been gun violence, makes this thread hit home in a rather personal manner. I am a very firm believer what we are taught and what we learn as children shapes us into the adults we become, if we teach our children that positions of authority using gun violence is good, what's to say that child won't grow up to become a NRA (National Rifle Association) gun toting white supremacist police officer? Please keep the guns to the licensed figures and out of the city product line.

I grew up with toy and real guns. After 40 years, I have yet to shoot another living creature. There are millions more like me. Make that billions.

Now, with your thoughts, tlg should stop making starwars and other violent licensed sets. a gun is a gun, plastic or real and just about every starwars mini fig comes with a gun. I see no difference between a make believe war that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away and a cop chasing a yellow mini fig through a swamp.

And yes kids should be tought that cops have real wepons and will use them. Every year you hear about some kid pointing a toy/bb gun at a cop and the cop shoots them. But nothing i say here will change anyone's opinion.

There is no real need for this tread. It will only turn into a flame war and get shut down like 100% of all the other we need army set treads ever made

[Rick]

There is no real need for this tread. It will only turn into a flame war and get shut down like 100% of all the other we need army set treads ever made

I'm keeping an eye on this thread. I believe the topic can be discussed in a civilised way. Problem is: there probably is not a lot to actually be discussed. It usually boils down to an exchange of opinions. If you all accept that everyone is entitled to an opinion and not reiterate your own opinion over and over again, this topic doesn't need to be locked (and will probably sink down the topic list again soon ), as locking it will simply encourage someone to start a similar thread at some point again in the future.

[Whofan88]

I grew up with toy and real guns. After 40 years, I have yet to shoot another living creature. There are millions more like me. Make that billions.

Now, with your thoughts, tlg should stop making starwars and other violent licensed sets. a gun is a gun, plastic or real and just about every starwars mini fig comes with a gun. I see no difference between a make believe war that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far far away and a cop chasing a yellow mini fig through a swamp.

And yes kids should be tought that cops have real wepons and will use them. Every year you hear about some kid pointing a toy/bb gun at a cop and the cop shoots them. But nothing i say here will change anyone's opinion.

There is no real need for this tread. It will only turn into a flame war and get shut down like 100% of all the other we need army set treads ever made

I do like your counter point and I'm glad to hear that you are not someone who uses guns. But yes, we are entitled to our opinions even though they may differ, and indeed nothing we say to each other will change our own opinions on the subject matter.