LEGO Store "Build a Minifigure"

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

18 hours ago, Robert8 said:

I cant believe they printed the word Rabona on an official LEGO piece

neither can I.

[cebelicamya]

@Armothe Omg what a collection you have!   Do you maybe know which animals were exclusive to BAM Wall?
I know of these, but i am not sure if i listed all of them

[RichardGoring]

Popped into the Boston LEGOLAND Discovery Centre earlier and they had the new figures in the BAM wall (including the owl). I didn't get any because I didn't have time to sort through, and they charge $14 for three figures (although they do now offer 1 for $5). I will wait for them to come into the regular stores.

[Capybara554321]

9 hours ago, RichardGoring said:

Popped into the Boston LEGOLAND Discovery Centre earlier and they had the new figures in the BAM wall (including the owl). I didn't get any because I didn't have time to sort through, and they charge $14 for three figures (although they do now offer 1 for $5). I will wait for them to come into the regular stores.

$15. My store in the mall is $10 for 3 or 15 pieces. 

[RichardGoring]

38 minutes ago, Capybara554321 said:

$15. My store in the mall is $10 for 3 or 15 pieces. 

Yes, that's the standard LEGO Store price. But LEGOLAND Discovery Center shops are different and can/do charge different amounts. Sometimes even on actual sets. My local LEGO stores sell for $10 for three figures too.

[RichardGoring]

The Boston South Shore LEGO Store has the new BAM figures.

Edited June 13, 2022 by RichardGoring

[brimbolet]

Sigh, I went twice to my store and they had no new Falcon knights. 

[SirBlake]

Yeah, I’ve been calling the Dallas store every week, and so far, nothin’. 

[Roebuck]

On 6/13/2022 at 5:59 AM, RichardGoring said:

The Boston South Shore LEGO Store has the new BAM figures.

 

A lot of figs there, but why only one animal? Has some scalpers got them all?

[Accio Lego]

17 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

A lot of figs there, but why only one animal? Has some scalpers got them all?

As far as I know the new owl is the only exclusive animal at the moment, and the store might just be out of animals that were added less recently. I am surprised not to see any of the blue/yellow parrots though. I recently stopped my my local lego store and grabbed some bam minifigs and there were a whole bunch of them in there for pirate constructing purposes. 

[RichardGoring]

34 minutes ago, Roebuck said:

A lot of figs there, but why only one animal? Has some scalpers got them all?

They often have other animals. Scott nearby store had different animals a few weeks ago (there are four stores around the Boston area, plus a Discovery Center).

[Oniro]

Take a closer look 

Blue and yellow parrot in the picture

Edited June 14, 2022 by Oniro

[The Reader]

On 5/29/2022 at 9:14 PM, The Reader said:

Was in a Lego store this week and found in the BAM tower a brand new torso of the cmf series 12 "Dino Tracker" from 2014. A lucky, but imho strange find.

This story continuous: I was in the Frankfurt Lego store yesterday and found this torso from cmf series 3 from 2011:

But no legs, head or head gear ... unfortunately.

 

[tomorrowboy]

On 6/9/2022 at 6:00 PM, DBlegonerd7 said:

I’m not sure what is a big deal about Rabona printed on ? I looked up Rabona and it says football player strikes with kicking leg. So this is more non-licensed.

I looked up "Rabona" and the first several links were sports betting sites. I can't imagine Lego wanting their products associated with that.

[SamVimes]

On 6/14/2022 at 2:07 PM, The Reader said:

This story continuous: I was in the Frankfurt Lego store yesterday and found this torso from cmf series 3 from 2011:

But no legs, head or head gear ... unfortunately.

 

That fig is so problamatic...... yikes.

[SirBlake]

2 hours ago, SamVimes said:

That fig is so problamatic...... yikes.

How? It’s a pretty accurate representation of traditional Native American dress.

[Accio Lego]

3 hours ago, SirBlake said:

How? It’s a pretty accurate representation of traditional Native American dress.

For a lot of these things it’s not just “how accurate is it?” but also “is this done with the knowledge and support of the people it’s supposed to be representing? or did one of the designers just copy a photo they googled?” and “in this context, does this outfit come across as the sacred garb it’s actually modeled off of, or an appropriated costume?” 

[MAB]

1 hour ago, Accio Lego said:

For a lot of these things it’s not just “how accurate is it?” but also “is this done with the knowledge and support of the people it’s supposed to be representing? 

I reckon some Native Americans will like it, and some won't. Which ones views should count?

[MAB]

On 6/15/2022 at 4:22 AM, tomorrowboy said:

I looked up "Rabona" and the first several links were sports betting sites. I can't imagine Lego wanting their products associated with that.

Do you not get the wikipedia entry saying what a rabona kick is? For me, the betting sites are lower down the list. I guess it might be location based since if I enter Coral then the top sites are betting links although that doesn't stop LEGO producing sets, parts or colours with coral in their name.

[SirBlake]

5 hours ago, Accio Lego said:

For a lot of these things it’s not just “how accurate is it?” but also “is this done with the knowledge and support of the people it’s supposed to be representing? or did one of the designers just copy a photo they googled?” and “in this context, does this outfit come across as the sacred garb it’s actually modeled off of, or an appropriated costume?” 

This is so ridiculous, I don’t even know where to start. 

This “sacred garb” you speak of could also be identified as “something people wore in history”, and not just in a religious or ceremonial context. The people who’s knowledge and support you seek are not around to ask, in the same way that there are no armored knights around to ask for approval because the present day culture has moved on as far as how they dress. 

I’m about as politically neutral as they come, but calling this “problematic” is a ludicrous example of virtue signaling. Following this “logic” to its inevitable conclusion would lead to every representation of any person being a shapeless androgynous blob with no culture to speak of.
 

Sorry for the rant, and it’s surely nothing personal. If it were about the representation of Pacific Islanders or Samurai or something similar that I don’t have personal connection to, I’d probably have stayed out of it, but in this instance, it’s part of my culture, and I clearly have opinions, lol. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by SirBlake
Formatting/spelling

[Accio Lego]

1 hour ago, SirBlake said:

This is so ridiculous, I don’t even know where to start. 

This “sacred garb” you speak of could also be identified as “something people wore in history”, and not just in a religious or ceremonial context. The people who’s knowledge and support you seek are not around to ask, in the same way that there are no armored knights around to ask for approval because the present day culture has moved on as far as how they dress. 

I’m about as politically neutral as they come, but calling this “problematic” is a ludicrous example of virtue signaling. Following this “logic” to its inevitable conclusion would lead to every representation of any person being a shapeless androgynous blob with no culture to speak of.
 

Sorry for the rant, and it’s surely nothing personal. If it were about the representation of Pacific Islanders or Samurai or something similar that I don’t have personal connection to, I’d probably have stayed out of it, but in this instance, it’s part of my culture, and I clearly have opinions, lol. 

Umm… the cultures who wore these styles of outfits absolutely are still alive, and very much vocally taking offense to caricatures of them being used as sports mascots and such. They have every right to be consulted on a representation of their culture as modern day Japanese or Pacific Islanders. I’m flabbergasted that you claim that this is ‘part of your culture’ but seem to incorrectly claim that culture is extinct - which is it? I might just be a white American, but I learned enough at school over the years to know that Eagle feathers and the Eagle feather war bonnets like the one the lego figure is depicted wearing were of great spiritual significance, and I’ve seen enough callout posts about not using them as Halloween costumes every year to confirm that the relevant Native American tribes get pretty offended by them being casually appropriated. I’m not saying lego shouldn’t make minifigs of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, but they have to work with the cultures they’re representing if they want to be respectful, and that goes for any global culture. 

[SirBlake]

47 minutes ago, Accio Lego said:

Umm… the cultures who wore these styles of outfits absolutely are still alive, and very much vocally taking offense to caricatures of them being used as sports mascots and such. They have every right to be consulted on a representation of their culture as modern day Japanese or Pacific Islanders. I’m flabbergasted that you claim that this is ‘part of your culture’ but seem to incorrectly claim that culture is extinct - which is it? I might just be a white American, but I learned enough at school over the years to know that Eagle feathers and the Eagle feather war bonnets like the one the lego figure is depicted wearing were of great spiritual significance, and I’ve seen enough callout posts about not using them as Halloween costumes every year to confirm that the relevant Native American tribes get pretty offended by them being casually appropriated. I’m not saying lego shouldn’t make minifigs of Native Americans and other indigenous peoples, but they have to work with the cultures they’re representing if they want to be respectful, and that goes for any global culture. 

I did not say the culture is extinct. I was pretty clear about that, and even used European knights as an example of what I was talking about. So that point is null and void.

I think there is a distinct difference between a mascot like Chief Wahoo and a historically based minifig. Representation and appropriation is not the same thing. 
 

Sure, eagle feathers have a transcendent meaning to some tribes, but a lot of things have spiritual meaning to a lot of people. Wine and bread are a symbol of Christ for Catholics. Does that mean that TLG needs the Pope’s approval to reference those things?

What you are proposing is the equivalent to the medicine being worse than the disease. Two likely outcomes of TLG having to turn themselves into cultural diplomats are that either it makes an unnecessary political quagmire for them to navigate, possibly thrusting them into the news cycle for more dumb debates like this one in the hopes of actually building consensus among numerous tribes and organizations, or they look at the time and cost involved and decide it’s not worth it, and entire cultures are ignored in the product line. 
 

Do you hear the AIS or any of the other dozens of organizations crying about this or any other minifigure? I don’t. I do however recall going to a Native American museum in Oklahoma in the 90’s, and they had western Lego sets in the gift shop. 

[Accio Lego]

12 minutes ago, SirBlake said:

I did not say the culture is extinct. I was pretty clear about that, and even used European knights as an example of what I was talking about. So that point is null and void.

I think there is a distinct difference between a mascot like Chief Wahoo and a historically based minifig. Representation and appropriation is not the same thing. 
 

Sure, eagle feathers have a transcendent meaning to some tribes, but a lot of things have spiritual meaning to a lot of people. Wine and bread are a symbol of Christ for Catholics. Does that mean that TLG needs the Pope’s approval to reference those things?

What you are proposing is the equivalent to the medicine being worse than the disease. Two likely outcomes of TLG having to turn themselves into cultural diplomats are that either it makes an unnecessary political quagmire for them to navigate, possibly thrusting them into the news cycle for more dumb debates like this one in the hopes of actually building consensus among numerous tribes and organizations, or they look at the time and cost involved and decide it’s not worth it, and entire cultures are ignored in the product line. 
 

Do you hear the AIS or any of the other dozens of organizations crying about this or any other minifigure? I don’t. I do however recall going to a Native American museum in Oklahoma in the 90’s, and they had western Lego sets in the gift shop. 

Except unlike armored knights there actually are native Americans who continue to preform these ceremonies as part of their present day culture (and that’s glossing over the fact that plate armor never really had any spiritual significance). And I think you know that comparing a headdress that is pretty much unique in culture context to common food items that aren’t considered exclusively spiritual even in the context of the religion you’ve listed is a glaring false equivalency, and I’m going to do you the decency of presuming you just didn’t take the time to think that through instead assuming you were speaking in bad faith. (A far more accurate equivalent to a war bonnet would be something like Maori face tattoos)
 

In the digital age it takes almost no time at all to shoot off some emails to relevant cultural leaders to get a quick consultation on whether a specific design is good representation, or even ask for help with the design process. And for all I know, that is what Lego has been doing in these instances. My intentions were never to say “this is racist and here’s why” but instead “this could be a problem if the right steps weren’t taken while making it, and that’s why some people might have a knee jerk reaction to thinking it’s a bad idea” - it’s all about consent, that’s the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural sharing, and we have the privilege of living in a time when it takes the bare minimum of effort to ask for it. 

[SirBlake]

16 minutes ago, Accio Lego said:

Except unlike armored knights there actually are native Americans who continue to preform these ceremonies as part of their present day culture (and that’s glossing over the fact that plate armor never really had any spiritual significance). And I think you know that comparing a headdress that is pretty much unique in culture context to common food items that aren’t considered exclusively spiritual even in the context of the religion you’ve listed is a glaring false equivalency, and I’m going to do you the decency of presuming you just didn’t take the time to think that through instead assuming you were speaking in bad faith. (A far more accurate equivalent to a war bonnet would be something like Maori face tattoos)
 

In the digital age it takes almost no time at all to shoot off some emails to relevant cultural leaders to get a quick consultation on whether a specific design is good representation, or even ask for help with the design process. And for all I know, that is what Lego has been doing in these instances. My intentions were never to say “this is racist and here’s why” but instead “this could be a problem if the right steps weren’t taken while making it, and that’s why some people might have a knee jerk reaction to thinking it’s a bad idea” - it’s all about consent, that’s the difference between cultural appropriation and cultural sharing, and we have the privilege of living in a time when it takes the bare minimum of effort to ask for it. 

Thanks for doing me that courtesy, but if you'll re-read my post, I was speaking to the eagle feather in general, as were you in the post I was responding to (at least partially). I'll concede that there may be the germ of a false equivalency there, but it was a quickly-pulled comparison to make a point, not an effort to score in a structured debate.

I disagree with the simplicity you are assigning to some sort of cultural approval process. I think that would be vastly more complex, and rife with potential pitfalls. That being said, how would we even know if there were some effort on TLG's part to do exactly that? Does any non-white European minifig have to come with a press release?

I believe this is a very important note by you that does a good job of pointing out the core of the problem:

“this could be a problem if the right steps weren’t taken while making it, and that’s why some people might have a knee jerk reaction to thinking it’s a bad idea”

Must we be beholden to knee jerk reactions? Nobody in this conversation can point to any instance of any Native American or representative organization taking umbrage with this minifig. Instead it's just fuel for culture war, instead of appreciating different cultures on their own merits.

For the sake of this topic, I'm going to end my participation in this here. I should know better. Keyboard battles rarely change minds. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by SirBlake

[Karalora]

As cultural appropriation goes, the Tribal Chief CMF seems relatively benign. Is it a caricature? Yes...but so is every minifig. It's a literal, if simplified, representation of a Plains Indian chieftain wearing his ceremonial war bonnet--that is, it's not misusing the costume as "fashion," or as the mascot of a non-indigenous sports team, or any of the other common mockeries that rightly draw heavy criticism. There is probably a good argument to be made that using this image for a frivolous toy is disrespectful in any case, but that's the sort of judgment that must be made by the community in question.